This was originally posted on March 12, 2014. It was Esther’s first FAR post. Recently, I got involved in a conversation about abortion. It happened on Facebook when a relative posted that her heart hurts when she considers her “sweet… Read More ›
Feminism
Sedna’s Daughters by Stephanie A. Sellers
To be a daughter seems a most naturally good thing to be on a planet conceptualized and symbolized as Mother Earth since time immemorial by ancient peoples on most continents. And yet, to be a Daughter has become something most… Read More ›
Patriarchy and the Supreme Court by Janet Maika’i Rudolph
I am pissed! I wrote this blogpost the day after Beltane when the leaked draft of the Supreme Court majority opinion regarding Roe v. Wade was leaked to the public. I was up anyway feeling the effects of PTSD. Lessons… Read More ›
My Accidental Baptism into the River by Caryn MacGrandle
Yesterday I fell into the river. I had had a long afternoon and had gone to escape for a bit sitting on a bench by the river I live by. I had just gotten done with reading about Venus, Mars,… Read More ›
Carol P. Christ’s Legacy: Great Goddess, Mother Goddess, Creatrix, Source of Life
This post was originally posted on February 5, 2018 The symbol of the Goddess is as old as human history. The most ancient images of the Goddesses from the Paleolithic era are neither pregnant nor holding a child. In Neolithic… Read More ›
The Egg by Annelinde Metzner
In 1989 I was 37 years old. My body’s sacred work, centered around eggs, hormones and fertility, strongly governed my everyday existence. I’m sure that influence is strong for all women of that age, mothers or not, body conscious or… Read More ›
The Gendered Temptation of Jesus by Liz Cooledge Jenkins
As Luke’s Gospel tells it, at the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry, the devil comes to him in the wilderness and tempts him.[1] First, the devil latches onto Jesus’ hunger after forty days of fasting: “If you are the Son… Read More ›
Carol P. Christ’s Legacy: Please Keep It in Your Pants by Carol P. Christ
This blog was originally posted on November 6. 2017. You can read the original comments here. Trigger warning: this post describes sexual abuse Last week while responding to a comment on my blog, I suddenly remembered a series of incidents… Read More ›
white femininity: whitemalegod’s secret weapon By Christena Cleveland, PhD
For the first several weeks of my walking pilgrimage, I debated whether to visit the famous Black Madonna of Orcival. It wasn’t the walking distance that deterred me; She lived in a gorgeous Romanesque cathedral nestled in a charming medieval… Read More ›
Scars Of The Body by Mary Gelfand
Despite the distances involved, throughout my adulthood, I regularly visited my parents. As their home was small, I often found myself seated at the kitchen table with my mother while my father watched TV in the adjacent living room. During… Read More ›
Calling All Biblical Wise Women by Rabbi Jill Hammer, PhD
In these days when so many are afraid and aching for the people of Ukraine, and concerned about the lasting impacts of this war around the world, I cannot help thinking of the wise women of ancient Israel. These wise… Read More ›
Carol P. Christ’s Legacy: Does Belief Matter?
Moderator’s Note: Carol Christ died from cancer in July, 2021. Her work continues through her non-profit foundation, the Ariadne Institute for the Study of Myth and Ritual and the Goddess Pilgrimage to Crete. This blog was originally posted December 10, 2012. You can read… Read More ›
Let’s Talk about Consent and Hulu’s “Pam and Tommy” Series by Anjeanette LeBoeuf
The internet and social media has been eagerly anticipating the release of Hulu’s fictional/non-fictional docuseries based around events in the lives of Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee. For many of us who lived through the 1990s, the scandals surrounding the… Read More ›
Abortion Rights (?) by Esther Nelson
Slowly, yet systematically, women, men, and everybody else along the gender continuum, are losing access to a timely, legal, and safe abortion. This is not breaking news. Pushback in the United States against abortion “rights” has been happening in various state legislatures… Read More ›
From the Archives: Women’s Bodies and the Bible by Janet Maika’i Rudolph
Moderator’s note: This marvelous FAR site has been running for 10 years and has had more than 3,600 posts in that time. There are so many treasures that have been posted in this decade that they tend to get lost… Read More ›
Honoring My Academic Mothers: Carol Christ and bell hooks by Anjeanette LeBoeuf
I started writing this post a day after news broke that beloved activist, poet, feminist, and academic, bell hooks had passed away. This news comes months after our FAR community lost Carol Christ; another academic, feminist, writer, and maker of… Read More ›
Why It Matters That Simone Biles Won Times Athlete of the Year Award by Janet Maika’i Rudolph
I remember my first feeling’s of disappointment when Simone Biles pulled out of so many events at the 2021 Olympics. But then I quickly realized that here I was falling for the patriarchal lines that are so much a part… Read More ›
In Memoriam: bell hooks by Elizabeth Ann Bartlett
In a world where the words of black women writers, even our very names are often soon forgotten, it is essential and necessary that we live through writing and teaching the words of our great and good writers, whose voices… Read More ›
Carol P. Christ’s Legacy: ON NOT GETTING WHAT WE WANT AND LEARNING TO BE GRATEFUL FOR WHAT WE HAVE
Moderator’s Note: We here at FAR have been so fortunate to work along side Carol Christ for many years. She died from cancer in July, 2021. To honor her legacy, as well as allow as many people as possible to… Read More ›
Transitions by Esther Nelson
It’s been a rough couple of years. Even though thousands of miles distanced us from the first-discovered Covid-19 outbreak (late 2019) in China, the virus soon traveled the world, doing what viruses do best—infect us, spread, morph, and then infect… Read More ›
From the Archives:“Vaginas are Everywhere!”: The Power of the Female Reproductive System by John Erickson
Moderator’s note: This marvelous FAR site has been running for 10 years and has had more than 3,600 posts in that time. There are so many treasures that have been posted in this decade that they tend to get lost… Read More ›
I Sing Asherah Exalted! by Janet Maika’i Rudolph
With this season of the festivals of light upon us (Hanukkah, Christmas, Solstice, Kwanzaa), I wanted to focus on the more joyful aspects of our lives. For that, I have been diving into passages about joy and singing in the… Read More ›
A Different Kind of Thanksgiving, part 1 by Sara Wright
The night before my maternal grandmother died my mother pushed me so hard I fell to the floor and banged my head. My grandfather and I had just walked in the door after spending the day at a New York… Read More ›
Fireless Altars and Crone Encounters By Barbara Ardinger
We’ve just entered November, the beginning of winter, the season of darkness. Twenty-odd years ago, I led a group of students through the Wheel of the Year in a class I called Practicing the Presence of the Goddess. (I also… Read More ›
Last Tuesday Night by Marcia Mount Shoop
It’s been just over a week. Last Tuesday night to be exact. That’s the night the four of us huddled around our beloved companion of sixteen and a half years and said goodbye. Buck became a part of our family… Read More ›
Diversifying Marvel and the Monolith of Superheroes by Anjeanette LeBoeuf
It’s been some time since I penned a FAR post. Much has changed and much has stayed the same. I have since moved to a different part of the United States and have started a new teaching position at a… Read More ›
Women’s Bodies and Texas
I have been so angry about the Texas law that functionally bans abortion, I have not even been able to find the words to write about it. But alas . . . being angry without taking action is too often… Read More ›
Patriarchy – For Love of Predators by Sara Wright
I live just down the road from one of our many lakes and ponds here in western Maine. Almost every morning I hear the haunting call of the loons as they fly over the house. Although I cherish the symphony… Read More ›
Teacher Appreciation Week & Appreciating Teaching by Sara Frykenberg
Part of discovering my love for teaching and moving through my anxiety involved reconsidering my “ideals” of teaching, which were numerous and high minded.
Deb Haaland, the Secretary of the Interior We Need by Anjeanette LeBoeuf
This past week brought an announcement from the 46th President Elect’s office on the nomination for the Secretary of Interior position, House of Representative Debra Haaland of New Mexico. This nomination has solidified President-Elect Biden and Vice President-Elect Harris’ promise… Read More ›