Imbolc

Imbolc (Brigantia, Candlemas)

Click here for some notes on the holiday from Juno Covella.

Isian News - Brigantia 2013

The Brigantia (Imbolc) issue of Isian News is now available at the following link: http://isiannews.blogspot.com/.

FOI Oracle of the Month - February

February 2013
Oracle: The Goddess Ishtar
Booklet: "Melusina, Life Centres of the Goddess"
By: Olivia Robertson

This month's Oracle is dedicated in memory of the Rt. Rev. Deena Butta.

Invocation:

I invoke the Goddess Ishtar, Lady of 15, of thou who descended through the seven gateways of the Underworld to save thy husband Dumuzi. Thou who surrendered and regained thy crown of Light, lead us to knowledge of our immortality.

Oracle:

You can only realise that you lie in an unreal world when you awaken to Eternal Reality! And this you do unknowingly each day, whenever your heart responds to the needs of others. It is not through sensational initiations that the soul awakens and finds Divinity, but through the trials, torments, even boredom of transient existence. For this very unreality, this perplexing seeming chance teaches you to seek for inner meaning. To suffer bereavement is to search for the one you have lost. In this search you find not only the departed soul in the world of Spirits, but also knowledge of your own survival.

In truth My own descent through the seven spheres of Being is your own descent. Each one of you is Dumuzi, is Ishtar. The strange monsters in the abyss of My sister Irkalla are nothing more than projections of your own half-formed emotions.

The way to attain your Crown of Stars is to explore the depths. The herb of Immortality has its roots in your spine, in the black earth. As you grow spiritually, you begin to receive the Light. As a flower reaches up to the sun, so does your soul receive the life-giving rays of the God Shamash of the sun. Later you become aware of the Star Deities. So from a soul you become a Spirit, and from a Spirit you become a Deity. But you only attain your Crown of Light when you share the Light with others, whether human, beast or plant. You become like the serpent that sheds its skins, as you travel through many lives in ever-widening consciousness.

  
(c) Olivia Robertson, FOI co-founder
All Rights Reserved
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Fellowship_of_Isis_Oracles
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Note: Sharing of the Oracle of the Month is encouraged, however, it is not for resale.
Please keep this notice, as well as the above copyright and Yahoo link intact. Thank you!

FOI Oracle of the Month - January 2013

January 2013
Oracle: The Goddess Atlanta
Booklet: "Isis of Alchemy"
By: Olivia Robertson


Invocation:

Mysterious Atlanta, Goddess of lost worlds, Who like a comet unites all spheres in glorious harmony, bring us inspiration that we may create beauty around us.

Oracle:

Fly with me above past, present and future, and gaze down upon the landscape of Eternity! This is the new aeon of cosmic consciousness. Each of you chose to be born at this time of the great awakening. We whom you call the Immortals summon the Divine hidden within each soul. Animals and birds: trees, earth and sea respond.

Through the gateway of dreams you shall reap the harvest of past and future lives, and gain the seeds of your own Divinity. The limitations of the human brain have restricted you from rising above the duality of good and its shadow, evil. Your heritage is love and happiness. Do not fear evil. All that is ugly, cruel and distorted dissipates into nothingness - because it is ignored... there is no evil in Heaven. Only the Divine belongs there.

You shall with brave hearts explore the spiritual realms of the stars, and dream in black space. You will encircle many-coloured planets and discover the lovers who await you. And when you have had your fill of enjoyment, then is the time for you to join with Us in Our work of creation. You shall help Us weave the tapestry of the stars, and form a dewdrop in one small flower.



(c) Olivia Robertson, FOI co-founder
All Rights Reserved
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Fellowship_of_Isis_Oracles
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Note: Sharing of the Oracle of the Month is encouraged, however, it is not for resale.
Please keep this notice, as well as the above copyright and Yahoo link intact. Thank you!      

FOI Oracle of the Month - December 2012

Oracle: The Goddess Maya
Booklet: Fortuna, Creation through the Goddess
By: Olivia Robertson


Invocation:
Divine Goddess Maya, who shines through the stars with the copper-coloured radiance of love, bring us into your rainbow network that unites all hearts.

Oracle:
I am the Cosmic Mother and from my Matrix emerge all beings. My encircling strands of hair form the galaxies and My eyes are twin stars. My limbs form the constellations and and My dark womb receives the stars when they come to their final rest, to be reborn in another sphere.

Yet My fingers draw the delicate spider's web and My eyes look at you with the sad gaze of the timid fawn. I see you with the eyes of friend and enemy, of those who threaten you and those who protect you. It is My singing you hear when your heart responds to music and My face gazes upon the world through paintings and woven cloth. When you love anyone or anything you love Me.

Yet I am also the distorted mirror image in the sphere in which you are entrapped; the five-barred prison of the senses. Your questing minds cannot know more than your prison permits, for you are lost Gods and Goddesses entrapped by the grid of the stars. You seek for release and this very wish brings it about! The moment you acknowledge the Greater, the Greater make way for you. You create the prison; you determine your own release.

We, your Fathers and Mothers, your Sisters and Brothers, may not respond to your anguished prayers, when you make no effort to help yourselves! You with your longing and hard work create the pyramid of earth that reaches to the stars. In response, we extend our luminous Cone of Light downwards, until its point reaches your hearts.

The End Times have come which are the beginning of a new Creation. Recognize yourselves as immortal and lo! You are so! You never awaken into eternal reality in the past or the future; only in the ever-living Now. We are here. We are coming. Approach and meet Us. 

Update to the FOI Code of Ethics

Message Received From
The Rt. Rev. Hon. Olivia Robertson, Co-Founder of the Fellowship of Isis
And the Rev. Cressida Pryor, Olivia’s Successor
November 29, 2012

All operations within the Fellowship of Isis are based on the principles of the Manifesto, which promote truth, beauty, healing, compassion, kindness and reverence for all life. All members act in accordance with the ideals of the Goddess Isis as the Compassionate, Loving Mother of All Beings. No act of submission, domination, exploitation, physical trial or ordeal, including physical or mental wounding or 'sacred sex working' and prostitution will be tolerated within the practice of the FOI. Activities which are not in alignment with the principles of the FOI Manifesto are grounds to revoke FOI Priestess/Priesthood and/or FOI Membership.

Speaking both as the co-founder of this Iseum and as a person with first-hand experience of abusive behavior in a previous spiritual context, I cannot stress enough how important the above statement is, and how timely. While such abuse is hardly a new thing, the internet has made it possible for the wider dissemination of information, and thus localized scandals spread far beyond the bounds of their influence; and so we hear of more and more of these cases than ever before. It's disgusting and disheartening, knowing that there are so very many people who exploit the sincere and the trusting and the inexperienced and the vulnerable, but that knowledge provides us with the tools we need to combat it, to be vigilant and root out not only those who are inclined to abuse but also the underlying structures that lay a framework for the abuse to be not only possible but tolerated or even accepted as somehow necessary or required.

What people choose to do in their own time is their own business, of course, and I do not read the above statement as condemning or forbidding people to engage privately in what might be seen in a different context as questionable or dangerous behavior; but it does forbid those activities in an FOI context. I would suggest that, if a person feels that any of the things listed above is vital to their spiritual expression, they seek out a path in which those elements are already present, and distance themselves from the FOI. We all agreed to the principles set forth in the Manifesto when we joined the FOI, and if upholding those principles is no longer possible, then the honorable thing to do is to step away from associating with the FOI.

(Again, I speak from experience. In the interest of disclosure I will admit that I was a part of a spiritual tradition which contained elements that I found to be exploitative, intrusive and dangerous. When I tried to modify those elements for my group's practice, I was told said elements were vital to the tradition's practice and that in removing or modifying them I could no longer claim to be practicing the same tradition. I disagreed, but eventually capitulated, coming both to the understanding I expressed above and also to the long-overdue realization that I did not want in any way to be associated with a tradition with such a questionable reputation!)

You may read further recent ethical statements from Olivia and Cressida by clicking here. Rest assured that the Iseum of the Mystic Isis is in complete agreement with these principles and will uphold them in both its online and real-time activities.

FOI Oracle of the Month - November 2012

November 2012 Oracle: The Goddess Tara Booklet: "Melusina, Life Centres of the Goddess" By: Olivia Robertson Invocation: I invoke thee, the goddess Tara! Thou art the Pristine Spirit, the Ultimate Nature and the clear Light of Heaven. Thou art the One Who encloses the Universe. Help us to rise above the sorrows and follies of this material world! Oracle: Have Peace. Peace is now, in your heart, if you will accept it. You will not attain Spiritual Light by refusing to face the darkness. The darkness not only contains your past but also, through transmutation, your future. Have courage. I have gone before you as a mortal woman and shall come again. I breathe my life into all beings and I suffer with them and share their ignorance and follies! The greatest evil you fear is death. There is no death. While you are identified with a body of clay you find it difficult to enjoy the bliss of the heavens. You are beset by grief, hatred, violence and cruelty. But you also acquire merit through overcoming these obstacles to Illumination. There are souls who never incarnate upon the earth. And these shine like the stars with pure light. But those such as yourselves who struggle bravely every day with its worries and sorrows gallantly walk backwards into the future! You do not know even what your next day will bring. The peace I bring is faith in the Divine Love, Buddhi. Take my lotus of ever-renewing life and so accept the future, whatever this may bring you. Know that the delusions of this earth become the material for creation in the Heavens. My magic is renewal. I do not ask you to reject evil, but to transmute it through understanding into good. I am Tara of the Many Selves: of the Heavens, of the dreaming moon, of the harsh earth. I enclose all these Selves in my rainbow Halo that encompasses all beings in my eternal Love, Beauty and Truth.