Glenys Livingstone

Livingstone was born on 21 March 1954 and grew up in rural Queensland, Australia.{{Cite web |date=2011-03-12 |title=Pagans Among Us |url=https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/archived/encounter/pagans-among-us/2994068 |access-date=2022-09-15 |website=ABC Radio National |language=en-AU |archive-date=12 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220612032409/https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/archived/encounter/pagans-among-us/2994068 |url-status=live }}{{Cite web |date=2013-04-22 |title=Glenys Livingstone - About the Author |url=https://pagaian.org/about-the-author/ |access-date=2022-06-12 |website=PaGaian Cosmology |language=en |archive-date=30 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220630230655/https://pagaian.org/about-the-author/ |url-status=live }}

She completed an MA dissertation titled Motherhood Mythology at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California in 1981.{{Cite thesis |title=Motherhood mythology |url=https://grace.gtu.edu/record=b1066485 |date=1981 |first=Glenys |last=Livingstone |access-date=16 September 2022 |archive-date=20 September 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220920163403/https://grace.gtu.edu/record=b1066485 |url-status=live }}

Livingstone went on to complete a PhD at the University of Western Sydney in 2002. The title of her thesis was The female metaphor – virgin, mother, crone of the dynamic cosmological unfolding: Her embodiment in seasonal ritual as a catalyst for personal and cultural change.{{Cite web |last=Livingstone |first=Glenys |date=2002 |title=The Female Metaphor - Virgin, Mother, Crone - of the Dynamic Cosmological Unfolding : Her Embodiment in Seasonal Ritual as a Catalyst for Personal and Cultural Change |url=http://handle.uws.edu.au:8081/1959.7/205 |access-date=2022-06-12 |website= |language=en}}

In 1980 Livingstone was a participant at Starhawk's first Reclaiming class in San Francisco and here she gained her first experience of pagan ritual practice. She has also named American cosmologist Brian Swimme and world religions scholar Thomas Berry as two of her teachers.

Although originally from a Christian church background, over time Livingstone moved towards an earth-based goddess approach.{{Cite web |last=Livingstone |first=Glenys D. |date=2016-07-04 |title=thea Gaia née Dorothy Ivy Wacker: Feminist Foremother and a Great "Ponderer" by Glenys Peacock |url=https://pagaian.org/2016/07/04/thea-gaia-nee-dorothy-ivy-wacker-feminist-foremother-and-a-great-ponderer-by-glenys-peacock/ |access-date=2022-06-12 |website=PaGaian Cosmology |language=en |archive-date=3 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220703055457/https://pagaian.org/2016/07/04/thea-gaia-nee-dorothy-ivy-wacker-feminist-foremother-and-a-great-ponderer-by-glenys-peacock/ |url-status=live }} Part of this transition was documented in her contributions to the feminist theology journal Women-Church over its 20-year history. Titles of some of these contributions included: "Towards a Maternal Theology", "Notes on Leaving Christianity", "Re-Visioning Our Mythology: the Goddess and the God", and a reflection piece in the journal' s final issue titled, "Women-Church and the Advent of PaGaian Cosmology".{{Cite web |last=Livingstone |first=Glenys |date=2007 |title=Women Church and the Advent of PaGaian Cosmology |url=https://divinity.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p20081coll11/id/37/rec/40 |access-date=2022-06-12 |website=Women-Church vol. 40 |page=140 |language=en |archive-date=22 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220522102734/https://divinity.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p20081coll11/id/37/rec/40 |url-status=live }} {{Cite web |last=Cackley |first=Ana |date=2022-09-12 |title=Spotlight on 'Women-Church' in Atla Religion Database and Atlas |url=https://www.atla.com/blog/spotlight-on-women-church/ |access-date=2022-09-13 |website=Atla |language=en-US |archive-date=13 September 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220913220448/https://www.atla.com/blog/spotlight-on-women-church/ |url-status=live }}

Livingstone is primarily known for her contribution to earth-based spirituality, which is part of the wider field of spiritual ecology. Livingstone describes it in her book, PaGaian Cosmology: Re-inventing Earth-Based Goddess Religion, as "an ecospirituality grounded in indigenous Western religious celebration of the Earth-Sun annual cycle."{{Cite book |last=Livingstone |first=Glenys |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/122343205 |title=PaGaian cosmology : re-inventing earth-based goddess religion |date=2005 |publisher=iUniverse |isbn=0-595-34990-0 |location=New York |oclc=122343205}}

Livingstone is a regular contributor to Naturalistic Paganism, a website "dedicated to amplifying the voices of and providing an online home for Naturalistic and Humanistic Pagans who seek to integrate ritual and meditative practices with a mythic worldview based on the most current and compelling scientific evidence".{{Cite web |date=2013-10-27 |title=Contributors |url=https://naturalisticpaganism.org/contributors-2/ |access-date=2023-04-29 |website=Naturalistic Paganism |language=en |archive-date=29 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230429103613/https://naturalisticpaganism.org/contributors-2/ |url-status=live }} She also contributes to the Return to Mago eMagazine{{Cite web |title=Glenys Livingstone |url=https://www.magoism.net/education-program/glenys-livingstone/ |access-date=2023-04-29 |website=Return to Mago E*Magazine |language=en-US |archive-date=29 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230429103614/https://www.magoism.net/education-program/glenys-livingstone/ |url-status=live }} and has been a guest contributor on the Feminism and Religion website, which aims to explore "the F-word in religion and the intersection between scholarship, activism, and community".{{Cite web |last=Livingstone |first=Glenys |date=2020-05-18 |title=Reaching for New Language for the Sacred |url=https://feminismandreligion.com/2020/05/18/reaching-for-new-language-for-the-sacred-by-glenys-livingstone/ |access-date=2022-09-15 |language=en |archive-date=15 September 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220915051336/https://feminismandreligion.com/2020/05/18/reaching-for-new-language-for-the-sacred-by-glenys-livingstone/ |url-status=live }}

In 2009 she co-presented her work of PaGaian Cosmology in two programs at the Parliament of World Religions in Melbourne in sessions titled Paganism in Australia: a Community Forum and The New Archaic: Neuroscience, Spiritual Practice and Healing.{{Cite web |date=2013-05-23 |title=PWR – The New Archaic |url=https://pagaian.org/articles/pwr-the-new-archaic/ |access-date=2022-09-15 |website=PaGaian Cosmology |language=en |archive-date=15 September 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220915061508/https://pagaian.org/articles/pwr-the-new-archaic/ |url-status=live }}

In 2011 Livingstone was a guest on an ABC' s Radio National Encounter program titled Pagans Among Us. Her interview was featured in a later radio program about contemporary paganism in 2022.{{Cite web |date=2022-03-26 |title=Paganism: from myth busting and magic, to advocacy and climate change |url=https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/godforbid/13810278 |access-date=2022-09-13 |website=ABC Radio National |language=en-AU |archive-date=13 September 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220913230150/https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/godforbid/13810278 |url-status=live }}

Livingstone has published widely in her areas of expertise, contributing chapters to many edited volumes related to the earth-based goddess movement. In 2015 Livingstone contributed to a volume about the women' s spirituality movement, told through the individual stories of the founders. Titled Foremothers of the women's spirituality movement: elders and visionaries, the volume was edited by Miriam Robbins Dexter and American feminist shamanic healer Vicki Noble.{{Cite book |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/930709884 |title=Foremothers of the women's spirituality movement : elders and visionaries |date=2015 |others=Miriam Robbins Dexter, Vicki Noble |isbn=978-1-934844-50-2 |location=Amherst, New York |oclc=930709884}}

Anthropologist Lynne Hume, who reviewed PaGaian Cosmology noted that, "Its acknowledgment of subtle shifts in everyday life through observation of the environment and the seasons will help people understand the growing interest in Paganism in today' s world from the perspective of an academic and experienced pagan practitioner whose focus is on the feminine and nature.{{Cite web |last=Hume |first=Lynne |title=Review: PaGaian Cosmology: Re-inventing Earth-based Goddess Religion, Women-Church, 38, pp. 42–43. |url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=url,ip,cookie,uid&db=lsdar&AN=ATLAiFZK220516002093&site=ehost-live |access-date=2022-09-13 |website=search.ebscohost.com |archive-date=13 September 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220913230153/https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=url,ip,cookie,uid&db=lsdar&AN=ATLAiFZK220516002093&site=ehost-live |url-status=live }}

• {{Cite book |ref=none |last=Livingstone |first=Glenys |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/957325462 |title=My name is Medusa : a girl god publication |date=2016 |others=Arna Baartz |isbn=978-1-5309-2289-5 |location=United States |oclc=957325462}}
• {{Cite book |ref=none |last=Livingstone |first=Glenys |chapter=Conceiving and nurturing a poiesis of Her |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/930709884 |title=Foremothers of the women's spirituality movement : elders and visionaries |date=2015 |editor-first1=Miriam Robbins |editor-last1=Dexter |editor-first2=Vicki |editor-last2=Noble |isbn=978-1-934844-50-2 |location=Amherst, New York |oclc=930709884}}
• {{Cite book |ref=none |last=Livingstone |first=Glenys |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/122343205 |title=PaGaian cosmology : re-inventing earth-based goddess religion |date=2005 |publisher=iUniverse |isbn=0-595-34990-0 |location=New York |oclc=122343205}}

• Livingstone, G and T. Hendren. (eds) (2017) Re-visioning medusa: from monster to divine wisdom. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform. {{ISBN|9781544179650}}

• Livingstone, G. (2019) “[https://worldcat.org/oclc/8679636954 From the Magic of Togaianess: Ngapartji-Ngapartji in Indigenous Australia],” Canadian Woman Studies, 34(1-2), p. 19.
• Livingstone, G. (2007) "Women-Church and the Advent of PaGaian Cosmology", Women-Church: an Australian Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion, 40: p. 140.

{{Reflist}}

• [https://pagaian.org/ PaGaian Cosmology] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220630040543/https://pagaian.org/ |date=30 June 2022 }} – Official site
• [https://naturalisticpaganism.org/ Naturalistic Paganism] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220915051336/https://naturalisticpaganism.org/ |date=15 September 2022 }}
• [https://feminismandreligion.com/ Feminism and Religion] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220915051335/https://feminismandreligion.com/ |date=15 September 2022 }}

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Category:Living people

Category:1954 births

Category:Western Sydney University alumni

Category:Australian writers