“Celebrate Her Many Names” Song Video
Celebrate Her many names; all Her power to reclaim:
Wisdom, Sophia, Hokmah, Ancient Mother, and Ruah Spirit.
Celebrate Her many names; all Her power to reclaim:
Brigid, Shekhinah, Gaia, Saraswati, and Baker Woman.
Celebrate Her many names; all Her power to reclaim:
Isis, Yemaya, Kwan Yin, Great Shaddai, Mighty Mother Eagle.
Celebrate Her many names; all Her power to reclaim.
Celebrate Her many names; all Her power to reclaim.
Words © 2019 Jann Aldredge-Clanton
All our language for divinity is metaphorical. Hebrew and Christian Scriptures give a multiplicity of divine metaphors, including female, to suggest the vastness and all-inclusiveness of the Divine.
Our sacred symbols reflect and shape our deepest values. If we listen to the language of hymns and liturgies and look closely at the pictures in the majority of worship communities, we see the worship of a white male God. Creating God in the image of a white masculine human being sanctions the dominance of white males.
Female divine names and images have been buried too long. When we resurrect and celebrate the Female Divine, we reclaim the sacred value of everyone and contribute to peace, justice, and wholeness for all creation.
We can find Her many names in Christian, Jewish, and many other traditions. A recent Divine Feminine event in the Dallas-Fort Worth area celebrated Her in diverse faith traditions through art, music, dance, and poetry. Kira Woodfield Leeper and Natalie Nazer Cosby from our New Wineskins Community created and organized this event. I was honored to present a workshop on Divine Feminine Songs and Stories. Alex McLemore, Winner Laws, and Colette Casburn Numajiri, also from New Wineskins and and The Gathering, A Womanist Church, and Nommo Diop from the Gathering, presented workshops and art.
In our New Wineskins Community gatherings we include this prayer by Sister Miriam Therese Winter, celebrating Her many names:
Our Mother who is within us,
we celebrate your many names.
Your wisdom come; your will be done,
unfolding from the depths within us.
Each day you give us all that we need.
You remind us of our limits, and we let go.
You support us in our power, and we act with courage.
For you are the dwelling place within us,
the empowerment around us,
and the celebration among us.
As it was in the beginning, so shall it be now.
Video Credits
Performed by: Katie Ketchum
Lyrics: Jann Aldredge-Clanton
From: Hersay: Songs for Healing and Empowerment
Visual Art:
Katie Ketchum: Hersay book cover and “Shekhinah” paintings
Alice Heimsoth: five photos inside Ebenezer/herchurch Lutheran, San Francisco
Stacy Boorn: “Christ-Sophia” painting
Elaine Chan-Scherer: “Sacred Feminine” and “Kwan Yin” paintings
Linda Palmstrom: “Ruah” painting
two photos from The Gathering, A Womanist Church
David Clanton and Colette Numajiri: “Brigid,” “Gaia,” “Saraswati,” “Isis,” and “Yemaya” artworks
photo of Dr. Christina Cleveland
Pam Allen: “Mother Eagle” drawing