Jagger, Sharon ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3012-4755 (2025) The Paradox of Autonomy Goddess Rituals and Spiritual Activism. In: Bennet, Yvonne, (ed.) Rituals. Vernon (Submitted)

Text (Chapter on goddess worship) The Paradox of Autonomy Goddess Rituals and Spiritual Activism.docx - Submitted Version Restricted to Repository staff only Download (64kB)

Abstract

The development of cultural feminism from the 1970s to incorporate the feminine divine, has been critiqued as holding on to essentialist ideas of femaleness and femininity in reaction to Radical Feminism. Cultural feminism encompasses forms of spirituality that seek the feminine divine, philosophically endorsed by Luce Irigaray (2009), and often form a response to patriarchal monotheism. Responding to the Rosi Braidotti’s (2008) plea for feminist theory to incorporate the spiritual lives of women, I argue research should extend to the personal and private practices of women who see Goddess worship as a serious and viable alternative to patriarchal religion. Researchers such as Laurel Zwissler (2018) identify how activism and public declarations of self-identifying witches and those claiming a goddess-oriented spirituality can be part of feminist praxis. In this chapter, using empirical research, I will examine the personal and private rituals of such women to explore whether and how these link to feminist identities, meaning-making, and activism. I challenge the critique that goddess-centred spiritualities are neoliberal and postfeminist and argue that individualised rituals and beliefs can be an expression of spiritual activism (Anzaldua, 2015).

Item Type:	Book Section
Status:	Submitted
Subjects:	B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BL Religion H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General) H Social Sciences > HM Sociology H Social Sciences > HQ The family. Marriage. Woman
School/Department:	School of Humanities
URI:	https://ray.yorksj.ac.uk/id/eprint/11702

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