Merry Meet,
The Goddess 2000 Project is a gress roots organization dedicated to promoting the creation of Goddess Art and images by everyone and anyone who celebrates the Goddess, Nature or an Earth based spiritual or religious tradition.
The Goddess 2000 Project has over 20,000 participants in over 52 countries. Since the Project began, thousands of statues, paintings, drawings, mosaics, prayer flags, plays, poems, and other creative celebrations of the Goddess have been created by our participants.
How it all Began . . . . . . . .
The ~Goddess 2000 Project~ is a labor of love and devotion to the reclaiming of sanity and a vision of world that honors diversity and celebrates all people. We revere Nature, our fellow creatures and all life. This is the way of the Goddess.
A few years ago, it struck me that it was time to begin building Temples to the Goddess and Sacred Statues and Earthworks on a large scale. Moving in this direction, in 1997 I created the Spiral Goddess Grove online as a "Virtual Goddess Temple".
From the very beginning the response was great! As more and more people visited the Spiral Goddess Grove and signed the guestbook, their longing for connection with the culture of the Goddess became very clear to me. The original purpose of the Grove was to create an "on ramp" to Goddess Culture that actively celebrated racial diversity and harmony.
As the Spiral Goddess Grove grew, and more Altars were added, it became a popular place of meditation, peace and learning for Pagans and Goddess folks at all levels of experience. While I tended and worked on the Spiral Goddess Grove, I began to vision connecting many Pagans in a celebratory way. A way that that focused on our ecstacy, not our oppression. I was ready to do it, but just wasn't sure how, but the Grove was a start. The Spiral Goddess Grove is at www.spiralgoddess.com
That night, I was part of a small womens' circle full moon ritual. During the ritual I had a clear vision of thousands of Pagans making large Goddess images and beginning to build Temples in their communities. It was so clear, I knew that it was just a matter of bringing it into being.
After the ritual we sat around and talked about my vision, and what might actually be possible. It all seemed possible to me! There really could be an International tribute to the Goddess, all we had to do was do it! My mind raced with the possibilities. It was very exciting, all the pieces were beginning to fit together in my mind. Then Susan, a wonderful womyn from Berkeley, said, "You mean like a Goddess on every block?" Her words were the magic thread that tied the vision, ideas and the action together.
Later that night, I began to design the Website for the ~Goddess 2000 Project~ "A Goddess on Every Block!" The next day I posted it to the Internet and wrote Press Releases. Within a few days I had sent out hundreds of Press Releases to Pagans around the country and Pagan groups in other countries. The Project has been growing like wild-fire ever since!
Within a few weeks, The Witches Web and Circle Sanctuary joined the ~Goddess 2000 Project~ as Co-Sponsors of this Grass-roots Pagan Community event. We were then joined by The Witches' Voice. Their support of this Project has done a great deal to increase awareness and make it a reality. In August 1999 COG joined the Project as a Sponsor.
The Goddess is the mother of this Project, the Internet is the midwife, and I'm boiling water as fast as I can!
The Internet made the birth of this amazing tribute to the Goddess possible. The magick of electronic connection has allowed me to easily communicate with Goddess folks instantly, and that makes coordination of this type of an International Grass-roots event feasable. We already have participants in Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, England, Finland, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Lebanon, Mexico, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, the Phillipines, Scotland, Singapore, South Africa, Sweden, Virgin Islands Wales, and the US.
My hope is that this will be the first of many, many, such events to help build the Pagan Community's culture and connections in years to come.
About the founder . . . . .
I am Abby Willowroot, an artist, a mother, a pagan, and a jeweler who has been creating Goddess images since 1971 and Pagan images since 1967. Nine of my pieces are part of the Smithsonian Institution's Permanent Women's History Collection. I am a past Crafts Coordinator for the West Coast Women's Music Festival, and a Masterpiece Award winner at the Northern California Renaissance Pleasure Faire. It was my privilege to be a long time contributor to WomanSpirit Magazine, and Llewellyn Publications. One of my Goddess drawings was on the Cover of the very first issue of SageWoman Magazine. For many years I have been a Priestess of the Goddess and am an ordained minister.
Since the early seventies I have created tens of thousands of Goddess pieces in jewelry, sculpture and graphics. My life's work has been to increase awareness of the Goddess. It has been a wonderful journey. Today, many years later, we truly have a Culture of the Goddess and it is growing in strength everyday. We as a community, are about ready to take the next step in building for the future.
Merry Part & Merry Meet Again
Abby Willowroot
The promotional phase of the Goddess 2000 Project officially ended in 2003, but the Artwork of the participants continues, and new art is made eveyday in honor of the Goddess. When the Goddess 2000 Project was founded it was as a grass roots organization with a finite life span, whose purpose was to begin empowering people to claim their own creativity and make Art in celebration of the Goddess and Nature. It has fulfilled its mission, and many connections and groups have been formed as a result of the Goddess 2000 Project.
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