Since Earth Day is tomorrow, this month's full moon altar honours Great Goddess Gaia, the deified personification of our planet Earth. Although Gaia's ancient mythology originated in Greece, her imagery and significance have seen a huge resurgence in the 20th and 21st centuries as a central symbol of modern environmentalism, the green movement and green politics.
The statue at the centre of the altar is a reproduction of "The Millennial Gaia" created in 1998 by
Oberon Zell, a major figure in modern Neopaganism. It's a very well known statue and is widely available on the internet. I purchased mine about a year ago in a local Edmonton spirituality store.
Heavily pregnant Mother Earth Gaia births, nourishes and sustains all life on this planet. Without her, we are nothing. Her green foliage-hair showcases the evolutionary history of all life on land, while her green tattooed legs depict the evolution of life in the oceans. Mighty redwood and rainforest tattoes cover her arms. Her right breast is a cornucopia of plenty and her left breast is the moon. She has the Buddha's contemplative smile and meditative pose.
I surrounded Gaia on the altar with symbols of her four seasons -- vegetable seed packets for Spring, a sunflower candle for Summer . . .
. . . oak leaves and acorns for Autumn, and a sparkling snowflake swirl for Winter.
[Photos © Debra She Who Seeks, 2024]
