Mystēria Chrysēs~ is a nomadic women’s wisdom school with Priestess Yeshe Meryemana Matthews. In monthly online gatherings that are broadcast from wherever in the world she is, she explores her new and developing work, serving an assortment of lessons, photo essays, discussions of omens, signs, and Goddess relationships, interviews, ritual lab, and consciousness-raising circles.

You belong here if you feel YES to any of these:

• have enjoyed any of the Mt Shasta Goddess Temple’s classes, especially Priestess of Aphrodite and Priestess of Isis Trainings, and want to be part of Yeshe’s evolving and emerging work

• are interested in the Graeco-Romano-Egyptian goddess Isis-Aphrodite and her history, meaning, and worship historically and today

• are a practitioner of classical or modern tantric arts

• are on a journey of beauty as a path of healing and self-care

• are going through a change of life and reclaiming your spark

• are curious about the Goddess in her solar associations

• find yourself in the river of lifelong alchemy as you are being and becoming, seeking ritual, ceremony, oracle, and divination methods to walk yourself through your growth experiences

Lighthouse at the Edge of the World

The merging of Isis and Aphrodite arose in the Graeco-Romano-Egyptian period, especially in the eastern Mediterranean, when Egyptian religion spread throughout the Hellenistic world after the conquests of Alexander the Great. In cosmopolitan cities like Alexandria, Delos, Paphos, and Aphrodisias, the altars of Isis, Aphrodite, and the syncretic form Isis-Aphrodite appear in inscriptions, magical papyri, amulets, and temple dedications, suggesting both public cult and private devotion.

The Ptolemaic dynasty (305–30 BCE) particularly promoted Isis as a universal goddess, with Isis-Aphrodite embodying divine femininity that transcended cultural boundaries. The Roman world inherited and expanded this composite worship. As Alexandria passed from the Ptolemies into the complex machinery of Roman rule, Isis-Aphrodite was a divine presence who could speak across shifting powers. Alexandria’s atmosphere in antiquity was unlike anywhere else in the Mediterranean. It was a port where the desert met the sea, a lighthouse city alive with scholars, sailors, merchants, philosophers, priests, and mystics. Every ship entering the harbor would have seen the Pharos rising like a pillar of fire, and behind it, the Serapeum, the Mouseion, and the great Library where ideas mingled just as freely as languages and gods. The tone of Alexandria was cosmopolitan, intellectual, sensual, maritime, and mercantile. It was a city that inhaled the world’s cultures and exhaled new hybrids. Knowledge, wealth, eros, mystery, and sovereignty all throbbed in its streets.

Within this atmosphere, Isis-Aphrodite flourished as a syncretic embodiment of sea, woman, love, magic, and navigation. The Egyptians brought Isis: mother, throne, sorceress, resurrector, star. The Greeks brought Aphrodite: sea-born, erotic, pleasure-bearing, patroness of sailors and brides. In Alexandria they resonated. Here Isis was worshipped as mistress of ships, calm-bringer of storms, healer, ruler of fate, and patron of safe harbors. Aphrodite’s maritime form merged with Isis Euploia, Isis Pelagia, Isis Pharia, the goddess of the lighthouse and the open sea. Sailors poured wine for her before voyages. Scholars wrote hymns to her. Women prayed to her for childbirth, marriage, beauty, and success. She became a goddess of cosmopolitan life, of crossings, of mixed identities, of love and refuge.

In the later centuries, as Rome strained under corruption, famine, and unrest, people turned instinctively toward deities who could hold both complexity and hope. Isis-Aphrodite rose in prominence during this twilight as a goddess of decline who could meet uncertainty with beauty, resilience, and mercy. Her cult spread across the Mediterranean through ports, merchant networks, and the women who loved her. She spoke to those living at a crossroads of cultures, offering protection for journeys seen and unseen, and reminding devotees that change is a tide rather than a catastrophe. Today, as politics shift across continents, as migration reshapes borders, and as old systems quake and tremble, she returns as a patroness of navigation. She inspires us to move through this time of transition with sensual presence, creative intelligence, and spiritual sovereignty. She invites us to become as bright as a lighthouse and as fluid as the sea, guiding humanity toward compassion, interconnection, and renewal.

Alexandria was and remains a threshold place, where land meets water, Africa meets the Aegean, temple meets marketplace, and mystery meets philosophy. Isis-Aphrodite expresses that confluence: shimmering like copper under sunlight, equal parts sensual delight and solemn priestess power. She carries the salt of the sea and the incense of the temple. She belongs to travelers, lovers, healers, traders, and poets. She is devotion softened with laughter, and knowledge warmed with grace. She is a lighthouse in the mind: guidance, magnet, enchantress, safe return.

Invocation to Isis-Aphrodite Pharosphora

Radiant Lady of the Shining Sea,
Light at the edge the harbor,
Your love draws vessels into your sanctuary.
Goddess of Mirror and Flame,
Illuminate the shorelines of our changing world

When the nightwind shivers with fear,
When no chart guides the heartmind of despots,
Let your gold-threaded gaze fall upon us.
We turn toward you now,
Isis-Aphrodite,
Tower of compassion,
Flame of return,
Witness of justice,
Friend to humanity.

Light the way of change for the benefit of all beings.

Course Dates and Themes

Jan 25: Ourania - Sirius, Venus, the Cosmic Egg & Serpent
Feb 22: Peitho - Isis & Ra, Aphrodite & Paris
Mar 22: Euploia - Seafaring at Zephyrium, Alexandria, Luxor, Cyprus, & Knidos
April 26: Despoina - Kingmaking rituals in the ancient world 
May 24: Melissa - Honeymilk offerings and beeswax figurines 
June 28: Kryphios - Churches built upon ancient temple sites
July 26: Potnia Theron - Fish Taboos in Egypt, Syria, Greece, and Turkiye 
Aug 23: Chrysosandalos - The Golden Sandals, footprints of ancient priestesses, glitter in our wake 
Sept 27: Prophetis - Black Doves of Siwa and Dodona
Oct 25: Kubileya - Ancient Amazons, Libyan matriarchies, and their influence on Isis & Aphrodite
Nov 22: Epitymbidia - Love and Death, Osiris and Adonis
Dec 27: Epiphaneia - Pillars of Heaven, the seed ground of the stars

Ready to Sign Up?

This is a donation-based Mystery School. The suggested donation is $11 monthly. You are welcome to sign up by filling out the form below.