This was originally posted on December 25, 2018 We’ve all been there. Sitting around the tree watching the kids open presents. Attempting to enjoy a holiday meal with extended and immediate family that you may or may not have traveled… Read More ›
Family
Una Hora de Vida, Es Vida! by Xochitl Alvizo
I learned, recently, that this is a common phrase among my family members – “an hour of life, is life.” I remember the first time I heard my mom use the phrase, not more than a few years ago, I… Read More ›
From the Archives: Thanksgiving and Service by Sara Frykenberg
This was originally posted on December 3, 2103 Growing up in an evangelical Christian church, I was taught that human beings should serve one another and put others before themselves. These two different teachings, paired with patriarchal misogyny, have sometimes… Read More ›
Rites of Fall, by Molly Remer
“Sometimes there is small magic
and scraps of enchantment.
Sometimes we push for more
and sometimes we yield,
joining hands
to welcome the sweet what is
as we witness the wheel’s turn…”
My Daughter’s Religions by Sara Frykenberg
I find it interesting how certain or settled we often expect our little ones to be instead of getting curious about them or acknowledging that they are curious.
Can I get an “Amen” up in here? by Laura Montoya
I am a great evangelist. I used to evangelize in Pentecostal settings until I was 22. Then, I left my church to evangelize about feminist issues to every woman that crossed my path. Rhetoric is a gift I received when… Read More ›
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 ›
FREE OUR CHILDREN by Esther Nelson
I remember a poignant conversation with my sister when our children were young. Our biggest fear at the time? How would we ever manage if one (or several) of our children refused to speak to us as they grew into young… Read More ›
Rites of May, by Molly Remer
It is important that we share these rituals of celebration and affirmation with our sons as well as our daughters. Men, too, should know the power of joined hands in a circle, voices lifted in song, and sweet words of connection surrounding one another on a bright spring day…
Carol P. Christ’s Legacy: Does Belief Matter?
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 December 10, 2012. You can read… Read More ›
Mama Partridge by Sara Wright
Preface: I would like to think that there are not many women out there who have had a mother like mine, but I am sure there are more. It is often hard to break the silence of abuse, especially when… Read More ›
Celebrating Our Girls, by Molly Remer
We gathered rosesand bright zinniasto crown their heads with flowers,these shining daughterswho we’ve cradled and fedand loved with everythingwe haveand everything we are.We knelt before them and sang,our hands gently washing the feetthat we once carried inside our own bodiesand… Read More ›
A Different Type of Thanksgiving, part 2 by Sara Wright
{Part 1 was posted yesterday. You can see it here} Soon after I began to create little traditions that I follow to this day. November is the month I begin to celebrate my love for every evergreen tree on the… Read More ›
A Different Kind of Thanksgiving, part 1 by Sara Wright
The night before my maternal grandmother died my mother pushed me so hard I fell to the floor and banged my head. My grandfather and I had just walked in the door after spending the day at a New York… Read More ›
Last Tuesday Night by Marcia Mount Shoop
It’s been just over a week. Last Tuesday night to be exact. That’s the night the four of us huddled around our beloved companion of sixteen and a half years and said goodbye. Buck became a part of our family… Read More ›
An All Hallows Story – My Father becomes a Beaver by Sara Wright
Transmutation? The year my father died I fell in love with beavers. All summer I watched them at dawn and dusk gnaw down the poplars, drag them to the plume, observing keenly how the trees slid so easily into the… Read More ›
Rituals for Our Sons, Part 2, by Molly Remer
Five years ago, I wrote an essay for Feminism and Religion musing about rituals for our sons. I wondered aloud how we welcome sons in manhood, how we create rituals of celebrations and rites of passages for our boys as… Read More ›
Strength by Chasity Jones Selenga
To be transparent, these last four weeks have unintentionally flown by and have been filled with great pain, sorrow, depression, loss, and grief to be honest. I can feel my own spirit at the beginning of a long healing process… Read More ›
If You Remove the Yoke: the Hidden Home in Life’s Pilgrimage by Tallessyn Zawn Grenfell-Lee
(Note: This post briefly references genocide and brothels.) Every year we can, we go visit my amazing Korean parents in law, Halmeoni and Harabeoji (‘Grandmother’ and ‘Grandfather’). Now in their 80s, they consistently embody the kind of radical trust that… Read More ›
My Grandmother’s Clocks
Four handsare spiralingaround a circlebreaking timeinto increments. Resonate bells call up dark nights,independentlyushering in a seasonwithout need to harmonize.Percussive voicessoothe an achingheart overflowingwith grief.Chimes intoningthe inside out. Recently I gave myself an expensive gift. I had my two beloved clocks cleaned and oiled,… Read More ›
My Father’s Daughter by Xochitl Alvizo
I was sometimes told I look like my grandmother on my dad’s side, and although it wasn’t meant as a compliment, I always welcomed it as such. I wanted to be like my grandma. She was a tough, no-nonsense woman… Read More ›
On Duty and Compassion Towards the Elderly by Vibha Shetiya
At the outset let me state that this post is mostly a collection of musings, rather than having a definite thesis statement. I’m currently in India. I had to think hard before coming here for many reasons as you can… Read More ›
Talking about Death with my Daughter & Remembering Carol Christ
Recently, facing the reality that I do not have definitive or perhaps, static “answers” for my little one when she asks me about death, I find comfort in Carol’s words—in the idea that I don’t have to “answer” my daughter with one, forever “truth.” Because I have to ability to give her “enough,” at least for now.
Feminist Parenting About Sexuality Part 4: What to tell my daughters by Trelawney Grenfell-Muir
In this blog series, we have discussed: —The importance of admitting how painful this subject is —Reminders that I am NOT saying all men are bad or maleness is bad, because men and maleness are truly inherently beautiful and divine… Read More ›
Women, Birds, and Feminism by Sara Wright
When I was about forty years old I discovered a clay deposit on a beach that I visited frequently. Intrigued, I sat down and began working with the river’s gift. I remember my astonishment when a beaked bird – woman… Read More ›
Becoming the Mother: A Dream Journey to the Sacred Feminine by Jill Hammer
This essay is dedicated to the memory of Carol P. Christ, scholar of the Goddess, who has brought so much wisdom and liberation to our world, and whom I deeply admired. May her memory be a blessing. The call of the… Read More ›
We Are Not Oppressed Because We Remember pt. 3: Sowing Seeds and Braiding Hair by Chasity Jones
Today, once again, I got to touch the earth! While planting and constructing my indoor container garden, I thought about how my ancestors put seeds into their children’s hair so that in case they were taken away to live and… Read More ›
We are Not Oppressed Because We Remember Part 2 – Diaries of a young black woman by Chasity Jones
Read Part 1 here. One of the 18 characteristics of Africana Womanism is being a self-definer. This piece is a sliver of my process to do and be exactly that. I am striving to be a whole Black woman. I… Read More ›
We Are Not Oppressed Because We Remember by Chasity Jones
Many questions are asked of us as a community, but the answers which are so complex that we should be commended for even attempting to answer, are heard- if they are not interrupted- but rarely understood. As a Black mother… Read More ›
One-In-A-Million by Marcia Mount Shoop
Today I am fully vaccinated. It’s been two weeks since I got the Johnson and Johnson vaccine. The day after I got the vaccine was the day the New York Times headline read, “Johnson & Johnson Vaccinations Paused After Rare… Read More ›