RCGI's Seasonal Salon, Fall Issue

Seasonal Salon is the online journal of the Re-Formed Congregation of the Goddess (RCGI) published at the solstices and equinoxes. I think of it as daughter (or re-incarnation?) of Of A Like Mind (OALM), the organization’s well-known newsprint journal that ceased publication several years ago.

In this Fall Equinox issue, Marise Folse’s "Gorgonic Reconstruction: Part I of II" immediately caught Medusa’s eye. Folse’s purpose is to tell us how "Gorgos" changed over the centuries from a pre-Hellenic Mediterranean Moon Goddess trinity to the much later "monstrous offspring," in which Medusa is the only human of the triad. Part I is fascinating and we look forward to Part II.

The other article that I’ve delved into enough at this point to blog about is Max Dashu’s "Vision in Midst of Difficulty." Dashu, founder of the Suppressed History Archives, and its guardian since 1970, is probably best known in the Goddess community for her encyclopedic knowledge of women and religion–especially but not limited to Goddess and Witchcraft–in a vast number of cultures, mythologies, and time periods. In this article she combines this knowledge with spiritual sensitivity and philosophy in exploring attitudes and explanations for life’s difficult times. She writes:

Here’s a funny thing about grief. Its opposite is not joy, if you ask me, but hope.

She then pays tribute to Goddess women who have died this past year, as well as those who have endured difficult illnesses.

Dashu gets into the possible astrological explanation for some recent problems. But I think she realizes this isn’t the ultimate "answer" to the question that all religions must tackle. She writes:

I don’t claim to have the answers, but will ask the question! In classic patriarchal theology, they call it theodicy, which means the problem of how the Divine can co-exist with or allow evil to exist, even prevail.

She then uses Icelandic mythology to try to get to an answer that might make sense to Goddess folk.

Other features in the current issue of RCGI's Seasonal Salon include: "California: A Captive Princess" by Bellezza Squillance, "Wine Parable: Simplicity" by Patricia Monaghan, and "Weisse Frauen: Dancing in the Harvest through the Trees," (which begins with a poem) by Deborah Hoffman-Wade.

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