This post builds on Facing Life Part I. I love the concept of ancient mystery schools. I found a modern one in Maine in 1997. The mystery school experience allowed me to delve into life’s meanings and magic in a… Read More ›
Myth
Hekate, Goddess of Liminality and Intermediary by Deanne Quarrie
Let me share with you the Goddess most honored as the Goddess of liminal time and space. It is our beloved Hekate, Great Goddess of the Three Ways, bridging Earth, Sea and Sky as we travel between worlds. In modern… Read More ›
Persephone’s Return and the Lesser Eleusinian Mysteries by Deanne Quarrie
Many of us are quite familiar with the story of Persephone and Demeter, the Greek myth behind the changing of seasons each year. “The story basically goes that Zeus arranges a marriage for Hades, the God of the Underworld and… Read More ›
Bear Spirit Guide by Judith Shaw
Bear has been important to human mythology and story for thousands of years. Some feel that Bear is the oldest European deity, as bones and skulls of bears have been found lovingly arranged on niches found in caves across Europe…. Read More ›
Lifting the Veil – #WontBeErased by Joyce Zonana
Samhain is upon us. Halloween. The Day of the Dead. All Saints’ Day. All Souls’ Day. That liminal time of year when the doorways to what the Celts called the Otherworld, Annwn in Welsh, are open. In New York City, we have the 45th annual Village Halloween Parade, a queer extravaganza of puppetry, masquerade, and cross-dressing that draws some 60,000 participants and over 2 million onlookers. Elsewhere, we have children in costume and lawns covered with plastic skeletons and illuminated ghouls. Everywhere, if we’re lucky, we might catch a glimpse of “the piper at the gates of dawn,” the vision granted Rat and Mole in Kenneth Grahame’s The Wind in the Willows: “something very surprising and splendid and beautiful”—Pan the goat-god, boundary-crosser, Friend and Helper, trans-being.
La Llorona by Sara Wright
The legend of La Llorona has been a part of Hispanic culture in the Southwest since the days of the conquistadores. Though the tales vary from source to source, the one common thread is that La Llorona is a woman named… Read More ›
Telling Stories by Natalie Weaver
Human beings tell stories. This may sound like a simple truth. To folklorists, literature professors, and people who work in media and in government, I would sound like a rather simple-minded child to be arriving so late in life at… Read More ›
Elen of the Ways and the Antlered Goddess (Part 2 of 2) by Deanne Quarrie
Click here to read Part 1, published Sunday March 18. Imagine a fairy chain stretched from mountain peak to mountain peak, as far as the eye could reach, and paid out til it touched the high places of the earth… Read More ›
Elen of the Ways and the Antlered Goddess (Part 1 of 2) by Deanne Quarrie
Why would a goddess have antlers when only male deer have antlers? These ancient goddesses come from a time when people were closely connected with reindeer. They were hunter gatherers and followed the Deer trods of the reindeer in their… Read More ›
Horse – Symbol of Power and Freedom by Judith Shaw
The horse was first depicted in art about 32,000 years ago on the cave walls of southern France and northern Spain. Though archeologists disagree as to whether the paintings are realistic depictions or symbolic markings, many concur that they are both…. Read More ›
Leia Should Get Her Movie by Trelawney Grenfell-Muir and Tallessyn Grenfell-Lee
This post is written jointly by sisters, Trelawney and Tallessyn, who have been thinking and discussing together about this. Contains Spoilers from the movie Star Wars VIII: The Last Jedi (TLJ). I was born in 1974. Star Wars IV: A… Read More ›
Badb, Goddess of Life and Death by Judith Shaw
With the ongoing occurrence of huge hurricanes, floods, mudslides, earthquakes, possible nuclear war and more in both the US and worldwide it seems that the wrath of the Goddess has been awakened. I felt the need to revisit the Celtic… Read More ›
Sacred Water by Molly Remer
“Drinking the water, I thought how earth and sky are generous with their gifts and how good it is to receive them. Most of us are taught, somehow, about giving and accepting human gifts, but not about opening ourselves and… Read More ›
A New Story for the Summer Solstice by Barbara Ardinger
This year the summer solstice occurs on Tuesday, June 20 in the Northern Hemisphere. (In the Southern Hemisphere, it’s the winter solstice and it occurs on June 21.) For us in the Northern Hemisphere, the summer solstice is the longest… Read More ›
Do We Need Wonder Woman Today? by Barbara Ardinger
We all remember the protests—and the pink knitted caps with the pussy ears—that filled the streets of our major cities after the inauguration of the Troll-in-Chief. Some members of this FAR community went to those marches and wrote about their… Read More ›
It is Over, It is Just Beginning by Kate Brunner
“In this nation of thinkers and philosophers, poets and artists, idealists and enthusiasts, the world will recognize nothing but a people of conquerors and destroyers. …we are neither loved nor respected, but only feared. We are deemed capable of every… Read More ›
Tailtiu, Celtic Earth Goddess of Endurance by Judith Shaw
The Celts were fascinated by the number three – triple designs, images and triadic ideas. The Goddesses and Gods who related to the mysterious rather than the mundane nature of life were always worshiped in threes. Unlike the Greek triple… Read More ›
Politics and Mythology by Sara Frykenberg
Some part of us buys into some part of our common mythology; hence, the importance of recognizing and interrogating the stories in which we (often unconsciously) participate.
Hey, Diddle, Diddle by Barbara Ardinger
Hey, diddle, diddle The cat and the fiddle. The cow jumped over the moon. The little dog laughed to see such sport And the dish ran away with the spoon! From her lips to our ears. What is this? Maybe… Read More ›
Garden of Eden Retold by Trelawney Grenfell-Muir
Today, I came up with a less patriarchal Garden of Eden story: Endelyn (age 7): “When I think of my soul, in my name “fire-soul,” I think of a powerful wind.” Me: “That makes sense, since one of the names… Read More ›
Niamh of the Golden Hair by Judith Shaw
Niamh (meaning ‘bright’ or ‘radiant’) of the Golden Hair, one of the Tuatha de Danann and daughter of Mannanan mac Lir, Celtic God of the Sea, was Queen in the land of Tír na nÓg (pronounced Tear na Noge), the… Read More ›
Radiant Brow: Fire in the Head & How to Light It by Kate Brunner
In the middle of a deep, dark lake, Ceridwen, gifted enchantress & devoted mother, set to work to brew a potion for Her disfigured son, Afagddu, in the hopes that the wisdom & talents the mixture would give him would… Read More ›
The German Diotima by Stuart Dean
The title of the essay Über die Diotima (hereafter, the ‘Essay’ (translation here (pp400-419))) by Friedrich Schlegel (hereafter, ‘Friedrich’) suggests it is focused on Plato’s portrayal of Diotima in the Symposium. That portrayal, though, is but a starting point for… Read More ›
Feminism and “The Force:” Thinking Through “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” by Sara Frykenberg
Kylo Ren (Adam Driver), on the other hand, works to resist the call of the “light.” The Force Awakens puts emphasis on the villain’s perspective; and my question is, is this because many of us who are in the audience need to see how we are also like this villain?
In the Beginning by Natalie Weaver
Dear Friends, Every year on New Year’s Eve, I read creation stories to my family. We light candles, sit in a circle, eat, drink, and read. This little ritual began as my protest to the vulgar commercialization of the New Year… Read More ›
Great Mother, Mercurial Child by Kate Brunner
I am not a boy-mom. As much as I wish I was, I am just not. I gave birth to three wondrous little things; first, a girl and then later, boy-girl twins. I have a son, but even after years… Read More ›
Inanna’s Autumn Gift: Fearless Spirituality by Carolyn Lee Boyd
Fall, the time of the Day of the Dead and All Souls Day, is a perfect season for us to contemplate “fearless spirituality” as we face our most essential fear, that of death. Though humans have celebrated these days for… Read More ›
Canola, Celtic Goddess of Inspiration and Creativity by Judith Shaw
Canola, Celtic Goddess of Inspiration and Creativity, is another ancient Celtic Goddess whose story comes down to us in very limited form. One day Canola had an argument with Her lover. Goddesses, being intermediaries between our physical world and the… Read More ›
Rhiannon: Lady of the Other(world) by Kate Brunner
Again and again, I keep cycling back around to a deeper and deeper exploration of how easily we Other individuals or groups, halting any progress towards meaningful relationship, potential friendship, and peaceweaving. While there are endless examples to be held… Read More ›
Knossos: The Truly True Story by Barbara Ardinger
(Note: this story was inspired by a blog written by Carol P. Christ. But she’s not responsible for the nonsense I write.) Once upon a time there was a woman named Carol who lived in the largest house on the… Read More ›
