editorial

-
EDITORIAL
T h e last decade has seen women's increasing insistence o n
their right t o spiritual expression o n their own terms: the
burgeoning of feminist Goddess worshipping groups, the
development offeminist theology, and heroic attempts by
women inside male-dominated religions to make them
aware of, a n d friendly to, women's experience. T h e final
years of the twentieth century constitute one o f the very
few periods in which an individual woman has been able
to choose for herself how to express herself spiritually.
I n 1983, when &cf
published "Religion" (5.2), the
editorial recognized that the issuewas "caught ... between
too m u c h about Christianity a n d not enough
- about other
religions in Canada." T h a t problem seems to us to have
been inevitable, given the topic of the 1983 issue"Religion." N o t only does this issue's topic "Female
Spirituality" point to a completely different emphasis, but
also o u r section headings reflect that emphasis-"Reclaiming," "Empowering," "Journeying," and "Celebrating." These headings were all b u t dictated by the natural
groupings of the submissions we received, and they summarize the areas of spirituality in which women today are
interested.
M a n y o f the articles in this issue were selected from
academic papers presented as part of a n inspiring gathering which took place at York University i n early March of
1996. "Female Spirituality: A Celebration of Worshippers, Goddesses, Priestesses, and Female Saints" was organized by York's Centre for Feminist Research and drew
some men and over two hundred women. They enthusiastically attended the morning academic sessions, which
were sponsored by the Social Sciences and Humanities
Research Council o f c a n a d a , and, in the afternoons, filled
u p community-generated workshops o n many and diverse subjects.
I t is not surprising, then, that the call for submissions t o
& 4 s issue o n "Female Spirituality" had an overwhelming response, and it was a daunting but rewarding task t o
choose from among the many wonderful contributions.
This issue aims to present the enormous variety of women's experience of spirituality and the different meanings
it has for different women. I t also tries to demonstrate how
women are working to break down the barriers t o women's full expression o f their spirituality. Pulling this issue
together amply showed us that, far from diminishing, the
female spirituality movement is growing apace. W e hope
that this collection o f articles will contribute not only to
documenting that growth, but also to strengthening a n d
promoting it.
Les dix dernitres annees sont une ptriode caracttriste par la prise
de pouvoir des femmes au niveau spirituel. Le culte des dtesses
ftministes est en pleine expansion, on assiste au dheloppement
d'une thtologie ftministe et les femmes qui oeuvrent i I'inttrieur
des religions domintes par les hommes cornmencent prendre
la parole pour faire connaftre et valoriser I'exptrience des femmes.
Ces dernibres anntes du vingtitme sitcle constituent rune des
rares piriodes de I'histoire oh une femme peut faire son propre
choix en ce qui concerne I'expression de sa spiritualitt.
En 1983, lors de la publication du numtro ccReligionr ( 5 , 2 )
de cws/$ les membres du comitt reconnaissaient que ce numtro
nmettait trop d'emphase sur le christianisme au detriment des
autres religions qui existent au Canada*. etant donni le choix du
theme ~Religionu,nous cornprenons maintenant qu'il ttaic
presque impossible de ne pas tomber dans cette impasse. Non
seulernent le theme du present numtro -Female Spiritualityu
(Spriritualitt des femmes) suggtre une toute autre direction mais
les sous-themes des diffirentes sections mettent l'emphase sur
rl'appropriationw.
La prise de pouvoir (Empowering), le cherninement personnel (Journeying) et les ctltbrations (Celebration) sont tous des
sous-themes qui dtcoulent naturellement des articles qui nous
onr ttt soumis et qui rtsument tgalement les grandes lignes de
I'expression de la spiiitualite des femmes d'aujourd'hui.
Beaucoup des articles de ce numtro proviennent de la
conference sur la spiritualitt tenue 1'Universitt York au dtbut
du mois de mars 1996. Cette conftrence intitulte uFemale
Spirituality :A Celebration of Worshippers, Goddesses, Priestesses, and Female Saintsa (La spiritualitt des femrnes : une
celtbration des croyantes, des dtesses, des prktresses et des
saintes~etait organisbe par le Centre de recherche ftrniniste de
I'Universitt York. Quelques hommes et plus de d e w cent
femmes ont assistts avec enthousiasme a w sessions thtoriques
commandittes par le Conseil canadien de recherche en sciences
sociales er en sciences humaines ainsi qu'aux ateliers
communautaires tenus sur une multitude de sujets.
I1 n'est donc pas surprenant que la demande d'articles pour de
numtro de ~w~/cfsurla spiritualitt des femmes ait suscitt un si
grand interet. La selection des articles n'a pas et6 facilevu le grand
nombre de soumissions mais I'exptrience de choisir parmi tant
d'articles tout aussi inttressants les uns que les autres s'est avtrte
extraordinaire. Ce numdro tente de dtmontrer que I'expression
spirituelle des femmes prend un nombre incalculable de formes
et que ces formes &expression changent de signification selon
chaque femme. Ce numtro tente tgalement de dtmontrer les
efforts et le travail des femmes vers l'expression entiere de leur
spiritualitt. La mise en oeuvre de ce numtro nous a permise de
rtaliserqueloin des'affiiblir, lemouvement spiritueldes femmes
est en plein essor. Nous esptrons que cette collection d'articles
fera plus que documenter ce rnouvement mais bien qu'elle
servira h le consolider et h le promouvoir.
Luck Maric-Mai DuFresne, Marilyn Jobnson, Jordan Paper, Johanna H. Stuck?,
Mihna Todorofi Lois M. Wibon
VOLUME 17, NUMBER 1
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CANADIAN WOMAN STUDIESlLES CAHIERS DE LA FEMME