My Friend, Bebhinn Photo used with her permission.

Celtic myth is full of deities who are also human. In Celtic cosmology, deity incarnates.

I chose the Irish Goddess Bebhinn (pronounced bevin) as one of my Cycle III goddesses, and in the latter part of my long stay in Cycle III an Iowa Goddess Woman of Irish descent, named Bebhinn, came into my life. She had chosen "Bevin" as her SCA name, then switched to "Bebhinn" when she found the proper spelling. She made her way into Goddess Community, eventually moved from Iowa to Wisconsin, and we became friends and sister priestesses. We'd been friends for a year before I realized she didn't know that her chosen name was the name of an Irish goddess. What a pleasure that was for me, over a companionable breakfast, to see her response to this news.

Bebhinn is a Gaelic word meaning melodious, musically sweet woman. My friend Bebhinn is a music major (opera), has made a recording with her Irish band, Knotwork, and performs with Ruth Barrett. She's taught Goddess Chants, organized an early music singing group, and Goddess only knows where her musical gifts and drive will take her once she's moved through her Saturn Return (which I have the privilege of walking through with her).

In Irish mythology, Bebhinn is an underworld goddess, a giantess from the Isle of Women off Ireland's West Coast, and a patron of pleasure. Her authentic sense of self led her to refuse a marriage proposal -- an act of independence seen as rebellion -- and her scorned suitor killed her.

My friend Bebhinn is a dynamic, powerful, intelligent, gifted, beautiful and skilled woman, a broadcasting empath, creator of ecstatic ritual, and a natural organizer. Her acts of leadership have sometimes been welcomed and praised, and sometimes not, as has her independence and commitment to authentic living and spiritual practice.

When I see women leaders fear the energy, power, independence and authenticity of women in younger generations, and see how hard it is to open inner circles to admit new leadership, I see what I already know -- that powerful women fear women's power.

Goddess community needs the energy and gifts and skills of each new woman who comes along, whether or not she fits easily into existing communities and power dynamics. Somehow, we older women need to take the next step in our feminism.

We're at an interesting crossroads within feminist spirituality: We started by saying that feminist spirituality would liberate women by taking the middleman out of the spiritual equation, by making all women equal and valued members of the circle, by removing the oppressions of hierarchical organization. Somewhere along the way, probably as we aged and put in our years of service, we saw that respecting the experience of elders was a good thing and started expecting others to respect our age and experience. We acted flustered and sometimes worse when young women showed up who were ready to dive into the activities we had spent years developing expertise in, believing what we used to say to ourselves, that we already have everything we need to do the work of the Goddess, that our task is to re-member.

So, our crossroads: How do we reach across the age and experience divide and make room and show respect for all leaders, regardless of their age or experience (or lack of either, for that matter)? How do those of us who've spent time re-membering give the same to the women 2 years or 20 years "behind us" on the path? Somehow, we have to figure this out. New waves of women are coming and coming and coming, wounded from the patriarchy, yes, but with energy, youth, enthusiasm, empowered independence and joy at the liberation feminist spirituality promises.

Perhaps for the queens and crones, more feminist education is called for? More consciousness raising? More talk about the development of our traditions?

In the myths handed down to us (from most cultures), we see the hand of the patriarchy in the stories. Many stories about goddesses show struggle, grief, abuse, death: the takeover of women's religious and spiritual power and traditions. As feminists, we can look at the myth of Bebhinn, admire her independence, her sense of self, and not choose to see her decision-making as rebellion or her independence as lack of respect. These are the points of view of privilege, of the power holders. We can affirm her energy, welcome her into community, stretch as we need to and demonstrate, by example, the stretch and flexibility necessary to good leadership. We can invite younger women to stretch with us, to be a part of the process, or we can retreat into the old fears, the old messages, the old patterns. It's up to us. Meanwhile, Bebhinn and her sisters are moving into our world, asking us to give them what we fought for in our feminism -- respect, room to grow, empowerment, a place at the table. We can choose to incorporate the wisdom of living systems into our spiritual systems, to embrace complexity and change as a part of stability, for example, or we can insist on having what we've learned and what we've done stand unchallenged by the next generation. A living system or the death of our movement? It's up to us.

Knotwork clipart courtesy of Celtic or Knot