A Symphony of Peace Prayers

This morning I was privileged to offer some words of wisdom and a blessing as one of four spiritual leaders at the Symphony of Peace Prayers Ceremony that originated in Japan, and was performed here in Seattle. This beautiful ritual included a procession of flags from one hundred and ninety four countries around the world. Audience members became flag bearers and in doing so, everyone in the room had a role in the ceremony, a true community event. As each flag was carried to the front of the room, a candle was lit and a prayer for peace in that country and peace on Earth was spoken in unison. Flag after flag, prayer after prayer, our hearts opened. Here's the piece I shared with those who had gathered,  and now I share it with you: 

Good morning. I am Rev. Judith Laxer and I am the founding Priestess of Gaia’s Temple, an inclusive ministry that fosters love for the Divine Feminine by honoring nature and the qualities of relatedness and compassion. 


Relatedness and compassion are two qualities that, when active, cannot exist in the same time and space with war and conflict. When we remain mindful that the Earth is our mother and that she is alive and sentient, like our birth mother is or was, and she knows what is happening on her and to her, our treatment of her transforms. We cease to think of her as merely dense matter meant to be used as a resource. And so we stop fighting for those resources. We take better care of her because we recognize her as a conscious being, like ourselves. We are not separate from her. We are not separate from nature. Our callousness about what is happening disappears and our compassion fills in the space where it once lived, because we come to understand that we are also not separate from one another.

To better understand the feminine principle of reverence for nature and the practice of compassion and relatedness, I ask you, if you will, to imagine a world of women leaders. Just for a moment, imagine our world where the leaders of most, if not all, countries are women. 

In this imagined scenario, we might ask ourselves: 

do we think we’d be fracking the earth for more fossil fuel? Do we think we’d keep arming and sending our children into battle? Do we think we’d keep poisoning the land and water and air with pesticides and herbicides and chemicals, simply because they are left over from the last world war?

In our relatedness, in this awareness that we are not separate from one another, we raise our consciousness and come to realize that peaceful ways and means are wise.  The principle of relatedness is beautifully brought to bear here. If the Earth is our mother, than we are all her children. No matter where we live, or what we do for a living, or how much money we make, or who we chose to love, or which Goddess or God we worship. We remember that diversity is not only crucial for the health of the collective, but it brings so much beauty and strength. Not to mention keeping us from becoming bored.

As we gather today in a symphony of peace prayers, the harmony I’d like to add to our collective music is one in which we remember that the living Earth is our Mother, and we are all connected. In remembering this, we know that the best way, the necessary way, the most beautiful way to conduct our thoughts, our actions, and our lives is peacefully. When we strive to become peaceful within ourselves and act from that place of peacefulness, when we release our judgments, and our resentments, and our righteousness, we will be the agents of peace in the world.

So my blessing is simply this: May all of the children of Mother Earth awaken to our relatedness. May compassion for one another fill our hearts to overflowing. May be choose to live wisely in peaceful ways and means. And may we remember that love is always the answer.  To everything. Blessed be.  

Beltane Morning

It’s a simple thing, really. Not hard to do or remember. And yet the effects run deep and contribute to the magick of the day. Wash your face in May Day’s morning dew.

Each year on Beltane morning, I go outside in my back yard and find a patch of lawn that the sun has not yet dried.  Crouching down, the dew is cool. I swipe my hands across a swath of grass and moisten my face with it.  If any part of me is still sleeping, this encounter is a sweet and crisp wake-me-up.  The breeze further chills my damp skin and feels astringent. I imagine it does what Pagan lore tells me: I am made beautiful by following this ritual tradition.

Later in the day I get ready to leave for the Beltane ritual. I observe my face in the mirror. The usual critique about how I look begins in my mind's ears, but then I remember this morning and it stops before taking hold. Today I am beautiful because I am cleansed by the magick of morning dew. I still wear lipstick and eye shadow to the event. Color is one of my sensuous delights, after all. But this night I forego the foundation make-up I usually wear to give the illusion that my skin tone is even. The glamour is working and I throw caution to the wind, pin a flower in my hair and give myself a dazzling smile. I have a date with the Goddess!

I gather with others around the Maypole. We are here to celebrate our sensuous natures, to honor the union of our Goddess with Her God, and to weave magick into our lives. Diana's Bow smiles down at us during the after-ritual feast.