Be Prepared
A Powerful Journey of Your Soul
Venus will go retrograde from December 19th to January 29th
Make way for this soulful 40-day journey
This is a potent time to do inner personal work
On Sunday, December 19th, at 2 pm, Gaia Shamanism will be hosting Joanna Brook in offering two ceremonies for the coming Venus Return, which occurs only once every 18 months.
Because you have an interest in land-based healing ceremonial work, the divine feminine, and/or spiritual growth and development, we thought you might enjoy attending. We will have an altar to Venus and you are welcome to bring an item to place on that altar to be blessed.
Venus retrograde is a time to gain perspective on your values and commitments as well as how you are handling yourself practically in the world. Current commitments, both personal and professional, may go through a process of re-evaluation. You may notice your boundaries being tested in ways that you were oblivious to before. This is not a time of action. It is a time to absorb and reflect on your values and decide what to do about improving your relationship with your values when Venus returns from the underworld – and goes direct.
Joanna is offering a teaching on how to use this time when Venus departs into the Underworld to effectively reclaim your soul’s intentions. The Goddess Venus – also known as Ishtar, Astarte, Mari, The Queen of Heaven, Aphrodite, Freya, The Morning and Evening Star – leads us into the underworld to reflect and set conscious intentions for release and reclamation. Joanna has traveled this path 9 times with the beloved teacher Grandmother Indigo Jewel and now leads the way for others with her blessing. Prepare to have your life changed from the inside.
The cycles of Venus have been known from times of old. Stories have been written; now is the time to learn about your own. We will spend 40 days in the underworld with Venus, coming out on the other side transformed. Join us as we walk this inner-world path.
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Bio
This ceremony will be facilitated by Joanna Brook (Ruby Bright Heart). Born at the American bicentennial in Boston, Massachusetts, to an educator mother and spiritual seeker father, Joanna spent many happy hours of her childhood building paths, doorways, and stairs in the faery realms. At Summer Solstice 2005, she began studying with a beloved local women’s spirituality teacher. For 13 years she attended classes and assisted with moon circles and other rituals. Grandmother Indigo Jewel (Connie Bender) ordained Ms. Brook as a minister in the Seven Sisters Circle in 2016.
After four years of study with Michelle Chrisanti, Joanna received her Reiki Master Teacher certification in 2011. The five principles of Usui Reiki infuse her daily life and are a constant comfort. Just for today, do not worry. Just for today, do not anger, Just for today, honor your parents, teachers, and elders. Just for today, do your work honestly. Just for today, give thanks.
Joanna’s mother’s family has resided in Oregon for four generations; her great-great-grandparents traveled here in the early 1930s. They lived in tents on the side of the fields and picked hops, beans, and filberts, entrepreneurially becoming well-respected business owners in the town of Coburg. On her father’s side Joanna has a lineage of religious professionals. Her birth patronym was “Partner” from the French “le pardoner” – a person who sold indulgences in the street for the Catholic church. (An indulgence provides forgiveness for sins and might be equated to purchasing incense at a temple.) Her father was a religious student, writer, and lay minister with an evangelical outreach. Also on her paternal side, her aunt is a retired Methodist minister and her grandmother was a missionary to the near east.
Joanna centers her ministerial work in the four directions and an animist worldview. Being a Brook – a representative of the water elementals – she meets the four directions as old friends. Her work brings to the Pacific Northwest the wealth of her New England transcendentalist experience of the divine landscape. As many indigenous people do, she believes in the spirit of all things. The Earth is intelligent and has her own soul. Inanimate objects receive respect and gratitude. Joanna’s work is also grounded in personal experience of the Christ Consciousness, revelation of the Divine Feminine, and attention to the cycles of the Earth in relation to the cosmos.
Joanna holds a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature and Creative Writing, cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, from the esteemed women-only institution Agnes Scott College. She occasionally self-publishes small editions of handbound artist’s chapbooks. Her quiet, contemplative, often liminal life includes playing the ukulele, embroidering, and gardening.
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The nitty-gritty
The requested donation for the Venus Return process and ceremony is $120.
Reserve your spot by clicking on the button below:
Your donation includes our opening and concluding ceremonies, materials for reflection, individual support in crafting your vows, and a supportive land and community to see you through the process.
Prefer to make four monthly payments of $30? You can choose that billing option above.
Wish to pay a little more to fund the participation of others? We have an option for you as well!
Accessibility
We want to make this sacred work accessible to all, so don’t be shy about contacting us. No one will be turned away for lack of funds.
For COVID safety, these ceremonies will be held outside whatever the weather. We ask that you wear a mask upon arrival to the private land where the ceremonies will be held.
For those with low mobility, Joanna will offer a separate ceremony with wheelchair access.
If you need a ride or wish to carpool to the event, please let us know.
Questions? Do feel free to email Joanna at brightbrook@gmail.com or Anna at anna@gaiashamanism.com.
We look forward to accompanying you on this journey!