8.14.2007
Shekhinah Mountainwater 1939 - 2007
Author, musical performer, and key figure in the early Goddess spirituality movement Shekhinah Mountainwater, after a long struggle with uterine cancer, has passed away at the age of 67.
Shekhinah Mountainwater aka Ellen Adler
"She was surrounded by friends and family. On Monday they recalled her impact. They said it was not only in the way she lived her life, but in the way she left it: courageous in the face of pain. Then, finally, peacefully. She was a healer, a tarot reader, a teacher, a singer, a musician, an author, a goddess, a pagan, a witch. "She was dedicated to her work and changing the world," said son Frey Faust, who followed in his mother's artistic footsteps by becoming a dance teacher. "She was a creative mother, and she was very disciplined as an artist herself. Nature was important to her. Values were important to her. She was never interested in monetary wealth" While thousands of Santa Cruz residents could fit that very descriptibon, what made Mountainwater's life so interesting is that she dedicated her life to empowering women long before it became fashionable. And she never let up."
While well known on the West coast, the wider community most likely know her from her book "Ariadne's Thread: A Workbook of Goddess Magic". A book that is considered a classic within the Goddess spirituality movement. In addition, Mountainwater was a pioneer of what we would now call "Pagan music". She had started folksinging during the American folk music revival of the 1950s and 60s and would tour and do performances with her two children who would dance ecstatically to the music being played. In the mid to late 60s she was approached by a woman who advised her to read Robert Grave's "The White Goddess". This lead Mountainwater to a religious awakening and a synthesis of her previous endeavors in meditation and spiritual practice.
Shekhinah Mountainwater performing with her children.
"We had no idea that we were invoking the Goddess until we met a very special woman. Sara was a closet poet and a retired school teacher who had literally lost her voice. When she saw us "performing" at the Troubador down in Los Angeles, she said in her whispery croak, "You're the hope of the world!" What on earth did she mean, I wondered. "Read The White Goddess by Robert Graves," she kept insisting, whenever I asked, in her unforgettable croaking scratchy voice...Graves taught me that all poetry, all theater, began as invocation of the Goddess. In our openness and innocence we had stumbled upon a spiritual practise that had once been the sacred rites of thousands."
After this awakening, Mountainwater proceeded to lead Goddess-workshops and sing songs in honor of her new-found religion. In the process she inspired several other artists, including Pagan author and performer Ruth Barret, who along with Cyntia Smith released a Goddess-influenced folk album called "Aeolus" in 1981, and "Copperwoman" (Carolyn Saso), who started out doing albums of children's music before switching to Goddess-inspired songs and chants.
According to those by her side at her death-bed, Shekhinah Mountainwater's last words were "It's better now." May this pioneer find peace and solace in the arms of the Mother.
Labels: Paganism, Passings, Shekhinah Mountainwater, The Goddess
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