I am thrilled to have my work published as part of this excellent collective of diverse, multicultural and multifaith women! From the powerhouse editing team of Trista Hendren and Pat Daly (The Girl God) The authors, activists, scholars, academics, mystics, artists, practitioners and priestesses in this anthology speak out on the issues that matter, and these "risky conversations" break new ground for feminists and all those empowered by the rise of the Divine Feminine today. With personal narratives that reject the patriarchy of religion, explore individual experiences of the sacred and the nature of spiritual life, unpack toxic ideologies, and analyze the important new directions in Goddess Spirituality,  Whatever Works is an invaluable guide to the ongoing healing and empowerment of women.

My womancentric artwork (mixed-media and embroidery) has been featured on the covers of the feminist journal CANADIAN WOMAN STUDIES!

"CWS is a feminist quarterly featuring current writing and research on a wide variety of feminist topics accessible to the largest possible community of women. During 28 years of publication, a forum has been created for women to  exchange ideas, personal experiences, expertise and creativity. By demystifying our communications with one another, we are actively working towards serving as a middle ground between the scholarly and the popular, between theory and activism."

Poetry
from Canadian Woman Studies, Volume 29, Number 3

The world

The world is understood
only by the eternals;
water, fire
wind
and sand,

                                patiently recording.


                            by Farideh de Bosset  www.faridehdebosset.ca

Poetry
from Canadian Woman Studies, Volume 29, Number 3

Beach Fire

we burn huge logs
charm perils outward
keep dragons back
with hawthorn
and sweet grass

                                this hour's dancers
                                tall grey-bending
                                around standing stones
                                cast shadows long on sand

                                let me gain traction
                                for courage to dart
                                out into night
                                with fire's flare

                                by Joanna M. Weston
                                www.1960willowtree.wordpress.com

Canadian Woman Studies is an indispensable resource for the feminist reader! Learn about CWS and order  >HERE<

A surprising and wonderful thing happened over 40 years ago in the early days of the feminist revolution.  Drawing on obscure texts, books like “The First Sex” (1971) and “When God Was a Woman” (1976) described ancient matriarchal societies that revered the balance of nature and the power of the Divine Feminine in their Goddesses, priestesses and cultural leaders.  These peaceful egalitarian societies were eventually overthrown by violent male-dominated warrior-clans that developed into the monotheistic patriarchies we have today, who control the social order by military rule, organized religion and profit-driven economies.  Marija Gimbutas’ “The Civilization of the Goddess” (1991), outlines the archeological record of Old Europe and the history of matriarchal societies, and is considered to be the milestone of feminist scholarly research.  This sacred history, or foundation myth, underpins the political and religious tenets of Goddess Spirituality today. 

As an alternative to the patriarchal worldview that excluded, alienated and persecuted women for centuries, these new versions of history are incredibly empowering, and women everywhere continue to rediscover and develop the language that speaks to their own experience.  New versions of woman-centric mythologies and history have been unearthed, with more coming to light all the time.  Building on 40 years of scholarship, there is now a plethora of academic conferences and books being published each year, and Matriarchal Studies is considered an official university curriculum.  The interest in the Divine Feminine has also been steadily growing among Jungian psychoanalysts, historians, archaeologists, anthropologists, theologians, community leaders, environmentalists, holistic practitioners, artists, writers, visionaries and cultural creatives everywhere.

Those on the Goddess Path see themselves as part of the interconnected web of life, and speak of the Earth as the body of the Goddess Herself.  Spending time in nature, it has become abundantly clear to me that the Divine Presence emanating from and animating the natural world and indeed, the entire universe, is FEMININE - abundant, fertile, yin, cyclic, ever-renewing, forgiving, and above all, loving and nurturing.  All things are born and nurtured by a mother - this love and nurture is the great cosmic principle of all life.  It is so obvious, yet our civilization, based on 2000-plus years of patriarchal rule, has tried very hard to conceal this great and beautiful feminine truth.  It is time to realign ourselves, men or women, with the Great Mother, to bring the principles of the Divine Feminine back into our lives, to recover what has been lost, and to bring a much-needed balance to the world.   For practitioners today, Goddess Spirituality merges spirituality and politics, and makes for a strong involvement in environmental and social justice issues as part of a holistic way of life.

The Goddess movement is not uniform, however, there are common beliefs and values:

1) The basic tenet of Goddess Spirituality is a reverence and respect for all     life.  This is the basic tenet of all forms of indigenous knowledge.

2) Holding a reverence for the Goddess and an awareness that the Divine         Feminine is the ultimate creative power in the Universe.

3) To hold that the Earth is the Sacred Mother of All, the source of all life         and joy. To honor Our Blessed Gaia and support the interconnected web     of life that sustains us all.

4) To know that the Goddess manifests in diverse forms worldwide, and to         focus on the matriarchal values of respect and nurture in self, culture         and the natural world.

5) To realize that the animals, plants, elements and humanity are all kindred     spirits, and our common destinies are linked together.

6) To emphasize a personal relationship with the Sacred through prayer,         intuition or creative ritual, without intermediaries or dogma. 

7) To uphold freedom of belief and respect for each individual’s experience of     the Sacred.

8) To work for basic human rights and empowerment for women worldwide,     and to contribute to the work of freeing all beings and the earth from the     dominance of a patriarchal system.

_
“Women’s Spirituality” is an overview of the transformational efforts by historic and modern feminists within the “big three” monotheistic religions, and is also a portrait of feminist Goddess Worship, defined as a revolutionary new spirituality that has the potential to “alter the spiritual landscape of the West”!

Stuckey says that feminist religious thealogy, working from the inside or outside to make patriarchal religions more hospitable to women, is new, experiential and experimental, with the focus on issues of sexism and the lack of female leaders.  Monotheistic religions have been responsible for shaping negative Western attitudes toward women, and she examines the history, tenets and worship practices of each.

_ Stuckey says that the feminists who have remained inside Judaism, Christianity and Islam are undertaking the difficult, unpopular, and sometimes dangerous task of bringing about in their traditions changes that, when in place, could transform them in ways we can now only imagine.

She goes on to fit the work of feminist activity and theology into four overlapping categories:  (1) Revisionist, the least extreme, that argues correct interpretation will reveal a liberating message at the core of a religion  (2) Renovationist, which identifies the core message as well as elements of sexism, and either denies those elements or seeks to replace them with feminine texts and images  (3) Revolutionary, which forces a religion to its limits by importing language and images from another tradition ie. Goddess Spirituality, and  (4) Rejectionist, that decides a religion is completely hostile to women and leaves it behind, usually going on to create new spiritual traditions. 

_ Finally, Stuckey celebrates the fascinating history of feminist Goddess Worship as an empowering new religion that has blossomed within the last 30 years.  She  examines the foundational myth central to the tradition as explored in early Goddess scholarship; the definition of deity; the Wiccan tradition; the creative aspect of ritual; political action and the tenets of sacred ecology. “As a sacred history, the foundation myth is both  emotionally satisfying and deeply enriching for feminist Goddess worshippers. It tells us about ancient Goddess worship and matriarchies, violent patriarchal takeover,  women’s creativity and sacred bodies, our natural power and strength, the return of the Goddess and women’s re-empowerment in a Goddess-centered spirituality, which is a way to reconnect with nature and transform one's self and society.”

A reflection of Stuckey’s long-time involvement with the women’s movement as a feminist, scholar and teacher, this comprehensive work will be useful as an textbook in leading-edge curriculum, and as a resource for women on a spiritual path and/or devotees of Goddess Spirituality. 

Author Johanna Stuckey is Professor of Women’s and Religious Studies at York University, Toronto, Canada, and was a long-time contributor to the journal www.matrifocus.com (now archived online). 


This review originally appeared in SageWoman: Celebrating the Goddess in Every Woman,  Issue #79, "Connecting to Gaia."     www.sagewoman.com

_

Sisters Singing is a beautiful anthology of women’s spiritual visions and expressions in poetry, writing, art, photography and song.  With over 100 contributors, this inspiring collection celebrates the sacred in the cycles of life, relationships, mothering, connections with the Ancestors, and the honoring of the Earth.  A treasury of women’s wisdom, the songs, prayers and invocations in Sisters Singing are authentic and generous offerings that can be adapted to our own meditations, rituals and circles.

With poems, stories and art, the chapters "White Lotus" and "Ode to the Mother" begin with touching the luminous, invocations to deity, entering silence, the power of the elements, pilgrimage to sacred sites, honoring Earth Goddesses, the blessings and challenges of motherhood, and midwifery magic.   The other chapters spiral through women-generated connections to the holy energies of eros and sexuality, everyday offerings, the pleasures of food, the acknowledgment of gifts, the hidden blessings of illness, going into the darkness, self-healing and the arrival of grace.  Memories, prayers, dream archaeology and requiems honor our Beloved Dead and share a women’s way of saying goodbye, while the songbook section has the most uplifting and amazing tunes!

"In the Oak Grove" draws us into wild nature with prayers and poems of praise and earth-love, and features stories about sacred trees, fairy circles, the joy of gardens, the beauty of flowers and our beloved Gaia.  Sisters support each other and the entire web of life, and the importance of water is detailed as the healing elixir of life, as well as a chapter on the human/animal relationship, our companions on the journey.  The final chapter "Prayers for my World" is an invocation for the healing of society and the earth, with women writers, artists and poets as the frequency-holders for peace activism, and hope for a viable thriving future.

To “sister the world” is to align with beauty and restore much-needed balance and wholeness to our society.  Carolyn Brigit Flynn says that the production of Sisters Singing was guided by the spirits of the grandmothers and  the Ancestors.  This can truly be felt coming through in the soul songs and sacred writings that focus on manifesting the spirit of the Divine Feminine into the world.   Highly recommended for countless hours of enjoyment and contemplation.

Reading, Art and Music Tour NYC 2009

Carolyn Brigit Flynn and many gifted contributors went on tour to celebrate the voices of sacred creativity, music, prayer, art and praise from the amazing compilation Sisters Singing. 

I was inspired by a recent re-reading of Riane Eisler's classic "The Chalice and the Blade" to compile a chart comparing matriarchal and patriarchal values. By delving into archaeology and feminist scholarship, Eisler documents the global shift from egalitarian to patriarchal societies.  She examines how social cooperation within Goddess-worshipping cultures was overcome  by the patriarchal  reliance on violence, hierarchy and authoritarianism. The challenge in our time is to create  images and stories of the Sacred more in sync with a partnership model than that of a dominator model. 


This book truly has the ability to transform us and initiate fundamental change in the world, and as a powerful treatise on  matriarchal values, proves that the dream of peace is not an impossible utopia.

Female ~ The Chalice ~ Matriarchy

Partnership Model of Social Organization. 
Gynocentric.
Gylany (Eisler’s Terminology).

Dominator Model of Social Organization.
Phallocentric.
Androcracy (Eisler’s Terminology).

Actualization Instead of Power.
Peaceful and Egalitarian Society.
Identification with the Mother.

Focus on Hierarchy and Rank.
Power is Equated with "Dominance Over".
Dictatorial, Autocratic, Rule by Warlord.

Focus on the Sacredness and Unity of All Life.
Values of Compassion, Non-Violence.
Sexually Equalitarian.

High Degree of Male Violence and Warfare.
Values of Brutality, Oppression.
Sexually Repressive.

No Separation between Sacred and Secular.
Lands Held and Worked Communally.
Both Men & Women are Children of the Goddess.

Separation of Sacred and Secular.
Social Stratification Based on Private Property with Dominance Over Women.

Focus on Nurturing and Sharing.
Gift Economy not Conquest or Hoarding.

Acquire Material Wealth by using more effective Technologies of Destruction.

Worship the Sacred Chalice or Grail ~ Symbol
of the Womb & Feminine Generative Powers of the Universe in Birth, Nurture, Death and Rebirth.

Worship the Power of the Blade ~ Symbol of Masculine Power, Competition, Dominance, Control and Destruction.

“The whole of life is pervaded by an ardent faith in the Goddess Nature, the source of all creation and harmony.”  Riane Eisler

Rigid roles for Men in Patriarchal Society.
Man the Warrior ~ Man the Hunter.
Maladaptive, Massive Regression.

I was not raised in the Catholic faith, but I've always felt drawn to the rich heritage of Our Lady in mythology, imagery and worship. The writings I have explored on Mary and the Madonna in historical, testimonial and inspirational texts are sacred texts indeed.  Volumes filled with detailed narratives on Marian miracles, both witnessed and received, are evidence of the glorious manifestation of the Divine Feminine, and have inspired and informed my spiritual practice and art-making  path (which are one and the same).   My artwork acknowledges her as a living presence and power, and pays tribute to a beautiful embodiment of Holiness.  

Mary’s Dream

Winged women was saying
“full of grace” and like.
was light beyond sun and words
of a name and a blessing.
winged women to only i.
i joined them, whispering
yes.

- Lucille Clifton

My diverse encounters with both Mary and Guadalupe in praise, prayer and evocation continue to amaze – on a long road trip across America Guadalupe guided and protected me, and warned me of grave danger.  She has been with me in various hospitals, attending both the passing of my beloved father with divine love and comfort, and guiding my spirit through long hours of tedium and terror during surgery and a healing crisis.   Quirky or magnificent roadside shrines to Her Grace are always a pleasant surprise, and serve as a reminder of the universality of the  power and blessings of the Divine Feminine.  Her icons and art appear at strange and needful moments, her symbols delight, her light shines across every corner of the globe, and arcs forth from my humble Goddess altar.

I believe that the Virgin Mary, Fátima, Guadalupe and other Madonna icons are symbols of reconciliation, uniting Christian imagery with that of older matriarchal faiths.   The Great Mother and the Creatrix-Goddess are always with us, in physical forms that change from era to era.  In these times, when the planet is under environmental threat, they are potent symbols of the Earth Goddess, whom we must honour and revere if our species is to survive.

I created this mixed-media image of Our Lady of Fátima, in response to the wondrous story of Mary appearing  to three children at Fátima, Portugal in 1917. One of the children described seeing a woman "brighter than the sun, shedding rays of light clearer and stronger than a crystal ball filled with the most sparkling water and pierced by the burning rays of the sun." The reported apparitions and prophecies at Fátima have been officially declared "worthy of belief" by the Catholic Church.

The final appearance of Mary at Fátima became known as the "Miracle of the Sun." A crowd believed to number 70,000, including newspaper reporters and photographers, gathered in the rain, which finally stopped as a thin layer of clouds cloaked the silver disc of the sun. One of the children called to the crowd to look at the sun. Observers later spoke of the sun appearing to change color and rotate like a wheel. Not everyone saw the same thing, and witnesses gave widely varying descriptions of the "sun's dance."

With collage, ink, paint and butterfly wings, I have tried to convey the events of that day and the luminescence of Our Lady.

O Queen of Eternal Glory,
O Serene like the Moon,
O Resplendent like the Sun,
O Mother of the Golden Heights!

from LITANY TO OUR LADY  (Latin translation, Irish, 8th century)

Each time that we act in service of our sacred intention, and each time that we align our energies and our actions with what we most truly love, we gain in personal power and ability.  The path before us becomes clearer, and the help and allies that we need come to us.

"Great powers of creation and transformation in the universe – the ancestors and earth spirits of this beautiful place, goddesses, guardian angels, bodhisattvas and all compassionate enlightened beings who love the diverse and beautiful dance of life, I am open to your help and I reach out to you.   I thank you for the gift of life, for the help and support I have already received, and for the great opportunity to work on behalf of Mother Earth at this crucial time.  I need healing, wholeness, health and energy to serve my sacred purpose of helping to create a new world that cherishes wild nature above all, and that honors the sacred elements of earth, water, air and fire.  May we return to right relationship with the earth’s sacred body of which we are a part, and may we restore balance by invoking the nurturing love of the Divine Feminine spirit in all we think, say and do.    I give you my gratitude for the help I know is already coming.  Blessed be."

                                                        

With the timely publication of Societies of Peace: Matriarchies Past, Present and Future we now have a definitive textbook on the incredible outpouring of modern Matriarchal Studies that has occurred in recent years. An excellent anthology of research, essays, and ideas by luminaries in the academic world, Societies of Peace also brings together political activists, goddess scholars, feminists and indigenous women from all over the world. The new paradigm of Matriarchal Studies is here to stay! Presenting concrete social alternatives to the looming global crises our patriarchal civilization has wrought, Matriarchal Studies holds great political potential and lifeboats developed from thousands of years of experience.

If we take the wisdom in Societies of Peace and DELIVER IT! as Kenyan activist and powerhouse Wahu Kaara suggests, it will have an incredible impact on the world.  The times require a fundamental shift in the way we perceive our collective reality, and findings on matriarchal cultures can offer us the vision of a new/old egalitarian society.

Matriarchies have a non-violent social order, conform to motherly values, and are based on gender equality.  Political decisions are reached through consensus, and social guidelines guarantee a good life for all. Matriarchal spirituality, deeply rooted in a reverence for Mother Earth and her gifts, prevents the exploitation of nature or animals.  These societies, both ancient and still existing on the planet today, are humanity’s – and especially women’s – greatest heritage.  Societies of Peace presents to a wider public the message of an alternative social and cultural model that promotes trust, mutuality, and abundance for all.

Edited by Heide Goettner-Abendroth, the founding mother of modern Matriarchal Studies, the scholarship and ideas in Societies of Peace are taken from two groundbreaking World Congresses on Matriarchal Studies that she led – “Societies in Balance” in Luxembourg in 2003, and “Societies of Peace” in Texas in 2005.  For the first time at these Congresses, international scholars working on Matriarchal Studies and women’s spirituality in isolation from one another came together to connect and collaborate. The book features exciting, creative and important contributions from (among others) Riane Eisler, Barbara Alice Mann, Peggy Reeves Sanday, Claudia von Werlhof, Lucia Chiavola Birnbaum, Vicki Noble, Susan Gail Carter, Annette Kuhn, Lamu Gatusa, Bernedette Muthien, Fatimata Oualet Halatine and Wilhelmina J. Donkoh.

Of special interest is Genevieve Vaughan’s contribution and sustaining support, both to the Texas congress and the book, as well as her essay “Matriarchy and the Gift Economy.” The guiding light for the new gift economy movement, Genevieve Vaughan describes the practice of “freebies” like housework, childcare and other “random acts of kindness” that already exist in society, unrecognized and unappreciated by the dominant patriarchy. Within a matriarchal culture, the modes of distribution are based on the principles of nurture, and needs are met directly resulting in a more functional community than a market economy based on self-interest, greed and profit. Gift-giving creates positive relationships, justice and solidarity, and with radical change, can be adopted as a new alternative economy at local levels and beyond. 

The knowledge and insight made possible with modern Matriarchal Studies is absolutely amazing, and has the capacity to change the historical record and create a paradigm shift in the prevailing worldview.   Societies of Peace: Matriarchies Past, Present and Future gives us the tools to wake up and take on this great work, which is creating alternative, life-affirming matriarchal models as the basis for a new society!

How deeply are human beings entwined with the natural world? Bespoke wisdom, a vision from the wild, or an offering from my animist Clan Mothers, an epiphany came to me in the trance state between sleeping and waking. This fantastical manifesto, an ontology inspired by our most ancient beginnings, extends past the far reaches of modern environmental theory and gives us much to contemplate as we continue to be humbled by the Great Mystery. 

WHAT IF it was proven beyond the shadow of a doubt that your soul is eternal?  That your soul is a unique and sacred spark, a blessed part of the Divine Mystery that animates your inner life from birth to death and beyond?  AND WHAT IF it was proven that your soul is on a continuous forward journey?   AND WHAT IF PROOF EXISTS that between lifetimes your soul resides IN the landscape and IN the various features, elements and creatures in the natural world? THAT IN FACT, the natural environ-ment serves as a vessel or holding place for your spirit? 

The trees, plants, wetlands, grasslands, wildflower meadows, sand dunes, mounds, rocky escarpments, underground tunnels, caverns, ponds, lakes, rivers – any of these numinous and holy landscapes could serve as dwelling places for your soul.   

AND KNOWING THIS TO BE TRUE, believing beyond a doubt that the continuum of your soul depends on this eco-resting place, how can we allow the destruction of the natural world to continue?  The contamination created by conveniences and technologies,  the pollution dumped into the water systems, air and earth, the forests logged, the animals harvested, the earth’s body stripped by mining, the replacement of wild nature with highways, fences, factories and cities all pose a real and terrible danger to your personal destiny.   After your physical death, where the Great Mystery will place your spirit cannot be predicted. (Unless you have had exceptional training and have willed it so.  Making personal decisions affecting the process of being born into death used to be a given in indigenous societies.)  

Therefore the reckless and thoughtless damage to the environment on every level MUST BE STOPPED!  It goes far beyond the adage of We are All Connected.  We now know that without access to the undisturbed natural places on this beautiful planet that have been provided for our soul's rest and return, our spirits will surely and completely disappear. Contrary to the modern worldview, humans are not meant to exist in close proximity to concrete cities, technology and the built environment, but thrive in the truest sense ONLY in the embrace of the green and natural world. 

The farther away we push nature the smaller our souls become – this is not a metaphor but a fact, as experienced by the millions today who feel a void, something missing in their lives.  Endless void-fillers, distractions and therapies exist to address this emptiness, but most of the theories bypass the simple truth that would address the foundational requirements of our eco-soul.  The contemporary endemic shrinking of the spirit is a reality, and healing is possible when we return to our ancestral and earth-connected roots, reclaim our enchantment with the world, embrace the wild for our ensouling, and re-establish the connection to Mother Earth so vital to our well-being.
            
As we co-existed peacefully with the Earth for millennia, we must expand once again into our true nature and potential as fully-realized human beings. To survive as beings of both body and spirit, we must acknowledge our vital reciprocal relationship with nature and embrace our true human role as keepers and protectors of  Earth Community. 

Examples of the Eco-Soul dynamic are found in earth-connected and indigenous societies worldwide, in oral tradition, myth, and even contemporary filmmaking. Based on Yolngu Matha indigenous knowledge and filmed in  the Ganalbingu language, the Australian award-winning movie Ten Canoes is a dazzling and accurate portrayal of a pre-contact hunter-gatherer society deeply bonded to the natural world in Arnhem Land, Northern Territory. During the course of the movie, the storytelling in their oral tradition reveals that the souls of their people continue to live in a particular wetland, or billabong, between lives, and that the pregnant women of the tribe will go there to coax a soul into their belly.

Sourced from the ancient folklore of Europe and elsewhere, James Frazer states in The Golden Bough that  the  spirits of  the  dead  reside  in the trees,  awaiting rebirth. The indigenous peoples of Lithuania, Greece, Italy, Germany, Sweden, Britain, Africa, Indonesia and the Americas worshipped the trees as sacred beings with in-dwelling souls, and protected them from harm. Depending on the culture, trees can be the abode of spirits, gods, ancestors, or souls waiting to be born.

One of the ancient megalithic structures found in Malta, the Hypogeum in Ħal-Saflieni is the oldest intact underground temple in the world, and is thought to have been sacred space for rituals of birth, death and regeneration. Both above and below ground, the temple complex of this ancient matriarchal society (3800 to 3600 BCE) reveals construction and symbols that celebrate fertility and the female form. Having amazing acoustic properties, the subterranean chambers and structures enabled powerful communication with the spirit realm, and were places for worship, divination and healing. From tomb to womb, the Hypogeum in Ħal-Saflieni was also the burial place for thousands  of community members, and the Chamber of All Souls held the spirits of the collective between lives as crucible, vessel and cauldron. The highly-evolved wisdom held by this society allowed for the successful migration between disembodied and incarnate spirits, in a dance of Sacred Mystery that embraced the perennial cycles of  life.