This morning I went up to the village plaza in Abiquiu to watch the dancers parade around the church with their saint who is also honored at this village festival held every year at the end of November. This is… Read More ›
Indigenous Spirituality
“Para limpiar el corazon”: To Cleanse the Heart by Joyce Zonana
It should have been a wonderful journey, organized by three dear friends who run a yoga center in Costa Rica. I would be traveling with my husband, these friends, and thirteen other like-minded folk to the Sacred Valley of the Incas in the Andes highlands of southern Peru. We’d be staying at a lovely retreat center just outside Pisac, an ancient market town encircled by imposing mountains. And our itinerary would take us to some of the most important Inca sites, including the iconic, hauntingly beautiful and remote Machu Picchu.
Rejecting TMT: Protecting and Protesting the Sacred for Mauna Kea and for all by Anjeanette LeBoeuf
Roughly 3 ½ years ago my FAR post was about the struggle that the Hawaiian people were facing with the proposed building of a Thirty Meter Telescope on the most sacred mountain in the Hawaiian Islands, Mauna Kea. When that… Read More ›
Eagle Spirit Guide by Judith Shaw
Eagle, with its soaring flight, its vision, and its courage, has inspired humans since our early days. Eagle, Lord of the Birds, is the ultimate symbol of grandeur, splendor and nobility.
Windigo by Sara Wright
Windigo, the Potawami Nations call him. Malignant, this spirit thrives in the Northern Woods, within the human soul. Hatred for self or other hidden under Lies. Windigo, the Potawami Nations call him He thrives on greed. Empty He can… Read More ›
Iroquoian Women: Power Held and Shared by Carol P. Christ
According to Barbara Alice Mann, author of Iroquoian Women, women were at the center of a matrilineal Iroquoian society that could be called (though she does not call it that) an “egalitarian matriarchy.” As in other egalitarian matriarchies, including those… Read More ›
The Gifts of Life: Do We Remember? by Carol P. Christ
Strawberries shaped my view of a world full of gifts simply scattered at your feet. A gift comes to you through no action of your own, free, having moved toward you without your beckoning. It is not a reward, you… Read More ›
Priestess at the Crossroads by Joyce Zonana
In order to transform what is happening at the Mexico/U.S. “border” (and elsewhere) we must first break down the borders within our heads—all the borders in all our heads. Mr. Trump tells us “If you don’t have Borders, you don’t have a Country”; my response today is: “Who needs countries? Who needs genders? Who needs races or competing religions? What we need is Coatlicue.”
Witches in the Weeds by Sara Wright
In folklore Old women are believed to control all aspects of Nature – Fire, Earth, Air and Water, but in myth and story they have a special relationship with water. The title “witches in the weeds” emerged after I did… Read More ›
The Brazilian Great Mother by Mirella Faur (Part 2)
This article was originally published by The Beltane Papers issue #30 February 1998. FAR is republishing it with permission from the author in order to digitally archive this important work. Part 1 is available here. The indigenous Brazilian tribes worshiped… Read More ›
Mulling over Movies: Moana, Pt. 2 by Elise M. Edwards
Every summer in the US, movie theatres show their newest big budget films, hoping to draw in large audiences. While I appreciate an air-conditioned theatre on a hot day, I love the opportunity to go to an outdoor movie screening…. Read More ›
A Healing Home of Dreams by Joyce Zonana
I had few expectations before my visit in the winter of 1999 to Cairo’s Rav Moshe Synagogue, also called the “Rambam.” I only knew it to be an obscure synagogue and yeshiva associated with the renowned twelfth-century theologian, sage, and physician,… Read More ›
Painting, Privilege, and “Going Tiny” in Hawai’i by Angela Yarber
It started with Pelé, the Hawai’ian Volcano Goddess who governs fire, lightning, volcanoes, and the flow of lava. When my little family set off on a big adventure in June 2015, I knew I’d research and paint her as a… Read More ›
Mulling over Movies: Moana, Pt. 1 by Elise M. Edwards
I love going to outdoor movie screenings. Sitting outdoors on a summer evening with good company brings me joy. Last week, I went to an screening of Moana, the Disney movie about a teenager who goes on a quest through… Read More ›
Remembering Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz’s Life and Legacy: Champion of Universal, and Non-Human Rights November 12, 1648/51 – April 17, 1695 by Theresa A. Yugar
She studies, and disputes, and teaches, and thus she serves her Faith; for how could God, who gave her reason, want her ignorant? —Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, Villancico, or, “Carol”, in celebration of St. Catherine of Alexandria (1692)… Read More ›
Standing Rock: What Does Easter Look Like? by Elizabeth Cunningham
As I write, Bakken crude oil is moving through the Dakota Access Pipeline under the Missouri River at Lake Oahe Reservoir, crossing treaty lands and waters that the Sioux Nation never ceded to the United States Government. This, after the… Read More ›
Religion, Dissent and Decolonial Approach in Latin America by Vanessa Rivera de la Fuente and Juan F. Caraballo Resto
Talking of decoloniality in religion and theology is today a fashionable stance that has been adopted even by the academic and political mainstream. As Latin Americans, decolonial perspectives affect us firsthandedly. For the last 500 years, our continent has nurtured… Read More ›
Our Ladies of Sea, Earth, and Sky by Joyce Zonana
O Sainte Marie-Jacobe, priez pour nous. O Sainte Marie-Salome, priez pour nous. O gardeures de la Provence, priez pour nous. The priest intoned the words in deep, liquid accents, his voice echoing from the ancient stone church in the remote village… Read More ›
La Virgen de Guadalupe: New Feminist Portrayals by Jose Duran
She appeared on a hill on December 9, 1531. She spoke to Juan Diego in his native tongue of Nahuatl; the language of the Aztecas. She asked for a church to be built at that very site in honor of… Read More ›
We are Mauna Kea: The Continual Protest for Maintaining Sacred Land by Anjeanette LeBoeuf
It seems like there is a perpetual debate over acquiring land for progress and growth versus the protection of land that has ties to religion, customs, and cultures. The history of America is littered with stories and events that deal… Read More ›
Black Madonna Transforms into Vodou’s Lesbian Defender by Kittredge Cherry
One of the most famous Catholic icons is the model for a Haitian Vodou goddess who protects lesbians. Traditional images of Erzulie Dantor, the Vodou defender of lesbians, are based on the Black Madonna of Czestochowa. They even share the… Read More ›
