Author Archives
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Memoirs of a Cult Survivor by Chasity Jones
This blogpost is a reflection on my experience creating a podcast series concerning religious trauma experienced in cults as well as how to heal from traumatic cult experiences. Firstly, I had to be very intentional about the word survivor as… Read More ›
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Upon Rising: Poems Call Out by Margot Van Sluytman
Moderator’s Note: Margot reads each of her poems aloud. They can be heard through the links in the titles. “And what then is poetry?” We ask this time and time and time again. And poetry HERself answers. SHE needs no… Read More ›
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For Mahsa by Lori Stewart
On Friday, September 16, 2022 Mahsa Amini died in a Tehran hospital having been arrested by Iranian morality police on September 13 for wearing “inappropriate attire”. She was 22. Mahsa’s family claims she had bruises to her head and limbs… Read More ›
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The Appalachian Cailleach Speaks by Annelinde Metzner
The Cailleach is a Celtic Ancestor-Goddess, a Divine Hag, a Crone who controls the winter winds in the far reaches of remote places. Living in the still-wild mountains of Western North Carolina, I’ve found it is easy to conjure up the… Read More ›
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Reclaiming Forgotten Voices by Freia Serafina
Last night I found myself crying over Tiamat. Tiamat is one of the most ancient Babylonian Creatress Goddesses. She is known as the Goddess of the Salty Sea and is considered the primordial Creatress in Sumerian religion. Tiamat was slaughtered… Read More ›
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On the Pertinence of Ritual by Anonymous
This post started as a comment to Annie Finch’s part 1 of Abortion As A Sacrament post. Realizing it was a story that was getting too long, I’m sharing it here as a reiteration of the practical significance of ritual,… Read More ›
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ABORTION AS A SACRAMENT: A Poet’s Perspective Part 2 by Annie Finch
Part 1 was posted yesterday. You can read it here. Though becoming a witch has been a lifelong, gradual process during which I have enacted and developed many rituals, if I had to choose one moment to mark the time… Read More ›
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ABORTION AS A SACRAMENT: A Poet’s Perspective Part 1 by Annie Finch
There is great insight in this feminist truism from the 1970s: “if men could get pregnant, abortion would be a sacrament.” According to Faye Wattleton’s memoir, this pithy remark was first spoken by a female cab driver as she drove… Read More ›
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Asking Her Blessing by Christine Irving
… if the carving is in reach of its admirers, the yoni will often be polished to a shine by the touching fingers wishing to evoke the blessings of the Goddess. ~Adele Getty, Goddess: Mother of Living Nature My book… Read More ›
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TRAVELOGUE INTO HISTORY: MY BIG FAT GREEK ODYSSEY (Part 2) by Sally Mansfield Abbott
Part 1 was posted yesterday. You can read it here. Arriving in Heraklion on Crete, I was enlivened by the sea air and the informal “island” vibration. My sister and I made our way through its labyrinthine streets, following Daedalus, a… Read More ›
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TRAVELOGUE INTO HISTORY: MY BIG FAT GREEK ODYSSEY (Part 1) by Sally Mansfield Abbott
My sister and I arrived in Athens midafternoon on Lamas, the feast day of the first harvest. A blast of dry heat greeted us as we left the airport and surveyed the barren brown hills. It transported me to my childhood… Read More ›
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The Uses of Color On Screen by Freia Serafina
We have to thank a woman named Natalie M. Kalmus for her contributions to the development of color on screen. Being a woman and the executive head of the Technicolor art department in the 1930’s was nothing short of extraordinary,… Read More ›
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Woman of the Isle of Women by Annelinde Metzner
Gratitude to the FAR community for welcoming my poems as of April of this year. Various earlier poems have been my way of introducing myself. My work as a poet and composer has been centered around welcoming the reemergence… Read More ›
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9 Ingredients for Building New Narratives by Eline Kieft
There have been a few intriguing posts recently on creating new narratives (by Carolyn Lee Boyd, whose ‘dollops of mud’ inspired the title of this post), and reinterpreting existing ones that are deeply embedded in the fabric of our cultures… Read More ›
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SpiritualiTEA with Chasity Podcast, Episode 3 by Chasity Jones
An excerpt from SpiritualiTEA with Chasity Podcast Episode 3: Why are we afraid of Divination??? What is divination? Divination is from Latin divinare “to foresee, to be inspired by a god”. (Goleman, David. The Varieties of the Meditative Experience. London:… Read More ›
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Exploring Dance as Spiritual Practice by Eline Kieft
Nature and dance are my gateways to the mystery, where I can bring my worries, exhaustion, prayers, celebrations and gratitude. These gateways open to places deep within and far beyond my perception and imagination. They create an impromptu sacred space… Read More ›
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An ode to the old me: An ode to Roe v. Wade by Chasity Jones, M. Div
Greetings Feminism and Religion family! It has been soooo long and I have missed you so much!! I have been working on a few projects that were rudely interrupted by a heartbreaking divorce, decisions of survival, and the subsequent recovery… Read More ›
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Miami in Virgo, a Mystical Feminist Novel by Sally Abbott
Fifty years ago, California and elsewhere in the US and around the globe were roiling, creative, hopeful, and passionately dynamic places where many of those currently active in feminism and feminist religion and spirituality found their voices and lives’ work…. Read More ›
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Remembering Rosemary Part 2 by Janice L. Poss and Theresa A. Yugar
Editor’s Note: A more formal memorial to Catholic Feminist Theologian Rosemary Radford Ruether was posted here at Feminism and Religion at the time of her passing. Now we are delighted to share these memories of her by two scholars, Theresa… Read More ›
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Remembering Rosemary Part 1 by Janice L. Poss and Theresa A. Yugar
Editor’s Note: A more formal memorial to Catholic Feminist Theologian Rosemary Radford Ruether was posted here at Feminism and Religion at the time of her passing. Now we are delighted to share these memories of her by two scholars, Theresa… Read More ›
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Untangling the Triad of Life Force, Spirit and Soul by Eline Kieft
Most cultures recognize an animating ‘life force energy’, such as chi, qi, ki, kundalini, n/um, ruach, prana and mana. Life force is very closely related to ‘soul’, and often indicates vitality, original nature, instinct, intuition or inner compass. Another term… Read More ›
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Three Poems by Annelinde Metzner
To spend time in nature and deeply connect with Her is to allow enough time for Her surprising wisdom and dreamlike insights to open up for me. I call this “Plein Air Poetry.” It’s a joy to wait in… Read More ›
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This I Believe by Yara González-Justiniano
I believe love that enters through the kitchen feeds others with care and compassion. El amor entra por la cocina (love enters through the kitchen) is a popular saying in Spanish. The process of preparing a meal and sharing it, forges… Read More ›
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Voice-ing the HEaRt: The Sixty-Six Books of the Bible by Margot Van Sluytman
When Reverend Anne Hines of Roncesvalles United Church in Toronto invited me to write a poem for Easter Sunday 2020, I had no idea that this invitation would become a dance with Word via words, that would alter my very… Read More ›
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In Memoriam: Rosemary Radford Ruether by Elizabeth Ann Bartlett
Yet another of my great feminist and spiritual teachers has died. Rosemary Radford Ruether, ecofeminist Catholic theologian, died on May 21st. Her work challenged my thinking and gave me new understandings and perspectives. She was a prolific writer, authoring hundreds… Read More ›
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Oakness as a Metaphor for the Wild Soul: the Dance Between Life Force, Personality and Original Nature by Eline Kieft
The process of fitting in and learning what is required to participate in society teaches us many useful skills such as math and language. All too often, this happens at the expense of developing expressive and intuitive abilities and trust… Read More ›
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When Rabbis Abuse: Power, Gender, and Status in the Dynamics of Sexual Abuse in Jewish Culture, Part 2 by Dr. Elana Sztokman
Moderator’s note: This is a book excerpt in 2 parts. Part 1 was posted yesterday. When Rabbis Abuse will be published on June 14th, information on ordering below. Grooming tactics: Targeting the victim Although there are many ways to target… Read More ›
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When Rabbis Abuse: Power, Gender, and Status in the Dynamics of Sexual Abuse in Jewish Culture, Part 1 by By Dr. Elana Sztokman
Moderator’s note: This is a book excerpt in 2 parts. Part 2 tomorrow. When Rabbis Abuse will be published on June 14th, information on ordering below. When I started this research in 2015, I was not expecting rabbis to be… Read More ›
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“For I know the plans I have for you:” The coming out story of a queer Catholic raised in the Purity Culture Movement part 2 by Emma Cieslik
You can read part 1 here. Growing up, I sat through lessons about how my body was inherently evil, that my thoughts and attractions were sinful and unhealthy. I grew up in the age of the Purity Culture Movement, the… Read More ›
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“For I know the plans I have for you:” The coming out story of a queer Catholic raised in the Purity Culture Movement part 1 by Emma Cieslik
It was my last interview for the Muncie LGBTQ+ History Project. I was a senior in college, and I was about to complete my tenth interview focused on the intersections of Christian religion and queer identity. I was slated to… Read More ›
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