THE COURAGE OF TURTLES - Central Washington University

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growing as a religion and as a culture,@ she says. AThere=s more interaction because of
the development of weekend gatherings that allow groups to share techniques more
than before.@
Harrow would like to see Amore communication between the academic-feministtheology
community and us. Some of the academic stuff is pretty disconnected with
what=s going on, and some of what=s really going on is pretty shortsighted because
there=s a philosophical and historical perspective lacking.@
Margot Adler agrees that the split between Wicca and the Goddess-spirituality
movement is a problem. AMost of the Goddess-oriented groups, particularly the lesbianfeminist
ones, [are] much more open [than covens] on one level, but they also don=t care
about the society at large, or certainly the male society.@ Yet Adler believes that Athe
whole separatist movement is lessening. Even lesbians are working with men more.@
Men are drawn to Goddess worship for many of the same reasons women are.
Black Lotus says that as a child, he was Ainterested in the idea of polytheism, relating to
Godhead as not just exclusively male or one particular image. In Wicca, we=re used to
relating to God the Father and also God the Mother, God the Child and God the Lover,
God the Servant and God the Master. This very much enriches one=s view, to see
divinity in all things.@ Christopher Hatton=s Apagan awareness@ began, he says, Awhen I
was reading the old myths and I encountered the concept of Mother Earth. By that, I
mean the biosphere C it felt right that this should be treated as a goddess.@
Since becoming involved with Wicca in 1971, Margot Adler has seen Athe odd
acceptance of it. It=s permeated mass culture to a certain extent.@ She points to a new
forty-five-dollar coffee-table tome on witchcraft and five different related volumes she=s
been sent in just the past month. "Hundreds of pagan magazines are flourishing,@ she
notes. ASome of these newsletters that have been going for years have five hundred
[subscribers]. Some of them also have ten thousand.@
Adler sees further evidence of her religion=s growth: AThere are all these straight
museums having Goddess exhibitions. There was a Goddess festival at the New York
Open Center in March of 1989 with two hundred people. That was where Olympia
Dukakis >came out.=@ (When she announced her affiliation, Dukakis says, AI felt very
vulnerable and tentative sharing with people my own yearnings.@ Dukakis became
involved with Goddess worship when she acted in The Trojan Women in 1982. Her
character, she says, Arejects the god of Troy and goes back to a more ancient time.@ Now
Dukakis develops improvisational theater pieces based on Goddess myths. Her most
recent is called Voices of Earth.)
Despite its growth, the future of Goddess spirituality is uncertain. AIs it going to
take directions that are really going to be exciting and interesting?@ asks Adler. AI think
that=s still really up for grabs.@ At a festival held in the Berkshires last fall, she says, Athey
wanted to create a new women's synthesis, [and] very few people showed up. Clearly,