Gender & Spirituality, pt. 2

At the beginning of the term, I volunteered to be part of a panel discussion on gender, sexual orientation, and ethnicity for my Contemporary Christian Spirituality class. I had expected it to involve an open discussion based on research.

Nope.

The prof wants us to talk about our own experiences, to tell our own stories. And after trying to make some notes a couple of weeks ago I realized that the task wasn't going to be as simple as I had expected.

What I finally realized during the last few days was that, for me, what has been most significant about my gender as it relates to my spiritual life is that it was one of the two most significant keys out of the box of traditional religion. The first was my existential crisis, which drop-kicked me out of a comfortable, middle-class, middle-of-the-road Christianity into the Void, and from there (not that I have ever left the Void completely behind) to the ongoing quest. But gender was my starting point for critical reflection on my tradition. It started in an all-woman class called "Women in Greco-Roman Society" taken at Scripps College (a women's college that is part of the Claremont cluster, of which Pomona is also a member) where I first learned about the legitimacy of the Divine Feminine in the Western religious tradition. It was where I first was introduced to the idea that any image of the Divine that presents itself as exclusively correct (like the God-the-Father image with which I grew up) was idolatrous. That's when I started identifying myself as Pagan.

Once I started reapproaching Christianity, it was Feminist Criticism which opened the door to my seeing that one could be critical of a tradition and remain within it, and that you didn't have to accept the entire package "they" wanted to feed you. It was another step toward spiritual maturity.

The other thing I realized was that, as a woman, I was by definition Other and Lesser to very many of the theologians who shaped Christianity. As a child, I shrugged off the chauvanistic passages of the Bible as "that was their time" but when I grew up, I realized how deeply those attitudes had infected much of the tradition. And then I realized that if the Great Theologians(tm) were wrong about women, they might be wrong about other things too. It made me realize that I had the right to question.

Overall, I tend to agree with most of you who so kindly and thoughtfully responded to my questions about gender more than a month ago: a person who experiences their spirituality solely on the basis of gender, or deals with the Divine as exclusively reflected in one or the other gender, is missing the boat (although periods of that in a person's life could be necessary for therapeutic reasons). There are times and places when gathering with members of one's own gender, or taking advantage of the insights of a particular gendered perception of religion is a good thing. I wouldn't want to worship only with women or only read books written by women. I can not relate to the Divine solely as Goddess or solely as God. I suspect there is material in the "Men's Spirituality" books that would speak to my own experiences, just as there are elements of "Women's Spirituality" that do not address my experience.

This is all overly simplified, and I am far from having everything that I want to say (in my ten minutes) clear in my mind. I just wanted to share. It frustrates me when I feel like I'm going for a long time in my LJ writing only about the day-to-day stuff.

When I'm not thinking seriously about things, and/or when I'm not being creative, I feel less real.

(no subject)

Harry Potter Personality Quiz by Pirate Monkeys Inc.

Thursday

It was not a great day.

I have no intention of boring you all and further frustrating myself with another Miss Vicki story. I will merely note that I get along far better with my ex-husband's new partner than I do with my closest peer at work.

Tonight, I will make oven fried chicken for tomorrow's potluck at work. I will cook Halloween cookies. I will do my dishes. I will do my homework for Hebrew Scriptures (identifying the contradictory voices in a single passage of Micah). I will drink some vodka mixed with caffeine-free Diet Coke. If I feel up to it once everything else is done, I will search my closet and try to find the pieces of my pirate costume to wear to work tomorrow. But that's not a high priority.

Tomorrow is bonus day. Our bonuses are based on Blue Chips: specific goals each person sets with her/his manager which are above and beyond our regular responsibilities. 60% of our bonuses are determined by how well we do on our Blue Chips. The other 40% is based on the company meeting specific goals. Exceeding goals can earn up to 150% payout on a Blue Chip. I completed all my Blue Chips, and I expect to have been rated at over 100% on the newsletter. The company is paying out at 150% on each of the corporate goals. So I expect a very nice bonus tomorrow. Once the money is confirmed in my account, I am going to go to Sears.com and order the breakfast nook set that I have been wanting (table, high-back benches that fit into the corner, and an additional bench) for my little kitchen. I am hoping that by the time mid-December rolls around my house will be ready for a party.

Archetypes and Icons

The question for the evening is this: which archetypes resonate most deeply with you, and which - if any - characters from literature or film or history or culture exemplify that archetype to you?

For example: The Witch is an archetype. She exists cross-culturally, and seems to be part of the imaginative inheritance of the human psyche. In my "Witchtrials" class, we learned that a "witch" was someone upon whom the negative values of a community were projected: baby eating, crop-blighting, milk-drying, etc. I read an article once which called The Wicked Witch of the West, as portrayed by Margaret Hamilton in The Wizard of Oz the ur-witch, with her green skin, hooked nose, black conical hat, and shapeless black dress. Say "witch" and she is what leaps to the mind of millions of Americans. On the other hand, the witch sisters in the film Practical Magic remind all too many people of raptures_shadow and myself. (See "Iconic" below.)

Warrior. Seeker. King. Queen. Princess. Knight. Wizard. Sage. Mother. Father. Magician. Witch. Soldier. Priest/ess. Guardian. Beloved. These are all archetypes. And there are many more.

The other category is Icon. For my Purposes of the Moment, this is not an archetype - a universal template - but something more personal. What figure(s) resonate with your soul, make your heart beat faster, say "I am not the only one?" or "Here is what I want to be?" or "That is who I am in the secrecy of my soul?" Legendary, modern, or mixed? Mortal or divine? Tam Lin and/or Fair Janet? Jeremy Irons as Aramis? Barbara Streisand as Yentl? Galileo? Inanna? Beauty (with or without Beast)? King Arthur or Guinevere (pick your version)? Charlie Brown? Dilbert? Drusilla?

I'm not in a fit state to respond to my own question tonight, but I want to know your answers. I'll answer this weekend.