Bravo to the 84, ooo young women whose signatures on a Change.org internet petition persuaded Seventeen Magazine to adopt a “Body Peace Treaty” that promises not to change the shapes of the bodies and faces of their models, to “celebrate every kind of beauty,” and to feature “real girls and models who are healthy.” Two… Continue reading Out From Behind A Mask: Young Women Claim Their Right to Be Proud of How They Look
Blog Posts
Walking in the Wild Woods to Find Truth
This summer, my garden has flourished like never before. Perhaps yours has, too. I’ve heard many people say the same. Maybe it was only the warm winter and wet spring, but it seems to me as if nature were beckoning me to an enchanted, ornate, and revelrous state of being. Raspberry bushes dance over one… Continue reading Walking in the Wild Woods to Find Truth
BELIEVE OR EXPLODE: Patti Smith’s Banga
Almost exactly 32 years ago I ditched my Chicago college graduation to fly halfway across the country, stay in a sleazy motel, and see the Patti Smith Group in LA. Four years before I had heard her transformational first album, Horses. Patti was, and is, a strong woman who believes in singing what she knows… Continue reading BELIEVE OR EXPLODE: Patti Smith’s Banga
Sister Circles Round and Round the Universe
To me, women’s circles are an essential part of our spirituality. We not only support one another in circle, but what happens in circles – whether formal planned circles for hundreds or quiet conversations between two or three over tea – is so often how spiritual transformations happen. It may be a chance word or… Continue reading Sister Circles Round and Round the Universe
Awaken, Snow White: Choose Your Spiritual Power Well
Snow White has, once again, arisen from her magic sleeping death. Her tale is featured in two new movies: Mirror, Mirror is a light-hearted, family-oriented take featuring what has to be admitted is a pretty boffo Bollywood ending while Snow White and The Huntsman is a summer action-adventure version complete with massive battles and Snow… Continue reading Awaken, Snow White: Choose Your Spiritual Power Well
Gravity at the Temple of Aphrodite
Celebrate February by honoring Aphrodite. Aphrodite, as she was known to the ancient Greeks (she was also called Venus by the Romans) is best known as the Goddess of romantic love and sensuality, but she can also be so much more. If you are in the Boston area before February 20, be sure to visit… Continue reading Gravity at the Temple of Aphrodite
SEEING DOUBLE: Goddess Pairs Pop into Popular Culture
One of the unexpected twists and turns of raising a child is becoming very well-acquainted with popular culture. I hadn’t really seen much commercial television or many movies for a good 15 years before I started watching them with my son and being occasionally surprised and delighted to see goddesses popping up in the oddest… Continue reading SEEING DOUBLE: Goddess Pairs Pop into Popular Culture
Revering Forgotten Dreams of Our Earliest Mothers
I begin the New Year with a post about our earliest art and spirituality… As we enter into winter’s deepest weeks here in the northern hemisphere, when the light is growing but the cold and snow drive us inside, it is a good time to enter into the “Cave of Forgotten Dreams,” as Werner Herzog… Continue reading Revering Forgotten Dreams of Our Earliest Mothers
Find Yourself By Getting Lost
Exactly two years ago today I was given a great gift by a nun looking for the highway. It was the end of the day and the only people in the community center where I work were myself and two other staff people. We were discussing how December 18 is a difficult anniversary for each… Continue reading Find Yourself By Getting Lost
Reveling in the Solstice
From mid- to late December, people from many times and places — from the ancient Hopi to classical Rome to medieval Europe– raucously reveled in a world turned upside down. For a few short days each year, everyone would sing and dance, mock the powerful and holy, and escape their cultural roles and responsibilities with… Continue reading Reveling in the Solstice
Goddess in a Teapot 