Celebrating Women’s History Month: A Reading List

In celebration of Women’s History Month, we offer here an updated list of our blog posts about women,  goddesses, goddess worship and female imagery. Enjoy! Posts since late March 2021: Rounding Out Women’s History Month: Current Women Leaders around the World Current Research on Pompeii, Part I: Archaeology Current Research on Pompeii, Part II: Paul’s […]

The Cult of the Thracian Horseman in the Early Christian Era

As we have seen in past posts, the early Jesus movement – which ultimately became Christianity – originated in a polytheistic environment: people of the Roman Empire worshiped multiple female and male deities. This means that Jesus himself, his earliest followers and those who later identified as Christians lived and worked among devotees of Aphrodite/Venus, […]

Guardian Angels: With Us, Helping Us

In the Roman Catholic tradition, there is a simple and common prayer to one’s Guardian Angel: Angel of God My guardian dear To Whom His love Commits me here Ever this day Be at my side To light and guard To rule and guide. Amen The paranormal evidence supports the existence of guardian angels for […]

Praying the Psalms: Age-Old Jewish Poetry in a Christian Context

Most Sundays, and in many contexts around the world on weekdays as well, Christian worshipers read, sing or chant portions of a Psalm, an entire Psalm or even several Psalms during a service. The standard collection of Psalms, the Psalter, found in the Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament) portion of the Bible, is “an anthology of […]

The Apocryphal Origins of the Cherry Tree Carol

Tis the season when many of us are singing – and/or listening to – Christmas carols. These carols often  reflect the stories of Jesus’ birth as recounted in the New (Christian) Testament Gospels of Matthew and Luke, but many others originate considerably later in the Christian tradition. One of these later tales is the Cherry […]

Index to the Seventh Year

Thank you for your interest in these blog posts! Here is a listing by topic for posts since October 2021. (Some topics overlap.)   Social and Racial Justice, Diversity Honoring the Wampanoags Today and Moving Toward a More Perfect Union, November 26, 2021 Suggested Readings for Black History Month: The Self-Education of White Americans, February […]

New Research on Mary Called the Magdalene

As we saw earlier, feminist scholarship has brought to light the leadership role that the woman known as Mary Magdalene from the New (Christian) Testament had in the early days of the Jesus movement. As we noted, she appears numerous times in the Christian Testament and in all four gospels: Matthew 27.55-56, 61; 28.1; Mark […]

Christian Practices and Their Indebtedness to the Goddesses and Gods of Antiquity, Part II: Miscellaneous Liturgies and Practices

In our previous post, we examined the pagan backgrounds of Christian practices that take place most often in Sunday worship services. Here we will look at special liturgies of the Christian church and miscellaneous Christian practices that have roots in the goddess and god cults of antiquity. Special liturgies Weddings and marriage. According to the […]

Nurses, Ancient Goddesses and Healing: Reclaiming the Power of the Feminine Principle

Introduction Nurses throughout the United States, and indeed throughout the world, have been on the front line of care during the pandemic. They are among the heroes in our communities, but we know that they are facing severe challenges as individuals and as a profession. There has been a nursing shortage for years, and that […]