Our Core Beliefs

The Sisterhood of Avalon: Belief Statement

We follow a Goddess-Centered Path and work with the Welsh Pantheon. We feel that the female path is different from that of the male path — they are equal, and equally different. Although we honor and acknowledge the Male aspect of Deity, we are a Women’s Mystery Tradition working to reclaim the arts and spiritual expressions of our spiritual foremothers.

We work strictly within the confines of the Avalonian Tradition. Although our Sisters vary in their perspectives as soft or hard polytheists, as a tradition, we maintain our focus on the Goddesses that make up the Avalonian Pantheon. While we do not require complete commitment to the Avalonian path in exclusion of all others – that is to say, our Sisters may explore what they will of other paths concurrently with their Avalonian work — we do ask that these workings are kept separate from those of the Avalonian Tradition.

We believe in the importance of understanding the culture which inspires the Avalonian Tradition and from which the myths and legends we work with emerged. Therefore, we encourage all areas of study of ancient and Celtic British culture. Immersion in this energy deepens our ability to understand the wisdoms of our spiritual forbears and seeks to honor the living culture of Wales. Music, dance, song, chant, language, history, art, healing, ritual, divination, folklore, and traditional crafts and practices all hold deep spiritual lessons, and are paths of service in our Tradition.

We work to understand and intimately know the Powers of Land, Sea, and Sky, for through them we can understand the ways in which energy works both within and without.

We seek the Illumination of Awen through our workings and as part of our Quest for wholeness and understanding both of Self and Goddess.

We follow the Lunar cycles for our Holy Day workings, not the modern Calendar, which was unknown to the ancient Celts. We observe the Lunar Holy Days — Calan Gaeaf (Samhain), Gwyl Mair (Imbolc), Calan Mai (Beltane) and Gwyl Awst (Lughnasadh) — and work on the Dark and Full Moons.

We embrace, as our highest ideal, the concept of personal empowerment. We guide our sisters with tools that support their coming into their own wisdom. Our community operates with the foundational principle that we are each working to obtain our personal sovereignty, while we seek to honor the personal sovereignty of others. We already have all the answers … we must only remember how to ask the questions.

We do not pray to the Goddess to ask Her to change our lives. We do not utilize manipulative magicks of any kind. We believe that we change the world by changing ourselves. The Goddesses of Avalon work WITH us to effect this change and attain the goal of inner transformation — for through issue resolution and soul healing, we become closer to the Divine within ourselves.

We strive to heal ourselves and gain inner clarity so that we are not ruled by the unconscious motivations of Shadow. When we see with new eyes, we expand our perception of the Universe and our place within it. We do not seek psychism for its own sake. “Psychic” abilities (i.e., the Sight) are the by-product of our work, not the reason for it.

We trust in the Wisdom of the Universe, and in the Universe’s ability to maintain order and balance of its own accord. We work to untangle the snares of the personal Shadow, while honoring its workings and recognizing our inability to see the full Tapestry. It is not for us to seek to change the path of others; the only person we can change is is ourselves, and only thus are life lessons learned.

Although we acknowledge and honor the wisdom and accomplishments of our Sisters with community based recognition of their attainment, we believe that all true shifts of consciousness and initiations come ONLY from the hand of the Lady Herself. Through the transformation of Shadow energies, there is an increased ability to see with clarity and separate ourselves from issues of power and ego. Only when one can bypass ego, and find joy in service rather than power, can one begin to hear with clarity.

Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, the Avalonian path is experiential. It cannot be learned by reading books or through observation of others. We must each actively seek our wisdom. This path is also self-limiting, and therefore requires the utmost discipline and dedication. A woman will only get out of the work what she puts into it. One cannot be an armchair Priestess of Avalon. A woman who seeks to walk this path must be willing to put it all on the line, have the courage to look her shadows square in the face, and be able to effect positive change in her life. The path is endless … there is never nowhere else to go — there is only unwillingness to look further. We are ever unfolding, ever-seeking to conquer the mists which obstruct our sight.