Buzz Coil: August '11

A look at some posts of interest from our blogroll and sometimes beyond:

Association for the Study of Women & Mythology : An August 1 post by Lin Daniels, "Die Zeit is Reif: The Time is Ripe..." gives a good summary of the International Congress on Matriarchal Studies held recently in St. Gallen, Switzerland. Daniels begins:

“Better to build lifeboats than to wait for the Patriarchy-Titanic to listen to reason” was the emphasis of this year’s conference. It was an examination of what to do about the patriarchy-built looming global crisis. The conference was a feast for the mind and the heart as women from all over the world convened to find answers.

Feminism and Religion: This new blog has many posts of interest for people on varying spiritual paths. Here are just some of them:

—In an August 5 post, "Exciting New Research on Matriarchal Societies," Carol P. Christ writes that she and other "English-speaking scholars" have avoided the word, "matriarchy" when describing ancient societies, and then goes on to discuss the anthology, Society of Peace: Matriarchies Past, Present and Future, edited by Heide Goettner-Abendroth, who "defines the term (matriarchy) differently."

—An Aug. 6 post by Starhawk, "On the Murders in Norway: The need for a multicultural vision," begins with Starhawk at a high school performance of Guys and Dolls, and goes on to examine the role of religion in the recent murders in Norway.

—In her Aug. 12 post, "Do White Feminists Have Ancestors?" Carol P. Christ observes that while black women giving addresses or lectures often begin by thanking their foremother womanists, it is rare for white women to thank white feminist foremothers. Rather, she says, white feminists often seem to want to distance themselves from their foremothers. Christ goes on to discuss how her term, "contamination theory," can help us understand this behavior.

—In her Aug. 16 post, "Charlene Spretnak’s ‘Relational Reality’: An Illuminating Read," Gina Messina-Dysert reviews Spretnak’s most recent book on interrelationship.

—In an Aug. 17 post, "M’rahemet She Olam: The Emwomber of the Universe," Theresa Yugar offers a poem influenced by Hebrew grammar, and which genders the divine as female.

(I haven’t given links to the individual articles frankly because each of the urls is verrrrry long and I am coping with both eyestrain and carpel tunnel, plus some computer wierdness. The posts should be easy to find though and well worth the visit.)

Evoking the Goddess: Blogger Paul shares 5 colorful photos from "Glastonbury Goddess Conference 2011" in his August 5 post.

From Jupiter: Blogger Cosette is running series called "44 Days of Witchery." On Day 5, Aug. 19, she writes about Artemis, "A favorite goddess." Other topics thus far include: her "witchy background," her athame, nature, a favorite god, and the element air, and a myth about Oshun.

Hecatedemeter: In her Aug. 15 post, "Practicing a Nature Religion," blogger Hecate begins by comparing "devout Christians" and "Christians" with "devout Pagans or Witches" and witches who celebrate Sabbats only and then "go ‘back’ to being average American consumers." She says she wants more, and describes what "more" is for her.

Works of Literata: In her Aug. 12 post, "‘Breaking Curses’ a fundamental characteristic of ‘Apostles’," blogger Literata analyses some passages from a book by C. Peter Wagner of the New Apostolic Reformation, including a passage on "breaking the curse of witchcraft."

Veleda: In her Aug. 18 post, "Thanks Donors to Woman Shaman: The Ancients," Max Dashu thanks the donors to her film production and shares some of the images from it. In her Aug. 20 post, "Sacred Women in North American Rock Art," she discusses her research into rock art and its relationship to ancient histories of Africa, Australia and North America.

Queen of Heaven: "Did God have breasts?" asks blogger Carisa in her Aug. 17 post comparing portrayals of Goddesses Diana/Artemis, Hecate, Cybele and others with the description of the biblical Father God, who is given the Hebrew title "El Shaddai," the word shaddai often assumed to mean with breasts or breasted.

The Village Witch: In an Aug. 24 post, "Honey for Osun," Byron Ballard writes of Asheville Mother Grove’s preparations for an Osun Verneration and Concert, a fundraisier for the North Carolina’s sister temple in Nigeria.

At Brigid’s Forge In her August 13 post, Lunaea writes about "Keeping the Faith" amidst life challenges, for example, moving to a new house.

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