In our current western society, women — more than half the population — do not see someone who looks like them when they view images or hear stories of the Divine and are not, in many traditions, considered to be equally sacred and therefore inherently valuable. We all spend every day in a culture in which nurturing, compassion, and peace- and justice-seeking are perceived as weakness. Our once-beloved Mother Earth is now treated as a lifeless resource good only for wealth and power-building.
But what if images, stories, and celebrations of women’s sacred lives and goddesses were commonplace in our world? What if our society really acted on the values of harmony and positive relationships, creativity, equality, peace, and justice that are a part of many cultures that honor deities, including Mother Goddess figures, who focus on nurturing and nature? What if everyone had grown up with the assumption that all beings are not just equally, but infinitely, sacred? When everyone can experience the sacred in ourselves and our daily lives right now, and visualize and articulate what a future world would be like in which this was affirmed everywhere and expected — and especially when this experience and perspective begins to be shared by the larger population of the people we meet everyday on the street, in the market, and in our schools and neighborhoods — we can all take bold and effective steps towards creating what I am calling a “Spiral Spirited Future.” Spirals are a symbol of goddesses and Divine creative energy all over the world. They move in a circle – a shape that is egalitarian and inclusive – but yet move forward, bringing the best of the past into a future that meets the needs of those who create it.
But, we can only make this future happen if we all work together. When I say “we,” I mean people from all walks of life. And sometimes the best place to start is by gathering right in our own kitchens. So, I hope you will think of your time here as if we were sitting down together, having a cup of tea, and dreaming big about the future. This blog-book is meant to be a gathering place for all different kinds of people — from all over the world, of all ages and backgrounds, with a variety of religious affiliations and beliefs as well as spiritual practices, from many eras — to come together to inspire a blueprint for a future that we want to leave to those who come after us. My contribution will be this blog-book while yours will be whatever you choose to do after reading it, whether that is art, writing, or other creative endeavors, community service work, research, or anything else that uses your unique gifts to make a difference.
In this a succeeding pages you will find out some of my thoughts about how the female spirit, whether that is expressed as goddess myths and stories, the ways we have lived their spiritual lives throughout history, or the activism and hard work of generations, can make a better future for ourselves and our descendants.
If you start here, you can go from one chapter to the next, reading an introduction, some memoir moments, and then various things I have written over the years relating to the chapter’s contents. I hope you enjoy it and find it both enjoyable and thought-provoking. If you have ideas to share, I hope you will contact me via the Contact page.
Let’s get started thinking together about how to make this new world come about.
Next chapter: Join me as we consider What Do the Goddesses Say?: Bringing the Wisdom of the Goddesses into Our Everyday Lives and Future
You may also go to other chapters with these links, or back to the Library with the link in the menu above.
Finding Women’s Spirituality All Around Us
Goddess in a Teapot 