Author Archives
-
Sawbonna: Godde and Another Route to Forgiveness by Margot Van Sluytman
From the day my Father, Theodore, was brutally and callously murdered in Toronto, on Easter Monday, March 27, 1978, I wanted to meet his killer. I wanted to know how it was possible to do such a horrific thing. I… Read More ›
-
Ariel, just fighting to get above water…by Yara González-Justiniano
I am all for the critical deconstruction of Disney Princesses, especially since now I see more of a commercial push for them as a collection than when I was growing up in the late 80’s. However, I too had a… Read More ›
-
Recognizing Abuse by Karen Tate
I’ve been thinking a lot about abuse. Of course, most of us know about the domination, exploitation and need for control meted out by patriarchy, but I wonder if we have actually normalized many abuses? Abuse in the home, in… Read More ›
-
Eve by Any Other Name… by Janet Rudolph
This title isn’t entirely true. Eve would need an exceptionally well thought out replacement for Her name to be as sweet as it already it. That is because Eve’s name is unique, multi-dimensional and integral to the Bible’s mysteries. The… Read More ›
-
Leading by Mandala by Nurete Brenner and Elizabeth Meacham
Lake Erie Institute The old myths and images that sustained us in earlier periods are no longer serving us during this time of breakdown of the old and the uncertainty about the future. The lone wolf, the frontiersman, the all-powerful… Read More ›
-
Eve is the Hero of the Garden of Eden, Part 2 by Janet Rudolph
The serpent in the Bible is treated as Eve’s partner in crime, a malevolent seducer who is responsible for humankind’s expulsion from paradise. But did you know there are serpents who figure positively in the Bible? There are serpent priests,… Read More ›
-
Eve is the Hero of the Garden of Eden, Part 1 by Janet Rudolph
She is a tree of life to those who embrace her and those who lay hold of her are blessed. Proverbs 3:18 (Berean Study Bible) Eve’s story, as it has been passed onto us from the Bible, makes Her responsible… Read More ›
-
Creatrix Mundi: Speculating The Godma by Isabella Ides
What does it mean to approach the idea of a Godma, a mother-of-all, as an act of the imagination, as a pure act of speculation? I particularly love the word speculator: one who is mining for the diamond, one who… Read More ›
-
Mantra and Meditation in Buddhist Hospice Chaplaincy to Alleviate Anxiety by Karen Nelson Villanueva
Mantras are not just the prescribed sound formulas or sentences found in Eastern religions, but they can also be thought of as the words or phrases that we continually repeat to ourselves. The word mantra comes from Sanskrit and its… Read More ›
-
What Gender is God Anyway? by Janet Rudolph
Adult Daughter (“AD”): Hi Mom, Alex said to tell you “hi.” Me: That’s nice. How is she? AD: How are “they?” Alex uses “they,” mom. Me: Oh right, sorry. I am having some trouble wrapping my head around using “they”… Read More ›
-
Virgins with Pregnancy Scares: Feminist Reflections on the Annunciation by Lauren D. Sawyer
There I was in the bathroom, peeing on a stick. “It’s a rite of passage,” my friend Kelsey told me. She was the one wishing me luck from the other side of the door; she was the one who brought… Read More ›
-
The Santa Goddess from The Goddess Project: Made in Her Image by Colette Numajiri
Frau Holda Poem Hail to Frau Holda, the beautiful and bright, Crowned and clothed, all in glistening Winter white. Ay seeking and searching, She sweeps o’er the land, Scourge for the slovenly, held firmly in hand. As Holda fares forth,… Read More ›
-
Priestesses at the Parliament by Rae Abileah, Bekah Starr & Chaplain Elizabeth Berger
During the first week of November 2018, 12 graduates and current students of the Kohenet Hebrew Priestess Institute attended the Parliament of the World’s Religions in Toronto, Canada. The Parliament is a conference with a 125-year-old history that has grown… Read More ›
-
A Moment of Change in Our Church by Janice Poss
On September 12, 2018, Roman Catholic Bishop David O’Connell helped move the Episcopate into a new day. A healing Mass at Our Lady of the Assumption Church in Claremont, California was celebrated for the victims of clergy sex abuse. They… Read More ›
-
Clerical Male Mess! by Janice L. Poss
“I am sorry!” “I am guilty of sex abuse” “I have hurt many young children!” “I have ruined lives!” “We are sorry for hiding sex abuse in the Church!” “We are criminals!” “We want to make amends!” We, in the… Read More ›
-
Hear Me by Winifred Nathan
I found the confirmation hearings of now Justice Kavanaugh deeply disturbing. I have ideas for preventing a replay. First, secret keeping doesn’t work. For too long girls/women have suffered in silence with their secret while boys/men move along often without… Read More ›
-
What Part of “No!” Don’t You Understand??: Morality at Center of Mid-Term Election by Elizabeth Fresee
As my late and dearly missed Professor, Dr. Otto Maduro, put it, “One mile from the courthouse, it’s complicated. One hundred feet from the courthouse, it’s not.” In that spirit, with just a couple of weeks until Nov 6, I submit… Read More ›
-
You Can Make Your Own Rose BOOK REVIEW by Lila Moore
You Can Make Your Own Rose by Andrea Nicki is a collection of poems infused with the spirit of feminist sensibility, social justice and activism. The poems offer more than mere therapeutic comfort while depicting shamanic-inspired healing rituals and magical… Read More ›
-
Playing Safe: BDSM & The Ethics of Justice and Care By Angelina Duell
From the archives – 9/23/11 – our first FAR year! This post is written in conjunction with the Feminist Ethics Course Dialogue project sponsored by Claremont School of Theology in the Claremont Lincoln University Consortium, Claremont Graduate University, and directed by Grace Yia-Hei Kao. It is Wednesday night… Read More ›
-
Sex is a Feminist Issue: An Interview with Rev. Dr. Beverly Dale by Jera Brown
Sex is a feminist issue. Harmful perspectives on sex and our physical bodies have been used to disempower and invalidate the sexuality of women, LGBTQIA folks, and people of color. It runs through our theology and cultural traditions within the… Read More ›
-
The Exclusion and Embrace of Trans-women within Feminist Spirituality by Kelly Palmer
Women-only circles have long existed within the Goddess movement, the Red Tent movement for example exists as an inter-faith, grass-roots movement for women only to come together to claim safe and sacred space. But too often ‘women-only’ in fact means… Read More ›
-
A Better World is Impossible Today (#WETOO) by Adam F. Braun
At the end of the second Matrix film (Reloaded), Neo (the messianic figure, “The One”) is told by the Architect of the Matrix, itself a program in the system, that Neo was in fact the sixth iteration of messianic figures… Read More ›
-
When Silence and Speech both Burn Too Much by Marisa Goudy
Read Part One of this post here. I’ve been participating in Elizabeth Cronise McLaughlin’s RISE Activist/Leader Bootcamp this summer. You may know this modern warrior priestess. She’s a lawyer turned corporate leadership consultant who broadcasts Resistance Live on Facebook. In… Read More ›
-
What You Learn When Your Voice Shakes by Marisa Goudy
As I heard my voice rising over the half-eaten breakfast, something inside me began to splinter. “We cannot effectively ‘open lines of communication’ with racists and fascists!” I exclaimed. It was followed by an impassioned speech (perhaps you’d call it… Read More ›
-
Medieval Torture Devices and the Goddess by Colette Numajiri
There is a campy dinner and tournament “castle,” Medieval Times, in our city in which you can eat and watch a fully- costumed period play complete with stunning Spanish horses in an indoor arena. Inside of this building, for a… Read More ›
-
A Silhouette of a Woman, the Menorah, and a Pillar of Light: Discovering the Origins of the Goddess in Judaism by Alaya A. Dannu
2.24.2017 During a meditation before bed, I saw an image of a candelabra similar to what Jewish people use for Hanukkah. It was yellow/gold in color, engraved/etched onto a surface. All at once I saw the imagery of a star,… Read More ›
-
Sacred Activism through Lucid Dreams: A Dream of Enthronement by Alaya A. Dannu
I am a Vajrayana Buddhist. I follow the Buddha Dharma via the Vajra path. My journey to the Dharma was through lucid dreams. I have not once had a human teacher, in this lifetime, to teach or guide me to/on… Read More ›
-
Interdependence Day by Mama Donna Henes
I was recently invited to address a gathering of resident chaplains in the pastoral care department of a major urban medical center. Specifically, they asked me to present the shamanic point of view of team building with an emphasis on… Read More ›
-
Protecting the Children, Jesus Christ Superstar Style by Marisa Goudy
“Where is my mother? I am thirsty.” My four year old is crooning quietly to her dolls. She is making sense of the crucifixion through play, asking her Disney princesses to stand in for Jesus, the Marys, and “the bad… Read More ›
-
Fourth Wave Feminism By Nurete Brenner
Many of us have a growing sense that we are at a crucial inflection point in our civilization and at a crossroads for the future of our planet. I’m not sure if that point needs to be defended, explained or… Read More ›
