Let There Be Light! What the Winter Holidays Have in Common
For thousands of years, civilizations saw the religious cycle of human life, death, and regeneration as a dramatic natural cycle that took place in a cosmos that consisted of a Mother Goddess’ body. In all, the winter darkness signified a sense of returning to the womb and coming back into the light of rebirth.
The Mysterious “White Lady” of Halloween (How Goddesses Get Downgraded to Witches)
The real ghostly spirit of Holloween is the mysterious yet ubiquitus “White Lady” of lore. She floats through various Celtic cultural tales of Samhain and Halloween as a shapeshifter who hovers over the surface of the water or lies in wait in apple orhcards. She’s a faery, a protector, a victim, a seductress, and sometimes […]
The Vestal Virgins
On my recent trip to Rome to finish researching St. Cecilia’s life for my historical fiction novel, Music, I spent some time at the Temple of Vesta and the home of the ancient Roman Vestal Virgins. One of my purposes in writing this book was to investigate how attitudes about women’s sexuality and social roles developed […]