“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 ›
Spirituality
Working Hard at Spirituality by Sara Frykenberg
I sometimes have to work hard at spirituality. … And I haven’t been. I have realized that lately, when I sit down to write blogs for this community, I have a difficult time incorporating one of the most basic FAR… Read More ›
Memory Beneath the Coptic Roof by Nazia Islam
Memory Beneath the Coptic Roof The past two years, I’ve been trying to channel the spirits my of ancestors. Connecting them to hymns of history and litanies of theory. Searching for rootedness. But I didn’t find a sense of rootedness… Read More ›
Moonlight Reflections by Elise M. Edwards
As I post this, May 10, a full moon, known as the “Bright Moon” or “Flower Moon” is in the sky. This full moon occurs during a season of transition when living thing things renew and bloom. For those of us in the Northern Hemisphere, it’s spring, but another transition is already underway. For many of us, spring is nearing close to summer in temperatures; in plant, animal, and insect life; and in our schedules. I am concluding a long, demanding spring semester and yearning for summer. Even though I welcome the transition, I know that like all change, it holds both opportunity and challenge. The full moon prompts me to look at the upcoming summer with clear, examining eyes
Kissing the Earth by Molly Remer
“Let the beauty we love Be what we do There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the Earth.” –Rumi Introductory note: At the end of 2016, my parents purchased a piece of land about one mile from where… Read More ›
Religion, Race, and Feminism in an Era of Elusive Enlightenment by Salaam Green
The warrior spirit is not only the coherent ability to resist circumstances outside of one’s making; but the ability to fight the war within all of us thus managing discomfort and chaos with the force of authenticity. Recently an enlightened… Read More ›
A Lenten Reflection by Natalie Weaver
A friend recently asked me whether I believed in sin. It was a strange question for me to consider because the concept of “belief” as applied to “sin” already suggests that sin itself is not a self-evident or manifest reality. … 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 ›
Earth’s Mystery School by Molly Remer
“Earth is a mystery school complete with initiations and discoveries that you only experience by living with your feelings, touching the earth, and embracing the fullness of your humanity.” –Queen Guenivere (awakewoman) On Samhain morning, I wake early and mist is rising… Read More ›
The Bird Goddess by Judith Shaw
Birds soaring high above the earth reaching for the heavens have long inspired humans as links to the divine realm. Birds fulfill various functions in world cultures and religions – from playing a central role in creation, to birth, to… 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 ›
The Community Bardic Exercise Revisited: Body, Land, Tribe Poetry by Kate Brunner
Two years ago, I hosted a Devotional Poetry themed Community Bardic Exercise which turned out to be heaps of beautiful, inspiration-filled fun. Inspired by Elizabeth’s latest post, I’d like to revisit this venture today. Consider this an invitation, an opportunity, or… Read More ›
Elen of the Ways by Judith Shaw
Dawn follows darkness; shining day gives way to starry night – cycles of change and flow. Elen of the Ways is She who guides us on these paths of change.
The End is Nigh by John Erickson
How will the world end? No, it isn’t Lucifer himself coming from hell to bring in the end times, it is someone far worse, and his name is Donald Trump.
Continued Adventures in Somatic Spirituality: Navel-Gazing by Kate Brunner
Some months ago, I came across a brilliant comment online from a stranger in reference to the offhanded disparaging of practices of deep introspection as “navel gazing.” Her reply to the criticism of self-reflection as a self-absorbed waste of “navel… Read More ›
Planting Roses for Our Daughters: Creating a Community in Time by Carolyn Lee Boyd
Outside my childhood home grows a yellow rose bush descended from one planted by my great-grandmother, Jennie, a century ago. That bush has given her descendants many gifts of spirit over the years— her love of beauty despite a life… Read More ›
Priestess as Shamanic Path – Part 2 by Molly Remer
This is a continuation of Molly’s piece from Wednesday, 10 August 2016. You can read Part 1 here. After explaining that the homebirth of her second son was her, “first initiation into the Goddess…even though at that time I didn’t… Read More ›
Loosening the Weave: Leaving Space for Mystery by Kate Brunner
Yesterday morning, I sat in a sunrise fire circle on a ridge above my new Rocky Mountain home. Two years ago on the same day, I stood before a loom in a reconstructed Iron Age roundhouse in Wales. And in… Read More ›
Priestess as Shamanic Path – Part 1 by Molly Remer
It is late autumn, 2009. I am 30 years old and pregnant with my third baby. He dies during the early part of my second trimester and I give birth to him in my bathroom, on my own with only… Read More ›
Facing the Moon Alone by Molly Remer
“When all is said and done I think every Witch should, at some time, face the moon alone, feet planted on the ground, with only his or her voice chanting in the starry night.” –Laurie Cabot, Power of the Witch… Read More ›
Plato’s Diotima as a Symptom of Psychosis by Stuart Dean
As I mentioned in my January 30, 2016 post, Grace Jantzen in Foundations of Violence makes a compelling case that Diotima is a fictional figure. She does not, however, adequately distinguish her from the poetizing female figures Parmenides and Boethius… 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 ›
Caroline Schelling on Birth & Death by Stuart Dean
Of the many letters Caroline wrote to her lifelong friend Luise, one of the most intense (the 57th Letter) dates from seven years after the 4th Letter discussed in my last post. By then both were married; only a few… Read More ›
Four Reasons We Need To Reclaim The Power of the Divine Feminine Now by Mary Petiet
(Spoiler alert: She’s already here) The power of the divine feminine taps into the power of life. The power is accessible to everyone as the equal opportunity energy surrounding and connecting all living things. The power is ancient, and meditative… Read More ›
The Nine Maidens by Deanne Quarrie
Many years ago, in the group of women I work with, we all had a marvelous epiphany. It was spontaneous combustion that fueled our collective desire to learn about the “Nine Maidens.” It was as though some unknown force was… Read More ›
On Turning 60, My Bucket List and Eschatology by Marie Cartier
You will be reading this Feminism and Religion the day before I turn sixty. For the past two decades I have had parties the night before I leave a decade—and “crossed over” at midnight, with the requisite amount of candles—forty,… Read More ›
Arduinna, Gaulish Goddess of Forests and Hunting by Judith Shaw
Arduinna, Gaulish Goddess of Forests and Hunting is one of the many Celtic Goddesses who is associated with a particular region or body of water. She was worshipped in the heavily forested regions of the Ardennes, located in what is… 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 Palm of My Hand by Molly Remer
“If there is one chant in the universe it is to create.” –Chris Griscolm quoted in Nicole Christine, p. 25 If you ever eavesdrop on a conversation between my husband and me around the clamor of our four children’s voices,… Read More ›
But…They’re Just Animals by Esther Nelson
When I teach my Human Spirituality course to college students, I include a section on factory farming. Merriam-Webster defines factory farming as “a large industrialized farm; especially: a farm on which large numbers of livestock are raised indoors in conditions… Read More ›
