No Good Deed Goes Unpunished

 Boundaries? I Got Your Boundaries Right Here    by Cathryn Platine

 

I received this email the summer of 2020 a year prior to our removal at Jeremiah Lennox’s urging of Viktoria Whitaker for lying, abuse and violation of all three of her oaths of elevation. At the time I dismissed it but as it turns out I should have paid attention to it.

KatyaDinnye@protonmail.com

8/6/20, 18:34

(No Subject)

Hi Cathy. You don't know me but I've heard a lot about you. Victoria Whitaker talks to everyone about how she is just waiting for you to die or be put in a home. I was there when she talked on the phone to a hospital you were in last summer, and she told them you're a pig and they should not send you to your home because you couldn't take care of yourself. I've been there when she told my friend that you stole your house from the people who paid for it by lying to them, and that she hates you for controlling her and for liking her rapist because he is your drug dealer. She talks to everyone about you dying from your heart or smoking or getting too sick to live in the house you're in, how she will make things better after that. She got really upset in January when you didn't die in surgery. She brought in a man to help her, and she says they are planning together to have a house without you. So maybe you're being played out by people who can't wait to celebrate your death. Or maybe she just tells big stories about you and she's a terrible person. I looked you up on the chance that this might be what's true. If so, I have done the only thing I can. Good luck to you. I'm not going to write to  you any more and I don't talk to her, but I listen. when she calls my friend. She doesn't care who hears as long as you don't. She tells everyone.

Sent with ProtonMail Secure Email.

This was confirmed later in a facebook reply to Jay Stewart, Julie Pousson stated;

“Jay Stewart, Vikki’s goal was to wait out Cathryn and take the place over. She stated this goal to me and to others. She profited off the losses she caused, and wholly deserves her fate.”

Clearly the man she brought in was Jay Stewart who has now been reported to his employer, UPS, for his terrorist activities in addition to the charges made to the FBI initially. The supposed rapist is Barry Lucas from the Phat Coffee House who not only did NOT rape her but resisted her unwanted stalking of him at his home after they had consensual sex that she bragged about to me several times. He is not my “drug dealer”. Apparently Viktoria was not shy about her plans and hatred of me while I was totally unaware of what a nasty, vicious, hateful liar she was. I hate doing so but will probably file a complaint with the New York tax people about Viktoria's campaign of lies via Jay which violates several state laws. While Jay has no resources to sue him for, Viktoria and her actual husband do. I do not even need a lawyer to file on my own behalf and perhaps I can find one to do so for the Maetreum as the real world damages are beyond a doubt as this point and her husband, Gary, is worth at least a million.

I did not want to have to continue to write about this but Jay started again with false, rambling libelous “reviews of the Maetreum" on Google business, now joined by “Rennie” (Deborah Graney) a convicted felon for writing bad checks and who was involved in firebombing my car and confessed to that in several Facebook postings!

We are now up to an accusation that I stole over a million dollars, which far exceeds the Maetreum’s total income for it’s entire history! The average income for the Maetreum a year is around 30 to 35 thousand a year for ALL our expenses including propane, electric, trash removal, property maintenance and repair and running the community radio station, which is duly licensed despite Jay’s repeated lies that it is not. Other than a few donations of under 50 dollars and a concert organized to fund a taller antenna by the Phat Coffee boys, the station and all it’s expenses has been funded by the Maetreum. The money raised at the concert went to buying the antenna which was never raised for lack of volunteers and sits out back and to pay music licensing fees for the station after asking those who raised it if that was ok. Once again, the bookkeeping of the Maetreum dictates that NO ONE gets paid or reimbursed. The money only flows in one direction and for fourteen years every single penny went through Viktoria’s hands as treasurer. Literally the only way any money could be misappropriated would have been if it was stolen from petty cash on the way to the bank, again ONLY Viktoria did that as the bank is in Albany and she set up the account herself. I live on below poverty level social security and most of that money is deposited directly in the Maetreum bank account as well as the royalties for book sales from the Cybeline Revival. Every penny ever in the bank account can be accounted for as for legitimate expenses. It held up under the attempts of the Town of Catskill to find anything fishy during our legal action against them.

These constant lies are taking their toll as intended. Now I am supposedly “wanted” in Ohio for contractor fraud. My business went bankrupt four years prior to my moving to New York and largely due to fraud on the part of a contractor I sub contracted for and resulting in my filing a mechanic’s lien against a church that is still active to this day due to shenanigans pulled in court by the bonding company and the judge's refusal to rehear the case as ordered to do so by the appeals court and then dying. I not only did not “flee” Ohio but after losing my company I worked for four years at pink collar minimum wage jobs while also engaged in national and local trans civil rights activism. If I was “wanted” I never heard about it. Not then, not ever.

I moved to New York after I was disabled in multiple workplace injuries in order to establish a home for newly transitioned transsexuals to bootstrap themselves because in those days (and it looks like the future now as well) you almost always lost everything and everyone in your life when you transitioned. Along with three other women of trans history, I put everything I had left into getting the property. We “stole it” from no one. At one point Jay claimed we cheated our lawyer…… quite the opposite as a matter of fact. She literally blackmailed us for additional funds at the end of the case and then kept all the court costs awarded to us. We never saw a penny of that money.

So, you ask, why are these people so dead set on destroying my life and the Maetreum? It’s called boundaries. Viktoria kept adding to our housing contract for those we took in with every specific violation of boundaries. It became almost a joke. No one was ever asked to leave who did not violate several of the rules and were given multiple chances. Most of the time they were asked to leave at Viktoria’s insistence! Many of the people such as Rennie and company she had placed binding spells on that I found while cleaning out the freezer. Viktoria was the one who invited most of these people to the Maetreum in the first place. The only one I recall bringing in was Julie who supposedly was not in need but going to contribute a full share but never did. Julie was NEVER told to leave, she set up a situation where social services told her not to return as recounted in a prior entry here. Whenever I set a boundary on behaviour or out and out abuse, I became the enemy of these people. Julie lied about her dog (an exception was made for it) being housebroken, it was not, and it bit at least five people I know of in two short months! She never had the funds she promised and her last act was to attempt to have social services invade what turned out to be our last Orphan’s Thanksgiving to force me to kick out an actual woman in need that she herself pushed on me along with Viktoria again, on Thanksgiving.  It was a case of pure karma.  I never told her to exit or whatever version Jay is pushing this week.

Most of those asked to leave stole from us and mostly myself on the way out and did damages to the property in the thousands of dollars. Police refused to take reports in all cases. What I finally learned from all this is you cannot help people on their way to rock bottom, only after they hit rock bottom. We never got any funding from any agency for taking folks in need in and I still do not regret that we did so but no longer trust my own judgment in doing so in the future. I was always a happy person, no longer. I am not sure I believe in the basic decency of people anymore having been shit on so completely and without end. Jay is taunting me now with “Jeremiah left you”. More accurately, seeing the unending and extreme harassment, he ran away before it came to him as well.

At a time when some trans folks are fleeing states where their very existence is being outlawed I now fear taking any of them in because I have been abused, gaslighted, libeled, slandered, threatened, had my car firebombed and attempts made to take over our home by criminals and sociopaths. I now live under siege as a result with cameras recording around the house and alarms set up to let me know if anyone comes on the property so I can defend myself if necessary. I am now 74 years old and going blind, can barely walk and living alone.

While the property of the Maetreum may not survive me at least I know the Cybeline Revival will through the work of our youngest priestess who is becoming a Goddess academic powerhouse and who teaches at a Pagan Seminary and publishes almost every month.

I keep hoping some sane Goddess women will join me before I pass so this property and the first Temple to Cybele in 1600 years will survive. I have dedicated my life to service of others in civil rights activism and taking in those in need on the meager means I have had myself. I can barely afford to live at this point and cannot even get dentures. This is apparently what you get for trying to make a better world.  Frankly I deserve a hellva lot better.

Postscript 10/15/23:   They are bombarding the Google business listing for the Maetreum with personal attacks as fast as Google removes them for violation of their rules.   This is due to my starting a new Facebook group for trans people feeling the call of the Goddess and posting it in another Facebook group with rules against the personal attacks and false accusations they trade in as an attempt to prevent us from doing anything positive. 

 10/16/23:  Today they started calling in for false wellness checks on me, I just had two social workers "drop by" because of the anonymous call in.   Word to the wise, done for harassment this is a felony in New York.

For the Record

It has been some time since I last posted on this blog.  I am now 73 years old with a bionic heart (two artificial valves and a pacemaker) and the Maetreum has suffered, as much of the rest of organized  religions from the worldwide Covid pandemic.  We have been unable to hold a Season of the Tree celebration since the spring of 2019, shortly before my heart surgery.  Orphan's Thanksgiving was last held the fall of that same year.

While we continue to hold regular Full and New Moon celebrations, attendance is sparse.  We attempted to have a Season of the Tree last year but the outbreak of the Omicron  variant led us to cancel at the last moment.  During the pandemic, the summer of 2020, we took advantage of the summer weather to have many weekends working on the property and priestess training for three novitiates.  We started to do the same the summer of 2021 but ran into major trouble with one of our priestess, Viktoria Whittaker.  We had to remove her for egregious violations of all three aspects of her oath of elevation.   From that time forward she has sought out everyone ever at odds with the Maetreum and myself and waged war on us.

 Lately she and her married lover, Jay Stewart, have been accusing me online of stealing the funds of the Maetreum and from her.   I will quickly address that.  During the time she claims I was stealing the funds, she was the treasurer and every single penny including cash passed through her hands.   As per our organizational setup, no one gets any money from the Maetreum, period.  No reimbursements, no salary, no purchases on their behalf.  I ran my own business for many many years and learned that for a non profit, this is the only way to make yourself bullet proof and it was borne out during our court battle.  She and Jay, her lover, are also claiming I stole 100 thousand from Viktoria in contributions.  Lets look at that one square in the face.  She maintained the Maetreum as her primary residence and part time residence for the entire run of her priestesshood.   We all pay part of the expenses of running the property, suggested until recently at about six hundred a month to cover utilities, upkeep, garbage removal etc.  She paid her share most months (not all) and claiming that money was somehow stolen is the same as saying the landlord of the property stole all the rent you paid while you lived on their property.

Rather than give my own account of what led up to Viktoria's removal I am including the letter she got initially, the report to the entire Conclave of priestesses from Jeremiah Lennox and the letter removing her completely.   They speak better than I can.   I have waited almost two years for her insane war to end but she just steps it up so this is the record in case something happens to me.

Rev. Jeremiah Bruce Lennox, OMM 

Chapterhouse of the Ordo Magna Mater 

Care of Maetreum of Cybele, Magna Mater 

3312 Route 23A 

Palenville, New York 12463 

Regarding Viktoria Whittaker, Former Priestess of the Catskill Phrygianum

 7 th July 2021

 OVERVIEW

 Over the course of the preceding two years, since shortly after the hospitalization of the Battakes, I have served Mrs. Whittaker in the capacity of spiritual director, with both the blessing of the Battakes and Mrs. Whittaker’s willful agreement. Given recent developments regarding Mrs. Whittaker’s change of status within the Catskill Phrygianum and the Cybeline Revival as a whole, I feel compelled to submit this report regarding my work with and observations of her for formal review by the Conclave. I would also note that I have rescinded my role as spiritual director for Mrs. Whittaker and have, as of this date, made it abundantly clear through direct text messaging that I am unwilling to serve as a “go-between” for any communications she may wish with the Battakes, the College of Priestesses, or any other business of the Maetreum despite her repeated requests for such action.

 PAST ACTIONS AND DERELICTION OF DUTY 

1. At the time of the Battakes’ hospitalization, Mrs. Whittaker held the informal title of ‘Battakes-in-Waiting’ and as the only priestess at that time living within the State of New York, it was not only her duty to step up in sacred service but an absolute necessity for both the well being of the Battakes as well as the well being of the Maetreum. Unfortunately, Mrs. Whittaker was either incapable or prevented from stepping up to meet that moment, depending upon which version of the story she chooses to tell. During the course of my tenure as her spiritual director, I have heard several variants of the story. In the instance of being “incapable”, she has blamed her diagnosis of autism as the reason that she could not tend what needed tending (that being bringing supplies to the Battakes in the hospital, maintaining the Maetreum and its rites, and the business dealings of the Maetreum, such as paying the bills- noteworthy is that she was also entrusted as the treasurer at that time) because she was simply overwhelmed and could not rightly process what needed doing, and thus almost nothing was properly taken care of. In the case of her being “prevented” from doing so, Mrs. Whittaker blamed her husband as he would not allow her to tend to her duties in a timely or productive manner, and that is why she was unable to tend to the needs of the Battakes and left the Maetreum essentially shuttered and uncared for. 

 2. Following the hospitalization of the Battakes, Mrs. Whittaker provided next to no assistance to the Battakes during her recovery period except on weekends, leaving a septuagenarian recovering from major cardiac surgery in the Phrygianum alone (the building of which is arguably not well set up for such recovery or ease of access for the handicapped or disabled). This is both a direct dereliction of duty to the Battakes she was vowed to serve and tantamount to elder abuse. 

 3. On several occasions, Mrs. Whittaker has admitted to lying to the Battakes in matters regarding the management of the WLPP-LP 102.9 FM radio station, an extension of the ministry of the Maetreum of Cybele, Magna Mater, Inc. and another not-for-profit in its own right. These lies covered issues such as drug and alcohol abuse within the radio station by persons brought in by Mrs. Whittaker, her own use of alcohol while on air, and her engagement in an inappropriate sexual relationship with one of the broadcasters. I will note that the sexual relationship was inappropriate not because of any issues of age or consent, but rather because she was portraying herself as an officer of the station’s board and as a priestess of the Maetreum and engaging in a relationship with a person which ought to have been kept strictly professional for the wellbeing of both not-for-profits. 

4. Also following the hospitalization of the Battakes, Mrs. Whittaker was stripped of the informal title of “Battakes-in-Waiting”. Despite that change in status being made abundantly clear to her on several occasions both by the Battakes and myself, Mrs. Whittaker continued, until this past week, publicly misrepresenting herself as the “Battakes-in-Waiting”. Furthermore, she has misrepresented her role with the WLPP-LP 102.9 FM radio station having been publicly referring to herself as both a member of the board of directors and as the program director, neither of which was accurate as she was removed from that board in order to serve on another not-for-profit radio station’s board of directors, and it would have been illegal for her to serve on both. It was only this past weekend, on the same day that Mrs. Whittaker received the Official Notification from The Battakes of the Catskill Phrygianum, that she issued her letter of resignation to the manager of the other radio station. 

5. As you are aware, following the Battake’s recovery, we have engaged in an intensive rehabilitation effort to revivify the Maetreum, returning the buildings and grounds to a state satisfactory for use of worship and community service. This has involved many work-retreat weekends, bolstered by the Nemeton of the Ways’ community, to see the work through. Throughout the course of these work-retreat weekends, Mrs. Whittaker has paid great lip service to being in service, but was continually found wanting in actual engagement of service. Regularly she avoided participating in any actual rehabilitation work, instead burying herself in the “World of Metal” radio show, something distinctly lacking in ministerial character. On the rare occasions she chose to participate, or more frequently was directly told to participate by the Battakes, it was always lackluster and without any real effort to do the work correctly, which in turn actually hampered the rehabilitation process. While this does not constitute direct malevolence, it does serve as character witness indicating that the wellbeing of the Maetreum and service to the Temple has not been at the forefront of her heart or mind. 

6. Given that Mrs. Whittaker, during her time as a priestess, engaged in very little actual ministerial work (the only actual instance I am aware of is a single wedding she officiated and sought out my advice for), I encouraged her to begin offering the Daily Noontime Praise. This was one action that she performed admirably with, and to begin with I was pleased at her follow-through with it, especially considering that any other project given to her met with almost no follow through. That action served the Maetreum well and provided an avenue for Mrs. Whittaker to engage in some direct, if minor, pastoral work through the difficulties of the Covid-19 pandemic. Unfortunately, instead of inspiring her to a life of deeper prayer, meditation, and service, it devolved into what I can only describe as a severe case of the “High Priestess Olympics” wherein she felt compelled to constantly spend money on new outfits weekly to show off during the daily praise. While she is free to spend her money as she sees fit, if wastefully, she continued to engage in this spending out of vanity while simultaneously claiming that she could not fulfill the full terms of her monthly contribution for maintaining residence within the Phrygianum. Neither the vanity nor the shorting of her contributions to the Phrygianum are indicative of a priestess who is in a healthy, grounded, spiritual mindset. 

7. During this period, the Cybeline Revival was given a blessed opportunity to reform and renew in the form of three women who submitted themselves as Novice Sisters with the blessing of the Battakes. During the course of their novitiate, Mrs. Whittaker on several occasions spoke with them on topics that were inappropriate for a priestess to be speaking to a novice about, oftentimes dredging up past traumas and debacles, oversharing regarding the inner workings of the Maetreum and its past, and with one novice in particular, bonding in an unhealthy manner over their shared autism diagnosis. Never did she ever engage in any actual teachings of the tradition, or how to be in service to the Temple and the People of the Goddess - she remained only mired in base gossip. Even after the loss of two of the novices, never once did she attempt to step up in service to teach and inspire the remaining novice. Indeed, even with the remaining novice, Mrs. Whittaker overstepped boundaries in an unhealthy manner with a woman who, while having been a congregant of the Maetreum for a decade, she had never once before acknowledged the commitment, work, and devotion of that novice prior to her novitiate, only latching onto her and treating her as a person after it became apparent that this woman was taking meaningful steps towards the priestess-track. Mrs. Whittaker also spoke to a novice telling tales of how the Battakes is a “narcissist and abuser”. On a recent occasion, having recognized that she herself had overstepped boundaries, sent a text to this novice asking “Have I been shitcanned?” - something that is, from any religious tradition, deeply inappropriate for an ordained clergy person to be asking a novice. The lack of respect for the novitiate and for the continuity of the tradition has been deeply worrisome. 

8. There have been a number of occasions where Mrs. Whittaker has acted out in what is at best unhealthy, and at worst psychotic, behavior, often in front of guests of the Maetreum. I will not attempt to make a full list of these moments, but will include a few notable ones. During an Orphan’s Thanksgiving, a time honored ministry of the Maetreum, Mrs. Whittaker had a full meltdown and actually chased the Battakes up the stairs and into her private room and then proceeded to scream at her, during which guests were left at the table in a state of trepidation and confusion. More recently, within the past month, two occasions come to mind: A moment when Mrs. Whittaker walked off with the novice while in a state of agitation, and then proceeded to have what she claimed was an “autistic meltdown”. During this episode, she violently threw herself onto the ground, then rolled around while screaming loud enough that those in the Temple legitimately thought that someone was being violently attacked (including first time visitors to the Temple). While I am not a psychologist, I doubt the authenticity of the moment as a genuine autistic meltdown as she remained fully verbal throughout the incident, spewing accusations against the Battakes and the rehabilitation process. The weekend immediately following this instance, Mrs. Whittaker engaged in a long series of passive-aggressive actions aimed at the Battakes, during which time the Battakes was trying to continue engaging in meaningful rehabilitation work and simultaneously avoid Mrs. Whittaker because of the barrage of passive-aggressive actions. This culminated in a moment when the exasperated Battakes asked Mrs. Whittaker to “give me some space” to which Mrs. Whittaker then replied with more than some drama “I’m not staying where I’m not wanted” and stormed off, then stood by her car to see if anyone would chase her. Again, this took place in front of a guest of the Maetreum who was visiting. 

9. Over the years, the Maetreum has taken in a series of deeply unwell women in crisis that the Maetreum did not possess the skills or resources to care for in a healthy, meaningful way. This has repeatedly led to theft, destruction of property, the Battakes being made unsafe within her own home, and a serious loss of standing within the broader community. During a previous Conclave, it was decided to end that open door policy and cease and desist in taking in any more crisis cases. Unfortunately, Mrs. Whittaker was unwilling to abide by the binding will of the Conclave and welcomed in another series of women in crisis, which led to a repeat of the pattern of theft, destruction of property, the Battakes being made unsafe within her own home, and again a serious loss of standing within the broader community. The most recent example of this happened just at the end of this spring into early summer, though that incident was fortunately dealt with more effectively this time with only minimal loss of face and no theft or property destruction. However, Mrs. Whittaker’s unwillingness to abide by the will of the Conclave and readiness to place the Maetreum in a state of jeopardy repeatedly is disconcerting, as is her predilection for attracting unstable individuals within her personal affair. 

10. While sorting through boxes that had been stored in the second floor of the back house, it was discovered that Mrs. Whittaker had inappropriately stashed away official documents of the Maetreum of Cybele, Magna Mater, Inc. Included among these documents were an official copy of the Maetreum’s Articles of Incorporation bearing the seal of Greene County, a variety of banking documents, agendas and notes from previous Conclaves, the letters of approval from the Internal Revenue Service, and documentation that held the necessary information for use of the tax exemption. 

11. Finally, I sat as witness and mediator during the morning of Saturday, July 3rd 2021 when Mrs. Whittaker was formally presented with the Official Notification from The Battakes of the Catskill Phrygianum stripping Mrs. Whittaker of her role as a priestess within that Phrygianum and the Cybeline Revival as a whole. While the initial conversation went peacefully, and was rooted in prayer at the start and at the end, and the expectations regarding Mrs. Whittaker’s immediate loss of residence and ability to function as a priestess were made explicitly clear, she proceeded to try to negotiate around the boundaries and made next to no effort to actually begin moving out. Immediately following the conversation, the Battakes politely requested that Mrs. Whittaker hand over the Maetreum’s Lowes card and the house key that she possessed (a key which she was not actually supposed to have had, but had made a copy of without consent) - the Lowes card was returned, the house key was not. Her primary concern seemed to be for her radio show, which the Battakes graciously made clear that while Mrs. Whittaker is no longer welcome to use the radio house, that she could continue producing the “World of Metal” from home and send it into the station via dropbox. Unfortunately that evening, Mrs. Whittaker had made no efforts to move and when confronted by the Battakes, made a claim that she had intended to stay the night and use the station the next morning, saying that it was never made clear to her. Fortunately both the letter and the conversation had, in fact, spelled out the details clearly and she did leave that night, after I had to personally pack her car while she remained on the telephone weaving tales of woe to her husband and her co-host and lodging accusations against the Battakes. While the official notification presented to her outlined a clear path of mercy, part of which included the stipulation that she in no way represent herself as a priestess of the Phrygianum, the Matreum, or the Cybeline Revival, Mrs. Whittaker then proceeded on the following day to post to social media that she was moving forward as an “Independent Cybeline Pagan Priestess” in direct violation and contempt of the Battake’s formal action. Since then she has proceeded to foment ill-will against the Maetreum behind the scenes in an effort to undermine the tradition, Temple, and remaining priestesses. 

CONCLUSION 

Reverend Mother and Reverend Sisters, it has brought no joy to my heart to submit this report to you for your review during Conclave. However, as stated in the overview, I felt compelled to share my experience of working with and observing Mrs. Whittaker over the course of the previous two years so that this situation can be fully addressed by the appropriate authorities of the Cybeline Revival and, hopefully, rectified. While I will make no recommendations within this report as to how to proceed, I will state that Mrs. Whittaker will not be allowed to serve within any ministerial role within my own communities moving forward, be that the Nemeton of the Ways or the Ordo Magna Mater. Furthermore, please also be aware that while this report may seem long, it is by no means exhaustive of the ways in which Mrs. Whittaker has failed to meet the sacred trust of priestcraft, it includes only those most egregious circumstances of which I am personally aware. In my opinion, Mrs. Whittaker is wholly unfit to serve in the capacity of cleric, and while the Battakes’ offer of a twelve month period as priestess-at-large to seek healing and renewal within herself was indeed gracious, I hold little hope that Mrs. Whittaker will actually engage with that period of time as an opportunity for healthy reformation.

 

The full Conclave met on July 10 and by consensus voted Viktoria be removed from all association with the Maetreum and be striped for all time of any claim to be a priestess of Cybele.  Since that time she sought out the lunatic that reported to the town we were a phony religion costing us an eight year expensive legal battle and the malcontents who firebombed my car.  Last year, unaware we had cancelled Season of the Tree at the last moment, she, her psychotic lover, the lunatic that drove me out of the Maetreum during the "Insurrection" as we called it and someone else picketed the Maetreum for more than three hours saying I should go back to Ohio and calling out my birth (deadname) name in a demonstration of the most transphobic  behaviour possible.  Harassing emails and messages and threats continue to this day.

Dear Mrs. Whittaker,

As you are aware, on Saturday the 3rd of July, 2021, you received in person the Official Notification from The Battakes of the Catskill Phrygianum informing you that you were being immediately transferred from active priestess status to priestess-at-large status for a period of twelve months due to a series of egregious, willful offenses against the vows you took in sacred service to the Battakes, the College of Priestesses, and to the Great Mother Goddess. That period was offered as a path of mercy and recuperation, during which you were explicitly forbidden to “represent yourself in any form as a priestess of the Catskill Phygrianum…[or] the Maetreum of Cybele/Cybeline Revival”. Within hours of receiving the Official Notification, you began violating the conditions laid out therein, going so far as to begin publicly representing yourself as an “independent Cybeline priestess” in direct contradiction to the path of mercy as had been made clear to you in the Official Notification and through direct conversations.

It is also notable that from that day forward, the Maetreum and clerics in service to the House of the Mother began receiving a series of threats and endured a campaign of harassment from close associates of yours. That the threats and harassment came from your associates is not in doubt, having been verified through both phone and video records from several of the locations from which the threats were issued.

It is therefore our duty to inform you that as of the 10th of July, 2021, through a unanimous act of the legally convened Conclave of the College of Priestesses, that the initially outlined path of mercy and recuperation graciously offered by the Battakes has been wholly suspended. Furthermore, as of that date, you have been formally defrocked from the Priestesshood without recourse. While this action has brought deep sadness to the whole of the Priestesshood, it was deemed absolutely necessary through natural consensus. To be clear, your vows as a Priestess of Cybele have been revoked and nullified and, because of the threats and harassment brought against the House of the Mother and Her clerics by your personal associates, you are no longer welcome in any capacity upon the grounds of the Maetreum of Cybele, Magna Mater.

With great sadness,

From Whence the Patriarchy?

First let's get this out of the way, there probably never was a major matriarchal society throughout human history. No one has ever found evidence of such a society beyond the rumours of the Greeks about the Amazons.  What was, however, the basic human norm was a system of matrilinear descent.  This makes perfect biological sense as it is very hard to not know who your mother was while "who's your daddy?" remains to this day part of the lexicon.  And it was from the switch from matrilinear descent to patrilinear descent that the patriarchy came.

Think about it.  Patrilinear descent and passing of property is dependent on absolute knowledge of who is a child's father meaning the sex life of the mother must be known and controlled just for patriarchy to exist.  It is from this switch that the obscene concept of "illegitimate" children comes from and I say obscene because it is.  Placing such a label on an innocent child is about as obscene as it gets.  The evidence of history is clear if largely and willfully ignored.  Matrilinear descent was the norm throughout most of human history and such cultures are largely peaceful by nature and egalitarian in regard to the sexes.  In a world that has been dominated by patriarchial thinking since roughly 1500 BCE, egalitarian can appear down right matriarchal.

Most of ancient history as still taught to this day in grade schools and undergrad universities is pure garbage and actual historians are well aware of this but allow it to be perpetuated.  We still teach that the Tigris and the Euphrates fertile crescent is the "cradle of civilization" when the earliest known civilization has been known to predate that by almost six thousand years!  Known since the early 1960s.  It was in central Anatolia or modern Turkey first uncovered by James Mellaart at Catal Huyuk where exploration continues to this day and dozens of contemporary cities in that area have also now been found.  It was a Mother Goddess culture that later spread to Egypt, the Indus valley and the large islands of the eastern Mediterranean.  All of those cultures were also matrilinear in nature. They were also all, at least originally, Mother Goddess civilizations.  In a history that spans around five thousand years to the time of the Mesopotamian cities, this civilization never built walled cities or is there any evidence of ANY war but rather extensive trade networks.

Circa 1900 Sir Arthur Evans excavated the "Palace of Knossos" on Crete and shocked the world with the announcement that the Minoan civilization was a Goddess culture.  Today we know that the centre of the Minoan civilization was actually on Thera, known today as Santorini which was a volcano that erupted circa 1500 BCE (believe it or not the exact date is still debated) in the most violent eruption in all of recorded history.  The Minoans dominated the entire eastern Mediterranean with trade and established trading settlements all over the entire eastern coastal regions including major ones on the Nile delta.  The explosion of Thera is almost certainly the origin of the stories of Atlantis especially when you consider the habour of Thera was the caldera of the volcano and naturally had the concentric circles of water and land that Plato wrote about.  Further evidence is in that the civilization established by the Minoans was lightyears ahead of anything else on the planet with hot and cold indoor plumbing and flush toilets, earthquake proof construction methods that were engineered to naturally cool and heat themselves and furniture and art work that would look at home in any modern home today.  As a Goddess culture, the descent was matrilinear and there was absolute equality of the sexes.

Until very very recently historians have ignored the influence of the Minoan culture on the western world.  Our world today would be vastly different had Thera stayed quiet with a high degree of probability that no patriarchy would have found a foothold and the Abrahamic religions would be minor footnotes.  Think of the intellectual dishonesty involved in ignoring the influence of the single most important event in human history for when Thera did explode it changed weather as far away as China and Japan, the tsunami that resulted scoured the entire eastern Mediterranean coastlines of all settlements save a few in the lee of major islands.  What was left of the Minoan culture was on the high ground of Crete and that was immediately invaded by the Mycenaean Greeks and the entire Greek civilization thought today the origin of modern civilization was built on the bones of the Minoans with patriarchy overlaid.  What was left of the Minoan culture survived in Phrygia (Turkey) having come full circle back to where the first Goddess culture civilization began.  The Phrygians retained matrilinear descent traditions and the Mother Goddess then went from there to Athens and later Rome.  During the fifth century CE the christians hunted down and killed "all the daughters and sons of the Mother Goddess" throughout Phrygia after killing all the priestesses of Cybele at their Roman Phrygianum on the Vatican hill in their beds and burning the library of Alexandra and killing the library's last and greatest scholar, Hypatia of Alexandria with a death of a thousand cuts done with seashells by a christian mob.  Europe immediately plunged into the Dark Ages as a result.  This is christian historical legacy this and the prior killing off of all the gnostic christians giving rise to the brand of christianity, perhaps better called Paulianity has cursed the world to this day.

Merlin Stone 1931 -2011 Do You Remember?

"Though we live amid high-rise steel buildings, formica countertops, and electronic television screens, there is something in all of us, women and men alike, that makes us feel deeply connected with the past.  Perhaps the sudden dampness of a beach cave or the lines of sunlight piercing through the intricate lace patterns of the leaves in a darkened grove of tall trees will awaken from the hidden recesses of our minds the distant echos of a remote and ancient time, taking us back to the early stirrings of human life on the planet.  For people raised and programmed on the patriarchal religions of today, religions that affect us in even the most secular aspects of our society, perhaps there remains a lingering, almost innate memory of the sacred shrines and temples tended by priestesses who served the religion of the original supreme deity.  In the beginning, people prayed to the Creatress of Life, the Mistress of Heaven.  At the very dawn of religion, God was a woman. Do you remember?" 

This is the first paragraph of "When God Was A Woman".

Near the end of the seventies I was back in the broom closet after a life changing run in with the first wave of mega-church fundies in central Ohio.  I had been re-reading Frazer and turn of the century occultists and diving back into classics of Greeks and Romans.  And I knew I was missing something.  At a flea market in Marion, Ohio I saw a book sitting on the top of a stack of romance novels.  It was an American first edition of "When God Was A Woman" by Merlin Stone.  The dust cover was tattered then around the edges and the text underlined in places by the prior owner......but that book called out to me and it literally changed my life. I remembered in a flood of memories of my own life, the sacred places I had seen as a child throughout the world, the dreams of the Mother Goddess I had over and over when three and four years old.  Within a year of reading that book I had an unwanted and unexpected hysterectomy when I was supposed to be having an appendectomy.  And I had re-read many, if not most, of my collection of ancient texts, mythologies and accounts of ancient history armed now with the key to seeing the Goddess where She had been hidden before.

Everyone has a few authors who's works significantly change their lives, for me Merlin Stone was among the most important.  The Goddess called Merlin back on the cusp of the Goddess awakening that became my life work.  Merlin, you changed my life, thank you and rest well in the arms of the Great Mother.

"The Oldest Religion"

In the early days of the neo-Pagan movement it was popular to call Wicca, "the old religion" based on the folk practices that were associated with it.  The problem was, it wasn't the "old religion", not even close.  Today most Pagan writers acknowledge this and openly discuss that which could not be questioned back then.  That Wicca as promoted by Gardner, Sanders and even Sybil Leek in the sixties owed most of it's roots to middle ages occult practices of ceremonial magic and in practice the Order of the Golden Dawn.  Just saying this forty years ago started a witch war immediately.  In the rush to make Wicca something other than Gardnerian or Alexandrian the early work of anthropologist Margret Murray was also denounced, a big mistake.  Dianic authors such as Merlin Stone hit much closer to the actual "old religion", in some cases almost right on the money but fueled by lesbian separatist mentalities of the time recast the older Goddess religion as for women only.

Wicca is big on the duality of God/Goddess and heterosexual sex energy as the basis of magical practice which meant that sexual minorities were largely unwelcome in Wiccan groups.  Two groups sprung up to counter this in the seventies, the Dianics themselves and Leo Martello and his revival of Strega of southern Italy.  Dr. Martello in particualr was the centre of a lot of different "witch wars" then, both opposing the male/female energy model and the "fam-trad" or family tradition school of Paganism at a time that it was starting to be widely acknowledged that Gardnerian Wicca was pretty much assembled by Gardner rather than ancient practices handed down in secret.  Witch wars in those pre-internet days, were conducted by magazine articles and direct confrontations at various Pagan conventionss.  It was slower and more deliberate back then since you had to wait for a response instead of firing off instant and oft ill thought out rebuttals common today.  This eventually led to a concept of Pagan legitimacy coming from it's practice rather than it's history, that the Gods and Goddesses are essentially created by the belief in them.  That invoking ancient Gods and Goddesses essentially re-recreated them or re-animated them.  This neatly sidestepped the "my religion is older than yours and thus more legitimate" attitude many Christians threw at neo-Pagans.

The thing was, there actually was an Old Religion.  In the late 1800's a number of works started to appear about the ancient Mother Goddess practices.  They were fairly obscure and largely ignored by the mainstream historians and theologicans and by the 1920's were largely forgotten in the resurgence of the first wave of neo-Paganism taking place then that featured epic magical battles between occult practicioners, a spiritualist revival that swept the western world and open discussions of the reality of the "little people" and fairies that involved some of the best known writers and personalities of the day.  While all this was going on, the newer, more scientific archeologists that were displacing the first treasure hunting rich hobbyist types were filling the back room shelves of museums around the world with Goddess figures and statuary and images.  They were put on the back shelves because the anthropologists and ancient historians had their own cultural blinders on that required ignoring them to keep their narratives of ancient history based largely on classical era writings....but there were outbreaks of reality.  Anyone familiar with anthropology has heard of  Heinrich Schliemann and his search for Homer's Troy that was a watershed in archeology showing that the ancient legends were almost certainly remembrances of history instead of just fables.  Less known is Sir Aurthur Even's discovery of the palace of Knossos on Crete and James Mellaart's later discoveries in Anatolian Turkey at Catal Huyak.  Both Evens and Mellaart shocked the traditional views of ancient history to it's foundations in both realized they had found major Goddess cultures that featured total equality of the sexes,  religions dominated by priestesses rather than priests and existed for very long periods of history without any signs of war being part of the cultures.  Separated by thousands of years, the culture at Catal Huyak spanned the mesolithic to the neolithic (10000-5000 BCE) was far far more advanced than considered possible at the time.  Both cultures, thousands of years apart, showed indications of Mother Goddess associations with bees, bulls, snakes and birds of prey as sacred to the Mother Goddess.

What happened next was feminist scholars started to re-examine the contents of those backroom shelves in museums around the world, often coming from scholarly backgrounds outside of history and archeology.  Mainstream historians dismissed the Mother Goddess religion as sporadic and unrelated Goddess "cults" but the evidence clearly showed otherwise.  Mainstream history has had narrative of linear advancement of human accomplishments and a clear progression in religion from pan-theism to mono-theism.  This is completely false.and is based willful ignoring of the facts in evidence.  The first known major religion of the world was the mono-theist Mother Goddess religion that can be traced by the spread of ideas associated with the work associated with women from Central Anatolia circa 10,000 BCE, to the middle east, Indus valley and the entire area surrounding the Mediterranean Sea.  It is consistent in associated symbols and practices and most telling of all, when you translate the various local names of the Mother Goddess, they all translate into exactly that.......Mother Goddess, Mother of Gods or the Great Mother.  It is now possible to trace the religion of the Mother Goddess in an unbroken line from Catal Huyuk to Rome.  A religion that spanned ten thousand years of ancient history with probable roots much much further back when you factor in the paleolithic Goddess figures.

This was the old religion.

A New Pagan Goddess Blog

Just what the world needs, another Pagan blog, right?  So why pay attention to what I have to say?  Well, by way of introduction, I am an actual Pagan Elder, a woman in her sixties who has been a Pagan almost as long as Wicca has been a religion.  I live my religion.  And I have a lot to say about the state of the world, what can be done to save it and awakening global Goddess consciousness as the means towards that end.

I traveled the middle east as a teenager, visited the ancient sites in Europe and lived in India for two years.  I taught a course in Magick and the Occult for several years in the mid seventies for the Ohio State Free University (remember those?) and was an out Pagan spokesperson then.  I am an historian, a thealogian and a very practical witch.

I've stayed out of the Witch Wars then and now.........

Finally, I founded the Maetreum of Cybele in the Catskills of Upstate New York, a brick and mortar organization that serves the Goddess.

I plan to write on politics, womens issues, and modern Paganism in general.





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