I have been thinking of moving to Crete for almost two years. I signed the pre-contract for my new apartment in Heraklion on September 28 last year and anticipated signing the final contract in October. However, the owner did not… Read More ›
Dreams and Dreaming
Can We Celebrate the Dark? Can We Sleep? by Carol P. Christ
According to Marija Gimbutas, the religion of Old Europe celebrated the Goddess as the power of birth, death, and regeneration in all of life. Agricultural peoples understand that seeds must be kept in a cold dark place during the winter… Read More ›
Endings, Beginnings, and Dreamings by Carol P. Christ
Fifteen years ago, I bought my dream home in Molivos, Lesbos, one of the most stunning villages in the world. Over the next two years I renovated a listed Neoclassical house that had been neglected for over thirty years, restoring… Read More ›
In Dreams by Natalie Weaver
I am grateful for dreams. I don’t know what they are, of course, in any absolute sort of way. Defining dreaming is as elusive as dreams themselves. Moreover, I find that understanding dreaming is complicated by the vastly variegated quality one finds in… Read More ›
Mid –Summer Musings: Lady in Waiting by Sara Wright
Yesterday at the Mid-Summer Turning I took a woodland walk in warm summer rain and then spent a quiet day at home. I visited with a few tadpoles and green frogs that inhabit my vernal pool, sat on the bridge… Read More ›
And We Are Singing, Singing for Our Lives! by Carol P. Christ
Last week I wrote about the grief I feel for the state of my nation (the United States) and of the world. A few days later one of my favorite writers, Katha Pollitt, asked why we are not all in… Read More ›
Reclaiming Sacred Music by Mary Sharratt
Women Singing Earth by Mary Southard Here is a hymn of praise, a beautiful and intimate piece meant to be sung. Reader, I invite you to guess the author of this text and the sacred figure to whom this work is… Read More ›
For Love of Trees by Sara Wright
Yesterday I dreamed that I discovered a bird’s nest that was hidden in the center of an evergreen tree. This little dream moved me deeply because this is the time of year I celebrate my love and gratitude for all… Read More ›
In the Shadow of Santa Rosa by Sara Wright
Last night I had a nightmare. I am dressed in a white cloak that obscures all but my face. The robe is splattered with paint and blood. I am awash in every color of the rainbow and dripping paint. I… Read More ›
Saying Goodbye to my Grandmother, by Molly Remer
Part 1: The Question It is October, the veil is thin the year is waning the leaves are turning I am trying to say goodbye to my grandmother she is dying. I do not know what to say. The leaves… 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 ›
Following My Dreams by Natalie Weaver
Dreaming has always been a huge part of my life. When I was a little girl, I would run to my mom in the morning, before I was even completely awake, and tell her what I had been dreaming, It… Read More ›
My Mother’s Appearance in a Healing Dream by Carol P. Christ
My mother spent a good deal of her life defending my father to me and my brother. “Your father didn’t mean it,” she would say. “Your father loves you—he just doesn’t know how to show it.” “Your father never cried… Read More ›
A Healing Home of Dreams by Joyce Zonana
I had few expectations before my visit in the winter of 1999 to Cairo’s Rav Moshe Synagogue, also called the “Rambam.” I only knew it to be an obscure synagogue and yeshiva associated with the renowned twelfth-century theologian, sage, and physician,… Read More ›
Earth Dreaming, Water Dreaming: How Elemental Dreams Offer Healing for the Earth and Us by Jill Hammer
I once dreamed I was giving a lecture on a spiritual philosophy called magmatheism. The literal meaning, I thought when I awoke, would be something like “belief in the divinity of molten rock.” I had the sense this dream was… Read More ›
Ancestor Connection in Williamsburg, Brooklyn by Carol P. Christ
In early December 2016 I visited central Williamsburg in Brooklyn, New York, where my 2x great-grandparents Thomas and Anna Maria Christ and their son George and his family, including my father’s father Irving John, lived for over fifty years. I… Read More ›
Prayers to Black Madonna and Kali Rising by Natalie Weaver
This past Saturday, I had an opportunity to sweat in a traditional Lakota sweat lodge for the first time. It was, above all, an interesting cognitive experience for me. I found myself sort of shaking hands with the ritual, the… Read More ›
A Tale of Two Sisters and a Daughter and Niece by Carol P. Christ
This continues the story I began last week. Catherina is my 2x great-grandmother; Agnes is my 2x great-aunt; Johanetta is my first cousin, 3x removed, and my step-2x great-grandmother; Henry is my 2x great-grandfather. It is true that Henry had… Read More ›
On Turning 60, My Bucket List and Eschatology by Marie Cartier
You will be reading this Feminism and Religion the day before I turn sixty. For the past two decades I have had parties the night before I leave a decade—and “crossed over” at midnight, with the requisite amount of candles—forty,… Read More ›
In Dreamtime with the Ancestors by Carol P. Christ
The last few days I have been living in dreamtime with my Swedish ancestors, most especially with my great-great-grandmother Ingrid, about whom I have learned a great deal over the past year. Through a distant cousin Thomas Sievertsson, who has… Read More ›
Stealing the Yarn: Jewish Women and the Art of Feminist Dreaming (Part 2) by Jill Hammer
In my last post, I discussed the uses of dreamwork for Jewish women who are uncovering their own spiritual language. The protagonists of recorded Jewish dreams, from Joseph to the dream interpreters of the Talmud to the kabbalists, tend to… Read More ›
Becoming by Deanne Quarrie
The Year 2015 is coming to a close. It is a time of endings and a time of beginnings. That is the wonderful thing about our cycles. We all have the opportunity to end and begin – over and over…. Read More ›
Entering The Cave: Jewish Women and the Art of Feminist Dreaming (Part 1) by Jill Hammer
Dreams are my window on my wildest self. They are also a way to observe the conflicts within, and therefore they are a feminist practice, teaching me about my relationship to power, gentleness, love, and brokenness. Claiming my dreams is… Read More ›
Ode to My Twenties by Anjeanette LeBoeuf
Society has created this vortex of fear surrounding women aging. Yet, as I turn 30, I am only feeling awe. Awe over everything I accomplished in my twenties and awe in all the things yet to be realized in my… Read More ›
Aine and the Giant Leap by Deanne Quarrie
For our full moon rites coming up on the first of July we will be honoring Aine, Goddess of Love, Light, and Fertility who is also Queen of the Faeries. Aine’s name means “Bright” and She is typically honored at… Read More ›
Feminist Freedom: Finding, Following, and Painting Freya Stark by Angela Yarber
“There can be no happiness if the things we believe in are different from the things we do.” –Freya Stark Ok. I’ll admit it. We all have our secret indulgences, don’t we? It is Valentine’s Day, after all. Shouldn’t we… Read More ›
Caer Ibormeith, Celtic Goddess of Dreams and Prophecy by Judith Shaw
Caer Ibormeith, Celtic Goddess of Dreams and Prophecy, is a pan-Celtic goddess who was worshipped in Ireland, Scotland and Wales. In Scotland and Wales Her name was used to name places such as Caer Edin (Edinburgh). In Ireland Her name… Read More ›
We Are Music by Natalie Weaver
When I was about eight years old, I dreamed one night that I stood inside the workings of an immense instrument, so big it filled the sky. It was crafted of wood and gold, and although there was no obvious… Read More ›
