The Circle of Nine: An Archetypal Journey to Awaken the Divine Feminine Within

by Cherry Gilchrist Narrated by Rachael Beresford

Overview

As women seek to cultivate an understanding of their lives, a mythological model can provide a tool for self-discovery and realizing individual potential. The Circle of Nine presents nine archetypes that represent different, but equally important aspects of the feminine psyche. They portray both the life of the individual and the story of woman as a whole-a circle of ever-changing patterns that is a source of wisdom and inspiration.



Three mothers, three queens, and three ladies form the circle. The Great Mother nurtures her children with a love that embraces the cycle of life, the Queen of the Night transforms the raw energy of instinct into skill and vision, and the Lady of the Hearth brings warmth and creativity into the home. By recognizing these and the other six archetypes of the circle, women can hold up a mirror to their souls to gain new perspectives and unlock their potential.



Drawing from history, her work with women's groups, and contemporary observations, Cherry Gilchrist presents a mythology that explores the psychology of the modern woman. Her analysis, interpretations, and practical advice help to unravel the mystery of the divine feminine and provide a useful guide for daily life.

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly

10/08/2018
Gilchrist (Tarot Triumphs) evokes the “magic power of three times three” in this modest update of a women’s spirituality system developed in the 1980s. Grounded in nine mystical female archetypes loosely tied to British and European folklore, each of Gilchrist’s queens, ladies, and mothers is given symbolic imagery, common human experiences, and teaching anecdotes from Gilchrist’s own life. For instance, the Great Mother is a nurturer and embraces the cycle of life; the Lady of the Hearth is a homebody, nester, and creative force; and the Queen of the Night channels wild energy into new ideas. At the end of each archetype summary, a section containing “street, mythic, and personal” descriptions of how the archetype behaves provides further guidance for following this spiritual system. For instance, the Lady of the Dance street image reads, “Late in the evening, she is on her way to a club, dressed in something glittering, short, and tight. She is with a couple of other girls. They may meet men there, but they are more eager to get into the rhythm of the dance.” Older readers for whom the women’s circle model still holds appeal will find Gilchrist’s book well-organized and relatable, but younger readers are likely to find this updated and expanded edition still very dated. (Sept.)

Reviews

"Cherry Gilchrist skillfully opens the Circle of Nine so that all women may deepen their connection to the sacred feminine mysteries that the Nine Sisters weave for us." —Caitlín Matthews, author of Sophia: Goddess of Wisdom

From the Publisher

"Cherry Gilchrist skillfully opens the Circle of Nine so that all women may deepen their connection to the sacred feminine mysteries that the Nine Sisters weave for us." —Caitlín Matthews, author of Sophia: Goddess of Wisdom

"Walt Whitman boasted that he contained multitudes. Cherry Gilchrist modestly confines herself to nine feminine archetypes, yet they embody every role a woman may play, the myriad relationships she may have, her essential emotions, and her deepest thoughts. Reading this book, I experienced profound recognition and revelation. Cherry offers insights on how we may use the divine forces within us to reveal our truest selves." —Mary Cutler, BBC scriptwriter & Anglican Lay Preacher

"Change happens when women gather together. The Circle of Nine is a beautiful book that assists women coming together to consider the feminine from a spiritual perspective. It provides poetic portraits of nine archetypes that can be used for both personal meditation as well as empowering connection. It's a wonderful source for women's interests and needs." -Carol S. Pearson, author of Persephone Rising: Awakening the Heroine Within

"Cherry Gilchrist's book is an intelligent exploration of feminine archetypes, plumbing mythology, history, and personal experiences. The Circle of Nine is an insightful and judgment-free examination of these archetypes that offers an opportunity for self-exploration." -Foreword Reviews, 2018



“Gilchrist evokes the “magic power of three times three” in this women’s spirituality system . . . grounded in nine mystical female archetypes . . . each of [the] queens, ladies, and mothers is given symbolic imagery, common human experiences, and teaching anecdotes from Gilchrist’s own life. [W]ell-organized and relatable.” – Publishers Weekly

Product Details

BN ID:	2940170779161
Publisher:	Tantor Audio
Publication date:	09/01/2018
Edition description:	Unabridged

Read an Excerpt

CHAPTER 1

THE COMPANY OF NINE

The tradition that encompasses the archetypes of the Circle of Nine is an ancient one — part of a lineage that goes back thousands of years. Indeed, the idea of a "company of nine" has underpinned all kinds of women's spiritual and magical work over the millennia, both as it was enacted in real life and in the stories of myth and legend. Yet, until now, that tradition has scarcely been recognized as fundamental and vital to women's ways of working. Even when I wrote the first version of this book, I was only marginally aware of the age-old tradition of nine women, and it has been a revelation to me to discover how significant and widespread this tradition is.

Here, we will explore some of the roles played by the company of nine in myth and history. This will help to set our discussion of the Circle of Nine archetypes in a larger context and give us glimpses into the presence of the Nine in other cultures, times, and places. By understanding the tradition in its broader context, we may also gather ideas for future work.

We begin this journey on a remote island lying off the coast of what we now call Brittany. Nearly two thousand years ago, the Roman geographer Pomponius Mela reported the existence of a group of nine priestesses living on the island, which he named Sena — probably what we today call the Île de Sein, which lies off the coast of Brittany. Mela tells of nine holy virgins who tended the shrine of a Gallic god. These were not simply holy women, however; they were renowned as oracles, and supplicants traveled from far and wide to seek their counsel. The seeresses, if so minded, offered glimpses into the future and divined the fortunes of individuals. But their special powers did not stop there. They could also charm the winds and seas to be favorable for navigators, shape-shift into different animal forms, and cure the most serious wounds and diseases.

Although we have no definitive proof for the existence of this group, Pomponius Mela was a generally reliable recorder of people and places, and his account is in keeping with other reports describing groups of nine oracular priestesses scattered across Europe. Moreover, the area of the sea where Sena lies was known as the Bay of the Dead and considered as "the otherworld" by inhabitants of the region — a place where seeresses could more readily pass through the veil into the realms of the gods.

The nine holy women of Sena are long gone, sadly for us, but Mela's report adds historical weight to the traditions from folklore and myth that describe groups of nine women working with magical, curative, and divinatory powers. Although the line between myth and history is frequently blurred in these accounts, there were indeed real-life assemblies of nine women and, in most cases, these seem to conform to a common pattern — that of a votive group, a sisterhood, dedicated to a sacred cause. These votive groups were — and are — genuine carriers of women's spiritual and magical work.

When I first gathered material for this book in the 1980s, with no Internet search tools available at that time, I found only scattered references to these companies of nine women — although enough to suggest that our nine archetypes had ancient origins. Now, with the help of the Internet, I am far more confident that our own Circle of Nine is a particular flowering of this lineage — one that stretches back to pre-history. It is found over an area that reaches down through Scandinavia and continental Europe to the Mediterranean in the south, and as far as Siberia to the north and east. It may even extend world-wide, as there are scattered examples of the Nine from Africa and South America as well.

THE NATURE OF THE NINE

All manifestations of the Nine that I have come across have their own individual identities, as well as specific roles, tasks, or functions to perform. The briefs for their activities range widely, from serving a deity to divining, healing, performing magic, or simply dancing for joy. The mix of myth, history, and folklore that characterizes these groups affects the tone of the stories, which may be serious or lighthearted, mysterious or factual. One important element common to them all, however, is that they usually partake of energy from a sacred or otherworldly source.

As we look at specific examples of the Nine, it becomes clear just how much context and the passage of time have shaped these stories. Sometimes the actions of the archetypes are demonized by prevailing religious or social mores — dancing may be seen as wicked and compassionate healing viewed as the practice of malevolent witchcraft, for instance. In a way, however, these different versions of the Nine help the overall narrative of the tradition to cohere, as they form a kaleidoscopic version of the stories in which common patterns can be discerned. We do not always need to untangle fact from fiction to see that these companies of nine have an overall relationship to one another.

These companies are usually given simple appellations — the Nine Maidens, the Nine Sisters, the Nine Ladies, the Nine Daughters, the Nine Virgins, or, occasionally, the Nine Mothers. Moreover, many groups do not give individual names to the archetypes, as we do in our Circle of Nine — although some give names to the leading figure of the group, or to one or two of her followers, as we shall see. In general, however, these groups are distinguished more by their context and function than by their names.

From the examples we look at here, it is clear that the nine figures in these companies are not generally regarded as goddesses. They are credited as gifted seeresses, holy healers, religious devotees, or spirited dancers, but not as divine beings. They may consort with the gods, read the future, and shape-shift into different animals, but they are not deities themselves. This is an important distinction, especially as it relates to the archetypes of our Circle of Nine. They are not goddesses either; they partake of the mythic, but also manifest in the lives of ordinary women.

The challenge and the joy of working with the Circle of Nine archetypes comes, in fact, from this polarity. The Nine prompt us to embrace both the here-and-now and the mythic dimension of life, and to see them at work in both. Perhaps this explains why some of the historic examples are vague in terms of whether they refer to myth or reality, and often end up as a curious blend of both. The lesson for us is that the Nine need to become a part of our own lives as women, even if they emanate from a spiritual or otherworldly realm. A Greek poem from the seventh century BCE describes how the Nine pass between the mundane and spiritual realms as nine beautiful maidens wearing brightly shining ivory necklaces. They dance their way into the realm of the dead and approach the goddess who dwells there. In the poem, they are clearly under the command of the unnamed goddess but are not of the same sacred status.

We, who come among the dead as far as to the very Goddess, nine girls,
THREES AND NINES

Why is the number nine so important to this tradition? One key factor may be the significance of the number three, which gives rise to nine as three threes and is at the root of many versions of female mythology. The idea of the triple goddess is an ancient one, either as three goddesses who form a trinity, or as one goddess with three faces. Diana, the Roman goddess of the moon, for instance, is said to exist in three different modes as ruler of the hunt, the moon, and the underworld. There are also triplicities of presiding spirits — the Three Fates, the Three Graces, and, originally, the Three Muses, who are especially relevant as their number increased from three to nine, as we shall see later. Although the number three isn't exclusively related to women, there does seem to be a special relationship between the feminine and three-ness. This may be because of the obvious changes to a woman's body throughout her life, often referred to as the three phases of maiden, mother, and crone.

The formula 3 X 3 is often seen as a magical evocation, as the ultimate way of setting the seal on an action. Perhaps the binding up of magic in a nine-fold spell is considered a particularly feminine way of practicing enchantment or healing. Certainly, the speech of the witches in the first act of Shakespeare's Macbeth gives weight to this:

Thrice to thine, and thrice to mine,
One way to determine whether the number nine is really intrinsic to women's way of working is simply to ask whether there are analogous groups of a different number of women — five, six, or eight, for instance. The answer is that, although there are a few, there are not many. While there are some instances of groups of seven — the Seven Sisters of the Pleiades, for example — and seven is indeed seen as a magical number, it is groups of nine that predominate.

The number nine itself has another property that has special significance. The digits in any multiple of nine add up to a multiple of nine. They can, therefore, be reduced back to nine itself (e.g., 32 X 9 = 288 = 2 + 8 + 8 = 18 = 1 + 8 = 9). We can't attribute universal significance to this, however, because this property pertains only to our current decimal (10-based) number system, while examples of the Nine are also found in cultures from pre-history to the Greeks and Romans in which different numerical systems prevailed. In fact, sometimes the groups of nine women nominally become groups of ten when the nine adhere to a leader or a figurehead. Saint Bridget, for instance, had a group of nine handmaidens, as did the redoubtable Breton fairy known as the Korrigan, and the Norse goddess Freya was served by a company of nine seeresses. In these cases, the tenth figure usually acts as a guiding deity, spirit, or saint, and the nine women themselves are of equal status as they encircle this figure.

Groups of nine women may also be led by a male figure, as in the case of the nine maidens who stir the cauldron of Pen Annwyfn, Welsh Lord of the Underworld, or the nine daughters of King Pieros in ancient Greek mythology, who attempted to best the nine Muses in a singing competition and were turned into magpies for their temerity. The nine daughters of Saint Donevald, whom we will meet shortly, are another example of this, while even our original Nine Ladies stone circle in Derbyshire boasts a tenth feature known as the King Stone, which stands some forty meters outside the circle itself.

THE LAST OF A MIGHTY ORDER

The following speculative vision of how a company of nine might have lived and acted as a source of sacred support to their community came to me spontaneously many years ago when I was exploring a sequence of images concerning women's traditions. The vision has remained vivid in my mind ever since. I do not know whether it has any historical accuracy — my impression at the time was that it may have come from a place like ancient Crete.

When I had this experience, I wasn't fully aware of the age-old tradition of groups of nine women living as diviners and counselors, often sequestering themselves on islands or mountain tops and using wands as sacred instruments. As I became more immersed in this tradition through my research, I found it remarkable that what I had seen in my vision accorded so well with historical accounts. This gives weight to my sense at the time that I was making contact with a special order of archetypes from the past. Whether or not my vision is completely "real" in a historical sense, it certainly closely parallels a tradition that I now know to exist. This leads me to think that we may be able to tune in to a particular dimension of existence that transcends the time and place in which we find ourselves and, in some sense, be in touch with the groups of nine that have existed before us. Thus we can live and work consciously as part of this lineage.

I pass my vision along to you now just as I wrote it down those many years ago:

I see women living in mountainous regions. They wear white, scanty dresses, and are of one company, but spend most of their time in solitude. They know a great deal about nature and the natural order, though they must not identify with it in their work. They can summon and handle power, often focused through a slender wand, yet they are devotional and spend much time in prayer. They have sacred springs into which the wands can be dipped. They are the last of a mighty order.

Their symbol seems to be a three-branched stick, with each branch dividing into a further three at its tip. They must keep the warmth of the heart that would naturally grow if they led a family life, yet they live without that. It is very hard, and they are rare beings. They are airy, pure, and devoted, and they work with love and knowledge. They are consulted by people who travel to them for help and advice.

A man arrives, possibly a counselor from the local leader or king. One of the women holds up the three-branched symbol as she greets him. It is part of her training that she must know what question will be asked before it is put to her; she divines what he wants to know.

There is knowledge to be gained from these women. They have no one to pass it on to, for their number is diminishing. I ask for some insight. The words come: "The power of prayer is like water" It is accompanied by an image of a stream of water cascading down. Cupped hands are held within it, so that the hands direct the flow. This has a great impact on me, and the words follow: "Try it and see."

MAIDENS OF THE CIRCLE

Several different types of archetypes make up the companies of nine as I have researched them, and each has different functions to perform. Here, we will look at five of the major types — saintly maidens, pagan maidens, maidens of the landscape, ancient maidens, and classical maidens — both for historical interest and to show that the Nine can span different cultures and take on diverse roles. Of course, these archetypes are not all "maidens," in the literal sense of young women or virgins. I use the term here only because it is the one most often found in stories of the Nine. The role of maiden usually carries an element of devotion or celebration, and a connection with whatever sacred source is operative in each particular tradition.

Saintly Maidens

Most of the groups of nine women that we encounter are associated with magical or oracular traditions, perhaps showing an affinity with older forms of nature worship or with deities from earlier periods. Here, we'll start with examples from Christianity, because it helps us to make more sense of how certain "nine maidens" stories have been overlaid by both later interpretations and Christian censure.

The groups of nine women that formed within Christianity most likely developed out of the ancient traditions. Their roles were as handmaidens, devotees, or saintly examples of living from faith. This does not mean, however, that they were necessarily meek and subservient. Some of the examples we have suggest that they acted with great courage.

In the early part of the eighth century CE, a holy man named Donevald settled in what is now the Glamis area of Scotland, bringing with him his nine daughters. When Donevald died, the chroniclers tell us that the daughters were granted safe haven in Abernethy, Perthshire, by the reigning King of the Picts. There, they chose to live a solitary life — to fast, to walk, and to pray devoutly. Eventually, miracles began to be attributed to them. Although we know little about them as individuals, the names of Mazota and Fincana survive because they were later revered as saints. After their deaths, legend says, the nine daughters were buried at the root of an oak tree, although one version has it that they actually lived in a hollow oak tree when they moved to Abernethy. Here, myth and history blend, perhaps drawing on a symbolic association between the nine maidens and trees. In Siberia, a creator god known as Ulgan is said to have ruled over the nine branches of the World Tree, assisted by his nine daughters.

Until it was banned by the Church in the 17th century, the lives of the nine daughters of Donevald were celebrated annually, when the maidens of the neighborhood made pilgrimages to the oak tree. It is likely, in fact, that the annual pilgrimages continued despite the edicts of the authorities. The same kind of commemorative ritual is found in a tradition associated with Saint Bridget, who was accompanied by a circle of nine handmaidens. Saint Bridget is revered in two traditions. As Bride, she is associated with an early pagan Irish goddess; as a Christian saint, she is claimed both by Ireland and Scotland. In her Scottish incarnation, she was honored each May Day at Saint Bride's Well, Sanquar, where local girls brought nine smooth white stones to place as an offering. These can be seen as representing the nine-fold female presence that surrounded Bridget.

(Continues…)

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Excerpted from "The Circle of Nine"
by .
Copyright © 2018 Cherry Gilchrist.
Excerpted by permission of Red Wheel/Weiser, LLC.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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