The Mystai of the Moon
The Mystai of the Moon was founded as a Dianic Tradition in October 2008 by the Sisters of the Dream a New Dream Coven. We did this when we realized that our spiritual path collectively was taking us in a direction that none of us had experienced before in our many years on our various Paths. We began as a Dianic coven and circled together changing and growing, evolving into this new pathworking quite organically. Our visionings came from many places, but all coalesced into this tradition during a liminal time of the year. Under the Full Moon we dedicated ourselves as the Mystai, and while the Mother Coven chose to remain just the original members, the doors were opened to other womyn who had contacted us interested in joining our spiritual journey under the aegis of the Mystai as a teaching circle of the coven, one that would educate womyn through mentoring and loving guidance to a feminist spiritual awakening. We hoped to eventually have more covens form from this teaching circle as womyn gained the confidence to go into the world and share this journey with others. To help achieve this end, we created the initiatory paths of the Mystai Tradition, which if follwed all the way through, educate womyn to the point where they will have a deep understanding of the Mysteries as they have developed within the group, as well as a foundation in mentoring and leadership so that they are fully ready to train womyn independently of the Mother Coven as leaders in their own right.
So why are we new? There are several reasons, but the most profound ones are that 1) we have realized that reacting to patriarchy puts us in a position of weakness relative to it, so we refuse to do it. Instead, we see patriarchy's need for absolute control and its willingness to employ fear and violence to its ends as signs of its weakness, its frail hold on "reality"; 2) we do not recognize the idea of "High Priestesses" or any other sort of authority-over figure within our tradition, instead we have Mentor Sisters who are there to guide and train other womyn but beyond offering Sisterly advice and gentle guidance as each womon makes her way to Goddess wisdom through the initiatory path has no spiritual authority over any womon who chooses to be part of the Mystai; and 3) since we are an international Sisterhood, we have decided to not celebrate the seasons as observances within our rites as a group. The seasons vary in their manifestations and intensity depending on where in the world you are, and when some of us are experiencing the blistering heat of summer, others are nose-deep in parkas, but the Moon, She Who Shines For All, is the same for all Her daughters. Therefore our rites are entirely lunar in focus within the group and observations of the seasons are done individually reflecting the seasonal realities where we each live. We also consider the seasonal rites to be a community thing where men and womyn and children have traditionally come together to mark the cycle of Life within each community. Whereas the lunar rites have often been observed by womyn only.
The word Mystai comes from the Greeks and their traditions. Mystai were initiates or priestesses of the various mystery traditions, which included the Rites of Eleusis. A Mystes (the singular of mystai) is one who goes within and finds the deity and meets Her in the spirit realms and communes in the deepest Mysteries of that deity. We see that path as a needed one as the world is rebirthed from the five millenia long nightmare of patriarchy. The Mysteries and the way they were done in ancient times are lost to us, but we womyn can create new Mysteries and new rites. The Goddesses are still with us and still speak to those with ears to hear. We don't need to legitimize our worship by doing something the way it was done in the distant past. Goddess-tradition is ALIVE! It lives, it breathes, and it grows! We grow by following the Goddesses wherever they wish to take us in creating a world of love where womyn are free and the Mysteries once again are celebrated!
We have a special place for those girls who have attained menstruation and whose mothers or other responsible female family members are part of the Mystai already: The Order of Nymphs.
Nymphs may, with the consent of their responsible family member, take part in Full Moon rituals and in the common rites of the Mysteries and may study the Mystai path with the permission of the responsible adult member of the Mystai who brought them into the Sisterhood. Nymphs are welcome to come to our Hekate Rising gatherings and participate. In our Sacred Calendar, the first night of the Lunar cycle after the New Moon, when the Bow of Artemis is first in the sky, is the Night of the Nymphs, where the Nymphs may gather together as a group and celebrate in our Online Temple. They are encouraged to create rites and rituals for themselves on these nights and to network and form friendships with their Sister Nymphs. They also have their own area within the Hekateion where they can share their ideas, insights, and inspiration.
Any Nymph who requests one, may have a ceremony of first blood or maidening done for her as an initiatory Rite of young womanhood if she has not had one already. Any Nymph may study up to the Arktos phase of the Mystai Path prior to age 18. After age 18, nymph Arktoi may study as far on the Path as they choose.
