Kickboxing Geisha

Image from author's website

I love books that have a strong application to magic or the Pagan community, without being written directly for them.
Gender studies have always fascinated me, and this one in particular was both an entertaining and eye-opening read.
In the context of a highly structured society, the women within it casting off expected roles to pursue something more in line with their desires than secretary and housewife is inspiring.
The crossover?
This isn't a storybook in which success and a happy ending are guaranteed for our hero. Making those giant, scary, unprecedented steps to a more authentic version of self and speaking of the journey can certainly draw parallels to the modern practitioner, particularly those with Goddess-centric spirituality.
In later chapters, the author delves into an interesting side effect. More men are feeling free to pursue the path (in life and career) that vibes more closely with their soul than the traditional salary man and provider role, due in large part to their female trailblazing colleagues.
Too often I meet people within the Pagan community that fear their own power and the consequences of it's exercise. This book, to me, spoke of a healthy display and movement of power without the bogeyman of a cautionary tale. As you free yourself, you allow others to do the same.
Just like us, this community of unconventional men and women are finding their way and testing the waters.

Quick question for my lovely readers: How how you seen the evolution of gender roles within the Pagan community over your years of practice? How have things changed, stayed the same, and how have you evolved within that context, for positive or negative?


-Carmin

Winter never really leaves these mountains. Even in the height of summer, there's a hint of dark, star-spattered nights and a soft chill behind the wind. The growing season is regrettably, short. As the second harvest festival approaches, green thumbs begin measuring the garden in eyedroppers of time.
The first Samhain candles of the year were poured today. Today, a treasured member of the occult community parted the Veil between the Worlds and crossed over. Today, the Perseid meteor shower lit up the night sky. I wrapped a thousand prayers into a thousand stitches and hope to send them soon.
Utterly ordinary events beating measure for the extraordinary ones. Witches sing a threnody while the night sky burns.

-Carmin