The Importance of Women's Spirituality

A friend recently asked me why I felt it was so important to focus specifically on spirituality for women. Isn't the point of spirituality, she asked, to move to an understanding that transcends distinctions like gender? Does it really serve the process, she wondered, to imply there is a separate spirituality for men and for women?

As part of my response, I referred her to a recently published book called Taking Back God: American Women Rising Up for Religious Equality. The author, Leora Tanenbaum, explores the role of women within Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. The author interweaves religious history with interviews of contemporary women who care deeply about their religions, and derive great knowledge and sustenance from them, but are unhappy with the restricted roles of women within them. Many of these interviews are very moving, because these women have really struggled with this issue.

One of the biggest problems for these women is the restrictions placed on their access to teachings and official roles. Many of their religions restrict women's rights or abilities to read certain scriptures, or to teach or preach. Since scriptures are often considered the word of God, or a conduit to enlightenment (in the East), this sends the message that women are 'further' from God or enlightenment, and that they don't have the right to communicate directly, or to learn, teach, or preach on their own. They have to get everything secondhand. Contemporary American women don't accept this in the office, and are increasingly uncomfortable with it in their houses of worship.

While Taking Back God focuses on the official role of women in Christianity, Judaism and Islam, things aren't altogether different in the New Age or self-help communities, or in many Buddhist or Yoga centers. Although there are more women spiritual teachers, authors, and religious leaders in America than elsewhere in the world, they are still vastly outnumbered by men (just check out the Amazon bestsellers list). This despite the fact that according to book marketing surveys, women outnumber men as the purchasers of spiritual and religious books by as much as 4 to 1. In other words, women would appear to be more interested in spirituality in general, but the majority of books, teachers, organizations and resources out there are male-dominated. What is the message sent by this?

So, my answer to my friend, the reason focusing on women's spirituality is important to me, even though I am wary of over-identifying with gender issues, is that I think it really matters how many women religious leaders and spiritual teachers there are out there. And I think full access to scriptures, and leadership roles, and teaching positions - within every tradition - is imperative. Women's access to spirituality, their relationship with God/Tao/Nirvana/Brahma (or whatever you believe in), can't be secondhand. In a way, changing this is the most essential form of change that can occur, because our spiritual and religious beliefs define our organizational view of the world. If we see women as 'lower down' the totem pole, even subconsciously, we are denying ourselves our full power.

Lisa Erickson is a mom, meditation teacher, and writer. Visit her blog http://www.MommyMystic.wordpress.com for spiritual book reviews and information on meditation and spirituality.

5 Greatest Women's Fragrances For 2010

In the year 2010 we were witnesses of the presentation of many new fragrances. And just like every other year they became famous really fast. But are they worth it. From all the perfumes we use to see in the malls or in the internet stores there are just a few who use to stay on the world market for years and always be among the bestsellers. And it's not a surprise that the fragrances I used to place on the top 5 places are not presented during this year. These are perfumes who have already proved they deserve the attention they are awarded.

The first fragrance that finds place in this chart is Azzaro Now by Loris Azzaro. The scent is launched by the Azzaro design house in the year 2007. Its top notes are a perfect blend of aldehydes and amber rum. The base notes are presented from white tea and finally floral notes. This perfume is recommended mainly for daytime wear.

The second scent I would like to present to you is created by the design house of Thierry Mugler in the year 1992. Of course this is Angel. It is classified from specialists as a refreshing, oriental, woody scent. This feminine aroma possesses a mix of vanilla, sandalwood, and patchouli. We shouldn't miss the fruity notes of fresh melons, citrus, peaches, and plums. It is recommended for daytime wear.

The fragrance I put on third place is the famous Armani Code by Giorgio Armani. This perfume was presented in the year 2006 by the house's lead designer Giorgio Armani. It is said to be a floral scent that opens with bitter orange notes and blend of jasmine and italian orange. Then it blends into orange blossom with the sweet finishing touch of vanilla and honey. It is said to be best for office wear.

The following fragrance, though not being as popular as the others in this chart, definitely deserves to be here. This perfume is Ce Soir Ou Jamais EDP Spray by Annick Goutal. It is launched by the design house of Annick Goutal in the year 1999. Ce Soir Ou Jamais by the designer Annick Goutal is classified as a sharp, flowery scent. This lovely feminine scent possesses a mix of sparkling flowers. It is recommended for office wear.

And last but not least, in this chart I put Blonde pure perfume by Versace. It is launched by the worldwide famous design house of Gianni Versace in the year 1995. Blonde is said to be a luxurious, flowery scent. This feminine fragrance possesses a mix of jasmine and violet notes. With its irresistible behaviour it is recommended for romantic wear.

So, these are the top 5 women's scents for the year 2010. As I said before none of them were presented during this year. Probably the newly presented perfumes still need some time to gain enough fame and positive critics to replace any of the fragrances I put in this article. They are still the bestsellers form some of the most famous design houses in the world and I think they really deserve your attention.

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eBay Sellers' Worthless Products Or Instant Best Sellers?

Some things seem never to sell on eBay, often because they have no obvious listing category and, as such, no one knows where to find them on eBay!  If no one knows where to find them there's little chance of anyone bidding on them, and so those items languish on eBay even with potentially hundreds of interested bidders. Yet these items might interest hundreds of people and even start a bidding war. All you have to do is apply a few simple tricks of the trade. Here's how:

A good example is topographical ephemera, such as prints, posters, maps and old guide books about specific towns and cities.  Offer an old postcard of some little known town or village and you could have dozens of people bidding to own it.  That's because 'Postcards' is a huge category on eBay which thousands of people visit daily to key in place names to find new cards for their collection.  'Postcards' even has a Topographical sub-category which is further broken down by counties or states.  It's no big deal to find some postcards attracting double figure bidders.

But what about prints?  They're very collectible and often fetch far higher prices than their topographical postcard counterparts? But prints are not categorised in quite so tight a fashion as postcards, nor are topographical books, ephemera, posters and maps.  That means even the best topographical non-postcard items often go unsold.  That's no big problem where potential bidders key their collecting area into eBay's search engines, where they'll find anything remotely connected with their topographical interest. But doing so could still run into many thousands of listings for related and unrelated items which might deter most of us from looking further.

There is an answer, and it's a sneaky trick I use all the time:

The idea focuses on postcards, and the trick is to buy all the cheapest and most common topographical postcards you can find at boot sales, flea markets, collectors' fairs and yes, even on eBay. They'll cost you cents apiece and almost certainly no one will even consider buying them on eBay. But they might if those common views are couple WITH a related topographical print listed under 'Postcards'.  That way, when people search Postcard topographical sub-categories for their collecting area they'll also see the print and are quite likely to buy. 

I told you this was sneaky, but it really works! I've seen this work well on countless occasions - I've done it myself many times.  I've also seen two items, listed together, start an almighty bidding war between two or more people wanting one or other individual item, many wanting both.

The technique works with all manner of items that lack an obvious selling category on eBay, but which are part of an overall collecting subject. For instance, the other day I wanted to list a small trinket box, made many years ago, and featuring a neat collage of early Australian postage stamps varnished on the lid. I was unsure where to list it: it doesn't belong properly in eBay's collectible stamps category, and it isn't really an antique or a specific collectible type.

But I reckoned it would attract most interest among postage stamp collectors but there's no obvious place there for novelty items. So I bought a bundle of early Australian postage stamps and postcards at a local flea market and photographed the entire caboodle along with the box and listed them under eBay's collectibles categories for stamps and postcards. The payoff was huge and my listing attracted double figure bidders and fetch ten times the price I paid for those three items.

Avril Harper is a business writer and eBay PowerSeller who has produced several guides to making money from eBay and other online sources which you can read about at: http://www.avrilharper.com She offers several free Internet marketing guides which you can download right away at: http://www.avrilharper.com/freestuff.html

SaleHoo Wholesale Clothes - Sell Quality Wholesale Women's Clothes Online

Looking for the perfect product to sell online? Quality women's clothes are always bestsellers, regardless of whether you sell them in eBay's auction site or in your own web store. Clothes are always in great demand because people need them. If you can obtain quality clothes at competitive prices, you will find it easy to sell them and earn a lot of extra money.

Women are very particular about the clothes they wear. They want to wear clothes that make them look smart and fashionable. But now that the economy is down, everybody is looking for clothes that are more affordable. That is why wholesale clothes are very popular these days. To get a big slice of the pie, you must find wholesale suppliers who can provide quality clothes at low prices. Keep in mind that women are fashion conscious, so the clothes you sell must be trendy and the latest in style. Read fashion magazines so that you will know about current and future fashion trends. It is also a good idea to sell clothes with classic design because they do not go out of style.

Where can you find fashionable, quality women's clothing to sell? You can search online for suppliers of wholesale women's clothes, but the danger here is that you do not know for sure if the suppliers you find in this manner are dependable and legitimate. SaleHoo is an excellent source of legitimate and reliable wholesale suppliers for all the products you need. You will easily find many suppliers of wholesale women's clothes. The best thing with SaleHoo is that the suppliers in their wholesale directory are all verified to be legitimate companies so you are sure that you will not be scammed. You must contact the wholesale clothing supplier and check out the products they sell. Make sure the clothes are of good quality and stylish. Pricing is very important, so negotiate for the best deals you can get.

Always provide good customer service because your customers deserve nothing less. Besides, good customer service will guarantee that customers will keep coming back, especially if the wholesale clothes you sell are stylish and well made. If your customers are not satisfied with the clothes or the service, they will not buy from you again; but happy customers are loyal customers and they will keep on buying from you in the future.

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Michelle Samual Williams has been a professional buyer for many multinational companies and in those 6 years of working, she has gathered crucial info in regards to the wholesale industry.