Lost A ROUND, NOT THE WAR

Well, we lost a round yesterday. Mr. Slimy -- uh Sammy Alito slithered up onto the Supreme Court of the Land.

But haven't lost the war. We'll keep fighting, the way our ancestors fought against evil, ignorance and "compassion fatigue" (as we used to say when I worked with refugees), i.e., compassion for the poor, the physically challenged, women, minorities, the mentally ill, the mentally challenged, the worker, the refugee, the shrinking middle class, anyone not a right-wing fundie. You know -- just about all of us.

For whatever reasons, America seems in the dark about the pit-bull views of Mr. Alito, and of the black corners he will lead into now that he's slithered onto the Court. I am fully convinced however, that if Americans did know, they would be marching in the streets.

When future historians throw their gaze back onto these first days of 2006, I'm glad they'll see our names on the list of those who stood strong against Slime -- Slith- ... uh .. Samuel Alito.

WINGNUTS Hammering DEMOCRATIC SENATORS

Found this just now on the blog Vichy Democrats:

"There are Democrats in conservative states who are being HAMMERED by religious conservative voters who know Alito will undercut or overturn Roe. James Dobson [the Radical Right Wingnut] has told several D[emocratic] senators that he will target them for defeat if they do not vote "yes" [to place Samuel Alito on the Supreme Court] . At least two such Senators have asked the Democratic community to give them political "cover" -- i.e., a way to do what they want to do on Alito without giving ammunition to far-right, out-of-state groups to use in campaign ads against them. Like it or not, that's how the game is played." [10:08 AM COMMENT]

MORE>>>

Dobson should be jailed for inserting religion into the U.S. federal government. Can we do that?

There's still an hour left, people, to call your senators. Urge them to "support the filibuster against Sam Alito," to "Vote 'no' on cloture, or, failing that, to at least abstain from voting."

green eggs & ham

HERE'S another blog with ideas about action you can take to forestall Strip-Search Sammy.

Oats, Eggs & Powdered Milk

Thirty years from now, as Mr. Strip-Search Sammy Alito sits with his feet propped up on a Supreme Court railing, filing his nails and humming a little tune called "I Love Fascism, How 'Bout You?" are you going to look back and be proud of what you did to stop him?

You, of course, will be living in a country with one party only (the FarRightWingnuttery Party; it's beaten the former, comparatively lovable Republican Party into the ground. The Democratic Party is an ancient anomoly no one remembers).

Women lost the right to their bodies in 2008, the right to credit in 2009, and the right to vote in 2010. In 2011 it became legal to pay women $2.00 per hour for all labor assigned by the government (which is the only work women are allowed to do, and which consists mostly of sanitary engineering and a few factory assembly-line jobs).

Congress disbanded in 2015; it had become a figurehead body with no purpose but satisfying historical sentimentality.

98% of Americans, unable to afford gas, cars, TVs or homes, huddle in cells in cement-block buildings 50+ stories high. Elevators work occasionally. On each floor is a communal TV set bolted high on the wall; these work more often than the elevators. Food is dumped monthly on the doorstep of each building -- rolled oats, reconstituted eggs, and powdered milk.

All Americans are required to attend the Church of Fundamental Christian Wingnuttery on Sundays or face lengthy jail sentences. Those practising other religions automatically face the death penalty.

~~~~~

My Dear Fellow Americans:

Call your senators TODAY BEFORE 4 PM. You only have two. If you can afford it, call them at their state offices, because it's harder to get through to anyone's Washington offices -- the lines are jammed. Go HERE to get the phone numbers.

The email below, which I got this morning, will tell you everything you need to know in order to call:

Dear Friends and Activists,

Over the weekend you generated a tsunami of phone calls supporting a filibuster of Alito. Today at 4:30 PM EST is the cloture vote on the Alito filibuster, and with your dedication we will generate two tsunamis.

We will win because we will hit them where they are weakest, their fear of not getting reelected. In your calls today we will arm you below with specifics about candidate registration deadlines for primary challenges so THEY know WE know where their election hopes live.

The bottom line is ANY senator who betrays the will of the people must be removed from the general election before they have a chance to lose yet another seat because of their cowardice, and be replaced with a stronger candidate who WILL fight for the people and win. Regardless of how this turns out, we will immediately and aggressively move in that direction.

Very simply, in your calls today ask for a commitment that they will either vote against cloture OR abstain (either is acceptable). If not tell them you will encourage a challenger to run in their own state and support them any way you can. Use the details below (like cutoff date for primary candidate filing) to let them know how very serious you are.

Tell them what state you are actually calling from if they ask. Please concentrate on your own senators and the ones listed below as the key ones to sway. All the toll free numbers to the Washington offices we have are 888-355-3588, 888-818-6641, 800-426-8073, 877-851-6427, 866-340-9279 and 866-340-9281. The master list of all direct dial phone and fax numbers for all senators state by state including all district offices is HERE:

UP FOR ELECTION IN 2006

Daniel Akaka [HI], already has two primary challengers, one of whom, Ed Case, is a former elected state representative and is polling well.

Joe Lieberman [CT], already has a primary challenge looming from Ned Lamont who has set up an exploratory site, and until 5/16 to make the decision to jump in. They last thing Joe needs is lots of more encouragement for Lamont.

Bill Nelson [FL], currently has NO primary challenger, with until 5/12 to find one.

Ben Nelson [NE], currently has NO primary challenger, but if there is a concerned citizen in Nebraska who wants to run they have until 3/1 to register as a candidate.

Jeff Bingaman [NM], currently has NO primary challenger but still two weeks remain until the deadline for filing of 2/14.

Carper [DE], currently has NO primary challenger and all the way until 7/28 to enter the primary against him.

Kohl [WI], currently has NO primary challenger. We have heard he plans on skipping the vote, which is the same thing as an abstain. The filing deadline in Wisconsin is 7/11.

Cantwell [WA], is being already challenged by a strong progressive candidate, Mark Wilson.

Byrd [WV], has no serious primary challenger we can confirm and the 1/28 deadline has just expired. Perhaps you can appeal to his professed love of the Constitution which Alito would gut.

Robert Menendez [NJ], was just appointed but has to run himself this year. If he drops the ball there are challengers waiting in the wings and until 4/10 to decide.

Lincoln Chafee [RI] is a Republican who professes to be pro-choice and not feeling very secure right now about her 2006 prospects. Perhaps he is a possibility for abstention on cloture.

Olympia Snowe [ME] is a another Republican who professes to be pro-choice who must face the electorate in 2006. She should also be encouraged to abstain on cloture.

OTHER POSSIBLE SWING SENATORS

Blanche Lambert Lincoln [AR], up for reelection in 2010
Mark Pryor [AR], up for reelection in 2008
Tom Harkin [IA], up for reelection in 2008
Evan Bayh [IN], up for reelection in 2010
Mary Landrieu [LA], up for reelection in 2008
Susan Collins [ME], up for reelection in 2008
Carl Levin [MI], up for reelection in 2008
Max Baucus [MT], up for reelection in 2008
Frank Lautenberg [NJ], up for reelection in 2008
Tim Johnson [SD], up for reelection in 2008
Patty Murray [WA], up for reelection in 2010

Just tell them that failure to support this filibuster will be a deal breaker as Alito starts to cast the votes that his reactionary supporters absolutely know he will.

If you can't get through any other way, or even if you can, also submit these two action pages too:

http://www.millionphonemarch.com/nuke_option.php

http://www.millionphonemarch.com/reid.php

Let us be able to look back and say we did everything we could have done to win this victory in spite of the corrupt media pundits who are working overtime to tell us what we cannot do. We are proving them wrong day by day. At the very worst we will establish once and for all who we can never trust with the public office ever again.

Please take action NOW, so we can win all victories that are supposed to be ours, and forward this message to everyone else you know.

If you would like to get alerts like these, you can do so at http://www.usalone.com/in.htm

GODDESS & abortion

“Goddess religion recognizes that to value life as an un-tempered absolute is ridiculous – it is to maintain the right of every cancer cell to reproduce blindly, of every sperm and every egg to unite a new embryo, of every flea and cockroach to populate the world endlessly. Life is interwoven in a dance of death, the limiting factor that sustains the possibility of new life….

“The concern of the anti-abortion forces is not truly with the preservation of life, it is with punishment for sexuality….”

From an excellent article in Charlene Spretnak’s highly laudable The Politics of Women’s Spirituality: Essays on the Rise of Spiritual Power within the Feminist Movement, “Ethics and Justice in Goddess Religion,” by Starhawk.

SCIENCE QUIZ (circle the correct answer):

Which is the most deadly:

(a) The common cockroach, Blattodea blattaria.

(b) The common human, Homo sapiens sapiens, who, due to his Blattodea-like reproductive habits, depletes his own food, water and oxygen supplies and crowds all other life off the planet.

(c) The common deity, Jehovacus jahwehdicus allahadicus, who promises that if the common human fails to breed like Blattodea, he (the common human) will be slow roasted alive in a vast underground torture chamber for eternity.
___
furzyk, thnx for the foto

Defining GODDESS

Over at The-Goddess, Morgaine has beautifully defined “god” and “Goddess.” Some snippets:

“…The Rabbi Jesus tried to move the penitant away from the inherent violence in Yaweh's mythology, but the fundamentalists and Islamic extremists, like the Crusaders and Inquisitioners before them, have brought it back in all its gory detail. That's tragic, and it is the overarching problem facing humans in the 21st century. If those who claim the mantle "Christian" would actually follow the teachings of Jesus, we'd live in a kinder, more fair culture ….

snip

“Now, for my definitions of the divine - as I've said, I believe that the divine is female, and we are all born from Her. We are parts of Her living and conscious body, which sustains us and interacts with us. She is not "everywhere," She is every thing. All that has existed, exists, or will ever exist is here, now, and a part of Her. Because we are intimately connected, we can't do more of anything to anyone than we do to ourselves. For that reason, violence is madness. If you judge people, hate people, oppress people, you ultimately judge, hate and oppress yourself. That's not just philosophy, it's physics.”

Morgaine suggests Jehovah’s Golden Rule falls short of the Great Mother’s Rule. Unlike the former, the latter paints a picture of the physics underlying human interaction: others are, in fact, parts of you -- just as your ankles and eyelids constitute parts of you. As you treat them, so you treat yourself – with no choice in the matter.

About Jesus: I love this dude. He’s as tender and ferociously protective as a mother with babies, which to me is a major defining quality of the Goddess. But Jesus lacks body, sensuality, humor, and playfulness -- further colossal qualities of Goddess.

Stripping Jesus of body strips him of 75% of his power, just as stripping us of the same strips us of our power. But that’s what the madmen who built the mechanical Jehovah-Jesus were aiming for. Stripped of our power, we are putty in their hands.
_________
thnx to lhumble for the pix!

JehovahJawehAllah: PINNING HIM DOWN

In this post, which is an entry in Monday's GOD OR NOT CARNIVAL, I take a great flying leap and try to define god.

Now if you've visited me here before, you know I worship female deity. The option to define "female deity," however, was not offered, only the option to define "god."

So although I’m laboring under a gigundo handicap, I'm going to give it the old heave-ho anyhoo!

First, I lightened my load by narrowing the field, out of the hundreds clamoring for my attention, to one particular god (go see Anne at the gods are bored for an exact head count of all these guys). This particular god is JehovahJawehAllah.

To define this god, I consulted the ChristianJewishMuslim holy book, the BibleTorahKoran, and, after careful study, determined that JehovahJawehAllah is, in essence, an extraordinarily jealous god who adores war for war’s sake, and who gets subtle satisfaction out of ordering dads to roast sons over slow fires (never daughters – JJA appears in the dark re: the idea “daughter”).

Here’s a BibleTorahKoran passage to warm any mother’s heart: “Little Ike spoke up and said to his father Abe, "Father?" "Yes, my son?" Abe replied. "The fire and wood are here," Little Ike said, "but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?"

And then Abe replied, “No, kid, see, this time YOU are the burnt offering. The Dude-in-the-Sky gets off on smelling cooked boy. So just simmer down and let me knot this noose around your neck, okay? ... No, no, I promise, it won’t hurt….” (Genesis 22:7 etc.)

Now, even though movies pass him off as a sweet old guy in a bow tie, this JehovahJawehAllah is not a happy dude. Go find a bible concordance and look up “war.” To do it online, go HERE. Once you get HERE, plug “war” into the search box.

You’ll get rewarded with 364 hits. Not all hits show the word “war” per se; some show “warrior,” some “warnings” (of how JehovahJawehAllah will hurt you if you refuse to pot-roast Little Ike, or refuse to say “how high” when he says “jump.”). Once I saw “wardrobe.” Three times I saw “warm,” four times “wares,” “warranted” once, and once I saw “warped” (“he was a warped and sinful man”).

Now we’re down to 354 bible verses sporting the words “war” or “warn/warnings”; three-fourths of which are “war.” One-fourth are “warnings” about how and how hard JehovahJawehAllah will hurt you if you look at him cross-eyed.

(Personally, I think JehovahJawehAllah has a bit of personality B.O. I suspect his daddy beat on him a lot, so now he feels like passing on the favor. Some kind-hearted soul needs to drop a stick of personality deodorant on his doorstep.)

Now we come to [whispers] S - E - X. Let me tall ya: when it comes to sex appeal, this dude is HURTING. Frankly, I don’t even think he has a body, let alone sex organs. For example, when he wanted a son, he wouldn’t (or couldn’t) do that ugly, pimply sex-act thing. Instead, he told his underlings Mary & Joe do it. Actually, it was kind of him to let a woman in on the job -- lots of gods don’t do that. (Lots, for example, build sons in their own bodies, and then split their bellies open and the son pops out. Or they let daughters “spring forth full-grown” from their heads. Also, the first time JehovahJawehAllah did person-manufacturing, he did it using nothing but a guy’s rib. I kid you not.)

In sum: The definition of JehovahJawehAllah is as follows: n. A jealous, sexless old sadist with a temper problem who gets off on war for the sake of war.

So, boys and girls, now you know why the world’s in a pickle and a jam.

Don’t forget, though: the people JehovahJawehAllah’s caught in his mousetrap are not bad. Just brainwashed. We love and want to save them, for they know not what they do.

Woe TO WICCANS & WORSHIPPERS OF THOR

Why is the idea of Mr. Sammy Alito stepping up into the U.S. Supreme Court driving me bananas? Because from there he will step into a woman’s bedroom and patrol her sex organs? Yes. Most people in the know, know he will do that.

Because he’ll sweep minorities and women under the table, along with the poor, the elderly, the disabled, mine workers, all workers, and anyone else without lots and lots of cash? Yes. Most in the know, know he will do that.

These are dastardly things. But probably even worse is this: he will crawl over hot coals to crown Bush King. He seems hell-bent on giving the Shrub the power to do anything the Shrub wants. So, if Alito climbs up onto the Supreme Court and the Shrub doesn’t like your looks, the Shrub will be able to toss you in jail and throw away the key. I’m not talking figuratively, here, I’m talking literally. [Of course Shrublet wouldn't say that's why he was pitching you into the slammer. Even Shrub has a few noodles up there in his noggin.]

Ever wonder how much Shrub would like you if you’re not Christian? Ever wonder how he feels, for example, about Wiccans? Worshippers of Thor?

“Strip-Search Sammy” Alito is, according to that august mainstream rag The New York Times,

"...an eager lieutenant in the ranks of the conservative theorists who ignore our system of checks and balances, elevating the presidency over everything else. He has expressed little enthusiasm for restrictions on presidential power…. This would be worrisome at any time, but it takes on far more significance now, when the Bush administration seems determined to use the cover of the ‘war on terror’ and presidential privilege to ignore every restraint, from the Constitution to Congressional demands for information.”

Snip

“A filibuster is a radical tool. It's easy to see why Democrats are frightened of it. But from our perspective, there are some things far more frightening. One of them is Samuel Alito on the Supreme Court.”
MORE >>>

Breaking NEWS: FILIBUSTER POSSIBLE

The New York Times is calling for a filibuster of the Samuel Alito nomination!

And, sounds like John Kerry may be willing to organize one!

Sweet AS PEACHES

I've been calling Senators across the entire country today, and finding that it's not that hard to do! The people answering the phones at almost every Senator’s office sound like 13-year old girls -- high pitched, sweet little voices, kinda breathy -- nice as peaches. And all you say is "I'm calling to urge the Senator to support a filibuster against Samuel Alito."

OR

"I'm calling to urge the Senator to support a filibuster against the nomination of Sam Alito to the Supreme Court."

And you really need only one phone number to call any senator in the country: 1-888-355-3588. I guess that’s the White House switchboard.

So, you dial 1-888-355-3588 and you wait for the nice operator to answer (always a woman), and then you say, "I'd like the office of Senator Durbin, please." And they say, "Thank you, just one moment." And then you get the nice sweet 13-year-old, and you say, "I'd like to leave a message for Senator Durbin, please." And she'll say, "Okay!" And then you give your message. And voila! You're done.

So now, your homework assignment: First, call your own Senators. If they’re Democrats, urge them to support a filibuster. If they’re Republicans urge them to vote for Alito. And if you’re from Maine, Rhode Island or Alaska, your Republican Senators are sounding like they might vote against Alito. So urge them to vote no AND to support a filibuster.

That’s if you want a B on your homework. If you want an A, call the Democrats who are leading the battle against Alito and urge them to support a filibuster:

Harry Reid (NV)
Dick Durbin (IL)
Chuch Schumer (NY)
Debbie Stabenow (MI)
Pat Leahy (VT)

Now it is true that a couple of times the D.C. operators told me that a particular Senator's line was busy. So if you can't get through, and you want to earn an A++ from me on this assignment, look up the Senator's District Office number in your phone book or HERE.
Have fun!

THE Goddess & THE FAERIES

How many delicious tidbits about our ancient ancestral faiths are lying out there, somewhere, still waiting to be discovered? Since Christian peoples did their best to set fire to every last trace of these ancient faiths, it’s been a chore to unearth clues to how our ancestors actually worshipped.

Take fairy folk for instance. It’s only recently I’ve discovered that fairies represent an actual, ancient religion. Check out this book:

The Fairy-Faith in Celtic Countries W. Y. Evans-Wentz

“[This] classic study of traditional Celtic spirituality ties ancient Paganism, medieval myth, and traditional Fairy beliefs into a powerful celebration of Celtic wisdom and magic.... This magnificent book is a collection of stories, anecdotes, and legends from all six of the regions where Celtic ways have persisted in the modern world: Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Cornwall, Brittany, and the Isle of Man. It examines how Fairy spirituality survived in the face of hostility caused by modern science and religion. It celebrates how beliefs (which only a century ago were dismissed as quaint and superstitious) were, in fact, powerful principles of ancient Pagan magic that remained essential features of the Celtic world for generation after generation.
MORE>>>

The Goddess, the gods, the faeries and other more-than-human beings all dwelt together in a land the Celts called the “Otherworld.”

Is this -- once again – a matter of our ancestors cleverly hiding the truth of their religion in innocent children’s tales -- in this case, inside sweet, delicate little things with wings? I’m glad they did – we mightn’t have a clue of the old fairy religion otherwise.

BTW, if you ever get your hands on a copy of the original 1911 edition of The Fairy-Faith in Celtic Countries, be advised that it sells for from $250 to $702. Ouch. Go HERE to see. Fortunately, there's a new edition out under $10, used.

Matriarchy, SCHMATRIARCHY!

Still think matriarchies are Fig Newtons of the imagination? Go check out the speakers at last year’s International Matriarchy Conference. Each snippet below is from a different speaker:

“I was born into a very typical Mosuo family. Mosuo is regarded as a unique ethnic group mostly because we follow a matriarchal system, where the common people live their whole lives in the maternal family home and never marry their lovers. (Mosuo, China)

“Pre-patriarchal societies, such as the Khoisan of Southern Africa, are examples of harmonious, gender-continuous, nonviolent lifestyles, which can be used to construct alternative models to violence and inequity. (Khoisan, South Africa)

“The Tuareg promote a woman-centered pattern based on several principles - the necessity of diversity, contradiction and balance creating social dynamism - that finally contradict the theory of a universal male dominance over women. (Tuareg, north Africa)

“Woman-power may be a new cultural idea among Europeans and their descendants, but it is an old and mature idea among the Native Americans.... In fact, by law, the men's councils may not consider a matter that has not been discussed by the women and forwarded to them by the women's consensus.... The Iroquoian Constitution is careful to clarify that men have the same rights as women. (Iroquoi, North America)

“Our pre-Columbian culture was devoted to the reverence of Nature and the equality of gender, as evidenced by the presence and respect for female as well as male shamans.... We continue to revere Nature and renew our bond as a commitment to the Sacred Mother Earth. (Zapotec, Mexico)

Go HERE for little two-paragraph summaries of all 30-some lectures.

_____________
The foto is of Hengde Danshilacuo, one of the Mosuo speakers at the Conference.

Goddess WISDOM

"We are all cells in the body of the Goddess, each unique, each with a special task, and special gifts. Knowing this at your core, brings peace, harmony and unimaginable joy."

From the Spiral Goddess Grove

Wearing CEMENT SHOES

This came from Morgaine at The-Goddess:

"Sen. Reid's office put out a report entitled 'Republican Abuse of Power.' It singled out 33 Republican senators for various ethical lapses and transgressions.

"Republicans are treating this as some sort of outrage. And they actually got Reid to apologize for it. 'The document released by my office yesterday went too far and I want to convey to you my personal regrets.'"

Here's a thought: maybe we should vote only single, orphaned people into Congress. That way the Bush Crime Family can't threaten them with hints about dropping their loved ones into the Potomac wearing cement shoes on their feet.

GOVT. Goggles AT GOOGLE

Dear Radical Goddess Readers,

If you're using one of the major search engines (Google, Yahoo, AOL), it's time to switch:

Google subpoena roils the Web;
US effort raises privacy issues
By Hiawatha Bray, Globe Staff | January 21, 2006

"The US government's demand for millions of Internet search records from Google Inc. and other prominent search firms has raised new questions about the vast amounts of personal information collected by companies.

snip

"'There's something disturbing about the notion that when you search for something the government is going to be looking over your shoulder,' said Kurt Opsahl, staff attorney for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, an Internet civil liberties group.

snip

"Opsahl suggested that Internet users concerned about privacy should do their Internet searches through Scroogle or other Internet 'proxies' that hide the address of the searcher."

MORE>>>

LADY Liberty LEAGUE

Go HERE for info on the Lady Liberty League.

“LLL provides information and networking assistance to individuals and organizations concerned with religious freedom issues pertaining to Wiccan ways, Paganism, and other forms of Nature religions. LLL members include specialists in a variety of focus areas, including public relations, countering harassment, employment issues, child custody issues, military affairs, law enforcement relations, legal affairs, interfaith relations, scholars support, and others." (from the Circle Sancutary website).

KEY WORDS: law, legal defense, legal aid, Circle Network, lawyers, legal rights, legal cases, law suits, discrimination]

God's Campaign in Ohio

This is from Echidne of the Snakes:

Politics has entered religion, no way around it. In Ohio the radical right-wing clerics had a little gettogether:

Against a large U.S.-flag backdrop and flanked by large projection screens, Ohio Restoration Project founder Russell Johnson brought his 10-city Patriot Pastors tour to the Akron-Canton area Tuesday.

A choir and a gospel quartet brought the audience to its feet with praise songs as images of American landmarks, heroes and troops moved across the screens.

Johnson warned that Christians have allowed a ``secular jihad'' to remove prayer, the Ten Commandments and the Bible from public places.

He likened it to Nazi Germany, where church congregations would sing so that they could not hear the passing of trainloads of crying Jews headed for a nearby concentration camp.

Too many Christians lead ``Neville Chamberlain lives,'' Johnson said, referring to the British prime minister who signed a neutrality pact with Adolf Hitler.

A picture of Hitler and Chamberlain flashed on the screens.

``We're calling God's people to pray, to serve, to shine and to be salt and light,'' he said.

Johnson criticized the ``handful of our religious friends on the left who have formed an unholy alliance with the secular left'' to challenge the religious exemption of his organization.

And guess who spoke at this shindig, too? No-one else but the one and only Kenneth Blackwell, the man who gave us George Bush. What did he say? This:

Blackwell spoke of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s call to be more than observers. He said Christians must ``define, fortify, help shape, influence the mores'' of the culture.

He said Christians must be on the front line, causing change. They must bring behavior in line with what they say they believe.

"They must bring behavior in line with what they say they believe"? Whose behavior? Their own or our behavior?

Now do you believe me when I say that we are on the road to Margaret Atwood's Gilead?

THE WHITE Goddess

Last Friday, in my spending spree at the Kennebunkport Library (see last Friday’s post), the Goddess smiled upon me. I dug up an old 1948 first edition of a famous and fabulous book: Robert Graves’ The White Goddess.

The White Goddess is chock full of everything our ancient pagan European ancestors held sacred, from their old Goddesses and Gods to their sacred trees, numbers, and alphabets. Deities featured prominently are Arianrhod, Blodeuwedd, Cerridwen, Apollo, Bran and Dionysus.
Since I possess a perfectly fine softcover copy of The White Goddess, I’ve decided to sell the 1st edition on eBay. (Valuable books worry me; I like to bombard my books with underlining, highlighting and margin doodles and use them as paper weights, or to sit on in cold or wet weather.)

So, tripping over to Amazon.com to check reviews of The White Goddess, I fell onto this disappointing news:

“Graves [the author] makes some observations that some would find offensive now, such as his allegation that women can't be real poets - they have no Muse to appeal to, the White Goddess only wants the worship of males. He makes a possible exception of Sappho, for what it's worth.”

A pox on you, Mr. Graves, I say! (Mr. Graves actually IS in the grave, having died in 1985.)

This reminds me of archaeologist Nanno Marinatos’ The Goddess and the Warrior: The Naked Goddess and Mistress of Animals (Remember? I whined bitterly last year to all of you about selling the Athana Family jewels to afford it.).

Anyway. Nanno draws a sharp line between the Minoan Goddess(es), all pre-patriarchal, and some of the early patriarchal Greek Goddesses, lots of whom ran around completely naked. Nanno says these later, immodest Goddesses were able to force wild animals into submission. And, says Nanno, they were thought to protect men and warriors only, never women.

The “naked Goddess,” says Nanno, was short-lived, but lead later to certain Goddesses we all know and love: Circe, the Gorgon, Medusa and Artemis. The Naked Goddess took several forms, including “Mistress of Animals.”
_________
thnx to The Spiral Goddess Grove for the picture of the triple moon

Looking TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE?

Morgaine at The-Goddess is looking for Goddess lovers to swell the ranks of her all-new Goddess-movement activist group, GoGoddess. We will write to organizations urging them to give "equal time" to the Goddess. We need at least six more members; more, of course are welcome!

The group’s mission statement:

“This group is assembled for one purpose - to demand equal time for the Goddess and Her people in public discourse. We agree to send emails, and occasionally write letters or make phone calls to media, politicians, and public figures when the Goddess is ignored, denigrated, or excluded from topics or panels in which our community must be counted."

Who knows? This could be the beginning of powerful world change. And you could be in on it. So drop what you're doing and amble on over to Yahoo.com, click on “groups,” type “GoGoddess,” and join up now.

GOOD Battling EVIL

Keep it foremost in your mind: we are the supreme good. Never forget how we were murdered, mutilated, and outlawed by the war gods. The battle between Good and Evil is between us and them -- not (as the war gods have brainwashed many to believe) between “god” and his “devil.”

Plagiarized FAITH

This book was recommended by Rick at Agrophobic, from Down Under: Pagan and Christian Creeds: Their Origin and Meaning, 1998, Edward Carpenter.

Here’s what one Amazon.com reviewer had to say about it:

“I had always known that Early Christianity 'borrowed' from pagan religions some holidays and practices, but it was not until I read this book did I know the depth of theft. Almost like a plagiarism of faith intended to convert the masses (which it sadly succeeded in doing)....”

Walker's Women's Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets is also a great source on this topic.
____
thnx to beate for the foto of the "Kangaroo Paw," a native Australian plant.

Healing PRAYER

Oh Great Goddess
Mother of Mercy and Healing

Send the energy of Hygeia
to nourish from Her Sacred Bowl

Send the energy of Brigid
to heal with waters of Her Sacred Well

Send the energy of Demeter
to restore life to withering cells

Send the energy of Quan Yin
to bless the healing with peace

Send Your healing wisdom to the body
to restore its sacred balance

Thank You Great Goddess
Mother of All Life

MORE PRAYERS>>>
__________
Thank you to Spiral Goddess Grove for both the prayers and the image of the Goddess Isis

Killing FOR JESUS

Killing FOR JESUS; or, BARBARITY BY THE BOOK

In yesterday’s post, I wrote that “Moderate christians say it doesn’t matter that the bible harbors [violence-promoting] verses…. This is a lie. It matters. These verses direct the real behavior of real people. Forget that often these real people are mentally deranged (Phelps, Robertson, Hitler, etc., etc.).”

Believe it or not, the first thing that tumbled into my lap this morning was an article in Vanity Fair that proved to be a picture-perfect example. It seems that, for the past 19 years, a devout christian by the name of Joseph Kony has been “… enslaving, torturing, raping, and murdering Ugandan children, many of whom have become soldiers for his "Lord's Resistance Army" (L.R.A.)….”

“A former Catholic acolyte in his 40s, Kony has … found bible justifications for killing witches, for killing pigs because of the story of the Gadarene swine, and for killing people because god did the same with Noah's flood and Sodom and Gomorrah. Nice to know that he is immersed in the Good Book."

"After carefully reading the bible, Kony "... helped himself to about 50 captives as ‘wives,’ claiming Old Testament authority for this (King Solomon had 700 spouses)….”

From “Childhood’s End,” by Christopher Hitchens.

Visit THE SPIRAL GODDESS

If you haven’t already, take a trip to the Spiral Goddess Grove. It's a fascinating place, flowing with inspiration, filled with information, each room a work of art, crafted from a unique combination of visuals, liturgy, music and mood. Here's the Home Page:

"An online Sacred Temple of the Great Goddess.

"A place for All who seek the ancient wisdom of the Goddess and the peace and strength of Nature. The Grove offers a glimpse into the sacred feminine with Goddess Altars, Goddess Groves, small sanctuaries and tranquility. Here abide the Goddesses, the Crone, Diana, Inanna, IsIs, Kore, Demeter, Kali, Aphrodite, Ishtar, Yemaya, Brigid, Venus, Kuan Yin, the dancing Minoan Snake Goddess, the Muses, the GreenMan and many more.
Step into the Spiral Goddess Grove and enjoy all this and more!

"Goddess Names * Discovering Yourself * Ritual & Renewal * Goddess Lands * Great Goddess Altar * Asherah Altar * Altar of Astarte * Aphrodite's Altar * Brigid Altar * Breathe Deeply * A Goddess Garden * Grove of Rememberance * Deep at Your Core * A Creation Story * Crone Moon Grove * Dawn of a New Day * Temple of Artemis-Diana * Flowing with Nature * GreenMan Grove * Goddess Prayers
* Goddess 101 * Pagan 101 * Healing Altar * The Hearth * Human Heritage & the Goddess * Inanna ~ Ishtar Altar * Altar of IsIs * Goddess Jewels * Kid's Grove * The Kid's Beach * Kid's Spirit * Kid's Coloring Page * Labyrs Altar * Mary Page * The Muse * Night Mother Grove * Rainbow Heart Grove * Altar of Serenity * SpiralGrove * Spirit Path * Vinca Altar * Ancient Goddess Grotto * Sacred Wall Art * Ocean Mother * Kali Ma Altar * A Faery Page * Trees & Glades *Links * Awards & WebRings *"

ERZEBET Dug HER OWN GRAVE -- LITERALLY

If you've visited over the past few weeks, you may have already read parts of this post. It's an entry in the God or Not Carnival.
__________

On your comfy couch, lights low, you sit quietly in a corner reading the christian bible. All is peace and love, right?

Not. Many of us have been brainwashed at young and defenseless ages into viewing this deadly book as peaches and cream. Nothing could be further from the truth.

To break through the brainwashing, try imagining your children memorizing verses in which Jehovah kills, murders and maims. Or hoots and howls with delight at someone’s bad luck. Or check out how the bible’s used in particular contexts as a lethal weapon. It’s then that the horror dawns. In my January 7 post, for example, “More Verses for the Kids to Memorize,” christian Fred Phelps throws biblical verses around like deadly, poison-tipped darts:

We humbly thank Mr. Fred Phelps for the verses below (Mr. Phelps uses them to prove that “god is laughing, mocking and deriding hypocritical, fag-infested West Virginia”):

1) “The One enthroned in heaven laughs; the lord scoffs at them. Then he rebukes them in his anger and terrifies them in his wrath.” Psalms 2:4-5

(2) "I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh; When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you. " Prov. 1:26-27.

(3) "The lord shall send upon thee cursing, vexation, and rebuke, in all that thou settest thine hand unto for to do, until thou be destroyed, and until thou perish quickly; because of the wickedness of thy doings, whereby thou hast forsaken me." Deut. 28:20.

Mr. Phelps suggests that West Virginians should “Thank god for 12 dead miners,” since these men are signs that the lordgod is spitting mad at them (WVs) for allowing gays, lesbians, bisexuals and the transgendered over the West Virginia state line, and reminders that if WV would just chuck all those GLBTs, no miner ever again would have to die.

Daily Lesson: Don’t forget kids, the Bible’s lordgod laughs like mad when you get a boo-boo, take sick, and/or die.

Not long ago, in a time not unlike our own, war-god followers used biblical verses to hunt down and exterminate innocent women and men. Then as today, the christian church was terrified of losing its fear-based power. Below is a passage from an Inquisition-torture case. As we hover on the brink of annointing a new Supreme Court Justice, a man nominated by a scriptural-literalist, and a man many think sees women as less than fully human, I think the passage is appallingly appropriate:

"Judge: Do you confess that you made love potions and let the young men from Csongrad [sic] drink of it so that they all became enamored of you?

"Erzebet: No. I know nothing of such a drink.

"JUDGE: Do you confess that sitting on a wand you flew up and became a bird?

"Erzebet: No, I don’t.

"JUDGE: Do you confess that you spat upon the wheatfields and thereby caused a great drought?

"Erzebet: No.

"JUDGE: Do you confess that you gave birth to twins and then buried them alive?

"Erzebet: It is true that I gave birth to twins, your Honor, but they were dead. I had to bury them, otherwise I would be suckling them, since my milk is oozing after them.

"JUDGE: You had better admit to the rest of the charges or you will be tortured.

"Erzebet: I cannot, your Honor, because I have not done these things.

"Erzebet was then given over to be tortured. The sadist men could do anything to her that they wished. The priests were eating lunch and dinner while the poor woman screamed from pain. The torturers poured hot water into Erzsebet’s mouth through a sieve, and she finally confessed to everything. At that point she was sentenced to death.

"Erzebet had to dig her own grave. Then she was put in a casket that had the head-end sawed completely off. When they placed her in the casket, her face was looking through the hole into the ground, and the rest of her was buried alive. Then the men poked at Erzebet’s face with hot irons until she felt no more. At last, they chopped up her skull so that she could not rise by night to hunt them. All in the name of Jesus.’” Pp 184-85 in Zsusanna Budapest’s Holy Book of Women’s Mysteries, “From Mother’s Book of Sorrows,” 1980.

Although I’m pained at including the above, I think it’s vital we routinely revisit the behavior warrior gods dig out of good men. Men aren’t bad; it’s just that the gods driving them are sick.

Moderate christians say it doesn’t matter that the bible harbors verses like the above. This is a lie. It matters. These verses direct the real behavior of real people. Forget that often these real people are mentally deranged (Phelps, Robertson, Hitler, etc., etc.). Time and again the mentally deranged have blitzed the human race without mercy.

I have to laugh. I actually agree with the Rapture Right on one issue: the bible is the christian holy book, and you can’t cherry-pick it. Furthermore, it’s chock full of verses so brutal they wouldn’t even pass muster in the worst dictatorships on the planet. And we wonder why the world’s a mess. Duh-uh!

The Bible, Koran, Torah and Bhagvad-Gita are as dangerous as WMD. As loving parents with children captured by cults, we need to help Christians, Muslims, Jews and Hindus see their desperate need for de-programming. This however must be done unilaterally, since to deprogram Christians only, for example, leaves the former Christian nations open to Muslim nations brainwashed to do anything – even suicide -- to spread themselves across the planet.

Finally, in my January 2 blog, I listed verses hailing Jehovah’s love of war, his urging of war, his training of men for war, his threatening of war, and his delight in war for war’s sake. I include only a few of many:

Bible Verses for the Kids to Memorize

“For it was the Lord Himself who hardened their hearts to wage war against Israel, so that He might destroy them totally, exterminating them without mercy….” Joshua 11:20.

“So [Jehovah] poured out on them His burning anger, the violence of war. …” Isaiah 42:25.

“That is why the Book of the Wars of the Lord says….” Numbers 21:14.

“You [Jehovah] are my war club, my weapon for battle — with You I shatter nations, with You I destroy kingdoms…” Jeremiah 51:20.

“Praise be to the Lord my Rock, who trains my hands for war….” Psalm 144:1. This is one of my faves.

“ ‘…The Lord will be at war against the Amalekites from generation to generation.’" Exodus 17:16

“He (Jehovah) did this only to teach warfare to the descendants of the Israelites …” Judges 3:1-2.

“And [Jehovah] sent you on a mission, saying, 'Go and completely destroy those wicked people, the Amalekites; make war on them until you have wiped them out.'” Samuel 15:18

“I [Jehovah] will set fire to the walls of Rabbah that will consume her fortresses amid war cries on the day of battle….” Amos 1:14.

“Listen, an uproar among the kingdoms, like nations massing together! The Lord Almighty is mustering an army for war…” Isaiah 13:4. (Oh, Praise Be! We Lord warriors will have work again! Farewell to the foodstamp lines!)

In conclusion, if you’re hungry for the non-material world, don’t fall into the deadly trap of the war gods (Jehovah, Yahweh, Allah, Vishnu). Their’s is a humorless, joyless and sensually bizarre world. Sample something genuinely wholesome and loving: the world of the Goddess, the Mother of us all. Not only are the warrior gods as counterfeit as two-dollar bills -- they’ve also driven us to the brink of extinction. It’s time we passed laws across the planet banning them.

P.S. Even if you’re not hungry for the divine, Love to all of you anyway.

Athana
_____________
thnx to pepel for the foto of the children about to be swallowed up by the church

4,000,000 Goddess WORSHIPERS

“Numbers on Goddess worshippers are hard to figure, but the estimates are as high as four million in the U.S. and growing everyday. Books, workshops, festivals, and even the popular 'Lilith Faire' tour, featuring top female musicians, are mainstreaming the movement. And in the heightened spiritual climate of America -- the Goddess appears to be striking a chord with women."

MORE >>>

Wow! These are great stats – if true. Unfortunately, they come from another christian site bursting to bury pagan rivals (the online magazine Antipas). Yawn. The article seems to draw aim at teens. At first it slurps you in; not until the final few paragraphs do the bar bells drop on your head, as you discover that little Lupe’s big bad Goddess group commands her to “raise a dead body.” At that point, little Lupe scampers away from bad Goddess and back to good Jesus.

Q: Was little Lupe asked to raise the dead? A: I seriously doubt it. Unless, of course, her group was a christian group masquerading as Goddess.

Q: Do Christians raise dead bodies? A: Remember that dude Jesus Christ?

Q: Where would anyone get a dead body to bring to a Goddess group? A: Nowhere; this magazine is a study in snake oil.

Q: Would there be a better way to scare people than with a group keeping dead bodies in the freezer? A: Yes. Tell them it was a Wiccan group keeping dead bodies in the freezer [this one was -- Wiccan, that is -- not keeping dead bodies in the freezer].

Q: Is it possible to sue magazines for group-character defamation? A: I don’t know. Why not ask your readers?

Q: Is it time we had a national organization hefty enough to hire lawyers? A: Yes. Past time.
_______
thnx to nilob for the foto

FULL MOON Riding, FRIDAY the 13th

Duncan and I were forced into Bush country today, for my regular 10-week haircut in Kennebunkport. On the way home we pulled in to the K’port Library to visit its Used-Book House, a little 18th-century white-clapboard house tucked behind the main library, and stuffed with old books for sale.

At the door a sign glared at me: “STOP,” it said. “Please wipe ALL gravel off shoes. Thank you.” With great guilt I glanced at my tennis shoes, brimming with gravel, which I had planned to carry inside without a thought to wiping.

As usual, the Book House was deserted. The K’port librarians possess full faith in the human race, confident we will all, without fail, transport our books across the yard to the Library proper and pay for them there.

Today I discovered something odd in the Book House: “The Holy Book of Women’s Mysteries,” by Z. Budapest. This is odd because I go to dozens of book sales annually but rarely see Z’s books. Also, I posted about Z only 8 days ago. Finally, today is a highly favorable day: a Full-Moon Friday the 13th.

The upshot is, I suspect there’s something in Z’s book I’m supposed to share. I’m not sure what, but I pinpointed the following (although sorely tempted to choose Z’s Inquisition torture tales, in honor of the Alito hearings, I decided against this):

"The original sin was matricide,” says Z. “The toppling of the matriarchies and the rape and murder of the mothers was, and still is, the greatest of all sins. No purging of our culture has occurred since the Inquisition, no purging or public accounting for the sins of the ‘fathers.’… Matricide is punishable by eternal unhappiness and the Goddess pays in different ways. We don’t have a heaven and/or hell someplace ‘out there’; we create both right here where we live."

That’s it. As Duncan and I drew onto Route 95 heading north for home, the car clock read 4:23 pm. Car headlights were on, and the full moon hung like a lemon lozenge, low in a china-blue sky.

Duncan was content. It was a two-biscuit day – twice, toll-booth attendants treated him to king-sized dog biscuits and fussed over him while traffic behind us waited.
_________
Dock-Square, Kennebunkport Village

GAIA Bites BACK

Although some call him alarmist, Mr. James Howard Kunstler at least reverences the Goddess Gaia and the Gaia Hypothesis. Mr. K. feels the Goddess is set to rough us up a bit:

[In] response to unprecedented habitat destruction by humans and invasion of the wilderness, the Earth itself seems to be sending forth new and much more lethal diseases, as though it has a kind of protective immune system with antibody-like agents aimed with remarkable precision at the source of the problem: Homo Sapiens.

Snip

[Without] cheap oil, auto-dependent suburbs and big cities will collapse, along with industry and mechanized agriculture; serfdom and horse-drawn carts will stage a comeback; hunger will cause massive "die-back"; otherwise "impotent" governments will engineer "designer viruses" to cull the surplus population; and Asian pirates will plunder California.... A "dazed and crippled America," he hopes, will regroup around walkable, human-scale towns; organic local economies of small farmers and tradesmen will replace an alienating corporate globalism....

Kinda cheery, isn't it? Well, at least the last part.

More reviews of Mr. K's 2005 The Long Emergency: Surviving the End of the Oil Age, Climate Change, and Other Converging Catastrophes of the Twenty-first Century are HERE.

___
thnx to jimpetr for the fine foto

THE AMERICAN Woman

The light just dawned: the picture below is not Rachel Alito. It's The American Woman when She wakes to find She's lost the right to abort a fetus She can't feed, clothe or shelter. Or a fetus the result of rape. Or a fetus destined to become a vegetable.

Mrs. A. Breaks into Tears

Again today I watched the Alito hearings. What stood out for me is not how Alito refused to talk about abortion, absolute presidential powers, or his membership in a Princeton anti-women, anti-minority club (CAP). What stood out is how often he and his wife looked ready to burst into tears.

And now I’ve just heard that Mrs. A. did indeed break into tears, not long after Mr. A. was questioned by Republican Senator Graham Lindsey this evening.

I suspect Mr. A. will be confirmed, and I’m afraid he’ll end women’s rights over their own bodies, along with a bunch of other goodies we've perhaps taken for granted over the years.

Particularly disturbing is the woman who called into CSPAN and complained that Democratic Senators were roughing Mr. A. up and making his wife cry.

Actually, I noticed from the very first of the hearings -- which began yesterday -- that Mrs. Alito, a librarian, showed signs of extreme stress whenever a Democrat questioned her husband. When a Democrat came up to bat she would stare into space about ceiling height, with a sorrowful look on her face. She'd freeze in that posture. Rarely did she look around or even blink -- just stared blankly with her mouth turned down. I noticed this because when the camera moved in to show Mr. Alito, it always showed Mrs. A. behind him. And something about her often disbturbed me -- something that kept drawing my attention away from Sam. Finally, early this morning, it dawned on me: this woman is trying very, very hard not to cry. She's holding on with every ounce of energy she has.

I felt sorry for her. However, to blame Democratic Senators for Mrs. A's tears is preposterous. The Senators excelled at questioning a man who, if elevated to the Supreme Court, will decide our fates for decades to come. And I suspect not in a pretty direction. But our Democratic Senators, voted into a minority position, won't be able to do much about that, will they? All they can do is try like crazy to get our attention re: how bad Alito is.

We need to ask where Mrs. A's tears came from. Sorrow for her husband? Sadness over having her husband questioned about his membership in an anti-woman, anti-minority club? At his statements that abortion is wrong even if it jeopardizes the life of the woman? Were they tears of embarrassment over being married to such a man? Or tears of revulsion at being married to him? Will we ever know?

7:35 PM: “Republican Women for Choice” just came out against Samuel Alito.

SAMMY & SENATOR Feinstein

Taking time off today to watch the Samuel Alito Circus on CSPAN. Mr. Alito was just set upon by Senator Diane Feinstein.

Oh my, what a woman! At first, Mr. A. interrupted the Senator (something he’d steered clear of with the men who questioned him). But by the time the Senator had finished, Mr. A. was stuttering (something he also hadn’t done with the men).

Senator Feinstein did hold Mr. A’s feet to the fire! Sweetly, she asked a simple question: “Under what circumstances should Roe be overturned?” And twice -- maybe three times -- she was forced to stop and chide him: “Sonny Boy, you’re not answering my question!” (Well, she didn’t exactly use the words “Sonny Boy” – but wouldn’t it be sweet if she had?)

All the Senator managed to get Mr. A. to explain here, was why in general a law with tons of precedence behind it (which Roe has) might be dumped. His answer? “If the rule proves unworkable.”

Really, really clear as jello, huh?

I think we're in big trouble.

Riding WITH HOLDA

HO! HO! HO! Whaddya Know? It wasn’t Santa, but Mother Goddess Holda who used to swoop down our chimneys, leaving all those goodies, and nibbling on our cookies!

“…[I]n some parts of old Europe, it was Holda--not Santa--who brought gifts to children and determined who was 'naughty or nice.' I also encountered lore depicting her as dressed in red and going down chimneys to bring gifts to children. An old Germanic tradition included leaving an offering of food and milk for Holda on December 24, known as Mother Night.”

MORE >>>
_______
thnx to BeliefNet for the foto

ARE trees CONSCIOUS?

In response to Jan. 5’s post “Z & Her Tree Sisters,” Mike said...

“Athana, Morgaine, are trees conscious or not? Morgaine's comments seem to presuppose that trees are, indeed, conscious. Athana's comments are a touch more vague.”

One Mack-truck-sized difference between boys and girls is that boys tease and trick each other, and then jeer at the boy who falls for the trick.

As a general rule, girls & women don’t do this. Not that we’re perfect; we have our own little ways of driving each other bananas – this just isn’t one of them. So rest assured we’re not trying to pull your leg here, Mike.

Check out my Jan. 6 Post. In it, Ursula King says ‘thealogy’ (with an "a") is "a fundamental departure from traditional male-oriented theology [with an "o"], characterised by its privileging of symbols over rational explanation.”

Male-based theology-with-an-‘o’ rests upon “rational explanation.” As a Westerner, this is the religion you know. It stands on words, logic, and rational thinking. “In the beginning was the word.”

In contrast, theAlogy rests on a “privileging of symbols.” And this is only one of the Big Differences between theOlogy and theAlogy. Whereas theOlogy is humor-less and body-less, theAlogy is humor-ful and em-bodied. Even Jesus, although loving, is disembodied and humorless. As a rule, anything smacking of the senses is stripped out of the New Testament (and except for Psalms out of the Old, too). Jesus walks on an earth robbed of greenery, trees, eyes, flowers, noses, sneezing, red lips, chairs, tables, furniture, bright sunlight, beauty, coolness, textures, smells, or anything else suggesting humans have eyes, ears, sexual organs or nerve-lined fingertips.

The result? Those of us born into godFather worlds are morons when it comes to much of the knowledge available in the embodied world.

So, to get to your question: Are trees conscious? You’re pushing me to the wall here, asking for an either-or answer -- yes or no, black or white, war or peace. A rational response. And I gave you a theAlogical response: ”It's all up to you, Mike. Trees can be whatever you want them to be. Why not explore this idea and see what happens?”

Morgaine’s answer, however, is just as accurate: ”It is not up to you whether a tree can emote or communicate, but rather your choice as to whether you want to listen. The world is conscious and interactive. All you have to do is be still and listen.”

Our two answers share this: theAlogy is not a matter of being dependent on god, guru or genius to lead you down their path. With theAlogy, you are free and independent, and you create your own path. Most of us, however, shake in our socks at the thought of real freedom and independence. We crave others to lean on and follow.

On the other hand, I can hear you groaning, and so I’m going to throw you a rational, scientific, godFather answer. It’s this: I suspect that there is more to trees than our rational world allows us to see. I base this on two sets of data: (1) Personal experience: more than once I've experienced non-rational, unexplainable events in connection with trees, and (2) Rational people I respect have experienced even more powerful and significant non-rational events than I have.

But again – don’t take my word for it. As Morgaine counsels, “be still and listen.” And read her response to you in the Jan. 5 post.
______
Thnx to agrigg for the foto

MORE BIBLE VERSES for Kids …

… TO MEMORIZE:

We humbly thank Mr. Fred Phelps for the verses below (Mr. Phelps uses them to prove that “god is laughing, mocking and deriding hypocritical, fag-infested West Virginia”):

(1) “The One enthroned in heaven laughs; the Lord scoffs at them. Then he rebukes them in his anger and terrifies them in his wrath.” Psalms 2:4-5

(2) "I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh; When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you. " Prov. 1:26-27.

(3) "The Lord shall send upon thee cursing, vexation, and rebuke, in all that thou settest thine hand unto for to do, until thou be destroyed, and until thou perish quickly;
because of the wickedness of thy doings, whereby thou hast forsaken me." Deut. 28:20.

Mr. Phelps suggests that West Virginians should “Thank god for 12 dead miners,” since these men are signs that the lordgod is spitting mad at them (WVs) for allowing gays, lesbians, bisexuals and the transgendered over the West Virginia state line, and if WV would just chuck all those GLBTs, no WV miner ever again would have to die.

Daily Lesson: Don’t forget kids, the Bible’s lordgod laughs like mad when you get a boo-boo, take sick, and/or die.
__________
thnx to sol one for the foto

HOW TO TALK TO A Christian

Morgaine from The-Goddess has written an article called “How to Talk to a Christian: Because We Have to, Whether We Want to or Not.” It is particularly thought-provoking. Here's a section suggesting how masterful the political Right is at manipulating the human psyche:

“Hartmann crafted a nice crash course in brain development, thus: ‘We humans, being the product of a long evolutionary process, really have three brains. And, as the Bush psy-ops folks know, politicians who win campaigns do so because they speak to all three of those brains.’

“Hartmann dissects Cheney's mastery in the campaign: When Dick Cheney recently took John Kerry's comment about sensitivity in the war on terror out of context and spun it for his audiences, he was performing a psychologically masterful manipulation of all three brains.

“Only ridicule with a subtext of fear has this power. ‘America has been in too many wars for any of our wishes, but not a one of them was won by being sensitive,’ Cheney said, firing first the thinking brain (‘too many wars’) and then the limbic brain (‘for our wishes[/hopes/ideals]’). And then he went for the reptile brain: ‘...but not one of them was won by being sensitive.’

The comment brought an instant response of laughter - an emotional and involuntary response, as Freud pointed out, that's the result of the neocortex thinking it's moving logically along in one direction (a discussion of too many wars) and then suddenly getting derailed (‘but not one of them was won by being sensitive’) from that thought. This sudden derailment - known among comedians as the "punch line" - causes the thinking brain to be momentarily confused and triggers a response known as laughter....”

MORE >>>

I have a friend who teaches communication. Her students probably all go get jobs writing speeches for people like Dick Cheney -- because it's the Dick Cheneys who have the money to hire them.

sin & PUNISHMENT

Does the Goddess punish bad people? Especially really bad people like WalMart, Dick Cheney, Big Oil and Fred Phelps? (Ol’ Fred has a new poster out, assuring us that “God is laughing, mocking and deriding hypocritical West Virginia” and that he “Thank[s] God for 12 dead miners.”)

Here’s Morgaine’s take on the question (from a comment Morgaine made on an earlier post):

“The Goddess doesn't punish people. If we continue to sicken and abuse her, she will eliminate the source of the abuse in her attempt to heal herself. If that means getting rid of us, so be it. She's done it before - we'll be back, and maybe we'll learn this time. Any living organism will function this way and She is a living organism.

“Also, the three-fold law is in play. Whatever you send out comes back on you. We punish ourselves, so she doesn't have to. We're about to reap what we’ve sown.”

Using my “healthy-mother rule” (treat others the way a healthy mother treats her child), I’d agree with Morgaine. A healthy mother teaches rather than punishes.

What about Kali and the like, you ask?

As I’ve pointed out before, I think violent goddesses are inventions of the patriarchy. Through history there’s been a “slimy slide” from powerful, life-affirming goddesses, to war-like, violent, or wet-noodle goddesses like Kali and the Virgin Mary (see The Gods Take Over, Part II, Sept. 21, 2005).

What do you think?
____
thnx to madmum for the foto of the stocks

…& Lurn How to Spel ‘Thealogy’!

A few posts ago, I wuz treeted to a scolding by a commenter. The scolding ended with “…and learn how to spell Theology!!” I told the commenter I’d nevver uzed the word “theology” on this blog, so howl cud I misspell it? Acshally, that was just me just trying to be cute. “Thealogy” spelled with an “a” not an “o” (like I do in Radical Goddess Thealogy, rilly, trooly, is a word:

“Thealogy is literally the study of the Goddess (Greek θεά, thea, "goddess" + λόγος, logos, "study"). In 1993, Charlotte Caron's definition of thealogy as "reflection on the divine in feminine and feminist terms" appeared, but the term actually originates in the writings of Isaac Bonewits in 1974.

Snip

“In 1989 Ursula King notes [the] growing usage [of ‘theaology’] as a fundamental departure from traditional male-oriented theology, characterised by its privileging of symbols over rational explanation. She chronicles sympathetically that

‘…most writing on the Goddess, when not historical, is either inspirational or devotional, and a systematically ordered body of thought, even with reference to symbols, is only slowly coming into existence’ (1989:126-127).”

MORE >>>

Z & HER tree SISTERS

Although Goddess people don't have Bible verses to comfort and teach them, we have something even better: nature.

The following snippets come from one of the funniest, most lovable, and most powerful Goddess teachers of all time, Ms Z Budapest. Z maintains that her Hungarian family has worshipped the Goddess back through time, in an unbroken line:

"What I found most exciting all my life is getting to know the trees. Sacred trees, every one of them. Some of them are more famous than others, but I think all trees are the very lungs of the beloved blue planet. Lungs and breath, spirit.

"To make acquaintance with a local tree is to spend time with her: Hang out around her; Make some contact; Touch her; Kiss her bark. Tree-huggers dream assignments! The tree is not fast in responding, but when we take them seriously, the trees are direct phone lines to LIFE. A couple of heartfelt visits, maybe asking for a wand. These visits can become prayers.

"I am very close to two trees in the cemetery park where I walk my dogs in Oakland. Here the trees are allowed to grow big and stay alive.

"My beloved FRIEND, a yellow poplar, greets me as I start my walk. She sees me from afar, waits until I too can see her. Then, like a person, she begins to dance with her leaves. First just a few on the outside. Closer I come, more and more. This is independent from the wind conditions. When the wind is blowing of course she is more active. She can express excitement, she can express love, she can say yes and no depending on how she moves. I have learned her leafy language, I know what she is saying most of the time.

"I tell her about my life. I ask her to send me more friends. (I have actually met two women later in the park after I asked her to help my social life). I asked her to send me more students. Most of the time I bless her and she in turn blesses me.

"I urge my students to find this kind of deep personal relationship with a good tree. Many have managed to find their Tree Sisters, but some are more in tune with flowers. Some love stones better, have personal relationships with rose quartzes, opals, amethysts, moonstones, and even diamonds. These human-to-planet experiences are prayers. We realign our souls with the natural world. No longer orphans, us women. We belong here. This is our time and our space. This is our planet."

From Teaching the Goddess Online, by Z. Budapest

MORE >>>

________
Thnx to Wazari for the 2nd foto; the first is Z Budapest and came from Z's website.

THE Goddess PEACE

Here from "Headlinemuse.com: The quarterly archetypal e-zine" is an article on the God=War/Goddess=Peace Equation:

"What is so attractive to the current [U.S.] administration about the mythos of war?...

snip

"Ares, the Greek deity of War, and Mars, the Roman equivalent, embody the spirit of battle which relishes slaughter and blood. Usually seen wearing armor, a helmet and carrying a sword, the warrior god was known to enjoy the good fight with little interest in the justice of the cause he was fighting for (Grimal 52). Ares was attended by demons who served him as squires, especially his children Deimos (Fear) and Phobos (Terror). One animal associated with Ares was the vulture.

"Beginning in the Homeric age, however, the war god began to lose some of his luster as the Greeks became somewhat disenchanted with Ares' brutality (Grimal 52). Later myths show that Ares was easily beaten several times by the strategizing of Athena, the goddess of wisdom, or even physically weakened by the true heroics of Heracles.

snip

"But there are many ways to best War, Fear and Terror. Mythology tells us so: There are other stories to celebrate, other archetypes to be investigated, other solutions.

For example, in ancient Rome, Peace was a goddess who was worshipped annually (Bell 343). This female deity was invoked during the first civil wars in the first century B.C.E.; the Romans prayed to Pax to stop bloodshed. Praying to the goddess Peace was viewed, evidently, as a reason that the wars ended, because Augustus gave Pax an altar to commemorate the re-establishment of civil order."

MORE >>>

Especially interesting is this: "[T]he warrior god was known to enjoy the good fight with little interest in the justice of the cause he was fighting for." I could see that same attitude in Yahweh/Jehovah in some of the "war" passages I culled from the Bible for Monday's post. ("O, joy, O joy, it's warring time again!")

War, Women, & THE UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST

Dwight penned a dynamite set of questions regarding the Dec. 30 post, “Sinning BigTime for Jesus.” If Christianity is a warrior religion (asks Dwight), why are some Christians pacifists? And,

“What about those denominations which were ordaining women *before* women had the right to vote, such as the Congregationalists? They ended up becoming the United Church of Christ, the ones who this summer just voted to support gay marriage. I suspect these and other liberal Christians would have a hard time recognizing the description you just made.”

The “description I made” was this:

“All warrior gods want their humans to breed like flies”;
“All warrior gods break their women”;
“All warrior gods lead to war”; and
“All warrior gods destroy the environment."

Now, I grew up in a pacifist church and spent my young Sundays among some of the loveliest people on earth. Also, I have a United Church of Christ friend who’s a seminarian. Given half a chance, people are incredible creatures. Some even manage to sift through the warrior-god ickiness and come out in fairly good places -- at least for others if not for themselves (i.e., they work hard at not hurting others, but still hurt personally). For umpteen centuries, most of the western world has limped along with no religion. The warrior gods used war to wipe out other religions. So anyone wanting “religion” has been stuck with the warrior god malarkey.

As for my friend the United Church of Christ seminarian, she was raped repeatedly, before the age of ten, by her highly-respected, upper-middle-class, biological, Christian father and brother. I admire her greatly because to help expose and stop incest she’s had the courage to talk openly about it. I personally think she’s a bit optimistic; I feel there’s a deep, deep warrior-god need to cripple women. Incest and sex abuse are far worse among Christians, I’m afraid – even liberal Christians -- than we dare imagine.

This is from one of my friend’s published articles: “If the Other (god) has the ultimate power and right, … the duty, to define the purposes for which people and things exist, then the probability of abuse is inherent in the construct – not only of women by men, and children by both women and men, but of the earth itself and of nation by nation.”

I feel I’ve only scratched the surface when it comes to answering Dwight’s questions. Anyone else have anything to offer? I’ll add this: I think warrior-god followers are masters at hiding things, at keeping down mountains of guilt, and at living double lives. All excellent traits for warriors in wartime.

BIBLE VERSES FOR THE kids TO MEMORIZE

“The Lord is a warrior; the Lord is His name.” Exodus 15:3

“For it was the Lord Himself who hardened their hearts to wage war against Israel, so that He might destroy them totally, exterminating them without mercy….” Joshua 11:20. Hey, Mr. Nice Guy!

“So He [Jehovah] poured out on them His burning anger, the violence of war. …” Isaiah 42:25. Got anger? Do war.

“And He [Jumpin’ Jehovah] sent you on a mission, saying, 'Go and completely destroy those wicked people, the Amalekites; make war on them until you have wiped them out.'” Samuel 15:18

“That is why the Book of the Wars of the Lord says….” Numbers 21:14. Did you know there was a “Book of the Wars of the Lord”?!? Neither did I.

“You [Jehovah] are my war club, my weapon for battle — with You I shatter nations, with You I destroy kingdoms…” Jeremiah 51:20. Hey, my dad can beat your dad.

“The Lord will march out like a mighty man, like a warrior He will stir up His zeal; with a shout He will raise the battle cry….” Isaiah 42:13

“Praise be to the Lord my Rock, who trains my hands for war, my fingers for battle.” Psalm 144:1. This is one of my faves.

“By warfare and exile you contend with Her [the Goddess Asherah]— with His fierce blast He drives Her out, as on a day the east wind blows.” Isaiah 27:8

“And there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back.” Revelation 12:7

“When you go to war against your enemies and the lord your god delivers them into your hands ….” Deuteronomy 21:10

"…[B]ecause of the wars waged against my father David from all sides, he could not build a temple for the Name of the Lord his god until the Lord put his enemies under his feet.” 1 Kings 5:3

“ ‘…The Lord will be at war against the Amalekites from generation to generation.’" Exodus 17:16

“In the spring, at the time when kings go off to war, Joab led out the armed forces. He laid waste the land of the Ammonites …. Joab attacked Rabbah and left it in ruins.” 1 Chronicles 20

“…a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.” Ecclesiastes 3:8. By god almighty, we will always have war and hate!

“He (Jumpin’ Jehovah) did this only to teach warfare to the descendants of the Israelites who had not had previous battle experience…” Judges 3:1-2. Jeez, we wouldn’t want those Mama’s boys to fall through the Lord’s cracks and not become killing machines, now would we?

“So Moses said to the people, "Arm some of your men to go to war against the Midianites and to carry out the Lord's vengeance on them.” Numbers 31:3

“But the Lord (Jumpin’ J.) is with me like a mighty warrior; so my persecutors will stumble and not prevail.” Jeremiah 20:11

“…[T]he righteous acts of the Lord, the righteous acts of his warriors in Israel….” Judges 5:11. Oh, yeh! Nothing more “righteous” than warring Lord warriors.

“I (i.e., Jumpin’ Jehovah) will set fire to the walls of Rabbah that will consume her fortresses amid war cries on the day of battle, amid violent winds on a stormy day.” Amos 1:14. Me heap big war god.

“About forty thousand armed for battle crossed over before the Lord to the plains of Jericho for war.” Joshua 4:13

“…[T]he god of Israel, says: ‘I am about to turn against you the weapons of war that are in your hands…’” Jeremiah 21:4

“When the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, he said, ‘The Lord is with you, mighty warrior.’" Judges 6:12

“The Spirit of the Lord came upon him, so that he became Israel's judge and went to war.” Oh, that sweet ol’ spirit Lord. Judges 3:10

“I [Jumpin’ Jehovah] will send fire upon Moab that will consume the fortresses of Kerioth. Moab will go down in great tumult amid war cries and the blast of the trumpet.” Amos 2:2

“Then Israel made this vow to the Lord : ‘If You will deliver these people into our hands, we will totally destroy their cities.’ The Lord listened to Israel's plea and gave the Canaanites over to them. They completely destroyed them and their towns….” Numbers 21:2-3

“Listen, a noise on the mountains, like that of a great multitude! Listen, an uproar among the kingdoms, like nations massing together! The Lord Almighty is mustering an army for war…” Isaiah 13:4. Oh, Praise Be! We Lord warriors will have work again! Farewell foodstamp lines!

Want lots more? Go HERE and enter the word "war."
_____
thnx to mammuth for the foto

NEW YEAR'S Blessing

Around 2:25 p.m. on Dec. 21, which is the beginning of my New Year, I was out driving to the University of Southern Maine library to pick up a book. I was on State Rt. 25 listening to MPBN (Maine Public Broadcasting Network), when suddenly the announcer said: “The Winter Solstice arrives in Maine today at 2:35.” On the spur of the moment, I decided to keep driving until 2:35 and then stop – wherever I was – and celebrate the Solstice.

So I drove into Gorham Village, past USM, out of Gorham Village, and into rural countryside: fields and forests mostly, with an occasional house or farm spotting the snowy, softly rolling landscape. I kept wondering where I would land at 2:35. Would it be in a wilderness area, or one with buildings visible?

At 2:34 I pulled off the road between two snowy fields. The snow bank, however, kept me from pulling off very far, and it was a little unnerving being so close to the road, with other cars (although few and far between) whizzing by. Then, about fifty feet further I saw a spot where more snow was cleared off the road.

After pulling up to that spot and shutting off the car engine, I looked around. On either side of me were woods, no buildings in sight. On the right was a line of berry-red brush sweeping the roadside, and behind it a thicket of young white-birch trees striking up out of white snow.

On my left were deciduous trees, stark and bare of leaves. And then I spotted Her. Almost immediately left of my car but a few yards ahead, stood the Goddess. She appeared in the form of a mature tree with three branches striking off from the same nexus, and in the same plane. She looked just like a woman with both arms raised. Both of her arm-limbs were bent at almost exactly the same spots and angles: slightly inward at the elbows, and slightly out again at the wrists. I could even see in the middle trunk, at the place where all three trunks met, a roundedness that formed Her head.

I don’t remember seeing trees like this before, with three equal-sized limbs taking off from the main trunk at the same place, and in the same plane. And with side limbs that formed mirror images of one another, and with bends that conformed so neatly to human arms, elbows and hands.

As I sat there, I received this message: “The light will come again.” The standard but breath-takingly glorious Winter Solstice promise. But then another message came: “I will return, too.” I, the Goddess, will return. Surprisingly, I wasn’t surprised. I know She’s going to return. Nevertheless, it was a gift to hear Her say it.

HATS OFF TO Mike

Thanks to Mike for doing some careful reading of Friday’s post. Gives me a chance to climb back up onto my well-worn, old soapbox:

Mike: “They (the warrior gods) want us to both annihilate ourselves and overpopulate? That is one generalization you might want to think about a bit more.”

Athana: The architects of the warrior-god “religions” wanted overpopulation – in their primitive warrior brains, the more human cannon fodder, the better. The slow slide toward human annihilation, on the other hand, isn't something they counted on or necessarily wanted. But I'm not sure current warrior-god followers care enough to stop it, either.

Mike: “Also, the ‘mother’ ethic and the ‘do as you want’ ethic contradict each other. Mothers are always proactive when dealing with their children, whereas ‘do as you want while avoiding harm’ is entirely negative and restrictive. A mother cannot follow the ‘do as you want’ ethic in dealing with her children.”

Athana: But Mike, a mother is perfectly welcome to do anything she wants -- as long as it doesn’t hurt her kids (or anyone else, including herself). And of course failing to take certain actions around kids will hurt them. Failing to yank them out of traffic. Failing to feed them. Failing to teach them manners will hurt them. And on and on.

Mike: “You want us to act as mothers towards each other? When was the last time you met a mother that didn't act as an authority figure towards her children? Or do you let your children do anything they want, ie scream in the supermarket, eat junkfood, and punch their baby sister?”

Bingo, Mike. You’ve hit the nail on the head. Mothers don’t let their kids do everything the little sweethearts want. And that’s the way we need to respond to others around us. Kids scream in the supermarket; teach them not to. Adults steal food in the supermarket; 1) make certain they’re getting enough food, and 2) teach them not to steal.

And I mean make certain they’re getting enough food. Just as a mother would make certain her kid was getting enough. Figure it out. Make it happen. None of this homelessness stuff. I mean go poke your neighbor’s ribs if you have to, to make certain they’re okay. And if they’re not, find a way to get them food. This is the ideal I’m aiming for. A mother who’s eating three meals a day wouldn’t send her kids to bed hungry. But that’s what we do everyday in this world. We eat three squares, knowing that millions of humans across this planet aren’t and can’t. That’s got to stop. We’re intelligent enough to figure it out.

And if they're getting enough food, don't punish them. Teach them. In "correctional" homes where everything is truly designed to change behavior, not punish people.

__________________
Thnx to criswatk for the great foto