Women Ritual And Power

Many Christians do not know the Bible contains female images of God because they have never heard nor seen them in church. In Women, Ritual, and Power, Elizabeth Ursic gives the reader insight into four Christian communities that worship God with female imagery, both as a worship focus and a community identity. These Methodist, Presbyterian, Lutheran, and Catholic congregations operate within their established church denominations and are led by either ordained Protestant ministers or vowed Catholic sisters. Because expressing God-as-She can expose strident claims for maintaining God-as-He, this book shows not only how patriarchy continues to operate in churches today, but also how it is being successfully challenged through liturgy.

Throughout West African societies, at times of social crises, postmenopausal women—the Mothers—make a ritual appeal to their innate moral authority. The seat of this power is the female genitalia. Wielding branches or pestles, they strip naked and slap their genitals and bare breasts to curse and expel the forces of evil. In An Intimate Rebuke Laura S. Grillo draws on fieldwork in Côte d’Ivoire that spans three decades to illustrate how these rituals of Female Genital Power (FGP) constitute religious and political responses to abuses of power. When deployed in secret, FGP operates as spiritual warfare against witchcraft; in public, it serves as a political activism. During Côte d’Ivoire’s civil wars FGP challenged the immoral forces of both rebels and the state. Grillo shows how the ritual potency of the Mothers’ nudity and the conjuration of their sex embodies a moral power that has been foundational to West African civilization. Highlighting the remarkable continuity of the practice across centuries while foregrounding the timeliness of FGP in contemporary political resistance, Grillo shifts perspectives on West African history, ethnography, comparative religious studies, and postcolonial studies.

Every day millions of Tamil women in southeast India wake up before dawn to create a kolam, an ephemeral ritual design made with rice flour, on the thresholds of homes, businesses and temples. This thousand-year-old ritual welcomes and honors Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth and alertness, and Bhudevi, the goddess of the earth. Created by hand with great skill, artistry, and mathematical precision, the kolam disappears in a few hours, borne away by passing footsteps and hungry insects. This is the first comprehensive study of the kolam in the English language. It examines its significance in historical, mathematical, ecological, anthropological, and literary contexts. The culmination of Vijaya Nagarajan's many years of research and writing on this exacting ritual practice, Feeding a Thousand Souls celebrates the experiences, thoughts, and voices of the Tamil women who keep this tradition alive.

In Hindu theology, Divine Power is conceived as a divine woman-the Goddess. Sometimes she is wholly autonomous and sometimes she is the divine spouse of the creator God, Siva or Visnu. She is also held to be the evolving material source of every created phenomenon. Religious texts like Puranas and Tantras have thoroughly investigated the mysterious nature of the Cosmic Goddess. Tantra as a religious practice endeavoured to show how through ritual and Yoga one may achieve the realization of the mystery of the Supreme Goddess. Authors in Sanskrit and modern Indian languages have poured out their ecstatic devotion to the Goddess. She is close to the heart of the passionate devotee, who adores her as mother or daughter - a mortal emotional bond with the divine so peculiar to Hindus. She is also sovereign Power a little part of which reigning royalties covet to possess in order to be good rulers. AS the divine woman she is represented in all women. Therefore women should be holding a high position amongst Hindus. But the question is, do they? In spite of the obvious contrary evidence, women do succeed in carving out a very important position in Hindu religious practices by having their alternative religious rituals highly valued by Hindu women have a very complex interrelationship. The book focuses on the great cosmic Goddess and her ritual worship, Tantric theology and praxis in a wider sense, the attitude of her devotees towards her authority and the social character of the Tantric practitioners, and the position of Bhakti. It also figures out the position of women inside the Tantric and non-Tantric Hindu religious milieu. The Goddess symbolizes the supreme divine authority that activates the creation, protection and governance and necessary dissolution of the world in accordance with the ancient Indian concept of cyclical time. But She also discharges the divine sovereign privilege of punishing evil-doers and rewarding true devotees. Finally, the relevant forms of the Cosmic Goddess in this book are Sri/Tripurasundari/ Lalita; Goddess Kali and Her various emanations; and Laksmi and Her powers in the Pancaratra canonical texts.

For those seeking spiritual wholeness, a sense of belonging and a connection to something greater than themselves, "The Power of Ritual" explores the ways in which ritual can transform lives.

This is a handbook on how to perform sacred ceremonies in the tradition of Goddess spirituality in one's own home with ordinary household items. An annual cycle of celebrations is included, as is advice on how to set up an altar and use simple tools. The author, a practitioner of Wicca (witchcraft), expounds the life-affirming, eco-feminist values of that tradition. Suggestions for rituals and ideas for inventing one's own are given. Poetry and blessings blend in a title which supports celebration of the Goddess image in daily life. These rituals are personal, moving rites which celebrate love and peace, and which act as meditations for considering new rituals, old traditions, and the course of women's lives.

As more and more women rise up into their leadership and take ownership of their truth and their voice, they feel a strong pull toward being in circle with other women.The power of women gathering is immeasurable.There is more demand than supply right now so we need more women to raise their hands and be the leaders of circles, creating safe, sacred space for women to come together in sisterhood.When women come to Sistership Circle to learn how to lead circles, the #1 question they have is: what's the structure and what rituals should I use to create a powerful and potent experience?So we curated a group of talented facilitators to each contribute a ritual that they love, as well as inspirational stories on why they circle.This handbook is designed to empower and inspire more women to lead circles using these beautiful rituals, and is specifically focused on the spring season. Many of these rituals can be done individually to invoke the divine feminine and connect deeper with oneself. We hope you use these for your own special ceremonies, with girlfriends, or in your women's circles.