earth based spirituality – Page 12 – Feminism and Religion

A few days ago, a German-speaking friend spoke with an Eiloff relative of mine who lives in St. Nikolaus, Saarland. My relative remembered hearing the story that Heinrich Eiloff, my 2x great-grandfather, emigrated to the United States in the mid-1800s. Since we connected, I am experiencing an incredible lightness of being.

This is the first time my two years of genealogical research have led to a “Kunta Kinte” moment, a connection with a relative in “the old country.” I have been unable to trace most of my ancestors back to the places of their birth.

My relative in St. Nikolaus was perplexed by a call from Greece from a woman claiming to represent his American relative. But when she explained that I only want to find my roots and perhaps visit relatives in St. Nikolaus, he said, “that would be very nice.” He promised to speak with other living relatives and said we should call in a month or two and he would tell us what he found.

According to my research, my 2x great-grandfather Heinrich Eiloff was born in 1820 in St. Nikolas, Saarland, in Prussia (now in Germany).

Continue reading “Touching Roots: An Incredible Lightness Of Being by Carol P. Christ”

The following is a guest post written by Starhawk, lifelong activist in peace and global justice movements, a leader in the feminist and earth-based spirituality movements, and author or coauthor of ten books, including The Spiral Dance , The Fifth Sacred Thing , Webs of Power: Notes from the Global Uprising , and her latest, The Last Wild Witch .

Cross posted at Dirt Worship.

This summer has been a whirlwind of teaching permaculture and working on making a movie from my novel, The Fifth Sacred Thing. But a few days ago I took a break to attend a performance of Guys and Dolls put on by SF Arts Education, in which my fifteen-year old Goddess-child Kore was singing and dancing. SF Arts Ed runs a wonderful program where students from middle schools and high schools put on Broadway musicals, complete with singing, dancing, and a full jazz orchestra. We had balcony seats behind the stage, so I was looking down on these bright and beautiful young people of all different backgrounds and ancestry, reflecting the multicultural nature of San Francisco itself. They are a talented bunch, but I also know how hard they work, how much time they rehearse and the discipline they develop. What a gift it is to have such wonderful youth growing up in our city! Continue reading “On the Murders in Norway: The Need for a Multicultural Vision By Starhawk”