Buzz Coil: July '08

Katrina’s Joy: Katrina Messenger reviews her accomplishments, among them the founding about 10 years ago of DC Connect, a group that does public ritual in Washington DC, in her June 23 post, "Ten Years." A fascinating story! Congrats!!!

Matters of Minutia: In a July 23 post, "8.29 am–Waltzing Matilda" Blogger Lisa in Australia writes about her hopes for her growing Womens Spirituality Group. Do you live near Newcastle NSW? Lisa is looking for women to assist.

Panthea - All Things Are Goddess: Blogger Grian has revamped her blog and it looks good! Plus it loads quicker–at least on my computer. Her July 21 post, "In Her Image: Manufacturing the Dark Goddess," warns against using "the Goddess as a crutch." Grian writes:

Creating Goddess as we see fit in order to validate destructive behavior or misguided beliefs simply shrugs off personal responsibility, much like an oil slick slipping off the hull of a ship. It’s not okay to cause damage simply because we’ve manufactured an image of Goddess that would raise her fist in support of our self-righteous indulgences. She will never stand idly by while we pollute ourselves and the world around us with pain. Karma will inevitably be knocking at the proverbial front door.

and further on in the post, she writes:

Images of the Dark Goddess abound throughout time. Many of these dark portrayals are later additions to the pantheon of Female Divinity, contributed by patriarchal influences that wished to demonized the ancient Goddess and strip her of the captivating power she held over the people of the Earth. These patriarchal forces made the Goddess into a demented fear-monger who stole little children away and ate them for supper. All of the qualities that bring us closer to nature and thus to the Goddess were stripped away and turned into bogeymen and monsters.

Don’t miss reading all of this thoughtful post!

The Village Witch: In her Asheville NC Citizen-Times blog on July 13, Byron Ballard writes a post titled, "It’s raining out and I have purple glitter on my ear," in which she tantalizes us with mention of a "spectacularly juicy Lammas/Lughnasadh ritual." If you’re like me, you’ll be checking back for more details. In her July 11 post, Byron realizes KT Turnstall’s song, "Suddenly I See" strikes a Goddess chord.

Hecate: In her July 20 post, "The Moon is as High as The Fourth of July," blogger Hecate tells how she spent the most recent full moon.

Goddess in a Teapot: In her July 4 post "Listening to Our Lives, Making Our Myths," Carolyn Lee Boyd writes that while seeking "new myths" for our times she came to realize that "real stories" have mythological resonances that may be more meaningful than devised stories.

Evoking the Goddess: In his July 15 post, "A Walk in Ancient Woodland," blogger Paul shares a photo he recently took of "fallen trees like guardian spirits." and encourages us to "honour boundaries."

Necropolis Now: In a June 23 post, Caroline Tully writes of "Goddess Judaism and Jewitchery," with pics of Asherahs and a number of links on this subject. In a July 18 post, "You Georgeous Thing," Carolyn shares material from an article in Minerva magazine on an "Oriental Aphrodite," including pics showing "openings in their stomachs, containing representations of foetuses".

Peeling a Pomegranate: Blogger Ketzirah Carly shares her impressions of the beginning of her second year of Kohenet (Hebrew priestess) training along with some lingering impressions of the first year in her July 1 post, "Kohenet Training Update: Week 5."

Radical Goddess Thealogy: Blogger Athana wonders about the "scary" attributes our cultures connects with nature, and our apparent inability to reject thim, in her July 11 post, "That Bogeywoman Called Nature."

Re-Emerging Gorgon: In her July 14 post, "Let’s Talk About Sex...And Dreams Again," The Gorgon experiments with non-reciprocity and putting her pleasure first, then sees a connection to a previous dream.
UPDATE Aug.10: This blog has morphed into Gorgon Resurfaces, and the blogger's name is now Laughing Medusa. See comment below.

The Corvid Diaries: And speaking of sex, Debi Crow’s July 19 post, "Sheela-Na-Gig," explores the history and symbolism of this sexually open Celtic Goddess.

At the End of Desire: In her July 23 post, "Temple of Artemis," blogger Inanna recalls meditating at the Temple of Artemis near Ephesus, Turkey, a year ago and the reflects on the changes in her life since then.

The Wild Hunt: In a July 19 post, "The Trouble of Teaching Biblical Content," Jason Pitzl-Waters reports on a Texas case about a law mandating a Bible-study elective in public school.

Changes...touches...

Women and Spirituality: This blog is now being absorbed by http://www.alivemindmedia.com/ (which morphs into amspirit.web.aplus.net), a site with many different sorts of blogs. The quickest way to get to what were previously bloggers on the Women and Spirituality site is to add to the url: /category/spirit . But you will still have to slog through other blogs to find the women and spirituality blogs. This change is a great disappointment to me. It was nice having a nook for mostly well-known women and spirituality bloggers. Charlene Spretnak has already announced she will no longer be participating. And this happens right in middle of a series "Was There Ever a Goddess?" by Carol P. Christ, taken from her presentation at the World Archeology Conference in Dublin a few weeks ago. Part 1, posted on July 2, is a short intro. Part 2, published on July 2, takes issue with Mircea Eliade's views and dualistic thinking in general. Part 3, published on July 9, begins to explore the Minoan religion of ancient Crete. Though Carol writes that she will continue "next week," there is not yet a Part 4. Here is the quickest way to get to her posts. I hope she finds a way to continue this series....

Welcome Newbies !
Iseum of the Triple Goddess first appeared on July 20 with a post by blogger Cymrywitch welcoming us and telling herstory. We look forward to reading more of this blog.
The House of Inanna was lauched by Brian Charles on June 20. On July 25, in his post,"A tale of two books," Brian discusses Merlin Stone's The Paradise Papers and Naomi Klein's The Shock Doctrine - The Rise of Disaster Capitalism. See Brian's Guest Blog here, next post down.

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