Blessed be Sisters! These pictures bring me back my youth. Do you remember your first car? This is mine. I called her Gypsy. We bought it from a band, for $5oo dollars .They used it to tour, so there was quite a bit of mileage on the dear thing. She didn’t start up if it was too wet or cold. I had to park it on a decline, so I could roll it down until the engine kicked in. Sometimes when I had to drive a little too far, she got so heated up. If I got out of the car I could not turn it off because she was not going to start up again. Gypsy needed a nap in the middle of the road. But I was so happy! I got wheels! No more hitch hiking, good buy buses! I was real a American with wheels! You don’t really feel you are American until you can take the road. Most Americans get to drive way before the age of 33. Bobbie found this glamour pix of me posing in New York. This was in my mid-twenties, but I look easily 3o or more. All that make up! Took Ching and Dewy hours to do this form me. Read more ….
Throughout time and different cultures, women have used spells that range from the simple to the complicated. From healing spells to help others, to banishing spells for justice. Spells are an ancient art of connecting ourselves to the Goddess of 10,000 names, and evoking energy using the gifts Mother Earth has given to us, in such a way as to make our intent come to fruition. Each month, I will share with you a spell you may want to try, from different cultures and different eras, updating them, and sharing Goddesses from different pantheons for you to work with. It is my belief dear sisters, that truly “Magick is Afoot” in our lives as we trust in the Goddess and our own intentions... EPONA HERBAL SPELL FOR PROSPERITY Three days before Grandmother Moon is Full, gather (or purchase) the following herbs: mint, vervain, lavender, basil and sage. You will also need a green spell candle and 9 coins (3x3). Have your altar set-up however you would normally have it, as this spell, although it does not need a circle cast, is best performed at one’s altar. It is also very powerful done outside in nature. In addition to any altar candles you may have, place the green spell candle in the center of your altar, and place the nine coins in a circle around the candle working deosil (clockwise) and as you do so, focus on your intent for prosperity in your life. Light your altar candles if applicable and light your green spell candle. Ground and center yourself and become one with Epona, Celtic Goddess of prosperity. Have your herbs on hand and as you repeat these words sprinkle each herb deosil upon the coins surrounding your green spell candle as you speak their names: Epona, Epona shower upon me Your gift of prosperity. With this Mint I ask of Thee, bring to me prosperity. With this Vervain I ask of Thee, bring to me prosperity.
With this Sage I ask of Thee, bring to me prosperity. With this Lavender I ask of Thee, bring to me prosperity. With this Basil I ask of Thee, bring to me prosperity. ( then repeat 3x3 the following) Goddess Epona hear my plea, to bring to me prosperity. So Mote It Be!
Meditate upon the coins, herbs and candle and let the candle burn down. When the candle has burned down, take the herbs and candle and bury them outside giving thanks to Mother Nature for your use of them this day. Use the coins to buy a treat or give them away. You may repeat this spell monthly as needed. As with all spells for prosperity, it is also beneficial to do a good deed, donate to charity or help a sister in need in any way you can. ______________________________________________________________________________ After more than thirty years in circulation, The Holy Book of Women’s Mysteries is still a ground-breaking book in the forefront of women’s spirituality. I have survived all of these years almost 30 years since I read your first book, Holy Women’s Mysteries. I was a practicing Buddhist in 1972, and then came your book and my whole life changed. I carry with me the inside knowledge that I am Goddess and so are my sisters--in secret we have always gathered. A deep thank you Z for writing that first book as I awoke the Goddess in me and I have been on the path ever since. I love you and respect you and I am deeply grateful for you for spawning the Women’s Spiritually Movement. Blessed Be and Bright Blessings. - KRS
As a young child, my mother would say, “the moon is made of green cheese.” Green cheese is Limburger cheese, my very favorite cheese served at the hot food shack at Limburger beach in St. Thomas, V.I, as a grilled sandwich. The swarthy man at the counter would flip my melty treat three times as Puerto Rican music poured full blast out of the radio; the place was permeated with the smell. Most people (other seven-year-olds) thought Limburger cheese stank, “UGH!” To me, it was heaven and to think that the beautiful moon I saw outside my bedroom window as green Limburger cheese meant the moon was made of heaven! My father would get out the telescope at night as we lived up in the hills of the island and in those days you could actually see stars, planets, and our favorite, the moon. He would say, “Do you see the man in the moon?” I only saw a round female smiling face, never a man. When I looked at her without the telescope, I saw an eight-legged spider full on the moon. Later, as a teenager, I continued to see the Spider Moon. Grandmother Spider, spinner of threads, weaver of webs, and holder of Fate, was akin to the Norns. I learned to pray three times three, thrice times thrice, invoking Her. She was revered by Native Americans, and she spoke to the Lakota Sioux in me. All my life I have seen the Spider in the Moon. It was the Goddess revealing my destiny, showing me her true face for my Path. Hers was the face of unimaginable eons, eternity & forever more, infinity and back again. My grandmother would say, “Once in a blue Moon.” I learned later that the Blue Moon was a relatively rare occurrence, when there were two full moons in one month. The second full moon was the Blue Moon. This happened in 2007, and is considered very auspicious. Now we are in June, and have had a Dark Moon on the 3rd and the Full “Planting” Moon on June 18th, chasing the heels of Summer Solstice. The waning and Dark Moon time is good for banishing and cleansing from life what is not wanted, for cutting hair, for weeding and yard work, getting rid of clutter. Cleaning house is good too, as is smudging, to prepare for a bright sliver of New Moon time and waxing, growing toward Full. Spells of luck & increase and prosperity are good to do at this time. The “Moon in June” is the moon that brings weddings, romance, and good boons. Maybe if you are lucky you will see Spider Moon this month blessing your destiny—go outdoors and look!!! Whatever moon you see, it is always good to know Blessed Mother Moon smiles just for you.
Every time I see the art work of this woman, I am struck by its beauty, strength and often raw, dark power. Rosmarinus is a true muse for the Goddess.” ~ Z Budapest This month’s wallpaper is created for us by Rosmarinus. It’s stunning. It’s strong. It’s a little scary. It’s the goddess. Ro calls her art piece … Medusa Archer. What an appropriate name to emerge from the Dianic Tradition, and a definite call to action. Click on the image below to get your free wallpaper.
Healing Guide To Crystals & Gemstones Sodalite The uses for Sodalite are to open spiritual perceptions, and it aids in building trust, while helping the user to be eliminate mental confusion. Sodalite is most commonly known to be a dark blue quartz that can be found in Arkansas, China, Maine, Brazil, and South-West Africa. The astrological association with Sodalite is Sagittarius. The less commonly known colors of Sodalite are pink, yellow, grey, and green. Sodalite is often mistaken for Lapis Lazuli. Sodalite is best used on the third eye charka, also known as the Ajna Chakra. Some people even drink Sodalite as a gem essence against Diabetes. The aftercare of Sodalite is best achieved by running the stone under water.
Z’s Sister Fates Books
Hark! There is a new column in the Z Budapest Newsletter! I'm a feminist activist witch who believes in bending the rules of scholarly writing to bring our feminist heroine fore-mothers to life. May their inspiration lead us “Forward into Light!”*
“To be among a group of people whose ideas are heroic can't help but develop heroism and nobility among every member.” ~ Inez Milholland
One hundred years ago today, June 8th, 1908, in a cemetery across the street from the women's college Vassar, forty students and ten alumnae greeted the Susan B. Anthony Memorial Caravan. Believing that suffrage was propaganda, the conservative president of the University refused to allow the women to meet on campus. Although Inez Milholland was threatened with expulsion, she was determined to bring suffrage to the women of Vassar. A vibrant junior, already well known at the school in Poughkeepsie, New York, Inez was a Socialist, a star-athlete, who broke the record in shot-put, and an actress who played Romeo in Romeo and Juliet. Inez made newspaper headlines for the first time with her “grave-yard rally.” She organized the meeting across the street from Vassar where she spoke of sisterhood and solidarity. By the time she graduated, the majority of Vassar students would be members of The Votes for Women Club she began that day. The eldest of three children, Inez Milholland was born in New York on August 6 th, 1886. Her forward-thinking parents, Jean and John Milholland raised Inez to be an independent and strong woman. Her father owned a newspaper, as well as a pneumatic tube systems business which brought his family great wealth. Despite the disapproval of other Victorian-era mothers, Inez and her brother and sister played rigorously, and swam in Lake Champlain. Their mother Jean, believed exercise was healthy for children long before it was popular. John was one of the founders of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), and Inez was exposed to many progressives during her youth. Outraged by the Spanish-American War and searching for more intellectual and cultural pursuits for the children, the family moved to London when Inez was thirteen years old. While still in high school Inez demonstrated with
the militant suffragist, Emmaline Pankhurst. Jean Milholland lost some London friends when the insistent Inez met with suffragettes in the family parlor. Inez was arrested twice while protesting before she was eighteen years old.
Ritualists at the Forward into Light Pageant
From a rented second story room in New York City, yellow streamers and balloons read “Votes for Women.” They drifted into the crowd of men celebrating Howard Taft, their candidate for President. The defiant Inez, along with Harriot Stanton Blatch, daughter of Cady Elizabeth Stanton, spoke with a megaphone from the windows- stopping the parade. They attracted so much attention that a large crowd of men converged on the women upstairs. Not intimidated, Inez soap-boxed for women's rights, won many converts and then staunchly asked the men to leave. By 1909 Inez was becoming known for her powerful oration and archetypal beauty.
“I am prepared to sacrifice any so-called privilege in order to have a few rights.” ~ Inez Milholland
Inez graduated from Vassar in 1909. On account of her sex she was denied entrance to law school at Harvard, Yale, Oxford and Columbia. She was accepted to the law program of New York University, but her grades suffered. Inez was arrested twice while she monitored for
police brutality during the Shirt-waist Workers Strike. She earned her law degree in 1912. Her only “A” was in Pleading, which was ironic, because as a female she was not allowed to plead in public. Pleading was considered unfeminine! Facing daily sexism in her work, Inez fought for social reforms. She advocated for suffrage, worker's rights, abolishment of capital punishment and prison reform at the notorious Sing Sing Penitentiary.
Inez Milholland Inez Milholland's tireless defense of Charles Stielow, a mentally challenged farmer on death row, led to his acquittal years later. Although Inez asked about his case on her death bed – she did not live to see him exonerated. “Not to know what things in life require remedying is a crime...., it leaves you at the mercy of events- it lets life manipulate you- instead of training you to manipulate life.”(I.M.) To mark the 100th anniversary of the grave-yard rally I invited Inez to talk. She is shocked that people are still being executed in the U.S. “The inhumanity of it! Does no one look at the roots of crime? Poverty and lack of education are the moral failures of this country.” She is chastising me as I look back at her words. “What are YOU doing about abolishing capital punishment?” She asks me loudly.
“Not much”, I admit. She continues, “Perpetuation of capital punishment by any government is criminal, and executing the disenfranchised devalues all our lives.” I am surprised by the topic of her first words to me, but not by her ferocity! I am exhausted yet exhilarated by this experience. After I spoke with Inez I dreamed of many bats hanging on an historic building. The furry mammals opened their eyes one by one as I asked them to. I awoke to words in my head that were not my own. Thinking through the symbolism of bats, flexibility and rebirth, the words spill onto my paper- Inez has left me a message! “It is most important what you do- NOT what you say or write. The endeavors of women change the world.” I remember the British suffragette slogan, “Deeds not Words”**, as I thank Inez again for her wisdom. I am spellbound by an image of a statuesque woman with classic features, dressed in white; a visionary Greek Goddess seemingly one with an immense white horse. She bears a banner reading, “Forward into Light.” This vision of strength and beauty, a herald, leading more than 5000 women through the streets of Washington D.C. is Inez Milholland. This image is reality. This March for Suffrage occurred on March 3rd, 1913. It was just one day in a sixty five year struggle for women's right to vote. But, it captivated the entire country; and Inez Milholland would become a martyr for suffrage. The incredible story of Inez Milholland will be continued in next month's Hark! I Hear A Heroine! All quotes by Inez Milholland. *“Forward into Light” is the National Woman's Party slogan. **”Deeds not Words” was the motto of the Women's Social and Political Union My Resources: http://www.boissevain.us/inezmilholland.html http://vcencyclopedia.vassar.edu http://www.loc.gov/loc/lcib/9803/suffrage.html http://americancivilwar.com/women/Womens_Suffrage/Inez_Milholland.html The Library of Congress/American Memory Women of Protest: Photographs from the records of the National Woman's Party, Inez Millholland: The Suffrage Martyr by Kristen Jaconi at Stanford Law Other resources: HBO movie 2004: Iron Jawed Angels, Inez: The Life and Times Of Inez Milholland by Linda Lumsden
The Dianic University Online is adding new classes! If you're not studying with us, you should be.
We added a new Witchy Herbal Studies class that is the first in a series of excellent herbalist classes. The first class is Healing Herbs - Nervous System & Reducing Stress and is part of a series of courses designed to give you the most thorough, practical, hands-on and sacred learning experience with herbs. Though it does require a time commitment on your behalf, if used as intended, these lessons will provide a comprehensive understanding of herbalism, providing you with the skills necessary to be an herbalist using the herbs from the lessons. We also added a Dianic Philosophy and Thought class. Dianic spirituality starts with feminist thought. This class is meant to bring a basic grasp of Dianic spiritual philosophy through feminism writings and Dianic practices. New classes and more new teachers are on the way! Make yourself a free account at the Dianic University if you haven't already done so ... do it now! Now's the time to come study with Z and her dedicated group of teachers!
Have you visited the Women's Spirituality Forum store online? You can get autographed copies of Z's books there! Also Featuring: Lindie Lila's Goddess Music downloads now available in the Women’s Spirituality Forum online store! We All Come from the Goddess
Lots more! We're adding more items too ... come see!!!
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Greetings, Sisters, and welcome to my inaugural column. I am delighted to be doing this for the education and inspiration of all the wonderful womyn out there. I will be using the Daughter’s of the Moon Tarot for my column work, since I want to stick to womyn-positive imagery. For this first column, though, I want to do a column about choosing a deck. Back in the day, when I first got into tarot, there was only one deck available to me, the venerable Rider-Waite. So my first deck was that one and I used it for ten years exclusively. It wasn’t until 1990, when I went to college and moved to a large city with a vibrant Pagan community that I first encountered other decks. I was like a kid in a candy store on my first trip to book store that offered many books by Pagan authors as well as a whole shelf of tarot decks. This place had sample cards from each deck available to handle and look at, and that was very helpful. Otherwise I am sure I would still be there figuring out which deck I wanted. When getting started it is important to find a deck that resonates with you. The best way to do so is to be able to handle at least a couple cards and look at their imagery. Before you go to a shop to look at the decks, call and ask if they have sample cards available, most of the good ones I have encountered, including the chain stores like Barnes and Noble and Borders, do have them. If you don’t feel comfortable making such a call, you can do a day of just wandering various shops looking at their tarot card selections and seeing if they do offer samples. This is not a bad way to spend a day, so do what feels comfortable for you. I recommend doing your shopping for your first deck (and honestly for any subsequent decks, since this is a process each time) on a day when you don’t have a lot of other things to do. Have a light and healthy breakfast so your energy is clear and uncluttered. It will help you feel the cards’ energy while handling them. I personally prefer to abstain from animal flesh for at least 24 hours prior to shopping for any magickal tool, and this includes tarot cards. It leaves my energy more open to the energy of the tools I wish to handle and helps me find ones compatible with me. When you get to the shop, relax and handle each card individually. Look at the imagery and open yourself to it. Hold the card in your hand and get the feel of it. Many decks come in similar shapes and sizes, but sometimes you find one that is different. A good deck feels comfortable in your hand. Some decks come in multiple sizes, like the Motherpeace Tarot. While most decks are rectangular in shape, regardless of size, the womon-positive decks like the Motherpeace and Daughters of the Moon are round, and you may prefer one shape to the other, so consider that as a factor, because cards you don’t handle easily, you will not use regardless of how much you like their imagery. Something will just strike you as right when you find a deck that is good for you. It might be that an image speaks to you; it might be that the energy of the deck just feels good to you, somehow you will know. Don’t be discouraged if you don’t find the right deck
the first time you look. These days there are hundreds of decks and few stores carry more than ten to twenty of them. If you live in an area where you don’t have multiple places to shop for a deck, ask friends for recommendations. Some of them may even let you handle their cards. Ask your online friends also, there are women all over the place online and they have access to all sorts of tarot decks. If you really want to get started without having to search, then I recommend using the basic Rider-Waite deck as a first deck. It is a classic that countless folk have used for over a century with good results, and many other decks at least somewhat base their imagery on this deck. Also, there are many books out there on tarot that use the Rider Waite as the deck of choice for interpretation. Whichever way you choose to go, once you get your deck home, use it frequently. I recommend using it at least daily, and don’t be abashed about looking in a book to help you with your interpretations. Read for yourself; read for your friends; meditate upon the cards if you are so inclined. Just let them, and you get used to one another. Find a soft cloth to keep them in when not in use, some books recommend using silk as it helps protect their energies, and I concur. But silk is not your only choice, if you have a scarf or handkerchief or other piece of cloth with special value to you that you want to use for your cards, then use it. Its meaning to you will also protect the cards. You can also buy nice little velvet tarot bags or keepsake boxes meant for tarot and those are nice, too. I have used all those options, but my favorite deck is kept inside my altar wrapped in a silk scarf that my grandfather gave me with a gorgeous silk screen of Mount Fuji on it. Do keep it in or near your altar if this is at all possible when you are not using it. It will protect the cards from damage and maintain the energy connection between you that you are working so hard to create. I hope these ideas are helpful to all my sisters out there, and I look forward to starting out tarot journey together in the next column. Until next time‌Walk in beauty.
Now on Disk!
Gathering the Goddess A Festival Celebration of Women’s Spirituality Presented by Z Budapest Goddess herstory comes full-circle! Our newest announcement is that is that Z and Bobbie will be sharing their Tryst with the women who attend the Gathering, but we have also been gathering up the women who helped Z start the Women's Spirituality Movement and the Susun B. Anthony Coven Number One. It doesn't get any more herstorical than this! Come look at our updates for the Gathering's highlights Z is bring us all together to celebrate the 30th year of the Holy Book of Women’s Mysteries with the women who started the movement … it’s going to be a powerful gathering! Women attending this ritual will get a huge hit on what it was like to be a part of the inception of this movement. You'll be able to ask questions, listen to the stories from the women who were actually there, ... you're getting your education, training and ritual experiences from the sources themselves. We are never again repeating this once in a lifetime gathering of women. It's a special event and as a goddess woman, you should be there. We are currently putting together the schedule of speakers, workshops and events. We will announce more information as we move closer to the gathering’s date. This is definitely an event you’ll want to be a part of if dancing, singing and celebrating the goddess surrounded by majestic redwoods and spiritual sisters sounds wonderful to you! Reserve your place in herstory today! Z Budapest is the High Priestess of the Dianic Tradition and foremother of the Women's Spirituality Movement. She is the author of the Holy Book of Women's Mysteries. Z will lead us through the Holy Book of Women's Mysteries towards a deeper understanding of the Dianic Tradition through intensive workshops and ritual experiences.
Let us gather, sisters. We come in many colors, sizes, traditions, and sexual orientations; lesbian and gay women, straight women and all. We are the old women, we are the new women, we are the same women, and better than ever. Blessed be. Holy Book Herstory Have you ever wondered the who, what, where and when's of the creation of the Holy Book of Women's Mysteries? We've put together a web page that highlights the answers to these questions.
Join us for Gathering the Goddess 2008 Sept. 5-7th, Santa Cruz Mountains, CA http://zbudapest.com/goddess-festival.html
Registration deadline August 31, 2008, but we expect to sell out before that date. Admission is $300 and includes: - All meals - Heated shared cabins - A bed (you bring bedding & pillow) - All events and rituals - Access to vendors - Limited San Jose Airport transportation (must be pre-arranged - ALMOST FULL!!!)
This newsletter is sponsored by the Women’s Spirituality Forum. Please help support our efforts to help keep the Goddess Alive!
New York was insanely busy. Miles and miles without a tree. Few parks and only in the rich neighborhoods. I lived on Canal street way downtown, way way downtown. With two Chinese gay artists. I loved Ching and Dewey. Dewy was a tall young beautiful man, his skin was more smooth than mine. Ching had thick glasses, he was the brain. Their gay lifestyle brought me lots to write about. They took me everywhere, gay bars, dancing, but I was intensely lonely amongst all the happy gay guys. I wish I knew where they are today. I hope they are still alive. Bobbie slowly digs out my past from my big closet where the old unpublished scripts go to die. So yes, getting married in September. All our friends will be there. We have now more than seventy women signed-up, there is still lots of space. Bobbie has done single handedly more for the Goddess Movement than I could in a long time. She and I revived the Susan B. Anthony Coven Number One, which is the best known coven in the world. Now we have it in the virtual form. May she grow! Members of the Susan B are now contributing to the Z Newsletter, and it’s beautiful. Goddess bless them! The Gathering the Goddess festival will culminate with our Tryst … our wedding! A feast follows. The pick-up at the airport is shaping up, we charter a bus from a friend. Or not. Don’t worry it will be great. So this is all folks, blessings on you and your loved ones. Life is too short, do something pleasurable each day and love somebody with all your heart. Blessed be,
Z Budapest
Resource Links Z Budapest Website Dianic Wicca University Online Dianic Nation Women's Events Z's Blog Z's Events Schedule Z's MySpace Calendar Z's University Calendar Z's Books Summoning the Fates Holy Book of Women's Mysteries Celestial Wisdom Grandmother of Time Grandmother Moon Goddess in the Office Goddess in the Bedroom Holy Book Herstory Have you ever wondered the who, what, where and when's of the creation of the Holy Book of Women's Mysteries? We've put together a web page that highlights the answers to these questions.
Please share this newsletter with your friends. Have you done your self-blessing today? We do self-blessing every day. In fact, it's the first thing I do every morning when I rise as I'm preparing to get dressed. It's good mental health. Do your self-blessings and life will be sweeter. The SelfBlessing is on page 120 of the Holy Book of Women's Mysteries.
I told you we were making herstory at this Gathering the Goddess festival of Women's Spirituality. In addition to bringing together the women who started the movement for you to meet and learn from in-person, in addition to teaching you the songs from the Holy Book of Women's Mysteries, in addition to taking you back to the magickal origins of real ritual, in addition to bringing you together with some of the greatest Dianic teachers of our era, in addition to laughing, dancing, worshipping the Goddess together, in addition to all that ... Bobbie and I will be sharing our Tryst with all of you who attend the Gathering. Indeed the Holy Book of Women's Mysteries is coming alive for this Gathering of the Goddesses. The events of this festival will never be repeated again. Don't miss out! Reserve you place in herstory today! Blessed be,
Z Budapest PS. In lieu of Trysting gifts, if so inclined, we ask that you donate to the Women's Spirituality Forum to further advance women's spirituality efforts.