Pagan, Goddess, Mother [Paperback]

This anthology calls Pagan and Goddess mothering into focus by highlighting philosophies and experiences of mothers in these spiritual movements and traditions. Pagan and Goddess spirituality are distinct, yet overlapping and diverse communities, with much to say about deity as mother, and about human mothers in relationship to deity. Authors share creative voices, stories, and scholarship from the forefront of Pagan- and Goddess- centered home, in which divine mothers, Goddesses, diverse female embodiments, and generative life cycles are honoured as sacred. Authors inquire into how their spirituality impacts the perceived value and experiences of mothers themselves, while generating new ways of imagining and enacting motherhood in spiritual and daily life.Pagan, Goddess, Motheropens spaces for dialogue in areas such as how Pagan- and Goddess- centred mothers engage in, and are impacted by, their spiritual leadership through practices of ceremony, ritual, magic, and priestessing. Authors consider mothers’ lived connections with their children, family life, and themselves, through nature, the Earth, and mothering as a spiritual practice. Chapters reflect upon the ways that Pagan- and Goddess- identified mothers creatively navigate daily interactions with dominant religions, the public sphere, community leadership, and activism facing the challenges of such while forging new pathways for spirited well being in mothering and family life.

Chandra Alexandre, PhD, is a Tantric Bhairavi who has served as a spiritual leader for the past 20 years in the San Francisco Bay Area through SHARANYA (www.sharanya.org), a federally-recognized goddess temple she founded after receiving direction from her teacher in India to “Go and spread Mother Worship!” Dedicated to Her mysteries as pathways to personal transformation and social justice, Chandra works both in community and in the nonprofit sector for change. She received diksha (initials7