Buzz Coil: September '11

The Slacktiverse: Blogger Literata contributed a must-read post on Sept. 23, “Spiriting Away Democracy,” a thorough piece on the Christian Dominionists’ plan to Christianize the US including renaming its capital, “District of Christ.” With information on their anti-woman, anti-Goddess views and a project organized by Pagans to preserve religious freedom called, Hail Columbia.

HecateDemeter: Blogger Hecate has been doing tarot readings in conversation with Goddess Columbia, whose statue stands atop the US Capitol. “Conversations with Columbia, Part Five,” posted Sept. 18, is the inspiring last in this series and links to the previous series posts.

The Wild Hunt: Jason Pitzl-Waters’ Sept. 14 post shares “The New Apostolic Reformation Message to Pagans,” contained in a report from Cara Shulz of PNC-Minnesota. NAR has organized the “DC-40” October crusade to Christianize the US. Jason’s Sept. 10 post, “Updates: Phoenix Goddess Temple, Santa Muerte, New Apostolic Reformation” leads with news of the arrest of Phoenix Goddess Temple staff for “prostitution, pandering, and conspiracy.”

Association for the Study of Women & Mythology: A September 21 post announces that the organization is “Seeking Proposals for 2012 ASWM Conference” that will be held in San Francisco May 10-13. The post includes some general suggested topics.

Feminism and Religion: Here are just some of the intriguing posts by a variety of bloggers on this blog this month:

─In a Sept. 23 post, “The Black Horse: Our Bodies Our Selves,” Carol P. Christ writes that a passage in Plato’s Phaedrus about the taming of a horse elicits a response in her about the discipline applied to human females. She also discusses the interpretation of Plato’s passage in Val Plumwood’s Feminism and the Mastery of Nature.

─A Sept. 15 post by Carol Flinders, “In the Beginning was. . . The Mother,” explores “matrix,” “matriarchy” and other words associated with “Mother” through etymology and recent and longer-term social history, especially among the Pomo tribe of northern California.

─In a Sept. 19 post, “Religious Mestizaje,” Xochitl Alvizo, who identifies as “a Goddess loving person as well as a Christian-identified one,” discusses Gloria Andzaldua’s and her own understanding of religious mestizaje.

─In her Sept. 9 post, Goddess feminist Carol P. Christ takes the post's title, “Love Divine, All Loves Excelling,” from a Christian hymn and writes that this title describes her understanding of Goddess or Goddess/God. She then explains why she is a process theologian and where she places herself in other theological frameworks.

Veleda: In her Sept. 18 post, “Female Powers and Places in Indian North America,” Max Dashu shares information from a book by Peter Nabakov that emphasizes the importance of oral history and provides information on the Mandan, Hidatsa, Lakota, Paha Sapa, Washu, Niya, Kiowa, Choctaw, Pawnee, Wintu, Karok, Yurok, and others. Dashu also comments on Nabokov’s views on cultural appropriation and his “feminist-negative” attitude.

American Witch: In her Sept 27 post, “Merry Mabon: Equinox Invocations and…” Annie Finch shares her experience of using new invocations for the first time to cast a circle this Mabon. The invocations are from her new book of poems. Of the experience, she writes:
". . .I was so afraid they would sound forced instead of magickal. But they did sound magickal: they worked!"

The Village Witch: Byron Ballard describes “The Long Road to Dusk,” in her Sept. 25 post about her Asheville NC group’s Harvest Home (Equinox/Mabon) observance in a park and the beginning of “the feast days that mark Samhaintide.”

No Longer Quivering is a blog with posts by several women who were previously involved in the fundamentalist Christian Quiverfull movement. A Sept. 13 post by the blog founder, Vickie, “Have You Read the NLQ FAQS,” updates information about Quiverfull as well as the ex-Quiverfulls.

Driving Audhumla: In her Aug. 13 post, “They must think we’re nothing but heifers,” Victoria Slind-Flor sees similarities in the breeding philosophy of jailed FDLS leader Warren Jeffs and the TV programs “The Bachelor” and “Toddlers and Tiaras,” as well as the background and possible motivation of the the man accused of the recent mass murders in Norway.

Capital Witch: In a Sept. 22 post, “Breaking: Lease is Signed for the DC Pagan Community Center,” this Pagan Newswire blog announces that the Open Hearth Foundation, which has been fund-raising for a DC Pagan community center for a number of years, has signed a lease for space in the Eastern Market area of DC. (A pic of the statue of Columbia atop the US Capitol graces this blog’s masthead.)

From Jupiter: Blogger Cosette asks “Should Pagans have churches?” in a Sept 13 post prompted by coverage of the Phoenix Goddess Temple.

Onion Work: In her Sept. 8 post, “Bewitched and Befuddled: A Spiritual Journey (Part One)” Ruby Sara tells a story of her religious upbringing by her mom, “the Atheist Matriarch,” with whom she sometimes attended a Unitarian Universalist church, and her father who was “a kinda sorta deist.” Ruby then describes her own spiritual explorations.