What a joy it was to offer this clay goddess workshop at the Great Goddess Gathering. I feel so incredibly grateful for working with such a beautiful group of women, sharing stories of both the earthly and the mystical realms.
We went on a journey into the timeless realms of the ancient clay fertility Venus goddesses of 30,000 years ago, whilst also weaving in how they can help us to reshape our body images if ourselves and each other today.
Presently I am studying for a masters in interdisciplinary arts at Wrecsam University, and I am researching The mythological and ceremonial properties of how clay is an intrinsic a binder of social matter. I have been looking at Ancient mythologies, and looking at how they can help to shape and reform themselves into the new mythologies, which are relevant to the rituals and ceremonies created by modern day goddess culture.
As part of my research, I have been investigating the mythological stories which have been told in clay for around 30,000 years. Although my dyslexic tendencies, have meant that I have felt challenged by academia, I have found that uncovering the ancient legacies of the ancestral ways, is showing me that the timeless stories which have been told in clay for thousands of years, are as relavent today, as they may have been back in the days of their creation.
Particularly when it comes to telling the ancestral stories of women and their relationship to their bodies, fertility, sexuality, death, rebirth, menopause and to the land on which they live. These stories seem intricately woven into the fabric of our being, whether they are known and in the broad light of day, or whether they are resting into shadows, in the the yet to be known parts of ourselves.
The Venus of Willendorf, Circa 25, 000 years old
In my workshop at the Great Goddess Gathering in Wales in 2024, we explored the notions of what it means to love and accept the uniqueness of our bodies, exactly as they are, without the masks of pretence, comparison or shame etc. as we reshaped the clay into our own personal goddess figures.
We crafted a beautifully safe container for creative and heartfelt expression, and I got to realise my long held dream of weaving the warp of the healing arts in with the weft of the creative arts and share it in community.
I am definitely going to carve out some time, and space to offer a deeper dive workshop into this work, I have so many ideas of how this can go now inspired by the GGG. It was so rich and such great fun to play!
I was also really grateful for the opportunity to share some gentle yoga in the morning with a lovely group of women too. Thank you @aimeeleafrances @aimeepegram for this gift of opportunity, to grow and explore. Love and thanks to all the wonderful warm hearted women of the GGG
I now have a workshop in mind called ‘The Re-Clay-mation of Venus’ if you are interested in exploring this work more, please drop me a line or keep a look out on the sacred tree healing arts website for more info. #claygoddesses
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