About the Book
Jailbreaking the Goddess is a revolutionary revisioning of the feminine divine. Where the Maiden, Mother, and Crone archetypal system is tied to female biology and physical stages of life, the fivefold model presented here welcomes all women and liberates the female experience from the shackles of the reproductive model. In a woman's lifetime, she will go through several different cycles of beginnings, potential, creation, mastery, and wisdom. Join Lasara Firefox Allen as she explores the nature of these five archetypes, gives examples of what areas of life each presides over, and explores which goddesses fit within each archetype. Jailbreaking the Goddess shows how to begin building relationships with the different archetypes and provides simple rituals for recognition, transition, and invocation. This fivefold model is a new system that embraces the powerful, diverse, and fluid nature of the lived experience of women today.
Table of Contents:
Contents
Foreword by Rosa De Anda........................................................xiii
Foreword by Ariel Gore ...............................................................xv
Part 1: A Radical Revisioning of Feminist Spirituality
1: Starting Where We Stand ........................................................3
2: More Than Our Biology ........................................................23
3: Femella ...................................................................................41
4: Potens .....................................................................................65
5: Creatrix ...................................................................................87
6: Sapientia ...............................................................................113
7: Antiqua .................................................................................133
8: Rewilding: The Path from Here ..........................................159
Part 2: In This Together: Reweaving Our Magicks
9: It's All About Relationship..................................................163
10: Magickal Conspiracy .........................................................177
11: Decentralizing Your Working Group ................................185
12: Building Divine Relationships ...........................................193
13: Decolonizing Our Magicks ................................................205
14: Ritual Elements and Templates .........................................217
Appendix: Magickal and Ritual
Considerations for a New Practitioner ...............................245
Further Reading ........................................................................263
Acknowledgments......................................................................265
About the Author :
Lasara Firefox Allen (Mendocino County, CA) is a family-traditions Witch and a second generation ordained Pagan Priestess. She is a writer, ritualist, sex-positive activist, and a designer/facilitator of a wide variety of interactive workshops on identity, sexuality, spirituality, sovereignty, and body love.
Review :
"This fiercely inspired body of work is art, theory, and passion. Genius."—Rosa De Anda, from her foreword
"Lasara Firefox Allen delves deep into the ways in which colonialist language has shaped our experience of the divine feminine...This is an innovative work that has the potential to change the face of modern feminist spirituality."—Suzanne Sterling, founder of Voice of Change
"Moving beyond our feminine biology as a definition of who we are and how we relate to the divine feminine, Lasara Firefox Allen creates a whole new template more suitable for women today. It is a game changer."—Anodea Judith, PhD, author of Wheels of Life and Anodea Judith's Chakra Yoga
"Lasara has brought us the goddesses who speak across time and space, who invite us to be inclusive and intersectional in our worship...They remind us that the survival of our species, of all species of life, requires that we create diverse, complex, dynamic communities."—Mai'a Williams, journalist, teacher, activist, and editor of Revolutionary Mothering
"This book makes room for discussions that include colonization, appropriation, representation, binary gender concerns, sexuality, and many other elements of dominant culture...Each section gives a wealth of information on the ways in which we can connect to the five archetypes that Firefox Allen has presented."—Crystal Blanton, MSW, editor of Bringing Race to the Table
"Lasara Firefox Allen has liberated the divine feminine from her tired tropes and set her free in a single step toward our collective embrace of a decolonized spirituality."—Darcy Totten and Jasper James, Activism Articulated
"Jailbreaking the Goddess is a journey into history, myth, and the inner planes...[It's] one of those rare Pagan books that will still be talked about in fifty years; it's that groundbreaking."—Jason Mankey, editor of the Patheos Pagan channel and author of The Witch's Athame
"Lasara Firefox Allen has liberated the goddess from every possible stereotype: race, reproductive status, age, sexual preference—even gender identity. Jailbreaking the Goddess provides countless possibilities for everyone to meet and engage with archetypal feminine power on their own terms. I love this book!"—Barbara Carrellas, author of Urban Tantra
"For nearly fifty years I have been the consort of a most extraordinary Woman/Priestess/Goddess. Never in those fifty years (or in our childhood years that preceded them) has her divine and infinite person-hood ever allowed itself to be limited and taken captive by the simplistic classic model of maid, mother, and crone. Lasara Firefox Allen's Fivefold Goddess model identifies and describes the Mysteries of Modern Woman, and comes dangerously close to allowing me to at least hear Her sphinx's riddle."—Lon Milo DuQuette, author of Low Magick
"Jailbreaking The Goddess is a delicious tool for dismantling (and reimagining) the way we think about women's spirituality and power. [The] fivefold goddess model honors the divine nature in all women, regardless of age, ability, sexual orientation, gender identity, race, and economic status. This is an exciting, smart, and practical approach to liberating the mind, body, and spirit."—Laurie Lovekraft, Reclaiming Witch, priestess, and Huffington Post columnist
"Lasara is a dynamic and powerful woman who shows us that revolution starts within. This radical new way of looking at the divine feminine injects a much-needed freshness into Goddess spirituality!"—Sharon Knight, musician and priestess
"Yes and more yes to this new model, which moves us out of the expectation of conformation to outdated cultural norms. One of the things I love most about this book is how it allows for other forms to exist within it (and you!). It's an opening of possibility for all women to re-divine all parts of ourselves."—Jenya T. Beachy, teacher, blogger, and author of The Secret Country of Yourself
"A fantastic and sorely needed contribution to feminist spirituality discourse. It breaks open the tired tropes of maiden, mother, crone and makes more space for the variety of lived experiences of anyone who relates to the female experience."—Niki Whiting, MA, co-founder of Many Gods West
"In Allen's vision the goddess is young and old, creative and wise, and above all strong. This is a Goddess who can map onto our own journeys at any part of our life. Allen's gentle, fierce, and wise work guides us through the process of rebuilding our sense of ourselves as holy through relationship to these new faces of the Goddess."—Brandy Williams, author of For the Love of the Gods and The Woman Magician.
"Lasara Firefox Allen has created what may well be the definitive guide to feminist spirituality...The depth of Lasara's passion, knowledge, and skill allows her to reveal and reframe the fundaments of magick in a way that will have a lasting impact within the field of magick and throughout the wider culture."—Philip H. Farber, author of Brain Magick
"Jailbreaking the Goddess is challenging, unabashed and wild, yet thoughtful and articulate. I found pieces of myself and my personal Goddess journey that have never been illuminated by any other text. Lasara Firefox Allen has truly broken the Goddess out of an antiquated jail. The world needs this freed Goddess. This book is part of that liberation."—Courtney Weber, author of Brigid: History, Mystery, and Magick
"Reading Jailbreaking the Goddess is a view into a world that but rarely exposes itself to the likes of me. The magic is classic, but updated to self-rooted authority, and the politics are heart-felt, leading to a vision of societal transformation centered on the Woman of Power, Wisdom, and Compassion."—Sam Webster, PhD, MDiv, Executive Director of the Pantheon Foundation
"Whilst honoring the roots of Goddess worship, Lasara has successfully opened up avenues of exploration for anyone who identifies with worship of the feminal divine in clear and loving guidance towards a stronger community of men, women, and all in between."—Xochiquetzal Duti Odinsdottir, HPs/x, Wayfarer Tradition
