Goddess – Page 7 – Feminism and Religion

Making Room for Reverence by Kelly Applegate-Nichols

While the Goddess spirituality movement runs alongside the women’s and feminist spirituality movements, I am certain the Goddess herself looks on with wonder and pride at Her creations. I am sure that it pleases Her to see women so devoted to self-sovereignty, and the fierce determination to get out from under the lash of patriarchy, to stand as women together, united in our passion for a better world.

While I know in my heart that we are continually held in the mind of the Goddess, I am called to wonder, how often is She in ours?

Though we make great strides together in our common goal of freedom and peace, some of us seem to be less at peace than ever before; there seems to be an undercurrent of loneliness, of disconnection. Lately, I’ve been thinking, it is at least possible that the thing that keeps us up at night is less about the state of the world, and more about the sometimes tenuous connection with our Mother. We may be so focused on self-empowerment that we have forgotten that there is another power, a “higher power” if you will. And She wants to commune with us.

The Mothers, the Goddess, Lost and Found, part 2 by Elizabeth Cunningham

Excerpts in two parts adapted from My Life as a Prayer: A Multifaith Memoir. Part 1 appeared yesterday. You can read it here.

The Goddess finds me

Between the birth of my son and the birth of my daughter, I had a second miscarriage. The signs that something was wrong were subtle at first. I drove myself to a doctor’s appointment, hoping to be reassured that everything was all right (though I already sensed it wasn’t). En route to the office, perhaps to distract myself, I pondered why it was that I had never written about the church, or Christianity. Then…

I turn onto the main street. I glance at an old clock tower, and there she is superimposed against it, huge, big as the sky, vast as the earth.

I hear her voice.

“You have been searching for me all your life.”

She speaks inside me, all around me.

“The wild mother, the witch in the wood.” [She shows me the stories I’ve written.] “You have been searching for me all your life.”

Prayer to the Bird Goddesses by Sara Wright

Every fall I look forward to the wild turkeys that visit me during the winter. This year visits are more sporadic but the friendship between the three male turkeys that I call the ‘kings’ or the three amigos has persisted for two years creating many questions for this naturalist regarding bird relationships (despite being ruthlessly hunted in spring and fall and randomly shot at).

These three friends still seem inseparable and last year I had a chance to get to know each individual. Two continue to defer to the king who is just a little larger than his friends, but I never witnessed conflict between any of these male birds. Last year they displayed and even mated together! This year there is a predator afoot and except for the king who acts as a protector standing watch while the mixed flock scratches for seed, the turkeys hide from me, so I am sure I am dealing with a human threat. Still, the turkeys come in to feed and that’s what matters. Only recently have the males begun to come separately. The flocks are splitting up for spring mating, still two months away. I am quite certain that the turkey friendships I am witnessing are replicated with the females but because they are more reticent it is harder to get to know them individually.

Praise Arianrhod by Diane Finkle Perazzo

arianrhod-silver-wheel painting by Judith Shaw — Artwork: Judith Shaw from her post on Arianrhod, Feb 23, 2013 which can be read here.

Divine Arianrhod, Beloved Goddess.
Your truth is an inspiration to all living beings.
As you weave the light and the dark so do you scatter.
Joy is in our hearts while you live among the heavens

Celestial Arianrhod, Your crown shines among the stars.
You are the Goddess of the silver wheel upon which all magic is bound together.
Fortunate are we that you are a child of the land and the sky
and mother of the sea and the sun.

Mothering, Society, and The Goddess by Jennifer Eva Pillau

In what I believe was an attempt by my daughter to ease my “mother guilt” for the ways I felt I had let my kids down, she once told me that “the world’s problems can’t be attributed to crappy mothering.” While I appreciated her apparent effort to soothe my inner turmoiI, I can make a solid case that to a significant degree, they can be. In fact, the most critical issues we face in the modern world have everything to do with the fact that our social, economic, and cultural structures are materially thwarting, rather than effectively supporting and nurturing, the human animal – our entire species – and particularly children, in our efforts to survive and thrive.

It is true that mothers are not to blame for all of the ills of the world (though popular psychology can certainly make us feel as if everything is our fault). Nonetheless, in real and profoundly palpable ways, there are aspects of the human condition that are not receiving the attention, tenderness, and nourishment that we know very well – both by instinct and science – are crucial for physical, emotional, and spiritual resilience. Predictably, the Earth Herself is suffering in much the same way.

Celtic Goddess Branwen: A Path to Empathy by Judith Shaw

From the mists of Welsh mythology Celtic Goddess Branwen provides important wisdom for our modern world. Themes of the destructiveness caused by viewing those different from us with distrust and fear are found in her story. Vengeance is revealed as a downward spiral of pain and suffering. She illustrates the healing role empathy, compassion and forgiveness can play in a world gone mad with war. Her story reveals the importance of restorative justice and the many factors at play preventing its application.

Branwen, Celtic Goddess painting my Judith Shaw

Branwen was the sister of the giant, King Bran of the Isle of the Mighty. She was loved by her people for her gentleness, compassion and beauty. In the tradition of the Old Tribes of the British Isle — most likely a hold-over from the days before kings, when Goddess was supreme — her son would become king upon the death of King Bran.

Emergence and Death of the Goddess by Sara Wright

In the beginning, of course, there was no separation; an intimate relationship existed between all humans and the rest of Nature.

The Earth and every living being was considered whole, sacred, animated with soul.

I think of soul as being embodied, that is, living through a body. I think spirit surrounds and interpenetrates each animal/plant being, but soul is born within the individual.

If I am correct, it’s not surprising that the origin of all religions began with humans worshipping birds and mammals because they live through their bodies, and had to be attached to instincts, intellect, intuition, sensing, feeling to survive. They were also here long before people. In every pre-literate culture, there are stories about animals teaching humans how to forage, deal with health problems, and protect themselves.

A Time of Renewal: Brigid Emerges at Imbolc by Judith Shaw

The wheel of the year continues turning and once again we find ourselves at the transition point from winter’s deep sleep to the first awakenings of spring. It is marked by an ancient Celtic festival called Imbolc, also known as Imbolg or Brigid’s day. It is believed to have been celebrated long before the Celts arrived in Ireland and Scotland, probably as far back as Neolithic times.

Snake Priestesses of Crete as Earthquake Oracles? by Laura Shannon

Knossos Throne Room showing edge of lustral basin at left. Photo: Laura Shannon

A few weeks ago I was on Crete, having coffee with an archaeologist friend. She happened to mention something strange. Crete has always been a seismic zone, with lots of earthquakes, yet remarkably, in Minoan times, no one was killed in collapsing buildings; they were never taken by surprise.

We pondered this – it seems astounding. They must have had some means of warning. Perhaps the serpents sacred to them could have given them some sign?

Legacy of Carol P. Christ: The Feast Day of St. Brigid

This was originally posted on Jan 30, 2012

May we remember Brigid on her day in the fullness of her connection to bountiful and life-giving earth by setting a bowl of milk on an altar or special place in the garden on her holy day. Who knows, a snake just might come to drink from it.

The Christian Feast Day of St. Brigid of Kildare, one of the two patron saints of Ireland, is held on February 1, the pre-Christian holiday known as Imbloc. It is well known that St. Brigid has the same name as a pre-Christian Goddess of Ireland, variously known as Brighid (pronounced “Breed”), Brigid, Brigit, Bride, or Bridie. The name Brigid is from the Celtic “Brig” meaning “High One” or “Exalted One.” Brigid like other Irish Goddesses was originally associated with a Mountain Mother, protectress of the people who lived within sight of her and of the flocks nurtured on her slopes.

Imbloc marked the day that cows and ewes give birth and begin to produce milk. It was also said to be the day when hibernating snakes (like groundhogs) first come out of their holes. In northern countries, Imbloc signals the beginning of the ending of winter. The days have begun to lengthen perceptibly after the winter solstice when the sun stands still and it seems that winter will never end. At Imbloc spring is not yet in full blossom. But if hibernating snakes come out of their holes, it is a sure sign that the processes of transformation will continue and warmer days will not be far off. As Marija Gimbutas says, “The awakening of the snakes meant the awakening of all of nature, the beginning of the life of the new year.”