Abortion as a Sacrifice to Artemis
By Editorial Staff
Published April 2008
This article is transcribed from a discussion on “Ecofeminism.” Here we see that the Ginette Paris’ writings on “Abortion as a Sacrifice to Artemis,” have a wider recognition among feminist and Wiccan groups. Paris’ “Sacrament of Abortion” is not an isolated idea, but is accepted among a growing number of abortionists.
The following discussion took place among a group of women on Birthing and Abortion. The discussions were transcribed by Cathleen and Colleen McGuire and resemble the minutes of a meeting.
- Jay Rogers
A Feminist Reading Assignment
Date Readings Were Discussed: October 5, 1992
“Abortion as a Sacrifice to Artemis” by Ginette Paris. From Pagan Meditations: The Worlds of Aphrodite, Artemis, and Hestia, By Ginette Paris, Spring Publications, 1991.
“Toward a Womanist Analysis of Birth” by Arisika Razak From Reweaving the World: The Emergence of Ecofeminism, edited by Diamond, Irene and Gloria Feman Orenstein,.San Francisco: Sierra Club Books, 1990.
Present: Catherine C., Colleen M., Robin Z., Gwendolyn C., Cynthia L., Molly R., Stephanie R., and Cathleen M
Birthing & Abortion
This month’s discussion on birthing and abortion compelled the women present to contemplate the themes of life and death. Voicing our sentiments, Arisika Razak writes: “Birth is the primary numinous event … the first act of magic.” Although much of the magic has been lost through male-dominated obstetrics, we were clear that self-determination of the birthing process must be reclaimed. As an alternative to anesthesia, one woman told of an acquaintance who is a stand-up comic. By cracking jokes during her daughter’s labor, spontaneous laughter released endorphins, facilitating a smooth joyous birth. Another woman intrigued us with an article which suggested that ancient mothers may have eaten their placentas in a postpartum feast of renourishment. One woman intends to ask her mother, a midwife, whether it is true that hospitals sell placentas – rich in hormonal nutrients – to drug companies. We felt this was an unethical expropriation of women’s magic.
Complementing Razak’s essay on birth, Ginette Paris’s article on abortion confirmed that the goddess is paradoxically both “protector of life and giver of death.” Women offered examples from nature of the ways in which death often sustains life. One woman explained that to ensure a fertile garden, excess sprouts are pulled so that the overall crop can thrive. Another woman mentioned a recent scientific article describing how certain animals eat their young so that the rest of the litter will survive. In this vein, we agreed with Paris that “the excessive use of women’s fecundity brings about ecological catastrophe.” One woman remarked that it would be a planetary disaster if every human egg conceived actually survived. In affirming women’s innate ability to self-regulate, she declared that many miscarriages are natural forms of abortion. Although most of us believe that a fetus at a minimum has a psychic consciousness, our support for abortion was grounded in a profound understanding that, as in nature, the taking of life is sometimes necessary. One woman remarked that for millennia abortion was carried out responsibly, conscientiously, and sacredly. A woman’s decision to sacrifice a fetus was contingent upon the resource capacities of the woman, her community, and the earth. As Paris writes, “Birth control and abortion may be highly developed forms of feminine conscious, upon whose exercise and refinement the equilibrium of the entire human community may depend.”
One woman philosophized that with the rise of patriarchy humans began to conceptualize themselves above and apart from nature and the cycles of life. The control of death became an obsession inevitably matched by an impulse to control life and, by extension, those who produce life, i.e. women. As men muscled in on that exclusive female domain, women’s power to make sacrificial choices for ecological harmony became stigmatized and eventually usurped. One woman asserted that war, genocide, mass starvation, and targeting females for infanticide are but a few of patriarchy’s unconscious and perverse versions of population control. She also speculated that womb envy may have been a seminal cause for the rise of patriarchy. Several women longed for a society in which it would be truly safe for women to share reproduction and abortion decision-making with men in both the public and private spheres. Most of us, however, were adamant that the actual birth-givers themselves should always have ultimate say-so over whether to abort a fetus or carry it to term.
Although we all unequivocally support women’s legal right to abortion, a few women were ambivalent about the politics of defending clinics which, for the most part, practice AMA-oriented gynecology. They wondered how productive it is to expend so much of our energy buttressing technological solutions instead of struggling for a revival and proliferation of effective natural means to limit births. One woman said chemical birth control is just one big toxic experimentation on women. Other women expressed dismay that so many feminists and health activists regard hormonal technologies such as RU486 as beneficial to women. The last thing women need is more corporate pharmaceutical colonization of our bodies. We recognized that for thousands of centuries women practiced birth control respectfully and safely with an array of natural herbal remedies. Ancient wise-women techniques are practical, inexpensive, and still work. Instead of tethering ourselves to the misogyny of modern science, we advocate actively supporting women-identified groups.
Massacre of Innocence (DVD)
Exposing The Occult Roots of Abortion
This presentation looks at the spiritual roots of abortion and exposes the myths surrounding child killing. Little known historical facts about abortion and how they relate to modern feminism are presented logically and accurately. Has been effective in converting many to a pro-life position.
Massacre of Innocence goes where no pro-life presentation has gone before in “tearing the lid off abortion” to reveal the spiritual realities we must battle if we will bring an end to this crime. The presentation is absorbing, fast-paced, informative and incredibly devastating to any attempt to justify abortion.
“… an extraordinary statement … a powerfully articulate presentation about what abortion really means, and why a great and moral nation like the United States must not allow the slaughter to continue.”
— Congressman Robert K. Dornan
Running time: 85 minutes
$19.95 — ORDER NOW!
Click here for more information
Forerunner - Home » The Champion » Witchcraft and Abortion
Your comments are welcome!
Amazing Grace: The History and Theology of Calvinism (DVD)
Download the Free on-line Study Guide!
Just what is Calvinism?
Does this teaching make man a deterministic robot and God the author of sin? What about free will? If the church accepts Calvinism, won’t evangelism be stifled, perhaps even extinguished? How can we balance God’s sovereignty and man’s responsibility? What are the differences between historic Calvinism and hyper-Calvinism? Why did men like Augustine, Luther, Calvin, Spurgeon, Whitefield, Edwards and a host of renowned Protestant evangelists embrace the teaching of predestination and election and deny free will theology?
This is the first video documentary that answers these and other related questions. Hosted by Eric Holmberg, this fascinating three-part, four-hour presentation is detailed enough so as to not gloss over the controversy. At the same time, it is broken up into ten “Sunday-school-sized” sections to make the rich content manageable and accessible for the average viewer.
Running Time: 257 minutes
$19.95 — ORDER NOW!
Click here for more information
God's Law and Society (DVD)
Download the Free on-line Study Guide!
God’s Law and Society powerfully presents a comprehensive worldview based upon the ethical system found in the Law of God.
Speakers include: R.J. Rushdoony, George Grant, Howard Phillips, R.C. Sproul Jr., Ken Gentry, Gary DeMar, Jay Grimstead, Steven Schlissel, Andrew Sandlin, Eric Holmberg, and more!
Sixteen Christian leaders and scholars answer some of the most common questions and misconceptions related to this volatile issue:
1. Are we under Law or under Grace?
2. Does the Old Testament Law apply today?
3. Can we legislate morality?
4. What are the biblical foundations of government?
5. Was America founded as a Christian nation?
6. What about the separation of Church and State?
7. Is neutrality a myth?
8. What about non-Christians and the Law of God?
9. Would there be “freedom” in a Christian republic?
10. What would a “Christian America” look like?
Perfect for group instruction as well as personal Bible study.
Ten parts, over four hours of instruction!
Running Time: 240 minutes
Watch over 60 on-line video interviews from God’s Law and Society.
$19.95 — ORDER NOW!
Click here for more information
Martin Luther (DVD) 1953 Classic
Niall MacGinnis – Digitally Remastered
The dramatic classic film of Martin Luther’s life was released in theaters worldwide in the 1950s and was nominated for two Oscars. A magnificent depiction of Luther and the forces at work in the surrounding society that resulted in his historic reforming efforts, this film traces Luther’s life from a guilt-burdened monk to his eventual break with the Roman Catholic Church.
In spite of its age, this film continues to be a popular resource to introduce Luther’s life. This historical epic captures the life and times of the greatest figure of the Protestant Reformation with depth and clarity, while giving a glimpse at the private man in the eye of the storm. Luther’s protest against the established order of the Church gave birth to one of the largest religious and cultural movements history and serves as a prime example of how one man’s spiritual convictions can change the course of human events.
Running Time: 105 minutes
$9.95 — ORDER NOW!
Click here for more information
Dr. Francis Schaeffer - How Should We Then Live? (DVD)
Special Two-Disc Set!
After 40 years of intense study and world-wide ministry, Dr. Francis Schaeffer completed his crowning work of scholarship – to present profound truths in simple film language. Dr. Schaeffer’s brilliant analysis of the past and predictions for current trends have proven so uncannily accurate that this amazing series still feels contemporary almost three decades after its initial release. Ultimately, Schaeffer concludes that man’s only hope is a return to God’s Biblical absolute, the truth revealed in Christ through the Scriptures.
Available for the first time on DVD, this documentary spectacular also includes intimate in-depth conversations with Francis and Edith Schaeffer. With the on-disc study guide, this presentation forms a unique course of comprehensive study. While this series forms an innovative analysis of the past, this outstanding work is more than history. Each episode focuses on a significant era, yet speaks clearly to 21st-century man with answers for modern problems.
$49.95 — ORDER NOW!
Click here for more information
The Four Keys to the Millennium (Book)
Foundations in Biblical Eschatology
By Jay Rogers, Larry Waugh, Rodney Stortz, Joseph Meiring. High quality paperback, 167 pages.
All Christians believe that their great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, will one day return. Although we cannot know the exact time of His return, what exactly did Jesus mean when he spoke of the “sign of His coming” (Mat. 24)? How are we to interpret the prophecies in Isaiah regarding the time when “the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea” (Isa. 11:19)? Should we expect a time of great tribulation or reformation and revival before the Lord returns? Is the devil bound now, and are the saints reigning with Christ? Did you know that there are four hermeneutical approaches to the book of Daniel and Revelation? These, and more questions, are dealt with by four authors as they present the four views on the millennium. Each view is then critiqued by the other three authors.
$9.95 — ORDER NOW!
