Buzz Coil: May 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):

Starhawk's Blog: In a long May 11 post, "Facilitating Diversity," Starhawk posts about taking a break from a Passover seder , a discussion of another seder. and combining her Jewish roots with her Paganism, as well as working together with others "across differences" in general.

The Retiring Mind: Wendy Griffin's April 23 post, "A New Telling," compares various creation stories with the version now accepted by science. At the end, she poses several intriguing questions about science and Gaia.

Association for the Study of Women and Mythology: ASWM's May 24 post, "Kore Winner, Dr. Annette Williams, Joins CIIS Faculty" is a post of the announcement from the California Institute of Integral Studies. The May 9 post, "Call for Papers..." is from the American Academy of Religion's s Goddess Studies Unit, Western Region, with a deadline of Sept. 30.

The Goddess House:  In the May 18 post "Monday Night Meditations -- Tara,"  Frances Billinghurst, priestess of The Goddess House in Adelaide, Australia, writes of the Goddess House's honoring of Green Tara during its Monday night meditation program.

Glenys' Blog/Pagaian Cosmology: Glenys D. Livingstone's May 2 post is a poem, "Transformation." Her April 28 post is about the relationship between Samhain in the Southern Hemisphere, where Livingstone lives (Australia), and Beltaine in the Northern Hemisphere.

Annelinde's World: Annelinde's Metzner's  May 28 post is the poem "through the green" about this time of year in the Northern Hemisphere.

HecateDemeter:  Blogger Hecate's May 21 post, "A Shiny End,"  continues the story about  Harry,  Melissa,  and the  Goddess Athena.  With links to the first two parts.

Hearth Moon Rising: Hearth Moon's May 20 post, "Classical Woodpecker Deities," discusses both gods and goddesses associated with woodpeckers. 

Radical Goddess Theology:  In a  May 8 post, "Trotting Out the End Times Again," blogger Athana  comments upon the hundred  of predictions  over the centuries  that the world was was coming to end, including one made by a current presidential candidate.

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.

A True Spring Story

I once lived on a street that ended in a cul-de-sac. (This “once” was in the previous century.) My home was in one of the brick colonials common to the area. In the brick colonial directly across the street was a family named Starling. They lived there for, oh, about 10 years before selling the house to a family with the last name Bird. The Birds lived there at least until I moved, near end of that century. I decided to move to get closer to work, but had trouble finding a buyer for the house (it was that kind of market). But just as the house I wanted in a new location became available, a member of the Starling family contacted me by phone and said she wanted to move back on the street and asked I knew of any available houses.

“Do I have the house for you!” I said, and asked her if she wanted to buy mine. Ms. Starling bought my house and that winter I happily moved to the state across the river, much closer to work. My new house was on a street name Byrd. (I am not making this up. Wait ‘til you read the rest!)

In early spring, in my new home, I heard a noise that seemed to be coming from my kitchen. When I got to the kitchen I followed the sound to my stove. The high-pitched racket seemed to be emanating from the fan above my stove—but it wasn’t the fan, which was turned off. I never had a stove fan before—it was one of the kitchen features that attracted me to the house—and I couldn’t guess what the noise could be. I asked a neighbor, who said, “probably small birds. We had them last year in our stove fan and put screening up to keep them out.”

I called a wildlife expert. He took a look and said, “Starlings.” After mating season was over. He cleaned out the fan area , and put up screening. “They’ll be happier outside anyway,” he said. “Sometimes they just make a mistake in where they choose to nest.”

Bird Goddess on my altar

So that is my true Spring story, written today as I listen to the birds of many types singing in my backyard, and remember one in particular who sang just at the right moment as I was recording my audiobook, Goddess Guided Meditations.

And oh, btw, did I mention that the first Goddess statue I ever bought (in the early’80s) was a bird Goddess? I’m posting her pic with this article.

Copyright© 2016 by Judith Laura