Buzz Coil: March

Here’s what’s been buzzin’ on other blogs recently. If we missed an blog post you think is important, please leave the info as a "comment."

Pagan Godspell:As part of the Blogging Against Sexism initiative to celebrate International Women’s Day on March 8, Sara Sutterfield Winn writes about anti-feminism among Pagans in her post, "The Same Thing We Do Every Night, Pinky..." I hope the following excerpt will encourage you the go read the whole post:

.... to posit that the establishment of women’s space or women-only circles, or the emphasis on Goddess-worship within some Pagan groups, or the ongoing discussion/disection and rejection of Patriarchy within a Pagan context, consitutes the oppression of males as a class within Paganism, is ridiculous.... In many ways, because of the continued privileging of men as a class within mainstream American culture, men who choose to tell any particular Pagan group to jam it because they feel discriminated against have more agency, power, resources and ability to start their own groups in some areas than women do....
To argue that feminism is or is becoming on par with patriarchy as a system of oppression is a wildly false comparison on several levels. It does an injustice to the strong tradition of powerful thinking and movement for serious change in our communities, and it ignores the flowering of communities of radical equality, radical diversity and critical thought of which I am proud to be a part in the Pagan sphere....

Sara’s March 12 post, "Biblical Literature and Other Conundrums" responds both to the spring equinox and to the online Washington Post "On Faith" question about teaching religion in public schools.

Panthea: Panthea also shares her response to the "On Faith" question in her March 11 post, "Religion Taught in Schools."

Roots Down: In her March 8 "International Women’s Day" post, Deborah Oak stands up for "women’s liberation" and the right of women to spell women/wimmin/womyn any way they want. In a March 15 post, "to speak or not to speak," in preparation for the Equinox, she writes about balance, her reduced need for secrecy, whether silence is necessary, and the balance between listening and speaking.

Evoking The Goddess: Blogger Paul marked International Women’s Day with a March 9 post, "Thank You," to women who have touched his life, including his wife (a sacred dancer),his daughter, and the priestesses at the Glastonbury Goddess Temple . He also inspires us with a post/poem on March 5, "How many times have you danced about the moon?" , and a March 12 post, "Altar Stones to local Goddesses" with a pic of a large stone engraved to "Dea Brigantiae..."

Street Prophets: Alexandra Lynch continues her practice of dairying on Wiccan holidays on this blogchild of the politically progressive DailyKos in her March 20 diary, "Balance, ascending: Ostara, or the spring equinox."

Wild Hunt Blog: In his March 21 post, "A Blessed Spring Equinox," with beautiful art by Thalia Took, blogger Jason Pitzl-Waters quotes from press and Pagans about this holiday. In his March 16 post, "Aphrodite’s Perfume" Jason writes that archeologists have found perfumes related to specific goddesses. In his March 14 post, "Accused Witch Loses Case," he reports on the case of Lauren Berrios, a Jewish teacher fired from a Long Island public schools because of rumors that she practices witchcraft.

Textual Arachne: In her March 18 post, "Nature-based", blogger Arachne mulls over the Wheel of the Year, coming of spring, and non-theistic rituals.

Driving Audhumla: Victoria Slind-Flor blogs about "Sacred Underpants of Oshun", her "coven’s response to the needs of women displaced by Hurricane Katrina," especially "large-sized women," and about the story and illustration she did about it for The Beltane Papers.

Goddessing: In a March 9 post poetically titled, "Health, Hearth, Heart, Earth," blogger Sage discusses spirituality and the quest for healing.

So She Stirs: Shekhinah Mountainwater’s Feb. 25 post, "Catching Up" tells about her Crone journey and "preparing for life on the other side."

Firedoglake: On this prominent predominantly political progressive blog, blogger chicago dyke, a former divinity school student who now considers herself an atheist, writes about Goddess religions in a March 16 post, "Friday Night Goddess Blogging."

Songs of the Unforgetting: Blogger Kay tells about a mystical experience involving "The Star" card in the Tarot deck, and a much beloved Eastern Goddess in her March 7 post, "Kuan Yin."

Newbie
Mother of Willows: This blog, dedicated to Kuan Yin, began March 16 with the post, "She Who Hears the Cries of the World" . The blogger is Peter Schogol, a Unitarian Universalist and Pure Land Buddhist.