Tonight I honour my European ancestry, and the female lineage from which I am descended. I honour the disir, all the women, past and present, and am thankful for their presence in my life.
This is a reblog from my post on SageWoman’s channel at Witches and Pagans…
Emma Restall Orr
Within Paganism, there appear to be an equal number of women and men in leadership roles. One of the most popular Druids today is Emma Restall Orr, one of the most popular Wiccans is Starhawk. Heathenry has Galina Grasskova and Diana L Paxon. There are countless others in all pagan paths and traditions that stand alongside the men in equal roles of leadership, teaching and more.
We know historically that there were female Druids, often termed as Druidesses. The Greeks and Romans were fascinated by Celtic society, so very different to their own when it came to power women held in their everyday lives. Yet we have snippets; tantalising few extracts from those who decided to include women in their accounts of Celtic society, whether they were from Greece, Rome or followers of subsequent Christian faiths.
Druidry may have suffered more than most when it comes to an overtly and also subverting taint of patriarchy over equality. This has much to do with the 18th and 19th century Revivalists, who were operating out of a culture and society in Western Europe that held women back from all kinds of authority positions. All the artwork we see from this period show older, mostly bearded men in togas occasionally swanning about collecting mistletoe or performing ritual sacrifice. Women are noticeably absent from these paintings and drawings. In the writing that we have, taken from other patriarchal cultures such as Rome and the latter Christian faith, the absence of women is again noted. We have to look deep within the stories to find out what the real role of women was in a particular myth, for example…
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The first thing that usually happens when I comment on the sexist artwork and portrayal of women in fantasy roleplaying games is “Oh, you know that’s just how it is” – it is this complicitness in the game that I find so terribly frustrating – and also a little frightening. Whether you are being subject to catcalls or wolf whistles, sexual remarks and proposals in “real life”, in a field of live-action roleplayers, or in a game, can we not change the culture into one where all genders are treated with honour and respect?
This is a blog post from my channel over at SageWoman, where I look at the subject in the form of the artwork that portrays female characters in the game.
Down the Forest Path 