This was originally posted on March 12, 2014. It was Esther’s first FAR post. Recently, I got involved in a conversation about abortion. It happened on Facebook when a relative posted that her heart hurts when she considers her “sweet… Read More ›
A recently leaked draft of the US Supreme Court’s opinion on Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization suggests that the court is ready to overturn Roe v. Wade. Most people know the legal consequence of Roe, but few know the grounds… Read More ›
Womanspirit Ireland has organized an event for this coming Sunday, May 22nd, to exchange cultural themes with Ukrainian Refugees and to raise funds for the 30,000 refugees who have already arrived in Ireland, and the many more expected. All donations will go to… Read More ›
I took the above phrase from a post on FAR (published 5/6/22) after it triggered memories of mother abuse. Like Sedna I was a daughter who was thrown into the sea, her fingers cut off one by one (but not… Read More ›
This was originally post on June 19, 2017 In my widely read blog and academic essay offering a new definition of patriarchy, I argued that patriarchy is a system of male dominance that arose at the intersection of the control… Read More ›
The Torah portion for May 21, 2022 is Behar (Leviticus 25:1 – 26:2). In it, the Israelites receive instructions for sh’mita and yovel – two types of sabbatical years. These years attempt to set up right relations between the community,… Read More ›
According to Juvenal, politicians in ancient Rome discovered they could get the downtrodden masses to abdicate their rights and accept shocking degrees of oppression merely by giving them enough bread to eat and circuses to distract them. Meanwhile, in our… Read More ›
It is important that we share these rituals of celebration and affirmation with our sons as well as our daughters. Men, too, should know the power of joined hands in a circle, voices lifted in song, and sweet words of connection surrounding one another on a bright spring day…
Jewish amuletic objects come in many forms: salt, the hamsa or hand, the bowl, the scroll with verses, even sword-shaped amulets. These items are meant to provide spiritual protection from malevolent forces such as demons and the evil eye and… Read More ›
It was a strange thing. I even felt a little self-conscious about it, but it’s just where I was at the time. I arrived in Mazatlán two days after my dad died. The wake was well on its way and… Read More ›
In feminism becoming a ‘wise’ crone is acknowledged (it is certainly true that experience brings insight), but the vulnerabilities associated with aging remain hidden. I wonder how much of this silence has to do with shame? Does our culture’s obsession… Read More ›
This was originally posted on May 9, 2016 When we seek immortality or spiritual “rebirth,” are we not saying that there is something wrong with the “birth” that was given to us through the body of our mothers? In She… Read More ›
I’ve been blown away this Spring by the abundant beauty and sheer number of tulips planted throughout Roanoke, Virginia, a city I’m beginning to think of as “home.” If I were to pick a favorite flower, it would be the… Read More ›
To be a daughter seems a most naturally good thing to be on a planet conceptualized and symbolized as Mother Earth since time immemorial by ancient peoples on most continents. And yet, to be a Daughter has become something most… Read More ›
I am pissed! I wrote this blogpost the day after Beltane when the leaked draft of the Supreme Court majority opinion regarding Roe v. Wade was leaked to the public. I was up anyway feeling the effects of PTSD. Lessons… Read More ›
Yesterday I fell into the river. I had had a long afternoon and had gone to escape for a bit sitting on a bench by the river I live by. I had just gotten done with reading about Venus, Mars,… Read More ›
This morning the skin of the earth turns white and wild winds howl. Yesterday, rain, fog and mist lifted the snow into sweet moisture – laden air. I rest in peace.
This post was originally posted on February 5, 2018 The symbol of the Goddess is as old as human history. The most ancient images of the Goddesses from the Paleolithic era are neither pregnant nor holding a child. In Neolithic… Read More ›
In 1989 I was 37 years old. My body’s sacred work, centered around eggs, hormones and fertility, strongly governed my everyday existence. I’m sure that influence is strong for all women of that age, mothers or not, body conscious or… Read More ›
This was originally posted on March 5, 2020 The first time I saw Frozen 2, I was impressed by the ecofeminism and the efforts to respect the Sami culture. The second time, I thoroughly enjoyed the superb music and the… Read More ›
Well, he didn’t do it for the glory, that’s for sure. Maybe he did? He’s gone. When you immolate –you’re gone. What glory is there in that? Well, the reason he did it—as I understand it—is because the world is… Read More ›
This was originally posted on February 14, 2017 I’m sitting in my parents’ balcony in Pune, India, on a quiet morning. Well, this being a bustling Indian city of six million, it can’t really be quiet. As I sit with… Read More ›
Moving from town to town – by train, bus and ferry – I have walked and walked the ancient land of the Scottish Highlands. From Paleolithic to Mesolithic to Neolithic and on to Picts, Celts, Scots, Romans, French and English… Read More ›
Snow tide recedes, shrinking waves expose papery oak leaves, thick tree roots, pine needles, fallen lichens, rich humus in the making… Mycelial networks curl tips and tendrils embrace decay.
Marija Gimbutas coined the term “Old Europe” c.6500-3500 BCE to describe peaceful, sedentary, artistic, matrifocal, matrilineal and probably matrilocal agricultural societies that worshipped the Goddess as the power of birth, death, and regeneration in all of life. Gimbutas argued that… Read More ›
As Luke’s Gospel tells it, at the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry, the devil comes to him in the wilderness and tempts him.[1] First, the devil latches onto Jesus’ hunger after forty days of fasting: “If you are the Son… Read More ›
This blog was originally posted on June 24, 2017 Rather than being a bleeding image of female disempowerment, Medusa may be read as…one of the most ancient European symbols of women’s spiritual abilities… [and] an empowering image of feminine potential.’… Read More ›
You can read yesterday’s part 1 here. Modern architects and urban planners have recently been designing buildings and urban spaces promoting values reminiscent of Old Europe and other societies with similar values. These societies are often referred to as “matriarchal.”… Read More ›
Is a peaceful, just, creative, sustainable world a far-off, unattainable dream or might there be ways to begin to build such communities right in our own neighborhoods? Archeologists and scholars like Marija Gimbutas, Heide Goettner-Abendroth, and Carol Christ have studied… Read More ›
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