Carol Christ in the Gold-Tinged Waves

During my years in the worlds of Goddess Spirituality, I’ve had the joy of absorbing in person the magic of SO many amazing people! For example, for several shimmering days in 2003, I experienced the inspired presence of the pioneering Goddess theologian Carol Christ. I had taken a detour from my poetry engagements in Greece-- a reading hosted by Adrienne Kalfopoulou in Athens and a conference with A.E. Stallings on Spetses—to give a poetry reading at Carol’s Adriadne Institute on Lesvos. Carol was just starting one of her Goddess Pilgrimages, and she invited me to accompany her and the group over the next few days on an amazing series of adventures. That sacred oasis of time with Carol served for me as a memorable initiation into a life devoted to making more tangible the long-rooted, ubiquitous, and resilient manifestations of the Goddess.

I can still see Carol turning ecstatically from a marsh full of flamingoes towards a whole village crowned with storks’ nests. I remember her sighing at the magical power of an immense Goddess Tree dripping with rotting tied-fabric offerings, dipping peacefully into the hug of the thermal baths in the ancient Artemis temple of Skala Thermi, and sharing tales of her past, present, and future over white wine at a tiny table under the trees, as the stars shone brighter and brighter over a dark blue harbor.

My most powerful recollection of that joyful oasis out of time is of one bright blue early evening when we all went swimming at the beach. As the two of us walked across the sand, Carol had been sharing with me the saga of her brilliant university career’s derailment by sheer sexism, and how she had come here to Lesvos in the 1980s to share her writings and teachings with the world in her own way. Finally, finishing the tale with a jaunty, confidential laugh, she smiled into my eyes and turned to enter the sea.

Carol, along with other brilliant and courageous scholars and artists whose work centers on women-centered spirituality, would become a lifelong inspiration for me, especially nine years after our meeting when I struck out from my own university career to teach and lead in a more Goddess-centered way. Now, when things are challenging, I am often strengthened to remember what extraordinary company I am in. And at such times I love to remember Carol Christ on that blessed afternoon, her tall, strong back eager and ready for life as, a Goddess incarnate, she headed straight out into the gold-tinged waves.