ABSTRACT
Wendy Griffin used participant observation and interviews to study feminist witches who belong to the Coven of the Redwood Moon and Womancircle. This chapter utilizes a phenomenological approach and descriptive analysis to demonstrate how those who practice feminist witchcraft and/or participate in “goddess rituals” use consciously constructed mythopoeic images in religious ritual to create a framework of meaning which seeks to define a new ethos. As in feminist witchcraft, the spiritual focus is on an autonomous female divinity and the creation of powerful female unages, and the group holds rituals to celebrate the seasons. Feminist witchcraft sees women’s oppression and environmental abuse, which they argue are intimately linked, as firmly rooted in patriarchal religions. Feminist witches emphasize the similarities in the hierarchical structures of the world’s five major religions, reflected, for example, in angels, saints, jinn, and demigods.
