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Subscribe to this list via RSS Blog posts tagged in Mothers Day
Mother's Day! A Hallmark Moment or Celebration of Creation?

As I think on the meaning of Mother's Day I am drawn to both the commercialism and the potential for deepening my relationship with the creative feminine. 

I have been richly blessed to be a mother of five children. This being birthed from a space of thought that firmly believed I did not want marriage or children; only a career as a professional ballerina. The marriage came at the age of 21 after less than a year of dating my husband and I did not question that decision, simply knowing it was right. Last year we celebrated our 40th anniversary, so I guess I was correct in following my instincts. 

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Last modified on

Posted by on in SageWoman Blogs
The Divine Mother

Happy Mother's Day - to those who have biologically procreated, to those of us who failed in that quest, to those who had to let go and say goodbye to children for a multitude of reasons and circumstances, to those of us who cherish and mother projects, humans, animals and the Earth Mother Herself.

On my pilgrimage around southwest England I noted images of the Divine Mother at Chalice Well Gardens and various churches and cathedrals. For many pagans, and those who have harsh experiences of institutional religion, visiting Christian sites may be anathema. I have my peace, most times, with my religious upbringing. And, truth be told, in England and Ireland, you would miss interesting traces of the old religion as it mixed in with the new. So I was happy to chase around cathedrals trying to discover Sheela-na-gigs and Green Men, as well as witnessing the Madonna at pagan sites of pilgrimage like Chalice Well Garden and the White Well in Glastonbury where there is a Black Madonna 'Lady Chapel' in an alcove.

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What Does Mother's Day Mean in a Patriarchal and Matricidal Culture?

When we seek immortality or spiritual “rebirth,” are we not saying that there is something wrong with the “birth” that was given to us through the body of our mothers? In She Who Changes and in "Reading Plato's Allegory of the Cave as Matricide and Theacide," I asserted that our culture is "matricidal" because it is based on the assumption that life in the body in this world "just isn’t good enough."

What is so wrong with the life that our mothers gave us that we must reject it in the name of a “higher” spiritual life? The answer of course death.

Can we love life without accepting death?

Can we love our mothers if we do not accept a life that ends in death?

Jesus was said to have encouraged his disciples to leave their wives and families in order to follow him.  When he was told that his mother and brothers were outside and waiting to speak to him, he is said to have said:

“Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?” And stretching out his hand toward his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers!  For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother, and sister, and mother. (Matt. 12:48-50)

Buddha left his wife and new-born son in order to pursue enlightenment.

Some feminists, including Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza and Rita Gross, view these incidents positively, stating that their meaning is that no person should be trapped in the conventional biological roles.

I have always experienced these stories as dismissive of women’s bodies, of women’s lives, of women’s work. When I went to college, I learned that all of the knowledge and insight about the meaning of life I had gained through the experience of raising a child with my mother was irrelevant to the university education I had embarked upon.

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Posted by on in Paths Blogs
A Prayer for the Unmothered

May you find your mothers in a lungful of sweet air, in a breeze that cools your anger, in a gust that sings, “I see you, and I’m here."

May you find your mothers in deep belly laughter, the joy that overtakes you unexpectedly, the electricity that fuels your love for what you create.

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Last modified on

Posted by on in SageWoman Blogs
Luscious Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day! Start the day with a moment for yourself, a moment of luscious abundance. Connect inside, to the Mother of All Creation: Your Womb. As you go there, consciously come from a place of connection. You will slowly start that amazing sacred sweet energy of womb starting to fill the space. Sweet, yet infinitely powerful. She crumbles walls, she dissolves differences, and - her greatest power: she creates new life.

Not only as babies. As a woman who hasn'rt physically born chlidren, I do have a very fruitful womb. In so many sacred ceremonies I have alloweed her energy to come without, holding a sacred space for new life to be born. 

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Posted by on in Culture Blogs
A Pagan Tradition for Mother's Day

My significant other considers Mother’s Day (along with Valentine’s Day and Father’s Day) to be a holiday created purely for commercial reasons.  As a result, she will not celebrate any of those ‘holidays’.  I brought a different view of Mother’s Day when we got together.  She and I are both Pagans and when I explained this alternate approach to Mother’s Day she wholeheartedly embraced it.  I have to thank my friend Amy in Oklahoma for teaching me this Mother’s Day tradition that she and her son have followed for many years.  I think her clever reinterpretation of this holiday is perfect for most Pagans.

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