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Ann Brigit Waters

Anne Weller

Annie's Life Story and Business Evolution
Annie's Spiritual Biography
Annie's Localization and Sustainability Biography

Flash Slide Show: Winter Solstice Celebration - December 2006

 

Annie's Life Story and Business Evolution

Ann Weller - Candle Lighting - Winter Solstive 2006

My designs are meant to enhance the meaning of people's lives. My art has taken many a turn, from Native American jewelry to natural crystal and gemstone pendants and Goddess Imagery. As my personal spiritual work turned toward a search of Celtic roots I discovered the symbolism of interlace and knots of later Celtic work and the beautiful spirals of LaTene origin. These became a major source of inspiration...as well as the labyrinths and mandala forms of so many cultures. I am so pleased that more and more people who are seeking meaning in their lives have discovered that they can have the empowering energies or the protective shields that they need as artifacts in their daily lives. A healthy environment is created when we can look upon an ancient symbol or sacred geometric pattern.

 

Born on a swelteringly hot July day in Kalamazoo Michigan, I was the bossy eldest daughter of 4 girls. After a Norman Rockwell childhood in the Midwest, I began to question my neat middle-class life and quit college to become a Macrobiotic Hitch-hiking flower child...on the road to LIFE! Wonderful adventures and strange places beckoned, and I in turn painted houses in San Francisco, fished for salmon and tuna off the coast of Oregon, and ate the simple foods from a commune garden while sitting Zazen. Eventually I rejoined my abandoned schooling and decided to "do something" with my life...somehow getting sidetracked yet again as I became a jewelry designer instead of a doctor.

My love of beauty and need for meaning and history has been the guiding energy behind my work for the last 25 years.

Educated left-brain scientist discovers the artist within, over and over.

After a brief stint in the 9 to 5 world wearing a suit and having "real" jobs in the Natural Food and Cosmetic industry, I came back to jewelry design in the early 80's creating crystal pendants ...designed by the crystals themselves, each one unique and labor intensively loved into being. Those pieces were my trademark, and I still long for the opportunity to do more!

As cheap imported crystal jewelry became available, I turned my design attention to my love of the Divine Feminine - the Goddess - in all of her many forms, and began to create jewelry to honor Her in 1985.

Celtic roots and the beautiful spirals of LaTene origin as well as the interlace and knots of later Celtic work became another source of inspiration...as well as the labyrinths and mandala forms of so many cultures. I am so pleased that more and more people who are seeking meaning in their lives have discovered that they can wear the empowering energies or the protective shields that they need as jewelry, just as in the ancient days of talismans and amulets, the powerful circlets of Queens and Kings...

I hope that I can help you to discover what specific archetype or symbol can help you in your life! Write and let me know what you are looking for. Let the stones and metals speak!

Learn from the past...     Live in the Present...     Create the Future...

Bright Blessings,

Ann Brigit Waters

PS Many of you have asked what our business philosophy looks like…I would add to my spiritual goals as outlined above, that of humanitarian concern. We employ local women who are given flex-time opportunity, work hours that give them control over their personal lives, time with their children (who sometimes end up here for a few hours in a day), and birthday parties as well as health care options, and an organic garden. We also care for 6 stray cats that were all neutered and given a home here. We recycle everything possible, reuse packing materials, and reduce our use of resources wherever possible. Our relationships with overseas suppliers include an agreement to humanitarian issues as well…minimal environmental impact in manufacture, good local wages and working conditions, and consideration of resources.

Please contact me personally if you have any specific questions about these issues.

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Annie's Spiritual Biography

Ritual biography for
Anne Brigit Waters - Born July 3rd, 1949 in Kalamazoo, Michigan

Since I was a child, I spent my summers out in the trees, climbing or sitting on rocks, swimming, or riding my bike in the country. Love of nature was instilled in me by my Eagle Scout father who taught swimming and canoeing at summer camps in northern Michigan. It is not hard to understand why - In about 1970 I began to use the word "Pantheist" to describe my religion on job applications....after all, I had studied the classical mythology, and adding that to with my nature studies, I felt closer to those stories and Dieties than to the Christian God I had been raised with….and felt that Spirit was everywhere, and in everything!

The Goddess has come to me in many forms since then, and I began organizing events to share the teachings of the Moon Circle, the Sweat Lodge, Chants and Talking Circles. In 1984 I organized a day-long Goddess Festival in Topanga, CA. Ruth Barrett came that day, and truly gave us all new knowledge and an initiation into the Divine Feminine Mysteries.

In 1985 I began making Goddess Image jewelry, and my avid studies of Sacred Sites and the Ancient Divine Feminine became the background for my artistic work and my business. In order to better serve and share these images, I have continued to learn about the Goddess all over the world, and over and over have discovered Her to be the same Lady of 10,000 Names. I still create sacred imagery in the context of my ongoing business - Ancient Circles Designs, and Open Circle, Inc. I continue to travel whenever possible in order to look for Her imprint on ancient culture and religions. I have been privileged to do sacred ritual on the beach in Bali, caves of Crete and Kauai, in the stone circles, dolmen, passage graves and ancient holy wells of the British Isles, and in ancient temple sites of Delphi, India and Crete. Also feel very privileged to have been a guest at Hindu ceremonies of many kinds in India and Bali.

I joined the Church of All Worlds in 1989, and began studying ritual form and the possibility of bridging the world of private group ritual and sacred public ritual-theater. I was privileged to learn from some of the great ritualists of our time – Anodea Judith, Oberon and Morning Glory Zell, and many others who came through the Church Gatherings in those days. I priestessed a number of rituals used in seasonal festivals. I participated in many ceremonies to mark the seasonal cycle and to honor the Ancient ways. We created a cycle of the Eleusinian Mysteries, in which I participated as several different characters over the years – Persephone, Hecate, the High Priestess. We were very privileged to be able to use real caverns for this deep work of reclaiming and rebirthing our Selves.

EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE

I have a B.S. degree in nutrition, chemistry and biology from Michigan State University, and have continued to study and use nutritional and herbal healing to this day.

In October of 2002, I was Ordained in the Fellowship of Isis and the Temple of Isis as "Priestess of Brigit – the Multi-tasking Rainbow Goddess of the New Millennium".

I was honored to be chosen as May Queen for the Isis Oasis Heretics Circle in 2000, and in that year created a number of rituals and sacred theater pieces for our group, as I still do annually.

My "Patron" Goddess is Brigit, and it was a pilgrimage to Her that took me to Ireland in 1992- meeting Lady Olivia Robertson, founder of the Fellowship of Isis - for the first time. There, by serendipity, in Huntington Castle, I met my future husband, Brian Weller, drew water from Brigit's Sacred Well, and we drank together.

I know that I am truly called to Her work, and as I gain in wisdom and maturity, so will my ability to better use my talents. I love the art of successfully bridging the space between serious practice and public considerations, believing that the planting of seeds is all important. There is much to do in this time of change and seeking.

I have danced as Priestess of the Goddess in Her many names, in theater and ritual…Brigit, of course, many times, and also Inanna, Pele, Kali Ma, Hecate, Persephone, Saraswati, Hathor and Sophia. We are now using wonderful masks for these dances, handmade unique art pieces by Lauren Raine – their presence is a blessing for our entire Goddess community here in California
.
(see her website – www.rainewalker.com)

My other spiritual studies have included Crystal Healing, Chakra Balancing, the Lakota Pipe way, Hatha Yoga since 1970, a black belt in Aikido, and the close-up study of Grand parenting – my most favorite of all….

I know that I am truly called to the Goddess' work, and as I gain in wisdom and maturity, so will my ability to better use my talents. I love the art of successfully bridging the space between serious practice and public considerations, believing that the planting of seeds is all important. There is much to do in this time of change and seeking.

I continue to Honor Her in my life as I grow into the future we all share together.

“Oh Lady, please use my hands for your Holy work"

See the flash slide show of the Winter Solstice Celebration - December 2006

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Annie enjoys working for the future of Community and All Life

Annie's Localization and Sustainability Biography 3/2007

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All Rights Reserved © 1996 Ann W. Weller
No portion of this publication may be reproduced or transmittedin any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical,
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without express written permission from Ann B. Waters, Proprietor, Ancient Circles.

24 Oct 2001.Graphics ©2001 by C Whitehorn Web Design