The Isis Oasis was as warm as Egypt during Three Days in the House of Isis; but that only added to the atmosphere. In that Egyptian warmth, we raised beautiful voices in praise of Isis, we created dances in Her honor, we shared insights, and we journeyed to the Underworld, under Her protection.

Three Days in the House of Isis was designed to offer participants the opportunity to fully immerse themselves in priest/essly service to Isis. Twenty-five women and men, Priestesses and Priests all, did just that. We even had a maiden of 10 who, with her mother, joined us and won a special place in our rites.

As facilitator, I would like to thank each of the women and men who joined us for this retreat. You helped make it magical; and as Isis is the Lady of Magic, you did Her great honor. Thank you all.

For those of you who didn’t have the chance to join us, here’s a little of what the retreat activities entailed:

We began our service by lighting the Flame of Isis, both in the physical and within each of our hearts. (The Priestesses and Priests proved their magical abilities right away - they invoked the physical ire without benefit of matches of Bic! I can’t explain it; it was magic.) Then we took an oath to dedicate ourselves to the work of the House of Isis for three days.

During dinner we introduced ourselves to the group and shared out stories - a wonderful way to begin getting to know each other. After dinner, we “Opened the Ways” to the Goddess, invited Her presence, and took a visionary journey to Her temple where, again, She touched all our hearts.

That night, two Priestesses chosen by lot, incubated (sacred sleep) in the Temple and dreamed, sharing their dreams as they desired at breakfast the next day.

Morning brought a gathering of the Priestesses and Priests to greet the Goddess and join in a meditation. After breakfast, we created Her altar by bringing together our sacred objects. Late morning offered the opportunity to share our insights and special formulae we each use to commune with Isis.

In the afternoon, we broke up into smaller groups and each group worked to create an offering to the Goddess to be presented to Her during an Offertory rite the next day. There was also personal, meditation time in the afternoon as well as time for many of us to make it into the pool to quench the heart!

Following dinner, two Priestesses sang the Goddess to sleep and we all prepared for the main ritual, a journey to the Underworld.

The Isis Oasis itself played the part of the “Underworld”; as we took our Books of Gates and began our individual journeys. Following the directions in our Books, we came to four Elemental Gates throughout the Oasis grounds and encountered a Priestess there who helped us discover things we needed to know about our personal journey to the Divine. Finally, we came before Isis Herself, beautifully embodied by Laura Janesdaughter, and if my experience was typical, She brought tears to many eyes.

The next day, we participated in the Offertory rite, performing for the Goddess the offerings each group had created the previous day. For me, this was the most wonderful part of the weekend. The creativity and beauty of the offerings was stunning. Magic happened, too. For, completely unplanned, each of the five groups created offerings that corresponded to the four Elements and Spirit. And, again unplanned, they were presented in Earth, Air, Water, Fire and Spirit order.

Next, those who were called, walked to the river to pour into it The Tears of Isis that we had charged with our own tears and blessings as part of the Offertory rite.

Finally, we closed the weekend as we had begun, with the Flame of Isis. We accepted the Flame back into our hearts to carry it with us as we returned to our lives in the world.

For me, Three Days in the House of Isis was wonderful (if, as facilitator, hectic). I’d like to thank Christeen Draper who served as coordinator; Loreon Vigne for Isis Oasis and everything; Laura Janesdaughter for her wonderful embodiment of Isis; Chthonia, Agave, and Philentheos, my three sister Maenads, who served as Gate Priestesses; Lady Starsheen, who served as Priestess of the Gate of Earth; all of you who attended and brought your beautiful talents to serve the Goddess; and the staff at Isis Oasis who made us feel very well taken care of.

Please feel free to contact me. I enjoyed meeting every one of you. Should we do this again/ Let’s share ideas … and who knows? Perhaps Magic will happen!

Text © M. Isidora Forrest. All rights reserved. Photo of Isis Chapel © Loreon Vigne.