The Mount Shasta Goddess Temple dedicates April to Aphrodite.

Artwork of Aphrodite at Heart Lake by Devanna Wolf

Ah, Aphrodite, if I sing no more
To thee, God's daughter, powerful as God,
It is that thou hast made my life too sweet
To hold the added sweetness of a song.
There is a quiet at the heart of love,
And I have pierced the pain and come to peace.
-Sara Teasdale

Aphrodite is the mystery of love and attraction, which contain within them also the shadow seeds of hate and aversion. She draws together individuals and circumstances as well as separating them when their hour is over. She brings forth beauty and pleasure, and highlights areas of disharmony and cruelty so that they can be transformed. Aphrodite is a goddess of love and power, and as such she is often misunderstood. The language of love is universal, but no translator has yet been able to make logical sense of it. The call of the heart and the call of the flesh are the songs of Aphrodite, who stands naked and shameless upon the shores of our yearning. Like the heart swells with love, like waves swell in the sea, like flowers swell in the garden, Aphrodite is the force that rushes forth with energy when we call her name.

Ideas for honoring Aphrodite, goddess of Attraction:

-make a donation to a battered women's shelter or rape crisis center

-take a long, hot bath with herbs and candles

-spend time near the sea

-write love notes to your friends

-create space for romance in a new or existing relationship

-recite her praises daily for the month of April

-make a playlist of love songs

-join the Mount Shasta Goddess Temple’s Love & Aether Aphrodite Priestess training.

Praise for Aphrodite

Aetherial, Illustrious, Laughing Queen,
Born of the Sea and Lover of the Night,
Mother of Longing, All-Connecting, who joins the world in harmony.
All things spring from You, Oh Divine Power.
The Triple Fates are ruled by Your decree.
All the works of craft and love yield to Your hand,
With a smile, Oh Aphrodite, you sway the all-encircling heavens,
the fruitful Earth and the Storming Oceans.
All obey You, all are awed by You.
Companion of the Brumal God,
Beautiful Goddess of Marriage,
Mother of Love, Lover of the Banquet,
Source of Persuasion who grants secret favors,
Illustrious born, seen and unseen.
Gentle Lover, Lupercal, who smiles upon mortals.
Prolific, Most-Desired, Life-Giver,
Kind Goddess
Wielder of the scepter of all the Immortals,
You bind mortals and every tribe of beasts in magic chains of mad desire.
Come, Lovely Cyprian, and bless these rites.
Whether radiant in the heavens,
Or presiding in the temples of Syria,
Guiding Your golden chariot over the sacred floods of Egypt,
Or dancing on the azure shores by billowing seas,
with circling choirs of mortals, and beauteous Nymphs with cerulean eyes.
Or riding out along the dusty banks renowned of old.
Or if in Cyprus with Your fair Mother,
where married women yearly come to praise You,
and the pure virgins sing hymns to You and to Adonis,
Come, Divine Union, for You I call with holy, reverent mind.

-Translated and interpreted by Virginia Stewart-Avalon, M.Ed.

For more information about the Goddesses honored in the Mount Shasta Goddess Temple, join the Temple as a Mandala Member.