goddessing

cosmology, consciousness, contrariness
goddess religion: pagan blog
www.goddessmystic.com


Even in Heaven 

Sunday, May 11, 2008

Even in Heaven posted by Sage -- 12:02 PM.
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But I know I shall be homesick for you, even in heaven.
Beth March to Jo in Robin Swicord's screenplay of Little Women

It's been too cold and rainy for the gardening I had planned to do with J, and my beloved has spent the weekend at the computer, struggling with some gnarly problems in a freelance editing job.

Sometimes, often, we don't get what he hope for. Lost spring days outdoors, after such a long, frigid winter, are especially hard to endure, as are lost weekend days with my beloved.

Bird-watching from indoors, the view of the lake, crochet, reading: small pleasures. I'm grateful, but melancholy. Gillian Armstrong's movie version of Little Women brings warmth, comfort, and the peculiar sense of companionship that comes with familiar storytelling.

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Premature Capitulation 

Friday, May 09, 2008

Premature Capitulation posted by Sage -- 7:44 AM.
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Sexism is the story of this election year. The fact that so many otherwise intelligent people are utterly insensible to the problem is an indicator of how deeply rooted it still is.

My beloved still makes me nuts when she rants about how Nader voters are responsible for the fact that we haven't had eight years of Al Gore in the White House. When I trot my logic out on her -- responsible: all the people who voted for Bush, election fraud, legislating from the [Florida Supreme Court] bench (and, oh yes, all the Democrats who stayed home and didn't bother to vote or, worse yet, crossed party lines and voted for Bush) -- she concedes my points, but the "Blame Nader" meme recurs.

Generally speaking, her logical abilities are far superior to mine. It's just that her limbic brain, traumatized by the events that unfolded around Election 2000, holds onto this misconception that Nader and his supporters lost the White House to the Republicans in 2000. She's not alone in this.

She's a feminist, so she won't be joining the "Blame Hillary" bandwagon, which has already started warming up [1, 2, 3, 4].

But back to Dr. Sock's (and other's) notions about sexism, let's just set the record straight. We really can Blame Hillary for everything bad that's happening in the world. There's no need to limit Hillary-blaming to any problems that may or may not be occurring in the Democratic Party, or that may or may not crop up in the general election this fall.

The only thing, I think, which we can't blame Hillary for is something that some blamed Kerry for in 2004: premature capitulation.

So why is Hillary persevering? That's what I asked myself on Wednesday morning, when I found myself thinking like so many others that it was, finally, time to give it up.

Knowing that Hillary is the opposite of a fool, that in fact she is brilliant and savvy, I began trying to imagine why she was holding on. Eventually, I came up with these things: (1) she has the huevos to eschew premature capitulation; (2) she's not afraid to break the gender rules and hang in for a fight, like other (male) party hopefuls have done; (3) she's not being obtuse; she can do the math and can also analyse the weighty social and political implications of superdelegate decision-making in this unique situation; (4) she's got political (and personal) agendas which most of us can only guess at (and excuse me y'all, but all people running for elected office are by definition politicians and political beings, Obama included); (5) she just might be hanging on for the good of the party and the good of the country, even though the throngs see her hanging-on as just the opposite.

And it occurs to me that regardless of her intentions, her machinations might deliver us the Dream Ticket that many were clamoring for a few months ago.

Whatever the case, I continue to admire Clinton. She's waded through a river of sexism during this campaign, with grace. And whether or not she's on the ticket in the fall, she'll continue to work for the party and for the people.


Wisdom 

Sunday, May 04, 2008

Wisdom posted by Sage -- 7:12 AM.
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We'd just remodeled the kitchen, and Sophy insisted we should have a dedication. She said the kitchen was as close as people in our culture ever got to the sacred hearth, so we ought to dedicate it as holy ground.
Carolyn, in Sheri S. Tepper's Gibbons Decline and Fall

Many the paths and no gates, ever. Many paths to allow for meandering, for as the water flows, so will we, but no gates, for every gate has a toll collector. Go through none, and none can close behind you to trap you in a place you don't belong. Track by your star; but keep an eye on your feet, for stones are set in the road to make you stumble.
Laura, quoting the teachings of Sophy, in Sheri S. Tepper's Gibbons Decline and Fall

Some of us set up places of refuge... Some of us went to the brides in India, and the girls being cut, and the mothers told to kill their baby daughters. Some went among women who were alone, teaching them to join together, for there is hope in two women, help in three women, strength in four, joy in five, power in six, and against seven, no gate may stand. Some even went among men, to tell them of the battle coming, to explain that it is not male god against male devil, nor is it female against male; it has nothing to do with gender but with dominion... Some lived, some died, but all kept a place to stand. Once you stop trying to go through the gates, it seems so much simpler. Find your sun-warmed stone, she used to say to us, find it high in the sun, dance there, build your house there, then reach down to pull others up.
Ellen, explaining Sophy's First Dispersal of women in the war against dominion, in Sheri S. Tepper's Gibbons Decline and Fall

We call her Sovanuan, Essence of Knowing... Your people might call this goddess Wisdom, or Sophia, as she was once called, when your women had a right to a female goddess. Wisdom is mysterious and hard-won. We portray her as veiled, for we can never know what she looks like, and every veil lifted shows us others behind it. We veil ourselves when we come to revere her, to remind us that Sovanuan dwells within us also, and even there is veiled from our clear sight.
Tess, one of Sophy's people, in Sheri S. Tepper's Gibbons Decline and Fall

Since you were in the trees, your people have contended, one with the other, making battles and then making peace, and then battles, and then peace again. You have been proliferate and violent, and have demanded dominion over all things. You have fought language against language, culture against culture, convulsion after convulsion. Still, even very early in your history, we saw some of you following the path intelligence must follow as it evolves, the path all thinking races follow: You were gradually learning ways that would lead to wisdom. Ways of respect for nature, ways of peace, ways of quiet cooperation.
Tess, one of Sophy's people, in Sheri S. Tepper's Gibbons Decline and Fall

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Gaia Sings to Us 

Thursday, May 01, 2008

Gaia Sings to Us posted by Sage -- 3:18 PM.
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The earth is humming ... a deep, astonishing music.

...a giant, exceptionally quiet symphony.

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Durga Reincarnated 

Wednesday, April 09, 2008

Durga Reincarnated posted by Sage -- 6:54 AM.
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The baby girl Lali, born recently with two faces in a village in north India, is being worshipped as a reincarnation/emanation of Durga, the Hindu multi-eyed, multi-armed warrior goddess, mother of Ganesha, Saraswati, and Lakshmi.


The medical term describing the baby's extremely rare condition is craniofacial duplication. Though the condition often comes with serious health problems, her father says: "My daughter is fine -- like any other child."

Lali has over 100 visitors a day, who come to touch her, offer money, and receive blessings. The chief of Lali's village speaks of building a Temple to Durga, saying the baby has brought fame to his village.

Source: Baby with two faces worshipped as goddess

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view from here 

Saturday, April 05, 2008

view from here posted by Sage -- 5:42 AM.
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What the webcam sees.