Revitalizing UU Women's Groups

Resources for Circle and Ritual Groups

Printed Matter

Adler, Margot. Drawing Down the Moon. Boston: Beacon Press, 1986. An excellent overview.

Anderson, Sherry Ruth and Hopkins, Patricia. Feminine Face of God. New York: Bantam Books, 1991. Gives tools for reclaiming a more authentically female way of living. Authors address facing fear and chaos to live more creatively/spiritually.

Ardinger, Barbara, Ph.D. A Woman’s Book of Rituals and Celebrations. California: New World Library, 1995.

Baldwin, Christina. Calling the Circle. Oregon: Swan Raven & Co., 1994. Presents information in a way that is so user friendly it has been used frequently in business settings.

Baldwin, Christina. Life’s Companion. New York: Bantam Books, 1991. Encourages journal writing as a spiritual quest; useful in helping groups to plan their rituals.

Beck, Renee and Metrick, Barbara Sydney. The Art of Ritual. California: Celestial Arts, 1990. Offers outline for creating rituals for growth and change.

Breiddal, Susan. Spirituality in Everyday Life. Boston: Beacon Press, 1998. Seven-session course offers opportunities to explore and expand spirituality in a group setting. For intergenerational groups exploring sacred experiences. Manuals available for instructors and participants.

Cabot, Laurie. Celebrate the Earth: A Year of Holidays in the Pagan Tradition. New York: Delta, 1998. Celebrations for the eight holidays in the Pagan tradition.

Cabot, Laurie. Power of the Witch. New York: Delta, 1989. Practicing witch tells about the misunderstood religion of witchcraft.

Carnes, Robin Dean and Craig, Sally. Sacred Circles: A Guide to Creating Your Own Women’s Spirituality Group. New York: HarperSanFrancisco, 1998. A sampler of women’s circles. Includes first meetings, storytelling, and rituals.

Conway, D.J. Maiden, Mother, Crone. St. Paul, Minnesota: Llewellyn, 1995. Resource on the history of goddess worship and myths. Includes material on fates, muses, and valkyries.

Conway, D.J. Falcon, Feather, and Valkyrie Sword: Feminine Shamanism, Witchcraft and Magick and Celtic Magic. St. Paul, Minnesota: Llewellyn, 1995.

Davis, Elizabeth and Leonard, Carol. The Women’s Wheel of Life. New York: Viking Arkane, 1996. Includes thirteen archetypes of woman at her fullest power.

Eisler, Riane. The Chalice and the Blade. San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1988. Gives the historical legacy of the goddess.

Estes, Clarissa Pinkola, Ph.D. Women Who Run With Wolves, Myths and Stories of the Wild Woman Archetype. New York: Ballantine Books, 1995. Classic includes archetypal stories for exploring the female psyche and to stimulate discussion.

Fisher, Elizabeth. Rise Up and Call Her Name. Boston: The Unitarian Universalist Women’s Federation, 1994. Thirteen-week curriculum visits several earth-based spiritual traditions in North America, Central America, Africa, India, and Asia where the earth is considered sacred and the processes of nature are honored. Offers goddess images, historical and cultural context, experiential exploration, contemporary voices and art, discussion and personal sharing and participatory rituals. Includes video, facilitator’s manual, and participant’s sourcebook. Available through your UU church, district UU office, or the UUA.

Flinders, Carol. At the Root of This Longing: Reconciling a Spiritual Hunger and a Feminist Thirst. San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1998.

Gray, Elizabeth Dodson, ed. Sacred Dimensions of Woman’s Experience. Wellesley, Massachusetts: Roundtable Press, 1988. This book is about finding the sacred in the ordinary (even housework) and about reconciling the spirit with feminism. It includes a series of essays about women’s traditional activities. Originated in a lecture series at Harvard Divinity School; includes songs and poems.

Hamilton-Holway, Barbara. Evensong. Boston: Unitarian Universalist Association, 1999. Includes eight community-building worship services designed for groups of 10–20. Activities encourage participants to get to know one another through personal sharing.

Hansen, Maren Tonder. MotherMysteries. Boston: Shambhala, 1997. UU minister weaves her personal story with ordinary details of mothering/homemaking with the spiritual.

Harris, Maria. Dance of the Spirit: the Seven Steps of Women’s Spirituality. New York: Bantam Books, 1989. Nice inspiration for groups discussing the development of spirituality.

Marks, Kate. Circle of Song, Songs: Chants, and Dances for Ritual and Celebrations. Massachusetts: First Circle Press, 1995.

Mariechild, Diane. Mother Wit: A Guide to Healing and Psychic Development. Freedom, California: Crossing Press, 1981. Covers auras, chakras, psychic communication, healing, reincarnation, dreams, witchcraft, and spirituality.

Murdock, Maureen. The Heroine’s Journey: Women’s Quest for Wholeness. Boston: Shambhala, Random House, 1990. Deals with women’s explorations with the “masculine,” illusions of success, much about goddesses and healing the mother-daughter split.

Ranck, Shirley A. Cakes for the Queen of Heaven. Boston: Beacon Press, 1986. This ten-session guidebook is for groups of women exploring feminist theology. Resources include readings, visuals, presentations, learning activities, discussions, songs, and simple rituals. Topics include ancient goddess worship, Demeter-Persephone myths, voices of women in Judaism and Christianity, issues of power and dominance between the sexes, and women’s impetus for change in religious communities. Comes in a kit with filmstrips, a book of readings and songs, and the following three books: Lost Goddesses of Early Greece, A Collection of Pre-Hellenic Myths by Charlene Spretnak, Changing of the Gods, Feminism and the End of Traditional Religions by Naomi R. Goldenberg, and Toward a New Psychology of Women, by Jean Baker Miller, M.D. First check with your church, district UU office, or the UUA.

Roth, Gabrielle. Sweat Your Prayers. New York: Penguin Putnam Inc., 1997. Explores dance and movement in rituals through five universal rhythms: flowing, staccato, chaos, lyrical, and stillness.

Sewell, Marilyn, ed. Claiming the Spirit Within: a Sourcebook of Women’s Poetry. Boston: Beacon Press, 1996.

Sewell, Marilyn, ed. Cries of the Spirit. Boston: Beacon Press, 1991. A celebration of women’s spirituality through poetry.

Sjoo, Monica and Mor, Barbara. The Great Cosmic Mother: Rediscovering the Religion of the Earth. SanFrancisco: Harper and Row, 1987.

Starck, Marcia and Stern, Gynn. The Dark Goddess: Dancing With the Shadow. Freedom, California: The Crossing Press, 1993. Refers to the subconscious Goddesses (not Jungian shadow) from various cultures; explores aspects of the feminine shadow.

Starck, Marcia. Women’s Medicine Ways: Cross Cultural Rites of Passage. Freedom, California: Crossing Press, 1993. Includes the best in women’s spirituality: Native American, Wicca, and Yoruba traditions.

Starhawk. Dreaming the Dark: Magic, Sex, and Politics. Boston: Beacon Press, 1982. Links magic, political activism, and psychology. Describes actions of the Diablo Canyon antinuclear blockade in 1981. Details history of Witch burnings.

Starhawk. The Spiral Dance. San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1989. Classic work about the rebirth of ancient goddess religions. Twice updated.

Starhawk. Truth or Dare: Encounters with Power, Authority, and Mystery. San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1988. Weaves magic with direct action. Scrutinizes ways we internalize power structures. Winner of the Media Alliance Meritorious Achievement Award.

Stein, Diana. Casting the Circle. Freedom, California: Crossing Press, 1998. Offers structure for rituals, covers cycles of the moon, and rites of passage.

Teish, Luisah. Carnival of the Spirit, Seasonal Celebrations and Rites of Passage. San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1994. Covers seasons in goddess religion, rites and ceremonies, the African religion of Yoruba, and religious calendars.

Walker, Barbara G. Feminist Fairy Tales. San Francisco: Harper, 1996. Includes twenty-eight stories.

Woodman, Marion and Dickson, Elinor. Dancing in the flames. Boston: Shambhala, 1996. Using Jungian theory, authors explore goddess archetypes as life forces in nature. Encourages embracing chaos that often leads to wisdom, transformation, and global change.

Woogler, Jennifer Barker. The Goddess Within: A Guide to the Eternal Myths that Shape Women’s Lives. New York: Fawcett Columbine, 1989. Returns us to ancient mythology and religion to explore goddess archetypes that validate the feminine.

Videos

Videos may be available for loan through your UU district office or for purchase through the UUA. The first three are available through most large library systems.

Three-part video series about women and spirituality from the National Film Board of Canada:

Goddess Remembered, 1989. Examines pre- Christian goddess worshipping religions offering insights into ancient cultures including the primacy of the feminine in ancient religions and explores our contemporary women’s spirituality movement. Credits: Produced by Margaret Pettigrew and directed by Donna Read.
Burning Times, 1990. Recounts the dark episode in human history known as witch hunts of 15th - 17th century Europe and the church and state sanctioned torture and killing of “witches.” Explores theory of fear of women’s power as the basis for our society’s acceptance of the prevalent violence against women. Credits: Produced by Mary Armstrong, Margaret Pettigrew, and directed by Donna Read.
Full Circle, 1993. Examines the latest manifestation of women’s spirituality in the western world, advocating a reverence for the earth that, in turn, can become a healing process for us. Credits: Produced by Heather Marshall and others and directed by Donna Read.

Goddess Grace with Mariel.
Moving meditation uses movements from yoga, belly-dancing, and other dance forms and exercise routines in a continuously flowing Tai Chi format. Movements are coordinated with spoken meditation, which invokes twenty-six goddesses from around the world. The first half-hour presents the entire form to music; the second section adds images and the final section breaks down each posture for ease of learning.

Inanna, by Wolkstein, Diane.
Wolkstein brings to life the 4,000-year-old epic of the goddess Inanna’s emergence into womanhood.

Sojourner Truth Speaks, by McGill, Alice.
Actress, poet, and storyteller, McGill recreates the life and struggles of former slave, Sojourner Truth, in a series of monologues based on Truth’s narratives about slavery, women’s rights, and freedom (30 minutes; for ages nine to adult).

Sorceress, by Pamela Berger.
Reveals the wisdom and dedication of a medieval healer, Elda, who pursues her calling in the presence of persecution and heretical condemnation.

Connections

To order items from the Unitarian Universalist Association Bookstore Catalog, call 1–800–215–9076 or log on to their website at www.uua.org.

WonderWorks women’s spirituality books online:
www.wonderworksonline.net/books_calendars/womens_spirituality.html