Review: Jailbreaking the Goddess

Jailbreaking the Goddess: A Radical Revisioning of Feminist Spirituality by Lasara Firefox Allen (Llewellyn Publications, 2016), 7.4” x 9.1” trade paperback, 288 pages. Also available as an ebook.

 Wow! is my first reaction to this extraordinary book. As I settle down to try to contain my excitement, I will attempt to tell you the reasons for my reaction. For starters, Lasara Firefox Allen not only revisions Goddess “faces” (aka, aspects or archetypes), but she also brings into her analysis, the feminist theory of intersectionality . She deconstructs what has become the traditional Goddess archetype in modern Goddess religion and Paganism of Maiden/Mother/Crone, because, as she writes on the first page of the first chapter, “We are more than our biology.” She points out that the triple Goddess concept is rooted in patriarchy. (Most sources trace its origins not to antiquity, but to the 20th century writings of Sigmund Freud and Robert Graves.)

In the second chapter titled, “More Than Our Biology,” the author explains in depth the problems she sees with the Triple Goddess concept including its exclusion of factors outside of reproduction. This, she writes, leads to a woman’s “basic worth” being “based in utility....or usefulness, her body is a commodity”; this prevents her from having “full self-determination.” She also sees it as excluding women who can’t or don’t want to have children, women who cannot have menstrual periods, and women born without uteri. She suggests that women’s bodies have been “colonized” by the dominant culture, delves into the ways that various groups—including racial, ethnic, and “trans”—have been colonized more or differently from others, and suggests ways to counter the dominant culture’s definition of woman as biologically-determined. She also discusses non-binary gender identity and the role of women’s use of language in various cultures

Firefox Allen describes herself as “a white woman” who acknowledges her “position and privilege,” and is dedicated to “the concept and practice of intersectional feminism.” She writes that in this book she is “making it up” as she goes along, and invites readers to do the same and not to necessarily accept or follow what she proposes. The bio on the inner flap of the book’s back cover describes her as a “family traditions Witch and second generation ordained Pagan priestess.”

She notes that she will be using some words that readers may not be used to, such as “feminal” (which I like— she frequently uses it where others might use “feminine” and sometimes “female”). She apparently has resurrected this word, as the Oxford dictionary defines it as archaic. Also noting that she uses the word “archetypes,” but not in the usual Jungian way, she proposes that the Maiden/Mother/Crone trinity be replaced by five “faces” or aspects of the Goddess with Latin names. Taking the definitions from the inside flap of the front cover, these are :

 --Femella: “girl. . . .the primal child, the divine child
--Potens: “able, patent, might, strong, powerful…the woman of strength, full of potential and power, bursting forth.”
--Creatrix: “female creator….the mother, the maker, the author.”
--Sapientia: “wisdom, discernment, intellect, a science….Master of her craft, teacher, leader, woman of science & art.”
--Antiqua: “Ancient, aged, time honored, venerable, traditional, essential….the old woman, the dreamer, the storyteller, the witch at the gate.”

The author greatly expands on these inside the book, devoting a chapter to each new face. She suggests that these aspects are not necessarily connected to age, but can also be connected to the stage we find ourselves in our lives—and that we may inhabit more than one face at a time, depending on the circumstances.

The chapters for each of her five proposed new faces of the Goddess begin with the “sigil” (magical symbol) and beautifully written poetic prose description of that particular aspect. They end with a poem/invocation to that aspect. Some of the material within these chapters include descriptions of the aspect in her “Occult” and “Empowered” (words she uses because she dislikes the racial implications of “dark” and “light” [as do I]) appearances, sexuality, stages of womanhood not necessarily linked to biology, deities from a wide variety of cultures that may be related to this particular face, attributes, relationship to elements, animals, plants, weather, seasons in both global hemispheres, holidays whose sources may be religious/spiritual or secular, and suggestions for rites, rituals and observances.

And all this is just in Part 1 of the book, which ends with a short chapter, “ Rewilding: the Path from Here.’’ This chapter acts as a transition to Part 2, which discusses “relationality, liberation, collectivism, self-reflection, and magick.” Its first chapter (chapter 9 of the book) discusses philosophical and ethical concerns of “The Relational” including collective liberation and personal responsibility. This chapter also discusses why “Intention is Not Everything,” revolving around the question of whether we are able—or even would want to—create our own reality. In the section immediately following this, Foxfire Allen writes: “We cannot live in the ‘believe it, and it shall be so’ and ‘everything happens for a reason’ bubble without casting blame on those whose cultures are being constricted, starved, contaminated instead of looking at the real perpetrators of the desecration.” Among the topics also discussed in Part 2 are “decolonizing our magicks” and the shortcomings of “White Feminism’; “Decentralizing Your Working Group” including examining and changing group power structures; being drawn to specific deities and spirit possession; and information and advice on creating rites of passage and other rituals. The book also includes two Forewords, one by Ariel Gore and another by Rosa De Anda, and an appendix with “Magical and Ritual Considerations for a New Practitioner.”

It seems to me that Jailbreaking the Goddess can be considered part of a trend in the last decade or so of books and teachers presenting alternatives to what was/is assumed to be ancient Goddess practice but at least some of which, like the triple Goddess concept, can presently be traced only as far back as the early 20th century. Examples of relatively new ideas and alternatives include Carol Christ’s She Who Changes (2003), which seeks to combine Goddess religion with process theology; Glenys Livingstone’s PaGaian Cosmology (2005), which combines the Maiden/Mother/Crone “female metaphor” with current scientific theory; and The Queen of Myself (2o04) by Donna Henes, whose proposal that “Queen” be added between Mother and Crone has been adopted in the teachings of Rev. Ava of The Goddess Temple of Orange County. What can also be considered another part of this trend is people creating alternatives in other religions, such as the 13 priestess paths related to both the understanding of the female divine and human or legendary women in [Rabbi] Jill Hammer and Taya Shere's The Hebrew Priestess (2015) and drawn from their work as leaders of the Kohenet Hebrew Priestess Institute.

Speaking of updating, I want to mention the use of the term “jailbreaking” in this book’s title, as well as another incident that I’ll get to shortly. When I first saw “Jailbreaking” in the title,I was a bit startled. I showed the book cover to two other people. One had a little familiarity with Goddess spirituality and the other had none. Both people had the similar reactions to mine (I didn’t tell them mine until after they told me theirs), which went something like “Why does the Goddess need to be broken out of jail?” “What did she do wrong that caused her to be imprisoned?” “If we help her break out of jail, aren’t we also doing something illegal?” Of course the Goddess hasn’t done anything wrong and neither have we. But that seems to be a gut response for some people. So I thought about it, knowing at that time only a bit about what was inside the book. I decided that what the title really meant was something like freeing the Goddess or liberating the Goddess. And I had another thought: Maybe there was another meaning for jailbreaking.  I think I favor this iPod/iPad/iPhone-related definition as a metaphor for breaking out of limitations in general because there is less confusion about meaning. The second incident also seems techie-related. In Chapter 14, “Ritual Elements and Templates,” in a section of templates for “Rituals of Invocation and Rituals of Initiation,”  there is discussion of guided visualizations. But sometimes (at least in the copy the publisher sent me) the word is spelled "vizualizations" in the heading and "visualizations" in the text (often directly under the heading spelling). What’s going on here, I wondered and headed over to Google again. And guess what! There is a spelling with the 2 z’s and it’s apparently related to technology,  possibly adopted from street slang, “Vizual.” So I have to wonder, was this a magickal manifestation of the contemporary Goddess Computa?

Before leaving this review I want to mention that throughout the book, as part of each section (yet set apart typographically), the author gives suggestions for journaling topics and subjects for action (voluntary, of course). This increases the book’s usefulness not only for individuals, but also for use in groups and classes.

I also want to note – as the author herself recognizes in several places – that not everyone will agree with some of the ideas nor want to adopt some of practices discussed in this book. (For example, I am not comfortable with the idea of me practicing spirit possession though I have observed it on a few occasions and understand and respect it as part of a number of cultures’ practices.) That we might not agree with everything in the book doesn’t detract from its value – in fact, may increase its value – as Firefox Allen offers a vast array of different ideas/practices and encourages readers to adopt or develop whichever they wish.

Jailbreaking the Goddess is a scholarly, spiritual, poetic book. Theoretical and practical and inspirational, it is beautifully structured and beautifully written – a welcome contribution to the growth of feminist/Goddess spirituality at this time of evolution and expansion in these living religions.

Review: PaGaian Cosmology Meditation CDs

PaGaianCosmology Meditations, set of 3-CDs with  16 page booklet by Glenys Livingstone, Ph.D, 2015.

This set of three CDs with booklet is a treasure. Narrated and written by Glenys Livingstone, author of the book PaGaian Cosmology, and founder of the outdoor Goddess temple, “Mooncourt,” in the Blue Mountains of Australia, the ritualized meditations focus on what Livingstone calls “seasonal moments” – solstices, equinoxes, and cross-quarters. The CDs contain both the spoken word and music. Livingstone’s narration delivery, including pace and timing of pauses, is outstanding – easy to understand and neither overly dramatic nor boring, but rather wonderfully appropriate. Each meditation includes music, and when there is music, the balance between the narration and music seems perfect to me. The material for each seasonal moment includes preparation – including suggestions for altars, such as colors, altar cloths, candles, and other “props” – and meditations that sometimes include dance and song, and which often have time for optional individually-determined work, such as drawing and writing.

 Disc 1 begins with an Introduction to the entire set, followed by material for Samhain/Deep Autumn. Livingstone introduces the reclining Goddess of Malta as the focus for this meditation. A picture of Her is shown in the booklet and Livingstone suggests that participants mimic the Goddess’s posture during the meditation. The music and drumming accompanying this meditation add to its sense of mystery. Disc 1 continues with the meditation for Winter Solstice/Yule. Among the preparation suggestions are that 8 candles be used, representing “moments of significance” – events in the Universe beginning billions of years ago (with a scientifically-based explanation of the creation/birth of the universe and its stars, planets, etc.), and continuing to the present day. The Goddess focus of this meditation is “Mother Sun”/Tiamat. Livingstone suggests singing the “PaGaian Joy to the World,” the words for which she has written and included in the booklet.

Disc 2 contains material for three seasonal moments. For Imbolc/Early Spring, Livingstone suggests focusing on the Goddess Radha and mimicking of her pose  (shown in the booklet); lighting of a “bridal” candle; and “Brigid-ine” words of commitment, along with “words of praise,” which Livingstone speaks and which are also included in the booklet. The background music is played by a wind instrument – what sounds to me like a flute. It is also suggested that participants dance, “Misirlou,” a well-known folk dance*, instructions for which are given in the booklet with a link to where you can see the dance done on the PaGaian site. The second meditation on Disc 2 is for Spring Equinox/Eostar. Among the suggestions for props are flowers, egg, seeds, and a small underworld space (including gates). The meditation focuses on darkness and light; the Goddess Persephone’s return after her journey to the underworld, with her “emergence” and ultimate celebration of the “life force.” The third meditation on Disc 2 is for Beltane/High Spring. Preparations include using a “object of beauty,” such as a gemstone or flower, and a pot that is meant for containing a flame to be lit. This meditation includes several goddesses, poetry and a focus on gravity, love/desire, passion and beauty – including the meditators’ own beauty.

Disc 3 contains meditations for three seasonal moments and a “Whole Wheel” meditation. The first meditation on this disc is for Summer Solstice/Litha. Suggested props include food such as bread, fruit, and wine or juice. The meditation, with the Goddess focus on “Mother Sun,” compares this seasonal moment with Winter Solstice, and focuses on food in what may be to some people unusual ways. The second meditation is for Lammas/Late Summer. Its props include some related to death. The meditation focuses on harvest as death, including our own death. Livingstone suggests that participants do a dance she has named, "Harvest Dance," and based on one she learned from Jean Houston. Directions for this dance are given in the booklet. The third meditation on this disc is for Autumn Equinox/Mabon, which focuses on transformation. One of its props is the apple with its “pentacle core.” The Autumn Equinox is compared with the Spring Equinox and also focuses on the Persephone/Demeter myth and mother/daughter mysteries. Its Goddess focus also includes Gaia. The final meditation on this disc – and in the set as a whole – is the “Whole Wheel Meditation,” in which participants are directed to lay out a wheel of stones and are told how to use the wheel for each of the seasonal moments, according to global hemispheres. The meditation includes “stories” related to each of the seasonal moments and provides a review of the entire cycle on both the level of the cosmos and on the personal level.

These are meditations of great depth, which contain both mystery and celebration. You can find the credits for the music and other material in the booklet, which is tucked into a pocket like the CDs. This excellent set is suitable for both individual and group use, and is likely to appeal to both those beginning on the Goddess path as well as those who have been on it for a while. I recommend it with gratitude for the technical perfection of its audio and the spiritual depth of its content. You can find more information, including how to get it, on

 pagaian.org/2015/10/11/pagaian-cosmology-meditations/

*Because I have been involved in folk dance groups in for many years – particularly those focusing on dances from Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean area – and have danced "Misirlou" oodles of times, I’m going to indulge myself by giving you a bit more background on this dance. Although strongly Greek-influenced, the dance has a multi-ethnic/multi-national history and present. According to most sources it was first devised at an American university in the mid-20th century by combining the quicker steps from the traditional Greek dance, Syrtos Kritikos (which I've also done many times), with the more slowly paced Greek song, “Misirlou.” The dance is also sometimes done to the title song from the film “Never on Sunday,” in which it appears, as well to other melodies in various countries and by various ethnicities. Livingstone uses another Greek melody when the dance is performed at Mooncourt.  The music and dance most commonly used in the U.S. can be viewed at on this youtube link, and you can hear the song sung in Greek on this youtube link  (which has a belly dancer who isn’t doing the Misirlou, but the same melody is often also used for belly dancing). Additional information about the creation and dancing of Misirlou can be found here and here.

Goddess Ritual Scheduled for Parliament of World Religions

{updated 9/15/15}
We are glad to share with you,  with permission,  an announcement from Faelind, High Priestess of the Tree of Knowledge Coven in Dallas.  (We edited it only slightly. Goddess Alive! is a different ritual from the "Dancing the Goddess Home" ritual that was part of the Goddess 2000 celebration.)   

 

“Goddesses Alive! A Ritual with Masks” has been chosen to be performed at the upcoming Parliament of World Religions in Salt Lake City, Utah, in October 2015.  Originally created in celebration of the Goddess 2000 Project by M. Macha NightMare (Aline O’Brien) and mask-maker Lauren Raine, this ritual draws from several different contemporary and historical Pagan paths.  Incorporating music and singing, chant and narrative, dance and direct interaction with attendees, 13 embodied indigenous, ethnic, and historical faces of Goddesses speak to the issues of climate change and care for creation, respect for women and Nature, and can bring an experiential awareness of the divine feminine.

 

What: The 2015 Parliament of the World’s Religions

When: October 15 - 19, 2015

Where: Salt Palace Convention Center, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA

The Parliament is the oldest, the largest, and the most inclusive gathering of people of all faith and traditions. The first Parliament took place in 1893. Since then, this historic event has taken place in Chicago, USA • Cape Town, South Africa • Barcelona, Spain R 26; Melbourne, Australia - and this year will be in Salt Lake City, Utah!

  

http://www.parliamentofreligions.org/content/salt-lake-2015

 

I am honored to be presenting Inanna among the 13 Goddesses. . . .Let me know if you would like to participate. We need technical assistants (low-tech for hand-held mag lights).

 

I hope to see some of you there!

 

Blessings,

Faelind

High Priestess of the Tree of Knowledge Coven in Dallas, TX 

 

 

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.

From Australia: Two Online (and 1 On-Site) Courses

Glenys Livingstone is offering a year-long mentoring program for those who want to become ceremonial celebrants and teachers of PaGaian Cosmology. The program is available both online and at  Moon Court, Springwood, Blue Mountains, NSW, Australia. The introduction for the online course can be taken at any time; other sessions for the course begin in late March/Early April for the Southern Hemisphere and September/October for the Northern Hemisphere.  The on-site course given at Moon Court begins with an Introductory course on April 5.

Jane Meredith is offering Distance Aphrodite's Magic, an electronic version of a course she has given frequently at a number of geographical locations around the world. It will be given via conference calls, Facebook group, and Skype.  The course which begins when it's February 13 in Australia (where Jane lives) is open to anyone anywhere and runs through September.

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.

REVIEW: Jane Meredith’s Journey to the Dark Goddess

Journey to the Dark Goddess: How to Return to Your Soul,
by Jane Meredith (Moon Books imprint of John Hunt Ltd., 2012), trade paperback, 227 pages (also available as e-book)

This book will be of particular interest to those who like the psychological approach to Goddess work; its structure and incorporation of personal material makes it highly accessible.

From a thealogical standpoint, the term "dark" when used with "Goddess" and contrasted with a "light" or "bright" Goddess has for some time been problematical for many Goddessians, because of its possible racial implications and the sometimes equation of dark with "bad" or "evil," which can set up a (usually subconscious) association of dark skin color=evil. To try to counter this, many Goddess-honoring people have defined dark to mean "hidden," "mysterious," "unseen" or "shadow." I don’t think that Jane Meredith intends any racial association with her use of "Dark Goddess," but it isn’t clear to me whether she has eliminated "bad" or "evil" from the equation. What she does do is argue for a comprehensive, inclusive vision of this deity. In the Introduction to Journey to the Dark Goddess, she writes: "The Dark Goddess is a mysterious and hidden figure. Although each of us is familiar with her roles of wicked witch, the crone, the bad mother, the hag and the winter queen, we don’t always remember her other face of compassion, healing and rebirth." In Part I, "Preparing for the Descent," in a section titled "Who is the Dark Goddess?" Meredith defines her as an aspect of divinity that can be understood as a "sister" or "other half" to the "light Goddess" or the "one Goddess, but who can also "be understood as being a split-off part of yourself; often the powerful, dangerous part." She also describes the Dark Goddess as "a metaphor for meeting our nemesis; the situation or truth that will undo us and our carefully constructed lives."

The author sees the "Journey to the Dark Goddess" as one of descent to the Underworld, such as described in the myths of Inanna and Dumuzi, Ishtar and Tammuz, Orpheus and Eurydice and "closer to home, Jesus Christ..." (The phrase "closer to home," startled me. Like the other "myths," that of Jesus is from the Ancient Near East [or Middle East or Western Asia—pick your fav term], which is not literally closer to anyone’s home and not close to Meredith’s home, which is in Australia. So, what is the meaning here? Closer in time? Closer to a psycho-socio-religious "home" of Christianity?).

The book is structured around the descent, visit, and ascent from the Underworld, particularly the Inanna myth, which is presented both mythologically and personally in each section. In "Part One: Preparing for the Descent," in addition to answering the question, "Who is the Dark Goddess?" Meredith provides "a map" of the Underworld drawn from myths, Egyptian tomb writings, and biblical accounts of Jesus’ death and resurrection. Though she writes that they are "valuable in themselves" she rejects equating "shadow work" and "soul retrieval" with the Dark Goddess journey because they "do not address the fundamental imbalance we carry between dark and light. In both the dark is largely cast as ‘bad’ (or undesirable) and both seek to bring everything into the light, to ‘enlighten’. Shadow work in particular is not about according darkness half of the playing field....In true darkness, after all, no shadows are to be seen; so fundamentally shadow work can only occur in the light." Meredith also gives additional tools, including map-making and ritual, to prepare you for your descent.

In "Part Two: Descending to the Underworld," Meredith writes that "Descent is a death-like process but it is not death. On the contrary; it is life." She describes descents from mythology as well as her own life, and techniques she uses in her workshops on this subject, including creating a ritual mandala, further map-making, and ritual.

"Part Three: In the Underworld," begins: "Mysterious things happen in the Underworld. Death, obviously. Rebirth eventually. Transformation, necessarily." Meredith goes on to point out that "things in the Underworld do not stay neat or separate, you cannot have just one part of this" and while death is often portrayed as difficult and painful, "death can be gentle, while life is often abrupt, painful, and conflictual." She discusses the life-death continuum, that they are "part of the same cycle," that "the one guaranteed event at birth is eventual death." As in the previous chapters she brings in various Underworld mythologies and her own Inanna story. She also offers Underworld rituals, and advice on "What To Do In the Underworld" that includes several ways of speaking with, or speaking with the voice of, the Dark Goddess.

In "Part Four: Coming Up From the Underworld," Meredith observes that many stories of Underworld emergence in mythology seem to be "deceptively easy" compared with what she has experienced, which she has found similar to "recovering from a severe illness." She advises readers to give as much attention to ascending as to descending. "Coming up can be trickier than going down," Meredith writes. "Going down is like falling, once you’ve begun, there’s a certain amount of gravitational inevitability about it, and an obvious direction." In contrast, because you have been on the bottom, "Any degree of up-ness...can seem so blessed and light-filled that one doesn’t see one hasn’t fully emerged yet." Meredith then draws from myth and offers ritual and other tools to help in our ascent, including "How Not to do it" and "How To Actually Do It."

Journey To The Dark Goddess is a book of both practicality and depth, and is likely to be helpful to many individuals and groups.
      

Meditation by Glenys Livingstone

Here is a beautiful meditation just posted to You Tube by Glenys Livingstone from Blue Mountains, NSW, Australia.

Important Information for People Attending Oct. 30 Celebration in Lafayette Park, DC

The following message is from Caroline Kenner, an organizer of the Celebration of the Divine Feminine and Religious Freedom, who has given me permission to share it here:

Dear Ones, here is the memo about the site requirements for Lafayette Square Park, across the closed section of Pennsylvania Avenue from the White House. If you plan to attend the demonstration, please read this memo carefully. And please arrive willing to comply with the regulations in every respect.
Blessings and gratitude, from Caroline

Site Requirements for The Celebration of the Divine Feminine and Religious Freedom In Lafayette Square Park, across from the White House To be Held on Sunday, October 30th between Noon and 5pm

Because we have chosen to hold our demonstration in Lafayette Square Park, across Pennsylvania Avenue from the White House, there are stringent security requirements we must meet. We want this to be a peaceful exercise of our rights to freedom of religion and freedom of assembly, the same rights granted to all American citizens by our Constitution.

We do not want violence or arrests to mar our celebration of the Divine Feminine and Religious Freedom. So please come to the event with the intention of avoiding any confrontational behavior or civil disobedience.

There are several different agencies with jurisdiction over Lafayette Square Park, the President’s Park. The Park is covered by the National Park Service’s Park Police, the Washington, DC Police and, because of its proximity to the White House, the Secret Service. Members of these police forces will attend our demonstration, firstly to protect the President and his family, and secondly to protect us from any interference by the New Apostolic Reformation people, or their allies. The police are aware of the possibility of anti-demonstrators at this event.

We will have our own group of marshals on site for the demonstration, identified by red, white and blue ribbons. If you are coming to the event and see anything untoward, whether it is a package lying unattended on the ground or a person who looks like they might cause problems, please speak to one of our marshals immediately. If they decide there is a threat, they will tell one of the police officers.

Some of the prohibitions of the site are very obvious: no ceremonial weapons of any kind, no swords, no athames and no staves. Please respect this. You will be asked to leave the site immediately if you are carrying any weapons, including staves.

The most daunting requirement is that we erect no “free standing structures” on the site. This means no portable chairs, no pop-ups, and the most difficult requirement of all: no djembes can be placed on the ground at any time in Lafayette Square Park.

If you are bringing a djembe to the demonstration, please arrive at the north end of Lafayette Square Park, on H Street NW where 16th Street dead ends, promptly at 10:30am for the security sweep and dog sniff of all equipment. Or you may arrive at noon when the event begins, and wear your djembe on a harness for the entire event. Otherwise, please bring smaller drums, such as dumbeks. And please be willing to allow the Park Police to inspect your drums visually.

Please do not bring any hang drums. As they are metal, they resemble bombs way too much for this site.

If you intend to bring signs, hand held signs with no sticks attached are required. Please make the signs ahead of time: no paint is allowed on the site. We encourage you to make hand held signs if you would like. No signs may be attached to any structure in Lafayette Square Park.

No masks are allowed on site. Face paint is fine, but needs to be done ahead of time.

Please bring your own beverages and food, but not in glass containers. No glass containers are allowed on site. We need to stay hydrated at our Celebration! There may be some vendors selling junk food in trucks on the north and east sides of the Square, but the nearest wholesome food and beverage sellers are two blocks away.

One bathroom stall catering to each gender is available at the north end of the Park, but I’m told the women’s room is not working properly. One block west of Lafayette Square Park, past Blair House on the closed part of Pennsylvania Avenue, is the Renwick Gallery, a branch of the Smithsonian dedicated to American Crafts. There are bathrooms and drinking fountains available inside the Renwick, but the Gallery requires a security check of people’s bags upon entry. And there are some businesses offering wholesome food nearby, including a Starbuck’s, on the next block west from the Renwick, across 17th Street NW, on the part of Pennsylvania Avenue open to traffic.

We will be on the east side of Lafayette Square Park, with the back of our stage to the statue of Stonewall Jackson. We encourage festive garb or ceremonial attire, and please dress for the weather. Please bring your personal items in a backpack you can wear all day. We cannot put anything down on the ground at any time.

There are ample numbers of benches lining the paths of the Park, so there are plenty of places to sit where you can enjoy the ceremony and the drumming. Please do not bring any portable chairs: they are not allowed at any time in Lafayette Square Park.

The nearest Metro stations are the Farragut stations, coming from both Maryland and Virginia. Street parking near the site is usually available on Sundays, and it will be free. There are also garages nearby, but they are expensive, in the $15-$25 dollar range for the entire day.

Please be advised: we are expecting media attention from the Pagan press, and we also hope for some coverage by the mainstream press.

Some of us will be adjourning to [a restaurant in Silver Spring], for dinner after the event....[for more info, ask at the Celebration or contact Caroline Kenner through her website.]

I apologize for the lateness of this announcement. I know this is a busy time of year for all Pagans. I filed for the permit to demonstrate on August 11, 2011. The granting of the permit took more than nine weeks, and I was not allowed to advance the event during the lengthy wait. Both Maryland senators and my congressman tried to help speed up the process, to no avail.

Please consider joining us on Sunday, October 30th, when we will exercise our Constitutional rights and demonstrate our devotion to our Goddesses in public in front of the White House! We are making history by demanding that the promise of our Constitutional rights be made good for all religions, not just for monotheistic religions. We need your participation to have a successful event.

And thank you for your compliance with the many rules necessary for demonstrations in Lafayette Square Park, the President’s own park! We are privileged to be able to show our devotion to our Goddesses in such an historic location.

D.C. Demonstration Oct. 30 to Counter NAR

At Hecate's request, I'm passing along this information from a post on her blog:

DC Pagans to Hold Halloween Ceremony Countering the New Apostolic Reformation Cursing Prayer Campaign On October 30th in Lafayette Square Park

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Silver Spring, MD, October 19th, 2011---Priestesses and priests from the Washington, DC Pagan community will hold a Celebration of the Divine Feminine and Religious Freedom in Lafayette Square Park across from the White House on Sunday, October 30th, 2011, as a protest to the New Apostolic Reformation’s 51-day prayer campaign targeting Pagans, Wiccans, Witches, Druids, Heathens, and other Goddess-worshipers nationwide.

The New Apostolic Reformation is a Dominionist group of Christians preaching that all feminine forms of deity are demonic. The NAR is engaged in a 51-day campaign of imprecatory prayer to create a fundamentalist Christian theocracy in the USA. Republican presidential hopefuls Michele Bachmann and Rick Perry are influenced by the NAR agenda.

Reverend Barry Lynn, United Church of Christ minister and executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, said, “Some people think the Dominionists and the New Apostolic Reformation are a newfangled movement. I call them what they are: the Religious Right in a new gown. They’re not fooling anyone. This is the same old bunch of theocrats we’ve been dealing with for more than 40 years. It’s the same crew that believes only its narrow version of Christianity is acceptable and pleasing to God. It’s the same collection of people who believe their religion gives them the right to run everyone else’s lives.”

Rev. Lynn went on to say, “I have news for them: Wiccans and Pagans are part of the American religious mosaic, and they’re here to stay. Founding Fathers like Thomas Jefferson and James Madison gave us religious liberty – and that means religious liberty for everyone. The followers of nature-based faiths are going to use it because they don’t want to lose it. What could be more in keeping with the great American tradition?”

Katrina Messenger, a writer, teacher, blogger, poet and Washington, DC native, will be the main celebrant in Lafayette Square Park. Ms. Messenger said, “The methods used by the NAR and other Dominionists are founded upon hate, fear, and ignorance. Their demonization of our Gods and Goddesses uses inflammatory language that can lead to violence and discrimination against followers of minority religions. We have choices in how to respond to this threat to our freedom and our faiths. Many are resorting to prayer, some to writing letters, and some to defensive strategies. We decided to honor the Queen of Heaven, the Goddess Inanna, in a public space, and demonstrate the very freedoms the Dominionists seek to destroy.” Ms. Messenger is the founder of Connect DC and the Reflections Mystery School in Petworth.

Event organizer Caroline Kenner is a Washington, DC-born shamanic healer and teacher who now lives in Silver Spring, Maryland. “Nationally, many in our community are appalled by the scurrilous lies about our Goddesses spread by the New Apostolic Reformation. We Pagans are proud American citizens entitled to all the religious freedom granted by the Founders of this country in our Constitution. We are dismayed by the hate-filled rhetoric the New Apostolic Reformation uses, and we wish to show the public that our Goddesses are beneficent and peaceful deities.”

The event in Lafayette Square Park begins at noon and ends at 5pm on Sunday, October 30th, Samhain eve to many Pagans, leading into one of the most holy days of the Pagan year. “Samhain, or Halloween, is the Feast of the Ancestors in some of our Pagan religions. We will invoke the Founding Fathers and Mothers of our nation during our ceremony, along with a multitude of Goddesses from pantheons both ancient and modern. Among our Goddesses will be Lady Liberty and Columbia, the Goddess who stands guard atop the Capitol Building,” said Ms. Kenner. “The New Apostolic Reformation people would topple Columbia from Her pinnacle, and rename DC the District of Christ.”

There will be a number of people offering prayers during the ritual, including a Unitarian Universalist minister and celebrants from several Pagan faiths. After the religious ceremony, there will be drumming, dancing, chanting and energy raising designed to protect people in all fifty states and DC who support freedom of religious belief and practice for everyone. People of all faiths or none are welcome to join the event.

Sacred Space, an annual conference on metaphysics, mysticism and magick, now in its 22nd year, is the sponsor of the celebration in Lafayette Square Park on October 30th. Supporting organizations include Connect DC, Reflections Mystery School and Gryphons Grove School of Shamanism. Individual supporters include Washington, DC Pagan bloggers Hecate Demeter, Literata and David Salisbury.

Several Tributes Planned for the Late Merlin Stone

Several tributes are being planned to honor the late Merlin Stone who died Feb. 23 at the age of 79.

Z Budapest has proposed a global "dumb supper" (silence while eating) for April 10 that takes place wherever you and your friends gather. Z's suggested ritual is posted here.

A "Benefit Memorial Celebration" is being planned for September 24 in Clearwater, Florida, at a Unitarian Universalist church; Internet live-streaming of the event is also planned. A biographical documentary DVD and a book, both titled, In Search of Merlin Stone, are also underway. Information about how to participate in these is on merlinstone.net

Marilyn C. Stone, who, under the name Merlin Stone, wrote books including When God Was A Woman and Ancient Mirrors of Womanhood, and was also an artist and sculptor, was born September 27, 1931 in Brooklyn, NY. See the obituary written by Bobbie Grennier on merlinstone.net for more information.

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.

Guest Post: Report from Spiritual Politics Conference in Germany

by Max Dashu

The Spiritual Politics conference at Hambacher Castle, Neustadt, Germany on May 28-30, 2010, was put on by a group called Alma Mater. Here are some highlights from the conference:

Jean Kahui, a Maori goddess sculptor, talked about Taumata Atua, guardian of the sea and all its life. She showed her stone image: face tilted, round body, clawlike hands. Kahui talked about the tradition that Sea Woman and Earth Woman were at odds, both being lovers with Heaven Father. That's why sea strikes against earth. But she recasts them as lovers with each other. Another stone on Mount Taranaki held a prominent place in front of a marae (stone platform temple). She's an ancestor who brought the mountain to the people. Don't miss her gallery with fire-brandishing ceramic goddesses .

In her presentation, "The Living Goddess, My Departure into a New Time," theologian Krista Koepp-Blodeu spoke about leaving the church and the need to show our power. She had gone through the whole Christian education program to the doctoral level, and chucked it, like a latter-day Mary Daly. "I'm not willing to cooperate with patriarchy any longer by being invisible," she said.

Kurt Derungs spoke of a Swiss Alpen faery Matrisa who produces both rain and milk on a certain mountain. His study of Goddess in landscape led to a book on the folk goddess and apocryphal saint Verena (Der Kult der heiligen Verena, Solothurn: AT Verlag, 2007). It has wonderful pictures of the goddess showing her symbolism of pitcher and comb, and an amazing graphic mirroring a baroque German engraving of Isis shown with sistrum and pitcher, in exactly the same position. Also some photos of neolithic Swiss breastpots.Derungs talked about mountains named after Verena in Zurich and other places, including one named Verena's garden. There are erotic folksongs about her, one in which she has a half-snake body. (In the book he quotes older songs tying her to Tannhauser, that name her mountain as Vrenasberg instead of the literary Venusberg.) He also mentions a chapel on a hill with a pregnant Maria who has a window into her big belly. They hold a procession 15 km up the hill with a 10m tall red candle.He also talked about the Drei Schwestern (Three Sisters, a common Germanic group of folk goddesses-turned-saints) which is also a name for three mountains in Switzerland. He mentioned the Saligen in South Tyrol -- I have seen these faeries mentioned in witch trials and folklore -- and a strong belief in the souls of trees and mountains.

Annette Rath-Beckmann gave a talk on "The Holle-Cult on Hohen-Meissner," where there is a cave and a wooden statue of the goddess. She comes out of the the water and dries her hair in the spring wind, singing in vowels. She also has a red fire aspect. This speaker talked about an ancient prophecy of the Goddess returning "when silver birds fly and roofs touch the sky." I couldn't tell from the translation whether the inscription was in a museum in Bucharest or in France.

Filmmaker Uscha Madeisky, who has made movies on the Khasi in northeast India and other matriarchal societies, spoke on "The Sacred Couple: Sister and Brother." She pointed to the centrality of the brother-sister bond in these egalitarian cultures, in contrast to the husband-wife pair in patriarchies. She said that one of the worst symptoms of "patriarchosis" (what a great term) is the separation of male and female siblings. "You cannot put the man in the same place as the Mother." He always remains the mother's son, until his sister becomes a mother; then he becomes an uncle. Madeisky spoke about Samoa where a sister blesses her brother by giving him a specially woven cloth, to be a representative of the mother. In Palau, the brother-sister bond is even stronger than parent-child (because parenting is spread out across the kindred). In Makilam's scholarship on her Kabyle culture, where the key bond is "son and daughter of one mother," and they call each other "mother's child."

Kaarina Kailo, in "We Women and the Bear-Goddess" spoke of "ecomythologies" and the very widespread story of the Woman Who Married the Bear. She referred to the Greek myth of Callisto, as well as stories from the Armenians, Irish, Danish, Bosnian, Khanti (west Siberia), Ainu, Modoc (California) and Haida. (She mentions Helga Reischl's study on this.) The woman is abducted, bears 1 or 2 sons, and then her father and brothers kill one or more bears. Later a bear is resurrected. She commented on a prevalent abduction/rape theme, the killing of bears, and atonement rituals that follow. Her book has 50 pictures of women and bears. She relates the *fer- / *ver- root as a source for the word bear, both the animal and also the act of bearing children (bairns in Scottish). It also relates to words such as fertile, ferocious (from ferrum, iron) and beran, exalted. She also draws in berg and burgher.Kailo showed fabulous images of the Permian bronzes from the 7th to 8th CE: woman as tree, as a three-layered universe, with animals at her side, ancestors above, bear at feet. Sometimes she gives birth to animals. Some figures are actually bear-women, with claws, fierce face. She said that shamans are both/and, not either/or: male and female, human and animal. And that the bear is connected with snakes, bees, regeneration, and even the ale-goddess.She takes the old Finnish goddess Louhi as a bear goddess, but says she's later described as "the harlot of the North". Her demonization in the Kalevala continues in present-day stories of the "witch of the North," who causes pollution and terrible machines. Remember Luonatar, usually described as Daughter of Nature? Turns out that Luonto means creation, and in fact she acts as a creator, in conjunction with the duck, its eggs, and the waters. Other Finnish goddesses, Hongatar, Mielikki, Louhi, Kave (who i seem to remember is a sauna-crone), Helka, all combine rebirth, caves, ancestors, and realm of the dead. Becoming like Bear is to enter the safety of a womb-like cave, to attune to the Eternal Mothers, and receive nourishment from the placenta of the Great Void. This contrasts with the Freudian myth of a primal horde where totemic killing must be atoned for by elaborate rituals, with all-male rites at the center.

Gudrun Nositschka spoke on "Drei Heilege Frauen: the threefold Matronae as Symbol of the Cyclic." A matronae stone was found under a collapsed church altar in the Eiffel region of the upper Rhone valley: a demonstration of how the old religion was swallowed and literally covered over by the new. At another site, men plowing found a stone, then uncovered 36 stones set in a circle. The archaeologists spontaneously called them The Mothers. They expected a male god in the center, but instead found 3 x 3 matrons. The stones were full of symbols, arranged in a summer solstice configuration. The pattern of the matronae stones is two older women, one young with long hair in middle, depicting a geneology of women. Where Nositschka comes from, the Matronae are called the Jött (Göttin or goddess in the local dialect). They all wear lunar crescents. She thinks they represent sun, moon, earth. Tree of Life and other scenes on side of the three women; two little pears, two pomegranates, the former interpreted as symbol of uterus, and the pine cone, as everlasting life. Koln Rheinische Museum has many matronae stones, and so does a museum at Bonn.

Sirilya-Dorothee von Gagern spoke on "The Legacy of a Woman from the Mesolithic: Ancestor Caves in the Ile-de-France." These caves south of Paris have petroglyphs going back about 8,000 years. She calls it a faery landscape with birches and dragon-shaped stones, with more than 2000 caves used from mesolithic to Celtic times. Their engraved lines, grids, circles, and vulvas were preserved because they were hidden, covered by thorny bushes. Mari König spent her life researching these caves, 1899-1998. There are also woman-shaped hollows on floors (and, as I saw it, one ancestor face exactly parallel to that of the female statute-menhir used as the conference logo, the Dame de St-Sernin: the same dot-eyes, nose-line, and multiple necklaces.)

We also heard from herbalist and healer Gertrude Ernst-Wernecke, who seemed to me a living avatar of Frau Holle, kind and soulful. Her extemporaneous talk, "Plant Grandmothers, Echoes of the Goddess" was vibrant and dynamic. She talked about the virtues of Nettle and Juniper Berry, which she recommended taking one berry a day, but not more, to vitalize the body.

Gudrun Frank-Wissmann presented her film-in-progress with commentary, "The Kunama of Eritrea: the Ancestors Speak." She has stunning footage of women's trance rituals near the Ethiopian border. Souls go to a mythical country, Arka. The Andina (trance-priestesses) dance for dead at burial in communal graves, using the same song as for the grain harvest. They belong to a matrilineal priestess lineage. In their society, lands are communal, and so if a husband leaves there are no severe consequences. Nevertheless, women are tempted to marry patriarchal men from the wealthier highlands.She said that the ritual has remained unchanged for 2000 years: ancestors call women called by making them faint at graves. They dance with sword and spear (considered symbols of power) to greet ancestors, to the east and and to the west. (The weapons are considered symbols of power, defensive only, and are related to the Meroitic queens of Sudan.) During initiation, the woman falls to the ground, and her hair must touch the spear to connect with the ancestral spirits. The Andina take a different name, Lugus, when in ecstasy. They put on a beautiful, hornlike crown of fat, over an unnamed sacred substance, and wear it during the weeks of the annual rite.The women evidence entranced speech and gestures, often asking for chewing tobacco, and perform other acts of the spirits. Andina should not be open to all spirits. They call names of the ancestors; a woman touching her hair means she's getting in contact with them. Forbidden to use water the next morning, the young Andina clean with sesame and chew it. Several weeks of ritual, walking over the land, many miles in special shoes used only for this occasion. Women not always comfortable as they anticipate what ancestor will come. Walking through villages they're given coffee, tea, sesame. Greeting an older Andina, they kiss her, and also grab her vulva. At end of the ritual period, the women dance for hours. They sacrifice a chicken, whose blood they drink, then roast and eat with sesame and honey, no other spices. After this finale, the Andina spirits return to their world. A reversed ritual of entranced women takes place over the sword and spear. They symbolically die and are carried back to the village by men, and are said to be able to jump over the huts in their potentized state. One spirit of a very old Andina initially refused to leave a young woman's body. The initiates stay together on a mat for one night in this return passage. They awaken in a deep trance, with no memory of the past weeks. Their skin is cut with little stones and herbs and ashes rubbed in, to make a sign for Andinas to recognize each other. The ritual is repeated every year when the sun and moon appear together on the horizon.

One of the best presentations of the conference was a visual talk on "The Ur-Symbol Labyrinth: Mother Earth and Her Child in Her Womb" by Li Shalima Abbasi. I missed much of the content since the translator wasn't at hand, but the animated visuals really grabbed me. She outlined the growth of a labyrinth by showing a mother and daughter walking the pattern. She demonstrated the reduplication of patterns within a labyrinth, calling these Mother-Daughter, and referenced the Hopi naming of the classic cross-based labyrinth as Tapuat, Mother-Child. Most amazing of all, she went over the construction of Greek key patterns and then taking a conical section of them, expanded this out in opposite directions so that they curved around and formed a labyrinth. I can't really describe the impact of this, you would have to see it to believe it.

All of these talks were available for sale on CDs at the conference, and it looks as if they are available at this site: A full list of presentations (I don't have notes on all) is here. Also, pictures here and here.

In addition there were musicians, performers, rituals, and outside on the hillside, drummers and dancers were doing their thing. The opening ritual was great (that's the first picture linked above, looking toward the plains from the Palatine hills, where the castle stood). I was also impressed by the German artists' work in the art and books tents, especially the deeply dyed wool sculptures which ranged from little molded paleolithic goddesses to egg-shaped pillows with labyrinths and other symbols.

The Bolivian ambassador to Germany attended, and gave a short speech about protecting Mother Earth, holding up a handful of coca leaves. I also spoke with Azad Süsem, a man i had seen carrying around a baby during the conference. He told me about his Kurdish village of Dersim, where the Sun dances from village to village, and two sayings: "You love life; life is love" and "If you don't respect life, you don't respect anything." He said that about 300 years ago, Black Fatma (Kara-Fatma) defended her village, apparently by leading in battle: "I give life to save my village, and bring death to save the land." Also, "All the villagers are my children." I happened to mention to him the Old Woman of Herat, and he said that the Kurds knew her story. Not only that, they sing it as healing charm while rubbing the patient's body.
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From Medusa: Max Dashu is founder of the Suppressed Histories Archives , now also on the web. Among the many treasures you will find there is her new Women's Power DVD. Also check out her posters, events listings (which we try to keep up with in our Events Coils), and articles. She will giving an online course, "Woman Shaman," beginning July 7. Registration is ongoing.

REVIEW: Aphrodite's Magic

Aphrodite’s Magic: Celebrate and Heal Your Sexuality by Jane Meredith (O Books, 2010), trade paperback, 174 pp.

The blurb from Annie Sprinkle on this book’s cover says, "far above and beyond a regular sex manual." In fact, Aphrodite’s Magic is not only "beyond" a sex manual, it is not what most people would consider a sex manual. It doesn’t suggest fancy positions, practices or genital techniques to improve your sex life. What it does do, and do well, is provide ways for women to remove blockages and overcome obstacles to feeling physical pleasure. These obstacles may have been foisted on us by society, some religions, our families, or result from abuse including rape. The method explained in this book is meant to replace this negativity with self-esteem and love—particularly love of your body and your self. The book’s aim, as Australian Jane Meredith writes in her introduction, "Invitation to the Magic," is to help you "discover your inherent beauty and your enormous potential to change and heal" and to celebrate your sexuality. Meredith structures this discovery and presents this celebration so that it is available to women of all sexual orientations, all ages, and whether or not you have children. Nor do you have to be in a relationship with another person to experience it. This celebration is based on self-knowledge fostered through interaction with the divine, personified in this book as Aphrodite. The path to this celebration is a magical journey Meredith first presented at the 2001 Glastonbury Goddess Conference and has shared in many workshops since.

Throughout the book, Meredith quotes women who have taken part in these workshops. For instance, at the end of the introduction Meredith quotes Miriam, who says:

I realized that I’ve always regarded myself only as whole, sexual, feminine, beautiful when I was with a man, never on my own... that I have to reclaim my being ‘whole until myself’ in order to love myself. This was a real awakening that came to me gradually.

The magic—and 7-session "journey"—with Aphrodite, centers on 7 "threads" (probably better described literally as cords because of their circumference). In each session you add and work with another cord; at the end you plait or weave them together into a girdle reminiscent of Aphrodite’s (and other goddesses'). Meredith specifies the colors of two of the threads, you choose the rest, as well as their fabric(s). This girdle should not be confused with the torturous undergarment worn by many women in the 1940s and ‘50s that began at or slightly above the waist, ended at the thighs and squished everything it covered (updated versions are marketed today as control panties, etc.) Rather, Goddess girdles are similar to belly dance costume girdles (also called belts), which begin under the navel (often just above the pubic area), and cover the lower hips. One such garment is shown on the cover of the book. Here is part of how Meredith describes Aphrodite’s Girdle:

Woven from precious metals, it conferred sexual attraction on the wearer. Occasionally Aphrodite lent this Girdle out to others....Her Girdle – with its middle-Eastern associations of belly dancing, sensuality, and seduction – is a symbol that continues to resonate with us. Her proud ownership of her sensuality inspires women to make their own choices, respect their bodies, and honor the deep feminine.

Before beginning instructions for the journey itself, Meredith offers "Practical Guidelines" that include how to do magic, creating and maintaining ritual space, gathering materials that you will need (the cords, sewing things and decorations, journals and pens), dancing and music, and timelines. She gives 4 different timelines, depending on whether you want to complete the journey in a weekend, a week, a moon cycle, or 7 months.

Each of the "strands," or "processes" (each trip of the journey?), contains similar elements, including working with a chakra, beginning with the crown chakra. Each often includes a lesson or learning exercise; some sort of magic and ritual; working with an Aphrodite altar; journaling; selecting a cord; a guided "journey" (aka meditation or visualization); and dancing. The chapters of the book share the names of the strands: The Goddess, Eye of Beauty, Voice of Truth, In the Heart, Dancing the Body, Red Womb, and Inner Mysteries.

"The Goddess" chapter includes instructions on how to cast a circle and raise energy and how to make a Aphrodite altar. In "Eye of Beauty," you discover your own beauty and the beauty of other women. In "Voice of Truth," you explore why it is hard to speak the truth, especially about sex, and you are prompted to speak, chant, sing, and write your truth. "In the Heart," you examine love in its various forms and the relationship between love and fear. "Dancing the Body," explores embodiment and how you understand and feel in your body, and includes Sacred Body Bathing, The Painted Body, and, "for the adventurous," "The Edible Body ." "Red Womb" explores women’s fertility issues. "Inner Mysteries" is about women’s relationship with our genitals, including words used to describe them, products sold to mask them (or their odors), and art and literature portraying them, both in contemporary and in ancient Goddess times. In the last chapter, "Weaving Aphrodite’s Magic," Meredith gives magical and practical instructions on how to weave or plait the cords together. The book ends with the author's Afterword.

Aphrodite's Magic is both a practical and magical guide, written clearly and with emotional depth. By putting her workshop material in book form, Meredith bestows upon many women a healing and enriching gift.

Green Goddess Conference Program

We are delighted to be able to share with you the program of the Green Goddess Conference, the first big event presented by Association for Study of Women and Mythology (ASWM) April 23- 25 in Pennsylvania near the Delaware Water Gap.

Two awards will be presented at this event: The Demeter Award for Leadership in Women's Spirituality and the Kore Award for Best Dissertation in Goddess Studies. Margot Adler will be recipient of the Demeter Award. The recipient of the Kore Award has not yet been announced.

Featured speakers include Cristina Biaggi, Cristina Eisenberg, Ann Filemyr, Max Dashú and Lydia Ruyle. Featured performers include Diane Wolkstein, Annie Finch, Elizabeth Cunningham, and Ruth Barrett.

Featured films include the world premiere of "Pink Smoke Over the Vatican," about ordination of women Catholic priests.

Yes, you can still register for the conference at womenandmythology.wordpress.com

Here's a more detailed schedule of events and workshops:
Friday April 23
1:30 p.m.
Welcome

2:30-3 p.m.
Plenary: Grandmother Stones of Megalithic Europe, Max Dashú.

3:30-5:00 pm
Panel: Environmental Messages in Goddess Spirituality, (1) Impermanent and Continuous Labyrinths: Sustainable eco-practices in Kolam designs in South India; (2) The Mythology and Iconography of the West African Water Goddesses; (3) Xi Wang Mu: Nature as Divine Matrix
Workshop: Inner Pilgrimage: Trance Postures and the Sacred Landscape
Workshop: Her Terrible Creativity: The Divine Feminine as Vortex
Workshop: Divinities of a Matri-Centered Earth Consciousness

6-7 p.m.
Dinner

7:30-8:15
Plenary: Women and Wildness, Cristina Eisenberg

8:15-8:45
Poetry Reading: Annie Finch

9:00
Movie premiere: Pink Smoke Over the Vatican, with filmmaker Jules Hart.

10:00
Performance (with audience participation): Tarantella, Women’s Ritual Dance

Saturday, April 24
7:30 am
Seneca Grandmothers Dance: The Seven Directions Movement Meditation.

8:30-10:00 a.m.
Panel: Goddess Studies: Methods, Approaches, Controversies, (1) Forever Cycling: The Heroine’s Journey and the Cycle of Nature, (2) Deity in Sisterhood: The Collective Sacred Female, (3) The Stuff of Life: Clay, Figurines, Women, and Shamanism in Mesoamerica, (4) Conceptualizing Paganism as a World Religion: Who gains? Who loses?
Panel: Approaches to Goddess Studies: (1) Lilith, the Primordial Feminine, (2) Archaeomythology of Religion in the Sesklo culture, (3) The Body of Woman as Sacred Metaphor
Workshop: Frog Mysteries
Film Festival

10:30-12 noon
Panel: Lady of the Beasts and Bees: (1) Golden Glimpses of the Bee Goddess: Her Evolution in Ancient Crete, (2) The Deer Mother: Earth’s Nurturing Epicenter of Life and Death, (3) The Wolf’s Tooth (4) Snakes, Tigers, and Other Animal Spirits
Workshop: The Female Body as the Foundation for Religion: mythological, historical and contemporary
Workshop: World Icons & Herstories of Mother Earth
Film Festival

12:00-1:00
Lunch

1:30-3:00
Panel: Holy Wind: Mythic Inspiration in the Visual Arts
Panel: The Experience of Goddess: (1) The Hem of Her Cloak: How Modern Brigid Worship Spread into the Southern Highlands of Appalachia, (2) Pilgrimage to Éire, (3) The Creative Experience of Goddess
Workshop: The Sanctified Womb Ceremony
Film Festival

3:30-5:00
Panel: Goddesses in Contemporary Literature: (1) Salvation and Survival in the Works of Margaret Atwood, (2) Reclaiming their Inheritance: Ecofeminism and Black Women’s Writings, (3) The maternal maize fields of Deep Rivers by José María Arguedas
Workshop: Finding your Sacred Language
Workshop: Womb Workshop continues
Activity (depending upon weather): Walking the Labyrinth
Film Festival

6-7 p.m.
Dinner

7:30-8:15
Plenary: The Goddess as the Original Environmentalist: A Historic and Artistic Examination of the Great Goddess as a Green Goddess, Cristina Biaggi

8:15-9
Performance: Quanyin by Diane Wolkstein

9:00 pm:
Presentation of Demeter and Kore Awards.

9:15-10:30
Concert/performance: Dramatic Monologue, Elizabeth Cunningham; Concert for Gaia: Ruth Barrett

Sunday, April 25
7 am
Seneca Grandmothers Dance/Qigong

8 am
Breakfast

9:00-10:30 am
Panel: Mythic Images of Nurturance: (1) Visualizing Emptiness: Exploring the Transformative Power of Green Tara, (2) The Eternal Return: The Myth of Demeter and Persephone in Margaret Atwood’s Surfacing, (3) Demeter Stories in Sicily
Panel: Publishing Goddess Scholarship: Editors Speak
Workshop: The Wheel of the Year as a Spiritual Psychology for Women
Film Festival

11:00-Noon
Plenary: Above, Below, Around, Between and Within All: A Woman's Journey Following the Path of the Sacred: Ann Filemyr

12-1
Lunch

1 pm
Formal Closing.

Thanks to Patricia Monaghan, one of the program's planners, for supplying this information.

REVIEW: The Temple of the Subway Goddess

The Temple of the Subway Goddess, a novel by Carolyn Lee Boyd (Lulu 2008) trade paperback.

Located somewhere between what we usually call fantasy and what is commonly called reality, The Temple of the Subway Goddess is an adventurous, imaginative novel written by Carolyn Lee Boyd with a loving ear for language.

The chapters are unnumbered, but each has a title. The 1st chapter "An Invitation," can be considered an extended and modernized "Dear Reader" statement, inviting us to imagine that it is 7000 years BP (before present) and we are sitting "in a circle in a round sanctuary" taking part in a Goddess ritual in which people tell their stories. The rest of the novel contains the interwoven stories of Mira, a priestess initiate from 7000 BP and Suzanne, living in a present-day unnamed American city. In the second chapter, "At the Gates" we learn about the ancient Temple of Women; we meet Suzanne, living now with her husband, Sam, in the 21st century in the rather unconventional Pickmont Park section of the city; and we meet Mira, a woman whose initiation as a priestess in the ancient Temple of Women occurs during an earthquake. The other priestesses leave the Temple to save their lives but don’t disturb entranced Mira because they believe it is improper to interrupt an initiate in mid-trance. The earthquake seals the Temple shut and Mira remains "with her Goddess," somewhere between life and death, until an archeologist unearths the Temple remains in the 21st Century. Mira then enters the Present at Pickmont Park, at first lacking a physical body, and becomes acquainted with Suzanne during a hurricane.

In the following chapters, Mira develops a physical body. She sometimes merges with Suzanne and is sometimes embodied on her own. Mira teaches Suzanne about life in Ancient Times, and Suzanne teaches Mira about life in the 21st Century. As she turns 40, Suzanne resumes her interest in photography, which she had abandoned when she was 30. She develops unusual powers after "melding" with Mira at a zoo and becomes famous because of them. Mira’s influence changes Suzanne’s view of herself, the city she lives in, and her relationship with her husband, an astrophysicist who discovers something unusual astrophysically-speaking about Pickmont Park. But there comes a point when Suzanne must decide whether she will allow Mira and other spiritual entities to entirely take over her being or whether she will assert her individuality.

To me, the novel can be read and understood on at least two levels, the spiritual and the psychological. For instance, I can see Mira as an imaginary figure that emerges when Suzanne is scared during the hurricane. Or I can understand her as an actual ancient spirit, similar to the "ghost" in Toni Morrison’s Beloved.

The thematic tension between "magic" and "reality," as well as thematic material about what constitutes fully-developed spirituality, is highlighted in a fantasy-filled parade that culminates in the need to rush one of the participants, a terminal cancer patient, to the hospital. The patient, leader of a chorus Suzanne belongs to, makes an unusual request of the chorus members. Suzanne leads in responding to this request, which presents another spiritual challenge – one that has surprising results.

This is a finely crafted novel. Each chapter begins with a teaching or "lesson" from the ancient Temple, which lead up to, in what could be called a circular manner, a final lesson about the destruction of the Temple. One of my favorite "lessons" begins an earlier chapter titled "Snakes and Elixers." Boyd writes:

Many priestesses-to-be who entered the Temple of Women desired the magical power to remake the world to their liking more than anything else the Temple could offer them. Therefore, for their first lesson, the Chief Priestess would gather them into the circle to teach them the secrets of enchantment and conjuring.

I’m not going to reveal the way the Chief Priestess teaches them these "secrets," but only say that as far as I’m concerned, her method and message was perfect.

The Temple of the Subway Goddess is a beautifully written novel that can be a gentle, yet intriguing introduction to some aspects of Goddess thought for those just beginning on this path. I believe it will also be warmly welcomed as an inspiring read by those who have been close to Goddess for some time.

Post-Feminist?

If you're one of those people who think we're living in a post-feminist world where the goals of feminism have been met, including equality of women in religion, you might want to take a gander at the hostile misogyny with which attempts by women in the Catholic Church to achieve ordination are (still!) being met by some bloggers. Their attacks are aimed at Roman Catholic Womenpriests , which has been ordaining women for several years (without the Pope's blessing, of course). These blogposts focus specifically on recent liturgies and ordinations near Baltimore and in St. Louis . If the bloggers on Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam and Fish in a Barrel (and possibly others others--feel free to go Google) could limit themselves to theological arguments I wouldn't be writing this (not that it wouldn't be an issue – but at least it would represent some attempt at rationality), but they also take the opportunity to attack the women with personal insults. Fish in a Barrel calls the Womenpriests "old biddies," "Crew Cut-feminists," and "dowdy," and maintains that the ordination in a Reform Jewish "congregational building" threatens Catholic-Jewish relations. Ad Majorem accuses the Womenpriests of "playing dress-up" and describes their event as a "wiccan-like retreat," an insult in Ad Majorem's eyes. (For a more balanced account of the Baltimore meeting see the City Paper . )

As long as this kind of nonsense is going on (and it is going on, not only in religion but elsewhere --just watch or read the nightly or daily news) we are not post-feminist and I, for one, will not mellow out, smile, and bat my lashes.

Instead, with this post I honor the brave Womenpriests:

May you be blessed with courage,
strength, and fulfillment.

TAGS:news Womenpriests spiritual feminism women and religion