Year of the Dark Goddess

Lara Vesta, MFA, is an artist, storyteller, and educator. She is the author of Wild Soul Runes: Reawakening the Ancestral Feminine, The Moon Divas Guidebook, and The Moon Divas Oracle Book. A certified Celebrant with the Celebrant Institute and Foundation, and a former PhD student in philosophy and religion, she has spent over a decade studying ritual in diverse communities and facilitating rituals for individuals and groups in hundreds of different environments. She also has been through multiple challenging rite-of-passage transitions due to disabling chronic illness, which framed her understanding of the Dark Goddess work.

“Year of The Dark Goddess is a treasury of practices and wisdom, walking The Wheel of The Year through musings, folklore, and practices. Lara Vesta has woven together a rich web of meaning around the many faces of the dark goddess, creating an illuminating framework for the reader who embarks on this deeply transformative journey.”—Cyndi Brannen, Ph.D., author of Entering Hekate’s Cave“Lara Vesta’s Year of the Dark Goddess is deeply archetypal but not formulaic. Wisdom and insight surges throughout this book, and its invitation into living a new sacred story and crafting your own rite of passage is—pardon the pun—simply magical. Inviting and inclusive, this is a book (and a journey) for anyone who yearns for the kind of interior transformation that the Dark Goddess offers.”—Carl McColman, author of 366 Celt and coauthor of Spirit of the Celtic Gods and Goddesses“Lara Vesta’s Year of the Dark Goddess is a poetic and profound journey into darkness, guiding us as we navigate challenging times and personal transitions to rediscover our power, our connection with the Wyrd, to Spirit, and the Ancestral Feminine. As a student of her Wild Soul School teachings, I am grateful that Lara Vesta has birthed this new book into the world, again offering us work that is both Spirit led, methodical, and lovingly woven with empowerment and authenticity.”—Tara Rae Moss, holistic practitioner and author of The War Widow, The Ghosts of Paris, and other bestselling novels“Year of the Dark Goddess provides much-needed support in the form of myth and ancestral remembering for the challenging moments that accompany a lived life. I felt life breathed back into my lungs when I read Lara Vesta’s words—accompanied by a fascination in learning and remembering the ancestral roots of so many of our modern-day words and stories. I appreciate the way Lara frames this book as a rite of passage in itself and guides you through it with written ritual and journaling prompts to support your journey. This is a book you’ll want to keep close alongside a journal and candle.”—Becca Piastrelli, author of Root & Ritual“Lara Vesta’s Year of the Dark Goddess is the book that I didn’t know I needed. I am so grateful it exists. It is both an exploration of the Dark Goddess and a workbook to help us heal from past issues that we didn’t fully process. I do caution you; it is not a fast read, but as the author reminds us, ‘Slowness is an ancestral practice, too.’ With kindness and a storyteller’s flair, Lara Vesta delivers simple practices, offered each quarter, to help us with our health and prepare us for whatever may come in the future. The way is laid out for us to travel with stories, journaling, meditations, seasonal lore, and many suggestions to help us along the journey. I cannot wait to begin my Year with the Dark Goddess.”—Christine Cunningham Ashworth, author of Scott Cunningham—The Path Taken  “Throughout the world, in culture after culture, the re-emergence of the Ancient Mothers is palpable. In song, dance, ritual, and poetry they are celebrated with delightful surprise. In joy, we speak the oldest names. In grief, we bend under the weight of this loss we didn’t know had occurred. In Lara Vesta’s delicious Year of the Dark Goddess we spend time in the endarkening, healing embrace of these Divine Beings. Welcome home to a place we desperately need—for respite, for desire, for completion.”—H. Byron Ballard, priestess, author of Seasons of a Magical Life