“All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well.” These words of Julian of Norwich, taken from her masterpiece of visionary theology, Revelations of Divine Love, seem almost tone deaf against our… Read More ›
female friendship
The Blessing of the Elders by Rachel Thomas
, elders are people who have illuminated my path, inspired me to see my own potential. To open my eyes, all my senses, even those I did not know I had. Elders show bravery and model for us how to be strong.
Fireless Altars and Crone Encounters By Barbara Ardinger
We’ve just entered November, the beginning of winter, the season of darkness. Twenty-odd years ago, I led a group of students through the Wheel of the Year in a class I called Practicing the Presence of the Goddess. (I also… Read More ›
Midsummer Births a Goddess: In Honor of Carol Christ by Sara Wright
This year, more than ever before, I note a very subtle shift that is occurring as we approach the middle of July. Lots of humidity – and I confess – I love the sweet summer scent as long as it… Read More ›
REVELATIONS: The Mysticism of Julian of Norwich and Margery Kempe
My new novel REVELATIONS is drawn from the lives of two medieval mystics who changed history—Julian of Norwich and Margery Kempe, two very different women whose paths converged and who, I believe, have much to teach us today. Women’s spiritual… Read More ›
BFF – Or, The Delicate Dance of Female Friendship by Joyce Zonana
Like so many others, I learned this jingle, actually the opening of a lovely poem by Joseph Parry, during a brief stint in the Girl Scouts when I was nine or ten. I’m not sure I understood it then—what was wine, after all? what did it mean for it to “mellow and refine”?—but the words stayed with me, echoing unbidden through the years and shaping many of my choices.
The Way of the Mystic
Those of us in the Northern Hemisphere are coming out of a long pandemic winter and entering a new season of waxing light, hope, and growth. Yet these continue to be turbulent times. Even with the progress of the Covid… Read More ›
Coyote Woman Unmasked….by Sara Wright
Four years ago I made a trip to New Mexico to spend the winter and returned for three more winters in a row. A true Night Journey through the Desert. I hadn’t been there three weeks before a Great Horned… Read More ›
Fierce Friendship and the Holidays by Stephanie Arel
It is the weekend before Thanksgiving, in the ominous year of 2020. The CDC urges people not to gather with others outside of the household on Thursday. COVID infections rise exponentially. Schools are closing, and in the much of the… Read More ›
Embracing Gray by Mary Sharratt
When I turned forty, my hair started going seriously gray. Fearing that this would make me look “old,” I drank the Koolaid and hopped straight onto the wheel of hair dyeing samsara, getting my hair professionally colored every six to… Read More ›
The Company We Keep by Mary Sharratt
Mary shares an uplifting moment with a dear friend’s gorgeous cat. Photo by Kris Waldherr. As a New Year rolls in, many of us make New Year’s resolutions, often based on the received perception that we are not good… Read More ›
ERA—Equal Rights for Women—in the US: Has Our Time Finally Come? by Carol P. Christ
On August 26, 1970, I borrowed an old VW bug from my mentor and summer employer Michael Novak to drive from Oyster Bay, Long Island to New York City to take part in the Women’s Strike for Equality march down… 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 ›
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 ›
The Sanctuary of One Another by Molly Remer
“Please prepare me to be a sanctuary. Pure and holy tried and true. With thanksgiving I’ll be a living sanctuary for you.”* —Beautiful Chorus (Hymns of Spirit) In March, my husband drove our daughter into town to work at her… Read More ›
Exercising Women’s Religious Voice and Authority – Why is this Still an Issue? by Elise M. Edwards
Over the past few days, I’ve been spending time at a church in Alexandria, Virginia conducting oral history interviews. I’m doing research for a project about the arts and the church that has me diving deep into the church’s congregants’… Read More ›
The Lost Is Found by Carol P. Christ
Since I wrote “Claiming the Power to Choose to Our Lovers” and “Choosing to End Love” in the spring, my beloved and I came back together and parted again, not once, but twice. At the end of the summer, believing… Read More ›
Moving On by Carol P. Christ
Last year when I was newly in love, I found myself wondering if my boyfriend would ask me to move to Crete to be closer to him. Pondering this possibility, it suddenly dawned on me that I was ready to… Read More ›
I Was Brainwashed to Believe I Wasn’t Human. Now I’m on a Mission Against that Cult-Part 3
Trigger warning: rape, sexual assault, domestic abuse, graphic sexual content In Part 1 of this story, I introduced a discussion of Johan Galtung’s theory of cultural violence as it relates to my experience as a young woman in an abusive… Read More ›
“First Blood” Celebration by Esther Nelson
This semester I’m teaching a course titled “The Abrahamic Traditions: Women and Society.” Because I believe story is one of the best ways to understand a point of view, I use a novel or memoir to accompany each tradition. The… Read More ›
Don’t Be Surprised… by Valentina Khan
We are people, navigating in a large world filled with expectations, hopes & dreams. I find that happiness is comprised when we share our expectations with other people. I do think it’s right to expect things, and hope to receive things… Read More ›
On a Friend’s Departure by Vanessa Rivera de la Fuente
On June 25th, I received the news that my friend Zubeida Shaikh had passed away in South Africa. This took me by surprise. The last time Zubeida and I exchanged communication, she was as always, strong, determined and full of life,… Read More ›
Gardening through Grief by Marie Cartier
A friend of mine has been in hospice with Alzheimer’s. And she died today. There will be a day when I write about Barbara… what a great friend she was. How I hate that she is no longer in my… Read More ›
Some Thoughts from Experience by Vanessa Rivera de la Fuente
I am a woman, a feminist, a Muslim. These three things are me, they are things that I have become, in that order. One is born with feminine sex, but it is only a biological determinism. I was born female… Read More ›
Ritual Theory: Sharing Stories by Molly Remer
“Ritual that is alive encourages each person to touch what is sacred in their own way, in their own time, through their own unique experience. So there evolves a dynamic dance between guiding and shaping the group’s experience and encouraging and… Read More ›
Teachers by Valentina Khan
I recently told my 4-year-old son the following, “son, I pray you fall in love with someone you call your best friend. I pray you both never cross the line and say mean and terrible things to each other, I… Read More ›
Sisterhood, Service, Sovereignty: The Living Spirit of Avalon by Elizabeth Cunningham
Like so many women, I read Marion Zimmer Bradley’s The Mists of Avalon and got caught up in her vision of the Holy Isle and the priestesses who knew how to navigate those mists and travel between the worlds. Like… Read More ›
Making Our Stand by Molly Remer
“You may not remember, but let me tell you this, someone in some future time will think of us.” —Sappho I put on my boots and jeans, grab my priestess robe, pack a basket of ritual supplies, and meet four… Read More ›
“Girl . . . You’re Gonna Make It” by Carol P. Christ
Why did this song,* this program, this woman mean so much to Oprah and Michelle, to you, to me? Because Mary Tyler Moore was one of our first role models of cheerful independent womanhood. Why does this song still bring tears… Read More ›
For Strong Women… by Marie Cartier
This month I had planned to write a long column of finding joy in the midst of pain, or rather enjoying what you can still enjoy. I know you all will be reading this the day after Thanksgiving…I want to… Read More ›
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