Women's Rites
by Ruth Barret
Posted by: DailyOM
From the beginning of the goddess movement to the present, women have been increasingly drawn to Z Budapest's branch of Dianic tradition for its feminist values, its women-only rituals, and its emphasis on women's mysteries. With the exception of Shekhinah Mountainwater's teachings, Z Budapest's Dianic tradition has been the only women's mystery tradition available for women to tend to their individual souls.
Dianic tradition is simply not about men's bodies, life passages, and cultural experiences: those are men's mysteries. For males, the natural processes and transitions of the female body are simply outside their experience, no matter how much they might think they understand or empathize with women they have known. Conversely, women can never truly understand what men experience through their own unique biology or how
those experiences might inform their lives. It is for this simple reason that men are not included in the Dianic tradition, although some Dianics practice with their male partners or children at other times and in other Wiccan denominations. It would be as disrespectful to men's unique needs and experiences in celebrating their mysteries if women insisted on inclusion, as it is for men seeking inclusion in rituals of women's mysteries. It is my hope that eventually there will be as much understanding and support for women-only spiritual experiences as there is for those experiences that include only our beloved sons, brothers, and lovers.
2006 Ruth Barret, Reprinted with permission of Llewellyn publiications inc. Woodbury MN
