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 Parthenogenetrix

n. one (f.) who brings forth without benefit of intercourse

 

I coined the word parthenogenetrix while still in high school. (Yes, I was a pagan egghead back then. I suppose I still am.) My long-term intent was to see it in the OED.

The word has potential biological applications (ask any domestic pigeon or California condor), but I intended it theologically at the time. (This was, after all, during the Silver Age of Matriarchy.) Poetic it's not, but parthenogenetrix has at least the advantage of transparency—to the hyper-literate, anyway—readily construing as a portmanteau of parthenogenesis (“virgin” birth—or, at least, conception) and genetrix (the grammatically feminine form of genitor—one who begets or creates).

Parthenogenetrix tells a story, an origin story. This is no creation ex nihilo, but rather ex ipsa, from herself. That's how the Lady does things. With Her, it's all personal.

Goddess bless him, my best friend at the time (and fellow egghead) Doug Julius used to make a point of using the word regularly in conversation—which, as you can well imagine, required some pretty impressive intellectual gymnastics. He also, to my delight, made jokes about “parthenogenetricks.” When the punning starts, you know it's the real thing.

These days, a quick web-search turns up a handful of parthenogenetrices, virtually all in religious or mythological contexts. The Virgin Mary, Sophia, the Goddess of Witches: parthenogenetrices all. Each occurrence, surely, constitutes an independent coinage. Given context, the word virtually suggests itself.

Last modified on

Posted by on in Paths Blogs

Odin’s mother Bestla was Jotun, but she and her husband, the Asa god Bor, made their home in Asgard when all the worlds were new.

In my novel gnosis, Bestla died in the First War. Odin’s grief was so great that he decided to make war itself a sacred thing in her honor. He had been building a hall for himself near his parents’ hill dwelling, but after their deaths he moved into the hill and finished his hall as Valhalla, a place for his chosen warriors.

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Posted by on in SageWoman Blogs
The Divine Mother

Happy Mother's Day - to those who have biologically procreated, to those of us who failed in that quest, to those who had to let go and say goodbye to children for a multitude of reasons and circumstances, to those of us who cherish and mother projects, humans, animals and the Earth Mother Herself.

On my pilgrimage around southwest England I noted images of the Divine Mother at Chalice Well Gardens and various churches and cathedrals. For many pagans, and those who have harsh experiences of institutional religion, visiting Christian sites may be anathema. I have my peace, most times, with my religious upbringing. And, truth be told, in England and Ireland, you would miss interesting traces of the old religion as it mixed in with the new. So I was happy to chase around cathedrals trying to discover Sheela-na-gigs and Green Men, as well as witnessing the Madonna at pagan sites of pilgrimage like Chalice Well Garden and the White Well in Glastonbury where there is a Black Madonna 'Lady Chapel' in an alcove.

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