Five Religions, Five Women Mystics

If you
google women’s spirituality’, many of the listings you get back are
related to goddess worship or wicca and pagan traditions that revere the sacred
feminine. The popularity of these traditions has exploded in recent decades,
partly as a reaction against the patriarchal leadership of the world’s major
religions, and the role these religions have often historically played in the
suppression and persecution of women.
However, what
many people don’t realize is the amazing number of women mystics that thrived
throughout history within the world’s five major religions Christianity,
Judaism, Islam, Buddhism and Hinduism. In recent decades, a massive movement to
translate their writings and popularize their teachings has taken place, partly
to help address the imbalance that has often existed within these traditions.
Learning about their lives is empowering and inspiring for contemporary women,
especially those who value traditional religious teachings but often feel there
is a gap between what they hear from the pulpit and the experiences of their
daily lives.
Consider
these five examples, each taken from one of the world’s five major religions:

• Margery
  Kempe was a medieval Christian mystic who was also a working mom’ mother to
  fourteen children and owner of a home-based brewery. Her spiritual journey
  began shortly after the birth of her first child, when she was plunged into
  what contemporary historians believe was a severe post-partum depression. She
  experienced a vision of Jesus that restored her health, and transformed her
  into a deeply religious woman for the rest of her life. Late in life she
  embarked on several religious pilgrimages, and yet somehow found the time to
  dictate the first autobiography in English by a woman.
• Hannah
  Rachel Verbermacher, also known as the maiden of Ludmir’, was a
  nineteenth-century Ukrainian Jewish woman popularly known now as the only
  female Hasidic Rebbe, or religious leader, although she was never officially
  accorded that status. From a young age she showed a propensity for religious practice, and insisted on studying the Torah, usually only reserved for men. As an
  adult she continued her solitary religious lifestyle, refusing to marry, and
  offered counseling and religious lessons to a small group of followers. She
  later moved to Israel, and her grave on the Mount of Olives has become a popular religious
  pilgrimage site for those interested in her story.
• Sukhasiddhi
  was an eleventh-century Indian sage now revered by a Tibetan Buddhist lineage
  as a founder and dakini’ a magical being devoted
  to aiding others on the pathway to enlightenment. Expelled from her home at the
  age of fifty-nine by a cruel husband, after having raised six children, she was
  forced by desperation to brew her own beer for money. Even in her desperate
  circumstances she was generous enough to offer free beer to a local Buddhist
  master, who offered to teach her for free in gratitude. In one night of
  instruction, she is said to have achieved enlightenment, and spent the rest of
  her life teaching and aiding others.
• Rabia Basri
  is one of the most well-known female Islamic saints, and had a profound impact
  on Sufism, a mystic branch of Islam. Born in seventh-century Iraq to a poor family, she was captured
  by robbers at a young age and sold into slavery. Legend has it that her
  spiritual longing was so great she prayed for hours every night after her
  duties were complete. Her owner came upon her one evening, and was ashamed for
  imprisoning such a deeply religious being. He let her go, and she went on to
  become a revered Islamic poet and teacher.
• Mirabai was
  a sixteenth century Indian Hindu mystic and teacher famous for her devotional
  poems and songs. She was forced into an unhappy arranged marriage at a young
  age, and spent every free moment worshiping Krisha, a popular Hindu deity,
  through prayer, meditation, and composing her own poems in his honor. When she
  was widowed, she refused to commit the ritual suicide that custom demanded,
  instead becoming a solitary woman traveler and spiritual seeker – highly
  unusual for the time. She lived at various temples, eventually achieving
  acclaim as a poet, singer and teacher.

Lisa
Erickson is a mom, meditation teacher, and writer. For more information on women
mystics and topics related to women’s spirituality, visit her blog at Mommy
Mystic.