This was originally posted on January 31, 2013 Brigid, the Celtic Goddess of Healing, Poetry, and Smithcraft, begins her reign on Imbolic, February 2, the midpoint between winter solstice and spring equinox. On this day the ancient Celts held their Fire Festival… Read More ›
Art
Grandmother’s Story by Judith Shaw
The past few years have been way too busy. Every winter I longed for quietness and solitude – for time and space to see and feel the strong bones of tree trunks and branches standing sharp against the sky and… Read More ›
The Motomami Theology: “Segundo chingarte, lo primero Dios.”* Part II
*“God comes first. Fu*king you, a close second.” In Part 1 of this post, I described my first encounters with Rosalía’s music and visual arts, which are controversial for many, but I find them wonderful. I mentioned how she integrated… Read More ›
The Motomami Theology: “Segundo chingarte, lo primero Dios.”* Part I
*“God comes first. Fuc*king you, a close second.” I went to Rosalía’s promotional concert for the Motomami album in Boston a month ago. I knew some songs from her 2018 album El Mal Querer (Bad Love), a musical masterpiece. That… Read More ›
The Legacy of Carol P. Christ: Dance of the Bees: Reading the Language of the Goddess
This blog was originally posted on December 1, 2014 The image from an ancient Cretan bowl (c.1700 BCE) from the Sacred Center of Phaistos pictured here has often been interpreted as an early depiction of Persephone’s descent or rising. But… Read More ›
The Legacy of Carol P. Christ: Weaving and Spinning Women: Witches and Pagans by Max Dashu A Review
Moderator’s Note: This was originally posted on September 19, 2016 Max Dashu’s Witches and Pagans: Women in European Folk Religion 700-1000 challenges the assumption that Europe was fully Christianized within a few short centuries as traditional historians tell us. Most… Read More ›
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 ›
The Egg by Annelinde Metzner
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 ›
Carol P. Christ’s Legacy: Kassiani: Placing a Woman at the Center of the Easter Drama
This blog was originally posted on April 13, 2015. You can read the original comments here. For many years I been told of the beautiful Hymn of Kassiani, sung only on Easter Tuesday night, but I had never heard it… Read More ›
From the Archives: The Quality of Mercy by Barbara Ardinger
This was originally posts on October 4, 2020. You can see the original comments here. The quality of mercy is not strained;It droppeth as the gentle rain from heavenUpon the place beneath. It is twice blest;It blesseth him that gives… Read More ›
From the Archives: Longing for Hermitage by Elizabeth Cunningham
This blog was originally posted on October 20, 2013. You can read the comments here. At least since the days of the Desert Mothers in the 4th and 5th centuries CE, there have been women in the Christian tradition (and… Read More ›
From the Archives: Grainne – Sun Goddess/Winter Queen by Judith Shaw
This was originally posted on June 24, 2015. You can see the original comments here. In the ancient Celtic world the Goddess was the One who expressed Herself through the many. Grainne is such a one. She is both Winter… Read More ›
Carol P. Christ’s Legacy: THE LABRYS: A RIVER OF BIRDS IN MIGRATION
Moderator’s Note: Carol Christ died from cancer in July, 2021. Her work continues through her non-profit foundation, the Ariadne Institute for the Study of Myth and Ritual and the Goddess Pilgrimage to Crete. This blog was originally posted July 29, 2013. You can its original… Read More ›
From the Archives: Buddhist Misogyny Revisited – Part I by Barbara McHugh
Recently, I wrote a novel about the Buddha’s wife disguising herself as a man to join his religious community. When I showed the manuscript to a Buddhist friend, whose knowledge and practice I respect greatly, he expressed apprehension that it… Read More ›
From the Archives: Lessons from Candide by Barbara Ardinger
Moderator’s note: This marvelous FAR site has been running for 10 years and has had more than 3,600 posts in that time. There are so many treasures that have been posted in this decade that they tend to get lost… Read More ›
From the Archives: Miracles Of The Great Mother by Jassy Watson
I was brought up in a household where attitudes to God and church were quite negative. My Nanna, however, was deeply religious, and I can still remember sitting in her dining room as a very young child staring up in awe… Read More ›
From the Archives: That Which Is Sacred by Max Dashu
Moderator’s note: This marvelous FAR site has been running for 10 years and has had more than 3,600 posts in that time. There are so many treasures that have been posted in this decade that they tend to get lost… Read More ›
Carol P. Christ’s Legacy: Of Birds, Angels, and Tidings of Great Joy
Moderator’s Note: We here at FAR have been so fortunate to work along side Carol Christ for many years. She died in July this year from cancer. To honor her legacy as well as allow as many people as possible… Read More ›
From the Archives:“Vaginas are Everywhere!”: The Power of the Female Reproductive System by John Erickson
Moderator’s note: This marvelous FAR site has been running for 10 years and has had more than 3,600 posts in that time. There are so many treasures that have been posted in this decade that they tend to get lost… Read More ›
From the Archives: And the Pies! Ongoing Grateful Thanks for Tradition by Marie Cartier
Moderator’s note: This marvelous FAR site has been running for 10 years and has had more than 3,500 posts in that time. There are so many treasures that have been posted in this decade that they tend to get lost… Read More ›
Facing the Angel: Samson’s Mother as a Model for Feminist Spiritual Practice by Jill Hammer
Dedicated to Kohenet Andrea Jacobson of blessed memory, a deep practitioner of priestess presence I have always loved obscure biblical women. My wife, who was educated in a yeshiva, marvels at the names and tales I mention to her; she’s… Read More ›
Looking Again at The Magic Flute by Barbara Ardinger
I have just spent a week watching four productions of Mozart and Schikaneder’s 1791 opera. Four in a row! Now we all know that I adore musical theater more than almost anything else in the world. Operetta. Nelson and Jeanette…. Read More ›
Leonora Carrington’s THE HEARING TRUMPET – Book Review by Sally Abbott
Long a fan of Surrealist artist Leonora Carrington, I was initially hesitant when the New York Review of Books reissued her 1974 novel, The Hearing Trumpet. I didn’t know what to expect when this extraordinary painter picked up a pen. To my… Read More ›
Loving Venus, a poem by Marie Cartier
Dedicated to Carol Christ, 1945-2021, who taught so many of us how to love the Goddess She is called “Nude Woman” and currently livesin her natural museum house in Vienna.Nude woman. She is art, but she is not in an… Read More ›
The Red Hand on the Cave Wall by Carolyn Lee Boyd
As I have gotten older, I find I am drawn more to non-anthropomorphic, inexpressable-in-words, nature, and everyday focused visions of the Divine. Whereas before my spiritual practice involved more rituals and circles, unusually indoors, with others, now I more often… Read More ›
The Healing Spirit of Sacred Play by Carolyn Lee Boyd
Many years ago I participated in seasonal, Goddess-focused celebrations featuring handmade decorations, including some by enormously talented artists who attended. One year, our spring fete was graced with gorgeous paintings, intricately woven and colorful fabric art, sensuous sculptures, and exquisitely… Read More ›
C.G. Jung and the Heroine’s Journey by Sally Abbott
I was intrigued by the discussions of Jung and Jungian motifs, such as the sacred marriage, that sprang up in response to Mary Sharratt’s wonderful post “The Via Feminina: Revisioning the Heroine’s Journey,” partly based on Maureen Murdock’s book. Carol Christ pointed out… Read More ›
Buddhist Misogyny Revisited – Part II by Barbara McHugh
Read Part I here first… Webster defines myth as “a usually traditional story of ostensibly historical events that serves to unfold part of the world view of a people or explain a practice, belief, or natural phenomenon,” and in this… Read More ›
Buddhist Misogyny Revisited – Part I by Barbara McHugh
Recently, I wrote a novel about the Buddha’s wife disguising herself as a man to join his religious community. When I showed the manuscript to a Buddhist friend, whose knowledge and practice I respect greatly, he expressed apprehension that it… Read More ›
Crane Song: Finding my way Home through Image, Myth, and Nature – Part 2 by Sara Wright
Read Part 1 here… Recently, I returned from the Southwest where I was introduced to the ceremonies of the Pueblo peoples, ceremonies that reflected my own spiritual practice reinforcing its authenticity. This interlude also allowed me to be part… Read More ›