The Spirited Crone blog is where I tangle with spirituality one word at a time. I do it because words matter. They wound their way into me through the stories from my childhood. First in Jewish and Christian scriptures, and…
Category: Personal theology
Like other women, I’d been stunned and frightened when women’s voices were forcefully suppressed at the Auckland Let Women Speak rally in March 2023. The main speaker was to be Posie Parker, (Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull) a gender critical activist who uses…
I’d never heard of Kellie-Jean Keen-Minshull (@Posie Parker) until her Let Women Speak events in Australia unleashed a media storm. There were loud demands that this tiny British woman be shut up and shut out of New Zealand. So, I…
what, I wonderedlooking out the window for inspirationwhere the roses, in need of shapingbent to the breeze what a brief passageor excerpt would look likeperhaps a quote would be betterbrief, to the point, erudite or a poem, flowinglike a river…
The funeral had been everything hoped for, and more. The person honoured; hospitality shown. Words and music flowed. The one technical hitch wasn’t worth worrying about. But I felt done in. Ready to drop them from my repertoire. After 20…
Many of us live in a world without recourse to a god who bounces in and out of history at will or on demand. We have to take it straight, with no hope of eventual paradise. And salvation, if indeed…
Until I met Niki Harré I’d never heard of a secular priest. I was intrigued but also felt confused. The two terms, secular and priest, didn’t seem to fit. How could someone be a priest if there was no sacred…
Mary McAleese, former President of Ireland and lifelong Catholic, is religiously disruptive. She says that people are tired of ‘old men trying to beat the drum of obedience, being obedient to teaching that is long past its sell-by date and…
You might not immediately associate RM Williams’ boots with soul but for me they’re a potent symbol of the need to be grounded. To prioritise soulfulness over spiritual flights of fancy. Trading in my old pair was something of a…
Racing into my Sunday morning dance exercise class my head was focused on the death of Lord Rabbi Jonathan Sacks. Competing for space was the news that Biden was now President of the United States and Aotearoa has sworn in…