My Journey

Journey to the Divine Feminine

I began the journey to the Divine Feminine in my early twenties while studying theology in the late 1970s and early 1980’s. During my Bachelor of Theology I was exposed to Feminist Theology and Liberation Theology. I started to awaken to a whole new world of the equal and valuable role of women and our suppression in the Christian patriarchal narrative.

I became a Christian minister and served in churches in Perth and Christchurch, New Zealand – at the time it seemed the logical pathway from my faith tradition.

I became involved in the Perth Movement for the Ordination of Women in the late 1980’s in the Anglican Church. This further expanded my horizons. And we joyfully welcomed the ordination of the first Australian women priests in Perth, Western Australia in 1992.

While I was living in New Zealand in 1990 and 1991 I read Starhawk’s Spiral Dance and Dreaming the Dark and Womenspirit Rising: A Feminist Reader in Religion ed. by Carol Christ and Judith Plaskow. From the inspiration of these writings I started to connect to the Goddess, the Divine Feminine, and my spirituality expanded beyond the confines of the patriarchal church.

In the 1990s and 2000s my work in pastoral and spiritual care took the pathway to becoming a Chaplain in two public high schools in Perth. Eventually I became a pastoral care worker at two women’s hospitals in Perth and Melbourne.

My deep love for ritual and rites of passage were fueled while working in the women’s hospitals as the core of my work became blessing women and their babies at the sacred thresholds of life and death.

I am by nature someone who does things gradually so it was a very long journey to finally cut the umbilical cord that had kept me attached to the Church.

I was grateful for the tradition I came from but this was not the place of my soul’s belonging. It was a great relief and empowering once the final thread, which had stretched so taut, was finally cut.

In 2011 I travelled with a friend to Ireland, the place of my ancestors, to go on a pilgrimage with Amantha Murphy.

I had the deep sense that this pilgrimage was to be critical for my spiritual journey.  I came to realise that if I did not go on this pilgrimage part of my essence would die. In the end I felt absolutely compelled to go.

To prepare myself for the pilgrimage I searched for a Spiritual Director.  I needed to find someone who would be willing to companion with me in my journey to the Divine Feminine, the Goddess.  I was fortunate to find Cath Connelly.  I have come over the years to call Cath my Spiritual Midwife.

With Cath I was empowered to explore and claim my intent for the pilgrimage.

The pilgrimage was a life altering experience.  Through it I experienced a deep sense of belonging to the sacred land and ancient sites of Ireland.

Amantha’s storytelling and deep connection to the land and to the ancient Irish Goddesses oozed through the pilgrimage.  I was blown away by where we travelled and what was awakened within me.

18 months later I returned to Ireland to join Amantha in an Apprentice Week based on the Seabhean Way (Woman’s Way) and Ancient Irish Shamanism and Spirituality.

I was initiated into the Celtic Wheel and the 8 ancient Irish Goddesses aligned with the Wheel, ancient Irish shamanic practices and womens’ rites of passage rituals. This week culminated in attending and contributing to a Handfasting for one of  our sister apprentices on Innisfallen, an island in Lough Leane, near Killarney. This is a magical island where I had had a gobsmacking mystical experience in the women’s chapel in 2011.

Our Apprentice Week was followed by another 11 day pilgrimage with Amantha to more Goddess sites.  This time the experience with the land and the ancestors was much deeper.  This was due to having been attuned to the land and the Divine Feminine/ the Goddess in the land.

On my return home I spent the next 6 months journaling and reflecting on all that I had learned and experienced and distilling the wisdom passed onto me.

From this distillation I commenced writing rituals and celebrating the Celtic Seasons and Wheel- at first on my own then with two and then three others.

Trish, a woman from our women’s circle, and I ran a Red Tent retreat day for our circle in which we shared the deep nurturing connection to the Divine Feminine.

In 2015, Trish and I formed a women’s group to celebrate the cross quarter festivals of the Celtic Wheel. We built into these evenings a time of education and storytelling about the Celtic Wheel and the Goddesses followed by a ritual celebration. I wrote and led the education session as well as co-writing and leading the rituals.  Each time we spiralled back to a season we went deeper into their mysteries. At the end o f 2018 after 3 years this group came to a natural conclusion.

Since my time in  Ireland in 2013, my vocation in writing rituals for women’s rites of passage has also expanded. My wisdom teaching in Ireland has lead me to the unexpected joy of writing rituals for women set within sacred landscapes.

In 2015 I completed a 6 month on-line introductory Celtic Herbal course, The Spiral Path, with Tonja Reichley who lives on the Burren in Co. Galway.  This was a magical course in attuning to traditional Celtic herbs, the cycles of the moon, herbal teas, tincutres, herbal lore and rituals.

                  

 

 

 

 

Since then I have experienced the joy of growing many of the traditional Celtic herbs in my garden in Australia. Through the herbs a spiritual connection to the land, trees and plants where I live has come alive.

In late 2016 and 2017, Trish and I co-led our women’s circle in reading and reflecting upon the book, If Women Rose Rooted: the Power of the Celtic Woman by Sharon Blackie. This book outlines the Eco Heroines Journey and is steeped in the women’s mythology of Ireland, Scotland and Wales. From this work we each found our own unique gift as women who are guardians and protectors of Mother Earth.  Out of  this Trish and I ran a Council of All Beings Weekend for our women's circle in 2018. The Council of All Beings is written and inspired by eco-activists Joanna Macy and John Seed.

In the same year I completed Sharon Blackie’s on-line course Reclaiming the Wise Woman as part of exploring further the wise women in the Celtic tradition.

I returned to Ireland in 2018 to continue to deepen my connection with the divine feminine in the land and to co-lead a women's pilgrimage with Cath. Connelly.  This was another amazing and life changing journey including:

• Completing a Soul Midwifery course with my Seabhan teacher, Amantha Murphy.  This awakened in me a real connection to the tradition of Keening
• Being initiated as a Crone in a ceremony at the Cailleach rock on the Beara Peninsular
• Co-leading a 17 day women's pilgrimage to Ireland with my dear friend, Cath Connelly, who is a well renowned Celtic guide and harpist. The focus of the pilgrimage was the mysteries of the sacred feminine and Brigid, Goddess and Saint was our spiritual companion.
• Journeying and being immersed deeply in the Mother Earth's sacred dreamings and weavings with Tonja Reichley, my Celtic herb teacher, through the Burren and the Connemara.

In 2019 Cath and I co-led our second pilgrimage for women to Ireland. In 2023 we led another two pilgrimages.  One of these pilgrimages was focussed on An Cailleach (the Crone Goddess) and becoming Crone.

Our next Ireland pilgrimage will be in May 2025 and 8 places have already been booked.

Since 2020 I have also led retreat days for women in Western Australia and Victoria.

In 2020 I commenced the Moon Mná Facilitators Course under Karen Ward from Slí An Chroi - School of Celtic Shamanism. After 13 months I became a certified facilitator in July 2021.  Since then I have facilitated 5 circles through the 13 month cycle of Moon Mná themes and am now planning a new circle for 2024.

The threads of Celtic Spirituality, ancient Irish Goddesses, Celtic Wheel rituals, the Seabhan Way and women’s rites of passage are indeed weaving a colourful, magical and sacred vocation.

Blessed Be.

Alison Powell, Sacred Thresholds (ABN 48 201 522 408)