Star Chapel - Chapel of Ishtar

The Star Chapel or Chapel of Ishtar is accessed through a set of wooden doors on the eastern wall of the Chapel of the Well. The ceiling of the Chapel of Ishtar is painted blue and covered with painted gold stars. The shrines within the Chapel of Ishtar are sometimes referred to as being in the Chapel of Stars because of this beautiful ceiling. The stars represent non-zodiac constellations in the sky.

Minette Quick sent the following information about the Star Chapel: "In 1980 the Star Chapel was created by Co-Founders, Lawrence Durdin-Robertson and his sister Olivia. They worked together painstakingly to clear an ancient wine cellar in the basement of the Castle. The ceiling was designed by Lawrence to show many of the wonderful Non-Zodiac Constellations such as the Polar Constellations, including Caer Arianrhod, her Pole Star home, and the Great Bear. There are Cygnus the Swan, the Ariadne Crown, Andromeda’s Sea Monster, Sirius, Orion & Cassiopeia. Having first painted the whole Ceiling deep blue, Lawrence created cardboard stencils. These Olivia then used to paint the Stars in gold."

Several of these constellations are featured in the rituals from "Psyche, Magical Journeys of the Goddess." Two of the more prominent shrines in this chapel are those of Shrine of Dana and Shrine of Ishtar. There are several other shrines in this chapel which are featured on this page. They include Goddesses of the Pantheon and the Shrine of Nuit - also known as the Egyptian Corner, with altars to Neith, Nephthys and Thoth.

The Shrine of Nuit, left and the Shrine of the Goddesses of the Pantheon, right.

The Shrine of Nuit honors Nuit, Neith, Nephthys and Thoth

Alchemical Altar dedicated to the Goddess Tara

Altar to Stella Maris - Beautiful Dreamer, right of the Shrine of Ishtar

Window in Star Chapel, which looks into Chapel of the Well

You can see the wall hanging "Brigid Na Mara" of the

Shrine of Capricorn through the glass.

Detail of the ceiling of stars, the double star of Sirius upper right corner

Another detail of the ceiling of stars

The Members Shrine in its original form, dedicated to Pallas Athena

The Members Shrine current appearance, featuring the painting of Ishtar

by Olivia Robertson

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(Photos supplied by Dennis Murphy of Logic Reality, Caroline Wise, Minette Quick, M. Byrnes, Renee Lundy, Olivia Robertson. All photos used by permission. Please do not reproduce.)