Creations: Writings
JUST ADDED!
Dancing in Blackness, A Memoir by Halifu Osumare
“A detailed picture of a life devoted to artistry, advocacy and profound intellectual inquiry centered on the histories, traditions and sociopolitical contexts of African Diaspora dance. . . . Our knowledge is deepened about not only the navigations around building a life as a black female dancer/scholar, but also the shifting meanings of blackness, black bodies, gender and intercultural encounter.”—British Journal of Aesthetics
Jambalaya: The Natural Woman’s Book of Personal Charms and Practical Rituals by Luishah Teish (2021)
A refreshed edition of Jambalaya: The Natural Woman’s Book of Personal Charms and Practical Rituals—updated with a note from the author sharing the changes that have occurred in the 30 years since its original publication.
Since its original publication in 1985, Jambalaya has become a classic among Women’s Spirituality Educators, practitioners of traditional Africana religions, environmental activists, and cultural creatives. A mix of memoir, spiritual teachings, and practices from Afro-American traditions such as Ifa/Orisha, and New Orleans Voudou, it offers a fascinating introduction to the world of nature-based spirituality, Goddess worship, and rituals from the African diaspora. More relevant today than it was 36 years ago, the wisdom of Jambalaya reconnects us to the natural and spiritual world, and the centuries-old traditions of African ancestors, whose voices echo through time, guiding us and blending with our own.
Dr. Annette Lyn Williams has made her wonderful dissertation available to the public free of charge!
From Veleda Press:
JUST OUT FROM FEMINIST SCHOLAR MAX DASHU!
Women in Greek Mythography
What they didn’t teach us about women in Greek myth and iconography: a richly illustrated ethnohistorical sourcebook. Women’s dance, ceremony, and spiritual culture from 1600 BCE to 300 CE: bee and snake shapeshifters, priestesses, prophecy, goddess temples. But also sexual politics of war and captivity, conquest and slaving, and the origins of “rape culture” in Western Civ. Ariadne of the Labyrinth, Herophile the Sibyl, the diviner Manto, Iō the once-priestess of Hera; the Libyan Danaides, Helen of Sparta, Kassandra of Troy, and the prophetic but persecuted daughter, Melanippe the Wise.
$24.99 + shipping (Currently shipping to US addresses. International shipping coming soon!)
From poet and cultural theorist Dr. Judy Grahn:
Judy Grahn is an internationally-recognized poet, writer, and social theorist. She is the author of fourteen books including the groundbreaking Another Mother Tongue, Blood, Bread, and Roses: How Menstruation Created the World, and most recently, A Simple Revolution. Eruptions of Inanna, and Hanging on Our Own Bones. Her website is www.commonalityinstitute.org
Revised and updated edition of Judy Grahn’s groundbreaking book on the lesbian poetic tradition.
“Poetry was important to the women’s movement and especially so to Lesbians. More than one Lesbian has been kept from floundering on the rocks of alienation from her own culture, her own center, by having access, at least, to Lesbian poetry… Through the centuries, our poetry has held that position in the branches of its lines, in fragments, and in the code of imagery. It is time, now, to begin to reveal that tradition.”
—From Judy Grahn’s Introduction to The Highest Apple
Lesbian Poetic Traditions: Judy Grahn, Julie R. Enszer, JP Howard & Alicia Mountain | LIVE from NYPL
The iconic feminist poet Judy Grahn re-explores the traditions of lesbian poetry from Sappho to Pat Parker and beyond.
Launch of The Highest Apple by Judy Grahn
Eruptions of Inanna
2022 Sarasvati Award Winner from ASWM
“Path-breaking lesbian poet and scholar Judy Grahn returns to the stories of Inanna, the Mesopotamian goddess of erotic love and justice, to reimagine the contemporary world” –Nightboat Books
Touching Creatures, Touching Spirit
“Touching Creatures, Touching Spirit illustrates with true stories that we live in an interactive, aware world in which the creatures around us in our neighborhoods know us and sometimes reach across to us, empathically and helpfully. Implications are that all beings live in a possible “common mind” from which our mass culture has disconnected, but which is only a heartbeat and some concentrated attention away. This mind encompasses microbial life and insects as well as creatures and extends to nonmaterial intelligence as well—that is to say, spirit.” –Red Hen Press
Descent to the Roses
“Descent to the Roses of a Family: A Poet’s Journey into Anti-Racism and Personal Social Healing is for those courageous enough to explore how family dynamics create and imprint the structures of white supremacy in each of us. Judy Grahn has used her masterful poem to expose and closely examine her own family’s roses (and thorns) of toxic racism and white supremacy. Grahn uses rich back-stories and mythology to guide us in the process of understanding and healing the split psyche that white supremacy causes and requires.” –Commonality Press
For more information about Judy’s work please visit: commonalityinstitute.org
A soul’s response to the COVID 19 pandemic, a waterfall of channeled messages assuring us of our divine strengths.
This book is a revelation. Or perhaps more like 72 revelations. Each one is unique; each one is a poem, a prayer, and a prophecy. Mystical and visceral. Divine and human. They lift the soul and crack the heart open. My prescription would be to start each morning with one of Leiah’s Amidah Gifts, and let it reverberate through the day. I can’t imagine a richer practice or better medicine. ~Rabbi Irwin Keller, Spiritual Leader, Ner Shalom
In the midst of our collective despair, Leiah Bowden opened the channels to the inflowing of Divine Wisdom from the highest realms. Her words are not only a balm that heals the deepest recesses of our troubled souls, but also invites us to experience ourselves and our world as overflowing with love and possibility beyond our imagining. What a gift! ~Shoshana Fershtman, JD, PhD, Jungian analyst and psychologist, and author of The Mystical Exodus in Jungian Perspective: Transforming Trauma and the Wellsprings of Renewal.
House of Four Doors
by Lauren Coodley ~ laurencoodley.com
From WomanSpirit Reclamation:
Patricia Lynn Reilly’s powerful work,
Eve: Our Mythic Mother
It’s Time for Eve’s Story To Be Told
Patriarchy crafted a version of Eve that discredits women’s intuition and erodes our credibility.
Sophia Rising by Monette Chilson
Sophia Rising reveals how people from any faith can use yoga to create a sacred space inside themselves. Author and yogini Monette Chilson demystifies yoga and explains Sophia– Greek for Wisdom– the iconic face of the feminine divine found in Western religious traditions. Through information and example, she invites readers to listen for the inner voice of Sophia and meld their own spiritual beliefs with their yoga.
SACRED CONVERSATONS
Please visit our NEW blog: SACRED CONVERSATIONS for more writings from our community!
An Excerpt from: Revisioning the Erotic
By D’vorah Grenn
A look at how contemporary thinkers are redefining the religious notion of ‘sin’, and at the attitudes and behaviors considered erotic from a woman’s point of view – an excerpt from Lilith’s Fire: Reclaiming Our Sacred Lifeforce by this site’s creator.
Liturgy for Lilith
Cosi Fabian
A fresh example of the ways we can re-vision icons and mythical-religious symbols, from mythologist, writer and sex activist Cosi Fabian (1991).
Lost Book of Lilith
By Rachel Havrelock
A look at how contemporary thinkers are redefining the religious notion of ‘sin’, and at the attitudes and behaviors considered erotic from a woman’s point of view – an excerpt from Lilith’s Fire: Reclaiming Our Sacred Lifeforce by this site’s creator.
Flowers of Torah: Prayers of a Priestess by D’vorah K’lilah (Volumes 1 & 2 available from the author)
Groundbreaking, earth-loving, woman-honoring, historically-inclusive Jewish siddur for personal prayer practice and home use. This book of prayers for the Queen of Heaven composed by a Kohenet, a Jewish Priestess, is based on millennia of Ancient Near East cultural wisdom. Author email: dvrkllh@gmail.com
Witches and Pagans: Women in European Folk Religion, 700-1100 by Max Dashu
Swa wiccan taeca∂ ::: “as the witches teach.”
So, explained an Old English translator, witches counseled the people to “bring their offerings to earth-fast stone, and also to trees and to wellsprings—as the witches teach.”
These women were carrying out ceremonies of reverence for Nature—something very different than what we have been taught about witches…
From Veleda Press. Downloadable Contents, Preface, and chapter excerpts.
With gratitude to Leiah Bowden https://www.lightspeak.com/ for her beautiful poetry and imagery in this piece, “The Gift of the Drum” — and for including my drum: https://www.lightspeak.com/post/the-gift-of-the-drum?fbclid=IwAR2Rf_cb2c8CxKEPtIwFNH2Xy17-rztBvPatqBLuCpx0HJm__XKQ_1XellY
Works from The Girl God Press
…created by Trista Hendren and sustained by her, together with her amazing crew who produce many treasures for girls and women every year, including:
Original Resistance: Reclaiming Lilith,
Reclaiming Ourselves
“There is, perhaps, no more powerful archetype of female resistance than Lilith. As women across the globe rise up against the patriarchy, Lilith stands beside them, misogyny’s original challenger. This anthology—a chorus of voices hitting chords of defiance, liberation, anger and joy—reclaims the goodness of women bold enough to hold tight to their essence. Through poetry, prose, incantation, prayer and imagery, women from all walks of life invite you to join them in the revolutionary act of claiming their place—of reclaiming themselves.” –Girl God Books
“Women (and the people who love us) must dig deep into our souls to liberate the questions that have been locked away in our time capsules. We must traverse the annals of history to unearth the sacred sites that have been violently gentrified by white patriarchy. We must find the Divine Truth that cannot be claimed, contained or tamed. What better place to start than at the beginning with Lilith, the world’s first woman.” –Christena Cleveland, Ph.D., in her Preface
Re-membering with Goddess
“Understanding trauma is liberating. Healing trauma is revolutionary. Speaking about trauma is political. Women and their bodies are no longer willing to be silent to or be the secret store of patriarchal abuse, control, and power. Goddess is showing the way, cell-by-cell, emotion-by-emotion, sensation-by-sensation. Healing trauma is a portal for freedom and a gateway to societal and collective change.
Re-Membering with Goddess is an anthology of women’s experiences of trauma—trauma as a result of patriarchy; trauma perpetuated by patriarchy; and how through personal healing of trauma the Goddess is re-membered, re-embodied and resurrected.” –Girl God Books
My Name is Medusa by Glenys Livingstone Illustrated by Arna Baartz
A new children’s book , the story of the greatly misunderstood Goddess, including why she likes snakes.
‘My name is Medusa’ explores the “scary” dark side, the potency of nature and the importance of dreams.
Arna Baartz gorgeously illustrates this tale by Glenys Livingstone, teaching children (big and small) that our power often lies in what we have been taught to fear and revile.
Jesus, Muhammad and the Goddess
35 International contributors reflect on finding Goddess within (and without) Christianity and Islam.
“Can You Kill the Spirit? What Happened to Female Imagery for God in Christian Worship?” ~Carol P. Christ, Ph.D
“By altering tradition – and amending the translation from the (now) traditional “He” to “She” – does the collective consciousness of the Ummah shift? Do we authentically reclaim The Divine Feminine inside Allah that was acknowledged 1400 years ago? Do we eliminate the neo-patriarchal paradigm that infects the Islam of our “modern” era?” ~Shahla Khan Salter
“How did we go from a place where women were honored and respected and rape was inconceivable, to a place where women are treated as little more than intelligent animals to be used and tossed away?” ~Liona Rowan
Creations: Videos & Podcasts
For information on how to buy or rent Meet Mary Pleasant:
See Judy Grahn read her beautiful (and visually breathtaking!) poem “Bowls”, and meet other wonderful poets in Poetry Witch Community’s “An Exaltation of Goddesses” HERE.
Grahn starts speaking at nine minutes in.
www.commonalityinstitute.org
www.poetrywitch.com
Enjoy The Revelation Project Podcast featuring Lilith’s Fire: Honoring the Sacred Feminine with D’vorah J. Grenn, Ph.D., Kohenet
Creations: Sacred Arts
Artio Speaks breast plate/ceremonial neckwear
“This piece, Artio Speaks breast plate/ceremonial neckwear, was inspired by lapis moons, evolved as each bead was stitched down, and surprised its creator. Hands were guided in mystical fashion; Artio, Bear Goddess had her way.”
-Maura McCarley Torkildson, Artist
Mtorkildson@att.net | 925-207-9525 | Text is best contact method
For purchase information and to see more of her work:
Nedra Williams
Artist Statement:
Conjure Collage Art and Design is my Oakland based company whose connection to water is spiritual, natural and divine. As an artist and designer, I use my relationship with water as a catalysis to the world of symbolic reflection. The dream life, like water becomes a stage for creation without limits. At home in the serenity and solitude of my studio, memories of the face of a woman at the ocean, a young man working at his craft, great monuments, and images of nature join together, divinely guided, in my mind and through my hand to create my art. Influenced by the history of my culture, I choose to embrace the aesthetic and spirituality of the African Diaspora. That choice is neither limiting nor exclusive. My passion for art exhibits a reclamation and illumination of the ancient symbols, which portray the rituals, and stories of our collective remembrance.
AlcheMysticAmulets
Aethereal Armour For The Soul
Website: www.alchemysticamulets.com
Email: mimi@mimimetta.com | Text: 213-910-6464
At first glance she appears to be a Twin Quartz as she exhibits two terminations at the top. But wait, there might be three! Gaze within her and you will find three rainbows. She also features an Isis face that brings in a beautifully strong and healing Goddess energy.
Rose Quartz and Rhodochrosite Meditation Amulet
Inspired by malas and rosaries, this beauty features a raw Rose Quartz cabochon suspended from a strand of faceted Rose Quartz and Rhodochrosite beads. Approximately 30 inches in length she can be worn as a necklace as well as used in your meditations. Where a traditional Mala has 108 beads, this beauty has 54 beads. Two rounds of the strand of beads will give you a count of 108 if you do a traditional mantra meditation.
Check out powerful works by Marni Rothman, Jewess Dept. of Magic, at:
https://www.instagram.com/p/CGIQHMpF4GK and https://www.instagram.com/jewess_dept_of_magic
Also, see her page at: https://linktr.ee/jewessdeptofmagic
