Standing in the Atlantic Ocean at Virginia Beach, (from left) Tiffany Click, Katie St. Amour and Dawn McCaslin, raise their hands to the sky to raise energy--a form of deep, active prayer--to create scared space. They then returned the energy to the ocean and earth in thanks. View More Images from this story Visit the Photo Place

View the Spotsylvania County community page

Women appeal to goddesses for healing, positive change

Women appeal to goddesses for healing, positive change

By EDIE GROSS

Date published: 1/23/2005

By EDIE GROSS

LOAKED IN darkness, the three women thread their way through the woods, relying on feel and routine to find the familiar stone-encircled fire pit.

Tiffany and Katie dug the pit themselves last winter, raking up a carpet of soggy leaves and chopping through tree roots first.

"We were she-women that day," Tiffany recalls, clearing a new coat of leaves from the depression.

Moments later, flames chew on the twigs in and around the pit. The fire lifts a few dead leaves into the air, where they flutter, trailing smoke.

All three women face the flames, a warm glow reflected on their cheeks.

Dawn breaks the silence.

"By the earth that is her body," she starts. The others chime in.

"By the air that is her breath. By the fire that is her bright spirit. By the living waters of her womb."

The temperatures have dropped into the low 30s on this November evening, and their breath escapes in foggy puffs.

A canopy of tall trees shelters this sacred space. Tonight, their words focus on rising above the harsh judgments of others, on embracing tolerance.

"Facing our formless foes, ugly and proud in their manipulative games to gain ever-increasing power, we name them and bring them into the light," says Dawn, who wrote the remarks herself.

"Hate. Fear. Ignorance. Bigotry. Xenophobia. Consumerism. Prejudice. Selfishness.

"We reach to our sides, wrapping fingers around heavy hilts and draw our swords. Though our armor is dented and dirty, and our shields have split or caved, we will not fall prey to this obscurity without a fight. "

They call themselves the Sisters of Bella Luna, a coven just for the three of them.

The swords, the armor, the shields are all metaphorical. Their first rule: Do no harm.

Instead, at weekly circles like this one, Tiffany Click, Dawn McCaslin and Katie St. Amour--whose spirituality falls under the pagan umbrella--invite goddesses to help them promote compassion, honesty and open-mindedness in others.

"The war has only begun," Dawn continues. "As the darkness thickens, we charge into the heart of our adversaries without a backward glance."

As a child, Tiffany spent Sundays daydreaming in the pews of Episcopalian churches here and in Northern Virginia.

One of her childhood friends was Muslim. Tiffany, 30, recalls that when she was 12, she asked her mother if that friend would go to heaven.

Follow us on

Date published: 1/23/2005