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MAGO Contributor Pegi Eyers ~ SHE RISES

7/8/2020

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(Art) Rhiannon by Pegi Eyers

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The Celtic Moon Goddess Rhiannon is the patroness of horses and riders.  It is said that the song of her three magic birds can bring the dead back to life, put the living to sleep and heal all pain.  “Her soul message encourages you to ask for divine guidance as you manifest your goals.”

Published in She Rises: What… Goddess Feminism, Activism and Spirituality? Volume 3

(Art) Inanna by Pegi Eyers

Inanna is the Sumerian Goddess of the morning and evening star.  A symbol of death and rebirth, and presiding over both night and day, the winged Goddess moved freely between the worlds.   “Her soul message allows you to release the negative and welcome positive energies into your life.” 
Published in She Rises: What… Goddess Feminism, Activism and Spirituality? Volume 3
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(Art) Labrys by Pegi Eyers

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The first labyrinths were associated with the ceremonies of the Moon Goddesses of the ancient world such as the Amazon Goddess Gaea, and with the symbol of the double-headed axe.  “Her soul message is the reclaiming of your matriarchal heritage as leader and visionary.”

Published in She Rises: What… Goddess Feminism, Activism and Spirituality? Volume 3

(Art) Fertility Woman: Power of the Blue Stone
by Pegi Eyers

To our Paleolithic Ancestors, it was obvious that women, with their mysterious cycles, performed the same functions as the earth, which was the source of all nourishment, protection and procreative power. “Her soul message is to love and be love, and to nurture your creative spark.”

Published in She Rises: What… Goddess Feminism, Activism and Spirituality? Volume 3
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(Art) Dryad, Tree Nymph by Pegi Eyers

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Dryads are Greek or Hindu tree spirits.  Bonded to their tree for life, both the nymphs and the gods punished any mortals who dared to harm the trees.   “Her soul message and tree spirit blessing encourages your gifts of prophecy.”

Published in She Rises: What… Goddess Feminism, Activism and Spirituality? Volume 3


(Art) Ninhursaga by Pegi Eyers

The ancient Sumerian “Mountain Mother,” Ninhursaga gave birth to a family of deities and created the first humans.  She was associated with the omega symbol (womb), the tree of life, and sacred serpents.  “Her soul message reminds you to honor your maternal Ancestors for their gifts of love, wisdom and grace.” 
Published in She Rises: What… Goddess Feminism, Activism and Spirituality? Volume 3


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Seasons of Witchery: Celebrating the Sabbats with the Garden Witch - Ellen Dugan

10/24/2019

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BOOK REVIEW BY PEGI EYERS

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Take a wonderful journey around the Wheel of the Year with “Garden Witch” Ellen Dugan’s new book “Seasons of Witchery”~!   Beginning with the lushness of a summer garden on the longest day - June 21, Midsummer, Summer Solstice, Litha – enchantments, rituals, thematic celebrations and personal musings abound for each season and festival throughout the magickal year. Interspersed with beautiful literary quotes and illustrations, and written in her intimate, upfront and amusing style, Ellen celebrates the history, themes, correspondences and symbols for Pagan life in harmony with the passing year. As witches are the caretakers of the land, she offers us journal excerpts from her own enchanted gardens, listings on faerie and Yuletide plants, advice on gardening and herbcrafting, the language of flowers, how to keep the faeries and earth spirits happy, feeding the birds, “greenhouse therapy” in the cold months and even a guide to beautiful butterfly magick!  
 
From sacred mysteries like calling in your plant familiar to honoring the May Queen, the Green Man or the ancestral spirits of the Wild Hunt, there is an abundance of suggestions here for sabbat-themed spells, charms, candle workings, blessings, divinations and full moon magick. Decorating tips for your home and environs, and crafts and yummy recipes for each sabbat are included such as Vernal Equinox Quiche, Midsummer Sangria Slush and Yuletide Gingerbread People.  I especially resonated with the Divine Feminine folklore of Goddesses Brigid, Luna and Ostara - plus I learned about Santa Lucia, or St. Lucy, for the first time (I’m not sure how I missed not knowing about Her!) - the “bringer of light” and focus for festivals all over Europe at the end of December.  Ellen relates stories and “personal lessons” from her own life and coven to illuminate the synchronicities, magic and miracles that surround us in every time and place. Immersed in busy activity, having fun or spending time alone in introspection, this book will encourage you to make your own seasons of witchery more unique and meaningful. Connecting each holiday to both God/Goddess and nature, there are plenty of ideas, insights and inspirations in “Seasons of Witchery” to (as Ellen would say) warm your Witchy heart!

Seasons of Witchery: Celebrating the Sabbats with the Garden Witch
By Ellen Dugan
Llewellyn Publications, 2012


This review originally appeared in SageWoman Magazine.


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Pegi Eyers is the author of  Ancient Spirit Rising: Reclaiming Your Roots & Restoring Earth Community, an award-winning book that explores strategies for neurodecolonization, social justice, ethnocultural identity, building land-emergent community & resilience in times of massive change.
PURCHASE LINKS
Amazon.com 
www.stonecirclepress.com
 

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WHATEVER WORKS: Feminists of Faith Speak  

6/1/2015

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PEGI EYERS
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My essay "Our Struggles Are Not The Same: Inspired Solidarity with Turtle Island First Nations Women" has been published in an excellent anthology of voices from 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 Whatever Works speak out on issues that matter, and their "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 important new directions in Goddess Spirituality,  Whatever Works is an invaluable guide to the ongoing healing and empowerment of women.
"Our Struggles Are Not The Same: Inspired Solidarity with Turtle Island First Nations Women" is a discussion on the interface between those of us in the Settler Society and First Nations women, the original Earthkeepers of Turtle Island.  Speaking truth to power, I examine how our privilege as white feminists has blinded us to the ways First Nations women continue to be marginalized and oppressed by our colonial "habits" of cultural appropriation, knowledge domination, implicit racism, and the assumption we are on the same page in our liberation strategies.  In the so-called inclusive spaces we create, the tokenistic, objectifying, or voyeuristic presence of women of colour is just as disempowering as exclusion. 

As white women we need to do much better, to set aside our "white gaze," and  embrace social justice in order to reverse habitual power relationships.  Luckily for us, we have models to follow through solidarity and the Allyship framework, and
it is only by placing ourselves behind the most oppressed and moving them forward will true progress be made.
Dismantling the construct of white superiority and the intersectional oppressions will allow the sovereignty of the original Earthkeepers of Turtle Island to be reclaimed. Relinquishing our privilege is not such a difficult thing, and our own liberation cannot be achieved without the liberation of all.

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You can learn more about the First Nations/Settler interface and other empowering insights in the pages of Whatever Works: Feminists of Faith Speak ~ available through Amazon or The Girl God.


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Pegi Eyers is the author of  "Ancient Spirit Rising: Reclaiming Your Roots & Restoring Earth Community," a new book that explores strategies for intercultural competency, healing our relationships with Turtle Island First Nations, decolonization, recovering an ecocentric worldview, rewilding, creating a sustainable future and reclaiming peaceful co-existence in Earth Community.  
Amazon.com 
Stone Circle Press
 

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Canadian Woman Studies

1/9/2013

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PEGI EYERS
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"Gather the Women"
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"Earth Mother Motorcycle"
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."

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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


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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<


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Pegi Eyers is the author of  Ancient Spirit Rising: Reclaiming Your Roots & Restoring Earth Community, an award-winning book that explores strategies for neurodecolonization, social justice, ethnocultural identity, building land-emergent community & resilience in times of massive change. 
PURCHASE LINKS
Amazon.com 
www.stonecirclepress.com


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What is Goddess Spirituality?

6/7/2012

9 Comments

 
BY PEGI EYERS
Picture"Gather the Women" embroidery on mixed media by Pegi Eyers
"The women’s movement has evolved because the crisis of the eternal world is calling for the rise of the Goddess to restore the balance of nature. All the evidence indicates that the feminine archtype is returning. This is perhaps the most important event of the last 5000 years, and its consequences may well have an immense, unimaginable effect on cultural and ecological evolution."[1]  Jean Houston

As a devotee of Goddess Spirituality and Matriarchal Studies, I have found an ancestral path that fills my soul and gives me great joy.  My affinity for the Divine Feminine is the ongoing inspiration for creative work of all kinds, and fires up my experience of the "Sacred" or the "Great Mystery."  In response to those who have been asking “What is Goddess Spirituality?” I hope to share with you the foundation myth and core principles of the most exciting spiritual and cultural movement in history.

Goddess Spirituality is currently one of the fastest-growing religions of our time, and with its appealing lack of dogma, is intended to be a highly individualized set of beliefs and practices.  With roots in contemporary feminism, Goddess Spirituality is closely linked to Neo-Pagan and Wiccan practice, but Goddess worshippers can be Christian or Buddhist or from any other tradition.  If you ask 100 people who practice Goddess Spirituality what it is, you will likely get 100 different answers!  However, all agree on the primacy of the energy of the Divine Feminine that manifests in different forms as individual Goddesses all over the world.

Goddess Spirituality's Foundational Myth

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”[2] and “When God Was a Woman”[3] 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’ book “The Civilization of the Goddess”[4], outlines the archeological record of Old Europe and the history of matriarchal societies, and is considered to be a milestone of feminist scholarly research.  This sacred history, or foundation myth, underpins the political and religious tenets of Goddess Spirituality today.
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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 our 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. 

Contemporary Practice

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"The symbolism of the Goddess is not parallel to the symbolism of God the Father. The Goddess does not rule the world. She IS the world. Manifest in each of us, She can be known internally by every individual, in all of her magnificent diversity."[5]  Starhawk


Goddess Spirituality continues to grow as more and more women are being drawn to an alternative view of the Divine.  Believing both in the one Goddess and her many manifestations worldwide, practitioners define Her as “The One and the Many”. She is both immanent and transcendent at the same time, and monotheism is avoided by the awareness that the diverse Goddesses evoke similar cosmic principles of universal love, fertility and abundance, and the upholding of balance and truth.  

By identifying with the Goddess(es) specific to one’s own tradition and life experience, the Divine Feminine becomes an individualized path of exploration, inner knowing, self-care and regeneration. Healing modalities for body/mind/spirit, psychic abilities, oracular work, sacred music and dance, dreamwork, a love of nature,  recovering indigenous mind, rituals, ceremonies and creative expression can all be aspects of Goddess Spirituality.  Whatever form it takes, Goddess worship is very empowering for women!  By healing our body/mind/spirit and reclaiming our personal sovereignty, we are the first generation in millennia to recover from the patriarchal damage perpetuated on ourselves and our ancestral motherlines.

I will never forget my own electric moment of seeing ancient matriarchal carvings and Paleolithic goddesses for the first time in Lucy Lippard’s “Overlay.”[6]   In the college library that day, the door opened to a NEW version of history - a woman-empowered history and a feminine view of Diety – and a model of feminine POWER.  THERE SHE WAS - She had been there all along, waiting.  The Goddess embraced me and I embraced HER with all of my body, mind and soul!


Goddess Spirituality as Earth Path

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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 becomes abundantly clear 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 - and 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.

Core Beliefs and Values of Goddess Spirituality

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 principle for all forms of indigenous knowledge.

2) To hold 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 that 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.

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Embracing and embodying the Goddess and working with the Divine Feminine energies allows women to reclaim their feminine power and realize the sacredness of their own bodies, minds, voices and spirits.  The resurgence of the Goddess in our time will give us the wisdom, strength, courage and joy that is deeply needed to revitalize ourselves, our communities and the world.


© Pegi Eyers, 2019



RESOURCES
[1]
Jean Houston, Women of Wisdom: Empowering the Dreams and Spirit of Women, edited by Kris Steinnes, Wise Woman Publishing, 2008
[2] Elizabeth Gould Davis, The First Sex, Penguin Books, 1971
[3] Merlin Stone, When God Was a Woman, Mariner Books, 1976
[4] Marija Gimbutas, The Civilization of the Goddess, HarperCollins, 1991
[5] Starhawk, The Spiral Dance: A Rebirth of the Ancient Religion of the Goddess: 20th Anniversary Edition, HarperOne, 2011
[6] Lucy Lippard, Overlay: Contemporary Art and the Art of Prehistory, The New Press, 1995

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Pegi Eyers is the author of  Ancient Spirit Rising: Reclaiming Your Roots & Restoring Earth Community, an award-winning book that explores strategies for neurodecolonization, social justice, ethnocultural identity, building land-emergent community & resilience in times of massive change.
PURCHASE LINKS
Amazon.com 
www.stonecirclepress.com


9 Comments

Women's Spirituality

3/15/2012

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REVIEW BY PEGI EYERS 
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Women's Spirituality: 
Contemporary Feminist Approaches to Judaism, 
Christianity, Islam and Goddess Worship
by Johanna H. Stuckey, Inanna Publications, 2010

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“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.
PictureShekinah by Giovanni Caselli
_ From its beginnings, the Hebrew Bible stated than “men rule over women” and Judaic women’s roles and limited spiritual expression were located in the domestic sphere, separate from the official temple-sanctioned worship and ceremonies. It has only been since 1983 that women have been allowed into Judaic seminaries and to be ordained as Rabbis. Today, Judaic feminist visionaries and scholars are working toward recovering Judaic Goddesses and historic women and their contributions, and developing a feminist vision of equality for all, a “post-patriarchal Judaism” that will allow women to analyze the sacred texts, take part in public ritual, and fill leadership roles.


PictureMary Magdalene by Dante Gabriel Rossetti
_ Stuckey touches on the current debates that question if early Christianity was egalitarian, if Jesus was a feminist, or if he was indeed married to Mary Magdalene. Church fathers later obscured women’s vital roles in early Christianity, and declared their faith anti-body, anti-sexual and anti-woman.  In recent decades, the important contributions of Mother Mary, Mary Magdalene and other significant women have come to light, and Christian feminists have been concerned with dualism, sexism, the maleness of language & imagery, and the lack of female leaders. Currently, ordained female ministers are on the rise, and up to 80% of the students in theological schools are now women! 

PictureIslam Triple Goddesses Al'Uzza, Allat and Manat
_ In early Islamic history, Muhammad’s wives and daughters, other heroines and religious scholars, and warrior women who fought in key battles had pivotal roles.  However, as the Islamic world expanded, the dynasties became completely male-dominated, and women were discriminated against, veiled, denied access to the religious community, bound by law and restricted to the household.  As it is still very dangerous to declare oneself a feminist in Muslim countries today, many live and work in the West.

_ 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. 
PictureCelebrating HER by Pegi Eyers
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

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Pegi Eyers is the author of  "Ancient Spirit Rising: Reclaiming Your Roots & Restoring Earth Community," a new book that explores strategies for intercultural competency, healing our relationships with Turtle Island First Nations, decolonization, recovering an ecocentric worldview, rewilding, creating a sustainable future and reclaiming peaceful co-existence in Earth Community. 
Amazon.com 
Stone Circle Press
 
  

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Sisters Singing

11/18/2011

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REVIEW BY PEGI EYERS
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Sisters Singing 
Blessings, Prayers, Art, Songs, Poetry
and Sacred Stories by Women
edited by Carolyn Brigit Flynn, Wild Girl Publishing, 2009

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.

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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. 

                                                                  www.sisterssinging.com

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Pegi Eyers is the author of  Ancient Spirit Rising: Reclaiming Your Roots & Restoring Earth Community, an award-winning book that explores strategies for neurodecolonization, social justice, ethnocultural identity, building land-emergent community & resilience in times of massive change.
PURCHASE LINKS
Amazon.com 
www.stonecirclepress.com

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The Chalice and The Blade

10/6/2011

2 Comments

 
PEGI EYERS
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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.



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Female ~ The Chalice ~ Matriarchy

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Male ~ The Blade ~ Patriarchy

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




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



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


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Male Supremacy.
Hierarchic and Authoritarian Rule.
Identification with the Father.

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Venerate the Feminine ~ Worship The Goddess.
Highest Value on the Life-Generating and Nurturing Powers of the Female
.


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Venerate the Masculine ~Worship the God.
Highest Value on the Power
to Take rather than Give Life, Aligned with Destruction.


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Focus on Linking and Love.
Leadership Inspired by Responsibility to Society.
Wisdom of the Mother Honored Above All.



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


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


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



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


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


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


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Acquire Material Wealth by using more effective Technologies of Destruction.


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


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


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


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





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Pegi Eyers is the author of  "Ancient Spirit Rising: Reclaiming Your Roots & Restoring Earth Community," a new book that explores strategies for intercultural competency, healing our relationships with Turtle Island First Nations, decolonization, recovering an ecocentric worldview, rewilding, creating a sustainable future and reclaiming peaceful co-existence in Earth Community. 
Amazon.com 
Stone Circle Press
 
2 Comments

Our Lady

8/29/2011

1 Comment

 
BY PEGI EYERS
PictureFatima, Honduras (photo R. Hood)



“Mary is an archetype that swims in the pool of the collective unconscious that Carl Jung wrote about, a part of the common symbolic inheritance of all humanity.  Perhaps everyone has an image of Mary in the back of their minds, an image, like matter, that can be neither created nor destroyed. “
Our Lady of the Lost & Found - Diane Schoemperlen

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.  
PictureSt. Joseph's Peterborough (photo D. Cox)


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.

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"Our Lady of Fatima" mixed media by Pegi Eyers
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)



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Pegi Eyers is the author of  "Ancient Spirit Rising: Reclaiming Your Roots & Restoring Earth Community," a new book that explores strategies for intercultural competency, healing our relationships with Turtle Island First Nations, decolonization, recovering an ecocentric worldview, rewilding, creating a sustainable future and reclaiming peaceful co-existence in Earth Community. 
Amazon.com 
Stone Circle Press
   
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Sacred Intention

7/9/2011

1 Comment

 
PEGI EYERS

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 guides and allies that we need come to us.

"Great powers of creation and transformation in the universe – my Ancestors of family lineage and the earth spirits of this beautiful place, 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."

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Keeka ~ Goddess of Fertility & Abundance
mixed media art by Pegi Eyers


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Pegi Eyers is the author of  "Ancient Spirit Rising: Reclaiming Your Roots & Restoring Earth Community," a new book that explores strategies for intercultural competency, healing our relationships with Turtle Island First Nations, decolonization, recovering an ecocentric worldview, rewilding, creating a sustainable future and reclaiming peaceful co-existence in Earth Community.  
Amazon.com 
Stone Circle Press
   


1 Comment
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    Pegi Eyers

    Musings on the ethos of the Divine Feminine as
    I delve into Goddess Spirituality & Matriarchal Studies with reviews, poetry, discourse,
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