Lasara Firefox Allen, MSW's Blog, page 3

Get Out The Vote

Eight years ago I spent days on the phone with GOTV projects for Barack. Four years ago I did it too. I haven’t done that for Hill. And I’m not even sure why. I mean, I’m busy, but that is not an adequate excuse. We make time for important things.

I am honestly excited about having a women POTUS. VERY. It’s been a long time coming. And she is, all faults accounted for, the most qualified for the job. The job of POTUS – which is an imperialist, colonialist position.

My own sexist attitudes that hold women to a higher level of perfection than men may be to blame. In my heart of hearts, I believe we are collectively – and personally – holding Rodham Clinton to a purity expectation that we never have – and likely never will – held a male candidate to.

When Rodham Clinton wins I will cry tears of victory, just like I did when Obama won. Electing the first woman president of the US is a victory, after all. An uneven, imperfect one. A victory, as has been point out by friends who are Women of Color, that is first and foremost for white women.

But, if we’re being honest, almost all truly are imperfect victories.

So I will cry and celebrate. And then get to work on holding her accountable.

May our internalized sexism make us better, more engaged citizens. And may her ways, and the ways of women (and I do not mean that in any essentialist sense – I believe the ways of women are probably inculcated – that said, they have differences from the ways of men), make our input more welcome than it has been before. May her listening and her orientation toward positive collaboration and integration of feedback be a hallmark of her presidency.

Now, I gotta get some work done, and then volunteer to GOTV.

Jailbreaking the Classroom!

Jailbreaking the Classroom!
Seeking Teachers/Profs in Women’s/Gender Studies,
Religious Studies, Sociology, PoliSci, Current Affairs Departments

“Jailbreaking the Goddess is an important contribution to the writings on Goddess tradition and feminist spirituality. . . . I love Lasara’s political savvy, her sensitivity around issues of diversity and cultural awareness and appropriation, and her unabashed celebration of pleasure, sensuality, and life!” —Starhawk

Esteemed Professor,

I’m writing in the hopes that you’ll consider my new book, Jailbreaking the Goddess: A Radical Revisioning of Feminist Spirituality (Llewellyn Worldwide, 7/2016), as a possibility for recommended or required reading for one –or more– of your classes.

Jailbreaking the Goddess contains material relevant to gender studies and women’s studies, political science, and religious studies courses. The book offers a critique of feminist spirituality as it stands, and offers resourceful, flexible alternatives for contemporary spiritual work.

Some of the themes present in Jailbreaking the Goddess are:
· uprooting patriarchy in goddess faiths
· moving beyond biology as the defining factor of the feminal
· tools and practices focused on collective liberation
· intersectionality
· decolonizing spirituality
· challenging white feminist bias
· critiquing spiritual and cultural ethnocentrism
· trans inclusion
· reproductive justice

Jailbreaking the Goddess, published July 8 by Llewellyn Worldwide, was a sustained bestseller in two categories at Amazon during launch week, and has been met with wide critical acclaim in the feminist spirituality community. Below my signature you’ll find a list of endorsements from a variety of authors, teachers, and community leaders like Starhawk, Anodea Judith, Crystal Blanton, and Suzanne Sterling – among others. To see community response, you can find links to some reviews here, but perhaps most useful in that regard will be the Amazon page.

You can find some recent interviews with me about Jailbreaking the Goddess here. And you’ll find a lot more info, as well as interactive media options, here on my website, www.lasarafirefoxallen.com, especially under the Jailbreaking the Goddess menu tab. If you want to access the e-galley to see if Jailbreaking is a good match for your course, you can find that here.



If you’re interested in using Jailbreaking the Goddess in your curriculum, I’m available to Zoom or Skype into your classroom one or more times during the semester. I’m also available to visit in person. (The electronic version is free. The in-person version need to cover travel expenses at minimum.) I love interacting with readers and would love to facilitate a discussion of the material, offer a question and answer session, or talk about how Jailbreaking relates to any number of current events.


I also have a study guide for teachers available that offers ideas on topics to discuss in the classroom, ways to activate students toward taking action, and easy ways to tie the work into your topic.

Thank you so much for your time. I look forward to hearing from you soon. Click here to drop me a note and let’s schedule a time to talk about the possibilities.

– Lasara

Praise for

Jailbreaking the Goddess
“This fiercely inspired body of work is art, theory, and passion. Genius.”—Rosa De Anda, from her foreword

“A deep examination of the limitations of the triple Goddess form . . . and how that form is an inaccurate reflection for modern day feminist activists and ritualists. Lasara Firefox Allen delves deep into the ways in which colonialist language has shaped our experience of the Divine Feminine for centuries and she meets a need that has risen in the feminist spiritual movement for years.”—Suzanne Sterling, founder of Voice of Change, co-founder of Off The Mat, Into the World

“Moving beyond our feminine biology as a definition of who we are, and how we relate to the Divine Feminine, Lasara Firefox Allen creates a whole new template more suitable for women today, redefining femininity as innocent, powerful, generative, creative, wise, and all of it reverent. Every student of feminism and feminist theology should read this book. It is a game-changer.”—Anodea Judith, PhD, author Wheels of Life and The Global Heart Awakens

“Lasara has brought us the goddesses who speak across time and space, who invite us to be inclusive and intersectional in our worship, who demand that we are open and honest about who we are in this world and in our bodies. They remind us that the survival of our species, of all species of life, requires that we create diverse, complex, dynamic communities. Audre Lorde said that we can learn to mother ourselves and this book gives us more tools and voices to do just that.”—Mai’a Williams, journalist, teacher, activist, editor of Revolutionary Mothering

“Lasara Firefox Allen includes complex and important elements in the process of this book, leaving the audience empowered to think beyond the previous construction of woman. Bringing in the layers that we embody and embracing that in our spiritual paths allow for a celebration of self; and in celebrating the wholeness of woman, we are also liberated by the space for self-determination.”—Crystal Blanton, MSW, editor of Bringing Race to the Table

“Allen suggests that all who are called by the Goddess chart their own course and unlocks the Goddess’ potential as a revolutionary force, untethered by biology. She asks all seekers to engage in a potent practice of respect, work, self and other as aspects of the collective divine which, taken together, can birth more than a new approach to the Goddess, but a new world entirely.”—Darcy Totten and Jasper James, Activism Articulated

“Lasara Firefox Allen has liberated the goddess from every possible stereotype: race, reproductive status, age, sexual preference—even gender identity. Jailbreaking the Goddess provides countless possibilities for everyone to meet and engage with archetypal feminine power on their own terms. I love this book!”—Barbara Carrellas, author of Urban Tantra

“For nearly fifty years I have been the consort of a most extraordinary Woman/Priestess/Goddess. Never in those fifty years (or in our childhood years that preceded them) has her divine and infinite person-hood ever allowed itself to be limited and taken captive by the simplistic classic model of maid, mother, and crone. Lasara Firefox Allen’s Fivefold Goddess model identifies and describes the Mysteries of Modern Woman, and comes dangerously close to allowing me to at least hear Her sphinx’s riddle.”—Lon Milo DuQuette, author of Low Magick

“Jailbreaking The Goddess is a delicious tool for dismantling (and reimagining) the way we think about women’s spirituality and power. [The] fivefold goddess model honors the divine nature in all women, regardless of age, ability, sexual orientation, gender identity, race, and economic status. This is an exciting, smart, and practical approach to liberating the mind, body, and spirit.”—Laurie Lovekraft, Reclaiming Witch, priestess, and Huffington Post columnist

“Lasara is a dynamic and powerful woman who shows us that revolution starts within. This radical new way of looking at the divine feminine injects a much-needed freshness into Goddess spirituality!”—Sharon Knight, musician and priestess
“Yes and more yes to this new model, which moves us out of the expectation of conformation to outdated cultural norms. One of the things I love most about this book is how it allows for other forms to exist within it (and you!). It’s an opening of possibility for all women to re-divine all parts of ourselves.”—Jenya T. Beachy, teacher, blogger, and author of the forthcoming The Secret Country of Yourself

“A fantastic and sorely needed contribution to feminist spirituality discourse. It breaks open the tired tropes of maiden, mother, crone and makes more space for the variety of lived experiences of anyone who relates to the female experience.”—Niki Whiting, MA, co-founder of Many Gods West

“In Allen’s vision the goddess is young and old, creative and wise, and above all strong. This is a Goddess who can map onto our own journeys at any part of our life. Allen’s gentle, fierce, and wise work guides us through the process of rebuilding our sense of ourselves as holy through relationship to these new faces of the Goddess.”—Brandy Williams, author of For the Love of the Gods and The Woman Magician

“Lasara Firefox Allen has created what may well be the definitive guide to feminist spirituality. . . . The depth of Lasara’s passion, knowledge, and skill allows her to reveal and reframe the fundaments of magick in a way that will have a lasting impact within the field of magick and throughout the wider culture.”—Philip H. Farber, author of Brain Magick

“Jailbreaking the Goddess is challenging, unabashed and wild, yet thoughtful and articulate. I found pieces of myself and my personal Goddess journey that have never been illuminated by any other text. Lasara Firefox Allen has truly broken the Goddess out of an antiquated jail. The world needs this freed Goddess. This book is part of that liberation.”—Courtney Weber, author of Brigid: History, Mystery, and Magick

“Reading Jailbreaking the Goddess is a view into a world that but rarely exposes itself to the likes of me. The magic is classic, but updated to self-rooted authority, and the politics are heart-felt, leading to a vision of societal transformation centered on the Woman of Power, Wisdom, and Compassion.”—Sam Webster, PhD, MDiv, Executive Director of the Pantheon Foundation

“Jailbreaking the Goddess is a journey into history, myth, and the inner planes. . . . [It’s] one of those rare Pagan books that will still be talked about in fifty years; it’s that groundbreaking. Lasara puts the tired trope of maiden/mother/crone to bed and replaces it with a Goddess who is living, vital, and more accurately represents the women of today.”—Jason Mankey, editor of the Patheos Pagan channel and author of The Witch’s Athame

“Whilst honoring the roots of Goddess worship, Lasara has successfully opened up avenues of exploration for anyone who identifies with worship of the feminal divine in clear and loving guidance towards a stronger community of men, women, and all in between.”—Xochiquetzal Duti Odinsdottir, HPs/x, Wayfarer Tradition

Sweet, Powerful Conversation with Abiola

I had such a sweet, powerful conversation with Abiola Abrams on her podcast show. I hope you enjoy it was much as we did!

LISTEN HERE!

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This Black Moon is a great time to release!

We have a black moon coming up on September 30th.What is a black moon? Well, like a blue moon is the second full moon in a month, a black moon is the second dark/new moon to happen in a month. While I don’t really recall hearing much about this phenomena in my upbringing, I can see how a second time in one calendar month would maybe double the fun.

So, while a black moon sounds pretty edgy perhaps, there is power in darkness. With consciousness, “…this New Moon is able to neutralise a fiery environment and carries a very potent balancing energy.” Seems like a good time to use the energy of the time for some conscious release.

Simple releasing magick:

1. Make or find a thing that symbolizes the thing you want/need to release. Make sure the thing is burnable and environmentally safe.

2. Charge it up. Tears, spit, blood, magicks, dirt, etc.

3. Safely burn it to ash in your cauldron or a large, fire-safe bowl or empty. ceramic or other safe planter/pot.

4. Put the ash in water moving away from you (stream, river, toilet, sink), and let it go.

When I do releasing magick, I allwo the fire to transform and release any emotions before letting the ash go. Thus, the concept of neutralization fits right in for me.

While this moon cycle seems a particularly auspicious time to practice this magick, you can really perform this simple ritual anytime. Repeat as needed.

You Are Welcome In This Circle

You Are Welcome In This Circle

Transgender activist Jamie Shupe celebrating being declared the first non-binary person in the United States with the transgender flag. Credit: Wikemedia.

Something has been weighing on my mind lately. On the one hand I don’t want to be seen as starting shit with other feminists or being divisive. On the other, I gotta pull this into the collective convo.

Here it is: I really admire some of the powerful, courageous women in the Red Tent movement. And, my skin gets uncomfortable when I read about blood rights as the way to claim our female power.

I am not saying that all Red Tent gatherings are womb-specific, as I don’t know if that is true, but I have heard many of them are. And that is wonderful. The work of reclaiming our blood and bleeding is important. I do not know even that they are exclusionary to those who do not bleed.

But, women’s blood and bleeding are central to the theme of the Red Tent.

And…

Not all women bleed. And some not-women do. This is not news to many of us. Or, for some of us, it’s old news that we integrated long ago?

My feminism, and my feminist spirituality, include women who don’t bleed. Women who never did and never will. Women who were born without uteri. It includes women who have a challenging relationship with their blood and uteri. Women who had to have hysterectomies. Women who chosen to have hysterectomies.

My feminism, and my feminist spirituality, include women with all kinds of bodies, all kinds of genitals, all kinds of breasts (flat to full to excised to augmented), all kinds of bellies and clits and cunts and cocks – yes women with cocks too.

My feminist spiritual movement includes child-free and child-full, sex-enthused and asexual, sex worker and celibate.

My feminism recognizes that agency comes in many forms – for more forms than I can imagine.

Cosmos, Image credit: Alisa Pierini

My feminism recognizes, further, that it is your right to not share with me the status or plans for your anatomy, whether procreative capacity or genital journey your place of being – and your ways of going – are none of my business.

Here’s the thing: WE ARE NOT DEFINED BY OUR BIOLOGY! You are not defined by your genitals, sexual or procreative capacity, or utility. Sisters, siblings, kin: we are more than our biology.

In my personal arc you can see that I have grown around this topic. In Sexy Witch (Llewellyn, 2005) there is a whole chapter dedicated to “our” uteri, blood, wombs. In the years after Sexy Witch came out I had cis women, trans women, gay men, all come to me and explain the limitations of the work there. They explained to me where my magick and work of deconstruction were excluding them.

As concerns were brought to me I heard them. I got it. I integrated it. I moved forward. Jailbreaking the Goddess: A Radical Revisioning of Feminist Spirituality has a RADICALLY different angle than Sexy Witch did, and I have different values which have been informed by those who have been willing to call me in. And I’m grateful.

This shift in values has also been informed by having a kid who is trans. And by deeper, ongoing introspection into my  relationship with gender and my own gender identity.

my little baphomet by unknownbinaries

Moving even wider into the realm of feminism, and womanhood, and all the things I bring into Jailbreaking the Goddess, when any of us define our woman-ness, and moreover the feminal divine, by possession (and function) of uteri we are limiting our own experience of womanness and of feminal power.

I trust that our sisters in the Red Tents are not intending to be exclusionary. I offer this into our community as food for our collective contemplation.

And in the meantime, any of you women and nonbinary loves – and even men too, by invitation – who feel excluded by blood rites, yet drawn to the feminal divine? Know you are completely welcome over here.

You are welcome in your shaved and unshaved glory, your femme brilliance and butch delight, in your balanced and unbalanced moments.

You are welcome in your neurodiversity, your bodies able and disabled, in all your ages.

In this space you are welcome in all hues and lived experiences. You are welcome in all of the difference and all of the sameness we can fit into one space together.

In this space you are welcome to bring your old gods and new gods. Your old stories and new stories. Your old magicks and new magicks.

In this space we work to hold alignments and misalignments as sacred gates. In this space we seek to create braver agreements. In this space we recognize that our anger and our healing are sacred. Our anger and our healing are welcome. As are our joy, our passion, our desire, our boundaries, and the sum total of our whole selves.

In this space you are welcome, in all your gender-loving, gender-rejecting, and gender-fucking glory. You are welcome to bring all those whom you love. Together we will create a stronger circle.

In this collectivist, Jailbreaking, rewilding, collaborative circle, you are welcome.  Let’s learn to sit together.

Are you craving a space where you can dive more deeply into your spiritual process? Are you longing for a circle of sisters who will hold you in your process? Are you breaking into pieces? Are you spiraling and unspiraling, releasing and shifting, creating space and time within which to find your center? Are you READY to grow into and through your emerging edge?

Claim your spot in JAILBREAKING THE GODDESS – THE INITIATION now!

Lasara is a genderqueer Priest, Goddess Worshiper, Witch, and Mystic. Join her/them for Jailbreaking the Goddess – the initiation!

Values at the Core

In an effort to boost my sales, and to gather info to pass along to my clients, I’ve have been participating in a bunch of “6-7 figure” webinars and classes lately. Some of it has been interesting, but the most valuable thing that this endeavor has delivered for me is clarity. Thanks to a bunch of intensely salesy folks trying to convince me that I too can “live the dream,” I have been able to get really clear on some things that just do not sit right with me, and a few things that really, really do.




One thing I’m abundantly clear on: I’m not sure that my dream is the same as the dream presented in the glossy presentations and slick, tricky words. I feel pretty damn certain that my biggest, deepest, most dear dream consists of me never stepping out of integrity in order to land a conversion.

I’m grateful for the hours spent (not wasted) on webinars full of techniques I will never use. Those hours spent have brought me solidly back to my core. So, from my core to yours, here are some promises. They stem from my core values of sustainability and accessibility.

 


As your (prospective) coach, I will not fuck with your sense of self.

You know, this seems like a thing that should be a given. But it’s not! There are some unscrupulous folk out there presenting themselves as coaches. So let me make it explicit. Here are some ways I will not fuck with you:



I will never encourage you to go into credit card or loan debt in order to afford my programs.





I will not guilt you into signing on. (That old, “If you really believed in your work,” line is so grating and demeaning. The fact that you are looking into coaching or courses is proof enough that you believe in your work.)


If you are committed to the work, I will work with you to create an affordable payment plan, partial barter, or work trade situation that works for both of us.


I will not overload you with “extras” that you can’t keep up with, and then blame your lack of keeping up with the material for lack of movement.


I will not shame you for your “blocks” or “mindsets.”




As your coach, I WILL support you in working from your core values.


One would hope that all coaches would offer this promise. However, many coaches seem to feel that it’s their job to retrain your values. I would never do that unless you first requested that we focus on values work, and if we agreed to do the work together of values transformation. In which case, we could do that, and effectively.

I honestly love doing values work. But it is not a thing to trifle with, or even to engage consciously with without full, conscious consent. Without your permission that category of work veers severely into the unethical.

So instead of fucking with your values, I will support you in defining them, and then working from them. No bullshit: your core values are where your power comes from. Let’s work to make sure they are aligned, tuned up, and that you are moving forward from your absolute, powerful, glorious core. Here are some promises from mine:


I will give you action steps that will help you to keep moving forward.
I will chat things out with you between sessions.



I will treat you exactly the same, whether you are paying the full amount up front, are on a payment plan, are working a partial trade, or are on scholarship.


I will help you find solutions within your budget – I will not pressure you into high dollar-amount solutions that will deplete you.


I will share all my low-dollar amount hacks so you can do cool things with low investment.


I will help you to shape your business to fit your personal values. The family comes before work? And so they should! Family night is sacred? Good. Your mental health requires certain habits? It’s awesome that you know that. Let’s start there, and work to maintain your core values at The Core of your work.

Ready to sign on? Let’s do it. I have two openings RIGHT NOW! Grab one today.

Testimonial:

“Lasara’s direct and intuitive approach to goal setting and task management have been extremely motivating for me and have helped me to create a plan for getting my massage business tracking the way I would like to see it. In addition, she took the added time to help me work through any blocks that came up along the way, teaching me tools that I can use in the future should I encounter areas of difficulty.

Lasara also encouraged me to start budgeting personally as one of the steps to getting my business finances on track, and that has helped me with setting personal financial goals (getting out of debt, building good credit, starting a savings.) I can honestly say that without that nudge from her I would not be using the tools I am now to better my position financially, which will in turn allow me to invest more dollars into my business.

Since beginning my work with Lasara six weeks ago, I have partnered with a graphic designer to rebrand my business, launched a new website, and created a solid plan for generating leads as well as added some useful skills for client retention.

The time and money invested in coaching with Lasara has already more than paid for itself. I highly recommend her services to anyone needing some guidance or an extra push in the right direction! ”

– Omy Keyes

I have a couple openings for new clients. Are you ready to move forward?

SIGN ON NOW.

Jailbreaking the Goddess Class: Accessing the Fivefold Model in Feminist Leadership

Hi, friend!

If you follow me on Facebook, you know that – due to the shifting terrain of marketing and the high cost of being on the road – I cancelled a number of in-person book events. When I made that announcement, I told you all to keep your eyes peeled for online offerings.

The time has come!

JOIN ME for a Jailbreaking the Goddess Class:

Accessing the Fivefold Model in Feminist Leadership

Saturday August 27, 4PM Pacific – online!

Learn how accessing the fivefold model – as put forth in Jailbreaking the Goddess – can help you to become more flexible in any feminist leadership roles. Whether you’re a teacher, chief creative officer, an entrepreneur, a mom, a politician, a priest/ess, or a CEO, being able to access the five aspects of the goddess will:

help you to speak to everyone in the room, regardless of their default or dominant modes. (Want to know your dominant aspect? Take the Which Goddess Are You? quiz now!)
help you find ways to engage with people who have different strengths and weaknesses.
allow you to tap into different ways of reasoning by interfacing with Femella, Potens, Creatrix, Sapientia, and Antiqua.
help you to problem-solve from different perspectives.
create flexibility in your feminist leadership models.
access and offer out frames for feminal empowerment.

This 1.5 hour workshop will be interactive, and will take place on a live, face-to-face, video platform. The class will be recorded so you can re-watch (or listen to) it later. If you cannot be present at the class you can still access the recording if you register in advance.

Please set aside this hour and a half to be fully engaged in our video classroom environment. Bring your workbook (pdf will be sent to you in advance of the workshop), writing and/or drawing implements, water for drinking, your curiosity, and anything else that helps you to absorb information.

Register now!

See you there.

Blessings of love and power,

– Lasara

How can coaching help YOU?

Register now for your free, one-on-one, no strings, twenty-minute conversation about how coaching can help you shift your life/work/relationships/career/self-care into greater alignment. CLICK HERE to register now.

Magick of Money – FREE WEBINAR!

The Magick of Money for Financially Ambivalent Entrepreneurs – FREE WEBINAR!

Are you ambivalent about money? Are you afraid to ask for what you need – and deserve – to be paid for your products or services? Are you tired of feeling conflicted when pricing your courses, sessions, classes, or products?

Join me for my free webinar on Sunday: the Magick of Money for Financially Ambivalent Entrepreneurs. It’s perfect for Witches and Pagans, and for anyone who works in serving and healing professions.

In this free webinar you will learn three easy practices that will begin shifting your financial reality. We will address creating change on both the mundane and the magickal levels. You will learn:

One simple practice that will remove many blocks.
One essential tool for increasing your basic financial literacy.
One supremely simple magickal technique that will begin reshaping your energetic relationship with money.

Stay to the end and receive a free gift!

Register now.

Reviews and Excerpted Reviews – Jailbreaking the Goddess

 PreviousNextAlexandria Temple Review

“A copy of Jailbreaking the Goddess went into the library at the Denver Women’s Correctional Facility today. The librarian was super excited to receive it. Dozens, perhaps hundreds of women will see it and read it. Many will want to own it. I am continuing to read it and am deeply impressed, still. “

— Alexandria Temple


Melise, an Amazon Reader Review
From Melise, at Amazon:

Reading Jailbreaking the Goddess was like reconnecting with a long-lost friend. Every few paragraphs I found myself saying “Yes! She gets it!” or “Of course! That makes perfect sense!” The questions Lasara poses are challenging, because they require us to look deeply at our own spiritual practices and see if we are honoring or appropriating with our religious practices; if we are helping others for our own spiritual and political gain or because we are working towards a common goal.

Read more here.




Another Reader Review at Amazon

Reader review at Amazon:

This book was one that caught my eye at my local bookstore. I’d been looking for something, I had a gut feeling that I might get lucky. I wasn’t wrong, I tell you, when I discovered Jailbreaking The Goddess. I devoured the book whole in only a few days’ time. I found the perspective on the faces of the divine feminine, the Goddess aspects, to be more relatable than the Mother-Maiden-Crone model. It’s refreshing to read some rejuvenating words on aspects of divine femininity that are often overlooked. I resonated so wonderfully with Femella’s archetype, the Divine Girl Child, finding her so sacred to me where I’d felt a small rift before. This book is healing and revolutionary, with plenty of activities to stimulate deep meditations on the five aspects of divine feminine.

I would recommend this book to anyone who is exploring their spirituality, especially those wanting to discover and define their divine feminine, their inner Goddess energy. This book is worth your time.

– Amazon reader review

Railenthe Zeal at Good Reads

Railenthe Zeal, at GoodReads:

And for the first time in a long time, She began to feel real to me again.

As a non-binary person of color, this was a very important realization. Far too many interpretations of the Goddess and goddess spirituality take a strange, alienating stance on the transgender and gender-nonconforming, but not this goddess. In fact, a strong point is made on this, as after the examinations of the faces, the work on decolonizing and rewilding begins, with a focus on taking things back from the toxic influences that have had a hold on them for so many years—and yes, this includes the patriarchy (#smashpatriarchy). Exclusion has no place with the Goddess, and here we see that she can welcome and hold all, no matter where they stand in life and what they have to do. To feel welcomed again was phenomenal, a welcome change from what had happened.

–Railenthe Zeal, at GoodReads

Jenya Turner Beachy, at Good Reads

Jenya T. Beachy:

Yes and more yes to this new model, which moves us out of the expectation of conformation to outdated cultural norms. One of the things I love most about this book is how it allows for other forms to exist within it (and you!) It’s an opening of possibility for all women to re-divine all parts of ourselves. Blessings on this beautiful book! May it grace many, many bookshelves all over the world!

– Jenya T. Beachy, at GoodReads

Facing North - An Excerpt

Facing North:

To say this book is life changing does not fully encompass how truly liberating this book will be for many, many women. To say it is groundbreaking does not encompass the true revolutionary nature of it. To say that it is divine does not at all express that it was written by a woman who saw a need and met it. There truly is nothing I can say that will be fully appropriate for this book, so I will say only this: everyone who identifies as female, as a woman, really, truly, needs to read Jailbreaking The Goddess by Lasara Firefox Allen.

Read more here.

Broad Way World - An Excerpt

Broadway World:

Using a model that promises to turn traditional feminist scholarship on its head, Lasara Firefox Allen rejects the archetypal divinity systems that are tied to female biology and physical stages of life. The fivefold model presented by Allen welcomes all women, regardless of biology and liberates the female experience from the shackles of the reproductive model. This fivefold model is a new system that embraces the powerful, diverse, and fluid nature of the lived experience of women today.

Read more here.

The Guardian Bookshop - An Excerpt

The Guardian Bookshop:

A feminist spirituality book that is inclusive of intersex, transgender, and other women who cannot or do not procreate.

Read more here.

The Week in Heresy, Rev. Gina Pond - An Excerpt

This Week in Heresy:

If you are looking for a new way to look at cycle of the Goddess, or looking for a more inclusive Goddess spirituality, you should get this book.

Read more here:

Excerpt from “Jailbreaking the Goddess” by Lasara Firefox Allen

Are you interested in reviewing Jailbreaking the Goddess? Click here!

The Fat Feminist Witch Book Review of Shadows - Jailbreaking the Goddess

Excerpt:

Here it is, y’all- my review of Jailbreaking the Goddess by Lasara Firefox Allen.

Some of you may remember my podcast episode titled Not every Goddess has a Sacred Womb in which I discussed how left out I felt by the focus on biology in relation to the sacred feminine/goddess in most modern pagan spirituality. Even though spaces like red tents and my own doula education once were helpful in helping me connect with and see the beauty in my own body, those same spaces and ideas have now created a divide between me and other pagan women and witches. A few days after I posted the episode I was flipping through a Llewellyn catalog I had taken home from work and there it was – Jailbreaking the Goddess. I actually screamed when I read the description.

READ MORE HERE:

Book Review of Shadows: Jailbreaking the Goddess by Lasara Firefox Allen

Medusa Coils

Wow! is my first reaction to this extraordinary book. As I settle down to try to contain my excitement, I will attempt to tell you the reasons for my reaction. For starters, Lasara Firefox Allen not only revisions Goddess “faces” (aka, aspects or archetypes), but she also brings into her analysis, the feminist theory of intersectionality . She deconstructs what has become the traditional Goddess archetype in modern Goddess religion and Paganism of Maiden/Mother/Crone, because, as she writes on the first page of the first chapter, “We are more than our biology.” She points out that the triple Goddess concept is rooted in patriarchy…

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Goddess Diaries Review with Dawn Champine

I had a great time interviewing Lasara Firefox Allen, author of “Jailbreaking the Goddess: A Radical Revisioning of Feminist Spirituality” over on the podcast last month, and as promised, here is the book review!