Flashes of Insight

On one level, I do think that some of us in the early 70’s first wave of Women’s Spirituality were out to cause a revolution/evolution in spritual /feminist thought. We were basically expressing ourselves and embracng what felt right. None of us tended to bend under pressure either…

Intense resistance from all sides in part honed our path which necessitated our fierecness and heightened our joy as well. I know that Z would echo my displeasure at the fact that Dianics [and I consider myself Dianic/Ecclectic or Womanspirt] have been totally marginalized by mainstream and or traditional pagan groups.

The swell of the Goddesses ranks grew in direct relationship to the work of the early Dianics who were melding Wicca and Feminism which created a Womanspirit Movement which literally swept the country and parts of the world.

Clearly, The Goddess was Alive and Magic was A foot, a hand and everything else.

In the early 70’s I essentially fought the same battle to create a Lesbian Politiic that was not being hidden in the closets by the feminists who just wanted us to keep it in the bedroom and the gay boys who wanted to keep us making coffee. All of them considered our issues , not the Real Issues, and we had to really fight to break that silence.I don’t feel that anyone’s sexual preference should be closetted and bi’s should be as accepted as anyone else just understand too that some lesbians fought hard to make and hold the space that we all enjoy and perhaps some still bristle when we feel like we might be put into a closet again…again…closets are for clothes and freedom for all is where its at.

All this leads to the fact [and I was leading somewhere I promise] that as Feminism has become almost a dirty word since the Reagoon Raygun years it would seem that the original Dianic/Womanspirit message has all but been lost in the swarm of other neo pagan ideologies.
I don’t personally desire to mix it up with those groups all the time but it would be nice for Womanspirit as Feminist Dianic Wicca to be offered on the Main Stage of these events as a spiritual option.Sexisim in these traditional groups is so anti-Goddess, I wish that they could simply get that point.How can you supposedly worship the Goddess and demean women. I also am not saying that all non Dianics are like this because they aren’t but the prejudice does exist.

I believe that it is time again for the Goddess and Her women to come alive in groups with the fire and passion that hasn’t died but could use a rebirth. As Z said in her video, its about the gatherings.

These gatherings are the place where we women can create and live into a differnt paradigm than exists in the mainstream, a stream that is totally polluted by greed and seperation from the Mother.

This past year at our 4th Annual Wise Woman’s Festival one of the most heartening experiences for me as the producer was to see the incredulous look on the faces of the 20 something spoken word poets who were told that they could leave their purses unattended and then the joy that they expressed at the end of the fest about feeling so safe here.These were an amazing group of young Amazons,lesbians,bi’s,straights all so comfotable in their own skin all with potent and fierce poetery. They totally inspired us Crones who were wondering and hoping that some new blood would pick up this torch.

It’s a differnt torch too because the sexual politics are somewhat differnt now as I think the full range of sexual expression is just looser and more accepted I have great hope for the future of our Movement as more and more young women embrace this path and older women cointinue to throw off the shackles of male approval and patriarchal thoought. As Shekhinah would say, the world will be a better place when Aphrodite has her day.

Blessings,
Flash