The Spiritual Philosophy of the Mother Grove Temple NB The Legal committee signed off on this document as here amended on 5/28/09
The spiritual philosophy of the Mother Grove Temple is one of respect for, worship of, and communion with the Divine envisioned as Goddess. We believe that the form of energy we call Goddess encompasses the entirety of the Universe and includes the male principle, the female principle, and all other expressions of gender. We vision the Goddess as both a Divine unity and a multi-faceted expression of that unity, so that expressions of the Divine as Goddess can be both monotheistic and polytheistic.
We believe that the longing for this expression of the Divine is not confined to any one religion or spiritual tradition and so the Temple welcomes all who are seeking this connection. We strive to see every lovingly-held and life-affirming spiritual path as sacred and an equally valid path to the Divine Connection as our own.
We believe that the Earth is a manifestation of the Divine and that humans are a part of this manifestation, neither above it nor below it. We believe that the Divine is made manifest through the classical elements–earth, air, fire and water–and embrace the concept of Divine immanence in our personal and communal worship. We practice rituals and celebrations that follow the agricultural and Solar year, which we call The Wheel of the Year. We believe that celebrating the cycles of change in the world are a way to focus on our own personal cycles of growth, both physical and spiritual. Therefore, we strive to live in harmony with the natural world, even if we live in urban areas. We also attune ourselves to the cycles of the Moon, the Stars and other celestial bodies and forces.
We affirm our commitment to be a welcoming congregation, embracing diverse expressions of human sexuality and partnering. We work to live our lives with a consideration and respect for others like ourselves, as well as the totality of our interconnected relations on the planet. We, therefore, endeavor to live a life of service and reverence and to do no harm.
We believe that it is important to raise our children and to encourage our sisters and brothers to live lives of meaning and to learn and practice virtues that include an ethic of personal responsibility, search for knowledge, reliability, kindness and justice. We understand that our reckoning and understanding of time is limited and therefore, we honor and respect both our Ancestors and our Descendents.
We believe that the Goddess/es for whom we have reverence and love stand as example/s of how we may live a fuller, more empowered life as women and men. We celebrate our connections to the Divine through the celebration of rites of passage that include Saining (baby blessing), First Blood (coming-of-age), Handfasting and Croning/Maging.
We choose to do our ritual work within the confines of the circular model, which encourages egalitarianism and interconnectedness in our worship community. This form mirrors the cycles of the seasons, of human life and the great cycles of birth-death-rebirth.
We believe that the longing for this expression of the Divine is not confined to any one religion or spiritual tradition and so the Temple welcomes all who are seeking this connection. We strive to see every lovingly-held and life-affirming spiritual path as sacred and an equally valid path to the Divine Connection as our own.
We believe that the Earth is a manifestation of the Divine and that humans are a part of this manifestation, neither above it nor below it. We believe that the Divine is made manifest through the classical elements–earth, air, fire and water–and embrace the concept of Divine immanence in our personal and communal worship. We practice rituals and celebrations that follow the agricultural and Solar year, which we call The Wheel of the Year.
Our purpose is to maintain and nurture a thriving community where people of all spiritual traditions may openly and safely celebrate the Divine Feminine, the Goddess of a Thousand Names, the Mother of All. The Mother Grove is a federally approved 501(c)(3) non-profit church. All contributions to the Mother Grove are tax deductible. We welcome you to this growing circle of celebrants, envisioning a place of our own.
Mother Grove Goddess Temple 