As I wrote my last blog post, the Great Goddess of the Canaanites, Ashera was honored and worshipped (according to the bible) within and through groves of trees. Ashera and El, the “great bull god” were deeply connected. In fact, in… Read More ›
Goddess spirituality
Yes There are Goddesses in the Bible, Part 3
This blog post is the 3rd in a series of looking for female deities in the bible who have been translated out of easy reach or otherwise hidden within its words. In my last blog post I discussed bird imagery… Read More ›
Yes, There are Goddesses in the Bible by Janet Maika’i Rudolph
“Freud once asserted that mortals are not made to keep secrets;what they would like to conceal oozes from all their pores.”Psychoanalyst Theodore Reik[1] It’s remarkable how much female imagery there is in the Bible hidden within its wording. The more… Read More ›
I Am a Progressive because of Not in spite of My Feminist Spirituality by Carol P. Christ
Feminist spirituality is often disparaged in academic feminist and progressive communities. Many of the strongest critics are Marxists, but there is a general agreement that religion is the opiate of the people, a false belief system that diverts energy from… Read More ›
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 ›
Women’s Ritual Dances and the Nine Touchstones of Goddess Spirituality-Part One by by Laura Shannon
In Rebirth of the Goddess, feminist theologian Carol P Christ offered a list of ‘Nine Touchstones of Goddess Spirituality’.[1] She revisited the Nine Touchstones in an interview with Karen Tate on Voices of the Sacred Feminine titled ‘Gratitude and Sharing:… Read More ›
The Ninth Touchstone: Repair the Web by Carol P. Christ
As I reflected on the Nine Touchstones again recently, I was pleased to discover that the first and the eighth touchstones are articulations of the central values of egalitarian matriarchal societies. Few of us live today in egalitarian matriarchies, and… Read More ›
Practice Great Generosity by Carol P. Christ
Nurture life. Walk in love and beauty. Trust the knowledge that comes through the body. Speak the truth about conflict, pain, and suffering. Take only what you need. Think about the consequences of your actions for seven generations. Approach the… Read More ›
Think About the Consequences of Your Actions for Seven Generations by Carol P. Christ
Nurture life. Walk in love and beauty. Trust the knowledge that comes through the body. Speak the truth about conflict, pain, and suffering. Take only what you need. Think about the consequences of your actions for seven generations. Approach the… Read More ›
Speak the Truth about Conflict, Pain, and Suffering: It Is Not All Love and Light by Carol P. Christ
Nurture life. Walk in love and beauty. Trust the knowledge that comes through the body. Speak the truth about conflict, pain, and suffering. Take only what you need. Think about the consequences of your actions for seven generations. Approach the… Read More ›
Trust the Knowledge that Comes through the Body: Heal Yourself, Heal the World by Carol P. Christ
Nurture life. Walk in love and beauty. Trust the knowledge that comes through the body. Speak the truth about conflict, pain, and suffering. Take only what you need. Think about the consequences of your actions for seven generations. Approach the… Read More ›
Celtic Myth, Moon Blood, and the White Beauty Standard by Marisa Goudy
My woman’s body is entering the dark time of the moon, even with blinding white snow lashing the windows, even with a full moon tracing its way far above thick clouds. My mood is black and soon I’ll be flowing… Read More ›
Goddess Spirituality and Women’s Leadership by Jessica Bowman
As a public school administrator, and a human, I feel tremendous grief for the tragedy generated in the latest school shooting. The impact is devastating and disastrous. Immediately after such a calamity is the public outcry for change and the… Read More ›
Call for Contributions: She Rises Volume 3 Goddess Feminism, Activism, and Spirituality
She Rises Goddess Feminist Activism Collective Writing Project: Call for Contributions She Rises: What … Goddess Feminism, Activism, and Spirituality? Volume 3 Two books: The main book and a sectional booklet including poetry, prose, art, the like. Coeditors include Deanne… Read More ›
Holy Women Icons Online Retreats by Angela Yarber
I’ve shared before that the non-profit my wife and I created, the Holy Women Icons Project, is in the process of creating a small intersectionally ecofeminist retreat center on Hawai’i Island. The Holy Women Icons Project seeks to empower marginalized… Read More ›
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 ›
A Serpentine Path: The Dance Is About To Begin by Carol P. Christ
Entering the archaeological site of Kato Zakros, which includes a Sacred Center and part of a town on a small hill above it, I felt too tired to continue with the others. As we passed a stone bench to the… Read More ›
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 ›
Knowing the Live Oaks: Finding the Balance Between Historicity and Inspiration in Neopaganism and Goddess Spirituality by Christy Croft
Last fall, my family took a vacation to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, where I grew up. As a child, one of my favorite places to visit was Brookgreen Gardens, a wildlife preserve that was once the winter home of Archer… Read More ›
Maiden, Mother, Crone: Ancient Tradition or New Creative Synthesis? by Carol P. Christ
The image of the Goddess as Maiden, Mother, Crone is widespread in contemporary Goddess Spirituality. The Triple Goddess honors three ages of women, in contrast to the wider culture that: affirms young women as sex objects while shaming them as… Read More ›
thea Gaia née Dorothy Ivy Wacker: Feminist Foremother and a Great “Ponderer” by Glenys Peacock
On 15th May, 2016 thea Gaia left this earth which was her home for 85 years. thea was born Dorothy Ivy Wacker in Gatton, Australia on 9th February, 1931, the eldest of four children. Her family were descendants of German… 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 ›
Announcing A Serpentine Path: Mysteries of the Goddess by Carol P. Christ
“The serpentine path is the path of life, a snakelike, meandering path, winding in and out, up and down, with no beginning and no end, into the darkness and into the light.” As the year draws to a close, I… Read More ›
She Rises: A Book Review by Kate Brunner
She Rises: Why Goddess Feminism, Activism and Spirituality? edited by Helen Hye-Sook Hwang and Kaalii Cargill is the product of a collective writing project that began in March 2014 with an open call for submissions that answered the questions now found… Read More ›
Artio, Celtic Goddess of Wild Life, Transformation and Abundance by Judith Shaw
Artio, Celtic Goddess of Wild Life, Transformation, and Abundance, is one of the more obscure goddesses in the Celtic pantheon. She is often shown with baskets of plenty and surrounded by animals. Artio is frequently depicted as a bear. Her… Read More ›
The Dog Days of Summer by Carol P. Christ
Sirius rises late in the dark, liquid sky On summer nights, star of stars, Orion’s Dog they call it, brightest Of all, but an evil portent, bringing heat And fevers to suffering humanity. –Homer, The Iliad The dog… Read More ›
Kali Ma by Jassy Watson
The creative ‘Wisdom of the Goddess’ Journey Within Program I am facilitating has moved into its’ second trimester, ‘Transformation’. It is winter here in the South; a time to release what no longer serves us and look at the shadow… Read More ›
Restored in Beauty by Carol P. Christ
The path leading to the Klapados Waterfall begins at the edge of an open meadow in the pine and oak woodlands of a mountain in the island of Lesbos. After driving several miles on a very rutted dirt track, we… Read More ›
Reciprocity, Empathy, and Reconciliation: The Roots of Human Morality in Our Primate Ancestors by Carol P. Christ
A link to a talk called “Moral Behavior in Animals” by Franz de Waal recently found its way into my email inbox. I am a big fan of Franz de Waal because his findings confirm what I always believed—that animals… Read More ›
In the Face of Despair, Choose Life by Carol P. Christ
Yesterday I had a delightful swim with a friend in the cool Aegean Sea. In in the evening I met two dear friends at an open air restaurant for a delicious meal and good conversation. Last night a beautiful moon… Read More ›