Sex, Religion, Power and Politics

Tonight I'll chat with psychic, healer, artist and professor of Sociology, Giane Cicchelli who is constantly looking to learn new modalities of spiritual practice and weave them all into her mystical understanding of the Universe.  Tonight our primary focus is the powerful Peruvian Despacho rituals and real life success stories using this modality to affect change in one's life.

Tonight, Usui and Karuna Reiki Master and certified holisitic therapy practitioner, Deborah Lloyd discusses "healing is always possible" as she shares with listeners her healing journey.  We'll delve into alternative energy healing modalities that affect people with chronic and terminal disease, help people determine what modality might be best to pursue, discuss if thoughts and beliefs affect the ability to heal and what role spirituality played in her own healing.

Tonight we focus on one of the early feminists, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, as the anniversay of her birth fast approaches.  Sally Roesch Wagner is back with us to tell us in detail about the life of this courageous suffragette on the front lines of herstory battling for women's rights!  Sally is the Founding Director of the Matilda Joslyn Gage Foundation and Adjunct Faculty at the Renee Crown University Honors Program at Syracuse University.

Joining us at the top of the hour is Genise White aka Lady Amber Dawnb discussing minority Pagans in the community and disinformation regarding Black covens, temples, magick and the presence of Blacks in general within the spirituality. Crossing the threhold into the second half of the show Angela Dolmetsch and I will discuss Matriarchy and Gift Economy in Action at the Nashira ecovillage in Colombia.  Angela holds a Ph.D in Government from the London School of Economics and her thesis was on Women in Colombian Politics.  She holds an M.A. in Latin American Studies with emphasis in International Law from London University.

At the request of my listeners who aren't in Southern California to hear this presentation I'm giving to the Long Beach Theosophical Society on Yule Goddesses and Lore of Christmas, I shall share the content of that talk with my listeners tonight as a kind of holiday treat!  Tonight we'll talk about the Goddesses of Winter Solstice, the pagan influence on our contemporary celebrations, what was going on in Rome and Egypt that relates to todays beliefs about the Nativity and much, much more.  So sit back with a cup of tea and hear why we have Christmas trees and ornaments, where the mistletoe tradition comes from and an assortment of other seasonal doings.  I'll share a reading from one of my new books, Goddess Calling, as I share the chapter on Resolutions and Return of the Light and close the show with a meditation from the same book!  Enjoy the music of Jann Aldredge Clanton, too.  I'll be playing O Holy Darkness, Loving Womb (to the melody of O Little Town of Bethlehem) and Sound Forth the News (to the melody of Joy to the World)...HAVE FUN!

Pagan artist and writer Laura Perry aims to make ancient spiritual traditions relevant and powerful for modern women and men in her book, Ariadne's Thread: Awakening the Wonders of the Ancient Minoans in Our Modern Lives  We'll chat about who the Minoans were, what their way of life can teach us, Ariadne's Tribe vs Minos' Tribe, and the communal society of Ancient Crete.  And Laura will tell us about those bare breasted priestesses and NO, they weren't ancient versions of Playboy bunnies! Crossing the threshold into the second half of the show, we have long-time anti-sexist member of the Men's Movement of the 1970's with us, editor of Wood and Water and professor, Daniel Cohen, of Manchester, England discussing Men and the goddess, myth and its influence, the goddess and the scholars, tricksters and much more!

Tonight Ram Das Batchelder is with us discussing his book, Rising in Love: My Wild and Crazy Ride to Here and Now, with Amma, the Hugging Saint.  Many of us consider Amma the living embodiment of Goddess walking Mother Earth and tonight we'll explore this woman loved by so many across the globe.  Ram will touch on Amma's teachings, his relationship with her and how her work impacts people on the planet. In the second half of the show, Jeffrey Albaugh is with us discussing the upcoming Pagan Conference in Southern California coming up soon!

Co-Founder of Gather the Women Global Matrix, sacred activist Marilyn Nyborg will join me tonight discussing "Women Waking the World" as she facilitates ways to bring women's wisdom, values and influence to the table of global consequences.

Tonight we'll delve into the Lupa or She-Wolf stories of Etruscan Rome, often forgotten when unearthing history and sidelined instead for Romulus and Remus, said to be the founders of Rome. Poet Susan Hawthorne, author of the new book, Lupa and Lamb will chat with us about how animals, women and goddesses are portrayed, what we're remembered for and being more inventive in our approach to storytelling and poetry.  We'll see how the She-Wolf, equated with prostitution was demonized by Christianity and we'll learn about Sheep Goddesses!  We'll talk about how the lamb becomes the icon of Christianity and the pervasiveness of rape stories, persecution, beheadings and torture --- not pretty - but let's look at it anyway!  Really looking forward to Susan's story about a wolf woman who is 300,000 years old and the poem, They Call Women Monsters!  Sit back with a cup of tea and enjoy!

Tonight our guest is Prof. Jann Aldredge Clanton, feminist theologian, ordained in the Alliance of Baptists, she ministers in ecumenical and interfaith settings and co-chairs the national ecumenical, multicultural Equity for Women in the Church Community.  We'll be chatting about her new book, She Lives! Sophia Wisdom Works and her participation in the anthology I edited of former VSF Radio show guests, Voices of the Sacred Feminine: Conversations to ReShape Our World.  We'll be talking about all the ways laypeople and clergy are creating a "new normal" using the Female Divine in their communities - using ritual, song, and liturgy - which speaks to the head, heart and psyche.  We are in the revolution - have no doubt!

Mercedes Kirkel, an award winning author and channel for Mary Magdalene is with us tonight to share the information she received and documented in her book, Sublime Union:  A Woman's Sexual Odyssey Guided by Mary Magdalene.  Mercedes will speak about the meaning of sacred sexuality and how Mary Magdalene is associated with it.  She'll give examples of the instruction she believes she received and tell us of her experiences when she engaged in the practices.

Join us tonight as I chat with Barry Eaton and discuss his fascinating book Afterlife, based on his own amazing experiences of life between lives and numerous communications with those who have passed over.  Barry answers many questions about the spirit world you've been longing to ask.....including: What happens when someone dies and what does it feel like, do we all go to the same place, how can we communicate with those in the afterlife, are we reunited with loved ones after we die....and much, much more.

Returning to the show tonight is Zohara Hieronimous, author, radio show host, social justice and environmental activist discussing Lady Liberty, the Senate Sisterhood and her newest book, Future of Human Experience which has her sharing predictions from interviews with Dr. Oz, John Perkins, Michael Cremo and more...  

Listen in as the presenters from the upcoming Nashville Goddess Conference (for women and men)  to Empower the Divine Feminine Within You chat with me about their vision for the July conference and the subjects they'll be sharing with attendees.  The Goddess Conference will be held July 19 to 20th at the Four Points Sheraton Hotel in Brentwood, Tennessee (just a few minutes south of Nashville). TOPICS INCLUDE:  Find your Inner Goddess, Empower Yourself.  Fnd your path in life.  Manifest Your Dreams.  Unleash your full potential by Building Your Confidence to become a Powerful Creator.  Keynote speakers include eleste Yarnall, Jane Doherty, Patricia Leonard, Sylmarah Baruti, Diana Macys-Staley, Jeri Castronova, Bambou Ada Diagne and yours truly, Karen Tate.

At the top of the hour we have Cathy Pagano returning with the Cosmic Story for the coming weeks of June explaining what the  stars, moons and planets have in store for us and how we might be pro-active and work with the cosmic energies.  Followed by Wynn Manners, poet, mystic, idiosyncratic iconoclast, epistolarian and psalmist for Sophia -- sharing with us some very intimate spiritual experiences he's had with Sophia over his lifetime.  If you've ever had a mystical experience, or if you find hearing those of others interesting, don't miss this show.