We note the passing of feminist cultural historian Elinor Gadon with sadness but also with great gratitude for her work and her influence on research into goddesses and strong women. On this post we will assemble remarks from those who knew her and also from those who benefitted from her work. We will add comments as they are received. To contribute your thoughts, email us at the “contact” address.
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Starr Goode, who interviewed Elinor for her Goddess in Art television series, says of her
The essential quality of Elinor’s work and what she felt was so important was to resacralize women’s bodies. Thank Goddess, this value has found its way into the spirit of our times. Elinor’s work with artists offered us a foundation from which to rise.
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Miriam Robbins Dexter says,
I have a sweet memory of Elinor from the ASWM conference. Toward the end of the Boston ASWM in 2016, I joined Vicki Noble and Donna Read at breakfast. Shortly afterward, Elinor joined us. The four of us ended up having a very long breakfast with wonderful conversation. It is my last memory of Elinor, and I am very happy to remember her that way.
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Eleanor’s longtime friend and colleague Dianne Jenett wrote: A feminist cultural historian and scholar, she was also an extraordinary teacher and the founder of the first academic program in Women’s Spirituality, at The California Institute of Integral Studies, in SF. Her 1989 book The Once and Future Goddess: A Symbol for Our Times remains an important feminist work in the field of women and religion. With stamina and passionate intellectual curiosity which inspired many of us, in her seventies and eighties Elinor returned to the India she loved in order to do research on the village goddesses of Orissa. Her son John said after he read letters women from all over the world sent to her, “I had no idea she changed so many lives.” She will be sorely missed.