Buzz Coil: November 2013

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

HecateDemeter: In her Nov. 12 post, Hestia and the Homeless, as winter approaches blogger Hecate suggests what you can do to help the homeless, including "a short magical working" with the Goddess Hestia.

Annelinde's World: Annelinde Metzner's Oct. 31 post, For Layne, a memorial poem for Layne Redmond, begins:
Taka, taka Doom, taka Doom!
With pics, including two of Layne drumming.

My Village Witch: In her Oct. 31 post, Samhain Is Come, Byron Ballard tells of her activities on this holiday and on "the lingering days of Samhaintide."

Living the Spiral Path: Blogger Stormy Seaside's blog was previously known as "My Life as a Goddessian," and all the posts from that blog-name appear to be archived on this new one. Stormy's Nov. 12 post, The Advent of the Daughter, tells of her attempt to "revamp" Christian Advent
  to fit within a Goddessian context in which one might celebrate the joyful awaiting of the divine Daughter....

Tamis Rentiera: was looking for a green stone Goddess that she found on the Internet but couldn't seem to find again. She tells about the Goddess and her search for it in her Nov. 14 post,  The Bird Headed Goddess, and shows a pic of it. In a comment, Tamis tells how a friend helped her find it. In a Nov. 6 post, she writes about How the Goddess Snuck Up On Me.

Love of the Goddess: Blogger Tara's Nov. 23 post is about Anuket, Egyptian Goddess of the Nile, especially its cataracts (aka rapids) as well as the field, and hunting. Her Nov. 8 post focuses on Baba Yaga, Slavic Goddess of Death and Rebirth and includes the myth of Baba Yaga and Vasilisa.

Works of Literata: Blogger Literata's Nov. 5 post, Voting is still a holy act, is about voting in Virginia this year. She discusses the political issues and then writes:
For me, the work of voting is also an offering to Columbia, the American Athena. But that isn’t just 'goddess-washing' the act of voting. It goes to the heart of what I’m talking about here.

The Wild Hunt: Heather Greene explores The Secular Purpose and Effect of the Word “God” in a Nov. 10 post that begins with a recent decision by the U.S. Air Force Academy regarding the inclusion of "so help me God" in its Oath, and also includes a recent Supreme Court case, other legal cases, U.S. currency, the Pledge of Allegiance, and the term "act of God."  

Hearth Moon Rising's Blog: Hearth Moon Rising's Nov. 22 post, is Part III of a  review of the book, A Nation of Women: Gender and Colonial Encounters Among the Delaware Indians. It discusses the interaction between Moravian Christian missionaries and the Delaware. With links to Parts I and II.

The Goddess House: In a Nov. 9 post, blogger As't Moon announces Brighid to be honoured in the first Sacred Goddess Circle for 2014 this February in the Adelaide, Australia Goddess House. The post also includes background on Brighid.

Large Group Blogs

Feminism and Religion: Some of this month's posts to this blog of many paths and many bloggers:

In her Nov. 28 post, Barbara Ardinger entertains us with a A Thanksgiving Story entitled "A Turkey Tail Tale" that includes literary and mythological allusions.

Coleen Clare's Nov. 27 post, Inner and Outer Darkness in the Skoteino Cave, is a poetic response to her visit to the cave during an Ariadne Goddess Pilgrimage to Crete with a group led by Carol P. Christ. With pics.

Carol P. Christ's Nov. 25 post, Is it Essentialist to Speak of Earth As Our Mother? begins:
The charge of “essentialism” has become equivalent to the “kiss of death” in recent feminist discussions. In this context it is taboo to speak of Mother Earth.  Yet, I would argue there are good reasons for speaking of Mother Earth that do not add up to essentialism.
She goes on to define and give a history of the term, "essentialism," and gives reasons that support using the term, "Mother Earth." In her Nov. 18 post, Giving Back to the Mother, Carol tells of experiences she and a friend have had with the Sacred Myrtle Tree at the monastery of Paliani. She writes:
 The Panagia, She Who Is All Holy, is said to live in the tree, and the nuns who tend the tree follow customs far older than Christianity.
In her Nov. 11 post, The Divine Mystery? she examines whether it is consistent with feminist discourse to speak of the divine as a mystery. Her Nov. 4 post, Mermaid, Goddess of the Sea, discusses a silk embroidery in a museum in Crete, including both its Pagan and Christian symbolism. With pic of embroidery. 

In a Nov. 25 post, Size Islam: Where Do I Fit In?" Jameelah X. Medina discusses issues that confront her as a large woman, especially those that involve posture in group Muslim prayer.

Deanne Quarrie poses another question, Who Am I Under Oppression?, in her Nov. 23 post.

In a Nov. 20 post, The New Feminist Revolution in Religion, Gina Messina-Dysert looks forward to leading a roundtable discussion with Xochitl Alvizo at the American Academy of Religion/Society of Biblical Literature meeting held recently in Baltimore. The discussion centered on the Feminism and Religion blog founded two years ago and the "revolution" Gina refers to is digital. 

The Quiet Voice of the Frame Drum is a Nov. 16 post by Oxana Poberejnaia. The post memorializes Layne Redmond, frame drummer, author, and teacher. It also tells about Oxana's experience with drumming and its relationship to her spiritual life.

In a Nov. 9 post, Angela Yarber, writes about Painting Dorothy Day. Angela's portrait of Day (1897-1980), an American Catholic journalist socialist pacifist activist in the mid-20th century, is among the "Holy Woman Icons" that Angela features each month and which include humans, fictional characters, and deities. She begins her feature on Day:
Radical Revolutionary.  One with the workers.  Daily works of mercy.  One who challenged the status quo.  She never wanted to be called a saint, though the Claretian Missionaries proposed that she be canonized in 1983.  The Catholic Church calls her a “Servant of God.”  I call her a Holy Woman Icon. 

In a Nov. 7 post, Saudi Women Drive,  Amina Wadud,  takes a look at this initiative through the lens of the larger Muslim women's movement.

Sara Frykenberg's Nov. 5 post, Surviving and Thriving: For My Defender, discusses survival skills and the role of meditation and prayer for her in accessing these skills.

Jassy Watson focuses on mothers, human and divine, in her Nov. 2 post, Ode to Mum - Source of My Being.

Judith Shaw's Oct. 31 post is about Fand – Goddess of the Sea – a Shapeshifter for Samhain. With Judith's art portraying this Celtic Goddess known as "Queen of the Fairies." .

Pagan Square: Among this month's posts on this blog of many paths under the direction of BBI Media:

In her Nov. 20 post, Yeshe Rabbit shares a Daily Self-blessing With Aphrodite, including consecration, at Aphrodite's altar that she has performed for many years. 

Posts memorializing Lady Olivia Robertson include: on Nov. 20, Magical Lives~Lady Olivia Robertson, in which Natalie Zaman shares Katherine Clark's "experience" that includes historical information about the late co-founder of the Fellowship of Isis; two Nov.15 posts:  Meeting Lady Olivia Robertson, by Francesca De Grandis and An Elder Passes... by Galina Krasskova. 

In a Nov. 14 post, Museum Meditations, Emily Mills shares her favorite Goddess images from the St. Louis Art Museum.

Kalyca Shultz describes Meeting Freyja, in her Nov. 13 post. With her painting of the Norse Goddess. 

In another Nov. 13 post, Gaia's Winter Mantel, Judith Ann, also an artist, discusses painting Gaia as a winter Goddess. With her art.

Paola Suarez shares The Silly Story My Goddess Self Wanted to Tell in a Nov. 12 post.

In a Nov. 11 post, Pristine Priestess, Klara Adenena delves into the experience of being a priestess and the significance of this word to her.

In a Nov. 3 post, It Gets Easier. Trust Me on This One, Byron Ballard writes about giving a presentation at a Unitarian Universalist Religious Education class, and about meeting the sometimes perceived difficulties of being a Pagan.

Lisa Sarasohn writes More on the Origins of Belly Magic, in a Nov. 2 post, beginning with the word for "tribe" in Hebrew being the same as for "mother," and the word for "tribe," being the same as for "belly."

Return to Mago: The url of this blog was recently changed to magoism.net. Some of this months' contributors to this Goddess-centered blog under the direction of Helen Hwang:

Harita Meenee's Nov. 25 post, Sophia, the Sacred Feminine Wisdom, explores the personification of Wisdom in the Bible and beyond. 

On Nov. 21, Mary Saracino posts No Country for Old Women, a poem in both English and Italian.

Heart Moon Rising interviews Max Dashu about her work concerning Women and Shamanism in a Nov. 18 post.

The film, The Book of Jane, is reviewed by Judith Laura (aka Medusa) in a Nov. 15 post, re-blogged with permission from an October post here. 

Glenys Livingstone's Nov. 11 post, Moon Goddess: Primordial Trinity and Cosmic/Personal Heritage is "an evolved version of an excerpt" from her book, Pagaian Cosmology.

A Nov. 8 post, Luciana Percovich discusses the relationship between The Temple and the Forest in ancient mythologies.

In a Nov. 2 post, Lydia Ruyle shares her art showing the Mexican ancestor spirit Tzitzimine giving birth to Ixchel.