Millennial Gaia by Oberon Zell

Millennial Gaia by Oberon Zell is the Goddess image for the new Millennium.

This Sermon in Stone is Oberons expression of a growing global Earth based consciousness.

More and more of mainstream culture is becoming aware of the name and concept of Gaia. She measures 7 inch tall and is cast of polyresin.

The Millennial Gaia Sculpture, Oberon's account:
After decades of writing and lecturing on the Gaia Thesis, and creating artwork, poetry and rituals to honor Her. I was moved to bring my work for Her to a new level. After sculpting figures of many Gods and Goddesses, I felt it was time to create Her.

I wanted to create a sculpture so that any person on Earth could look at her feel something of what I experienced when Gaia first came alive for me so many years ago, a sermon in stone, that would convey the Gaia Thesis to anyone who beheld it.

In 1995, Pat Winters, a beloved member of our community, was pregnant, and the project actually began when I asked her to her pose for some photo studies for a proposed stature of Gaia.

Over the next several years, I continued intermittent work on this figure, first sculpting a detailed relief globe of the Earth for Her belly, and gradually building a figure around it. A beautiful African-American woman named Camilla Parkham provided the model for Gaia's face, and her long dreads formed the foundation of Gaia's hair.

As I worked on the sculpture, other women posed for various elements: Cinnamon Sky for Her legs; Sarah Robinson for Her arms.

When my wife, Morning Glory, returned in September of 1997 from leading a Goddess tour to Greece, she brought back a small replica of the Omphalos, navel stone, from the Oracle of Delphi, meaning womb, which was a gift from an Hellenic Mage who befriended her.

I realized then that the belly-globe of the Gaia statue must be positioned so that Her navel was located at Delphi. I had to tear apart the entire figure and re-sculpt the globe, adding India, Asia and Indonesia.

After I had completed this process, something happened: I felt my hands were no longer my own, and I found myself almost a fascinated observer as the figure of the Goddess began to form itself through my hands.

It was at that time that Wolf, our Mythic Images Business and Marketing Manager and Liza Gabriel came up with the name: The Millennial Gaia.

From Dec. '97 on, I found myself working on The Millennial Gaia with a feverish obsession. I took Her to conferences and business meetings. I worked on her while watching videos and listening to music. Much of the time I had to wear magnifying glasses to see the tiny details that my fingers were forming.

Finally, in April of '98, She was completed. I made a mold, cast the first prototype, Morning Glory and I painted Her, and we were able to present her to our community at the May Day ceremonies, where She was ritually consecrated to go out into the world and turn people's consciousness toward an awareness of Gaia .

Keys to the Images on Gaia's Body:
The Millennial Gaia is a richly detailed, meticulously sculpted statement about the Earth, and the interconnectedness of all Her children.

Moving outward from Her womb, delicate engravings on Gaia's legs display the evolution of life in the seas, from the earliest bacteria and single-celled protozoa, to the great sea mammals on her buttocks. A key to all the creatures and their eras is provided.

Similar engravings adorning Her arms culminate in the majestic Redwood forest on Her right arm, and the tropical Rain Forest on Her left.

Her right breast is a cornucopia of nourishing fruits and vegetables, while Her left breast over her heart is the Moon, whose phases beat the pulse of the ocean's tides and woman's cycles.

The intricate Evolution Mandala that runs up Her hair is a rich tapestry of tiny creatures tracing the evolution of vertebrate life on the umbilical branches of the Tree of Life.

The chronological scale is logarithmic, beginning at the base with the Devonian Age, when the first primitive Amphibians crawled out of the swamps onto dry land, and progressing upwards towards modern times. Different geological eras are distinguished by differing background vegetation. The accompanying diagram provides a detailed key.

At the crown of Her head, the pinnacle of emergent consciousness, Crown of Creation, is represented by a Sperm Whale over Her right, intuitive hemisphere, and a Human Child over Her left analytical. The child holds a blue ball, a globe of the Earth.

Around Her face, clusters of leaves representing the fifteen sacred trees on the Celtic Tree Calendar comprise Her hair. A key is provided. Also among her hair are flowers; Rose, Poppy, Hibiscus, Daisy, and Morning Glory. Circling Her shoulders, a Monarch Butterfly represents the Sun, and a Luna Moth the Moon. Other sacred insects may be found among Her leafy locks; a Dragonfly (Asia), a Scarab (Egypt), and a Spider (Africa and the Americas).

Millennial Gaia by Oberon Zell reminds us that the Earth is a living being with the feminine power to bring forth life and sustain and nourish it; and as such She inspires awe, love and the desire in us to protect and cherish her.

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