Toward a Goddess~Centric Feminism

Conditioning is powerful. We are easily frightened by thoughts of Witches; of being lost in the forest, stumbling upon the little gingerbread house & the terrifying Crone who will almost certainly eat us. The trick is realising She is of course, the 'Great Good Mother Goddess.'

Fear of feminism is equally ingrained in our psyche. Although it is fast transforming into a movement for social change its roots still lie in patriarchal oppression; it is still women & their children who are most affected by patriarchal notions of power. When people insist they want to 'change' the patriarchy my response is that it isn't a pair of shoes. I don't want to change it, I still want to smash it. Abuse of women & children hurts my heart. And an inability to recognise that patriarchal power affects all of humanity really is a feminist issue.

Women are the source ~ we have more power than we realise (in addition to still having so little in some areas it beggars belief.) How we nurture our children is crucial. It is the one area where women are still able to sing powerful songs. Woman~hating language is learned from an early age. Self~worth is embraced (or denied) equally so.

Now that third wave feminism is making itself so wonderfully vocal we need to look at new ways of singing old songs to one another & to our children. Learn to write harmonies full of love, mutual respect & good manners. Essentially, that is all that is required. If we teach all our children, girls & boys, to be mindful, misogyny really could become a thing of the past. And second wave feminsim has some wonderful old tunes; if we raise our voices in unison we could learn to surf the waves & make joyful music.

The Way of the Goddess, eco~feminsm & radical feminsm are linked; the one serving the others. I find it hard to understand how any woman who claims allegience to the Land as the body of Mother Earth would deny 'feminist' as a descriptor. And equally, how feminists can't be, at the very least, curious about a woman~loving spiritual path. As a universal archetype, Goddess symbolizes a past linking us to ancient memory; a time when equality was shaped around the Mother, with the male as guardian of Her ability to create life.

By marrying ancient memory to modern reality it has to be possible to create an authentic feminist movement that transcends difference & embraces a vision. When Witch priestesses practice magic they take responsibility for having a vision & for transforming it into action. They know that in learning to respect the land we learn to honour ourselves & one another. And if you seek a meaningful commection to the Earth; one that will make your heart beat faster & your hair stand on end, walk across the hills, sleep in the woods, dance by the ocean under Luna's light. Reach out & touch Faerie; learn to sing the songs of dragons & fly with the birds. Be respectful, be mindful, sing out & there will be no need to fear the dark.

Blessed Be