In addition to being the author of Rise Up & Call Her Name: A Woman-honoring Journey into Global Earth-based Spiritualities (originally published by UU Women’s Federation in 1995 and reissued in 2007 by the author) Elizabeth Fisher is the author of publications on International Human Rights; a columnist and an essayist who likes to dable in storytelling. Currently she is creating the internet educational and entertaining project Rainbows at the Crossroads.
Author’s Statement about Her Perspective and Process
The author at the Botanical Gardens, University of California Berkeley
I am a passionate advocate of sacred culture that honors earth-based spiritualities using images, dance, visualization, song, storytelling, poetry and improvisation, study and reflection. All of these I have experienced as potent means of exploring pre-patriarchal cosmology, a modern version of an ancient worldview that, while continuing to be present throughout history, has often been overshadowed. I share, through my work, insights into this cosmology.
Because I embrace healthy diversity in human belief about divinity, I have spent considerable time studying spiritual practices that honor the female divine around the world, from Anatolia, Africa, Asia, and the Americas. These travels, at times physical at times imagined, led me to weave the tapestry of creative activities and factual findings available in Rise Up & Call Her Name. For me, creating this multicultural, multidimensional educational experience brought into focus a powerful synthesis of continually unfolding values that highlights respect for collaborative relationship, contextual justice, compassion, personal wholeness and societal healing. (See the Overview Section)
I have called upon these potent artistic creations and their inherent values to guide my journey toward self-actualization and authentic community building. Suffragist Elizabeth Cady Stanton called it our ideal first great cause, the “Spirit of All Good” that set the universe of matter and mind into motion…in support of egalitarian and mutually respectful relations among all that makes up the cosmos…human, plant, animal, rock.
The author at Point Lobos State Park
Action for justice, especially on behalf of women’s liberation globally, is another passion of mine that extends back to my early activism in the 1960’s and has continued to be a focus throughout my life. This passion led me to attend in 1995 the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, China. The culmination of twenty years of worldwide activism by many on behalf of women’s human rights, the non-governmental conference consisted of exciting programs of all kinds. The official governmental conference which immediately followed produced an important document, the Platform for Action, which was carefully constructed through international negotiations and agreements. Published in early 1997 and still available, Gender Justice: Women’s Rights are Human Rights which I co-authored with Linda Mackay provides information and interesting ways to explore this movement and the Platform for Action. (See the Section on Gender Justice)
My professional life over the years has been diverse as well. I have been a psychiatric social worker, an administrator of legal programs benefiting low income people, an acquisitions editor at a major publishing house, as well as a speaker and facilitator on programs about paradigm shifts, shared leadership skills, earth-based spirituality and the history of egalitarian religious movements.
I hold a B.A. in Psychology, with dual minors in History and English from the University of Michigan and a Certificate in Publishing from the University of California. I also completed graduate courses in Law at the University of Connecticut. I adore good conversation, plays, reading, festivals, music with a message, gardening as well as ocean beach and forest walks.
Meet the Author — UUWF Communicator
Liz’s Women & Religion Autobiographical Statement
Contact Elizabeth at lizfisher@RiseUpandCallHerName.com
Bob Fisher in Sausalito, California
My partner, Bob Fisher, deserves special recognition. Bob has contributed in every way possible. Not only has he furnished support, he has been a model of feminist process and an embodiment of feminist values. His presence continues to remind me that gender is not the problem, and that the true meaning of feminist is “belief in the equality of women and men.” Bob lives this definition and needs to be acknowledged as the co-creator he has been of Rise Up. His contributions have included: consultation on content; photographing many of the images for the video; associate production of the video which included extensive involvement in the creation of both the visual and audio portions as well as the final editing; primary production assistance on the audio tapes; compilation and annotation of all bibliographies; desktop publishing the Sourcebook; and development and production of this website.