Aphrodite, Greek Goddess of Love – Venus to the Romans – is one of the most ancient manifestations of the divine feminine. She was associated with the much older Mesopotamian Goddess Ishtar, Inanna to the Sumerians, and like her considered to appear in the sky as the planet Venus, and the Phoenician Goddess Astarte. SheContinue reading “The Three Sons of Aphrodite”
Category Archives: HerStory-History
The Spiritual Story of Feminism
“The history of feminism tends to be written as a secular movement, one indifferent at best to the spiritual side of life, if not actively hostile. And while that might be true of some individual figures, most of feminist history has emerged from—and alongside—esoteric developments like Spiritualism, Theosophy, and Paganism.” Jessa Crispin, author of TheContinue reading “The Spiritual Story of Feminism”
Pan
I came across this beautiful description of the divine masculine, in the form of the Horned God Pan, written by Zsuzsanna Budapest, it’s from her 1981 book The Aquarian Holy Book of Women’s Mysteries. WHO IS THE GENTLE GOD PAN? Why is he endowed with hoofs? Why does he wear horns? Why is he naked?Continue reading “Pan”
Samhain and the Spiral Dance
Samhain is the pivotal turning point of the year – once regarded as the new year point by the ancient Celtic people. It is the point of death and rebirth, of release and renewal, achieved through remembrance of union with the ancestors and all of the spirit world – with the acceptance that in orderContinue reading “Samhain and the Spiral Dance”
The First Flowering of Gay Culture in Britain
The First Flowering of Gay Culture in Britain was in the Elizabethan Age – just a few decades after the dissolution of the monasteries. In the 1530s, Henry VIII had found the cloisters full of buggers, catamites and concubines – ejected from the holy pathways, the buggers had to make their own communities – theyContinue reading “The First Flowering of Gay Culture in Britain”
Whitman’s Comrades
In 19th century America, Walt Whitman dreamed of unlocking the potential in every man’s heart to love other men. He did not envision male same-sex attraction as a minority phenomenon. “Whitman knew that capacity for same-sex love lies in every man’s heart. He had seen it and experienced it firsthand in the war hospitals. ItContinue reading “Whitman’s Comrades”
When America Was Queer
When Europeans arrived in the Americas they found communities that accepted and respected gender diversity and same sex relationships. As with every other continent that the Europeans invaded, they imported their Christian homophobia and eradicated the memory of what once was – especially of the sacred roles that genderfluid people had long played in tribalContinue reading “When America Was Queer”
Heterosexuality is a Myth.
“Contrary to today’s bio-belief, the heterosexual/homosexual binary is not in nature, but is socially constructed, therefore deconstructable.” Jonathan Ned Katz “The myths, fantasies, and narratives of heterosexual love are among the most powerful Western society has ever produced. Anyone who grew up watching Disney fairy tales or reading the novels of Jane Austen can beContinue reading “Heterosexuality is a Myth.”
On Britain Today
In the 1960s when the Labour government was in power the country had an air of modernizing newness going on, there was hope and excitement for the future… It was the same in the late 90s/early 2000s after eighteen dark, depressing Tory years. But this time round, after 14 even darker Tory years, there hasContinue reading “On Britain Today”
there’s more to being queer than our gender or sexuality
Our ancestors have been trying to tell us… there’s more to being queer than our gender or sexuality the reason why the LGBTQ belong together is because of our spiritual nature which is what monotheism was really trying to suppress… “And if the vulgar and malignant crowdMisunderstand the love with which we’re blessed,Its worth isContinue reading “there’s more to being queer than our gender or sexuality”
The Rainbow Message
“The rainbow is a sign from Him who is in all things,” said the old, wise one. “It is a sign of the union of all peoples like one big family. Go to the mountaintop, child of my flesh, and learn to be a Warrior of the Rainbow, for it is only by spreading loveContinue reading “The Rainbow Message”
Trans Pride: 1000 years of British of Gender-Bending
On the occasion of the 7th London Trans Pride march I would like to present a guide to a millennium of gender-bending in the British Isles. Trans roots are deep! They go way back into ancient times – as demonstrated by the gender fluidity of certain deities and the existence of genderqueer priesthoods who hadContinue reading “Trans Pride: 1000 years of British of Gender-Bending”
Budapest Pride: We March for Freedom
I visited Budapest in 1990 very soon after the fall of the Iron Curtain, when the first glimmers of open gay life were just starting to show – nervous glimmers indeed compared to the astounding turnout of an estimated 200,000 people at the LGBTQ+ Pride march in the Hungarian capital on the 28th June 2025,Continue reading “Budapest Pride: We March for Freedom”
On Homosexuality
In the 1970s Michel Foucault wrote these lines that have influenced the discussion of same-sex love and culture ever since, with many accepting today the notion that same-sex lovers and gender-variant people did not begin to self-identify as a sub-group of the wider culture until the late 19th century: “Homosexuality appeared as one of theContinue reading “On Homosexuality”
The Amazons of West Africa
When Western explorers visited the West African kingdom of Dahomey in the 19th century they discovered that the King’s military was made up of female as well as male troops – in the 1860s British explorer Richard Burton wrote an entire chapter about the ‘so-called Amazon’ troops of King Gelele. Alfred Ellis, a British armyContinue reading “The Amazons of West Africa”
Men Love Mutual Masturbation
When I came to London aged 21 in 1986 I discovered that men cruised for sex in public toilets across the city. From Wood Green, Highbury, Finsbury Park to Clapham, Brixton and Balham, via Hyde Park Corner, Green Park, Oxford Circus and Soho I discovered men were lining up against the porcelain and masturbating together.Continue reading “Men Love Mutual Masturbation”
Lamentations 5 13
There are many books out there discussing the various references to homosexuality in the Bible – Sodom & Gomorrah gay rapists, prohibitions in Leviticus, queer temple priests in Kings, love between David & Jonathon and Ruth & Naomi, Jesus on eunuchs, Jesus and the Centurion’s Boy, the Beloved Disciple, Paul wailing about pagan sex ritesContinue reading “Lamentations 5 13”
LGBTQ+ Activism
I attended Over the Rainbow, an LGBTQ+ History Month conversation between Simon Fanshawe and Mark Simpson hosted at Verdurin, a cultural project space in east London, by art curator and critic Pierre d’Alancaisez. Simon and Mark are veterans of the Gay Liberation movement – Mark was part of the grassroots Lesbians and Gays Support theContinue reading “LGBTQ+ Activism”
Jesus Had A Boyfriend
“Certainly, the most controversial same-sex couple in the Christian tradition comprised Jesus and… the beloved disciple. The relationship between them was often depicted in subsequent art and literature as intimate, if not erotic.” John Boswell, historian “For centuries, the beloved disciple has remained a powerful metaphor for homoerotic friendship and love, and even today gay menContinue reading “Jesus Had A Boyfriend”
Carpenter on God as Male & Female
Quoted from Intermediate Types Among Primitive Peoples (published 1914), Edward Carpenter points out that ancient traditions around the world viewed the creator God, and the first humans created, as uniting both male and femaleness in one being: “…the reason or reasons for this tendency must be accounted quite deep-rooted and anything but fanciful. One reason,Continue reading “Carpenter on God as Male & Female”
The Gay Spirituality Library
A reading list of inspired and informative, liberating and enlightening texts about the spirituality of love between men. C19 and more ancient roots: Walt Whitman Leaves of Grass (especially the sections Song of Myself and Calamus) 19th century poetic visions of love between men Edward Carpenter Iolaus (1902) “…draws on and quotes from a panoplyContinue reading “The Gay Spirituality Library”
The Long War on Trans and Gay People
As Spring approaches and a UK General Election looms, the debased and immoral Tories continue their cultural war against so-called ‘gender ideology’, with the vitriol directed mainly at born males who embody a strong feminine energy – transgender, effeminate, epicene, androgyne, mollie, intermediate type, woman-ish man: there have always been terms, in societies across theContinue reading “The Long War on Trans and Gay People”
The Witch of Gay Liberation
“Many mystics and psychics predict that the coming Age of Aquarius, the water bearer, spells an end to organized religion, especially Christianity, and that it will combine the best elements of a pagan past and modern thought culminating in the rise of various independent religious groups the world over.” Leo Martello, Gay Liberation Front Member,Continue reading “The Witch of Gay Liberation”
Lesbians Foresee the Glorious Age
In their book Lesbian peoples : material for a dictionary, joint authors Monique Wittig, and Sande Zeig, (the English translation of Brouillon Pour Un Dictionnaire Des Amantes, first published in 1976 – literal meaning Draft for a Dictionary of Lovers), look at historical and modern times from the perspective of a future ‘Glorious Age’ onContinue reading “Lesbians Foresee the Glorious Age”
Madonna & Child
The imagery of the Madonna and Child symbolises the deep relationship between the Great Mother Spirit and humanity. This symbol can be found way back into pre-Christian times, in the statues for example of Isis and Horus – the New Testament stories bring the ancient stories about the heavenly gods into the manifest, human realm,Continue reading “Madonna & Child”
The Pagan Days of Christmas
The pagan peoples of old Europe considered the days around the Winter Solstice to be very sacred, they considered them powerful times to celebrate their relationship with the Gods, nature spirits and ancestors. In the Roman Empire this was the season of Saturnalia, a time of feasting in celebration of Saturn, the supreme God inContinue reading “The Pagan Days of Christmas”
Holy Womens’ Mysteries
Zsuzsanna Emese Budapest was born in Budapest in 1940, into a family with a long heritage of female herbalists and healers. She escaped to the West after the Hungarian Revolution and won a scholarship to the University of Chicago. In her 30s she got involved in the world of American feminism, where she found anContinue reading “Holy Womens’ Mysteries”
Harding on Goddess Priests
Mary Esther Harding (1888-1971) was a Jungian psychoanalyst, born in Shropshire, England, who lived for many years in New York with her long-time companion Kirstine Mann, and wrote books which Jung said, “sketched a picture of the feminine psyche which, in scope and thoroughness, far surpasses previous works in this field.” In her book Women’sContinue reading “Harding on Goddess Priests”
subject:SUBJECT
“When we begin to love and respect Great Mother Nature’s gift to us of gayness, we’ll discover that the bondage of our childhood and adolescence in the trials and tribulations of neitherness was actually an apprenticeship for teaching her children new cutting edges of consciousness and social change. In stunning paradox, our neitherness is ourContinue reading “subject:SUBJECT”
The Gay Lovers of Apollo
“In order to free homosexuality from being viewed through the lens of pathology and perversity, we may need to return it to the gods.” Christine Downing, Myths and Mysteries of Same Sex Love. Greek historian Plutarch (lived 46-c119 CE), who was himself a priest of Apollo, wrote in his work Parallel Lives: ‘And there isContinue reading “The Gay Lovers of Apollo”
Bent is the Path of Eternity
“All things pass, all things return; eternally turns the wheel of Being. All things die, all things blossom again, eternal is the year of Being. All things break, all things are joined anew; eternally the house of Being builds itself the same. All things part, all things welcome each other again; eternally the ring ofContinue reading “Bent is the Path of Eternity”
The Uranian Vision
INTRODUCTION In the late 19th century, as the new science of psychology grappled with the notion of same sex love, the new term ‘homosexual’ did not sit well with some gay men, who believed that nature created queer people for much more than sex. Uranian was a term for same-sex lovers and genderfluid people favouredContinue reading “The Uranian Vision”
Laws that Punish Love: A History
It was in the 4th century CE that the first laws were enacted to punish gender-variant and same-sex attracted men, by Roman Emperors who had adopted Christianity as their, and the Empire’s, religion. In the Greek civilisation, which heavily influenced the Roman, gay male relationships had played a significant role in civilian life and inContinue reading “Laws that Punish Love: A History”
Eros: Ancient God of Love
In the civilisations of ancient Europe LOVE was regarded as a primordial, winged deity: In Hesiod’s Theogony (Greece, C8 BCE) only Chaos and Gaia were said to be older. EROS was the last God to be born from the fundamental, raw, divine energies of Creation – after him, other gods manifested through the union ofContinue reading “Eros: Ancient God of Love”
Sunak’s Disgrace
“This is a great move from a world leader,” says a pundit on Fox News in the USA about the UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s comment that “we shouldn’t get bullied into believing that people can be any sex they want to be – they can’t. A man is a man and a woman isContinue reading “Sunak’s Disgrace”
rainbow messenger 