Events Coil: May 10-June 30

As far as we know, all events we list are open functions; but some may be limited to women or to adults. Please check the websites for group policies. If no country is given, the event is in the USA. All times are local. Links to events lasting more than 1 day are bolded. When listing events for the same date, we have tried to list those occurring first, taking into account time zone differences. If there is a difference between our listings and the listings on the web page linked to, assume their web page is correct, as it may have changed since we listed from it. The next Events Coil is planned for mid-June and will include events listed here that haven't yet happened, plus new events through early August. If you have an event you want listed in future Events Coils, please leave info a comment. See the end of this Coil for what info we need for listings.

May 10, 7 p.m. Samhain/Beltaine, Akkademie PaGaian Cosmology, Blue Mountains AUSTRALIA

May 11, 11 a.m. Service honoring Parvati with guest priestess Elana Golden, Goddess Temple of Orange County, Irvine CA

May 11, 7 p.m. gather 7 p.m., ritual 7:30 p.m. Mother's Day, Temple of Goddess Spirituality Dedicated to Sekhmet, Indian Springs NV

May 17, gather 4:30 p.m. Womyn's Beltane Ritual, Daughters of the Goddess, Alameda CA

May 18, 11 a.m. Goddess Service Honoring Frigg, guest priestess tba, Goddess Temple of Orange County, Irvine CA

May 19, gather 7 p.m., ritual 7:30 p.m. Full Moon Ritual, Temple of Goddess Spirituality Dedicated to Sekhmet, Indian Springs NV

May 23, 7 p.m. "The Inspiration of Activism In Art" with Dr. Cristina Biaggi and Starr Goode, Goddess Temple of Orange County, Irvine CA

May 24, 10 a.m.-3 p.m. "The Greek Eleusinian Mystery Cult," North Tambourine AUSTRALIA

May 25, 7:30 p.m. Moon Lodge Women's Circle with Priestess and Doula Katinka Soetens, Glastonbury Goddess Temple, Glastonbury ENGLAND

May 25, 11 a.m. Goddess Service honoring White Tara, guest priestess tba, Goddess Temple of Orange County, Irvine CA

June 1, 11 a.m. Goddess Service honoring Juno, guest priestess tba, Goddess Temple of Orange County, Irvine CA

June 3, 7 p.m. New Moon Women's Mysteries, Temple of Goddess Spirituality Dedicated to Sekhmet, Indian Springs NV

June 3, 7:30 p.m. The Craft Connection, Goddess Temple of Orange County, Irvine CA

June 4, 7 p.m. New Moon Drumming with Candy Eaton, Goddess Temple of Orange County, Irvine CA

June 8, 11 a.m. Goddess Service, "Creative Energy and the Feminine" with guest Priestess Dr. Elsbeth Meuth, Goddess Temple of Orange County, Irvine CA

June 15-22, Pagan Spirit Gathering (Summer Solstice) , sponsored by Circle Sanctuary, Wisteria OH

June 15, 11 a.m. , Goddess Service, Auspicious Goddess Durga with gues priestess Marsha "Orca" Lange, Goddess Temple of Orange County, Irvine CA

June 17-22 Goddess Festival, Budapest HUNGARY

June 20, 7:30 p.m. Summer Solstice Ceremony, Glastonbury Goddess Temple, Glastonbury ENGLAND

June 20, gather 7 p.m., ritual 7:30 p.m., Midsummer, Temple of Goddess Spirituality Dedicated to Sekhmet, Indian Springs NV

June 20, gather 7:30 p.m., ritual 8 p.m. Litha (Solstice), Reclaiming, Ocean Beach, San Francisco CA

June 21, 20 uhr, Celtic Summer Solstice Celebration/Sommersonnwend-Feier, Nemea Goddess Center, Salzkammergut AUSTRIA

June 21, gather 6:30 p.m., ritual 7 p.m. Summer Solstice, Goddess Temple of Orange County, Irvine CA

June 22, 11 a.m., Goddess Service honoring Saules Mate, guest priestess tba, Goddess Temple of Orange County, Irvine CA

June 26-29, Netherlands Goddess Conference, Hillgom Nederland

June 29, 11 a.m. Goddess Service honoring Thmei with guest priestess Rev. Karent Tate, Goddess Temple of Orange County, Irvine CA

Ongoing

Australia
Canberra, 10 a.m.most Saturday mornings, Meditation. The Goddess Shrine, Temple of Lunation Magick
Perth (White Gum Valley): Mondays, 17:30, Chalice Ceremony, Daughters of Ishtar.

Canada
Sudbury: 1st Friday (Sept.-June) 7:30 p.m., Sudbury Women's Circle.
Hamilton: Saturdays, 4-6 p.m. Open Classes ; gather 6:30-7 p.m. Open Circles , Hamilton Temple, Wiccan Church of Canada.

Sweden
Soderhamn, Mondays, 7-9 p.m., meditation prayer, conversation, Gudinne Templet.

USA
Arlington VA: 3rd Sunday of month, gather 12:45 p.m., ritual 1 p.m. Moonfire CUUPS.
Baltimore MD: Sundays 10 a.m., Rites of Cafeina, Cedar Light Grove (ADF)
Canton CT: Sundays, 10:30 a.m. Services, Women's Temple: In Her Name
Geyersville CA: Sunday Services 2-4 p.m. Temple of Isis
Houston TX: Sundays, 10 a.m. Magdalene Community, Rothko Chapel; Mondays at Noon, Christian feminist theology study group ; 1st &3rd Fridays at Noon, Group studying Gospel of Mary, Brigid's Place, Christ Church Cathedral.
Irvine CA: Sunday Services: 1st Service at 9:30 a.m. inward, meditative; 2nd service at 11 a.m., dancing, drumming, singing; see dates for guest speakers. Goddess Temple of Orange County,
Rockville MD: night before new moon, Dark Moon Book Group, Spiral Heart (Reclaiming).
San Francisco CA: Wednesdays, Christian Goddess Rosary, Ebenezer Lutheran Church; 1st Fridays, evenings at various locations, Woman's Spirituality group.
San Francisco CA: New Moon and Full Moon observances, Maa Batakali Cultural Mission.
St. Sandy UT: second Saturday of each month, 4:30 p.m., Isis Devotionals, Iseum of Muth/Lyceum of Auset and Heru em Aakhuti

West Concord MA: 1st Monday, 7-9 p.m. Women's Circles; other ongoing groups include Demeter & Persephone's Circle for mothers and daughters; Council of Mother Bears; Menopause As Spiritual Journey; Menarche, for mothers and Daughter, at Women's Well.

We'll be happy to add your Goddess and spiritual feminist events (and those you know about that are open to the public) no matter where in the world they are. Leave a comment with your event, giving: Name of event, sponsoring organization (if any), town, date, time (if known), and, required: url of website where person can get more info (no pdf pages). (Do NOT give street addresses, phone numbers or email addresses. People should go to the website to get that info.) We plan to publish an Events Coil every month.

Australian Goddess Conference, Oct. 10-12

Another Goddess Conference we want to let you know about enough ahead of time to make travel plans: The 2008 Goddess Conference sponsored by the Goddess Association in Australia (GAIA), Oct. 10-12 in Broadbeach, QLD, Australia.

So far announced presenters include: Amrita Hobbs, Glenys Livingstone, Lynne Sinclair-Wood, Mikailah Gooda, Lucy Cavendish, Anique Radiant Heart, Laura Doe-Harris, Ruth Shepherd, Tanishka...and more...

Protests Over Planned Honorary Degree for Schlafly

Just a shortie to let you know that Washington University in St. Louis is planning to award anti-feminist Phyllis Schlafly an honorary degree at its commencement exercises next Thursday. Student, profs, alums and others are protesting. More info at these networking sites:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=13016742698
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=13101492771

TAGS:news Schlafly feminism women's studies Washington University

Global Goddess Oracle: Beltane '08

The first article listed in this issue of Global Goddess Oracle is "The Magic in Beltane" by H. Byron Ballard. Byron thinks the word "magic" is overused these days, and that this results in us missing "the real thing when it presents itself." She weaves in various May Day customs and the U. S. Religious Right's response: Pray Day.

I'll discuss the rest of the articles not in the order that they're listed on the left column of Oracle's page, but in my own possibly eccentric order:

When Mut Danu goes out in her garden and tells family and friends what she's focusing on, they hear her say " the hole" but in her mind she's saying "the whole." In "Goddess in My Garden," Mut writes:

For me, gardening often as not turns into a meditation of "the whole" and ends as a form of worship.

Mut takes us along as she gets down on her knees and blissfully plants her garden. This is lovely to read, even if you don't garden!

As Walt Disney prepares to release another of its films based on the Narnia books series, Courtney McLaughlin gives us "The Lion, The Witch, and the Witch Hunt: How C.S. Lewis' The Chronicles of Narnia Demonizes the Goddess." She compares the treatment of witches and goddess symbolism in the books and films and gives a fascinating discussion of the "White Witch." Even if you're not into Narnia, I think you'll want to read this.

In "The Computer Goddesses (Part 2)" Barbara Ardinger PhD continues her humourous discoveries and introduces us to three "Wyrd Sisters of Office Automation," Formuleria, Typoreina, and Folder-holder-older-molder, as well as other other new deities ;-).

In "Feminine Intuition--Your Power to Know What's Really Going On," a book excerpt, Gayle Goodwin gives her opinion about "spirit guides," and I think what she says may be controversial for some of us. Gayle writes that there was a time "in the fog of prehistory when Woman didn't need oracles to predict her future" and that women still have "a direct link to Divinity." And she doesn't stop there...

In "Spring Fever," Mama Donna Henes, an "urban shaman" in "exotic Brooklyn," views spring.

Welcome especially because Beltaine/Beltane for many of us seems the most social of holy days though we might spend it alone, Karen Thoms gives us a "Solitary Ritual for Beltaine."

"A Letter to Ayla of the Earth's Children" by Elizabeth Phillips is poetic prose about a dream, a coma, a scream...

This issue's poems are "Dew Kissed and Beltane Blessed," by Bendis (a poem around a Maypole), "Life's Dance" by Mary Lyons, and "Remember" by Anita Chapman.

Dawn "Belladonna" Thomas contributes "Herb of the Season: Hawthorn," "Moon Planting and Harvesting Schedule" from Beltane to Litha, and a review of the book Good Fortune and How to Attract It by Titania Hardie.

Matrifocus: Beltane issue

I always enjoy reading Matrifocus. The Beltane '08 issue continues to have great stuff. It opens with art called "Bear Gate" by Sara Teofanov. The articles include:

"Sacred Repositories and Goddess Figurines" by Johanna Stuckey, which tells about the archeological artifacts from the 9th Century BCE found in a Philistine Temple site near what is now Tel Aviv, Israel. The goddess figurines are accompanied by lions, bovines, goats, and sacred trees. Johanna speculates on how an "ordinary person" in ancient times might treat a "female pillar figurine," as many archeologists call them, or representations of Asherah as some of us might call them.

In "Buying a Tibetan Peace Vase in Peru," Vicki Noble tells how she took one of 6,000 Tibetan peace vases to Peru, where she was working to counter male-biased archeology. Read the article to find out where she and her companions buried the base--and what they buried with it.

In "Hitting Bedrock," gardener Mary Swander writes about "a host of golden daffodils"...and much more, with some fascinating geological info about Iowa.

Nancy Vedder-Shults Ph.D. describes dancing as a way to enter "ecstatic trance" in a number of different trads in her article, "Dance." She also gives instructions on how to use dance in divination.

In "Menopause is Enlightenment," Susun Weed explores similarities between menopause symptoms and the "awakening of kundalini." Are "hot flashes" signaling "enlightenment"? I found this fascinating.

Clea Danaan tells how she made a mask from her own own face in "Facing My Power: The Queen Mask." Clea tells about the role this mask has played in her life.

"Highway 138" by Shay Harris takes you on a trip down a country road that leads to "simple adventures" and Goddess encounters. With photos.

Why does Rev. Nano Boye Nagle hate her curly long dark red hair? Read her article, "The Long and Short of It" to find out--and learn what she did about it.

Madelon Wise asked for a Dutch oven for a holiday gift. In the "Cauldron and the Crone," she shows what she received, describes how she has worked with this gift over the last few months, and tells about celebrating Walpurgisnacht in Wisconsin, rather than Beltane.

This issue's wonderful poetry includes 4 poems by Sharon Brogan: "The Making of Eve,"the bubbling place," Fibromyalgia," and "All Fall Down"; and Holin Kennen's "Returning to Our Senses."

This Beltane issue has 3 photo essays focusing in the U.S. Midwest: "Mississippi River Backwater" by Gwyn Padden-Lecthen, "Images of Compassion, Love, and Mercy" by Jacki Hayes, and "Full Moon in Libra" by Lance Link.

And there are 3 book reviews: Madelon Wise's review of The Woman in the Shaman's Body by Barbara Tedlock Ph.D.; Dahti Blanchard's review of Big Fat Manifesto (young adult fiction) by Susan Vaught; and Staci Schwarz's review of the novel The Mermaid Chair by Sue Monk Kidd.

Buzz Coil: April

Goddess in a Teapot: The April 6 post, "Find Your Power with Max Dashu" is a well-deserved tribute to Max Dashu and her work. If you’re not acquainted with this wonderful Goddess historian, let this post be your introduction. Max has for many years been untiring in her willingness to help others learn about the Goddess both in her workshops and on Internet discussion lists. After you read the Teapot blog post, go on over to Max’s website suppressedhistories.net , where you can read many of Max’s engrossing essays and reviews, and see clips from her newly released DVD "Woman’s Power" (and read the transcript!).

The Village Witch: In her blog running in the Asheville N.C Citizen-Times, Byron Ballard writes a 3-part series on Beltane beginning on April 14. Part I gives a general background on the "old customs of May Day" and the holiday’s relationship to sex. Part II (April 15) expands on loving our physical bodies. Part III (April 16) discusses developing a new attitude that replaces self-hate with self-love.

Textual Arachne: Blogger Arachne offers a Spring blessing that may have special meaning for students at every level in her April 20 post, "Study and spring."

Wild Hunt Blog: In a April 24 post, "National Day of Prayer vs. May Day," Jason Pitzl-Waters asks readers to act on the issue of restricting the U.S. "National Day of Prayer," to activities based on "Judeo-Christian principles." This year NDP coincides with Beltane. Jason gives some options available to you to join people of other faiths in objecting to limiting NDP to just certain religions. And while you’re at the Wild Hunt, you might also want to have a look at Jason’s lovely April 22 "Earth Day" post.


Panthea - All Things Are Goddess: In her April 24 post, "Kali: Goodbye Obstacles," blogger Grian tells what happened when she started chanting a mantra to Kali every day.

At Brigid’s Forge: In her April 12 post, American tarotist, Goddess rosary creator, and former editor of SageWoman Lunaea Weatherstone blogs about Canadian tarotist James Wells’ invitation to all to pray a Goddess rosary every month dedicated to the "The Restoration of Avalon." Take special note, friends at Glastonbury Goddess Temple!

At the end of desire: Blogger Inanna explores the meaning of "desire" in both Pagan and other trads , especially as it appears in the phrase from the Charge of the Goddess, which her blog is named after. A number of posts on the subject start on April 15 with "Desire’s End, Part I." and continue at least through April 20.

Branches Up, Roots Down: Writing as she travels through Europe, in her April 18 "Lessons," Deborah Oak ponders the recent lifestyle changes she’s had to make, commenting

When you choose to embrace the shamanic lifestyle, you can’t get away with anything. If you find yourself making fun of something, soon enough you become the butt of the joke yourself.

Evoking the Goddess: In his April 13 post, "Goddesses Restored to Memory" blogger Paul writes that archeologists in the UK are unearthing tributes to Goddesses native to the British Isles put there by the Romans about 2,000 years ago. You’ve probably heard of some the goddesses, such as Brigantia, but others are apparently becoming known to us for the first time through these excavations.

Goddessing: Blogger Sage tells us about the baby girl in India born with two faces, whom the local population is worshipping as a reincarnation or emanation of the Goddess Durga, in her April 9 post, "Durga Reincarnated."

Hecate:Blogger Hecate’s April 22 post, "The One they Pick. The One You’ll Know By," discusses the Democratic primary campaign, generational differences among feminists, and related Reclaiming issues, Hecate writes (greatly excerpted):
I

I have had it with red herring questions...pre-empting conversations about the real issues that Reclaiming has avoided for years. I am speaking here mostly of Bay Area Reclaiming, but frankly the patterns that have been set here get exported regularly to other areas...
....the attempt to exercise power-over, to control the very questions that may even be discussed, becomes the topic of discussion. Feminism, as a movement based upon the notion that the personal is the political, can't be about shutting down discussion. ....sadly, young women...are as willing to shut down those women in boxy blazers (we all know that's code for "up-hip middle-aged woman") as the women in the boxy blazers are to tell young women to shut up about issues that weren't as important to us when we were blazing new feminist trails back in the sixties and seventies....That
Clinton's candidacy has gotten us -- boxy-blazered old women and young women --
talking about generational issues seems to me like one of the benefits of her campaign.

Peacock Dreams: Thorne Coyle writes touchingly about a visit with Cora Anderson, 93, (widow of Feri’s Victor Anderson) in her April 15 post, "Cora Visit." With a special message for people who know Cora.

Radical Goddess Thealogy: Focusing on the Fundamentalist church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, blogger Athana takes "another peek at the underbelly of the beast" in her April 7 post, "Father Gods Fall Short Again."

The-Goddess: In her April 16 post, "Prosecuting Polygamy," blogger Morgaine comments on an AlterNet article and says that for her, the issue in the recent raid on the Fundamentalist Church of LDS is not plural marriage, but child abuse.

Women and Spirituality: In an April 21 post, this site offers a special Mothers Day combo deal on the DVDs "Women and Spirituality" by Donna Read (previously a video trilogy) and "Signs Out of Time," Donna Read and Starhawk’s documentary about Marija Gimbutas.
In an April 15 post, "A Crone’s Files," Donna Read shares part of the original script by Starhawk for part of the Women and Spirituality videos. Read says she found the script recently while cleaning out her files. It's really nice to have access to this. Thanks, Donna!
Charlene Spretnak’s April 4 post, "Present at Creation" looks at her look at photos from "a momentous event" about 30 years ago: the first large gathering of women’s spirituality, which took place in Santa Cruz CA. In a comment to this post, Carol P. Christ gives us some welcome info: her keynote address at this event (and later much-published essay) "Why Women Need the Goddess" is now online. If you’ve never read this, what are you waiting for?
In an April 16 post, "What an arranged marriage can feel like to an intelligent young girl," Carol P. Christ discusses the tradition among polygamist Mormons, Muslims, and rural Greeks (Christians?), and she relates a combined story about this custom’s effects. In her April 8 post, "Questions Not Asked: The Popes visit to the U.S.," Carol discusses what few others have, including this Pope’s silencing of theologians and denying women their reproductive rights.
In an April 7 post, "Soul Sisters and Laundry," Susan Reimer-Torn discusses the Kabbalist doctrine called in Hebrew, "gilgul neshamot," a variation on reincarnation in which each person’s soul contains sparks from several previous people’s souls.
In an April 6 post, "Learning from Our Mistakes," Starhawk tells about staying with Margot Adler when Starhawk returned to the States after getting "thown out of Israel" and the consolation she’s found in her permaculture work at home. With pics.
In her April 3 post, "Scorpio Rising," Amina Wadud, shares the spiritual apsects of her natal astrological chart.
The blogs at Women and Spirituality are wonderful! I just wish there was more contrast between the text (yellow) and background (lavender on my screen), so it would be easier to read. A deep purple background would do it!

Changes . . . touches . . .
Immanent Gorgon has gone *poof* . Gorgon, if you want to let us know what happened we’d welcome your comment. Hope you’re okay! UPDATE 4/28: The Gorgon is now blogging at Re-Emerging Gorgon. See her comments below.

The Furious Spinner: Kim Antieau has stopped posting on this blog and is now blogging at kimantieau.com

Did we miss an item you think is important? We’d like to know about it, so please leave it as a comment.

Budapest Goddess Festival this June

You might want to make your travel plans now, so we don't want to wait until next month to let you know about the Goddess Festival in Budapest, Hungary on June 17-22. Szilvia Simon, organizer of the Festival writes:

According to legend, the sovereignty of Hungary was bequeathed by Istvan, the first king, to the Queen of Heaven in the person of the Virgin Mary. But for millennia, since Paleolithic times, the Goddess, by numberless names, was honoured here in the cauldron of the Carpathian Basin and on the banks of the Mother river, the Danube. For a long while, the land was divided between the Celts and the Scythians, each of whom called Her by different names. In our festival of 2008, we will be remembering these names and calling them back to heal us. We will call on Brigit to heal the inner child, on Epona to heal our sexuality, on Deae Matronae to heal the wounds of motherhood, on Tabiti to reclaim the fire of the amazon and Nemetona, Lady of Sacred Groves to heal our connection with the earth which has borne us. Come and join us, here in the very centre of Europe, where our distant ancestors lived, loved and died, to reclaim the continent for the Goddess who lives in us all and who is the very land itself!

Planned presenters at the Festival include: Alessandra Belloni, Anique Radiant Heart, Brian Charles, Jeannine Davis-Kimball Ph.D, Kathy Jones, Lydia Ruyle, Lynne Orhard, Mike Jones, Natasha Wardle, Hungarian musicians, priestesses and Goddess-loving wo/men. Planned ceremonies include: Opening, Bridie Healing, Red Veil, and Summer Solstice. Also planned: A Goddess Procession through the streets of Budapest to a "yoni-shaped" island in the Danube. For more information and to reserve a ticket, go to www.goddessbudapest.com