Searching for the magic of the feminine

 

Sed ut perspiciatis unde omnis iste natus error sit voluptatem accusantium doloremque laudantium, totam rem aperiam, eaque ipsa quae ab illo inventore veritatis et quasi architectoeaque ipsa quae ab illo inventore.

 

art Ineke Bergman – goddess Anna
art Nils Blommer (1850) – White Wieven

Her Story

Searching for the magic of the feminine 

Midsummer, the feast of the goddess Anna
The feast that belongs to Anna is the feast of the summer solstice. It is celebrated on June 21 on the longest day of the year due to the richness of the earth and the power of the sun. According to tradition, mead, an alcoholic honey drink, is drunk. The celebration is accompanied by bonfires, a tribute to the sun. Herbs are thrown into the fire to ward off evil spirits.

On the night of 20 to 21 June, in Stonehenge, thousands of visitors (including Druids and Wiccans) gather at Stonehenge, a prehistoric stone circle monument in England, who want to attend the first sunrise after the solstice and thus welcome the summer sun.

 

White Wieven
The grain harvest and thanksgiving festival of the Witte Wieven, is celebrated in the Netherlands around August 1st. Most of us are familiar with the term Witte Wieven and think of the floating mists or patches of fog that you see dancing above the land near birch trees, near peat bogs, or on the heath. The folk tales from the north and east of our country that deal with these ladies are usually dismissed as fairy tales and the Church labeled these women as witches, spirits or ghosts. Yet there was once a time when the White Wives were worshipped as goddesses and those folk tales are a source of knowledge because they are based on the myths about wise women and pagan goddesses from the distant past. 

“Jehanne always tried to connect her heroism with her heart. That’s why she’s a real Shero to me. “Dream your life and live your dreams,” her story seems to be calling out to us.”

Synopsis NL

Synopsis EN

Mijn verhaal beschrijft mijn zoektocht naar de magie van het vrouwelijke, waar ik het heb gevonden en hoe dat mijn bestemming in het leven heeft veranderd.

Mijn ervaring is dat de roep van onze voorchristelijke godinnen, die symbool staan voor verschillende vrouwelijke kwaliteiten, steeds sterker wordt.

In deze tijd komt, zowel bij mannen als vrouwen, steeds meer het verlangen naar boven om mannelijke waarden en vrouwelijke waarden in balans te brengen. Dat is ook een noodzaak als we willen overleven. Zonder het vrouwelijke is er immers geen nieuw leven mogelijk.

Ik ben het als een opdracht gaan zien om over godinnen te schrijven en onderzoek naar ze te doen: met name naar die godinnen die in voorchristelijke tijd in onze Lage Landen werden geëerd.

Kennis hebben van de verschillende vrouwelijke eigenschappen, waar de godinnen voor staan, biedt vrouwen rolmodellen die ze in onze patriarchale samenleving ontberen. Door contact te maken met de  vrouwelijke wijsheid van onze stammoeders komen vrouwen tot een positiever zelfbeeld, waardoor ze zich evenwichtiger ontwikkelen.

Werken met godinnen maakt je sterker, creatiever en vult je leven met magie.

My story describes my search for the magic of the feminine, where I found it, and how that changed my destiny in life.

My experience is that the call of our pre-Christian goddesses, who symbolize various feminine qualities, is getting stronger and stronger.
In this day and age, both men and women, the desire to balance masculine values and feminine values is increasingly emerging. That is also a necessity if we want to survive. After all, without the feminine, no new life is possible.

I have come to see it as an assignment to write about goddesses and to do research on them: in particular on those goddesses who were honored in our Low Countries in pre-Christian times.

Having knowledge of the different feminine traits that the goddesses stand for, provides women with role models that they lack in our patriarchal society. By connecting with the feminine wisdom of our matriarchs, women come to a more positive self-image, which allows them to develop in a more balanced way.

Working with goddesses makes you stronger, more creative, and fills your life with magic.

 

Ineke Bergman is a wife, mother of two sons, mother-in-law of two daughters-in-law, grandmother of three granddaughters and one grandson, daughter, caregiver, friend, priestess and author. She followed a four-year astrology course and a four-year course in Jungian psychology with Karen Hamaker in Amstelveen.

In 2005 she completed a two-year priestess training (a training in ancient female wisdom).
She conducts research on goddesses who were in pre-Christian times were venerated in the Low Countries. In doing so, she wants to bring these forgotten role models for women into the light so that we can get to know their names – and the places of power in nature that are connected to them again.

Publications:
‘Research on Eating Disorders in relation to the 2nd house of the horoscope’, 1998. Published as an article ‘Eating disorders and your self-esteem’ in Symbolon, volume 8 no.4.
‘Workbook Solaren’, Symbolon, Amstelveen, 2001
‘The stars of your life’, A3 books, Geesteren, 2005, co-author
‘Goddesses of our own soil’, A3 books, Geesteren 2007
‘Holy Sources in the Low Countries’, Chapter ‘Fostare’ pp 142-155, A3 books, Geesteren 2013
‘Wondrous West-Friesland’, Chapter ‘Meda: a West Frisian goddess’, Fantastic Past, 2016

self made cereal doll in honour of Ker

Brigida art Wendy Andrew

The Purring Goddess Holle by Andy Hurst

Tanfana: a beautiful painting by Annette Eijkelkamp