Feminism Friday: Spiritual Feminism

Previously, I mentioned how feminism can coexist within traditional and specifically Abrahamic religions, as they draw on the historical women of faith. As I understand Jewish and Muslim teachings where there is just one God, God is beyond gender.

This week I thought I would give an intro to some of the other spiritual paths that feminism has taken. In particular, the remembrance of the divine feminine. The rest of this article may be offensive to some Christians and non-Christian believers in the Biblical preachings against Canaanite goddess-worship.

Light and Darkness

My primary school library had a set of books, perhaps a trilogy, in the fantasy genre, which I very naturally read. I've looked for the books in adulthood, but have not found them yet.

The story is about a family that inherits this amulet, passed down from generation to generation. The amulet has an image of a black dog on it, and of course it is magical.  If I remember correctly, under certain conditions the black dog will jump out of the amulet to protect the children.

But there's also a way that the child(ren) in the stories can travel to another world... a world in which the bad guys are a priesthood, dressed up in white robes, and actually rather frightening.

The stories fascinated me, the way they reversed the imagery I was accustomed to. For a time, I contemplated working on another reversal, a world where left-handedness was considered normal. I still haven't written that story... it seems too hard to do well, without wielding it like a blunt hammer.

Of course, the stories got me to thinking.

Music Monday: Hey, Hey, NASA is Good

The most recent NASA Co-op music video: