Barbara Mor

The American poet Barbara Mor played a huge role in Monica's life, even though they hardly ever met. Monica send her Cosmic Mother pamphlet to Jean and Ruth Mountaingrove, publishers of the "Womanspirit" journal in Oregon, who put her in touch with Barbara, who lived in New Mexico. That was the beginning of an extra-ordinary postal partnership, which after several years resulted eventually in the publication of "The Great Cosmic Mother, rediscovering the religion of the Earth", a book that made them both famous. We don't know a lot about Barbara, but to honour her, we put the small photo on this page from the 1981 A4-size edition of the book and the 'author description' she wrote about herself:

"As an American poet, my life and work is fed by three streams: study of ancient goddess-worship, being a mother, and love of the earth. I began studying matriarchies and teaching women's prehistory in 1969, in Southern California. Since 1975, I've been a poetry editor for WOMANSPIRIT (publ. in Wolf Creek, Oregon), and many of my longpoems have been printed in that magazine. Other publications include: bitter root rituals (1975), Mother Tongue (1977) and Winter Ditch and Other Poems (1979); plus poems in south­west regional anthologies and quarterlies. I have three children: Caleb, 15; Joanna Raven, 9; and Rhen Molly, 1. For me, feminism makes no sense unless it goes to the root of the problem: the life-hatred inherent in patriarchal religious and social systems."