The Birth of SisterSpirit

By: Tasa WolfStar

Today is my 60th birthday, and, I'm giving myself a gift of time!
I'm taking a day off work and reviewing some wonderful memories of
my years as part of SisterSpirit. For those of you who don't know
me, I'm part of the "old guard" of SisterSpirit, as we've come to
call ourselves. The very first SisterSpirit Circle I was part of was
a Circle in September 1988 whose priestess was Z Budapest. For a
solitary Dianic Wiccan, newly returned to Portland, that Circle was
a gift from the Goddess! Not only because the Circle was so
powerful, but because it also reunited me with Frodo, who had been
part of my first Dianic Circle in the mid-70s, and with Pat, whom I
had worked with as a volunteer for Helping Hands Against Violence in
Hood River in the early '80s. I also finally met Moonstone (Catseye)
who was a familiar face from Boulder's pagan shop years earlier. It
was the beginning of a long and full relationship with SisterSpirit -
one I plan to share with you in the coming months.

Now, however, I want to start working on a pledge I made at our last
Community meeting: I'm going to (over time) enter the 2-part
interview with Frodo that appeared in Sprited Women's first 2 issues
of September & October 1987.

Please note: I'm not much at computer stuff, and if there is a
spell check on this site, I haven't found it! So please forgive any
such errors - here we go:

"The Birth of SisterSpirit"

From: Spirited Women Vol 1, 9/87

Sister Spirit: "Frodo, how did you come to start Sister Spirit?"

Frodo: "Well, I had a dream about a circle of Dianic wiccan,
goddess-oriented women, they asked me to guard that circle when they
went on a journey, and I said, "Yes." While they were gone, other
women came up and asked if they could use the circle space but they
weren't Dianic wiccans, they were Jews and Christians. So I had to
say, "No, this is a Dianic wiccan space." I went all over, helping
them try to find a space to celebrate their women's spirituality,
but there wasn't one. When the Dianic wiccans came back we told
them about our fruitless search. Then I said, "Well, I guess this
means we're meant to celebrate together." So we had a celebration of
all those traditions and of our spirituality as women."
"Several things happened to show me that it was more than a
dream, and I finally understood I was supposed to make a space for
women of all traditions to find what women's spirituality is and to
celebrate that."

Sister Spirit: "You had also gotten involved with MCC,
Metropolitian Comminity Church..."

Frodo: "Since 1978 I had been going to MCC. I found several things
there that I didn't find in Wiccan circles. There were all kinds of
women for one thing, all kinds of people, women and men, from all
different backgrounds. The Wiccan circles I was in tended to be one
kind of person, same educational or economic level. It was realy
good for me to be in a place of people of different backgrounds...I
could see they could learn to work together. I began to tell them
where I was with the Goddess and that was new in MCC."
"They had just realized that it wasn't good to say 'Father' all
the time, they were beginning to use inclusive language, but the
concept of Goddess was a further step. At a MCC conference in
Florida last month the women did circles, calling the four
quarters. It was very exciting to me to see this come about."

Sister Spirit: "What do you mean when you say 'Goddess'?"

Frodo: "What is life? (laughter) Really, they are the same
question. The Goddess is the iife force, she is the creation and
the creator and is continually creating. She is me and she is you
and she is all there is and she is who she is. The reason why I
call her Goddess is because she speaks to me in a female voice. I
am a woman and I love women and that's how she sounds to me. Also I
see creation as birth -giving process..."

Pause:

Back to 2005 & Tasa! I need to take a break from the computer, and
I've barely gotten started - I promise to keep at this until I get
the complete interview entered. I'm doing this because I think it
is an important historical document that shouldn't be lost, and
also, because I think it will help us determine the futue of
SisterSpirit. (By the way, did you notice that the
word "SisterSpirit" as we normally write it was "Sister Spirit" in
the newsletter? That wasn't a typo, it was how it was in the
original interview.) Love & Starlight on your path, my sisters!

Continued:

OK, I'm ready to do another round, if my eyes and the computer will
cooperate! If you missed it, part 1 was with "Happy Birthday to me"
and thanks to all who responded & happy birthday to the rest of the
wonderful Virgos in SisterSpirit's extended family!

From "Spirited Women" Vol 1, 9/87 "The Birth of
SisterSpirit" continued:

Sister Spirit: "An important part of your life has been trees.
You have trees that are your friends... What is that like and what
sorts of things have you learned from the trees?"

Frodo: "My mother tells a story that when I was about four we were
at a park, and I cried when it was time to go home. My mother
wanted to know what was wrong. I had hold of this fir tree, and I
said, 'I don't want to leave this tree, it's my friend.' I have it
from her that from birth probably, I was talking to trees so it's
hard for me to describe what it's like because I don't know what
it's not like."

"The first thing that I do when I connect with a tree, I touch
it and I try to get in tune, imagining what it would be like to be
that tree. Once we have that connection the tree can speak to me.
They do in in all different ways because it's my mind that
translates what that being is feeling and putting out. Sometimes I
get words in my mind. Sometimes I get pictures like when I was
shown Mt. St. Helen's blowing. Often they speak to me about what
I'm feeling at the moment."

"One tree calls herself Naia, meaning 'being,' the experience
of being. She teaches me how to be who I am. She told me about Mt.
St. Helen's erupting and that it was a sign of the rising up of
women, of the earth speaking out against the kind of things that are
being done to her."

"Sometimes they just give soothing and comforting thoughts.
Quesl is a tree that's been struck by lightning and she's taught me
a lot about the kind of healing in which trees choose to take the
lightning charge safely to the earth, protecting all the other trees
around them. They can do that because they are so deeply rooted."
"Trees are being destroyed in such numbers and so rapidly now
that time is running out. They're talking to a lot more people
because as Naia says, 'You're the only voice I have to people who
can't hear the way I speak. You are the action that I would be...'
They're very much concerned with what's happening to the planet,
with waking people up..."

Sister Spirit: "Since its beginning, how has Sister Spirit
evolved?"

Frodo: "There were 46 women at our first meeting, Pagans and Jews
and Christians and eastern religions and probably several other
traditions. People talked in that meeting about how scary it was to
be talking about their deepest spirituality in the presence of
people on a different path, but we all felt very, very empowered."
"From that first meeting the format hasn't changed all that
much. We still have singing and dancing and women's wisdom sharing,
where we talk, and feasting and usually some kind of ritual action
like lighting candles for a certain purpose. We still are
celebrating the seasonal holidays and inventing things for the
celebration and including all traditions. It was a good format and
it has continued. Along the way we've learned that the traditions
that have been adopted by the patriarchy and used to oppress women
are very much a part of our consciousness. Words from those
traditions are still laden with a lot of things that have oppressed
us, so we have to be gentle with each other and careful about how we
use those words. We can always share in our own words what our
spirituality is and what our journey is like and what has happened
along the way. When we read things or do things from other
traditions we need to explain what's going on so people understand.
With traditions that have been used by the patriarchy, we need to be
sensitive as to whether to use those at all, and, if so, it has to
be very sensitively done. That's been a major controversy."

"People have been very hurt by some of the Christian things we've
done. Some of the things have just been unfamiliar to many people
who came, and that's been hard sometimes. But we still feel that
the sharing of traditions is important."

"We're going to be having major celebrations in all traditions
less often, and small circles in particular traditions. There are
times you want to share, there are times when you want to hear what
people are doing in other realms, then there are times when you just
need to be with women who feel the way you do and use the words you
do."

Pause:

*********to be continued***************

Tasa again - my eyes say I have to stop here. If and when I get a
chance, I'll try to finish the first part, that ran in the first
issue of "Spirited Women", before I leave for Fall Equinox. But I
think that all of us who are part of the SisterSpirit community need
to think about what Frodo said back in 1987 and continue to work to
define who SistrSpirit is now. And, remember, we need to be gentle
with each other and ourselves. Our community is only as strong as
our bond to each other and to the Goddess! Love & Starlight be with
you, my sisters!

Continued:

I'm working on an unfamiliar computer, so bare with me (well,I'm not
sure if that's the right spelling, but as we use to do a lot of
baring ourselves in SisterSpirit, physically & emotionally, I guess I'll
leave it!) In case you don't know, I am one of the Dianic voices in
SisterSpirit; and one of the reasons I'm putting Frodo's interview
from the first 2 issues of Spirited Women on our egroup is because I
think it is important to keep the historical perspective accurate as
we as a women's spiritual community continue our work together to
define ourselves and plan our future. So let's return to Sept. 1987
and Frodo's interview:

Sister Spirit: What is your biggest challenge for you personally?

Frodo: It's lack of time; it's the fact that there's so much to do,
and that I work full-time. At one point when I counted hours I
found that I was putting in at least 30-35 hours a week on Sister Spirit
in addition to a 40-hour-a-week job. That's been a challenge because
it stretched me real thin, and I've lost the time that I need and (to)
do the things that I do to feed my spirit. When you never have quiet
time with yourself, it's not a good thing and I've not done that
very well this past year. Sometimes I get real invested in the things
that we do, and I take it personally when somebody wants to do something
different. Having time for myself helps me stay more balanced about
everything.

Sister Spirit: Why do you think Sister Spirit is important?

Frodo: It's important for me to be doing something about the
situation I see in the world and in society. I see people being
divorced from the earth. I see women being out of touch with
themselves, not realizing they can change their lives. There are
many ways of approaching that: political action, social things,
recreation, like we have the women's wilderness organization, and
spirituality. Spirituality is like a battery that gives energy to
everything else. If you can tap into that, into your own spiritual
energy and connect that with other women, you can move mountains.
I've seen incredible changes wrought because woman found their
spirituality and connected with each other's spirituality.

(To be concluded in our next issue.)

Spirited Women, No. 2, October, 1987
The Birth of SisterSpirit (continued)

Spirited Women: What changes have you seen in Women that have
Inspired you in the women within SisterSpirit?

Frodo: Celebration after celebration I watch Women who say "I can't
dance" then suddenly they're in the circle dancing! I remember when
we were having a spiral dance and nobody was around to lead it, and
everybody at the planning meeting said, "Well why don't you do it,
Frodo?" (We have open planning meetings to plan our rituals.) I
said, "I can't lead the dance, I don't know, I'd probably get them
all tangled up instead of spiraling, and someone said "Now remember when
I said I couldn't call the quarters, and you said, "Oh yes you can!"
Then I had to say, "Well, you're right, I can do the dance." When I
see Women able to speak for the first time in front of people, or
Women who for the first time let go of their ego and are able to
Just be, when I see Women with changes in their lives as a result of
becoming aware of their spirituality, that's all wonderful to me.

When we do things with our spirituality, like when we join with
Other groups to do a ritual for the old growth trees at the Forest Service
Building and see that ritual could not only be something that
empowered us but that it could be something that we could do to make
a change in something we saw going on--that is very empowering. I
think the most exciting thing for me is that we do have the ability to
make change in ourselves and in society. Every time we
sing the song where we sing a Woman's name and say
That she is beautiful, I watch the change in Women's faces as we sing
it. Some glow all over. Some start crying when they sing that song or
when women claim themselves as being the Goddess. I could go on and
on with that question...

Spirited Women: What do you mean by women's spirituality?

Frodo: It's that spirituality of Women that celebrates Women as
Women. If it is by and for Women, and it's celebrating Women, then
it's Women's spirituality. It is a very, very individual thing for each
Woman because what empowers me might not be what empowers you. What
I want to celebrate may not be what you want to celebrate. All
societies from way back have had times when there's Womens'
spiritiuality and men's spirituality and there are times when there
are both together.

There are certain things, certain ways of perceiving, that Women
Have just because they are Women, that are different from the ways men
See things. One of the things is obviously that we have very different
roles to play in society and Women have been oppressed in the
patriarchal society. One of the things that's been suppressed in us
is our spirituality. On the one hand we're seen as being more
spiritual in some ways than men, and on the other hand, we haven't
been allowed to be spiritual leaders or to talk even about spirit in
female terms and that's what is so important for us to do.

Virginia Mollenkott was talking about how when you have a metaphor
Or a simile the comparison goes both ways, so if you say, "God is
father," then fathers also become godlike just because of the
comparison being made. So since it's important for us as Women to
see ourselves as capable of making change and being spiritual and being
Goddess, we must see the Goddess as being Woman, too. We need this
to become the full human people that we're meant to be. That's why you
have Women going off with other Women to be spiritual in a space
that is Women's space. There is a certain kind of energy that's created
and there is a certain atmosphere of being able to risk if there are
no men there. The whole male-female dynamics that we've learned
when we were little kids in society isn't present and so you can learn to
be who you want to be and not necessarily who someone else wants you
to be.

Pause and continued:

Back again after a short break to carve a pumpkin and have some
lunch...it's the day before Halloween, and I'd like to finish this
visit to the past today...we'll see how it goes!

Sprited Women, Oct. 1987, continued

Spirted Women: SisterSpirit is actually a special ministry of
Metropolitan Community Church and you are a minister in MCC. How is
it that a Christian church sponsors largely Pagan celebrations?
Frodo: Legally SisterSpirit is a special ministry of MCC, but we
are completely autonomous. We make all our own decisions.
SisterSpirit's Coordinating Council makes decisions for our group.
The Coordinating Council is myself and five other Women from various
traditions. The connection with MCC enables us to be tax-exempt,
and to be a non-profit organization. It allows us to have a bulk-
mailing permit.

When I first had the dream to begin SisterSpirit I went to the
appropriate board of the Northwest District of MCC. I explained to
them what I wanted to do: to begin an inter-faith group, Pagan
mostly, and also Jewish, Christian and Native American, and other
traditions, and that it would be in the Women's community. They
unanimously said, "Yes, we do want to do this." SisterSpirit is a
special ministry, which means it is not like other MCC churches,
it's very different. MCC has always been ecumenical, it's always
been people of all different Christian denominations celebrating
together and it had to do a lot of work to figure out how to do
that. Sponsoring a group that is intr-faith, that is different
religions, is something that is another step on the path MCC was
already on. MCC people, the majority, are not only open to the
Goddess but wanting to learn about Her, wanting to learn about some
Pagan traditions, so having a group that is primarily Pagan is a
real blessing to a lot of people in MCC. (As MCC's District
Coordinator said in a letter to us: "I want you all to know how
graced I feel that SisterSpirit is a part of the UFMCC and the
Northwest District.")

There are also people in MCC who are uncomfortable with it, just as
there are a lot of people in SisterSpirit who would rather not have
any connection with MCC. It's a very real fear for Pagans who have
been burned by Christians, who fear that same kind of thing is going
to happen again. There are Christians in MCC who believe a lot of
things that they've always been taught about Pagans. There's a lot
of fear there that needs to be addressed step-by-step until we can
relate to each other as people. It's an unlikely but positive
connection between two groups that have been at war for thousands of
years. It's a bridge across that history.

Spirited Women: What would you say, what advice would give, to
Women who may have come to SisterSpirit looking for a way to express
their Women's spirituality and feel uncomfortabale, or that
something doesn't feel right and haven't come back?

Frodo: Tell one of the people who is leading the celebration, or
tell me, or tell one of the people on the council, just let us
know. We did a survey and we got a lot of clarity because people
did speak up. Sometimes it's a real simple thing to correct or to
change because we want everybody, every Woman, to feel included.
Sometimes you don't always know exactly what it was that wasn't
there. Every celebration is different. Often they're hardly alike.
What goes on in the celebration is what goes on in the planning
meeting. Planning meetings are open and so any Woman can come to a
planning meeting and say what she wants to happen, and with the
other Women they put out what they want to happen. Something always
take shape. It's like making soup, someone throws in one spice,
someone else throws in a vegetable or whatever and it all makes
something that tastes different every time. If you're not seeing
what you want to see in SisterSpirit rituals, come to a planning
meeting and say what you want to see and if what you want to see is
something different than a large, open all-traditions ritual, then
put that out, say "Well, I'd like to see such and such happen."
Maybe it's something we can facilitate. Maybe we can put you in
touch with other Women who want to do that. SisterSpirit has been a
resource for a lot of people coming and looking for a certain kind
of spiritual experience maybe that we weren't doing but they met
somebody there who was.

Spirited Women: What is your vision for SisterSpirit this next year?

Frodo: We hope that by having only one celebration a month we can
save our energy and have better rituals, that more Women can help
plan them and we won't be spread so thin. Also, there's one circle
that's come forth and offered to plan a celebration (they will be
planning and leading our Halloween ritual Oct. 25). That's another
thing that can happen. You and your circle or you and your group of
friends or wahtever can decide to plan a celebration and do that
through SisterSpirit. So I hope that we will have wonderful
celebrations. The other thing is the small groups starting. I have
a lot of visions for those and I think the Women that have said that
they would lead some of these groups have a lot of visions, too.
I think that we've had a need for more intimate space, more intimate
connections. When you've got a group of 45 people it's hard to have
one-on-one. The small circles will help fill that need and they
will allow people to grow in their traditions. When we have open
rituals the energy of the group only reaches a certain level because
there are always people who are new to it that might not be feeling
too comfortable yet. A small group can move through that stage and
reach a more focused stage of ritual.

My vision includes office space. I think we need to have a place
tht has regular hours, that is SisterSpirit's space, where we can
have both an office and a phone, and also a meeting room so tht
there's a place where small circles can meet and we can have
workshops.

In August several of us went up to Hanford, to the peace camp, to do
a ritual of healing the earth. Starhawk and some of her circle were
there as our guests. It was a wonderful, strong ritual. I would
like to see more rituals that are directed at, or addressing, a
certain thing, like a ritual for healing the earth. In September we
had an AIDS healing circle, Women getting together and raising
energy for the healing of that disease. We can do a lot more
specific things like that and I think that's a direction that is
going to be very strong for us.

End:

***This is the end of the interview; I hope reading it will aid us
in our celebration of 20 years of active Women's spirituality, and
in planning for the next 20! Blessings to you, Frodo, for your
years of dedication to your vision, and to all the other Women
without whom SisterSpirit could not continue to be!!!....Hope to be
seeing at least some of you at tonight's Samhain celebration at
We'Moon Healing Ground

--- Have a Happy & Sacred Halloween!

Starlight, Tasa Wolfstar