Name: Ashley Michelle Edmond aka Aeon Magdalena

Location: Los Angeles CA

Astrological Sign/rising: Virgo Sun, Gemini Ascendant, Libra Moon

Occupation: Exotic dancer

Which Goddess or Goddess Archetype do you most identify with and why? This is a difficult one for me as I have a connection to several that I feel I have characteristics of or have been shared with me. The first being Maman Brigitte. Her energy came up in a tarot reading one day and hours later the same day I was contacted by someone whom I did not know through instagram. He told me that I have her energy and she has been with me. That was pretty intense and felt very cosmic. I looked her up. She's a death loa of the Vodou pantheon. One website says "Maman Brigitte, like the rest of the Baron/Ghede constellation, is a tough-talking lwa who uses a lot of obscenities. She drinks rum laced with hot pepper, so hot that a person not possessed by a lwa could never drink it. She also is known to pass hot Haitian peppers on the skin of her genitals, and this is the test to which women are subjected when they are suspected of "faking" possession. She dances the sexually suggestive and remarkably artistic banda, and the virtuosity of her dancing is legendary." 

The goddess Vesta who is the Roman equivalent of the Greek goddess Hestia is a goddess that also was shared with me through a woman who read my natal chart. She explained I have an extremely potent Maternal energy in my chart with a lot of planets in my fourth house of home. Vesta is the goddess of the hearth, the home and family life. I am very connected to that at this point in my life as a mother of a young son and as someone who cares about the healing and regenerative capacity of a warm and tranquil home. I'm about that domestic life.

Ishtar aka Astarte or Ashtoreth is a goddess from the ancient Near East ( East Mediterranean, Africa, Middle East) of love, sex, fertility and war. This is the part of me that has a beef with the misogynist values of society, the status quo and fearful conservatism that vilifies those who think and behave outside of the existing paradigms of thought. She is one that loves to fuck and will kick your ass to the curb if needed. She is known to be virginal in that no one has possession over her and is fiercely independent. Pretty much me.

Mary Magdalene was a figure I grew up being mystified by because of her integral role in the story of Christ. (my family was and is still deeply religious of the Christian variety, however, I am not). Her close association with sexuality by being historically referred to as a prostitute was always intriguing and puzzling to me.  Later in life I was introduced to the theory of her being a priestess in her own right, of being in a completely different role than the one allotted to her by those who have made such an effort to keep the truth of this particular story hidden for generations because it would render a different global society all together. Christianity as it has been molded and interpreted over hundreds of generations is inherently patriarchal with no real acknowledgement of the contribution of women at the level of creator- something I find odd when we are the ones carrying and birthing children. Anyway,  She was the divine feminine principle in that story. Later as I grew older I felt really connected to the her energy as I embarked on my personal dance journey.

My dancer name is Aeon Magdalena in reference to her. 

Everyone just calls me Aeon though, and yes, that part was inspired by Aeon Flux. If there was a post modern goddess archetype, Aeon Flux would definitely be included in the ranks. 

How do you get in touch with/unleash your inner goddess ? 

I dance, cook, formulate skin and body care products. All of those things are quite alchemical in my eyes and very much the work of a goddess.

I clean the shit out of my living space because cleanliness is close to goddessliness. (I can't cook in a dirty kitchen or get clean/ready in a dirty bathroom, fuck no but truthfully I'm still a work in progress there as well- my room can be a mess.) I unleash my inner goddess when I perform. I unleash her when I debate topics that stir me. She is there helping me to get in touch with my mystical side as I prepare baths and continue to learn more about ancient ritualistic approaches to living. And I definitely unleash that bitch when I'm fuckin'.

What is your Goddess superpower?

I'd have to say dance/movement is a super power I have been blessed to be able to express. The amount of progress I have made in the last year and eight months that I've been dancing for work has been pretty remarkable for me personally having came from no formal background in dance.  Asuper power I have that is also very practical is taking everything that is about to go bad out of the fridge/ pantry and making something totally delicious with it. 

I did that for the first six months of 2011 on a higher level when I worked for the Downtown Women's Center in Los Angeles busting out some of the craziest meals for 120-150 ladies a day because all we had to work with was donated food and a small budget. By the end of the month everything was low and I had to make it happen. 

What is an empowering quote and/or important words of wisdom that you’d like to share with other Goddesses out there?  I actually didn't have a quote in mind and so I thought about a woman whom I know relatively little about but whose tenacity, artistic freedom and elegant poise have kept her in my mind for years. For anyone who isn't familiar with Josephine Baker, she was a provocative dancer, performing artist and vocalist who left the United States for France. She was doing her thing from the 1920s to the 1970s, right up until days before her death. She became one of the most iconic performing artists pushing the limits of what a woman, especially a black woman was allowed to do or be in her time. I am so inspired by everything she stood for as well as her own virtuosity in the arts, dance and music.

 "Surely the day will come when color means nothing more than the skin tone, when religion is seen uniquely as a way to speak one's soul, when birth places have the weight of a throw of the dice and all men are born free, when understanding breeds love and brotherhood." - Josephine Baker

This quote is as poignant as ever and I chose it because her words resonate so deeply with what I see possible for a planet that radiates and runs on love, higher consciousness and an  authentic sense of being. Diversity in nature is what makes it so awe inspiring. For us to appreciate that fully in humankind would be an exponential giant leap toward a higher quality of living of all.

Learn more about Aeon Magdalena

@spidersnakewoman on Instagram

I'll be launching my site soon http://submerge.la