The Crone
Ann writes: “It was in 2001 that Tyna Redpath first invited me to photograph the Glastonbury Goddess Conference, co-founded with Kathy Jones in 1996.
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Category: Issue12
“Bloodtime Moontime Dreamtime: Women Bringing Forth Change”, by Roberta Cantow
Watching Roberta Cantow’s Bloodtime Moontime Dreamtime was so satisfying and filled me with such bittersweet joy. As a woman whose mother referred to my sacred blood as “being sick,” I related. I cried. I shouted in agreement. It gave me hope. I believe this trilogy is MUST VIEWING for women and men everywhere.
Read MoreBeth’s Blessing
By the end of 8th grade, Beth was in Confirmation class at Rodof Shalom. At the Conservative synagogue, B’nai, boys were Bar Mitzvahed and now some girls were beginning to have something like it called a Bat Mitzvah except that the girls’ was on Friday night instead of Saturday morning. But at Rodof Shalom, a Reform Temple, they just had Confirmation, which was for both girls and boys. The place where the Services were held, called the sanctuary, was completely different from either of the other two synagogues Beth had been to. It had stained glass windows, dark red upholstered seats, and an organ. The Ark was white with the Shema written in gold above the doors, which parted to reveal the Torahs when the rabbi pressed a button.
Read More“Feminine Mysticism in Art: Artists Envisioning the Divine”
Nearly two hours of Goddess and mystical art – sounds like a treat, and much of the DVD is just that. I do, however, have some concerns about the text that prefaces and follows the images and also with a number of the images themselves, but in a show of this length I would have been surprised (and worried) if I had loved everything.
Read MoreAncient Breasts
Deep within you, whether you are aware of it or not, is your primal need for breast. It is part of you; it was born with you. It has been with you for millions of years.
Read MoreArctic Retreat
I hear the call of the wild,
the northern lands of ice and snow
where I’ll stay in a wooden chalet
by a frozen lake.
Croning – a personal journey
This April I turned sixty thus achieving cronehood, but I felt my journey began two years before in the summer of 2007, when what is known as my second Saturn return (Crone’s male counterpart) really kicked in; and boy did it kick in! Saturn returns are slow, grinding and thorough re-evaluations of our values and structures, often restrictive and lasting around two years.
Read MoreGoddess Conference 2009 – Journeying with the Fires
On the morning of Wednesday 29th July I purposefully set off from my home in West Yorkshire at sunrise to mark the beginning of my journey to Somerset to celebrate the many aspects of the Sunfire Goddess, the theme for this year’s Glastonbury Goddess Conference.
Read MorePortals to the Self: A Women’s Circle by the Sea
The night sky is bright with stars and the air is sweet with the smell of the sea. The procession of women makes its way across the land bridge to the temple. The sun rises to greet the Yucatan on the left and Mother Moon says her morning good-byes on the right.
We each make our own private dedications as we step through the portal into the actual temple. As I close my eyes I can see the ancient Mayan women getting off their boats at what appears to be the ruins of a dock below. I am drawn to what’s left of a lunar observatory or altar. One of the women in our group dances at an outcropping, chanting, her beautiful scarves blowing in the wild sea breeze.
Grieving with the Goddess
When we are mourning the recent loss of a beloved person, animal, object or situation, we often feel like hell. Frequently we feel that life isn’t worth living any more, that there is no point to life, that we’d rather die, that we’ll never stop feeling as miserable as we currently do, and that we’ll never get over the loss or feel happy again.
Read MoreCerridwen’s Awful Mistake: the tale of the birth of Taliesin
She laid a fire below me,
a cauldron made of the stuff of the earth,
then she hung me on a heavy hook.
A ladle with a heron’s head
hung nearby.
The Nine Nights of the Winter Solstice Hallowing
As a Pagan, Goddess-worshipping witch and priestess, I have over the past thirty years celebrated the Winter Solstice in a variety of ways. As my path evolved, I made appropriate changes and adjustments, but never quite found that which truly felt right. In 2007 however, I came across a rite for Helios on one of the Hellenistic reconstructionist groups I belong to which provided the inspiration I needed.
Read MoreInstant of a Crow Wing
The year is closing down; days die on their feet,
nights are cold and distant with scathing winds
that knife our warmth of certainties, our small
candlepowers of love. In this deep hour
Maiden Menarchy Mantra
I am maiden
Gem and jewel laden
Between my legs
Lay the secrets
Puffins, Isle of Staffa
Hardly time to tune up among
the tussocks, thrift and tormentil
above the giant’s basalt hexagons
Come winter woman dance
Come winter woman dance
In the birthday season fully shine
Ask the year for another colour
Dream and spin every month
Another Weeping Woman
This woman,
her eyes spiting tears,
teeth clenched with anger,
