Christmas tea and beyond

November 28, 2011

Hello there.

Sunday's weather is looking good for our annual Christmas Tea at the Plymouth History Museum, 420 E. Mill Street, Plymouth. The event is open to the public from 1 to 3. We should get there at about 12:30 to set things up and have a short meeting. Are you dreaming up your favorite goodies to share at the Tea? I will be bringing fresh brown bread and butter.

The book club meeting went well There were 9 of us at Kate Herman's lovely home. All agreed that the book 1916 by Morgan Llywelyn was interesting. we got things out of it but felt that perhaps other histories were more factual. It did help us to give character and faces to such legendary 1916 protagonists as Padraic Pearce and Michael Collins. And if you love Ned, the main character, you can follow his life through the 1999 in Morgan's following novels. I has the pleasure of meeting Morgan at the early Celtic Women conferences in Milwauke

Janet Bieschke then brought up a discussion of perhaps persuing a theme of the Goddess in Us. This brought up the fact that some of our members are uncomfortable with the Goddess concept. I heard of other people who felt that we were to Catholic. So I think that we have to be universal and accept all beliefs as valid and respect each other where ever we are on our journey and whatever path we choose to travel. We have our Celtic Culture and our spiritual strength to bind us and that should be enouth.

The next book that has been suggested is Wild Girls -The Path of the Young Goddess by Patricia Monaghan is our next book. Patricia is a poet, author and lecturer who many of us have heard and read. For those who are not comfortable with that strong a Goddess concept we are suggesting John O'Donohue's. Anam Cara for another choice John O'Donohue was a poet, philosopher and scholor who wrote beautifully about spirituality, Celtic spirituality mainly. He died in January of 2008.

I use his Anam Cara as a daily spiritual reading.

Joan sent the following message about the Goddess theme books available by Pat Monaghan:

During our Literary Exchange on Saturday, November 26^th, I remember mentioning that each of us might consider reading a different ‘Goddess’ book so that we can return with multiple ideas to take the Goddess theme forward. I realize we chose to read Patricia Monaghan’s (2001) Wild Girls: The Path of the Young Goddess. As I reviewed her book she has other Goddess books listed that I think some might want to consider ordering. She listed the following number to phone for orders: 1-800-THE-MOON, but I suspect these can be purchased elsewhere.

Monaghan, Patricia. (2001) Wild Girls: The Path of the Young Goddess. ISBN: 1-56718-442-1. 218 pages.
Monaghan, Patricia. The Goddess Path: Myths, Invocations, & Rituals. ISBN: 1-56718-467-7. 288 pages.
Monaghan, Patricia. The Goddess Companion: Daily Meditations on the Feminine Spirit. ISBN: 1-56718-463-4. 312 pages.
Monaghan, Patricia. The New Book of Goddesses & Heroines. ISBN: 1-56718-465-0. 384 pages includes photos.

The next Book Club meeting will be on Saturday, February 18 from 2 PM til whatever at Joan Schwabe's home in Cascade. I will get the address to you in the next newsletter.

Don't forget to keep January 21^st from 10AM to 3PM available for the John Michael Kohler Art Center Irish Family Day. We will be able to have an active part in that event and it should give us lots of publicity.

FYI

My sweet husband came home on Thanksgiving for dinner and “the game”. It all went well and he has set a goal to be home on December 23^rd. He has never let me down, so I believe him. Pray that all goes well. I am so grateful for all your support during these last 6 months.

Love.

Mary Kunert

920-893-5139