In the process of putting together a questionnaire for my new book, You are the Divine Feminine, I'm immersed with thoughts of what I learned about religion when I was a child. The focus of my book is on those divine females in all religions, so I want to talk to women who represent every philosophy. I'm proud to say that I have friends who embody every major religious theory, and all of this discussion about females in their particular religion is absolutely fascinating.

My first memories of the church were of the Glendale United Methodist Church in Everett, Massachusetts. From the time I could walk, I spent every Sunday in Sunday school, then later on, add Mondays for Brownies, Wednesdays to fool around with the basketball (I can't call what I did playing), and those days continued through junior high and Girl Scouts, teaching Sunday School, and becoming one of the first female acolytes. I pretty much spent my life there and loved it. The building itself provided me with immense peace every time I went into what I believed was the largest sanctuary with the highest arched ceiling and most gorgeous stained glass windows in the world. I had no comparison other than local Catholic churches, which felt mysterious and dark to me. Our church was full of light, the ceiling carved by shipmakers who created a rich oak, high-arched ceiling that mimicked an upside-down ship. Yes, I loved that place.

I learned about Jesus and loved the benevolent-faced, bearded man with the children around his knees. Our Jesus seemed a tragic figure to me, gone too young, betrayed by friends, sacrificed. My mind wandered (a writer even in church -- especially there! What great stories the Bible told.) and I convinced myself that Jesus had escaped and met Mary Magdalene somewhere on the Baltic Sea where they lived in a tiny house on a river, raised a family of five, and Jesus healed people but never brought attention to himself again. (And other such stories about Daniel and the den, Jacob and his coat, etc. Different spins on old tales.)

It didn't dawn on me then that I really didn't hear too many stories about women. All I really knew about Mary was that she was Jesus's mom. And Mary Magdalene . . . I probably imagined her as far more than what was actually written in the Bible.

I think about that a lot now, and I have just bought a book about the women of the Bible, more for research for the Divine Feminine book, but I'm really looking forward to reading it.

I'm also looking forward to seeing what the answers are going to be to the questions I've cooked up for the book. I'm hoping to find one quotable sentence from each women so that I can give equal time to everyone from all the religious philosophies.

Back to research . . .

Peace,
Dawn