

adleboeuf
In the Beginning...Women in Myths, Legends, and Religion Series
Contrary to over a thousand years of mainstream systems, traditions, and practices, women have been a driving force in the success of the human species both in the physical and spiritual pro-generation. And contrary to the last 500 years of academic scholarship, women – more importantly the divine feminine and goddesses – have been present, vital, and central to religions, cultures, and peoples. In this day and age, many people have a vague concept or understanding of ‘ancien

Martha Cecilia Ovadia
Guns and Religion : A Love Story
Mujer Non-Grata: An Ongoing Series on Life in a Cult, Healing from Religious Trauma Syndrome, and Navigating Life After Religion. To read other posts in this series, click here, here, and here. I had every intention of having this post be the first post of many finally digging into CSU's real rot: purity culture, complimentary theology, and the idolization of celibacy… We were going to dig into vocation vampires, chalice chippers, and the lives of the most modest whores the w

Martha Cecilia Ovadia
Setting the Bait
Mujer Non-Grata: An Ongoing Series on Life in a Cult, Healing from Religious Trauma Syndrome, and Navigating Life After Religion Maria Elena* was the new president of the college Catholic youth group. After a long night of praise and worship and then patiently waiting around, the ballots were finally counted and she was announced the winner for our senior year—but 24 hours later, when we should have been celebrating, we were instead sitting in a nearby adoration chapel, both

Martha Cecilia Ovadia
Hello, My Name Is Discernment!
Mujer Non-Grata: An Ongoing Series on Life in a Cult, Healing from Religious Trauma Syndrome, and Navigating Life after Religion To read other posts in this series, click here and here. One of the hardest parts of recounting my days in a Catholic cult is explaining to people the strange ways our community was set up and how we functioned day to day. I have tried to describe some aspects of my life back then to friends post-cult (yes, we actually did sit around a large wooden

Martha Cecilia Ovadia
We Are Rape Culture
Mujer Non-Grata: An Ongoing Series on Life in a Cult, Healing from Religious Trauma Syndrome, and Navigating Life after Religion To read other posts in this series, click here. Chatter. It always started with chatter. We wouldn’t have acknowledged it as gossip—but we knew chatter. You see, youth group kids? Youth group kids are experts at concern trolling—offering prayers as penitential asides to the gossip we could trade like currency for power. “Did you hear about Melissa