Celebrate the Journey of Sage Goddess

It’s been a magical 5 years at Sage Goddess 

In April of 2011, I was a professor at the University of San Diego, teaching a university seminar to graduate students on Love and Leadership. The final course assignment was to describe one way you would actively manifest more of what you love in the world.

I did the final assignment along with them.

What I wrote was this: “To manifest more of what I love in the world, I will gather people from around the world every month to honor, celebrate, and experience the energy of the full moon as a constant reminder to us all that what is empty will always become full again.” On July 25, 2011 I offered my first White Sage and Rose Bundle on Etsy. And just a few months later, I offered my first online Full Moon Ritual after creating a live meetup group called The Muse, with whom I celebrate the full moon in person each month. It all started very small, very local, but with a belief that the work would one day grow much larger.

What an incredible process it has been these last five years, building Sage Goddess and watching it flourish. We now have more than 300,000 people in our online communities. There was always a vision for Sage Goddess as a global community; to see it all come together over these last years is a truly wish fulfilled, and intention manifest in the most magical of ways. It has been my honor to serve you as a conduit of love, inspiration, healing, empowerment, and magic.

What is Sage Goddess – where it began

I am asked all the time, what is Sage Goddess? Why or how did you create this company? My answer tells a story of my life, a story of my love, and is a reflection pool of sorts for you to gaze in and see your own soul mirrored back to you. What follows is the SG Origin Story, the narrative of our creation. I say ‘our’ rather than ‘mine’ because I believe that SG is much bigger than me, or any one person; it’s a movement in a sacred direction, a river of love and surrender, an energy translated in form, a wish materialized in the world, and not just for me, but for everyone who walks through our doors, shops online with us, joins a free online ritual, or enrolls in my courses.

But to begin, I have to tell you a seemingly unrelated story. My roots are in academe, and so the story of Sage Goddess begins there.

Many years ago, decades now, one of my mentors was speaking in front of a huge audience at the university where he was President at the time. People were asking him lots of technical questions – where did he want to take the university in 5 years, how many students were enrolling the next semester, what new courses were being planned. And then someone in the far back of the auditorium stood up and asked him, “Do you love being President?” He said that the question stopped him in his tracks. Because he didn’t love it. And until that person asked him so directly, he hadn’t thought about it before. He was on such a fast track in life, looking for promotion and the next rung on the ladder. No one taught him to stop and ask whether he was happy, whether he loved what he did or who he was.

It’s one thing to love what you do in your life. It’s another thing to love being it. To love being you. I thought I loved being a university professor, and I did for many years before I went into industry and began my corporate consulting career. I thought I loved being a consultant, and I did, but something always nagged at me to pursue my deeper passions. I believe that the Universe is always trying to create through you; that creation is your soul purpose. You have to listen and act upon your instinct about what that purpose is. I was in my 30s before my purpose became very clear. In fact I would tell you that I don’t think I could have created SG before I had my kids. Becoming a mother activated so much of my personal magic. And when that purpose and magic began to speak to me, I was terrified. It was scary to listen to it, intimidating, thrilling, and very very necessary. When I finally listened and took steps to create what you now know as Sage Goddess, my health improved, my relationships grew stronger. And so it goes. When you live your life on purpose, things fall into place. This I know for sure.

Sage Goddess is who I am, what I love, and the reason I’m here; I love doing it, and I love being it. Through SG, I am both a mirror and the muse for people in my community. I hold up a mirror to people showing them a vision of what is possible, and then I inspire them to go make that vision a reality. I am a creator and keeper of Sacred Space, dreamscaper of places to hold and nourish you. Think of Sacred Space like a circle of hallowed ground, a place you know you have to enter quietly and with reverence. The candles, gems, perfumes, incenses, and other items we craft are all points of entry into that sacred circle.

Sacred Space

What I’ve discerned over the past 5 years is that there are three primary ways to enter Sacred Space and the circle of power, magic, and creation:

• Are you a tactile person? Gems may be your way into the circle. Gems emit energetic frequencies that interact with your own personal frequency, adjusting and increasing or lowering it to create certain effects on your mood and disposition as well as the way your home or environment “feels” when you walk into it.
• Are you a person moved by smell? Then you are likely someone who prefers an olfactory experience as your way into the circle. The olfactory bulb which controls our sense of smell is adjacent to the oldest part of the brain, the Limbic System, which is also our wisest brain, our pre-modern brain that holds our understanding of deep emotion and spiritual connection. Inhaling the smoke of sacred herbs is also deeply healing and transformative.
• Are you a visual person? Then lighting a candle and watching the flicker of the flame or enjoying the warm glow of candlelight as it turns all it touches into shades of golden magic is likely your way into the sacred circle. Incense is another olfactory experience, and the resins and oils used in incense are many thousands of years old. Our early ancestors used these exact herbs and spices to create sacred space. We are just aligning to their lineage. We are coming into their circle in this time outside of time.

From inside the sacred circle, we more easily sense and discern our soul path. We may be afraid to follow it, fearful of what it will require, the change it may necessitate. But that path is our way back to the Divine, our connection to God however you think of deity. We are all walking home, finding our way back, tracing our steps. We are all heroes on a mythic journey to use Joseph Campbell’s powerful metaphor; and we are all brave stewards of a soul purpose bigger than ourselves. Sage Goddess is here as a vehicle to help make that path smoother and more accessible. I am here to help you remember WHO YOU ARE and to discover ways to love your being and not just your doing.

I thank you

I have many people to thank for this moment, this anniversary. I want to thank you, dear reader and sweet spirit, for being here with me and walking this path with me, allowing me to guide you, share with you, and trusting me to offer you tools to align you with your sacred work. My husband and entire family (my father even works with me!), my original San Francisco team, all the beautiful men and women who work with me now in Torrance, our local community who supports us here, the teachers and readers who come and offer their gifts in our space. It takes a village to create magic. And everyone in the SG village is exceptionally talented, wise, and magical in his or her own right.

Thank you for seeing me. I see you right back. Here’s to many more years of magic unfolding. May the fire within your soul be ever kindled. May you know exactly why you are alive. May you have the courage to listen to the voices guiding you. May you always have support and encouragement. May the blessings and kindness of others  follow you. May you always know you are loved.

So it is.
Athena