Sinister Wisdom 124: Deeply Held Beliefs

By Sinister Wisdom

Sinister Wisdom 124: Deeply Held Beliefs Spiritual/Political Activism of Lesbian Feminists in the South brings together the sixth and last issue of stories collected by the Southern Lesbian Feminist Activist Herstory Project (SLFAHP). Many of these stories show the intersection of spirituality and religion with politics and social justice movements in the South. In the 1960s, the South became the crucible for civil rights activism that developed and fed the lesbian-feminist activism of the last decades of the twentieth century. Throughout Southern states, lesbian-feminists were leaders in many kinds of social justice activism that often intersected with the religious and spiritual activism that was taking place in the women’s movement all over the country. This final issue of the series of issues curated by the Southern Lesbian Feminist Activist Herstory Project explores spiritual paths, expressed through both traditional religious practices and creative work led by spirit, and political action guided by deeply held beliefs in social justice, the divine feminine, and commitment to preserving and defending Mother Earth.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Sinister Wisdom
• Release date: Apr 16, 2023
• ISBN: 9781944981617

Sinister Wisdom

Sinister Wisdom is a multicultural lesbian literary & art journal that publishes four issues each year. Publishing since 1976, Sinister Wisdom works to create a multicultural, multi-class lesbian space. Sinister Wisdom seeks to open, consider and advance the exploration of lesbian community issues. Sinister Wisdom recognizes the power of language to reflect our diverse experiences and to enhance our ability to develop critical judgment as lesbians evaluating our community and our world.

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Publisher: Sinister Wisdom, Inc.

Editor & Publisher: Julie R. Enszer

Guest Editors: B. Leaf Cronewrite, Barbara Esrig, Beth York, Gail Reeder, Lorraine Fontana, Merril Mushroom, Rose Norman

Graphic Designer: Nieves Guerra

Copy Editor: Amy Haejung

Board of Directors: Roberta Arnold, Tara Shea Burke, Cheryl Clarke, Julie R. Enszer, Sara Gregory, Shromona Mandal, Joan Nestle, Rose Norman, Mecca Jamilah Sullivan, Yasmin Tambiah, and Red Washburn

Front Cover Art: Mystic Morning

Artist: Robin Toler

Media: Oil Pastel on Construction Paper (2009)

Size of Artwork: 12 x 18

Biography: Robin Toler is a board certified art therapist, licensed addictions counselor, and Advanced Integrative Therapy practitioner. Toler has a feminist private therapy practice which is located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and is based on the principles of equity and human rights. Her expertise includes women’s mental health, substance abuse, and trauma resolution. Toler continues to enjoy art making, drumming, writing, traveling, advocacy, and teaching. She can be reached at www.robintoler.com, andwww.robintolerartstudio.com

Robin Toler Artist Statement: Mystic Morning is a capturing, and a framing of feminist activism which has emerged outside of normal onsciousness, symbolizing the return of morning, associated with the resurrection of the sun and the hope of a new day. It points to a transcendental and other worldly and non rational understanding which relates directly to women’s experience into their sacred rites, traditions, and rituals. This art piece represents the ineffable nature of lesbian experiences as being part nonliteral, part symbolic, and part arcane capable of conjuring up an ongoing spiritual mystery.

SINISTER WISDOM, founded 1976

Former editors and publishers:

Harriet Ellenberger (aka Desmoines) and Catherine Nicholson (1976–1981)

Michelle Cliff and Adrienne Rich (1981–1983)

Michaele Uccella (1983–1984)

Melanie Kaye/Kantrowitz (1983–1987)

Elana Dykewomon (1987–1994)

Caryatis Cardea (1991–1994)

Akiba Onada-Sikwoia (1995–1997)

Margo Mercedes Rivera-Weiss (1997–2000)

Fran Day (2004–2010)

Julie R. Enszer & Merry Gangemi (2010–2013)

Julie R. Enszer (2013–)

Copyright © 2022 Sinister Wisdom, Inc.

All rights revert to individual authors and artists upon publication.

Printed in the U. S. on recycled paper.

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Table of Contents

Notes for a Magazine

Notes for a Special Issue

The Goddess Chant

Ritual theatre script by Diana Rivers

Sisters, Let Us Remember

Beth York

Transformations: Following the Muse

Rose Norman

Pagoda-temple of Love

Flash Silvermoon

Creating the Rainbow Goddess Tradition

Debra L. Gish, from an interview with Diana Rivers

Diana Rivers: From Atheist to Pagan

Cedar Heartwood

Founding the Circle of Isis Coven

Candlemas 9984

Changes

Jenny Yates

She Changes Everything She Touches: Circle of Isis

Gwen Demeter

Memphis Moonlodge 1980

Maya White Sparks

A Witch’s Memoir

Kim Duckett, from an Interview with Rose Norman

Shamanism and Feminist Spirituality

Rose Norman

Ellen Spangler and Starcrest

Kathleen Corky Culver

A Croning on Women’s Land

Sage Morse

From Convent to Coven . . . and Beyond

Gail Reeder

My Journey to The Dykes of Dungeness

Judy L. McVey

Christian Lesbians in the South

Lorraine Fontana

Christians, Pagans, and Politics: Notes for a Spiritual Timeline from Atalanta

Helen Renée Brawner

Appalachian Quilt Magic

B. Leaf Cronewrite

Wellsprings Festivals, 1995–97

Robin Toler

Becoming a Lesbian at Wellsprings Festival

Barbara Esrig

Chocolate Cheesecake

Marilyn Mesh and Barbara Esrig

Jewish Lesbian Support Group and Seders

Merril Mushroom

Jewdyke in Shicksaville

Lorraine Fontana

ALFA, AA, and the Spiritual Path

Sus Austill

Constant Craving: Sex, Safety, and Sobriety

Helen Renée Brawner

Getting Sober in AA

Kathleen Corky Culver, from an interview with Barbara Esrig

I Get Dry with a Little Help from My Friends

Woody Blue from Lorraine Fontana’s interview with Carolyn Mobley

Mobley-izing For Change: A Black Lesbian Seeking Community in the South

Merril Mushroom, from an interview with Felicia Fontaine and Barb Collins

Felicia and Barb and Bork: Lesbian-Feminist Activism in Alabama

Phyllis Meek interviewed by Barbara Esrig

Phyllis Meek: Pioneer for Gender Non-Discrimination Policy

An Interview with Mary Anne Adams

From Oxford, Mississippi, to Atlanta, Georgia: A Black Lesbian’s Journey to Community

From an interview by Dancingwater

Eleanor Smith: Disability Activist

Laurel Ferejohn

Inform, Inspire, Connect: Five Years with The Newsletter

Drea Firewalker

Inspired to Honor Womonwriters Who Had Passed

Lyrics by Lenny Lasater and Mendy Knott Music by Lenny Lasater

These Friends of Mine

Lenny Lasater

Writing These Friends of Mine

The Southern Lesbian Feminist Activist Herstory Collection in Sinister Wisdom

Snapshot Lesbian Love Celebration

Book Reviews

Remembrances

Contributors

Notes for a MAGAZINE

My feet were barely wet in the swimming pool of Sinister Wisdom when Rose Norman reached out to me about publishing some work from a group that called themselves the Southern Lesbian Feminist Activist Herstory Project. Rose wondered if Sinister Wisdom might dedicate an issue to the stories that they were researching and writing. My default response to inquiries that come to Sinister Wisdom is yes. Who does not want to say yes to projects that illuminate lesbian lives and lesbian culture? So I told Rose, yes. What I did not realize is that I was saying yes to an extraordinary partnership in the life of Sinister Wisdom —and for me personally.

The Southern Lesbian Feminist Activist Herstory Project is a gathering of women writers dedicated to preserving the herstories that the project names. A plucky, committed group of women, they now have produced collectively six issues of Sinister Wisdom and contributed enormously to our understanding of the lesbian-feminist south from the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s. Over six volumes, these women have unearthed stories about organizing, activism, businesses, and other passionate community expressions and engagements of lesbian-feminists and lesbian-feminisms in the US South. Publishing this work in the pages of Sinister Wisdom has been a great joy.

As a part of the final installment of the series, Sinister Wisdom has produced a boxed set of these six issues. This boxed set is a limited edition; 50 boxed sets are available and they are already halfway to sold out. If you would like to order one, you can purchase one at www.sinisterwisdom.org/oralherstorians. But there is more. In addition to the lovely bookmark which every subscriber receives in the issue mailing, Sinister Wisdom has produced a poster that features the six covers of these issues. This poster is also for sale, in a limited edition, and available a www.sinisterwisdom.org/oralherstorians. Make plans to snag your copies of these items today before they run out!

The work of the Southern Lesbian Feminist Activist Herstory Project published in Sinister Wisdom is collaborative of many women, from named editors and authors within the issues to women interviewed and including many other named and unnamed contributors. This collaborative inspires me as I have seen many ways these women support and show up for one another, in creating the issues, promoting and celebrating the issues, and sharing their lives broadly to provide support, succor, and sustenance to one another. The majority of my work with the collaborative has been through Rose Norman; Rose has functioned as the general editor for the series and she has become a valued collaborator of mine. I appreciate her perspectives on a range of issues and value her opinions. She is also one of the kindest and most generous people I know. I hope that other activist formations have someone as dedicated as Rose to tell their stories in the future.

While it is bittersweet to reach the sixth and final installment of this series, it is also with an extraordinary sense of accomplishment and wonder. What work will the women of the Southern Lesbian Feminist Activist Herstory Project do next (besides their fabulous new website SLFAherstoryproject.org which launches with this issue)? What will future generations of women do with the stories gathered in these six issues? What other long-term project will come across my desk next that will blossom into such a wonderful collaboration? My mind and heart remain open.

In the meantime, I am looking forward to continuing to work with Rose Norman on her wonderful community biography of the Pagoda, a lesbian-feminist cultural space in Vilano Beach, Florida, and with other comrades from the project on a variety of other issues of Sinister Wisdom.

I hope you love this issue and more importantly that you imagine yourself in these pages. How would you like to contribute to Sinister Wisdom? How will you create, remember, and celebrate lesbian literature and art?

In sisterhood,

Julie

Julie R. Enszer, PhD

April 2022

Notes for a Special Issue

S

inister Wisdom 124: Deeply Held Beliefs: Spiritual/Political Activism of Lesbian Feminists in the South brings together the sixth and last issue of stories collected by the Southern Lesbian Feminist Activist Herstory Project (SLFAHP). Many of these stories show the intersection of spirituality and religion with politics and social justice movements in the South. This final issue is devoted to our spiritual paths, expressed through traditional religious practices and creative work led by spirit, and through political action guided by deeply held beliefs in social justice, the divine feminine, and commitment to preserving and defending Mother Earth.

While some political activists have regarded feminist spirituality as a diversion from a narrow view of politics, we see a strong intersection between the political and the spiritual. Political refers to the way we do our activism. In keeping with the definition of the word politic, we try to be wise, prudent, circumspect, and discerning in our work as Southern lesbian-feminist activists. Spiritual refers to a way of thinking and behaving that goes beyond relating to our lives in terms of physical matters only, but instead relating in ways that are other than those of the material plane. Spirituality refers to the mind, the intellect, the soul. In a sense, our political work that relates to the physical world can be considered sacred, that is, of the soul, the vital force, essence, inspiration. Politics is practical; spirituality is intuitive. We as women are both practical and intuitive. Politics and intuition blend well in the work we do.

In general, the heteropatriarchy has been less than kind to us as women, as lesbians, as feminists, as activists and troublemakers. The fact that we are taking control of important aspects of our lives, our work, our selves makes the practice and the experience of spirituality a political act, while spiritual practices, rites and rituals, and a belief system can be comforting and can temper the intensity of our lesbian-feminist radicalism. Spiritual activism often involves rites and rituals that may be inherent, spontaneous, or deliberately constructed. Political activism involves direct causative action and can be overt or covert. In our Southern lesbian-feminist activism, the two are comprehensive; they both imply and contain each other. The intentions in our political acts are spiritual, while the practical manifestations of our spirituality are political. All of this is both contained in and constrained by the society in which we function.

In the 1960s, the South became the crucible for civil rights activism that developed and fed the lesbian-feminist activism of the last decades of the twentieth century. Throughout Southern states, lesbian-feminists were leaders in many kinds of social justice activism that often intersected with the religious and spiritual activism that was taking place in the women’s movement all over the country. Lorraine Fontana traces this thread as it manifests in Atalanta, the monthly newsletter of the Atlanta Lesbian Feminist Alliance (ALFA). Atalanta reported on periodicals like WomanSpirit, a quarterly magazine published by Ruth and Jean Mountaingrove in Oregon from 1974–84, and the Journal of Women and Religion from the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, CA. ALFA wrote about the first openly lesbian bishop in the Episcopal Church (1977), the second Lesbian Gay Seminarians Conference, held at Harvard Divinity School in 1979, the 3rd World Lesbian and Gay Christian Conference held in Washington, DC, and the first Catholic Lesbian Conference, held in Bangor, PA (both in 1982). They wrote about the backlash from organizations like The Christian Voice, an antigay lobbying group, and about protests against Jerry Falwell’s Moral Majority. They reviewed books that were being reprinted about the subjugation of women by church and state, and about the new feminist spirituality, books like Merlin Stone’s When God Was a Woman, Starhawk’s Dreaming the Dark, and Barbara G. Walker’s The Women’s Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets.

While we see spirituality and politics intersecting, we have divided them in this issue, beginning with stories we have been collecting for years under the heading Rites and Rituals, most of them focusing on groups of lesbians. In this section, you will find lesbians founding goddess churches, a nun who became a witch, and several stories of covens, as well as Jewish lesbians who honored their religious traditions in a lesbian-feminist way, and a lesbian couple who found Appalachian Quilt Magic among country folk. We conclude this group with stories of individual lesbians in recovery through Alcoholics Anonymous, itself an organization that combines spirituality with politics, and here with a lesbian twist. A separate section on individual lesbian activists begins with two stories about MCC ministers, followed by the story of a university dean who pioneered gender nondiscrimination, a civil rights activist, a disability activist, and a newsletter editor whose story got left out of our last issue.

In the final essay, we tell the story of our ongoing Herstory Project, born in 2009 at Womonwrites: the Southeast Lesbian Writers Conference. All of the six special issues of Sinister Wisdom that we have published since 2014 owe a huge debt to Womonwrites. Founded in 1979, Womonwrites met annually for forty years, twice a year from 1997 to 2019. It drew lesbian writers from all over the Southeast, as far west as Louisiana and north to Kentucky, as well as from other parts of the United States and other countries. Those gatherings created the social networks that helped us find the previously untold stories that fill these special issues. We commemorate Womonwrites with Drea Firewalker’s story of the Remembrance Project, installations that she created at Womonwrites honoring Southern lesbians who have passed before us, leaving a rich legacy of written and spoken word, and with a song by Womonwriters Lenny Lasater and Mendy Knott, These Friends of Mine.

B. Leaf Cronewrite

Barbara Esrig

Beth York

Gail Reeder

Lorraine Fontana

Merril Mushroom

Rose Norman

The Goddess Chant

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About the Goddess Chant

Phyllis Free wrote The Goddess Chant in 1979 and performed it with the lesbian band Anima Rising, in which she was drummer. Later she learned that the Atlanta women’s spirituality group known as The Dykes of Dungeness (see their story pp. 78-82) had continued singing her chant for many years, without remembering its source. Working from Gail Reeder’s unsigned, handwritten lyrics , they had credited it to Anonymous when they printed a songbook for the group. Even later, a chant collector now based in Canada included a recording of the chant in her collection, also without knowledge of the source. Now well within her crone years, Phyllis Free is proud to claim credit for her original composition, the manuscript of which is shown on the facing page, superimposed on a painting by Phyllis, beneath a photo of her. A recording of The Goddess Chant is now available as the opening track of Beth York’s Finding Home CD, with djembe accompaniment by the author/composer.

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Sisters, Let Us Remember

Ritual theatre script by Diana Rivers

Sisters, let us tell the old stories again, so all is not lost and forgotten. Let us remember how it once was. I tell you it was not always as you see it now. Not always with grief and anguish everywhere and children crying.

Once there was another time, back, far back, back before war came into the world, before blade and gun and bomb bloodied our earth. There was a time when women walked in freedom, when children did not weep with fear and hunger.

Listen, my Sisters, my Brothers, those were golden years, years when the land lay fair and green under the sun and the Queen of Heaven reigned over all that was or ever had been. After the Great Goddess gave birth to the earth and its children, She Herself walked here among us in Her many guises and we followed in Her ways. Then life was bountiful and there was peace.

The daughters of earth walked with pride on sacred ground holding their heads high. Brother did not raise his hand against brother. The sons of the Mother did not grow up being trained to kill other mothers’ sons. We used our gifts for living, not for death.

The pleasures of the body were a celebration of Her joy. In those days none spoke of sin and shame and evil. Children were a gift from Her for there was food enough and time enough and every child was a child of the Mother. We sang Her praises then and played our flutes and drums. We danced for Her in the village square by the noon sun. And in the sacred grove by moonlight.

Out of love we baked cakes for the Queen of Heaven and we poured out libations at Her shrines, for She was our life and our