Sunday, March 01, 2009

Female Jewish Mystics

ה' אדר א' תשס"ט
Keolwulf 6

A blog by Rebecca at Mystical Politics - Jewish Women Mystics discussing her evidence that Jewish women engaged in mystical contemplation during late antiquity. She also hints as to her thinking regarding the 'type' of women prone to do it.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

She's a colleague and friend of mine! She has an article on Jewish women as witches in the Association of Jewish Studies journal awhile back.

Lori said...

Interesting. Thanks for the comment!

Anonymous said...

"Exe(o)rcising Power: Women as Sorceresses, Exorcists, and Demonesses in Late Antique Judaism." Journal of the American Academy of Religion 69 (June 2001), 343-375.

sorry wrong journal

Lori said...

"sorceress, exorcist and demoness" are terms common of patriarchal systems, not of witchcraft - so my inclination is that the article is likely biased on the side of patriarchy

Rebecca said...

Hi, I'm the author of the article that Bipolar Gourmet kindly mentioned, and no, I'm not biased on the side of the patriarchy. Part of the point of the article is to discuss how these terms are used to discredit women who used incantations and other rituals for healing and exorcising of demons. The article also talks about what the sources might tell us about what women actually did (instead of all the nasty things they are reputed to do).

Lars Shalom said...

where did you find this black goddess?

Lori said...

Part of the point of the article is to discuss how these terms are used to discredit women who used incantations and other rituals ...

Then you understand my point :)

Lori said...

where did you find this black goddess?

???

Dare to be true to yourself.