>I have been told by childfree* friends (here comes the hearsay part) that
>because of the emphasis on the phases of the Goddess as maiden-mother-crone,
>that a Wiccan woman who does not pass through the "mother" phase herself is
>to some degree in a spiritual vacuum, being left in the "maiden" phase until
>menopause.
Bah. There are tons of 'em, including high priestesses.
Some of these friends learned about historical goddesses that
>were themselves childfree (Hecate is the only name I can remember) and took
>those as their guide to counteract this problem. A few others sadly left
>Wicca when they decided that it was in practice a fertility religion that
>did not jibe with their conscious choice not to reproduce.
I think what you are picking up on is that some Wiccans are into a heavily
gendered worldview. But there's such a huge range, including all-female
spiritual communities, heterosexual ones that emphasize the Goddess, as
well as some unregenerate sexist ones, that it's risky to generalize.
Max Dashu <[log in to unmask]>
<www.suppressedhistories.net>
30 Years of International Women's Studies
<www.maxdashu.net>
Paintings of bold and spirited women
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