First of all, I’m grateful to Bridgerton for providing several spirited conversations between my friends and me, not to mention the POVs penned recently in these pages. It was fun to take part in exchanges that did not highlight or… Read More ›
Feminism
Waking Up in Shock by Carol P. Christ
I went to sleep in Greece on Wednesday night January 6 feeling elated that Jon Ossoff, following Raphael Warnock whose victory had been declared earlier, was officially named the winner of his runoff election in Georgia, returning the Senate to… Read More ›
Bridgerton: The Next Wrong Thing in Misogynist Television
Why can’t we have nice things? Because the porn industry has infected media, that’s why. I have read several of Julia Quinn’s fanciful romance novels. They contain entertaining and sympathetic stories about the economic and social pressures on gentlewomen of… Read More ›
Another Bow to Hestia by Carol P. Christ
I am not big on New Year’s resolutions, but this year I have vowed to change one of my habits. I have always been house-proud and love using my artistic flair to decorate my home in beauty. I have had… Read More ›
What I Celebrate at Christmas by Carol P. Christ
Though I have not been Christian for many years, I love to decorate my house for the holidays. I have many decorations that I have collected over the years, including a Hummel angel gazing at the Christ child that was… Read More ›
The Body is a Nation by Sara Wright
“The body is a nation I have not known. The pure joy of air: the moment between leaping from a cliff into the wall of blue below.”* Oh, the pure joy of being weightless – I leapt to the stars,… Read More ›
Sappy modern carols won’t cut it; Gritty Advent Hope is what we need this year. — by Trelawney Grenfell-Muir
As we careen toward ever more terrifying surges in the Covid pandemic, with experts predicting apocalyptic catastrophes by Christmas time, I find myself reacting to the vast majority of modern Christmas songs, stories, movies, and cultural norms with increasing distaste…. Read More ›
Altars Everywhere, Part 2 by Carol P. Christ
This is a continuation of an earlier blog in which I discuss home altars as a way to bring beliefs about women’s spiritual power into the body and daily life. In my bedroom, images of the Snake Goddesses of Knossos… Read More ›
The Legacy of Wisdom by Karen Leslie Hernandez
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 ›
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 ›
Women’s Spiritual Power Is All Around Us by Carolyn Lee Boyd
In this most challenging time, women are showing the world what women’s spiritual power can do. They are guiding nations, states, and communities through the pandemic and towards environmental sanity; feeding the hungry bodies and spirits of their neighbors… Read More ›
Dancing for Forgiveness and Reconciliation – Part Two By Laura Shannon
In Part One of this article, I described dancing Jewish, Romani, and Armenian dances for forgiveness and reconciliation with groups in Germany and all over the world. I also offered danced rituals of remembrance at former concentration camps and other places… Read More ›
Vote, Vote, Please Vote! American Democracy Is at Stake by Carol P. Christ
Like many of you, I am weary this election season. In the early part of the Democratic primaries I was enthused. Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, and also Kamala Harris, and sometimes Amy Klobochar were articulating progressive political positions with which… Read More ›
A Story to Inspire Hope by Elizabeth Chloe Erdmann
These days deep emotions seem to burst forth at unexpected moments. While in the car between visiting a pumpkin farm owned by friends and the local cider mill, I decided to pull out a crumpled paper with my brief presentation… Read More ›
Matriarchal Manifesta by Heide Goettner-Abendroth
What is the STATUS of WOMEN today? To cite a brief summary of the 1980 UN Report: WOMEN make up half of the world population, work nearly two thirds of all hours worked, receive one tenth of worldwide income, and… Read More ›
Yes, there are Goddesses in the Bible, Part 5 by Janet Maika’i Rudolph
As I wrote my last blog post, the Great Goddess of the Canaanites, Ashera was honored and worshipped (according to the bible) within and through groves of trees. Ashera and El, the “great bull god” were deeply connected. In fact, in… Read More ›
“Fertility” and the Regeneration of Life by Carol P. Christ
Prehistoric and indigenous religious traditions are often disparagingly mischaracterized as primitive fertility religions, concerned not with higher morality, but rather with the processes of reproduction of humans, animals, and plants. When these religions feature a Great Mother Goddess, it may… Read More ›
Write on Lilith! (Write on Eve!) by Ivy Helman
Over the past few months, I’ve been struggling to write posts. This month is no different. I am currently sitting with four different half-drafts on three semi-related topics, none of which I seem to be able to complete. I’ve gone… Read More ›
Patriarchy as a System of Male Dominance Created at the Intersection of the Control of Women, Private Property, and War by Carol P. Christ
Recently feminist scholar Vicki Noble said this is the best definition of patriarchy she has read–but she hadn’t known of it earlier! I am am republishing it now in hopes that all of you will share it on your… Read More ›
The Quality of Mercy by Barbara Ardinger
The quality of mercy is not strained; It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven Upon the place beneath. It is twice blest; It blesseth him that gives and him that takes… This speech (Act IV, scene 1) from The… Read More ›
Feminist Parenting, Part 2 — What are Children? Are Children Human? by Trelawney Grenfell-Muir
The first thing I do in parenting courses is ask students their most basic beliefs about children. Students are startled by this opening slide, “what are children?” The obvious, knee-jerk response to the question, “Are children human?” is “Of course!”… Read More ›
Masculine: Aggressive/Feminine: Passive: Can We Imagine Alternatives? by Carol P. Christ
Today a couple of friends and I were discussing egalitarian matriarchal values. I stated that in these societies there is no great difference in male and female personalities because both males and females are expected to be as kind and… Read More ›
The Silence of the Girls: A Reflection on War by Carol P. Christ
Suppose, suppose just once, once in all these centuries, the slippery gods keep their word and Achilles is granted eternal glory for his early death under the walls of Troy. . .? What will they make of us, the people… Read More ›
What is Natural? The Wooden Chair Discussion by Ivy Helman
When I begin my class discussion about defining nature, I often start with a wooden chair or table. I point to it and ask the students, “Is this chair natural?” I pause. They have already been introduced to the idea… Read More ›
With Beauty Around Me by Carol P. Christ
With Beauty Around Me by Carol P. Christ When I moved from Lesbos to Crete, I decided to take some 30 large and medium-sized handmade terra cotta pots acquired over the years along with me. As I had been… Read More ›
ANNA’S DANCE: A BALKAN ODYSSEY by Michele Levy – Book Review by Joyce Zonana
Toward the end of her complex odyssey, Anna finds herself alone in an ancient Istanbul synagogue, where at long last she unreservedly “name[s] herself” a Jew and experiences connection with a God that “fuse[s] both male and female” and “from that wholeness birth[s] mercy and love.” Vowing to work to “help repair [the] world”–tikkun olam–she moves forward to face her life with a “sense of wholeness” that had eluded her for so long.
Kamala Harris! “I Feel Heard” by Carol P. Christ
Shortly after Kamala Harris was announced as Joe Biden’s choice for his Vice Presidential running mate, a panel of black women were asked, “How do you feel right now?” “I feel heard” was the simple yet profound response of one… Read More ›
What’s Changed? by Elise M. Edwards
Friends, it has been a few months since I’ve posted in this community. I’m amazed at how much our world has changed since then. Here in the northern hemisphere, spring came and went. It felt like a tide of turmoil… Read More ›
