WOMEN-CENTERED SPIRITUALITY
The above KaliMa image is of a rubber stamp from Kate Cartwright's wonderful collection of stamps of goddesses and powerful women's imagery. Support her and tell her where you heard of her too!
"AS LONG AS GOD IS MALE, MALES ARE GOD."-MARY DALY
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Everywhere I went I unveiled it to my audiences..." Everybody born on planet earth since about 2500 B.C.," I told them, "has believed, whether they were religious or not, whether they were conscious of it or not, that God and men are in the Old Boys' Club together...with God as the president. And becasue they are all guys, they have a special understanding. They speak the same language. They're in the locker rooms together a lot, and the board rooms, and God only has to take one look at them to see that men are superior in every way to the rest of us, because they look like him. So he loves them very much and he trusts them. He intends them to be presidents, and prime ministers, the kings of the world. He wants them to be popes and prophets and priests. He wants them to own all the property and businesses and make all the decisions and all the money and boss everybody else around- meaning women.
"And there we are, outside, with our faces pressed up against the window, trying to see what is going on. Pretty soon one of the men comes out of the clubhouse. Because we're hungry and lonely and scared, we run up to him and beg, "Please, oh please, tell us what God is saying in there!"
"At first he looks surprised, but then a sly, calculating look comes over his face. He leans up against the pulpit and says, in a deep, stirring voice: " God told me to tell you that he wants you to be sweet and gentle and have a soft voice and never raise it. He wants you to understand that your purpose in life is to make my life comfy and cozy, healthy and happy." And warming to his task, "God told me to tell you that he wants you to send me off to work every morning feeling just terrific about myself, to be just a-wavin' your pom poms for me all the time! Yeah! That's it! That's what God told me to tell you." Then in a stern voice, he adds, "And God wants me to warn you that if you don't do this, I have His permission, in fact His command, to punish you, to kill you if necessary."
"So we have known for a very long time that in order to propitiate God, who is the President of the Club, we have to placate his cronies, the men.
"And that in a thimble is patriarchy. Mary Daly puts it elegantly and succinctly: "As long as God is male," she says, "the male is God." Which is why changing our view of God has everything to do with changing the world. " - Sonja Johnson from Going Out Of Our Minds
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Women's spirituality is another necessary rebuilding point for women's self-esteem and empowerment. Just as we have had to rethink the whole menstruation and genital issues, we also have to rethink this God issue. There are most definitely alterior POLITICAL , and even financial, motives behind many of the organized religions present on earth today. When all images of Women as the Mother of All are erased and replaced with a white, male Godhead and Father of All, there is concern for worry and alarm. And that is where we are today. At least Women as the symbol of life makes physical SENSE!!!!!! And I believe in my heart that the earth-based religions had a different respect for women's bodies than we do today in America. An awe, a wonderous respect, sometimes fear...but never was women's menstrual fluid treated as a toxin like it is now, never were women treated as of no use to the religions present or as passive observers...
Women need a means to fully participate in their religious experiences and in my experiences, I was never able to find that freedom in the male-centered religions. Worshipping a white man who came from the Middle East seemed ridiculous and had no logic attached to it. But worshipping the return of Spring and all of the flowers blooming, that makes sense to celebrate!
I have found it QUITE powerful to replace my imagery of God to be women-centered, since I spent my first half of life forced to see and reflect God as male, even white...as Father of All. One God. And in America, it is still considered unAmerican to not worship a white, male God! It is a radical movement to reclaim spirituality to be inclusive of those currently not empowered by the major religions.
And this reclaimed spirituality DOES help improve one's self-esteem by allowing one to identify with the Heavenly Creators, the movers and shakers, the important decision makers of history...and also to bond with the Earth through our womanly uniqueness of giving birth, just like the Earth does every Spring...
These things are important. They are important for little girls, they are important for big grrls! I cannot stress the importance of taking control of your religious imagery. Fill your walls with Goddess and Woman-Centered images of power. Get women-centered tarot decks, find goddess altar pieces, associate with people who are moving in this direction also.
I have provided the following pages for your enjoyment, as I have found that my delve into women's spirituality inevitably brought me back to herbalism, moon rites, witchcraft, and the Pre-Christian roots of powerful women ritual....
Sorry I missed church. I was out learning witchcraft, and becoming a lesbian...
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Women-Centered Spirituality Resources:
