Watery Wednesday is time for news of our many communities, and this week is no exception.Three videos documenting the Witches High Tea held last week in Exeter, UK; a discussion of Pagan summer camp; Wandering Witch travels to D.C.; Z Budapest controversy; and the passing of ACE/Starwood festival founder Jeff Rosenbaum.
This video (and two more just like it on the same YouTube channel) follow the proceedings of last week's "Witches High Tea" and Guinness World Record attempt for "most Witches in the same place." Frankly, it's a lot less silly than it sounds and was held in commemoration of the anniversary of the deaths of the Bideford Witches, who were the last women in England to be hanged for witchcraft in 1682.
I have to admit, in my world the mere mention of Szuszanna Budapest is often followed by a heavy sigh and an eye-roll. I haven't taken her seriously since the whole pantheacon debacle a few years back. Like many contemporary pagans I feel that she has been less of an ally the past few years and more like the crazy aunt at the party we all try to avoid. She is famous for her stance against anything Y chromosome related and has on several occasions been verbally abusive to members in the trans-community. I had grown almost comfortable with my distaste of all things Z Budapest, after all each time she opened her mouth she only reaffirms my opinion. Then she goes and ordains a man.
Is Goddess feminism an old religion or a new creative synthesis? Can it be both? Goddess feminism draws on the feminist affirmation of women’s experiences, women’s bodies, and women’s connection to nature; the feminist critique of transcendent male monotheism as the symbolic expression of male domination of women and nature; and 19th and early 20th century discussions of Goddesses and matriarchy.
Most Goddess and other spiritual feminists have experienced Wiccan rituals, which are often simply called Goddess rituals. For many of us, elements of Wiccan practice strike a chord of knowing, while other aspects seem odd or strange or even just plain weird. What are the origins of Wiccan ritual? Are some its roots to be found in male secret societies that in no way promoted "the full humanity of women"?
The way I heard it, back in the 70s sometime, Z. Budapest and Herman Slater were arguing one day about which was the superior sex.
(Personally, I find it difficult to imagine the two of them so much as being in the same room together without generating some sort of rift in the time-space continuum. But that's how I heard it.)
Z opines that the Goddess has made women the superior sex because out of all animals, only the human female has an organ the sole purpose of which is to give pleasure.
You do know the story about how Tiresias got his gift of prophecy? Juno and Jupiter were having an argument about whether sex was
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