2017 Nortia

Aloha Daughters of the Goddess,

Spring is arriving in Northern California.  The trees are blossoming and small flower petals are starting to dot the earth.  Many of us just walked together a labyrinth to symbolize the cycle of life, which flows into celebrating the Goddess Nortia who is a weaver of fate and spins the cycle of the World.

The Goddess Nortia rules over our fate and destiny.  She has power to foretell the future.  She is one of the great powerful Goddesses of the Etruscan people.  Etruscan is the name given to a powerful, wealthy civilization in ancient Italy from 700 BCE to 4th century in the Tuscany area of Italy.  The Etruscan’s heavily influenced the Roman religious practices, art and technology, this why we know so much about the Etruscan’s.  They created beautiful works of art ~ murals, terracotta figures and bronze works which have been mainly found in burials.

Nortia is the Goddess of the Etruscan city of Velsna also known as Nyrtia or Nursia, after the Goddess. Velsna was considered the sacred center of Etruria, and functioned as a meeting-place for the Etruscan federation.  She rules over all parts of our lives and is the Goddess that decides the length of our lives and the world.  On New Year’s a nail is pounded in to a block of wood, or lintel, over the door to fix the last year in place.  She also uses Her nail to cut the thread that is our life span.  The meaning of Her name is also linked to the word and direction of North.

Nortia is depicted with large wings that indicate Her all-encompassing power and Her primacy.  She holds the powerful nail, hammer and thread and that is our lives.  Her practices, ceremonies and traditions,  were folded in to the practices many of the Roman Goddess mostly Fortuna also Juno and Minerva.

For this Ritual we will be working with divination tools and the importance of honoring of Womyn’s spinning and making thread.  Thread is so important that it is used to measure our lives.  Join us as we come to Nortia’s altar to pray for continued health, good luck and long life for ourselves and Daughters of the Goddess Temple.  For this ritual please bring a yellow or white candle for the Altar.  Also please bring your divination tools and symbols of Nortia: horseshoes, hammers, nails, thread and wheels.