ABSTRACT
The rituals that women are creating and inventing for themselves are rich in embodied action. All of these rituals use some form of embodied action—such as making a dreamcatcher, burning papers and photographs, moving around a house, lighting candles, placing shells in water, and sharing bread and wine. Theories of performativity in ritual draw on Austin's work on performative speech-acts. There are two elements to the performance—one is what he calls 'indexical', indicating the current emotional or psychological state of the performers; the other is 'canonical'—the unvarying, formal, eternal aspect which is embedded in the ritual form. Gender roles are one element of such a cultural identity, and Diane Bell illustrates this through her study of ritual in Aboriginal society. Sacramental theology has evoked considerable feminist critique. The sacraments have been seen as male-dominated, controlled and mediated by a patriarchal hierarchy.
