My Aunt Sophie passed into another realm last week. Not from COVID, but, from a life well-lived. At 98, she lived a remarkable life. She wasn’t famous, nor did she ever strive to be, but what she was, was what… Read More ›
Family
Feminist Parenting Part 3—Les Misérable Mothers, why is this so %$@# haaaaard?! by Trelawney Grenfell-Muir
Life has been challenging lately – I’m sure you can relate. Normal emotional and financial stress are worsened by COVID-19 and the election— and I’ve often said that there’s nothing like motherhood for making us feel like failures… It’s as… Read More ›
Poem: In These United States- The Court Supreme By Marie Cartier
We have nine justices usually but one of our most beloved, and notorious, Ruth Bader Ginsberg, RBG, has gone to the Summerland, across the Rainbow Bridge, to the afterlife—wherever that is for her, she’s gone there. May her memory be… Read More ›
Mourning with the Goddesses, Now More than Ever by Carolyn Lee Boyd
We may all remember 2020 as the year when we could no longer look away from death. Our western culture has hidden death away in hospitals and funeral homes for generations. However, in these past months we have all… Read More ›
Subversive Sister Saints by Angela Yarber
As the American Embassy was bombed in 1999, I was hunkered in a Russian Orthodox Church, gazing at the brooding, whitewashed faces of icons, hands raised in endlessly frightening benediction. Hundreds of men met my eye, as I found myself… Read More ›
Poem: “Safer at Home in these United States” by Marie Cartier
Content Warning: Child abuse, domestic violence. ~~~~~~~ Safer at home is what we are told to do in these United States right now, and the idea is you will not be able to spread the virus, or catch the virus,… Read More ›
To Bless One Another, by Molly Remer
May you allow yourself to taste your longings and to bravely honor them. May you make wise sacrifices. May you trust in abundance. May you savor the many flavors of this sweet life before your eyes, beneath your feet, below… Read More ›
Caprine Community by Laurie Goodhart
Two recent posts, Community Immunity by Natalie Weaver on May 6, and Carol Christ’s May 11 essay, Women Invented Agriculture, Potter, and Weaving…, have spurred me to focus and finally share something that I’ve meant to for a long time. … Read More ›
The Time My Kids Broke Me Out of Jail by Trelawney Grenfell-Muir
When I was a child, I liked and hated the game Monopoly. It was interesting and exciting, but it was also cutthroat, ruthless, competitive, and often seemed to involve cheating by the banker. My vague memories are mostly hurt feelings… Read More ›
When Life Hands You Lemons… by John Erickson
“When life hands you lemons, sometimes you have to make applesauce.”
A Daughter’s Lament by Karen Leslie Hernandez
I still cannot speak. To the depth of the pain. The sting. The knowing My heart Will never be. Or Feel. The same. More than A year Later. And I still can barely utter To anyone. What was said. Bitch…. Read More ›
A Lonely Mystic by Molly Remer
I want to be a lonely mystic dwelling in devotion, constantly dialoging with divinity, drenched in wonder, and doused with delight in knowing my place in the family of things. I want to weave spells from wind and wildness, soak… Read More ›
Welcome to the New Year by Natalie Weaver
Welcome to the New Year. One year ago, on New Year’s eve, I buried my father’s ashes. It was an incredible experience to orchestrate the funeral and burial of the man who begat me. He was nowhere near a Hallmark greeting card… Read More ›
The Door by John Erickson
Faith is something we get from each other, and sometimes in the most magical of circumstances, faith becomes embodied by the person you love the most.
The Caves Beneath My Roots or Psychological Spelunking by Darla Graves Palmer
I’ve spent much of the past four years – since returning to the state of my birth after more than forty years’ intentional absence – trying to understand and make peace with a particular slice of southern culture that I… Read More ›
Mother – Daughter Betrayal by Sara Wright
(1) Today is my mother’s birthday and although she has been dead for more than a decade I still think of her almost every day. At the time of her death I had not seen her for twelve years. Not… Read More ›
Mother of All Fears by Trelawney Grenfell-Muir
This time of year, the general public tends to pay more attention than usual to witches. Much of it is lighthearted – halloween costumes and memes about where to park your broom. Some of it is spiritual – adherents of… Read More ›
To Light a Flaming Pumpkin: The Inexact Art of Family Ritual, by Molly Remer
Our bounty is in creativity friendship community the myriad small adventures of everyday. We tell of magic and moonrise and listening to the pulse of the earth beneath our feet. Ah, October. Fall has settled into the trees and air…. Read More ›
I’m That Trump Voter You Hate by Trelawney Grenfell-Muir
There are people in my family who believe Christianity to be so inherently oppressive and harmful, that anyone who identifies as Christian is culpable for all of the harm done by all imperial colonization by Christian empires and nations, all… Read More ›
The Truth About Humans by Natalie Weaver
I have greatly enjoyed an odd little book I read over the summer. It is Lucy Cooke’s The Truth About Animals (Basic Books, 2018). Cooke takes us through a journey of animal behavior, chronicling the curious narratives that naturalists, philosophers, theologians, and… Read More ›
To My Grandchild by Karen Leslie Hernandez
You’re not born yet. You’re still an idea A thought. Yet I think of you often. I hope for you. I wonder what life will be like For you. When you arrive Will each breath Be easy? Will you have… Read More ›
Don’t Think About That – a poem of motherhood in this wounded world by Trelawney Grenfell-Muir
Get the kids out the door to swim Sunscreen, lots of sunscreen Summer’s worse every damned year Deadly heat waves are killing people as our civilization begins to crumble Don’t think about that, gotta remember to fill water bottles Pack… Read More ›
Temple Magdalen by Elizabeth Cunningham
Since I began writing for FAR in July 2012, I have written about Mary Magdalen, or excerpted a passage from one of my novels, near or on her July 22 Feast Day. For why I made the controversial choice to… Read More ›
What If Jesus Is Dead (And It’s A Good Thing)? by Tallessyn Zawn Grenfell-Lee
Bear with me. I know that most Christians accept some version of the idea that Jesus, the person, died, and then ‘rose from the dead’ in a supernatural, miraculous way – probably the most common definition of what Christians celebrate… Read More ›
Lessons Mothers Might Teach Their Daughters by Lache S.
There might be lots of lessons to consider. These lessons might have holes, for I’m not a wise sage, and I’m not really even a mother. As I am a couple of years from 40, I think about what lessons… Read More ›
The Sound of Silence: a mother’s day reflection 2019 by Sara Wright
Here in the high desert it has been raining off and on for the last few days. A giant puddle sits in the driveway and all the trees range in color from subtle shades of sage to emerald. Fringed Chamisa,… Read More ›
Raising (Dis)respectful Sons by Esther Nelson
I recently spoke with a female relative (I’ll call her Sylvia), the mother of two teenage sons. The eldest just completed his first year of college. During our conversation, Sylvia mentioned she was not looking forward to him coming home… Read More ›
Her Love is the Love of God by Natalie Weaver
I used to hate Mother’s Day. I have written about this before, so I won’t belabor the point. Suffice it to say, I used to believe that Mother’s Day was the one of the biggest lies of all. It was… Read More ›
I Am Her by Karen Leslie Hernandez
I hear this a lot: “You’re Mexican? You don’t look it?” A friend I have had for over 40 years always says, “I don’t think of you that way.” I am never quite sure how to respond to these opinions…. Read More ›
Acting Out by Esther Nelson
I’ve had two distinct vocations during my lifetime—so far. Three, really, if you count parenting a vocation. Parenting took up a lot of my time for many years. There were aspects to it that were fulfilling, enlightening, and satisfying, but… Read More ›
