Phew ON PEW, I SAY!

Re: the Goddess Movement, the recent “Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life's survey on American religion” dropped the ball.

At least they had a Pagan category. Guess they lumped us in with Thor and the rest of the old war gods.

Gee, thanks, dudes.

According to the Chronicle of Higher Education, the Pew study “is one of the most careful and comprehensive ever conducted on the American religious landscape.”

Uh, excuse, but I don't think so. They left out the Goddess!

One biggie thingy the Pew study did expose, however, is this: “…it is becoming increasingly obvious that the term ‘Judeo-Christian’ no longer makes sense, given how many Americans are neither.”

While American kiddies are running from the Protestants like a chocolate bunny runs from a hot day in Dallas, not so with American Hindu and Muslim kids. Among Hindus, 76% are under the age of 50. Among Muslims the number is 63% under 50.

So Pew Study sits back, taps its hoary chin, and opines thusly: “As far as the young are concerned, the prospects for a Protestant majority, let alone a Moral Majority, seem bleak.”

Hm. I wonder what this says for the Goddess Movement? Will it be Hindus and Muslims our grandkids duke it out with? Should we be concentrating harder on opening the eyes of American Hindus and Muslims to the Great Goddess?

If we convince them their parents’ gods are deadly, could and would they share that info with Muslims and Hindus in the rest of the world?

BTW, to go to the horse’s mouth re: the Pew Study, jog on over to HERE.
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Thnx to normy for the foto; go HERE to see more.

WEDNESDAY NIGHT Witches

What a day!

My Aunt Evelyn Sayers returned to the Goddess today. Never had much contact with Aunt Evie, and what I had wasn’t always easy.

Nevertheless, I can’t help feeling as if Evie's all around us now, a part of the Great Mother Herself, and incapable of anything but love, laughter, and celestial humor.

Aunt Evie, I love you. I know you’re in a place of deep peace and joy. Please bless all of us here on the earth plane.

Also today, my path crossed with a descendant of one of the witches murdered in the Salem witch trials.

Luann grew up on a Maine island and is blessed with psychic abilities – probably the same her Salem ancestor had. She’s an English major at the University of Southern Maine and edits for authors as a way of beefing up her resume for future post-grad jobs. One of the writers she’s edited for – Lee Nichols -- wrote a book based on her life: The Wednesday Night Witches.

This afternoon at my kitchen table, Luann and I shot the breeze about Salem witches, witchcraft, the Orion Belt, writing, editing, and what Luann sees as the ignorance of northern Maine (but what I see as Goddess-ignorance that criss-crosses not just Maine, but the whole of North America).

Love 2 u all!
Your Athana
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Thnx to ms ladyred for the fine foto; go HERE to see more of her work.

WHAT THE WORLD Needs NOW

The world is in desperate need of Mother Goddess.

To most this proclamation will sound like an abomination.

That’s because for the past six millennia the world has been brainwashed to recoil with horror from its own best self interest – a larger-than-life role model revolving around unconditional love.

But several millennia ago, civilizations did guide themselves with Mother Goddesses.

And they were the last warless, classless and psychologically healthy civilizations the world has ever known.
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Thnx to Naira Oganesyan for the foto; go HERE to see more of her fabulous work.

Walking DOWN A SIDEWALK BACKWARDS

From Daily Kos:

"Having gotten their butts kicked for 150 years in science and their clocks cleaned over the last 40 years in court, anti-science goons have reached deep into their black bag of tricks and pulled out a new gimmick called Academic Freedom Bills.

"By academic freedom, they mean a teacher is free to teach creationism (or ostensibly anything else in any other subject), and the student is free to blow off mastering the curricula and answer any question or complete any homework assignment using whatever variant of right-wing anti-science nonsense they dream up." MORE>>>

Academic Freedom? Yay! If we're all free to tinker with the hallowed halls of academe, I'd like a course on How to Walk Down a Sidewalk Backwards and Not Trip.

And while we're at it, let's get this course on the books ASAP: Flying to the Moon on My Green Umbrella 101.

And -- oh! oh! oh! One on How to Get Even with Nurse Rachet When She Sticks Me with That Needle!
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Thnx to evaxebra for the photo; go HERE to see more of her work.

Grant O Goddess Thy Protection

A Sacred and very meaningful Beltane to all of you, dear readers.

Grant, O Goddess, thy Protection
And in protection, Strength
And in strength, Understanding
And in understanding, Knowledge
And in knowledge, the Knowledge of Justice
And in the knowledge of justice, the Love of it
And in the love of it, the Love of all Existences
And in the love of all existences, the Love of Goddess and all Goodness.

THE SWEETEST PARENTS Break YOUR BONES

The latest on the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, that Mormon sect shut down by Texas for child abuse:

Out of 464 kids, at least 41, some of them ''very young,'' have evidence of broken bones.

They haven’t checked out all the kids yet, so chances are that 41 is a low kids-with-broken-bones figure.

What I don’t understand is this: Why is everyone going google-eyed over this?

The kids with the broken bones were probably stubborn.

And the Bible says if your kid is stubborn, ya stone him to death.

So these are some of the sweetest parents on the planet. All they did was break a few bones.
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Thnx to txd for the foto; go HERE to see more.

Pagans & DUBYA’S FAITH-BASED INITIATIVE

Think there’s a cat’s chance in hell a Pagan group could capture one of Dubya’s “Faith-Based Initiative” grants? Excuse me for a moment [HAHAHAHAHAHAH, AHAHAHAHAH -- hiccup -- HA AHARDY HAR HAR!]. Ahem. Better, now.

If so, take a gander at this:

“… faith-based grant applications were supposed to be reviewed by a White House panel in a ‘religiously neutral fashion,’ but … the panel's ratings were ‘a farce’…. One panel member [said]: "When I saw one of those non-Christian groups in the set I was reviewing, I just stopped looking at them and gave them a zero [out of a possible 100]…’” [from a letter I got recently from the Interfaith Alliance].
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Thnx to Angela for the foto. Go HERE to see more of her work.

THE GODDESS AND Agape

Just for fun today, I shot “ancient Goddess” and “agape” together into Scroogle's search box.

After clicking on the search button and waiting a beat, a list of articles popped onto my computer screen. At the very top of the list was an article about the book The Giuliana Legacy, by Alexis Masters.

Well, after reading only a few reviews, I felt compelled to stop and order a copy. Here, from four different reader reviewers, are some snippets about what looks like a must-have Goddess book:

“As a freelance editor, for personal and professional reasons I generally do not review books I have worked on, but there are a very few novels for which I make exceptions because for me they are exceptional. More than well crafted novels, they are work that is outside the box in some rare and moving way that broadens my mind and deepens my soul personally and professionally…”

“One of the best stories I've read about the Goddess. I loved the idea that a thoroughly modern woman is suddenly forced to face herstory and discovers she's the hereditary head of an ancient religion….”

“While reading, there were times when I was in tears , times when I was on the edge of my seat, and times when I was in a dream-like trance….”

“The Giuliana Legacy is better that the Mists of Avalon at introducing the ancient Goddess religion and its mysteries of love.”

Go HERE for more.
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Thnx to Rafael Z.A. for the foto; go HERE to see more of his work.