ECOFEMINISM
Ecofeminism unites environmentalism and feminism; in parts using pagan concepts and in other parts using the Marxist liberation concept. Ecofeminism is the belief that oppression of women is interconnected with the abuse of the environment and that sexism, racism and exploitation of nature go hand in hand. Eco theologians believe that Mother Earth is a personified mega-organism into which human beings are imbedded. The theory behind this spirituality is that the divine is present in all of creation. (panentheism) Ecofeminists advocate for the liberation of nature and women.
In Catholic doctrine nothing can be found about the Earth being alive. God created the Earth to support plant, animal, and human life. Yet there are Catholic Schools holding Earth Celebrations, Catholic universities offering courses, Catholic parish retreats and Catholic retreat centers offering workshops in ecofeminism.
EarthSpirit Rising Over Mount St. Joseph Eco-Feminist Descend Upon Catholic College in Cincinnati
Jungian Nun Promotes the "God-Within" Sr. Pat Brockman & Dream Analysis
“At first I thought I'd stumbled across A Total Woman from Mars. I was attending a workshop titled "Shamanic Womancraft" at a center for New Age practices in a northern California town. Women arrived in long print dresses with shawls and sat on mats in a circle on the floor. Many carried babies, and nursed them casually. The silver-haired Shaman woman in mystical clothing entered and set up a centerpiece for the circle, placing dolls, candles, and artifacts at precise angles. Among the little statues was a Madonna and an African goddess of fertility. As the woman laid out herbs with a thick aroma, her husband walked around the room waving incense, much like a priest, then exited.
Jeannine Parvati Baker then began the ritual, swaying to a chant that could have been American Indian. She called out, "Our goddesses who art in heaven and upon this earth, we celebrate the divine feminine within and without." She was in trance-like motion; "This is a perfect time to be on this planet, chosen to be the daughters at this changing time, to bring full and lasting peace to this glorious planet." She called out to Greek goddesses Artemis and Demeter. At one point she asked each woman to place some object that shows her sexuality on the altar-like centerpiece. Women carried in lipsticks, more little goddess statues, "encoding crystals." Baker continued her trancelike call, "We are sisters in a shining sun, remembering the ancient ones," she said. She used hand movements called mudras to "pull the senses back into the source," then proclaimed, "I am god . . . Shamanism . . . understand all. . . .
At times Parvati Baker made the sound "Ho—!" and the women in the circle responded "—Mmm," creating the word "Home." She passed out medicine cards; she taught us rituals we can do in our own living rooms. As the third hour began, she asked the women to share the contents of their "sexuality bundles" which they'd packed for the workshop. First Baker reached into her own little bag, and pulled out a piece of cloth diaper, "the best things to use as menstrual pads, aren't they? Ho—" "Mmmm." Her cloth was "spotted with a pattern that shows the six bleeding hearts of my six children," she said with pride. I started to squirm. Baker then pulled out the umbilical cords of all her six children, and the room began to swirl. The next woman reached in her bundle and pulled out a picture with a baby's hand in a flame saying that it represented "how many of us were burned at the stake in past lifetimes," but I couldn't stay to hear the rest. I was losing my dinner in the ladies' room outside." Eco-Feminists and Pagan Politics by Kay Ebeling
