Goddess Pages - Lammas Issue

The large portion of fine poetry and reviews in Goddess Pages is causing me to start thinking of it as the literary magazine of Goddess journals. Its site has instituted a login, but the login isn’t needed (yet?) for everything. It’s not needed for any of the poems, reviews, and new feature, "news." But it is needed for some articles, which I’ll fill you in on when we get there. But before I start, here's a hint I hope is helpful: The homepage has portions of some of the items, with "read more" links, but to get to all of the items, you should go to the list on far right side and click on the various sections (articles, poetry, reviews, etc.)

Now let's go to those extraordinary poems. "Recall," by Penn Kemp is about Mary Magdalene and was written on her feast day, July 22. "The Hanging Gardens of Babylon" by Doreen Hopwood is a poem of heroic length with allusions to Erishkegel and Persephone. Other poems include "Mother Song" and "In Your Dreams, Amelia Earhart" by Jacqui Woodward-Smith; "Sophia" by Michele Arista; "With the Women" by Maria Duncalf-Barber, and "The Song You Sing," by Mary Novak.

Next, the reviews. Geraldine Charles reviews the novel Magdalene Rising by Elizabeth Cunningham. This book is a prequel to Cunningham’s popular The Passion of Mary Magdalen, which imagines MM as a Celt and Druid. Jacqui Woodward-Smith reviews Cheryl Straffon’s Daughters of the Earth—Goddess Wisdom for a Modern Age. This nonfiction book is centered around 8 annual festivals with material drawn from myth, folklore, archeology, anthropology, and science. Other reviews include: At the British Museum: 12th May 2007, reviewed by Jacqui Woodward-Smith, about a day of Goddess presentations that contained references to the current situation in Iraq; Temple of the Moon Goddess a CD by Heretix reviewed by Sue Norris; and Rosie Eflain’s Soul Music, a CD reviewed by Jacqui Woodward-Smith.

And now the articles: As far as I could tell, you can only access two full articles: Not Right: The Modern Failure to Recognize the Iconology of the Palaeolithic Figures and Figurines Viewed in the light of Insanity–Part I and Salome Reawakens. The Temple of Venus in Sicily.

"Not Right: The Modern Failure to Recognize..." doesn’t have a byline (or didn’t when I visited the site on Aug. 24), but I scrolled down and saw the copyright was by Michael Bland, so I assume he’s the author. This is an offbeat article written with an intellectual sense of humor (ok humour, since Goddess Pages is edited in Britain), seeking to show that "Goddess figures" and "Goddess figurines" are appropriate names for certain works of Paleaeolithic art. Part 2 is scheduled for the next issue at Samhain.

"Salome Reawakens..." by Tiziana Stupia is a fascinating article about Tiziana’s visit to Erice, the site where a Goddess Temple once stood in western Sicily. Tiziana’s visit was aided by the Italian Pagan organization, Anima Mundi, and included a celebration of Venus Erycina’s Feast Day on April 23.

The articles you need to login to read are: "Eating the Flesh of the Goddess: Demeter and the Bread of Life" by Harita Meenee; "The Archetype of the Womb. Part II: Womb Ovens" by Theresa C. Dintino; and "Hel’s Dish: Some thoughts on hunger, anorexia and the Goddess," by Geraldine Charles.

The new News section, no login required, contains links to an article and an interview about Nepal’s Living Goddess, a link to Goddess Wave Radio, and a call for poems for an anthology to be called, "Brigid’s Runes."