Unfortunately, I ultimately found the four archetypes offered by Weber to be somewhat limiting, in that they all seemed to define a woman in terms of her availability to, or relationships with, men. That choice of imagery enshrines the male as the conceptual center of the universe, and I simply do not believe that is…
I found myself wondering, in fact, just how much abuse women were supposed to put up with. When was the pain supposed to stop? When the Church changed? I don’t see that happening any time soon, especially considering the Church’s current appalling clerical record. From ignoring and abetting pedophilia by priests, to treating the ordination…
Myths and victims Mythically speaking, this revelation holds true as well, at least in the stories I know of. The entire saga of the Old Norse The Nibelungenlied explores the destructive, generation-spanning violence perpetuated by the violent greed for cursed treasure. None of the people involved could think of confronting the continuing savagery with anything…
Myths and archetypes Weber clearly understands the power and beauty of myth and dream, which is a subject I too very much appreciate pondering: “The ‘beginning’ we sense in mythological language or in the language of dream is also the deepest reality of the present and the fullness of the end. It is the state…
I am still cautiously exploring esotericism, so I also loved her comment about science being what we can know about the Mystery, but that “Mystery is the soul’s realm; intuition is the way we perceive it” (121). It was fascinating to see mysticism related so closely to the language of dreams and the non-conscious mind:…
I recently finished reading Womanchrist: A New Vision of Feminist Spirituality, a book which has left me quite perplexed. The author, Christin Lore Weber, is a former nun who left the convent, married, remarried when her first husband died, mothered children, and is now (if I remember correctly) a grandmother. Her writing is beautiful: lyrical,…
I did find myself rather raising an eyebrow at some of the symbolism, however, with its emphasis on white clothing and long white veils for purity, consistently white girls in all the graphics, and the emphasis on the ceremonial lighting of candles to conquer and banish the darkness. Not only is that dark vs. light…
Now a bit more rambling about the “Hidden In Plain Sight” conference. As I’ve mentioned previously, it lasted for four days: Thursday through Sunday. The Thursday talks were seriously hampered by two issues: an inadequate sound system, and the unexpected surprise of almost all the conference’s attendees showing up. This meant the hall, which was…
The speaker noted that of the 33 revolutions since (and including) the American Revolution, only six of them were led by Freemasons, which would seem to indicate Freemasons are not the dreaded revolutionaries they’re portrayed as. I was amused by his comment that the more revolutionary the Freemasons were believed to be, the more revolutionary…
The conference was closed by the sacred dance which I wrote about yesterday, and everyone was invited to participate in the Epagomenal Festival as well. I very much enjoyed the attitude at the festival — while it was kid-friendly, it wasn’t something just for the kids, and I received only cheerful invitations when I asked…