Ananke and Welcome!

The Sisterhood of Themiskyra was founded as a place where Dianic Paganism intersects with legends of the Amazons, a nation of warrior women in Asia Minor. Though the Amazons are mentioned repeatedly in ancient sources, there is no absolute evidence that such a people existed. Of course, there is no proof that the Amazons are pure myth, either.


For the moment, let's accept the Amazons as having been real. This matriarchy is said to have spread along the southern shores of the Black Sea. The capital city of Themiskyra was founded and developed on the banks of the Thermedon river during the reign of Queen Lysippe around 2200 BCE. Last mention of the warrior nation dates from 1213 BCE, offering a lifespan of one thousand years.


Embracing the many positive values and attributes of the Amazons, the Sisterhood of Themiskyra proposes a path inspired by our sisters of the ages. It is open to all women seeking a spiritual connection. We are ever growing and ever changing--and ever accepting of new sisters and new ideas.

The Sisterhood of Themiskyra has no formal scripture per se, but the poem "The Dawn of Themiskyra" penned by Cassandra Evangelis in 1976 is widely adopted by groups within the Sisterhood as our path's beating heart. You might notice that the charge was largely adapted from a poem by Saint Francis of Assisi.

Western Civilization has been fascinated by the Amazons, a tribe of women warriors often thought to be crude and legendary. But there has been a faction that has contended the historical existence of the Amazons to one degree or another. It was in this spirit of potential discovery that the Sisterhood of Themiskyra was founded in 1977. The group is named for Themiskyra, the great capital city of the Amazons on the banks of the Thermodon river. Members of the Sisterhood today meet with the spirit of the Amazons and their attributes in Spiritual Themiskyra.


Greetings from Themiskyra!

Greetings from Themiskyra!
Rendition of an Amazon

A Quick Look At The Sisterhood

What could a renegade bunch of mountain women have to teach women of today?

The Values of the Ancestresses are independence, self-reliance, character, strength, skill, agility, sisterhood, devotion, and tenacity.

The Amazon women symbolize the need for women to reunite with Womanspirit, pride in Womanspirit, and embracing the female divine.

As a code for living, the Sisterhood holds to honoring the divine, honoring the sisters, honoring the self, and that all life is sacred.

Rites follow a lunar calendar of thirteen full moons and thirteen dark moons. Each moon is assigned to a particular pre-Hellenic goddess to serve as patroness of rituals. After the thirteenth dark moon, the cycle begins again. Individual groups within the Sisterhood can be called covens, circles, groves, or whatever suits the membership.

Every woman in the Sisterhood is a Melissa, or priestess. We've gotten the term Melissa from the ancient Greek for honey bee. The great temple complex of Artemis at Ephesus closely resembled a beehive, and as the Amazons were said to travel here for worship and reverence, "honey bee" seemed an appropriate homage.

Sisterhood clergy consists of women who have gone beyond their roles as Melissa, in whatever capacity. These sisters have earned the title Evangelis.

Themiskyrans trace their lineage back to the primordial mother goddess called Ananke. To be brief, Ananke is everything. She is the thought and inspiration in everything. She gave birth to the more tangible mother goddess of the Sisterhood, Hera.

This is not Hera as she is usually depicted, the scorned and jealous wife of Zeus. In the Sisterhood Hera exists just as She did on ancient Argos, a great mother to Her people. Hera also exists in triplicate—Pais, Teleia, and Chera—with each aspect corresponding to an age of womanhood.

According to Sisterhood lore, Hera gave birth to Artemis, the Virgin Huntress and goddess of the wild things. Otrere, the ancestral goddess of the Amazons, came from the virgin body of her mother Artemis, and it was Otrere who gave birth to Lysippe, the first Amazon queen. An Evangelis of the Sisterhood, then, is a descendant of the Amazon queens--at least in spirit.

We always have room for more sisters in the hive. Feel free to browse the posts offered here and get to know us better!

Become A Sister--Get Your Copy Of The Handbook!

Become A Sister--Get Your Copy Of The Handbook!
Joining the Sisterhood is as easy as purchasing the Handbook! Written and published by Emilie Conroy (Sappho Evangelis), the Handbook contains everything you need to know to be an active Sister--with lots of opportunities for your personal interpretations and experiences. Click on the cover to be taken to, appropriately enough, Amazon!

Hera Unveiled

Hera Unveiled

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Celebrating The Moons

The Sisterhood of Themiskyra observes Full Moons and New Moons as times for celebration and ritual.  The liturgical year begins with the Full Moon immediately following the Spring Equinox.  Here is the list of goddesses and themes for each Moon.

Hera - beginnings, the female divive
Hekate - the final cycle of life
Athena - wisdom, logic, reason, and strength
Persephone - maiden goddess of death
Ananke - the Goddess in everything
Kybele - Great Mother with many faces
Diktynna - the bounty the Goddess gives to the earth
Baubo - taking pleasure in what is bawdy
Pasiphae - the primordial Mother
Eris - power of discord and chaos
Artemis - a woman complete unto herself
Nyx - power of darkness and night
Gaia - Mother Earth
Eileithyia - the force of birth and life
Lachesis - weaver of the threads of Fate
Nike - all manner or triumph and victory
Atropos - cutter of the threads of Fate
Demeter - all that lives upon the earth
Thetis - depths of the oceans
Hestia - home and sacred thought
Chera - Hera in the Crone aspect
Hebe - being young at any age
Kalligenia - beauty within
Hygeia - health and healing
Mnemosyne - memories
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