Buzz Coil: Sept. '09

Riding the Second Wave: In her Sept. 6 post, blogger catkisser defines "Wholistic Feminism" as including

Goddess awareness, a spirit of charity and cooperation...

and asks:

How can you embrace a religious model that promotes your own original sin for being born without a penis and be a feminist?

The Wild Hunt: "Feminists Love Religion (and the Goddess)" is Jason Pitzl-Waters’ Aug. 28 post, exploring Cris Klassen’s new anthology about third wave feminists, Feminist Spirituality: The Next Generation. In his Sept. 22 post, "Happy Autumnal Equinox," Jason gives a brief summary of the names various Pagan groups call this equinox in the Northern Hemisphere and quotes from this year’s information about it from both mainstream media and Pagans.

Walking on Fire: In her Sept. 20 post, "Mother of Manifest Blessings," blogger Myfanwy combines her runes workings with her observance of the Jewish New Year. And in her post "Seasons Blessings" she gives us a Jewish New Year/Mabon greeting.

Hecate: Blogger Hecate’s Sept. 19 post, "Mabon and Living in Relationship With the Land," relates that working on the land has helped her sense the increasing or decreasing of the veil(s). Her Sept. 20 post, "Harvest," has mouth-watering pics of fruit, flora, veggies, and pies that Hecate photographed at DC’s Eastern Market. The feast is introduced by American folk art dolls.

Daily Kos: Blogger Tara the Anti Social Social Worker is winding down her wonderful Wednesday series on Goddess spirituality and political activism, "How a Woman becomes a Goddess," in which she combines the myths of various goddesses with socio-political issues. In her Aug. 26 diary about Athena, she compares the images of female power in patriarchal cultures to how "Democrats hand over power to Republicans ever since coming back into control of the government." Her Sept 9 diary is about the Irish healing Goddess Airmed and various ways of marking 9/11. Her Sept. 23 diary is about Japanese creator deities Izami and her husband, among whose creations is Amaterasu, the Sun Goddess. She relates particularly Izami’s mythology to feelings of loss and the need to let go that many people associate with Mabon and/or autumn. She ties in this feeling to the "teabagger/town hall madness." Tara also writes of "letting go" of this series as a regular feature but she "may do occasional goddess diariess as time and the Muses permit." She includes a poll, asking what goddesses you’d like to read about in these future occasional diaries so go vote! These and previous diaries in this remarkable series,can be found here.

The Village Witch: Byron Ballard writes about the diversity of the Mountain Area Interfaith Forum and its role in planning the Asheville NC area’s Earth Religions Week (the last week in October) in her Sept 9 post, "We Forget, Sometimes, How Lucky We Are" in the Asheville (NC) Citizen-Times. The observance seems to have extended to a month in her Sept. 15 post, "Earth Religions Awareness Month–it it already Pagan October?"

Evoking the Goddess: In his Aug. 22 post, "Orkney Goddess?" blogger Paul treats us to a great pic of what has been reported as the oldest human carving found in Scotland, dated to 4500-5000 years ago. Sure looks like a Goddess to me.

Weblog for Our Mother-God: In an undated post (all posts appear to be undated),"Top Pagans?"which, when I looked on Sept. 23 was at the top of the weblog, this blog, aka "The Chapel Chronicles" rejects its listing by The Daily Reviewer as one of the top Pagan blogs, stating:

"we—uhh—aren’t a pagan blog!"

and proceeds to tell why. This is followed by a post on "Kwan Yin as the Holy Daughter." I find this intriguing. I’d be interested in what readers of Medusa Coils think of the overall approach of this group. Their website homepage is here (if the blog doesn't load, go the main website and click on "What's New" atop the left column). Feel free to leave your comments below.

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

Our Top 100 Award!

We received a communication from Angela Mizaki of The Daily Reviewer telling us that this blog has been selected to be among its top 100 blogs and in the Pagan category as a result of readers' votes.
THANKS READERS!!!!!

Pagan Survey

A "Pagan Census Revisited" by Helen Berger is available to take on Survey Monkey. And yes, they have an option in types of Pagan for "Goddess." For more background on the survey and an ongoing discussion, go on over to Hardscrabble Creek.

Events Coil: Sept. 15-Oct.31

As far as we know, all events we list are open functions; but some may be limited to women or to adults and some may require that you notify them that you plan to attend. Please check the websites for group policies. If no country is given, the event is in the USA. All times are local. 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. Ongoing events are listed after the dated events. The next Events Coil is planned for mid-October and will include events listed here that haven't yet happened, plus new events through late November. If you have an event you want listed, please leave info as a comment. See the end of this Coil for what info we need for listings.

Now-Dec. 24, Exhibit: The Sacred Feminine: Prehistory to Postmodernity, Museum of Art and Archeology, (see also Oct. 16-17) University of Missouri, Columbia MO

Sept.15, 6 p.m.Fall Decorating of Temple, Goddess Temple of Orange County, Irvine CA

Sept.17, 7 p.m.New Moon Drumming,Goddess Temple of Orange County, Irvine CA

Sept. 18, 7 p.m. New Moon Women's Mysteries, Temple of Goddess Spirituality Dedicated to Sekhmet, Indian Springs NV

Sept. 18-20, Solstice Celebration and New Moon, Matreum of Cybele, Palenville NY

Sept 18-20, Mary Magdalene Weekend with Margaret Starbird & Joan Norton, Stockbridge MA

Sept. 19, 4 p.m. Eostar/Spring Equinox, PaGaian Akkademie, Blue Mountains AUSTRALIA

Sept. 19, 19u30 Mabon Ceremony, Goddess Temple, Gent BELGIUM

Sept. 19, 2 p.m.Introduction to Frame Drum Workshop,Goddess Temple of Orange County, Irvine CA

Sept. 19, 7 p.m. Singing the Harvest Home (Mabon ritual), Mother Grove Goddess Temple, Ashevillle NC

Sept. 19, 6:30 p.m. Autumn Equinox Ritual, Circle of Aradia, Sherman Oaks CA

Sept. 20, doors open 12.00, ceremony 14.00 uur, Herfst Equinox, Nederlandse Godinnen Tempel, Hillgom NEDERLAND

Sept. 20, 12:30 p.m., Mabon/Autumn Equinox, Temple of the Sacred Arts, Germantown MD

Sept. 20, 11 a.m.Goddess Service with guest priestess Pilar Chandler,Goddess Temple of Orange County, Irvine CA

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

Sept. 21, 7 p.m. Fall Equinox Celebration, Women's Well, Concord MA

Sept. 21, various times, RCG-I Online Classes begin, World Wide Web

Sept. 22, 7:30 p.m. Autumn Equinox Ceremony, Glastonbury Goddess Temple, Glastonbury ENGLAND

Sept. 22, 7 p.m. "Cakes..." course begins, First Unitarian Society, Madison WI

Sept.22, doors open 6:30 p.m., ritual begins 7 p.m., doors lock 7:15 p.m.Autumn Equinox Ritual, Goddess Temple of Orange County, Irvine CA

Sept. 22, gather 7 p.m. Celebrate Fall Equinox and Hawaiian Goddess Hi'iaka, Daughters of the Goddess, San Francisco CA

Sept. 26, 18:45, Equinox Celebration, Daughters of Ishtar, near Harvey AUSTRALIA

Sept. 26, gather 12:30 p.m., ritual 1 p.m., Equinox, Reclaiming, Golden Gate Park, San Francisco CA

Sept.26, time tba Welcome Fall Celebration, Shamanic workshop, Circle Sanctuary, near Mt.Horeb WI

Sept.26, gather 6 p.m.,event begins 7 p.m., Interfaith Quan Yin Ritual for Military & Their families, by The Abby of Avalon in conjunction with Goddess Temple of Orange County, Irvine CA

Sept.27, 11 a.m.,Goddess Service with Leilani, High Priestess of Daughter of the Goddess;
2 p.m.Workshop with Leilani, 'Living Aloha',Goddess Temple of Orange County, Irvine CA

Sept. 28 "Cakes..." course begins, MMUUS, Syracuse NY

Sept. 30, 3 p.m. Multimedia Concert to benefit Asheville Mothergrove Temple, UU Church of Asheville, Asheville NC

Sept. 30, "Cakes..." course, Part 2, begins, UU Fellowship, Waco TX

Oct. 2, 7 p.m. First meeting of "Becoming Women of Wisdom....Crone Years" course, Women's Well, Concord MA

Oct 2, 7:30 p.m. Animal Goddesses with Max Dashu, Emeryville CA

Oct. 3, 7 p.m. Full Moon Ceremony of Presence of the Lady of Avalon, Glastonbury Goddess Temple, Glastonbury ENGLAND

Oct. 3, 7 p.m.Full Moon Drumming, Goddess Temple of Orange County, Irvine CA

Oct. 4, 11 a.m. Goddess Service:Righting of Wrongs, Goddess Temple of Orange County, Irvine CA

Oct.4, gather 7 p.m., ritual 7:30 p.m. Full Moon Ritual, Temple of Goddess Spirituality Dedicated to Sekhmet, Indian Springs NV

Oct. 6, 7:30 p.m.The Craft Connection, Goddess Temple of Orange County, Irvine CA

Oct. 10, 10:30 p.m. Friends, Madrons, & Melissa Day, Glastonbury Goddess Temple, Glastonbury ENGLAND

Oct. 10, 10 a.m. Earth Religions Awareness Month, Kick-Off Prayer Breakfast, Mother Grove Goddess Temple, Ashevillle NC

Oct. 10, gather 3 p.m. Goddess Night Out, herbal symposium, 'Oh My Goddess' with Sherry Glaser, dinner, 'Female Icons, Ancestral Mothers' with Max Dashu, Sebastopol CA

Oct. 11, 11 a.m.,"Honoring Indigenous Women of the World/13 Indigenous Grandmothers Day with Rev. Adelia Sandoval of the Acjachmen Nation, Goddess Temple of Orange County, Irvine CA

Oct. 12, 6 p.m. Cakes Orientation and Movie, "Goddess Remembered," First Unitarian Church,South Bend IN

Oct. 16-18, Hallows Gathering, Re-formed Congregation of the Goddess International, Wisconsin Dells WI

Oct. 16-17, Symposium: The Sacred Feminine: Prehistory to Postmodernity, Museum of Art and Archeology, University of Missouri, Columbia MO

Oct. 17, 7 p.m. New Moon Drumming, Goddess Temple of Orange County, Irvine CA

Oct. 18, 2 p.m. New Moon Healing, Glastonbury Goddess Temple, Glastonbury ENGLAND

Oct. 18, 7 p.m. "Honoring Marija Gimbutas,", includes showing of DVD, Signs Out of Time, Women's Well, Concord MA

Oct. 18, 7 p.m. New Moon Women's Mysteries, Temple of Goddess Spirituality Dedicated to Sekhmet, Indian Springs NV

Oct. 20, 6-9 p.m. Temple Decoration for Halloween, Goddess Temple of Orange County, Irvine CA

Oct. 24, 6:30 p.m.Crone Encounter Ritual, Circle of Aradia, Sherman Oaks CA

Oct. 25, 11 a.m. Annual Temple Halloween Party,Goddess Temple of Orange County, Irvine CA Oct

Oct. 29, 7 p.m. Women in Buddhism, Women's Well, Concord MA

Oct.30-Nov. 1 Samhain Festival, Circle Sanctuary Nature Preserve, near Mt. Horeb WI

Oct. 30, 7 p.m. The Ancestory Vigil (Samhain ritual), Mother Grove Goddess Temple, Asheville NC

Oct. 30, doors open 6:30 p.m., ritual begins 7 p.m., doors lock 7:15 p.m. Hallows Holy Night, Goddess Temple of Orange County, Irvine CA

Oct. 30, gather 7 p.m., Spiral Dance (Hallowmas), Daughters of the Goddess, San Francisco CA

Oct. 31, 7:30 p.m. Samhain Ceremony, Glastonbury Goddess Temple, Glastonbury ENGLAND

Oct. 31, time tba Night of the Dead (Samhain), Maetreum of Cybele, Palenville NY

Oct. 31, doors open 6 p.m., ritual 7:30 p.m., Spiral Dance (Samhain) benefit for Reclaiming Community, San Francisco CA

Oct. 31, gather 7 p.m., ritual 7:30 p.m. Samhain, Temple of Goddess Spirituality Dedicated to Sekhmet, Indian Springs NV

Ongoing

Australia
Perth (White Gum Valley): Mondays, 17:30, Chalice Ceremony, Daughters of Ishtar.

Belgium
Gent, most days 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Goddess Temple open for personal prayers.

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.

Great Britain
Glastonbury: Priestess/Priest of Avalon Training Program, both in Glastonbury (Avalon) and by correspondence, Glastonbury Goddess Temple.
Glastonbury: Most days except Mondays, Noon-4 p.m. Temple Open for personal prayers; Tuesdays, 6:30 p.m. Belly Dancing; Thursdays, 7 p.m. Temple Ritual Dance Class, Glastonbury Goddess Temple.

Sweden
Soderhamn, Gudinne Temple Open weekdays Noon-6 p.m. Mondays, 7-9 p.m., meditation prayer, conversation.

USA
Arlington VA: 3rd Sunday of month, time tba, ritual Moonfire.
Canton CT: Sundays, 10:30 a.m. Services, Women's Temple: In Her Name
Charleston SC: 1st Tuesday of month, Women's Circle, The Sophia Institute
Geyersville CA: Sunday Services 2-4 p.m. Temple of Isis
Houston TX: Sundays, 10 a.m. Magdalene Community, Rothko Chapel; 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. until July 5, then 10 a.m. inward, meditative; 2nd service at 11 a.m., dancing, drumming, singing; see dates for guest speakers. Friday services, gather 6 p.m., service 6:30 p.m. "All Souls in Reverence." Goddess Temple of Orange County
Palenville NY: 1st Saturday of month, 4 p.m. Goddess Meet-Up Group, Matreum of Cybele.
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
Washington DC: 2nd Sunday of month; gather Noon, ritual 12:15 p.m., National Arboretum, Becoming DC.
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.

World Wide Web
Online, various times, Spiritual Heritages of Ancient Europe, course with Max Dashu.

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 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, no password-protected 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.