First Page
29
Last Page
57
Abstract
Creativity is one of the few culturally appropriate ways that Latter- day Saint women seek for and learn about Heavenly Mother. In my research, I draw on twenty-six interviews with women ages 21 to 55 from around the world who self-identified as members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or “Mormon.” According to their interviews, these women seek Heavenly Mother because She is the manifestation of their potential, a topic I will discuss in more detail. Their beliefs and practices—which I define as vernacular beliefs, that is, personal rather than official expressions of religion—are centered around the idea that creativity is a uniquely female power. For example, some women drew on visual art and music as a vehicle for interacting with the female divine, while others feminized scripture, adopting female pronouns and imagery where women were otherwise absent from the scriptural canon. As such practices are unofficial and have been discouraged at times by the Latter- day Saint Church hierarchy, many informants expressed their fears surrounding unsanctioned practices, most particularly the fear of praying directly to the divine Mother. However, I have found that creativity—both physical art forms and more abstract forms of creativity, such as childbirth—offers women greater freedom to create and express their personal theologies.
