“... and..... just about that time, it was like a lightning bolt hit the floor beside me, and I heard this
enormous voice in my head, FEMALE, saying to me... "NO!!! How dare YOU???? How DARE you question
OR judge the love I give one person for another????"

“It was an incredible, awesome, terrifying thing. AND, it was the same voice I’d heard in the car the night I
found out I was pregnant…I left the church that day. I wandered for two or three years, not really knowing
what I wanted or needed spiritually.... until I met Cici (fictitious name). She told me she was involved in a
kind of "women's spirituality movement" and I was very curious, and wanted to know more. She gave me
the names of some books to read.... the Spiral Dance, the Woman's Spirituality Book, the Holy Book of
Women's Mysteries, When God Was a Woman, Gyn-Ecology, the Chalice and the Blade....I devoured them
all.... and I found a home in the arms of the Goddess. I also read a book called The Skeptical Feminist...
and I got so mad that I literally couldn't speak to men for nearly two years other than on a business
level.... Anyway, I knew I would never again honor a God.... only the Goddess….”

“…Cici and I are still together, although we separated for a few years, and during those years, I further
explored my Goddess-given sexuality. I am now so comfortable with sex that I can easily make my needs
known, and also listen and respond to the needs of my partner. I attribute this sexual “freedom” to my
relationship with The Goddess, and ONLY Her…. through other women, perhaps, but Her energy and Her
compassion flowing from Her, through them, and into me.”

Conclusion
It is my hope; humanity will free itself from religious doctrines that encourage the degradation of women, ranging
in practice from female genitalia mutilation to the less obvious - yet as insidious a practice as the indoctrination of
guilt and shame of women, simply for being female. It is my will; these stories will become memories of our past,
no longer active in our daily lives. In all, eighteen women shared their poignant life stories with me. They
represent sexual diversity ranging from heterosexual, to homosexual, to bisexual. They share a journey from
shame and guilt, into love and acceptance of their sexuality - whatever that sexuality may be. It is a blessing to
find the Feminine Divine and within ourselves, a path to freedom.
Works Cited:
Crooks, Robert. Our Sexuality. Ed. Vickie Knight. 9th . Belmont: Thomson Wadsworth, 2005.
Francoeur, Robert T. “Catholic culture and Sexuality”. (Originally published in: ENCYCLOPEDIA OF SEXUAL HEALTH, Volume III, Chapter 3) 2005.
18 June 2009. http://www2.hu-berlin.de/sexology/GESUND/ARCHIV/catholic.htm
Religious Tolerance. “Female Genital Mutilation.” Religious Tolerance Website. July 7, 2007. June 22, 2009.
http://www.religioustolerance.org/fem_cirm.htm
Research interviews, various women from Z Budapest’s group were asked the questions “Has the Goddess Path impacted your sexuality, if so
how?” All names have been changed to fictitious names. June 2009.
Robinson, B.A. "Religous Identification in the United States." 19 July 2007. Religious Tolerance. 18 June 2009 http//:www.religioustolerance.org.
Trujillo, Alfonso Card. Lopez. "The Truth and Meaning of Human Sexuality." 1995. New Advent (Catholic Library). 10 June 2009
http://www.newadvent.org/library/docs_cf9601.htm.

Valiente, Doreen. Charge of The Goddess, as adapted by Starhawk. Reclaiming Website. 16 June 2009.
http://www.reclaiming.org/about/witchfaq/charge.html

Zenmundo. “A Practical Definition of Pagan.” H2G2. 04 June 2001. 21 July 2008.
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