Calling ALL ARCHAEOLOGISTS

Dear Archaeologists (and Their Friends, who can pass this message along to them):

Please don’t take funding from Big Money.

Big Money often has a way of ‘calling the shots’ on digs. I’m not saying they actually tell you what to do, or how to interpret what you dig. And I’m not saying you'd knowingly let a Big-Money Guy tell you what to do. Or say. Or believe.

I am saying, however, that there’s usually an undercurrent of pressure to do what Big Money wants. You might not even be totally aware of it. You might be vaguely aware of it -- and therefore eager to rationalize your behavior around it.

Just take the high road. When that Big Money guy comes knocking at your door wanting to lend his name (and his money) to your dig, please -- just politely shut the door in his face. History will thank you for it.

And I thank you, too.

Love,
Athana
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foto: Middle Eastern Goddess statue from Ubaid period

WHEN Bad Things HAPPEN TO GOOD PEOPLE

Great article by Judith Laura on how her Goddess faith stands up to the storms in her life. Here’s a snip:

“Hurricanes, snow and ice storms, volcanos, and earthquakes are all natural phenomena on Earth. So to me the question is not, "Why is God allowing this bad stuff to happen to me?" but rather: "Why should I expect to be exempt from all that is naturally a part of embodied life?"”

MORE>>>
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Thnx to leonbiden for the foto

Red-DIAPER BABIES:

OR, Exploding THE SIZE OF THE ARMY OF THE LORD

Friends don’t let friends become Christians. Or Muslims. Or Jews. Or Hindus. These so-called “religions” are not religions. They are brainwashing cult machines. It’s time we stopped thinking of them as sweet, purring little love factories that somehow deserve “religious tolerance.” They deserve nothing of the kind. Would you ‘tolerate’ a fire that’s burning down your house with your kids in it?

Christianity (the religion into which I was born, BTW), Islam, Hinduism and Judaism are antiquated, barbaric, deadly, war machines, each of which serves no other purpose than to build up a beefy army for some dude so he can wipe out some other dude’s army. They belong in the medieval period and backwards from there. Now they’re threatening to wipe the human species off the face of the map. We need to beat them to the punch: wipe them off the map first. (How is a subject covered in other posts.)

Read yet about the “Red-Diaper Babies” or “Quiverfull”? It’s the Christian War Machine screeching up into high gear, doing what it’s done for the last 6000 years: beefing itself up by forcing women flat on their backs and pumping sperm into them. One more reason friends don’t let friends do the war-god thing: if the war gods don’t kill ya in war, they’ll kill ya with babies.

Some of these women are probably forced physically, others have been brainwashed into thinking it’s holy to "submit" twenty times a day.

Red-Diaper Babies, by the way, are red-state kids with ten or more sibs – all born because their moms were told they’d go straight to hell if they didn’t boost ‘the army of the Lord’ with a 'quiverfull' of kids.

The Quiverfull movement is full, alright – full of bull. And full of “militaristic language, which describes children as weapons of spiritual war, as arrows shot out by their parents.” Read MORE in The Nation>>>>
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thnx to leonbiden for the foto

GODDESS CONFERENCE *Today* IN IL

Just found this, thanks to Medusa over at Medusa Coils:

"Goddess authors Carol P. Christ, Ph.D., and Starhawk will be keynote speakers at the conference, The Feminine Divine in Cross Cultural Perspective, Nov. 26-28 at Northwestern University, Evanston, IL. An impressive list of other speakers will add knowledge of Hindu Goddesses, Buddhism, African Diaspora religions, Judaism, and Christianity.

"I really like the inclusiveness of this conference (yes, yes, I know it doesn't include ALL religions, but at least it includes Goddess religions along with mainstream faiths, which is more than I could say for a certain other recent conference). I hope many of you can go, and, maybe even tell us about it by leaving a comment."

After reading this over a coupla times, the date finally registered: this conference starts today! So if you live in Evanston or close by, scoot on over. Then go visit Medusa Coils and tell us how it was.

Starhawk speaks tomorrow night, Monday, at 7:30 PM, on "Goddesses for the End Times." (Shiver). Carol speaks tonight at 7:30 (they're putting us in the moonlight -- that's good), on "The Last Dualism: Life and Death in Feminist Thealogy."

PANACEA THE Cure-all GODDESS

Ever heard of these words?

"Asclepius"

"Panacea"

Chances are you’ve heard of panacea. A panacea is a "cure-all." She was also an ancient Greek goddess of healing. But whoever’s heard of an asclepius??? Asclepius, the ancient Greek god of healing, leant his name to nothing -- at least nothing as widely known as the word "panacea." Why not? I wonder if it’s because he, like most male Greek gods, were bogus -- mere overlays of older female deities. Our ancestors knew it. It was Panacea who was the real thing for them.
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thnx to twmedia for the foto

& A Happy THANKSGIVING TO ALL

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you Native Americans out there, and to all other Americans as well. Oh, and why not? Happy Day to all in our big ol' Global Village! I hope it's one of your best!!

GOD-TO-GODDESS Timeline

Time to look over and tweak (if we need to) our switching-from-god-to-Goddess timeline. Here it is, from last December 23:

Remember loyal readers, we have only 20 years left to reach our goal of “…replacing God the Father with God the Mother by the year 2025.” If you want to review the … Timeline (authored last August by Morgaine [at The-Goddess] and Athana…), here it is again:

GOD TO GODDESS TIMELINE

2005 -- [the current situation]: Goddess religion just becoming known, has low membership, not taken seriously, almost no media presence, national/international leaders/activists like Starhawk are not given media coverage, little sense of ourselves as a defined group, no sense of "solidarity."

Women archaeologists afraid to speak out for fear of losing jobs. Our culture is addicted to war, and corporate America makes huge profits from the war economy. Monotheistic Fundamentalist sects in America and the Middle East are warring each other. Threat of nuclear and biological war looms. Christian Fundamentalists want to bring down Armaggedon and move culture backwards in sciences and social development, advocate oppression of women as reproductive slaves.

2006 -- LOBBY FEMINIST GROUPS to Rally American women around the threat to Roe v. Wade. Three-day work strike by all pro-choice women, and sypathizers organized to coincide with Alito confirmation hearings.

New MEMEs: Women's Autonomy Movement
Sexual Sovereignty Movement
Mother's Revolution
Earth Lives
Grow with Gaia

If an unacceptable candidate is confirmed, organize mass exodus from Democratic Party to Green Party, or a Women's party is formed.

2006 – Internet bloggers start an underground revolution among the mothers of the world, by telling them this: "Since Goddess equals peace and gods equal war, the way to keep your sons and daughters alive past age 18 is to teach them your old Goddess religions." The revolution enlists major feminist and peace groups, creates a "buzz" about the Goddess.

A few of our leaders begin speaking prominently in national and international media outlets -- Possibilities: Riane Eisler; Carol Christ, Starhawk, Joan Marler, Shekhinah Mountainwater, Zsuzsana Budapest, Athana, Morgaine et al.

Email and letter writing campaigns by Pagan/Goddess community begin to demand representation on panel discussions regarding religion, politics, war.

Groups of us begin doing Ghandi-like interventions at leadership meetings of the god peoples (starting with those easier to reach, i.e., UUs and Methodists versus Southern Baptists?). Requests are made to serve as mediators between warring factions.

2006-2007 -- Goddess Worshippers now have the beginnings of a media presence (Internet, podcasts, radio, TV drama, TV talk shows, documentaries, 1-2 full-length feature films). Subjects to concentrate on: Gaia Hypothesis; the Goddess*Peace/gods*war connection, Goddess Herstory.

Goddess people lead the way in shift from competition to cooperation; advocate sustainable energy resources; Demand an end to Corporate Welfare, and greater social justice.

2007-- Morgaine's book is published and Gaians begin to demand that Matriarchal history and matrifocal theory be taught in schools of anthropology, archeology, women's studies, and high school classes addressing ancient and American history.

2008 -- The first Goddess minister/priestess runs for political office; San Francisco has first Goddess-worshipping mayor.

2010-- Gaia Hypothesis appears everywhere in direct opposition to Intelligent Design "theory".

First Pagan sitcom. Goddess references common in pop culture and media

-- Several distinct Goddess "Sects" are now well known (probably several Dianic, Aphrodesian, Wiccan, a few Druidic, others based on Carol Christ's brand of Goddess worship, Solitaries organize into hives and cells.)

2012 -- First National Goddess Conferences held -- with strong media coverage, Representative from Congress in attendance.

Across the planet, self-proclaimed Goddess worshippers now number in the millions.

2013 Proclaimed International Year of the Goddess.

2015-- Iraq, which is just now beginning to recover from the 2005 U.S. invasion, is the last Muslim country to replace Allah with The Goddess Inanna. (Hee)

2020 Half the members of Congress are Gaians/Priestesses

-- A "Let's Start Over Pact" is signed by Israel and Palestine, since both countries now realize that their former animosities were initiated and fueled by their old, outmoded beliefs in warrior gods.

2024 -- The Mother's Revolution begun by internet bloggers in 2006 is now 18 years old. Millions of babies born in 2006 were secretly taught Goddess religion (= peace), and all of them would refuse to fight in any war -- even if one were proposed, which it isn't, since Godfather religion is gone from the world. Ninety percent of the world either worships Goddess/es, or are atheist/agnostic. War is seen as primitive, barbaric. Every school in every nation teaches mediation skills. Matriarchy is the preferred form of family order everywhere. Children are commonly named after either or both parents.

2025 - All nations have universal health care. Starvation is a thing of the past. Peace reigns in Africa, where the Matriarchal revolutions have created new woman-centered villages with cooperatives throughout the world. Peace, in fact, reigns the world over.

Things to add? Drop? Change?

HOT STUFF Flying: MAX DASHU

Hot stuff from the web's just flying at me today! No time to read it all. There's a buncha good stuff HERE, by Max Dashu:

KNOCKING DOWN STRAW DOLLS:

A CRITIQUE OF CYNTHIA ELLER'S
The Myth of Matriarchal Prehistory:Why an Invented Past Won't Give Women a Future
(Boston: Beacon Press, 2000)

[Copyright 2000 Max Dashu]

Also: "Aguing about the Goddess" and "The Furor over Gimbutas."

Ethics: ETHICAL TOUCHSTONES

Because our Goddesses were all stomped into the ground millenia ago by the war gods,* we're needing to rebuild our religions "from the ground up," so to speak. One thing I'm always interested in are ideas about Goddess ethics. Here are thealogian Carol Christ's 'ethical touchstones':

O Nurture life;
O Walk in love and beauty;
O Trust the knowledge that comes through the body;
O Speak the truth about conflict, pain, and suffering;
O Take only what you need;
O Think about the consequences of your actions for seven generations;
O Approach the taking of life with great restraint;
O Practice great generosity;
O Repair the web.

(Christ 1997:167).

From Wikipedia, "The Goddess Movement."
I would add the following:

As a mother loves her child, so must you love others.
As a mother protects her child, so must you protect others.
As a mother heals her child, so must you heal others.
As a mother hopes for her child, so must you hope for others.
As a mother is patient with her child, so must you be patient with others.

What would you add?
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*Think this Goddess was carved armless? Think again: One of the first things early Christians did was knock the arms and heads off ancient pagan statuary. Modern museums of course neaten up the breaks.
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thnx to abenjumeda for the foto

Running FROM THE BIG, BAD WOLF

Okay, it has to be dealt with. Those pesky rads over in the Middle East.

Iyieu, iyeiu, iyeiu, ick, ick. I just wanna poke my head in the sand and leave it there. Wake me up when it's over.

As I see it, here’s the problem: The Christofascists and Islamofascists are mad dogs. Put them in the same room, you’ll end up with four, giant Jackson Pollock paintings (little blood and skin pieces spread evenly over all four walls). (Remember Little Black Sambo’s tigers? Same principle).

Most think Islamofascists outnumber Christofascists, the Islamo guys are a bit more batty than the Christo guys, and Islamos are poised to take over Europe and America. Well, actually, some say they've already taken over Europe. Coumnist/critic Mark Steyn’s one.**

Once again, it’s Yaj (the god YahwehAllahJehovah* -- one god, under god, so help me god) giving himself ulcers. I mean, why does he have to do that? He’s already grouchier than a bed-bugged dog.

And I’m ticked off at myself, too. Why’d I have to read that review of Steyn’s book in the first place? He’s obviously far, far right – lotsa talk about how Britain’s gotten soft ‘cause everyone’s on welfare, and how they’ve let all those Islamo’s in to do the work Brits don’t wanna do. The “politics of fear” they call it here in America.

On the other hand, I know it's only right to read the other side occasionally.
It’s enough to give a person a giant headache.

What do you think (i.e., come right on in and share my headache with me)?

Added at 8:41 PM -- Just discovered that this book is #18 on Amazon.com's Hottest Books list.
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*Yahweh, Allah and Jehovah are all Abrahamaic gods -- the god of Abraham. There's really no difference between them. Their holy books, Torah, Koran and Bible are almost identical.
** Steyn's book is America Alone: The End of the World as We Know It
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thnx to skyro for the pic of the "sun god" statue from the Isle of Wight

BEGINNING TO Remember SANITY

"Everytime you celebrate the Goddess, it is an affirmation of your life, the planet, your heritage, and the future. Ancient wisdom and an understanding of female divinity are re-appearing. We, as a sacred people are beginning to remember simplicity, community and sanity."

MORE>>>

From Atoya at The Spiral Goddess.
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Thnx to Atoya for the picture, which she has labeled "Breathe ....... and feel the Moon."

7 HABITS OF HIGHLY Cheerful PEOPLE

From Making Sense of Humor: How to Add Joy to Your Life
by Lila Green, KIT Press:

o Collect cartoons and jokes you enjoy from newspapers, magazines, etc. Share these with your friends, colleagues, and family.

o Be more playful. Try being dramatic, silly, improvisational. Others pick up your spirit and laughter.

o Carry some humor with you in your wallet or purse and share it.

o Hang out with people who laugh and find joy in their life.

o Give silly and ridiculous gifts and cards. Shop garage sales.

o Look for humor...and it will find you!

o Laugh...at yourself!

MORE >>>

Never forget: One of the Goddess's Ten Commandments is "Laugh a lot. Then laugh some more."
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Thnx to Juliaf for the foto

GODDESS WORSHIPERS: Bound & REPRESSED

Stumbled across this little gem today:

"In The Goddess Revival, Aida Besancon Spencer writes: ‘The God of the Bible is not described by Goddess worshipers as creative, personal, and good, a God who allows freedom in creation. Rather, they say the God of the Bible is … warlike, intolerant, a dominating male repulsed by female bodies’ (p. 104). It is tragic, then, that feminists leave the Christian God due to misconceptions of the true God of the Bible. But equally tragic, argues Spencer, is their turn to goddess spirituality, in which the repressive and binding features of pagan religions are affirmed anew in the name of a newfound freedom.”

Go HERE for MORE of this review.

Excuse me for a second [HA, HA, HA, HA-HA, HA HA, HA HA HA HA …]. Okay. Better now. [Wipes tears from eyes].

Any of you Goddess people out there feel bound and/or repressed? What say we list all your vivid descriptions of binding and repression and then send them to Ms. Spencer, shall we?

Let's not disappoint Ms. S. I'm expecting my blog to clog with all your sad descriptions of how awful it is being forced to follow female deity.
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thnx to naraosga for the foto

Heave, Ho, NUMERO UNO

Gonna hafta break my numero-uno rule about buying books, namely, "Never buy a book until you've finished the last one you paid good money for."

The book I will not be able to live without is Cristina Biaggi's The Rule of Mars: The Origins, History and Impact of Patriarchy . This is "a new collection of the best writings by leading scholars on the subject of patriarchy -- how it came to be the dominant social system, how it has been maintained, and its impact on contemporary life."

Article authors include some of the very people I've featured on RGT, including Riane Eisler, Heide Goettner-Abendroth, James DeMeo (of "Flies Guys" fame; see my March 2006 series on The Flies), Genevieve Vaughn and others.

Just feast your eyes on the Table of Contents:

CHAPTER I: The Origins of Patriarchy

• “Tribal Elder Tales” compiled by Minnie Mace, tribal elder from Queensland, Australia

• “Notes on the Rise and Development of Patriarchy” by Heide Goettner-Abendroth, Ph.D. philosopher and cultural historian

• “The Saharasian Origins of Patriarchal Authoritarian Culture” by James DeMeo, Ph.D., founder of the Orgone Biophysical Research Lab and Greenspring Center, Ashland, Oregon

• “The Beginnings of Patriarchy in Europe” by Joan Marler, director and founder of the Institute of Archaeomythology and biographer of Marija Gimbutas

• “The Roots of Patriarchy in Europe, the Middle East, and Asia” by Cristina Biaggi, Ph.D., author/artist/lecturer

• “ Antigone in West Sumatra: Matriarchal Values in a Patriarchal Context” by Peggy Reeves Sanday, Ph.D., eminent anthropologist, author and Professor Anthropology at the University of Pennsylvania

• “From Myth and Reality: The Projection of Gender Relations in Prehistoric China” by Cai Junsheng, senior research fellow of the Institute of Philosophy of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and has published a number of books

• “Eurasian Nomads and Patriarchy” by Jeannine Davis-Kimball, Ph.D., founder of the American-Eurasian Research Institute and the Center for the Study of Eurasian Nomads

• “The Roots of Indo-European Patriarchy” by Miriam Robbins Dexter, Ph.D. in Indo-European Studies, author, professor of Woman’s Studies and Honors Programs at UCLA

• “On the Patriarchal Transformation of Matricentric Cultures” by Carola Meier-Seethaler, Ph.D. in Ethics, Psychotherapist, Lecturer in Philosophy and Psychology

• “Why Did Patriarchy Supersede Egalitarianism?” by Harald Haarman, Ph.D., Internationally known linguist, author of more than 40 books, fluent in 20 languages

• “Magic Maidens and Heroic Horsemen in Romanian Folklore” by Adrian Poruciuc, Ph.D., linguist, Professor of Germanic and Indo-European Studies at Alexandru Ioan Cuza University in Iasi, Romania

• “From Priestess to Bride: Marriage as a Colonizing Process in Patriarchal Conquest” by Vicki Noble, feminist healer, teacher, artist, scholar and writer

• “Clan and Tribe” by Sandra Barnhouse, retired university publications editor, futurist and author

CHAPTER II: Ramifications of Patriarchy

• “Violence Against Women and Children in the Scriptures and in the Home” by Mara Keller, Ph.D., Professor of Religion and Director of the California Institute of Integral Studies

• “War Is Man’s Business” by Elinor Gadon, CIIS professor and author of The Once and Future Goddess

• “Perpetuating Patriarchy after the American Revolution” by Mark E. Kann, Ph.D., USC professor of political science and history and author of Punishment, Prisons, and Patriarchy

“Patriarchal Capitalism vs. A Gift Economy” by Genevieve Vaughn, founder of the Foundation for a Compassionate Society, organizer of several conferences on Matriarchal Studies, also a peace activist and philanthropist.

“The Role Patriarchy Plays in Our Contemporary World Situation” by Leslene della-Madre, writer, practitioner and teacher of feminist shamanic healing arts, and founder of Winged Women Return in CA

CHAPTER III: Philosophical Perspectives

• “A Letter to Cristina” by Glenda Cloughley, Ph.D., Jungian analyst, journalist, management consultant, composer, founding member of A Chorus of Women

• “Taming Testosterone” by educator and writer Jeanette Blonigen Clancy, educator, writer on issues of global justice, understanding and cooperation between nations, races and religion

• “Towards Neo-Patriarchy?” by Paola Melchiori, feminist philosopher

CHAPTER IV: The Personal IS Political

• “Seven Chariots of War” by Suzanne Bellamy, Australian artist, writer and teacher

• “Patriarchy and Its Toxicities -- Matriarchy and Its Possibilities” by Lucia Chiavola Birnbaum, Ph.D., author of several books on feminism and prehistory and Professor of Philosophy and Religion at CIIS, San Francisco

• “Observations on Patriarchy and Its Decline” by Tatyana Mamonova, exiled Russian poet, writer and activist and recipient of the Living Legacy Award for her outstanding contributions to humanity

• “Becoming Viable” by Starr Goode, poet, writer, teacher of literature at National University

• “Placating the Beast: How Women Sustain Patriarchy” by Stephanie Hiller, writer, environmentalist, and editor of Awakened Woman e-magazine

• Patriarchy: The Role Women Play” by Kristina Berggren, Ph.D., archaeologist and a specialist in late Bronze Age religion in Europe

CHAPTER V : Pathways for Change

• “Changing Our Ways of Thinking” by Mary E. Clark, Ph.D., biologist, author and educator

• “Partnership: Beyond Patriarchy and Matriarchy” by Riane Eisler, author of the international bestseller The Chalice and The Blade and president of the Center for Partnership Studies

• “Options for the Future: Transforming Patriarchy Through a Process of Cultural Metamorphosis” by Imogene Drummond, psychotherapist, painter and writer

FROM Goddess Pages: An Online Journal of Goddess Spirituality in the 21st Century
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thnx to dashek for the foto

NEW Goddess ZINE

If you haven't stumbled across it yet, you need to: it's a new Goddess e-journal called Goddess Pages: An Online Journal of Goddess Spirituality in the 21st Century, Geraldine Charles, Editor (Associate Editors: Jacqueline Woodward-Smith, Brian Charles).

Here's a snip from one of their articles:

"ON BEING A TRAVELING PRIESTESS OF THE GODDESS AND SINGER OF THE SACRED SONGS OF THE TEMPLE"

by Anique Radiant Heart

The clerk on the other side of the United Airlines check-in counter registered a look of horrified disbelief as I hefted my first suitcase onto the weighing platform.

“This bag is 30lbs overweight”, she says in a strangled voice. The queue is rather long this morning.

“Ah…these are the trials and tribulations of being a traveling Priestess of the Goddess,” I say with a perfectly straight face. Adding a little strain around the eyes I add “It’s the robes, the cloaks, the head gear, the traveling altar and all the other accoutrements that a decent Priestess must have.”

“But...,” she begins

“And then the CDs, the costumes, the song books etc. for the sacred singing you know,” I continue with a plaintive note creeping into my voice, as I silently beseech the Goddess to come on in and do Her thing here!

She stops her tapping on the keyboard and looks me straight in the eye.…

“Are you serious?" she asks a little uncertainly.

“Oh yes,” I say, bringing my hands together in the prayer position. “I have been traveling for two months and now I’m on my way home, exhausted, but deeply satisfied with my work for the Goddess."

She pauses, and I can almost see the wheels turning as she considers the situation. Either she has a nut case on her hands -- and as she glances behind me at the long queue, she realises that she just does not have the time to deal with a “situation” -- or she has a genuine member of the “clergy” on her hands. She decides.....

MORE >>>>

Getting PERSONAL

Yesterday, paxton (who is Christian) said this: “…[I]n your estimation the Goddess is only important inside a person's head, or inside a social structure…. It's just unusual to me, you understand. (Worshiping, as I do, a God who makes frequent and forceful claims of actually being a real Person and a specific Thing, a God who Does and Is)….”

To which I reply:

Paxton, I’ve posted about this before. I wish I could put my finger on that earlier post. What I wrote was this: I look at the Goddess behind two different sets of eyeglasses: a social-scientist set and a personal set. As a social scientist I see the war gods dumping enormous pain and poverty onto the human race, and feminine spirituality gifting us with enormous healing and wealth.

But I also have a personal relationship with the Goddess. Although I don’t bring that personal side to this blog very often, if you want a post that does, see my Jan. 1 ‘06, post: “NEW YEAR'S Blessing.”

Lately I’ve found it easier to pound on war gods than praise the Goddess. Partly this is because of the recent political situation, in which the war gods held America hostage. (Now that Daddy’s taken the T-bird away from Dubya, I feel able to relax a little, and hopefully my posting will relax too.)

On the other hand, as you suggest, a wide canyon yawns between your deity and mine. The Goddess brings very little pressure, no jealousy, and no fear. Yaj brings – well, you know what I think of Yaj (for you just tuning in, ‘Yaj’ is the war god Yahweh-Allah-Jehovah; in my opinion he’s not three gods, but one).

The Goddess just a ‘state of mind’? Not for most. Most Goddess people hold vivid pictures in their minds of specific deities, deities springing from the historical record – Isis, Macha, Diana, Brigit, Hecate, Innana, and others. Personally, I have a hard time with historical deities -- to one extent or another they’ve all been toyed with by the war-gods. After the war-god people conquered the old Goddess peoples, they said, “Okay, your Goddesses can sit next to our Gods – if they lick the Gods’ boots.” Unlike me, most Goddess people seem able to see through the patriarchal layers shrouding these historical Goddesses, into their deep core, their original divinity.

When I picture the Goddess, I like to zoom back to pre-patriarchal days. Years ago, my brother visited the Greek islands and brought me an early Bronze-Age Goddess statue. She’s about four inches high, bronze, and She’s folding Her arms across Her chest. She’s graced my home for over fifteen years now.

My favorite image, however, is my blog logo, shown above. On June 30 ’05, I posted this about Her:

“I have a wild weakness for this image. Thirty-five centuries ago, an ancient Minoan genius on the Mediterranean Island of Santorini felt the Goddess swim in her sinews, and, using paint, taxied Her to a plaster wall. You are now eyeing the actual plaster and paint deposited over 3,500 years ago.

“This is the un-reconstructed Goddess that the Goddess below was drawn from (the June 28 Goddess on the three-part throne). Notice Her necklaces -- of blue ducks and burnt-orange dragonflies....

“But it's her eyes, her posture that hold me in chains.

“This is the eye of Deity, of Far-Sight, the posture of Peace over fear. Of Other-Concern simultaneous with self-concern. Of Power-in-Being versus power-over. It is Self-Love without self-aggrandizement, Tenderness without weakness, Suppleness over stiffness. It is Love never-ending, never-bending, no signs of strings attached.

“Bless You All, Forever and Ever,

“Athana”

RICHARD DAWKINS & THE Flying SPARKS

Last night, on CSpan’s Book TV, Richard Dawkins stood in front of a church-college audience and read aloud from his new book*, in which he drops a tidy little label onto the God Jehovah: “psychotic.”

“Dawkins … portrays the ‘psychotic’ God of the Old Testament as ‘arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction: jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust, unforgiving control-freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully….’ (p. 31)

MORE>>>

Whoooo-eee, the sparks did fly! Who needs reality TV when you have a charged-up atheist plunked down in the middle of an American Christian-Church campus? If you haven’t already, you need to catch this show.

I love the way Dawkins points a finger at the war gods (Yahweh, Allah, Jehovah, Zeus, etc.) and calls them evil. But from there, he declares all religion evil.* Which in my opinion is a bit disingenuous, since I suspect Dawkins has a dirty little secret. I suspect his secret is this: he himself practices a religion. It’s called ‘Scientistity.’*

Scientistity does what all religions do: explain where we all came from, why in the world we’re here in the first place, where we go after we die, and so forth and so on.

THE PILINGS SHORING UP DAWKINS' RELIGION:

Where we came from: Each of us is 32c worth of chemicals (actually, considering inflation, this might have to be racheted up to $1.32 or more).

Why we’re here: To gather knowledge about the Universe. And to gather it Objectively with a capital “O”.

Where we go after we die: Back to 32c worth of chemicals.

How to behave while here: As long as you sit on all your emotions, you are free to do whatever. (Emotions crush the objective gathering of knowledge about the Universe.)

How-to-Behave Corollary A: Never step in the way of anyone gathering knowledge. Will that knowledge likely lead to the end of life on earth as we know it? No matter. Collecting-knowledge is God, and God is collecting-knowledge.

How-to-Behave Corollary B: If you’re a cameraman, say in Darfur, and what should wander in front of your videocam but a man bonging his brother over the head with a baobab tree, it’s more important to film than to interfere with the unfolding fratricide. Your filming might lead to knowledge -- which is God.

How-to-Behave Corollary C: Since thou shalt have no emotions, thou shalt not worry about people or the earth. People sick and dying? Who gives a fig. The Earth sick and dying? Who cares. Of course, if you have time after knowledge-collecting, and if you want, you may do some goodie-2-shoes work. And if you want, you may do your knowledge collecting around people- and earth-death. But, hey -- no need to.

Now, I consider myself a scientist, so I’m not blasting science, here. But I believe humans seek out religion as naturally as they breathe,**** and if they don’t have anything else, they’ll pick up whatever’s handy and make do.
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*The God Delusion
**Can’t blame him. What’s he ever known, except war gods?
***Pro-nounc-ed “Sigh' – un – tiss' - tuh – tee.”
****Religion has been found in every society studied.

GODDESS: A Man’s-Eye VIEW

Don’t see this very often (yet): A man telling how he found the Goddess. The book’s called The Savage Breast: One Man’s Search for the Goddess. So far it’s catching kudos from men and woman alike:

Woman reviewer:

“It was so refreshing to read about the Goddess from the perspective of a man when most of what I come across is written by women or by men with patriarchal ideals.

"What did I learn from this book? It is very simple…. The Goddess asks nothing of us other than for us the appreciate the beauty of the world and to share it with each other. Imagine if we did only this how the world would change....”

Male Reveiwer:

“I found Savage Breast to be a meaningful and personal account of the search for the Goddess in a man's life. I was right there with Tim, cheering him on, laughing with him and at him (thinking of my own trials) and wondering 'is he ever going to get it' and feeling so happy and relieved when he does get it.”

Woman:

“This book is really about the courage and strength it takes to be a real man, the first step in being able to get over the fear of love and intimacy with the woman you love. It also examines how Western men may have damaged themselves by cutting themselves off from a feminine divine, and how earlier cultures viewed and worshipped their goddesses. It's a fascinating mix of archaeology, travel, psychology, mythology ... and a love story as well! I can't say enough about it -- it's a real-life Da Vinci Code….”

Go HERE for MORE reviews on Savage Breast: One Man's Search for the Goddess, by Tim Ward, 2006, O Books.

Goddesses in Glastonbury

"Glastonbury is a small town in South West England with a big spiritual tradition. Some people believe that this is where Christianity in England began, and it's still a place of Christian pilgrimage; but it's become a centre for alternative spiritualities, too.

"The Goddess Temple ©

"Glastonbury now has a goddess temple, a sacred space set aside for the exploration and celebration of the Divine Feminine. The Temple, in the loft of an old house, is painted all in purple and decorated with large wickerwork images of various goddesses.

"The Temple, which opened at Imbolc (2 February) 2002, is believed to be the first of its kind to have opened in Europe in fifteen hundred years. SNIP

"Britain's ancient pagan traditions contain many hundreds of goddesses. They are closely bound up with the cycle of nature, with different goddesses being celebrated at different times of year.

"But at heart, all of the goddesses are one, says Kathy Jones, a researcher into Britain's ancient goddess traditions and a priestess of Avalon, as the mystical, invisible side of Glastonbury is known. SNIP

"Goddess worshippers honour the whole cycle of nature, and with it the whole life cycle of women.

"Brian Charles, a priest of Avalon, says that in so doing they reject the strong element in Western culture which casts aside the old woman. Old women are devalued in the modern world because they are of no use to men, since they are no longer potential lovers or mothers.

"But followers of the Goddess not only honour the woman as maiden, lover, and mother, but also as the old woman, or crone."

From a report by the BBC, "Goddess Spirituality in Glastonbury."

MORE>>>>
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thnx to Susan Sedon Boulet for the picture of the Lady of the Lake (from a foto of a pic I own). Glastonbury is also associated with the Arthurian legends.

THE VEIL: EXPRESSION OR Repression?

Morgaine over at The-Goddess has posted a thought-provoking piece on the Muslim veil: "The Veil - Religious Expression or Patriarchal Repression?"

"...[I]f a culture decided it was going to keep any other group - like blacks or Jews - swathed in burkas or veils, the world would never tolerate it. Yet women are consistently subjected to genital mutilation and to being hidden behind veils, burkas and even painted windows in Taliban country. Why do we, as supposedly enlightened Westerners, tolerate it? Our government has never imposed sanctions on a country for imprisoning its women or carving them up...."

Read more at The-Goddess.

CHRISTMAS STOCKING Time Boots

You wake up Christmas morning and find a pair of Winged Time-Travel boots in your stocking.

You wing your way back in time and settle in the Austrian village where lil’ Adolf Hitler is growing up (no, don’t ask me why you’d do this, just listen for a minute).

Soon you learn that little Dolfie is getting special help in school. The little girls sitting around him, however, are not.

As a citizen of Dolfie’s town, what do you do about this?

(a) Vote to give the little girls, too, the special help they need – molded around their special, particular and unique characteristics as little girls?

(b) Vote to keep the status quo. (After all, little girls can’t help the town, country or world when they grow up, so why waste the money?)

As we saw yesterday, Bush has slashed American education to the bone. Not surprisingly, then, NO ONE has been getting extra help in schools – for up to six years, now. The result: boys are failing miserably.

But now that sanity’s returning to government, should we go back to giving special attention to boys only? Why not give equal money to helping girls, too, based on their particular special needs as girls? After all, I think most of us agree – men and women alike -- that it’s likely women who will lead us out of the quagmire the world’s in at present. Let’s give our little girls extra help now, so they can pull us out of the quicksand tomorrow.
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thnx to bjearwicke for the foto

BIG, BAD, BOY-Bashing BUSH

Daddy's suing school department for sex-discrimination because sonny has only a B-minus average:

“'From the elementary level, they establish a philosophy that if you sit down, follow orders, and listen to what they say, you’ll do well and get good grades,' [Dad] told a journalist. 'Men naturally rebel against this.' [Dad's] proposed remedies [include] raising boys' grades retroactively….”

Um, excuse me, but back in the days when 99% of college students were boys my grandfathers were glued into seats in elementary school .

“If boys are doing worse, whose fault is it? To many of the current critics, it’s women’s fault, either as feminists, as mothers, or as both.”

So, um, when boys did better, were women praised? Were women showered with busloads of affection and high marks back in the 1800s and 1900s when ten times more boys than girls got into colleges? Um, why not?

Author Michael Kimmel says the problem lies not with women, but with Herr Bush:

“The net effect of ... No Child Left Behind: … school districts scramble to stretch inadequate funding, leaving them little choice but to cut noncurricular programs… This disadvantages ‘rambunctious’ boys, because many of these programs are after-school athletics, gym, and recess. And cutting “unnecessary” school counselors and other remedial programs also disadvantages boys, who compose the majority of children in behavioral and remedial educational programs.”

From the article “A War Against Boys?”
By Michael Kimmel
In Dissent Magazine, FALL 2006

All kinds of plummy thoughts are now dancing in my head.

Bush the mega-boy has succeeded in leveling the playing field for boys and girls – and girls are moving out ahead of boys.

Should we vote to give more money to schoolboys than to schoolgirls? Why? So boys can grow up and crowd women out of colleges, Congress, church leadership and CEO slots? So they can lead us into endless wars and fail to deliver us from unending lists of evils? Can anyone explain to me why we would want to do that?
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thnx to loveleah for the foto

O Happy, Happy Day!

I'm letting Echidne of the Snakes speak for me today. She says,

O Happy, Happy Day!

"O Joy! O Happiness! O Chocolaty Cuddliness Everywhere! Orgasms! Enlightenment! Windows which clean themselves! Your heart's deepest desires satisfied at no cost!

"And why is this the happiest of all days? Two good reasons: First, we are slightly less likely to slide into WWIII now that the Democrats took a majority in the House at least. Second, this blog is THREE today!"

Happy Birthday, Echidne. Frankly, I feel like today is my birthday, too. I've been born anew today, into a world newly filled with hope.

VOTE!

When I was a child I knew an old lady who got out her best clothes to go and vote. She was a very frugal woman and kept her clothes in mothballs for decades, so her best outfit included a little pill hat with a spotted veil, and she stuck that on her head with a long pin. I remember how mesmerizing all this was: the odd old-fashioned outfit, the smell of mothballs and her great excitement with all the preparations of the day.

She remembered a time when women could not vote at all and she took her right to vote very seriously. Perhaps she knew that people had given their lives for that right.

MORE at Echidne of the Snakes
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thnx to neadeau for the foto

WHERE Do I Go to VOTE?

Unsure where to go to vote? This site has a map you can click to find out where to vote in your state:

"To find your polling place, click on your state. You'll be taken to a webpage set up by your state government that provides either a search function, or a list of local officials that you can contact for more information."

Or,

you can also get your polling place at 1-866-MY-VOTE-1.

Don't forget your ID when you go to vote.

If you call and you're not on the list of voters, demand a provisional ballot.

If voting by machine, verify the paper record.

Need legal help? Call 1-866-OUR-VOTE.

PAT BUCHANNAN: "GOP Must GO"!

Any Republicans still reading this left-of-far-left blog? If so, please take note: One of your leading lights, Mr. Patrick Buchannan, has just announced he wants you to VOTE AGAINST REPUBLICANS tomorrow:

November 20, 2006 Issue
Copyright © 2006 The American Conservative

GOP Must Go

….The meaning of this election will be interpreted in one of two ways: the American people endorsed the Bush presidency or they did what they could to repudiate it. SNIP

It should surprise few readers that we think a vote that is seen—in America and the world at large—as a decisive “No” vote on the Bush presidency is the best outcome. SNIP

[Bush] rushed America into a war against Iraq, a war we are now losing and cannot win, one that has done far more to strengthen Islamist terrorists than anything they could possibly have done for themselves. SNIP

The war will continue as long as Bush is in office, for no other reason than the feckless president can’t face the embarrassment of admitting defeat. The chain of events is not complete: Bush, having learned little from his mistakes, may yet seek to embroil America in new wars against Iran and Syria.

Meanwhile, America’s image in the world, its capacity to persuade others that its interests are common interests, is lower than it has been in memory. SNIP

There may be little Americans can do to atone for this presidency, which will stain our country’s reputation for a long time. But the process of recovering our good name must begin somewhere, and the logical place is in the voting booth this Nov. 7. SNIP

MORE>>>>

Whew! Be still my beating heart! Mr. B., you can turn a phrase! My fave: "...this presidency ... will stain our country's reputation for a long time." Finally America's waking up to this overwhelming BushCo. madness. [I think I might be in love with you, Pat.]
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thnx to danssara for the foto

WHAT DOES “Spiritual” MEAN?

“The dramatic action that we need
to create a way of life on Earth that really works will be taken not through personal, social, or political action, but through spiritual action.”

--Brooke Medicine Eagle,
Buffalo Woman Comes Singing.

My Question: How do you define the word “spiritual”?
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Foto: EagleWoman by Susan Sedon Boulet (this is a foto I took of a copy I own of this beautiful painting).

FIRST TIME EVER: No Republicans ENDORSED BY NYT

This makes the little hairs on the back of my neck stand up: For the first time in its 155-year history, The New York Times is endorsing NO Republicans for election on Tuesday. None. As in Nada. As in “not one.”

“On Tuesday, when [the New York Times Editorial Page] runs the list of people it has endorsed for election, we will include no Republican Congressional candidates for the first time in our memory. SNIP

“[T]he Republican [Congress, with] its tax-cutting-above-all-else has wrecked the budget, hobbled the middle class and endangered the long-term economy….

SNIP “[The Republican Congress has shown] a shocking disregard for the most minimal ethical standards. SNIP

“[O]ver the past two years, the White House has made it clear that it claims sweeping powers that go well beyond any acceptable limits. SNIP

“Congress, in particular the House, has failed to ask probing questions about the war in Iraq…. Then, it quietly agreed to close down the one agency that has been riding herd on crooked and inept American contractors…. SNIP

“On the eve of the election, and without even a pretense at debate in the House, Congress granted the White House permission to hold hundreds of noncitizens in jail forever…. SNIP

“It is frightening to contemplate the new excesses [George Bush] could concoct if he woke up next Wednesday and found that his party had maintained its hold on the House and Senate….”

From The New York Times Editorial Page, this morning. For the whole article, go HERE>>>>

People, the Mother Goddess loves you, but She needs your help here. Tell me if I'm wrong, but I don't think The NYT uses words like "shocking" and "frightening" very often. If you haven’t already, please vote. And record what you see at the polls. Even if only in a notebook.

Couldya Use HALF A MILL?

$500,000 ELECTION-FRAUD REWARD

VelvetRevolution is offering a $500,000 reward for information about election fraud and manipulation in the November 7th mid-term elections.

That’s half a million dollars to the persons or persons who provide us with definitive and conclusive proof that a United States House or Senate election has been rigged by illegal means. The information must result in an overturning of a congressional election and a conviction of the person or persons responsible for the fraud.

We want whistleblowers to come forward and to provide us with evidence, documents, tape recordings, and admissions. Send to tips[at]velvetrevolution.us. Or call our hotline at 1-888-VOTETIP. This hotline is for fraud tips only. All other reports of electionproblems should be made at 1-866-OUR-VOTE.

For more, go to velvetrevolution.

YOU A Crime DETECTIVE?

Ever dream of being a crime detective? Here’s your chance.

If you have a camera or a camcorder, take it to the polls with you when you vote. Hundreds of reports are already pouring in about high crimes and misdemeanors against Democrats and Independents who want only to go to the polls and vote.

Check out this website, videothevote.org, for more details.
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thnx to redbaron for the foto

Saving SOULS IN HELL HOUSE

“Each Halloween, members of the Trinity Church in Cedar Hill, Texas, put on a haunted house. But instead of ghostly howls and skeletons in coffins, "Hell House" depicts what the Pentecostal church considers to be sins: a girl having an abortion... another taking drugs at a rave, getting raped, then killing herself... a boy committing suicide in a classroom….”

A few nights ago, CNN did a segment on this. They interviewed an Hispanic girl, only 9 or 10, going in to 'Hell House': strong, back straight, looked right into the eye of the camera.

Interviewer shoves the mike at her. “What do you think you’re going to see?” he asks. “Things that will happen to me when I get older,” says the little kid.

CUT to post trip. Little girl crying. Cringes this time when guy comes at her with mike. Can't talk. Face crinkles up in a mask of fear, tears oozing out of eyes. Backs away a little from him, sways toward her mother, then sways away, not knowing where to turn; afterall, it was her mother who brought her here.

I could have cried myself.

“…In each elaborately staged scene, Satan taunts the sinner, and then drags him or her off to hell. The aim is to save souls through fear.”

From a review in an Austin paper:

“A woman is bleeding to death from a botched abortion while a man suffering from AIDS is on a stretcher next to her. She asks Jesus for forgiveness; he curses the day he was born. Guess who gets to go to heaven? Another room in Hell House X features a wife who is cast out of her family after initiating an adulterous affair over the Internet. [Note that this is a woman, not a man. Wanna take bets on who have more extramarital affairs, men or women?].... After this grisly cavalcade of sin, everyone making the Hell House tour is led to a room and asked whether they want to accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.”

This church oughta be charged with child abuse and stripped of its license to operate.

Not to mention that they're turning my sacred holiday into a meat grinder of children.

Worse, CNN reported that the 'hell house' idea has now spread. I think they said over a thousand fundie churches now use Samhuinn to turn little girls and boys into quivering masses of fear. This shows how far they'll go to break our spirits, our power. I'm almost willing to pay for any good ideas about how we can FIGHT against this kinda pile of pus. [Could it be a thousand? How could that be. I might have gotten that number wrong. I hope I’ve gotten it wrong.]
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thnx to ieatmascar for the foto

WHY'S THE MEDIA Mum ON THIS?

October’s over and we’ve escaped a Rovian October Surprise! Right?

Wrong. Unfortunately, the possibilities of an October Surprise won’t end until November 7. And our mummified major media won’t clue you in on it, but things are heating up in the Persian Gulf:

The US navy has conducted military exercises ([beginning] 30th of October) 20 miles outside Iranian territorial waters in the Persian Gulf. The war games were perceived by Tehran as an act of provocation. Iranian patrol boats came very close to US and coalition warships in the Persian Gulf.

Snip

Naval deployment under the "global war on terrorism" is occurring on several fronts: in the Eastern Mediterranean,... along the Syrian-Lebanese coast, the Persian Gulf, the Arabian Sea and the Indian Ocean ... and Red Sea....

Snip

According to Debka, the Israeli intelligence think tank, the objective of the deployment of US warships is "to prepare for a US-led military strike against Iran ….”

According to Debka, there have been warnings of "impending al Qaeda attacks on the oil fields, oil ports, oil tankers and oil fields of Saudi Arabia and the Arabian oil emirates." These alleged Al Qaeda attacks on oil facilities in the Persian Gulf are part of the disinformation process. … What the Debka report suggests is that if such a terrorist attack were to occur, this would provide a pretext to the US to wage war on Iran, on the grounds that the Tehran government is allegedly protecting the Al Qaeda network.

THE AUTHOR of the article above, Michel Chossudovsky, is also author of the international best seller, America’s "War on Terrorism." He is Professor of Economics at the University of Ottawa and Director of the Center for Research on Globalization. MORE >>>

Put into plain English, folks, here’s what’s going down:

Rummy and Gang wanna take over the world (they haven’t really made much of a secret of this; go read their Project for the New American Century website). Iraq was Step 1. Iran seems to be shaping up as Step 2. But Americans in general would sooner eat flies than take over the world. Not a problem! Americans can be coaxed into it with half truths and downright lies. Owning the mainstream media helps a whole whaleload.

SAMHUINN'S Upon US