The Encyclopedia of Women in World Religions

I want to announce a truly monumental work, the Encyclopedia of Women in World Religions, published recently  this year by ABC-Clio Publishers, and edited by Susan de-Gaia Ph.d.  So many important Voices speak to the Re-Emergence of the Divine Feminine in our world.  It was my privilege to have a small inclusion in the Encyclopedia as well.  There is a hard copy and an EBook as well.  Congratulations to all who participated in this important project, and most especially to Susan de-Gaia for her monumental dedication 

in creating it.

Encyclopedia of Women in World Religions: 

Faith and Culture Across History

 Susan de-Gaia, Editor

Author-Subject List (PARTIAL ONLY)

Headword	Author Category	Contributors
Priestesses and Oracular Women	AFRICAN RELIGIONS	Dashu, Max;
Yoruba Religion	AFRICAN RELIGIONS	Finley, Mackenzie;
Body Art	AFRICAN RELIGIONS	Hahn, Allison;
Life Cycle Ceremonies	AFRICAN RELIGIONS	Hahn, Allison;
Rastafari	AFRICAN RELIGIONS	Hahn, Allison;
Candomble	AFRICAN RELIGIONS	Oleszkiewicz, Malgorzata;
African Religions in Diaspora	AFRICAN RELIGIONS	Razak, Arisika;
Art in Africa	AFRICAN RELIGIONS	Razak, Arisika;
Female Genital Mutilation	AFRICAN RELIGIONS	Team, Victoria;
Sibyls	Ancient Religions	Atkinson, Kenneth;
Diana	Ancient Religions	Bonar, Chance;
Homosexuality	Ancient Religions	Bonar, Chance;
Sappho	Ancient Religions	Christ, Carol;
Shamans in East Asia	Ancient Religions	Dashu, Max;
Hypatia	Ancient Religions	Dr. Vivianne Crowley Ph.D.: SW1
Inanna	Ancient Religions	Foust, Kristan: UTA;
Athena	Ancient Religions	Foust, Kristan;
Daily Lives of Women-Greek Roman	Ancient Religions	Foust, Kristan;
Egyptian Religion	Ancient Religions	Foust, Kristan;
Marriage, Ancient Greek and Roman Religions	Ancient Religions	Foust, Kristan;
Pre-Greek Goddesses in the Greek Pantheon	Ancient Religions	Haarmann, Harald: Inst of Archa
Priestesses and Their Staff in Ancient Greece	Ancient Religions	Haarmann, Harald: Inst of Archa
Sun Goddess	Ancient Religions	Haarmann, Harald: Inst of Archa
Delphic Oracle	Ancient Religions	Kerley, Gary;
Gorgon Medusa	Ancient Religions	Marler, Joan;
Eleusinian Mysteries, Greek and Roman Religio	Ancient Religions	Shipley, Morgan;
Gaea	Ancient Religions	Shipley, Morgan;
Mesopotamian Religion	Ancient Religions	Therese Rodin;
Ninhursaga	Ancient Religions	Therese Rodin;
Writers and Poets, Ancient Mesopotamian	Ancient Religions	Therese Rodin;
Religious Leadership, Ancient Roman Religions	Ancient Religions	Webb, Lewis;
Baha'i_Education	BAHA'I	Crosson, Selena;
Gender Roles	BAHA'I	Eschevarria, Lynn;
Divine Feminine	BAHA'I	Maneck, Susan: 39212;
Tahirih	BAHA'I	Maneck, Susan: 39212;
Women in Baha'i Scriptures	BAHA'I	Maneck, Susan: 39212;
Nuns, Theravada	BUDDHISM	Amore, Roy C.: University of Win
Therigatha	BUDDHISM	Amore, Roy C.: University of Win
Women in Early Buddhism	BUDDHISM	Amore, Roy C.: University of Win
Abortion	BUDDHISM	Bechtold, Brigitte;
Bodhisattvas	BUDDHISM	Bechtold, Brigitte;
Engaged Buddhism	BUDDHISM	Bechtold, Brigitte;
Gender Roles	BUDDHISM	Bechtold, Brigitte;
Ordination	BUDDHISM	Bechtold, Brigitte;
Nichiren	BUDDHISM	Cavaliere, Paola;

Zen BUDDHISM

Dance of Tara BUDDHISM

Feminine Virtues BUDDHISM

Lay Women in Theravada Buddhism BUDDHISM

Buddhism in America BUDDHISM

Pajapati BUDDHISM

Sacred Texts on Women BUDDHISM

Tea Ceremony BUDDHISM

Mahayana BUDDHISM

Women's Buddhist Networks BUDDHISM

Soka Gakkai BUDDHISM

Guan Yin BUDDHISM

Funeral Practices BUDDHISM

Dance BUDDHISM

Female Divinities BUDDHISM

Prajnaparamita BUDDHISM

Tara BUDDHISM

Tantra BUDDHISM

Julian of Norwich CHRISTIANITY

Chastity CHRISTIANITY

Monastic Life CHRISTIANITY

Christianity in America CHRISTIANITY

African American Women CHRISTIANITY

Christianity in Latin America CHRISTIANITY

Abortion CHRISTIANITY

Clothing CHRISTIANITY

Mormonism CHRISTIANITY

Homosexuality in Early to Early Modern Christia CHRISTIANITY

Mother of God CHRISTIANITY

Women in Early Christianity (1 to 300) CHRISTIANITY

Abbesses CHRISTIANITY

Education CHRISTIANITY

Pilgrimage CHRISTIANITY

Women in the Reformation CHRISTIANITY

Mary Magdalene CHRISTIANITY

Mystics CHRISTIANITY

Hildegard of Bingen CHRISTIANITY

Relationship and Social Models in Scripture CHRISTIANITY

and Archaeology

Sophia CHRISTIANITY

Missionaries CHRISTIANITY

Charity CHRISTIANITY

Medieval Women Monastics CHRISTIANITY

Roman Catholic Women Religious CHRISTIANITY

Polygamy CHRISTIANITY

Christianity in Africa CHRISTIANITY

Interfaith Dialogue, Post 9/11 CHRISTIANITY

Cavaliere, Paola;

de Gaia, Susan; Moses, Phyllis; Engelmajer, Pascale; Engelmajer, Pascale;

Foulks, Beverly;

Lee, Kenneth;

Lee, Kenneth;

Lee, Kenneth;

Lehrer, Tyler;

Lehrer, Tyler;

Morris, James;

Ms. Emily B. Simpson; Remoiville, Julie; Shaw, Miranda; Shaw, Miranda; Shaw, Miranda; Shaw, Miranda;

Shaw, Miranda; Lee, Kenneth: C Allen, Amanda;

Amanda Haste;

Amanda Haste;

Auguste, Nicol;

Bailey, Emily; Bartel, Rebecca; Bechtold, Brigitte; Bohleke, Karin;

Burns, William Earl (aka - Burns, Carroll, Charles;

Clark, Patricia;

Coltri, Marzia;

Crown, Nick;

Crown, Nick;

Crown, Nick; Darlage, Adam; de Gaia, Susan;

de Gaia, Susan; Haste, Amanda; Dr. Vivianne Crowley Ph.D.: SW1 Eisler, Riane;

Evans, Kathryn;

Gabryszewska, Maria;

Ganim, Carole;

Ganim, Carole;

Ganim, Carole;

Gullota, Daniel;

Hahn, Allison;

Haney, Marsha;

Anglican/Episcopalian Women Religious	CHRISTIANITY	Haste, Amanda;
Contemporary Women's Monasticism	CHRISTIANITY	Haste, Amanda;
Marriage, Divorce, Widowhood	CHRISTIANITY	Haste, Amanda;
Christianity in Europe	CHRISTIANITY	Magyar, Judit;
Orthodox Christianity	CHRISTIANITY	Magyar, Judit;
Christine de Pizan	CHRISTIANITY	McNary-Zak, Bernadette: Rhode
Stigmatics	CHRISTIANITY	Painter, Cassandra;
Apocrypha	CHRISTIANITY	Peek, Stephanie;
Art, Modern and Contemporary	CHRISTIANITY	Sachs, Hannah;
Fundamentalism	CHRISTIANITY	Sanders, Mary;
Ministers	CHRISTIANITY	Sanders, Mary;
Protestant Denominations	CHRISTIANITY	Sanders, Mary;
Fall, The	CHRISTIANITY	Shipley, Morgan;
Founders	CHRISTIANITY	Voorhees, Amy;
Middle Ages	CHRISTIANITY	Walter, Katherine: College at Bro
Saints	CHRISTIANITY	Walter, Katherine: College at Bro
Women Writers in Early and Medieval Christian CHRISTIANITY		Walter, Katherine: College at Bro
Sex and Gender	CHRISTIANITY	Walter, Katherine;
Widowhood	CHRISTIANITY	Walter, Katherine;
Cult of Female Chastity	CONFUCIANISM	Campbell, Josianne;
Feminine Virtues	CONFUCIANISM	Campbell, Josianne;
Classical Confucianism	CONFUCIANISM	Danner, Lukas;
Books for Women	CONFUCIANISM	de Gaia, Susan;
Filial Piety	CONFUCIANISM	Du, Yue;
Confucian Revivalism	CONFUCIANISM	McClenon, Julia: UCSB;
Motherhood	CONFUCIANISM	Remoiville, Julie;
Women's Changing Roles	CONFUCIANISM	Remoiville, Julie;
Healers	DAOISM	McClenon, Julia: UCSB;
Wu Wei	DAOISM	McClenon, Julia: UCSB;
Goddesses	DAOISM	Perreira, Todd;
Priestesses, Nuns, and Ordination	DAOISM	Perreira, Todd;
Daoism in China	DAOISM	Zhu, Liang;
Draupadi	HINDUISM	Agarwal, Komal;
Vedic Hinduism	HINDUISM	Agarwal, Komal;
Festivals	HINDUISM	Amazzone, Laura;
Pilgrimage	HINDUISM	Amazzone, Laura;
Shakti	HINDUISM	Amazzone, Laura;
Yoginis	HINDUISM	Amazzone, Laura;
Gurus and Saints	HINDUISM	Bhattacharyya, Monoloina;
Aditi	HINDUISM	Campbell, Josianne;
Caste	HINDUISM	Dandekar, Deepra: 12207;
Devadasis	HINDUISM	Dandekar, Deepra;
Household Shrines	HINDUISM	Dandekar, Deepra;
Ideals of Womanhood	HINDUISM	Dandekar, Deepra;
Durga and Kali	HINDUISM	Evans, Kathryn;
Fundamentalism	HINDUISM	Goulet, Nicole;
Renunciation	HINDUISM	Goulet, Nicole;

Devi	HINDUISM	Goulet, T. Nicole: Indiana Univer
Saraswati	HINDUISM	Goulet, T. Nicole: Indiana Univer
Sati	HINDUISM	John Capucci;
Tantra	HINDUISM	Kumar, Pawan;
Lakshmi	HINDUISM	Mitra, Semontee;
Marriage	HINDUISM	Mitra, Semontee;
Prakriti	HINDUISM	Mitra, Semontee;
Sacred Texts on Women	HINDUISM	Mitra, Semontee;
Radha and Gopi Girls	HINDUISM	MoChridhe, Race;
Dance	HINDUISM	Parveen, Rasheda;
Stage of Life Rituals	HINDUISM	Pillai, Rupa;
Matriliny	HINDUISM	Rath, Akshaya: National Inst of T
Bhakti	HINDUISM	Rath, Akshaya;
Arts (Native American)	INDIGENOUS RELIGIONS	Anton, Beata;
Ceremonies (Native American)	INDIGENOUS RELIGIONS	Anton, Beata;
Clothing (Native American)	INDIGENOUS RELIGIONS	Anton, Beata;
Marriage and Social Status (Native American)	INDIGENOUS RELIGIONS	Anton, Beata;
Sacred Spirits (Native American)	INDIGENOUS RELIGIONS	Anton, Beata;
Women Warriors (Native American	INDIGENOUS RELIGIONS	Dry, David;
Ancestors (Native American)	INDIGENOUS RELIGIONS	Evans, Kathryn;
Creation Stories (Native American)	INDIGENOUS RELIGIONS	Evans, Kathryn;
Nature (Native American)	INDIGENOUS RELIGIONS	Evans, Kathryn;
Sacred Place (Native American)	INDIGENOUS RELIGIONS	Evans, Kathryn;
Shamanism in Eurasian cultures	INDIGENOUS RELIGIONS	Haarmann, Harald: Inst of Archa
Shamans in Korea	INDIGENOUS RELIGIONS	Kendall, Laurel: American Museu
Matriarchies	INDIGENOUS RELIGIONS	Mann, Barbara: University of Tol
Activism (Native American)	INDIGENOUS RELIGIONS	Shipley, Morgan;
Medicine Women (Native American)	INDIGENOUS RELIGIONS	Shipley, Morgan;
Kinship (Native American)	INDIGENOUS RELIGIONS	Stover, Dale;
Islam in Africa	ISLAM	Acquah, Lady Jane: ljane26@gm
Hawwa	ISLAM	Agha-Jaffar, Tamara;
Maryam	ISLAM	Agha-Jaffar, Tamara;
Islam in America	ISLAM	Brandon, Alexandra;
Peacemaking	ISLAM	Fitriyah, Lailatul;
Honor	ISLAM	Helms, Barbara;
Saints, Sufi	ISLAM	Helms, Barbara;
Druze	ISLAM	Khaizran, Yusri;
Sufism	ISLAM	Khan, Shahida: National Institute
Ideal Woman	ISLAM	Lob, Elisabetta;
Education	ISLAM	Olomi, Ali;
Islam in the Middle East	ISLAM	Rahman, Farhana;
Polygamy	ISLAM	Rahman, Farhana;
Prophets Wives	ISLAM	Rahman, Farhana;
Purdah	ISLAM	Rahman, Farhana;
Qur'an and Hadith	ISLAM	Rahman, Farhana;
Feminism	ISLAM	Rannveig Jetne Haga;
Coverings	ISLAM	Tayyen, Sana;

Hagar	ISLAM	Tayyen, Sana;
Marriage and Divorce	ISLAM	Tayyen, Sana;
Pilgrimage	ISLAM	Tayyen, Sana;
Reform	ISLAM	Tayyen, Sana;
Shari'a	ISLAM	Tayyen, Sana;
Women's Organizations	ISLAM	Tayyen, Sana;
Female Genital Mutilation	ISLAM	Team, Victoria;
Islam in Europe	ISLAM	Teodorescu, Adriana;
Diaspora	ISLAM	Valentina Fedele;
Fatima	ISLAM	Valentina Fedele;
Jina	JAINISM	Clines, Gregory;
Monastics and Nuns	JAINISM	Clines, Gregory;
Lay Women	JAINISM	de Gaia, Susan;
Female Deities	JAINISM	Mitra, Semontee;
Ritual	JAINISM	Mukherjee, Asha;
Bat Mitzvah	JUDAISM	Adelman, Penina;
Ancient Judaism	JUDAISM	Atkinson, Kenneth: Univ of Nort
Salome Alexandra	JUDAISM	Atkinson, Kenneth;
Shabbat	JUDAISM	Balogh, Amy;
Feminist and Women's Movements	JUDAISM	Beitler, Ruth: U.S. Military Acade
Israel	JUDAISM	Beitler, Ruth: U.S. Military Acade
Marriage and Divorce	JUDAISM	Beitler, Ruth: U.S. Military Acade
Rosh Hodesh	JUDAISM	Berrin, Susan;
American Denominations 1850 to Present	JUDAISM	Breitzer, Susan Roth: susan.breit
Judaism in America	JUDAISM	Breitzer, Susan Roth: susan.breit
Women and Work	JUDAISM	Breitzer, Susan Roth: susan.breit
Modern and Contemporary Judaism	JUDAISM	Breitzer, Susan;
Festivals and Holy Days	JUDAISM	Fadden, John;
Hebrew Bible	JUDAISM	Fadden, John;
Rabbis	JUDAISM	Fadden, John;
Mitzvah	JUDAISM	Goldhaber-Gordon, Ilana;
Lilith	JUDAISM	Grenn, D'vorah: The Lilith Institu
Priestesses	JUDAISM	Grenn, Dvorah;
Goddesses	JUDAISM	Hammer, Jill;
Synagogue	JUDAISM	Mayne, Hannah;
Peacemaking	JUDAISM	Messina, Adele;
Performance	JUDAISM	Pascal, Julia;
Judaism in Europe	JUDAISM	Roos, Lena: Uppsala University;
Sephardic and Mizrachi Judaisms	JUDAISM	Roos, Lena: Uppsala University;
Education	JUDAISM	Roos, Lena;
Food	JUDAISM	Roos, Lena;
Sex and Gender	JUDAISM	Roos, Lena;
Shabbat	JUDAISM	Sachs, Hannah;
Holocaust	JUDAISM	Saidel, Rochelle;
Midrash	JUDAISM	Sasso, Sandy;
Hasidism	JUDAISM	Shipley, Morgan;
Kabbalah	JUDAISM	Shipley, Morgan;

Pax Gaia

Pax Gaia (the Peace of Earth) is the most compelling challenge of our time. Geologian, Thomas Berry introduced this theme after 9/11 in an essay reflecting the urgent need to embrace a cosmology of truly comprehensive Gaian  peace. It is a peace that transcends Pax Romana (the peace of an empire) and Pax Humana (peace among humans). 

"We are called as an evolving humanity to the Great Work that engenders Pax Gaia. To this end we create and foster deep cultural therapies that address the deep cultural pathology of our time that has brought about such ecological damage."

 (Thomas Berry, Evening Thoughts, 2006) 

 

"Only now can we see with clarity that we live not so much in a cosmos (a place) as in a cosmogenesis (a process) -- scientific in its data, mythic in its form."  

~ The Universe Story by Brian Swimme and Thomas Berry  

The Winter Solstice was perhaps the earliest universal holy day, celebrated in different ways   throughout the world from the earliest days of human culture.  The Solstice is the ancient center of the Holiday Season and our New Year.   When language was young, when even the gods and goddesses had not yet taken human forms in the human imagination, but ran instead with deer in the forest, flew with the wings of crows, or were glimpsed nameless from the awed depths of every numinous pool, sensed as Presence in the womb depths of caves........ even then, the Return of the Light was a holy day, a day of celebration. 

Long ago ancestors lit fires to welcome the "shining god" who was the sun returning from mysterious underworld depths. They built stones or made circles or created doorways to be aligned with the sun's pathway. They lit fires as sympathetic magic, fires to light and imitate the Sun's passage (which is why we still light candles, and Christmas lights, today, although no one remembers.........)

Welcoming the Sun, they left offerings of food to show their gratitude, and invented songs or danced throughout the longest cold night, encouraging, helping the Sun on its  difficult journey to return to the world, and to the promise of new life.

I remember at this time of the Holy/Wholly/Holidays that holy days begin among our most ancient, instinctual roots, taproots that reach down, deeply entwined within the visible and invisible web of  Gaia's life. 

Planet Earth turns her face toward her star again, circling in brilliant orbit, bearing every evolving, responsive, living, infinitely intertwined be-ing within her fragile, exquisite azure skin on her long journey.   

Perhaps we sensed, as the sun rose on the Winter Solstice,  that pre-verbal, instinctual knowing, found hidden beneath the pages of any book written with five fingered hands, beneath each inscribed layer of words, signs, hieroglyphs, pictures in jet or ochre or sepia, luminous beneath the oldest pages.  A veneer peels away, revealing a pentimento, an ancient heartbeat, shared again with all beings that keep vigil on the long night of the winter Solstice, and celebrate the Return of the Light with many different religious traditions.  

I pledge allegiance

to the soil of Turtle Island,

and to the beings

who thereon dwell

one ecosystem in diversity

under the sun

With joyful

interpenetration for all.

Gary Snyder

The Solstice, Yule, and.........Wassailing!

Winter Solstice Blessings to All!

Although I very far from any apple trees in the American Southwest, I still like to make Wassail around this time of year.   And then there is also the Pagan tradition of Wassailing, which I cherish (even though there aren't any apple trees).  

"Wassailing" participates in the notion of living in a  “conversant” world for me,  something I've so often thought about as I read about folk traditions, mythologies, and old customs.   Instead of seeing "nature" as "other", or a "resource",  earlier times and peoples often had a mythic, friendly and "reciprocal"  relationship with the extended community of life they inhabited.  

Although Wassail is a spiced cider drink, often with brandy added and served hot, originally it's presence included the  Yuletide custom of  singing to the trees, in particular, the orchards  of apple trees from which the celebratory drink came.  The spiced cider was offered  to honor the trees,  and  traditional wassail would be prepared – soaking pieces of bread, cake or toast in it – and Wassailers would travel from apple orchard to apple orchard singing carols to the trees, in order to demonstrate appreciation for the harvest being enjoyed.  Wassail-soaked pieces of bread or toast were then left at the trees’ roots or hung in the trees’ branches to appease the tree spirits and feed them well until the next harvest.

When we talk to the trees, the  animals, even stones, and celebrate their generosity………..we might just  notice that we get a response sometimes!  For example, there is the old English custom  of “telling the bees” when someone has died in a farm family, and there are actually documented cases of a swarm of bees turning up at the funeral.  

“Wassailing” has a tradition of  singing to trees in celebration of Christmas, or, with origins that came before the advent of Christianity, the Winter Solstice.  Who is  to say that the apple trees don’t enjoy being part of the festivities? How would our world be a different place if we saw apple trees as being our generous friends, or inviting bees to the funerals of those they have lived among for so long?  From that perspective, one walks into one's garden or orchard or forest finding friends of all kinds - the world becomes "re-enchanted".

Like the Romans'  offerings on small farm shrines dedicated  to the "Numina", the spirits of place that assisted them with their crops and orchards (the indigenous Roman Goddess Pomona, whose name meant "apple",  originated as a Numen of the orchards), this custom, which is still practiced with a lot of good cheer  in some rural areas of  England, reflects that ancient pagan sense of "reciprocity" with an intelligent, spiritually  inhabited natural world.

From a lovely Blog about Wassailing in Somerset, UK, I take the liberty of sharing this:

"Wassailing dates back to Anglo-Saxon times, traditionally taking place on Twelfth Night (originally the 17 January, before the introduction of the Gregorian Calendar in 1752). The centuries-old ritual has Pagan roots and is intended to awaken the apple trees from their winter slumber. This involves blessing the orchards, reciting incantations, dancing, singing traditional songs and clattering pots and pans to scare away evil spirits and secure a bountiful apple harvest come autumn.  ..........Traditions vary slightly from place to place but usually, the wassail starts at dusk and is sometimes led by a Wassail King or Queen. Branches of the trees may be hit to frighten away evil spirits, cider is often poured on the roots of the oldest tree and pieces of toast, cake or bread are put into the branches to feed the good spirits or entice robins – believed to be the ‘guardians of the orchard’.   Afterwards, the trees of the orchard are serenaded with songs, Morris dancing and tasting the wassail drink."

And here's a description I found about Wassailing in Whimple, Devon, England that takes place annually:  

 Our ritual follows the traditional well-tried and tested ceremony of our predecessors with the Mayor in his robes of office and the Princess carrying lightly toasted bread in her delicately trimmed flasket, whilst the Queen, wearing her crown of Ivy, Lichen and Mistletoe, recites the traditional verse. The original Whimple Incantation has been retained:

Here's to thee, old apple tree, that blooms well, and bears well.  Hats full, caps full, three bushel bags full, an' all under one tree!  Hurrah! Hurrah!

Her Majesty is then gently but manfully assisted up the tree in order to place the cider-soaked toast in the branches whilst the assembled throng, accompanied by a group of talented musicians, sing the Wassail Song and dance around the tree. The Mulled Cider or 'Wassail Cup' is produced and everyone takes a sample with their 'Clayen Cup'.

I read recently  that our habit of "toasting" may go back to Wassail revelries.  "Waes hael"  revelers would say,  from the Old English term  meaning "be well".  Eventually  "wassail" referred less to the greeting and more to the drink.  The contents of the Wassail bowl varied, but a popular one was known as 'lambs wool'. It consisted of hot ale, roasted crab apples, sugar, spices, eggs, and cream served with little pieces of toast. It was the toast floating on the top that made it look like lamb's wool.  The toast that was traditionally floated atop the wassail eventually became our "toast" -  when you hold up your glass and announce, “Let’s have a toast,”  or  ”I’ll toast to that,” you’re remembering this very old ritual of floating a bit of toast in spiced ale or mulled wine or wassail in celebration.

Wassailing – visiting neighbors (and much appreciated, friendly trees), singing carols  and sharing warmed drink – is a tradition related to the Winter Solstice with ancient roots indeed.  

I found a good Wassail recipe, which I've taken the liberty of sharing at the end of this post.  I don't know if I'll be going out to sing to the Saguaros  this Solstice, being no longer in rural England,  but who knows what I might end up doing if I drink enough Wassail with brandy.  

I'm sure the Saguaros wouldn't mind the attention.  Happy Wassailing!

Photo by Martin Beebee

 

Apple Tree (and why not Saguaros too?)  Wassailing Chants and Rhymes

Compiled in The Stations of the Sun by Ronald Hutton

From the South Hams of Devon, recorded 1871: 

Here's to thee, old apple tree,
Whence thou mayst bud
And whence thou mayst blow!
And whence thou mayst bear apples enow!
Hats full! Caps full!
Bushel--bushel--sacks full,
And my pockets full too! Huzza!

From Cornworthy, Devon, recorded 1805:

Huzza, Huzza, in our good town
The bread shall be white, and the liquor be brown
So here my old fellow I drink to thee
And the very health of each other tree.
Well may ye blow, well may ye bear
Blossom and fruit both apple and pear.
So that every bough and every twig
May bend with a burden both fair and big
May ye bear us and yield us fruit such a stores
That the bags and chambers and house run o'er.

Cider apples on the ground in orchard in Somerset, United Kingdom
(image courtesy https://downsomersetway.co.uk/best-places-to-take-part-in-a-somerset-wassail/)

 Yield: 10-12 servings,  Prep Time: 5 minutes, Cook Time: 4 hours

Wassail Recipe

Ingredients:

• 1 gallon Apple Cider
• 4 cups orange juice
• 4 hibiscus tea bags
• 10 cinnamon sticks
• 1 tsp. whole cloves
• 1 Tb. juniper berries
• 1 1/2 inch piece of fresh ginger, cut into slices
• 1 apple, sliced into rounds
• 1 orange, sliced into rounds

Directions:

1. Place all the ingredients in a slow cooker and cover.
2. Turn the slow cooker on high heat and cook for 3-4 hours, until the color has darkened and the fruit is soft. Remove the tea bags and serve hot.

Glastonbury Abbey

Another tourist moment, this time the ruined Abbey of Glastonbury.  At one time this great Gothic Cathedral was the primary pilgrimage point of England, a powerful and magnificent church with a population of many monks and pilgrims.  Supposedly the bodies of King Arthur and his Queen Guinevere were buried here, within the church.  Henry the 8th (who, I have to say, looked a lot like Donald Trump)  put an end to that when he defied the Catholic Church, and the Abbott of Glastonbury unfortunately then defied him.  The Abbott's defiance resulted in his death by hanging in the Tor, and the Cathedral was gradually torn down, many of the stones, carvings, and beautiful stained glass windows dismantled and sold off.  

Even so, the great Abbey is still a magnificent and imposing sight, beautiful, peaceful, and just a bit full of the presence of those worshippers who travelled so far and so long ago.

Reconstruction of monk's kitchen

Reconstruction of monk's kitchen

Vegetable garden

"If You Gotta Believe in Something" .......

Brilliant video by Nina Paley!

https://youtu.be/0pjJEtA3Br4

Salisbury Cathedral

This is pure tourist joy, this post.  No reflections, no commentary, just some photos from my trip to Salisbury and the magnificent Gothic  Salisbury Cathedral.  Unfortunately we were not able to take photos of the interior as a service was going on, but I was able to take photos of a Nave, the courtyard, and an area that must at one time have been the Cloister where the priests or monks lived.  And I had a chance to hear the choir sing inside - the acoustics are amazing.

I am as ever astounded by the rising ceilings of these Cathedrals. which seem to me to resemble, and be modelled upon, trees rising up.  I actually find a great deal that is "vegetative" about the shapes, the interior shapes at least, of the Cathedral, if not the ascending towers of the exterior.  The ancient Cathedral of Salisbury is certainly an awesome work of art and accomplishment, once the towering and beautiful center of the city.

This is a contemporary statue of a saint that stands outside the Cathedral.  I do not know who she is....once there was a plaque, but it seems to be gone, that described the statue.  But she has great presence there.  

One of the Personae of Salisbury, hidden away in a corner.  An angel?  But there are no wings.  She holds vessel with perhaps water........perhaps she represents St. Brigid, who was always associated with wells.

I love the floor too, being an artist who has made tiles.  

The installation of some contemporary sculptures look quite odd in the Cloister courtyard, in contrast to such history.   

 

This is from a room that has a running Biblical story above each arch, carved in marble.  This one is "Adam and Eve".  Under each arch is also a face, which I assume was meant to represent local people who were involved somehow with the construction of the Cathedral.  Some of them are quite funny, in contrast with the seriousness of the stories they underlie.  This one especially made me laugh.........he looks like he's rather cynical about the whole "Adam and Eve" thing.  Or maybe he's leering. 

 As awesome as these great Gothic Cathedrals are, they are not without their touches of humor too.

And there was a kind of bench with special embroidered cushions in one of the Naves, each dedicated to an Angel or to a Saint.  I found them beautiful, and wondered if they were kind of like "reserving a seat of honor" for these holy ones.

The Sacred Springs of Glastonbury: The Chalice Well

the Chalice Well

Glastonbury is a place of very ancient pilgrimage indeed, long before the coming of Christianity and the great (now ruined thanks to Henry the 8th)  Cathedral of Glastonbury.  There is evidence it was a place of pilgrimage into prehistoric times, perhaps before the coming of the Romand to Great Britain.  It is Avalon,  the source of the Arthurian legends,  the tales of Merlin and the Lady of the Lake.  

Once the Tor was actually surrounded by a lake, and pilgrims visited the sacred springs associated with this highly empowered land, now called the "Red Spring" and the "White Spring" for healing.  The Chalice Well is still greatly revered by pilgrims (like myself) who come here from all over the world to visit the Wells and the Chalice Garden, to drink the water and take some home as a blessing.  The red color is iron oxide being deposited by the springs - the white spring deposits calcium, leaving a white tinge as it passes over.     

"There is an especially strong tradition of sacred wells in the Celtic nations; in Ireland alone, a survey carried out in the 1940's recorded as many as 3,000 of them.  These wells once were thought of as gateways to the Celtic Otherworld......................These springs and wells,  which originated in the Otherworld,  would once have been dedicated to the goddesses  of the land:  in Ireland, to the goddess Brigid, in the north of England, to Coventina."

........Sharon Blackie, "If Women Rose Rooted" (2016)

As when I visited 7 years ago, I made my prayers, and gave my gratitude, to the Lady of Avalon, to the Ancestors, and to the great Numina of this place.  The Garden is lovely, as poignant for me in the winter of 2018  as it was in the summer of 2011.  Here one is infused with the deep life-giving vitality of the land, the plants, and the Waters there, the life running beneath the stones, deeply rooted, the buds on the leafless trees full of dreaming vitality.  

I meditated for a while, then walked around a bit.  What popped into my mind was odd - the words "Covenant Garden".  What could "covenant garden" mean, and why had I thought of it?  Thought of the ancient name of the Goddess of the land, Coventina, from which the word itself may be derived (I should look that up).  I couldn't think of any other reference until much later, until I considered that the word Covenant, like "coven", "convening" etc.  refers to a gathering of people to reach an harmonious agreement, which can include an agreement that is holy or religious in some way.    Such as the famous "Ark of the Covenant", which was supposed to hold sacred writings and objects of veneration, as well as "God's sustanance for man" which was called Manna.   Manna was the food, variously described as different substances, that was provided to feed the people; it has also come to be used to mean a kind of numinous power.   According to Wikipedia:

The Ark of the Covenant (Hebrew: אָרוֹן הַבְּרִית, Modern: Arōn Ha'brēt, Tiberian: ʾĀrôn Habbərîṯ), also known as the Ark of the Testimony, is a gold-covered wooden chest with lid cover described in the Book of Exodus as containing the two stone tablets of the Ten Commandments. According to various texts within the Hebrew Bible, it also contained Aaron's rod and a pot of manna.^[1] Hebrews 9:4 describes: "The ark of the covenant [was] covered on all sides with gold, in which was a golden jar holding the manna, and Aaron's rod which budded, and the tables of the covenant."^[2]

"ASHARAH" Sculpture by David Hostetler

Interesting.  The Garden of the sacred wells is indeed full of holy things that represent "harmonious agreement" between all aspects of the Earth, including the two-legged beings that come there.  And "Manna" is the food provided by the Garden, by nature, and by Gaia.  A "rod that blooms".............could also be seen as the ancient Hebrew and Middle Eastern  Goddess Asherah, who was represented as a tree, and  often represented in the days of the old testament as a rod,  or "Asherah pole".  The practice of carrying "Asherah poles" was apparently fairly common in the early days of the Semite tribes, although the Patriarchs later eliminated this custom, and the Goddess, from the religion as the Semite deity became exclusively male.  

A Garden represents, truly, a "Covenant", a holy agreement, between all beings of the present, human, animal, plant, soil, air, rain, water.......

A happy and successful garden is a harmonious Ecosystem.  A garden survives and thrives through a network of interdependant and interconnected relationships.  In a healthy garden plants and trees interact with each other and communicate with each other through a vast underground weaving of roots and fungi which connect the members of the garden flora community, and contribute to the lives of the many fauna that participate in the community:  the bees and other pollinators, the worms and other insects that assist in the decay process.  And the birds that assist in distributing seed as well.  Not to mention the humans that may plant, sow, admire, and occasionally eat the stray apple or strawberry as well.

It could be said that a Garden is a "Covenant" achieved by many beings, a divine agreement.

THE GARDEN OF THE COVENANT. 

Below is the Chalice, and the Heart, and what appears to be a Dragon flying as well, carved on a chair there.  

And here is my bit of Magic........... as I was getting ready to leave, I saw this tiny metallic green heart on the ground.  I was going to take it as a "Green Heart" Talisman, to remind me of my moment there in the "Covenant Garden" of the Chalice.  But then I thought, perhaps someone left it as a kind of offering, and it wasn't right for me to take it.  I put it back on the ground and took a picture.  I was amazed to see this light surrounding it in the photo!  So I took two more - they came out the same!  

I left feeling truly moved.  The Earth is Speaking to us, all the time.  

A Green Heart at the Chalice Well