Stroud Goddess Temple Newsletter Samhain 22

We are so thrilled to be celebrating 1 year of having a Goddess Temple premises in Stroud town centre!

We now have team of fabulous Temple Melissa volunteers holding the space for public drop-ins 6 days each week, for visitors of all ages, beliefs and backgrounds to be welcomed into the sacred feminine heart-space. Visitors are welcome during the drop in hours 10am-1pm Monday to Saturday, with Wednesdays open 11am-2pm. Drop in Opening is for anyone to take time out to rest or pray in the temple, have a cup of tea or read a book, light a candle, write a prayer or ask for a blessing.

It has been a very full year, with open days for each seasonal festival, sharing circles and workshops, ceremonies, Priestxess training and fundraising. We have managed to cover the costs of keeping the temple open and invest in better security and a broadband connection for the space, as well as a card reader for the maker's corner gift shop. We are still open to new stock of arts, crafts and other items made by people in our community with a goddess, pagan or wellbeing theme.

The community library has been well used with many precious books and oracle decks going out into the homes of our visitors to be enjoyed. We have dressed the temple in the colours of each season, opened pop-up temples at festivals and held the first ever Gloucestershire Goddess Camp event in the Forest of Dean. We made banners to celebrate the wheel of Cotswold Goddesses, and held a banner parade which was covered by the BBC!

We collaborated with Stroud Sisterhood and raised £129 at the temple for Stroud Women's Refuge during International Women's Week celebrations. We also had a presence at the Red Hearth gathering with several workshops and collaborations among goddess loving women of Stroud.

We are continuing to thrive in the space at 50 London Road, where our what3words address is ooze.honey.covenants ! The garden has been lovingly tended, with planters changing through the year to showcase seasonal blooms and herbs, and we gratefully received many donations of furniture, fabric, rugs, fridges, cushions, artwork, statues, food, hot chocolate and teabags have been put to good use by our goddess loving community at the temple during opening times and events. The red fabrics donated from the 5 Valleys Red Tent are currently in use for Menarche ceremonies at the Red Hearth.

We developed a booking app for room hire, and continued to offer regular drop ins for visitors as well as talks, workshops and educational courses. Some of the past, continuing and upcoming events at the temple include:

Monthly Sunday Meditation Group with Sam Tinkabel Hawkins

New Moon Women's Circle with Linda Rogers

Connect to Cuda and the Cucculati with Kate Dineen

Magical Wand Making with Helen Hart

Sacred Land Walking with Colleen Heller and Louise Phelps

Cacao Ceremonies with Ju Avila

Cotswold Celtic Spiral with Fleur Camille

Sacred Chanting with JJ Howell

Kemetic Magic School with Clare Annaly

Crystal Healing Introduction with Crystal Catalyst

Priestxess of the Cotswolds Spiral 1 Stone Stream and Sky Year long collaboratively taught training with Sarah Dixon, Kate Dineen, Billie Rose, Anna Saqqara, Dawn Oakley-Smith, Fleur Camille, Phyllis Baker, Yvette Staelens, Bliss Magdalena and Nicola Haasz

Temple Arts Practitioner Training, Reiki Attunements, Hot Stone Massage, Pelvic Herbal Steam workshops with Bliss Magdalena

Here are some quotes from volunteers and visitors to the temple:

"Thank you so much for creating this beautiful space. I felt so happy when I heard of it. Bringing more energy into Stroud from the Feminine. "

"Making a connection with the Goddess Temple space. The spirit of this place is Tangible. Already it begins to absorb and radiate peace and happiness. Blessings and Light, Chris."

"Thank you for creating the space together. So grateful to be a part of this. Blessings, Love and Light, Marisa xxxx"

"I'm so blessed to hold space as a Melissa at the temple, to see faces light up at the sight of our beautiful changing of the seasons altar and glorious Cuda, to show people around and share tales and truths of our ancestors, to see feminine and masculine alike in full embrace, and honour our sacred history. To just be here, is peace joy love rolled into one.

And a cuppa .. ♡♡♡Ananda"

"Thankyou for kind welcome and gentle spirits, M"

"A wonderful space filled with a wonderful community. Elle"

"Thankyou thankyou thankyou. I feel held here. Alice"

"Beautiful space, peaceful haven. Thank you"

"Peaceful and blessed - Beautiful honouring of the Goddess. JJ"

"Peaceful and calming, I love it xxx"

"Being able to connect to, volunteer, train and attend events at The Stroud Goddess Temple has been a wonderful experience for me. I feel so lucky to have been drawn into this accepting and loving community and benefitted from the support there, which was last year, when Bliss handfasted my husband and I, and asked me to create for the temple. I know it would have taken months, if not years to brave such an unknown alone, and thank the Goddess that it happened when it did.

To be able to fully express freely, and celebrate my own personal understandings of Mother Earth, of spirit, of female divinity in balance with the male and experience true sisterhood is a blessing too great to fully express in words and my wish is that many more people will be blessed with it too.

Helen Hart"

"Blessings to nature of love, all of your calming joy and compassion and flexibility, may all your abundant gifts shine through timelessly through all of us infinitely."</