To many, America is a nation, or perhaps a continent.  Such definitions, while powerful, are human conceits, our attempt to impose limits upon a Power and purity that transcends time, space, and culture.

America is, in fact, a goddess- a divine being whose true nature lies beyond the poor power of human beings to quantify, qualify, or comprehend.  Like most such beings, She chooses to appear to humanity through a variety of faces and names.  To the English, She is Britannia, to the French- Marianne, embodiment of the Republic.  Our Founding Fathers knew Her and sought the wisdom and strength She had imparted to the Greeks and Romans of old.  That same wisdom and strength are offered to all of us, if we but accept them- a transformative process that never truly ends.

America is therefore an epithet, one of many, worn by a goddess known to Europeans for about as long as we have records from Europeans.  She is, like most Holy Powers, far older than we can know.  Her epithets are legion.  Just since the 1600s and in these United States alone, she has been called Freedom, Liberty, Columbia, The Republic, and perhaps most telling Alma Mater – Latin for “Nourishing Mother”.

In Europe, Alma Mater usually refers to the Virgin Mary, mother of Jesus.  In Ancient Rome, to Ceres or Cybele.  But in the United States, “Alma Mater” refers (in general) to the schools from which we graduated and (more specifically) to the patron goddess of those schools- Athena or Minerva to the Greeks and Romans, respectively.

Many, if not all, of the most prestigious colleges and universities in the United States (and elsewhere) invoke Her openly and without irony or shame.  While most academics of today might scoff at the idea of worshipping Her (or any divinity) that does not mean Her presence is absent or that revering Her is out of place.  At many schools, students still leave offerings and pray to Her before exams.

Perhaps chief among such colleges is the United States Military Academy, better known as “West Point”.  Her presence fills West Point- the beating heart of the United States Army’s officer corps.  Their crest bears Her helmet.  She graces the front of their library.  Should any of West Point’s graduates, or those under their command, earn our nation’s highest military honor- it is Her face that adorns the Medal of Honor.

Our nation’s coinage pays similar homage to our Patroness- various depictions of Her as Liberty have served as the “head” on our coinage back to the earliest coins minted by the United States in 1794.  The 1915 Panama-Pacific commemorative coins featured Her as both Columbia and Minerva.  The American Eagle bullion coins still feature Liberty on the obverse, but most of our other coins have replaced Her with presidents and other famous people.

So, this is the purpose of this site- to collect the ways in which She moves amongst the People (of the United States and the entire world), to acknowledge Her gifts and the disciplines of accepting them, to suggest possible means of worship and celebration, and to give voice to the echoing threads of civilization that She has woven throughout history to the present day and beyond.