In Memoriam: Lydia Ruyle 1935-2016, Creator of Goddess Icon Spirit Banners

updated 3/31/16, with addition of second video
updated 4/21, 4/23 with additional links at end

Lydia Ruyle, artist and scholar, died yesterday in her home state of Colorado of brain cancer diagnosed about a month ago. She was 8o. She was known internationally for her Goddess Icon Banners honoring female deities around the world.

She was an artist scholar emeritus at the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley, which established a Lydia Ruyle Room of Women’s Art, a scholarship in her name, and gave her a lifetime achievement award. She received her BA degree from the University of Colorado at Boulder, and MA degree from from UNC. She also studied with Syracuse University in Italy, France, Spain, and with the Art Institute of Chicago in Indonesia. She worked regularly at Santa Reparata International School of Art in Florence, Italy and Columbia College Center for Book and Paper in Chicago. For a number of years, she led women’s pilgrimage journeys to sacred places around the world. Among the countries where her Goddess Icon Spirit Banners have flown are: Australia, Canada, Britain, France, Luxembourg, Italy, Greece, Serbia, Bulgaria, Germany, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Russia, Turkey, Ghana, Kenya, Brazil, Mexico, Peru, Japan, Nepal, Bhutan, Tibet, China and the U.S. She is author of Goddess Icons Spirit Banners of the Divine Feminine  (2002), and Goddesses of the Americas: Spirit Banners of the Divine Feminine, published this month. She received the 2013 Brigit Award for excellence in the arts from the Association for the Study of Women and Mythology.

 

I became personally acquainted with Lydia on a internet discussion list where she kept us up to date on her many fascinating experiences with her banners. Perhaps the most remarkable one was her experience surrounding the disappearance and then reappearance of 40 of her banners. She allowed the story to be posted on this blog under her byline and the title , “Forty Goddess Banners Take a Detour in 2014.” When I contacted Lydia several years ago to ask if I could use her banner art on the cover of the third edition of my book, She Lives! The Return of Our Great Mother, she did not hesitate to say yes, and gave me innumerable banners from which to make my selection. I will always be grateful for her generosity.

May all the Goddesses of her banners surround her with love and blessings, and may she rest in their arms and be renewed.

 Here is a You Tube video with Lydia’s banners and other goings-on, first shown at a conference several years ago; music is Jennifer Berezan’s “Returning.”

update 3/31/16: The following video is copyright 2015 by filmmaker Isadora Gabrielle Leidenfrost. It is narrated by Lydia Ruyle and has autobiographical material beginning with her childhood.

 
Links with more information about Lydia Ruyle:

 

Extensive Wild Hunt obituary (quoting some material from this blog)

Family obituary with services and memorial gift info

Greeley(Co.) Tribute obituary

(Tribute) In Loving Memory of Lydia Ruyle (1935-2016) by Mago Circle Members

 

Announcement of her most recent book on Goddess-Ink.

Lydia’s  article in Goddess Pages 

Buzz Coil: March 2016

Some recent posts from blogs on our blogroll (please note, we don't knowingly list posts in Buzz Coil that have been published previously by the blogger elsewhere or on the same blog):

Broomstick Chronicles: In a March 11 post, "Claremont Pagan Studies Conference – III," Aline O'Brien (Macha NightMare) discusses January 25 presentations about social justice by Nikki Bado, Kahena Dorethea Viale, and Joseph Futerman.

HecateDemeter: Blogger Hecate's  March 9 post, "Pagan Conferences: Why Would Any Thinking Person Willingly Go?" tells why and how she prepares for the Sacred Space conference in Maryland. Her March 18  post , "When You Are a Priestess, Wherever You Go, There You Are," is what I would term a prose-poem about an occurrence (and this is my guess:) at that conference involving a certain priestess from further south.

Association for the Study of Women and Mythology: The ASWM  blog  is currently focusing on its upcoming conference in Boston April 1-2.  Its March 14 post  announces:
" 'THE AMAZONS' Wins 2016 Sarasvati Award for Nonfiction."  The author is  Adrienne Mayor.

Contemplation - Yeshe Rabbit: In the context of her travels, in a March 7 post, "Being in the Flow," Yeshe Rabbit discusses this concept and, in one of the paragraphs, writes:
"...I believe we are always both here AND there. We are flesh, and we are stardust. We are human, and we are divine. We are light and shadow at once. We are real, and unreal, at the same time.We are living pluralities, not convenient or easy to label and fix in stone, but rather dynamic forces of movement. In my view, Goddess is not a single being, she is a flag waving in the cosmic wind, rippling with many colors, names, stories, and possible truths...."

Fellowship of  Isis Central: A March 19 post "Happy 40th Anniversary to the Fellowship of Isis," gives information about how FOI is celebrating.  A March 15 post  announces "Goddess World,"  a project  involving member participation in sharing   "research  on  sacred wells, springs,  rivers  and streams, woods, mountains,  groves,  caves ,  all manner of sacred sites." 

Glenys's Blog:  Glenys Livingstone's  March 14 post, "Equinox @ EarthGaia  March  2016," describes the celebration  of the autumn equinox  in her home country of Australia and in the rest of the Southern Hemisphere and the spring equinox  in the Northern Hemisphere.    

Starhawk's Blog: Starhawk's March 19 post, "Equinox blessings!"  discusses  "Spring Equinox – Eostar, the festival of the ancient Goddess who gave her name to Easter."  She writes that at this holiday she is letting go  of worrying about bad things that can happen,  and continues
"I truly believe the daffodils want us to notice how the light shines through them so they glow, translucent in the late afternoon. The lilacs and madrones want to make us drunk with their scent." 

Woodspriestess:  Blogger  Molly started  a  series this month  called,  "30 days of  Days of Spring." For instance, her March 16 post (on day 5 of the series), "Planted,  Struggling, Growing,"  tells about " a truly beautiful day  of ceremony and restoration."  With pics. 

Love of the Goddess: In her March 10 post,  Blogger Tara  writes about the Slavic Goddess, Vesna, who "carries the scent of spring flowers with her wherever she goes."   

The Goddess House: In a February 29  post,  "Grainne Ni Mhaille - the Irish Pirate Queen,"  Frances Billinghurst,  founder and current priestess  of the Goddess House in Adelaide, Australia,  writes about  one of the  "Celtic Queens and  Warrior Goddesses"  that will be discussed at a workshop in Melbourne on April 23.

Goddess/Spiritual Feminist Blogs

Because of the large number and variety of bloggers and posts on these blogs, we are now suggesting that you visit them and select the posts that interest you most.

Pagan Square: This blog of many mostly-Pagan paths is sponsored by BBI Media and includes SageWoman blog posts

 

Feminism and Religion: Many bloggers from many different religions and paths.

The Motherhouse of the Goddess: Blog affiliated with Motherhouse Podcasts and Mystery School.

The Wild Hunt: Pagan, news-oriented blog that has grown from single blogger to many bloggers.

Return to Mago: A Goddess-centered blog whose administrator/owner is Helen Hye-Sook Hwang.

Dear Media: Isis is a Goddess

What started me on posting about this issue at this particular moment is Susan Morgaine Stanley's March 20 post on The Motherhouse of the Goddess blog,  "Ritual for Reclaiming the Name of the Goddess ISIS."  Susan writes that listening to the news one night, she again heard  the name of this Goddess used to describe a terrorist organization. She continues:
"I immediately cringed and once again, felt sick inside. I think that for most of us who practice a Goddess-based spirituality, the name of our beloved Goddess becoming the name of an international terrorist organization, is painful....I also began to realize that I just did not want to sit back any longer. I wanted to fight against Her name being taken in vain."
She then offers a ritual, complete with  instructions,  actions,  words, and pics.

I then came across a Feb. 10 post on The Wild Hunt blog by Terence P Ward, "Facebook Deletes 'Following Isis' Group."  And then there is the statement on the Fellowship of Isis website. Some may say "it's just an acronym, get over it." But I can't.  At this point, some newspapers, such as Britain's The Guardian, don't even capitalize all four letters, as is appropriate for an acronym. Here's one example from its U.S. online edition in coverage of the Brussels attacks . And here is the same mistake in its Global edition.

All of these led me to Google "goddess isis terrorist." Here are just some of the links you can find there:
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/21/world/europe/when-youre-named-isis-for-the-goddess-not-the-terror-group.html?_r=0

http://sacredcenters.com/in-the-name-of-the-goddess-isis-and-the-thugs-of-iraq/

http://yournewswire.com/goddess-isis-has-magical-powers-stop-associating-her-with-the-islamic-state/

http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/isis-thousands-ask-media-stop-using-acronym-islamic-state-1530096