Blessing the Source of Life harks back to the time when shrines were built near springs, the very literal sources of life for plants, animals, and humans.
The prayer “As we bless the Source of Life, so we are blessed,” based on a Hebrew metaphor which refers to a water source and set to music in a Jewish feminist context by Faith Rogow, has become one of the bedrocks of my Goddess practice.
In Minoan Crete, seeds were blessed on the altars of the Goddess and the first fruits of every crop were returned to Her. The ancient Minoans piled their altars high with barley, fruits, nuts, and beans, and poured libations of milk and honey, water and wine, over the offerings they placed on altars. Evidence of these actions is found in the large number of pouring vessels stored near altars.
This month saw the release of a Martin Scorsese film which was based on the book written by David Grann, Killers of the Flower Moon. While the book and film did try to be more intentional and more inclusive of its representation of the Osage peoples, the film is largely told through the perspective of white men. And if you have been following the Herstory Profile series this year, you know that where there is a historical event, there is a woman who has been overlooked, rewritten, or lost.
Indigenous Women and Non-Binary Peoples are one of the largest populations of missing and murdered peoples in the US. This Herstory Profiles will focus on two Indigenous Women who embody strength, courage, determination, and compassion.
I am my Mothers My Mothers are me I am the Goddess the Goddess is within me As blood as bone as the spirals of nuclei as ova as tears as breath I carry my Mothers as my Daughters will carry me
Nicole stared at the blue water in the pool. It was so wet and so blue—Virgin Mary blue. It was so hot in Texas, she thought that over and over, ever since her parents moved the family to Fort Worth for her dad’s job.
They were living at the Naval Air Station. It was 1965 and they did not have air conditioning in their apartment: with its one bathroom, two parents and four kids. The heat was an animal. To escape it she played in the mud between the buildings. This was nothing like the woods of New Hampshire, but here they were and they weren’t going home—maybe ever. That’s what her mother said.
A Girl God Anthology Edited by Arlene Bailey, Pat Daly, Sharon Smith and Trista Hendren
Women’s Sovereignty and Body Autonomy Beyond Roe v. Wade was not what I was expecting. Given the title, I thought it would be similar to Robin Marty’s New Handbook for a Post-Roe America – a practical guide for ways to gain access to reproductive care in the wake of the overturning of Roe v. Wade. Instead, I found, in contributor Mary Saracino’s words, “the howl of ages” – a deeply passionate and spiritual collection of poetry, prose, and visual art expressing women’s outrage, grief, resistance, and empowerment in response to the U.S. Supreme Court decision of June 2022 denying women the right to abortion care that had been settled law in the U.S. for nearly fifty years.
I was on my way home from a wonderful morning spent with my son when I heard the news of the horrific attack by Hamas on Israeli citizens. We had risen early to witness the mass ascension of balloons at the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta, joining tens of thousands of people from around the world. For 10 days, a diverse crowd gathers on a vast field, experiencing childlike wonder as they watch brightly colored balloons ascend into the early morning sky. It was a joyful morning.
But then, after all that wonder, the car radio delivered the shocking news of the Hamas attack. My joy was shattered.
I have grown scarlet runner beans ever since I can remember. I have heirloom seeds that I collect every fall to dry and store for the winter. During the last few years as the weather began to shift planting became tricky. The deer were also decimating my plants before they could produce seeds pods so eventually after sharing seeds with others, I gave up growing my own…
Last winter I had an opportunity to look at lichens, molds, and stones under a powerful microscope at the Mineral and Gem Museum (MGM) and since I had one old seed from many years past, I took it in along with some slime molds because I wanted to see the colors. To my utter shock when I opened the damp packet the seed had produced a big fat white root.
The charge of “essentialism” has become equivalent to the “kiss of death” in recent feminist discussions. In this context it is taboo to speak of Mother Earth. Yet, I would argue there are good reasons for speaking of Mother Earth that do not add up to essentialism. What if the values associated with motherhood are viewed as the highest values? What if the image of Mother Earth encourages all of us to recognize the gift of life and to share the gifts we have been given with others?
For those not familiar with the “essentialism” debate in feminist theory, it might be useful to define “essentialism.” In philosophy, essentialism is the idea that every “thing” has an “essence” which defines it. In its pure form, essentialism is a by-product of Platonic “idealism” which states, for example, that the “idea” of table is prior to every actual table and that every actual table is an embodiment of the idea of table.
While I celebrate the rise in status of Hildegard to official saint and soon to be Doctor of the Church, I cannot help but be suspicious of the Vatican’s motivations. One only has to take in the last two months behavior of the CDF, sanctioned by Pope Benedict, to see the real intentions of this papacy—the continued subjugation of all women to clerical authority.
The past month or so has been a very busy time for the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith or CDF and their examination of women. First they (and this includes Pope Benedict XVI) decided American nuns are guilty of the sin of silence by not speaking out on abortion & homosexuality. Their “radical feminist” ideology of standing with the poor and disenfranchised, while good, is not good enough for the CDF. The firestorm of solidarity coming from both laity and religious surely caught the Vatican off guard. Right? Well, not quite. This past week the CDF began its investigation of the Girl Scouts for their purported association with the likes of Planned Parenthood and Oxfam. While both address the needs of the poor, it is the latter and its troubling advocacy for safe sex via condom use that initiated the inquiry. Keep in mine that in 2010 Pope Benedict retracted from his earlier position and bane on condoms, seeing instead their use as a “lesser evil” in the fight against HIV/AIDS. The CDF angst is that the message of condom use might be too much sex-talk for impressionable young women. And now the real conundrum, Pope Benedict officially declared Hildegard von Bingen a saint and will soon declare her the fourth female Doctor of the Church along with Catherine of Sienna, Theresa of Avila & Teresa of Lisieux. News articles credited the pope as feminist-friendly and minded by his endorsement of Hildegard. It is stated that Pope Benedict turned to the writings of the 12th century visionary with her sharp critique of clergy and the church during her own 12th century milieu as a contemporary diagnosis for the sins of its priest in the global sex scandal. So what is it that attracts Pope Benedict to Hildegard?
The other night I hosted a First Moon Circle for my fourteen year old daughter. I have been hosting Circles almost a decade, but outside of having them on the ‘periphery’, walking through the sunroom where I host, talking and laughing with all of us after Circle as we eat, occasionally a short ‘sit-down’ in Circle, but nothing where they are included beginning to end.
Because my attitude up until now has been that Circles are work and so are they. Why mix the two?
But I find myself at new juncture: when you become very strong on who you are, feedback becomes so less relevant. And I have learned how to hold the rim of the Circle allowing it to flow and sway with minimum effort on my part.
Nowadays I find myself ‘receiving’ from Circles no matter who else is sitting in them and what they are contributing.
Feminism and Religion 