Shekhinah Mountainwater (October 24, 1938 - August 11, 2007) was a musician, author, teacher, priestess of

Aphrodite Aphrodite ( ; grc-gre, Ἀφροδίτη, Aphrodítē; , , ) is an ancient Greek goddess associated with love, lust, beauty, pleasure, passion, and procreation. She was syncretized with the Roman goddess . Aphrodite's major symbols include ...

, and a key figure in the

Goddess movement The Goddess movement includes spiritual beliefs or practices (chiefly Modern Paganism, Neopagan) which emerged predominantly in North America, Western Europe, Australia, and New Zealand in the 1970s. The movement grew as a reaction to perceptions ...

. She is well known on the

west coast West Coast or west coast may refer to: Geography Australia * Western Australia *Regions of South Australia#Weather forecasting, West Coast of South Australia * West Coast, Tasmania **West Coast Range, mountain range in the region Canada * Britis ...

of the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, but has a significant following throughout America and abroad for her music, writing, teaching, WomanRunes, Moonwheels, Goddess ritual, and spiritual and social activism. Mountainwater referred to herself as a "muse-ical mystical magical woman who loves the Goddess and women, a foremother of the Womanspirit movement, a teacher of Women's Mysteries, and a priestess of Aphrodite." She dedicated her life to sharing and expressing the love of the Goddess, leading women to reclaim their power and connection to one another and to the earth. Her music,

poetry Poetry (derived from the Greek ''poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings i ...

tarot The tarot (, first known as '' trionfi'' and later as ''tarocchi'' or ''tarocks'') is a pack of playing cards, used from at least the mid-15th century in various parts of Europe to play card games such as Tarocchini. From their Italian roots, ...

and learned writings are still celebrated in women's circles worldwide. Mountainwater was a pioneer of what is now referred to in some circles as “Pagan music;” her unique melding of folk and spiritual, ritualistic themes eventually led to her passion for the Goddess. She began folksinging during the American folk music revival of the 1950s and 60's, and played in the same coffee houses in the Village in New York as

Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...

and

Joni Mitchell Roberta Joan "Joni" Mitchell ( Anderson; born November 7, 1943) is a Canadian-American musician, producer, and painter. Among the most influential singer-songwriters to emerge from the 1960s folk music circuit, Mitchell became known for her sta ...

. Mountainwater was one of the first musicians in the early 60's folk movement to start re-tuning the guitar to simple chords, creating a unique and resonant sound that was reminiscent of the organ, or sometimes even the bag-pipe. This movement was called “Modal Music.” In Mountainwater's case, the lower strings were often used to create a base-drone, while the others harmonized or quarreled with them. Although the bulk of her early influences were Scottish, Celtic, English, Appalachian and American folk, her work has Arabic and African under/overtones. Besides creating a distinctive style and sound, she was a prolific and gifted poet. Her literary compositions stand on their own for eloquence and social pertinence. Motivated by a passionate spirituality, she often chose mythical or occult themes for her treatments. She was able to communicate stories from the protagonist's perspective, allowing the listener to delve into the psyche of her characters—to feel the pain and joy of an icon personified. As she became more active in the women's spiritual community, her songs were often overtly political, or designed as tools for trance induction and prayer. Her creations however, remained unfailingly personal and poetic, and many remember her ironic wit and brilliance in performance. Mountainwater is best known for her book ''Ariadne's Thread: A Workbook of Goddess Magic''. The work is considered a classic by many practitioners and seekers of women's spirituality and goddess worship. The text encourages women to find their own spiritual path, using the figure of the ancient goddess

Ariadne Ariadne (; grc-gre, Ἀριάδνη; la, Ariadne) was a Cretan princess in Greek mythology. She was mostly associated with mazes and labyrinths because of her involvement in the myths of the Minotaur and Theseus. She is best known for having ...

as a metaphor, and elucidating the mysteries of woman-centered spirituality, while offering guidance through the cycles of life. These include the

phases of the moon Concerning the lunar month of ~29.53 days as viewed from Earth, the lunar phase or Moon phase is the shape of the Moon's directly sunlit portion, which can be expressed quantitatively using areas or angles, or described qualitatively using the t ...

, the yearly nature holidays, and the aspects of

divination Divination (from Latin ''divinare'', 'to foresee, to foretell, to predict, to prophesy') is the attempt to gain insight into a question or situation by way of an occultic, standardized process or ritual. Used in various forms throughout histor ...

. ''Ariadne’s Thread'' can be used as a study guide or manual; each chapter concludes with suggested exercises, meditations, and reading lists. The book will be republished in the fall of 2018 by Echo Point Books. Mountainwater's songs and chants endeared her to music lovers as well as witches and practitioners of Goddess worship, magic and ritual. ''Witch's Choice, Lady with the Lamp, Cry of the Phoenix, Mischievous Fairy, Lady Mother of All, The Year is a Dancing Woman, A Solstice Story'', and ''Power Spot'' are just a few of her most popular titles. Mountainwater was diagnosed with cancer in 2005, and died on August 11, 2007. Since her passing, her children have endeavored to establish her intellectual estate through the home-spun company known as ''ShekhinahWorks''. In 2014, Shekhinah's birth-daughter committed to an ongoing project to collect, collate and make available her mother's works. Her projects include: republishing ''Ariadne's Thread'', publishing a digital, or Kindle copy of ''Ariadne's Thread'', creating a commemorative Facebook page, YouTube channel, and website, and a remastering and publishing of Mountainwater's original tarot deck. More information can be found a
https://www.shekhinahmountainwater.com

WomanRunes

In 2012, Molly Remer of Brigid's Grove found Mountainwater's Womanrunes in a copy of Sagewoman magazine from 1988. She made her own set and then began to expand on the interpretations of the symbols. With the permission of Mountainwater's estate, Remer created a card deck of the runes and wrote a book of interpretations to accompany the deck. She published the deck and book in 2014 in order to reintroduce the women's spirituality movement to these "woman-identified" runes.

References

External links

ShekhinahWorks website

Shekhinah Mountainwater Memorial Facebook page

ShekhinahWorks YouTube channel
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mountainwater, Shekhinah American spiritual writers American folk musicians 1939 births 2007 deaths Feminist spirituality American modern pagans Converts from Judaism Performers of modern pagan music American feminists American women musicians Radical feminists Modern pagans of Jewish descent