Earth Day Blessings

May this Earth Day bring an increased awareness of Earth's beauty and the interrelationship of Her inhabitants to all who dwell here. With Gaia blessings to you, your family, and friends.

Beltane Meditation

This meditation is from my audiobook (which I also narrate) and e-book, Goddess Guided Meditations.

 Beltane/May Eve
 

Close your eyes, breathe deeply, and relax......Beltane is a happy celebration of love and life. Love in our own lives, and new life in our own lives and in the world around us. In your mind’s eye, see grass growing, the flowers and trees in bloom, the vegetables beginning to grow, some of them still beneath the soil. What else do you see on this spring day?.....Let this vision fill you with happiness….

Now turn your attention to your own life. To love in your life, love that involves physical pleasure. If you are involved in a relationship now, see your loved one in front of you. If you are not involved in a relationship and you want to be, ask to see one who might become your lover ....What is your loved one doing? Is your loved one saying anything? Is there anything you want to say to your loved one? If so, in your mind, say it now.....If you are not now involved in a relationship, and you want to be, affirm now that a relationship will manifest for you that is for the greater good of both of you and of all concerned. If your new love has not already appeared to you in your mind’s eye, take a moment to see if this person appears now, or if you can sense this person now…..

If your loved one is with you in your mind’s eye, reach out and take hands. Do you hear the music? It may be in the distance and very faint at first, but it’s getting a little louder now. What kind of music do you hear? Are there instruments playing? Are there people singing? Can you hear the words? As the music becomes a bit louder, it may also become a bit more boisterous. As it does this, move as close to your partner as you want and begin to dance. If you don’t presently have a partner, begin dancing alone. A partner—or many partners—may join you now. Or you may continue to dance alone. Notice that others are also dancing alone, but that all of you—with partners and without—are dancing together in this dance of life….
 

Now the music slows, becomes softer, until you may no longer be able to hear it distinctly although a melody may linger in your mind. If you are dancing with a partner, you let go of your partner’s hand. You say goodbye—for now—to your partner and to others in the dance, and you come back to this place and time. And when you are ready, open your eyes.

Copyright 2013 by Judith Laura. Permission given for use in spiritual work, but not for republishing it elsewhere.

RCG-I's Hallows Gathering

The Re-Formed Congregation of the Goddess, International, will hold its annual Hallows Gathering October 17-19 at Wisconsin Dells, WI. The event will include rituals, workshops, and a Women's Market for the display and sale of arts and crafts. RCG-I defines itself as a multi-tradition women's religion whose members are committed to positive spiritual practice, and are on a variety of spiritual paths that  have in common a belief in a female deity.  

From Australia: Imbolc/Lammas

From Glenys Livingstone of the MoonCourt in Australia's Blue Mountains, these two videos of the celebration of Imbolc, the present holy day in the Southern Hemisphere, and Lammas, celebrated at this time in the Northern Hemisphere. Both from previous years' celebrations at MoonCourt.

Brazilian Author Announces World Goddess Day

Claudiney Prieto, author of several books  on Wicca in Portuguese and participant in the Dianic Nemorensis tradition in Brazil, is encouraging people worldwide to celebrate a World Goddess Day yearly on the first Sunday in September. This year the holiday falls on Sept. 7.  The link to the World Goddess Day website above is in English (there is also a Portuguese version), and includes a page where you can volunteer to be a "local coordinator," and another page where you can list the event you have planned for this holiday. 

Kimberly Moore of the Motherhouse of the Goddess, in a comment on Facebook, points out that September 7 is Orisha/Goddess Yemaya's feast day  (in Santeria, her Brazilian Feast day is Feb. 2).  

Here is an excerpt (from  home page of the World Goddess Day site) of Prieto's explanation of this holiday :
"The World Goddess Day Project emerged to unite the Mother Goddess' worshipers world wide through their many expressions and manifestations. The purpose of the Project is grant to the Goddess one day of visibility to share Her many myths, stories and worship diversity, so everyone will remember or will know that the first religion of humanity was the Worship of the Goddess....
She returns for several reasons. The Goddess is calling all who feel dissatisfied; she calls out all who have found in Western religions just political institutions focused only on a male dominant figure; She also calls for all who feel dissatisfied with the patriarchal religion inherited from their ancestors who have only contributed to sicken the world with their distorted and corrupted values...."

For Brigid: Kabbalah Tree Purification

Re-visioned Kabbalah Tree by Judith Laura 

For Brigid this year I'm sharing portions of a ritual to purify the Kabbalah/Qabalah Tree of Life from what I have found to be patriarchal reversals and other inappropriate symbolism. The ritual appears in full in my book Goddess Spirituality for the 21st Century, where I suggest that one of the times particularly appropriate for this ritual is Brigid/Imbolc/Candlemas.

The person(s) performing the ritual removes from the Tree, through action and words, "all patriarchal distortion," purifies the Tree, rededicating it to "the work of the Goddess," and speaks this blessing:

"Sacred Tree,

restored now to the beauty of nature

rooted again in the richness of earth

May your limbs blossom

with the flower of love.

May your branches brim with

the fruit of labor.

May we discover your secrets in openness.

May we know your truths with pleasure.

And may all your paths bring peace.

So be it.”

This is followed by ritual work re-visioning of the various aspects of the Tree (I suggest using candles--one for each aspect [aka sefirah]), and then by a guided meditation including the entire Tree. The ritual closes with this blessing:

"Blessed be that which we receive from ancient times.

Blessed be that which we recreate.

Blessed be that which we create anew.

Blessed be the Tree of nature.

Blessed be the Tree of life.

Blessed be the Tree of knowledge.

Blessed be the created and the creator.     
Blessed be."

Excerpts from Goddess Spirituality for the 21st Century: from Kabbalah to Quantum Physics, copyright 1997, 2008 by Judith Laura. The Second Enlarged Edition of this book won the USA Best Books Award 2009 in the comparative religion category. The artwork shown in this post varies from the art in the book. For example, this art (available through Zazzle--click on pic link) is in color, the art in the book is b&w). More info on my research on this subject is available on the Feminism & Religion blog  and Matrifocus (the cover art in the Matrifocus article is from an earlier edition of the book.)

Blessed Solstice

Video with Glenys Livingstone: beautiful Winter Solstice ritual in Australia (which is now celebrating Summer Solstice) at Pagaian Moon Court, Blue Mountains, NSW.

As Solstice Approaches

A song from Libana:

New Audiobook: Goddess Guided Meditations

Over the years I’ve heard from a number of people about the guided meditations in my books, She Lives! The Return of Our Great Mother and Goddess Spirituality for the 21st Century: from Kabbalah to Quantum Physics. Some of these communications were from publishers of anthologies or journals that wanted to reprint the meditations. Others have been from individuals either using the meditations in their groups or on their own in solitary practice. It is these individuals that I have to thank for the idea of gathering 20 of the guided meditations from these books—plus 5 new meditations—into an audiobook so that people using them wouldn’t have to be reading in middle of meditating. When I mentioned to these folks that I was planning the audiobook, they said it would be more valuable to them if I myself narrated it. So I did :-) The audiobook, Goddess Guided Meditations, has now been released by Audible.com, and is also available on Amazon.com, and iTunes, where you can hear samples (Audible and Amazon have a sample from one of the moon meditations; iTunes has a shorter sample from the Introduction). For more info, including a list of the meditations indicating which book they are from, and also showing which are new, visit judithlaura.com/ggmeds.html   Goddess Guided Meditations is also available as a Kindle e-book.

Women's Equality Day Challenges

The celebration of Women’s Equality Day in the U.S. tomorrow comes with a special urgency this year, 2013. Women’s rights are under attack, especially from the right wing of the Republican party, with their so-called reasoning often based in religious doctrine.

The U.S. has been marking Women’s Equality Day since 1971 when, at the urging of the late Rep. Bella Abzug (D-NY), a Congressional and then Presidential proclamation was issued designating Women’s Equality Day to commemorate the passage of the 19^th Amendment to the Constitution in 1920 that gave women the right to vote. The Day's purpose is also to continue a focus on women’s issues. Every President since 1971 has issued a Women’s Equality Day proclamation,  including this year’s proclamation by President Obama.

 On this Women’s Equality Day, both the right to vote and women’s health care are among the issues backtracking to what seems to me like the middle ages, but is probably more accurately the early 20^th century for voting and the mid-20^th century for health care. In the wake of the recent SCOTUS decision on the Voting Rights Act, Republican-led State actions, such as curbing voting hours and requiring photo IDS, impact not only minorities and university students but also women. In addition—and more specific in its aim—health care for women is increasingly imperiled by a growing number of laws in a growing number of States aiming to get around the 1973 Roe v.Wade SCOTUS legalization of abortion. Among other things, these State actions set up impossible-to-meet requirements that result in the closing clinics which include safe and legal abortion in the health care they provide to women. The anti-abortion advocates often give biblical scripture as source for their sometimes violent actions, and for the imposition of tests such as transvaginal ultrasound, which, when performed without the patient’s consent as these proposals require, fits the definition of rape. In general, this maltreatment of women can be seen as an outcome of the interpretations and doctrines particularly in fundamentalist religions that give men dominion over women, and insist on speaking of deity in masculine/male-only language. The impact of fundamentalist religion has caused a backtracking on a trend to more egalitarian language in public prayer and references to deity. For example, I don’t remember ever hearing William Jefferson Clinton, while president, referring to deity by gender. He used the term God, but did not combine it with “he” or “Lord” or any other gendered term. This is not true of President Obama, whom I have heard use masculine pronouns when speaking of deity when he could have easily just left off the pronouns. Others seem to be following the President's example. Yesterday, in the speeches at the commemoration of the 1963 March on Washington for Civil Rights, in the prayers I heard, all god-language was male/masculine, including prayers by women. This use of exclusively masculine-gendered words for deity reinforces, empowers, enables the ongoing political actions imperiling women’s rights.

The backtracking-on-women’s-issues trend has made its way into parts of the Pagan community. A number Pagans, both women and men, use the supposedly generic term “gods” when referring to both male and female deities. Pagans can’t even make the argument that these deities are ungendered as those in Abrahamic religion try to do when they use the word God (followed by “He.”) When you use “gods” to include female deities, it disappears the female deities; a god in Paganism is widely understood to be male. This is just one of the ways that fundamentalism or right-wing thinking is influencing Pagan thought and practices among some Pagans—and again, I’m not just talking about men. I think, for the most part, this is not intentional, it is just that we are influenced by the dominant culture we live in and unconsciously adopt its practices and sometimes beliefs, though they may be somewhat disguised so that the bias is not easily recognized. It is, however, easily remedied (and I know you want to remedy this, right?) by using “gods and goddesses” alternating with “goddesses and gods”; or, when writing, god/dess; or using inclusive terms such as deities and divinities.

This Women’s Equality Day, let’s see if we can become conscious of practices in our communities that go counter to equal treatment of women. Maybe we can call it Pagan consciousness-raising—a first step to restored equality.

 

 

Lake Okeechobee Summer Solstice Pagan Festival Success

With help from Circle Sanctuary's Lady Liberty League, the Lake Okeechobee Summer Solstice Pagan Festival at Pahookee, Florida went on as planned, and successfully. We received permission to post the following from Mx. Nathan Tamar Pautz, written at the time of the Festival, which he attended:
"Solstice blessings from this first-time Pagan festival in the small town of Pahokee, FL. In spite of initial outrage on the part of many local Christian churches, the festival went on without incident and was a success. Thanks to the Lady Liberty League for helping to educate Pahokee leaders regarding minority religions and to the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Department and the Pahokee Fire Department for watching over festival goers."

Festival Program


Local TV coverage, with Lady Liberty League's Peter Dybing


A drum circle at the festival
:

My Poem for 8th Brigid Poetry Festival

Bulgarian Women’s Dance

I dance with my sisters,
the men gathered
at the periphery
to watch. But after
the first few steps
we are hardly aware of them.
Who cares whether they stare or smile?
Who cares if they judge or ignore?

Hands joined, arms bent at the elbows
to form a W,
we women whose hands and arms
wash clothes and dishes,
mend socks and shirts,
carry buckets and babies,
soothe feverish brow and ill tempers
dance this dance for ourselves.

When the music denotes, we drop
hands and place them on our hips, moving
in and out of the circle
on our own, yet with kindred steps.
Shoulders leading, some of us sway
to tease the men we've almost forgotten,
while others move assertively, as if
to shrug them off.

Hands once again joined,
our arms, now straight, taut,
bring us closer, as their strong swinging
augers triumph.

Dancing, hands still clasped,
we raise our arms high.
Dancing, we trill our glee.
Dancing, for one sweet
instant, we sense our
ascendancy.

Copyright 2007 by Judith Laura. All rights reserved.

This is one of four of my poems first published on the e-journal Fiera Lingue in the January 2009  issue "Poetic Responses to the 2008 American Elections."  It was inspired by the Bulgarian dance, Dobrudjanska Ruka, as performed by some DC area groups in which I participated.

Blessed Brigid.

Poem for Brigid: Contradance by Judith Laura

(video of Contradancing follows poem)
Contradance

Not squares,
they stand in long lines waiting
for the call.
Women and men
at times outrageously proper but
more often sedately
improper,
greeting neighbors,
trail buddies and
even lost cousins
on the way to the top
or bottom
where improper roles reverse.

Swingers all,
they swirl and spin, balanced
for an instant.
Afloat a fiddle tune
hand grasps hand,
clutches waist
quicker than a breath
as faces blur and thought
departs leaving
dancers riding
the cresting wave
of the unchained flow
and laughing.
Copyright 1996 by Judith Laura. First published in Pudding Magazine #30 (June 1996)


Contradancing in the U.S. has "calls" and style similar to those used in New England style square dancing. But the dance is done in long partnered lines. In a "proper" formation, the men are in one line facing the women in the other line. In an "improper" line, the the lines alternate woman, man, woman, man. Here is a recent video from Glen Echo, Maryland, near the Potomac River and the DC line. An earlier contradance there inspired this poem.

More Than One Way To Honor Goddess

Below is a video of the Christ-Sophia Mass from 2009 at Ebenezer/HerChurch Lutheran in San Francisco. Note : The minister, Rev. Stacy Boorn, refers to the celebration of the incarnation of "She who is all Wisdom"; in singing "Silent Night" congregation substitutes "Christ-Sophia" for "Christ the Savior"; the congregation then calls in the "Grandmother" of each direction; a children's choir sings of "Christ-Sophia." Herchurch is perhaps best known for its weekly Goddess Rosary Meditations. They will be having another Christ-Sophia Mass on Dec. 18. More details on our monthly Events Coil in a few days. Or you can go to see on herchurch.org

Google's IWD Centenary Participation

Kudos to Google for featuring the celebration of the 100th International Women's Day on its logo today and for linking that logo to the "Join Women on the Bridge"event taking place today worldwide. That link includes a map of where the bridges are so you can take part in an event near you, and links to charities benefiting women.

Presentation Proposals Open for Pagan Spirit Gathering in Illinois

Proposals for workshops, rituals, concerts, and other presentations are now being accepted from people who are registered for Circle Sanctuary's Pagan Spirit Gathering (PSG), June 19-26. This year the event will be held about 80 miles west of downtown Chicago, according to a news release issued by Circle Sanctuary on Feb. 2. A weeklong "celebration of Summer Solstice & Community" PSG 2011 will be held at Stonehouse Park, a rural historical re-enactment campground near Earlville in northern Illinois. PSG founder Selena Fox comments:

We haven't been this close to Chicago since PSG 1983 when our site was on private land along the Rock River. This is the first time that PSG will be in Illinois, and we have been getting very positive responses to the news from Illinois Pagans as well as Pagans from around the country.

The Circle Sanctuary release describes the site as a 50-acre wooded park with plenty of level, shaded camping areas, a creek for wading, a sandy beach and pond for swimming, a large barn for indoor concerts and talks, plus a campstore, showerhouse, and other buildings. Cell phone service works at this site and there also is wi-fi.

In addition to Selena Fox, planned featured presenters include Ruth Barrett, Falcon River, Raven Grimassi, Stephanie Taylor, Patrick McCollum, Nora Cedarwind Young, and Japanese shamanic percussionist Shibaten. PSG planners expect to announce more authors, musicians, and other presenters in coming weeks.To register, go here. Besides presentation proposals, vendor applications are also being accepted from registrants.

Poetry for Brigid

It has become traditional in cyberspace for those of us who celebrate Imbolc/Brigid to post poetry at this time. This practice has been dubbed "Brigid Poetry Slam" by Deborah Oak, and "Brigid Poetry Festival" by Anne Hill. I wrote this poem many years ago and was prompted to post it here now by blogger Hecate's post of last November about everyday spiritual practices.

Beltway Epiphany

Halogen headlights piercing the still dark autumn morning,
I race up Route 666 trying to make up for the five minutes
I overslept

Bach's Fifth Brandenburg borne by
radio waves accompanies my
lurch onto the Dulles Access
dark as death, no cars ahead
I use my brights until
confronted
by the thousand and one lights of the
Beltway

Night's black grays as, blinker on,
carefully, I cross three lanes,
steadily accelerating to earn my place on the far left
until,
at the bridge approach,
I ride bumper to bumper in the fast lane
doing 65
and being passed by the impatient on the right

One, indignant, cuts in front of me and brakes.
Heart pounding I
slow in time
and curse
while
harpsichord plays with flute and fiddle

Smoke? No, fog
drifts in from the river
and traffic slows in anticipation

Midway between states, above the water,
the mist is burnt away
by the trees' fall flaming

As enchanted cars glide eastward
to the other side,
rose-ridged clouds soaring above
the Bridge
burst into bright angel wings
against night's navy velvet

Together we round the curve to the harpsichord cadenza when
behind the trees, rising
above the mountains of clouds,
the sun
shouts
a benediction
on the early morning pilgrims

who cannot stop to contemplate
the rose-gold star's rise to a shaft
piercing the clouds,
a white spotlight
on the fiery trees rimming the road

Cadenza complete, I
merge onto I-270, signaling right.
Suddenly pursued by a tractor trailer I
slow,
let it pass
until its growl blends with the highway hum
and its taillights are two red dots that can hardly be seen
in the daylight

Then crossing
three lanes,
I exit at Montrose.

Copyright 1993 by Judith Laura and published in the journal Metropolitain that year. Used with permission.

Slightly Re-written Carols

For those of you who may find yourselves at celebrations where Christmas carols are being sung and would like to slip in some words which you think are more appropriate to your present beliefs, here are some re-written carols from my book She Lives! The Return of Our Great Mother by Judith Laura. I wrote the adaptations in 1988. If your beliefs/tradition so inclines you, feel free to substitute "child" or "sun" for "son" and substitute "her" for "him" or delete "him" and extend the previous word.

Silent Night
Silent night, holy night, all is dark, yet it's bright
'Round Our Great Mother and Child
Holy Infant so tender and mild
Sleep in Our Mother's peace
Sleep in Our Mother's peace.

Joy to the World
Joy to the world
Her son is born
Let Earth welcome her child
Let every heart
Prepare him room
And all of nature sing
And all of nature sing
And all, and all of nature sing.

O Come All Ye Faithful
O come all ye faithful, joyful and enduring
Come ye, O come ye to this holy place.
Come and behold him,
born of Our Great Mother
O come let us admire him (repeat twice)
Our Mother's Son.

~From "Winter Solstice Ritual" in She Lives! The Return of Our Great Mother, copyright 1989, 1999, 2010. Used with permission.

90th Anniversary of Women's Suffrage in US

Google's home page notes that today is the 90th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th amendment to the US Constitution, giving women the right to vote. That's right, only 90 years. Thanks to Google for that reminder. Women's Equality Day, which in part celebrates this, is celebrated on August 26, and was first proclaimed by President Jimmy Carter. For some ideas on how to celebrate, you might want to visit Gerri Gribi's web page . Also, as you may be aware, many of the suffragists recognized the role religion played in keeping women from being full citizens. For extra inspiration, you want want to read, Elizabeth Cady Stanton's The Woman's Bible and Matilda Joslyn Gage's Women Church, and State (yes, these are the full texts!).

And join me in sending blessings to those ancestors who, over several decades, fought and some who died to achieve this for us.

Winter Solstice in Australia

A few days ago in Katoomba, Australia, this Winter Magic Festival parade and belly dance performance by the Ghawazi Caravan celebrated the season. (You do know that in ancient times, this dance was connected to Goddess-honoring, and that it was also used to prepare women for childbirth.) This video opens and closes with a brief look at the Winter Solstice observance at Pagaian Moon Court. All events took place in the Blue Mountains of Australia. The videographer is Taffy Seaborne and the narrator is Glenys Livingstone, who I want to thank for alerting us to it.