I have been very busy working on my Women’s Legacy Project launch. While this is essential work to continue upon the writing path I have been following and then clearing and creating over the last couple of years, I have had to neglect some things to focus on others. Life can be cruel. It gives us energy to pursue mindless passions in our youth, and once our passions turn to mindful pursuits our energy usage also has to be mindful because it too is limited.
I have to share the bare bones of a dream I had. My dreams are sometimes summaries of very complex analyses I have apparently been performing for quite some time until my brain can spit out summary images as an icon, symbol, and index rich abstract of my thoughts on a subject. I doubt I am the only one who does this, although I may be the only one who writes about it.
THE DREAM
Walking through a library that symbolizes life. A young man in the persona of a well known news anchor found some loose floor boards that led to a hidden section of a library.
Several of us, a small group, made our way, climbed down on HVAC pipes and rigging, into an older stacks area where hidden resources were being accessed by a few dedicated researchers.
We wandered through these archives that were store houses of copies off essential documents and resources which the common library users did not access due to preservation practices. Some areas were dusty with disuse but other areas showed signs of eddies of activity. We went deeper and deeper through the dark, close archives until these archives were no longer composed of paper but took the form of ceramic ware.
A woman who worked in the upper levels of library but had access to and awareness of the lower archival areas turned out to be a poacher, married to a survivalist even though she maintained documents about and access to information about the delicate ecosystems from which her family poached.
As the dream developed it became evident that whole families lived in, or had taken refuge in, the lower, difficult to access, archives. I then found a different way back up to the main levels but it still required climbing pipes and infrastructure to exit.
On the ground level, where windows were still obscured it became evident that there was an angry crowd of men, camo-clad fundamentalist men, hurling insults and rocks at women within the building.
Then a scene change, for time, showed the archives were in a war zone and damage was evident.
The horrific end of the dream found me hurling hand grenades to defend the archives. We turned the poacher over to the authorities and then we also sent chemical-agent contaminated individuals outside to infiltrate another group, similar to the rock throwers in their fundamentalist fanaticism, but who were on the opposite side. Both of these groups wanted to destroy us and our archives.
Then I woke up.
Next post: interpretation of this dream.
Summer Above, Winter Below, and Confusion All Around
“It is the June Solstice wherever you go today,” I wrote last week. In the Northern Hemisphere we observe the Summer Solstice and in the Southern Hemisphere the Winter Solstice is observed. Like everything humans do, there is some disagreement about what this means, except that old Sol aligns with the Tropic of Cancer.
I live in Tucson, Arizona, so for me that means that June is the height of the dry Summer. Summer Solstice is definitely the middle of summer in my book. The monsoons usually start in July during which time the humidity spikes while temperatures remain quite high.
This has been an unusual year, weather-wise. Spring often is only evident here by the blooms of plants. Here is southern Arizona we say that, “The ice breaks on the Santa Cruz River” the first day it reaches 100 degrees F. It usually happens in April, but this year it was mid-May before we hit a hundred; it was on May 17th, my birthday, June 17, our wedding anniversary, often records temperatures well over 110 degrees. I do not remember what the temperature was last week on the 17th. That information was lost, completely overwritten, with the slaughter of nine good people at Bible study at Mother Emanuel in Charleston, SC by a hateful, domestic terrorist.
I often wish others, “Happy Solstice.” The main reason I am pleased when Mid-Summer arrives is that the monsoons will soon arrive.
But this year there is a pall over the anniversaries and celestial celebrations that has finally broken through my resolve to exclude sadness from this time of year. I am tired of being parched. It is so dry around here that things can mummify. That can put one in a foul mood. In these days of air conditioners, central air, evaporative cooling, and electric fans it is rather hard to explain why I am living in a hot-house. It is not for the plants. My husband and I are trying to stay on budget and pay off all debt. Obviously to do this we cannot accumulate more debt. So we are limping along with a 20-year-old A/C unit that needs to be replaced. There are parts of our home that will not get below 80 degrees. That makes me a bit irritable too. We will pay cash for a new unit when a tax return is generated for us; did I tell you that some thief filed our taxes for us this year?
With the already evident climatic fluctuations caused by the increase in overall global temperatures, what the future holds for us here is not promising.
Then there is this year’s unsuccessful attempt to push back the memories that come forward every year near the anniversary of my mother’s death. June 25th.
I was to have a Grand Opening for the Women’s Legacy Project on June 25th. But I just could not finish the last bits and pieces of the remaining tasks. Thoughts about religion and racist beliefs have been on my mind constantly these past 10 days and that is not conducive to the concentration needed for a few more launch tasks. Looks like September is the next window for an opening.
Where does protected public expression of your beliefs end and imposition of your beliefs on others begin? It starts way before the killing of 9 good people. I do not say any pledges to flags. I do not support any organized religion. Personal faith is another matter and should be kept personal. But everyone believe they are right. In this area I just do not know, but I do know that freedoms granted by the constitution allow me to do business in public and have my private beliefs.
I will not actively or passively support the public imposition of a religion that was conceptualized at the same time that human sacrifice was practiced. Abraham was going to ritually slaughter his son. Perverse. I am just as suspicious of beliefs related to these practices as I am of any system that has incorporated ritual sacrifice of living creatures. I am extremely uncomfortable with patriarchal, segmentary lineage beliefs and practices that trace to North Africa 5,000 years ago.
Faith is a decision, said Mother Teresa.
Mysticism is “belief that union with or absorption into the Deity or the absolute, or the spiritual apprehension of knowledge inaccessible to the intellect, may be attained through contemplation and self-surrender.”
I have had mystical experiences and from those I have decided to have faith. But I do not want to impose my beliefs on others. That is one of the reasons I like written words so much. We can choose not to read. But please do not expect me to quietly support your ritual practices in my presence unless I have willingly and overtly made a decision to participate in them. Flag flying, a behavior, can be a very dangerous thing. One thing can stand for another. One thing can represent another. One thing often points to other things.
Love and grace are real to me. Everything else is questionable. Even summer and winter depends on where you are standing. I stand firm in my understanding that everything is relative.
Yin, Yoni and Qi Energy
I felt the topic of female energy to be an essential one for a thorough examination of the information women create and exchange through time. The concept of feminine energy and power is a concept found in every culture in the world.
Eastern Views of Female Energy
Women, in the wisdom that came out of ancient China, are thought to have a strong connection to Earth’s energy. Female energy is yin, with dark, soft and quiet qualities. And energy or Qi (pronounced Tchee per the Chinese, or Kee per the Japanese) is best when it exists in a balanced state between yin, the female, and yang, the male energy. Qi Gong, that means cultivating energy, is well established in Chinese health and self care understanding. Qi Gong is practiced for health maintenance, healing and increased vitality.
The word yoni that in Sanskrit means abode, source, womb, or vagina, and in Hinduism is the symbol of the goddess Shakti, feminine generative power and, as a goddess, is the consort of Shiva.
Chapter 6 of the Tao Te Ching is specifically devoted to the Mystic Female — the universal feminine energy. Balance is important, but it the sacred female, the energy of all creation is revered in Taoist thought.
Chapter 6
The valley spirit, undying
Is called the Mystic FemaleThe gate of the Mystic Female
Is called the root of Heaven and EarthIt flows continuously, barely perceptible
Utilize it; it is never exhausted— from taoism.net
Western Views of Female Energy
But the powerful nature of women is not always viewed as a good thing.
On the approach of a woman in this state [menstrual], must will become sour, seeds … sterile, grafts wither away, garden plants are parched up, and the fruit will fall from the tree … Her very look, even, will dim the brightness of mirrors, blunt … steel, and take away the polish from ivory. A swarm of bees, if looked upon by her, will die.
— Pliny in A.D. 77, Natural History
The western world does not have many good associations between women and energy or goodness or power. All this is probably related to the direct correlation between Eve and evil in nearly all versions of the creation myth that flowed through pre-Mosaic patriarchal filters. For a detailed examination of this correlation with excellent examples from art and literature, biblical literature included, see Eve and the Identity of Women, especially Chapter 3: Eve’s Identity.
As is the case with almost everything, the proof is in the pudding as they say, and it does not really matter what religions, or philosophies, say about inherent energies or qualities of women, it is how society actually constructs interactions that matter. Of course there is a some correlation between the two.
——
The Letter Y, Day 25
You Knew A Rant Was Coming!
Why are people so stupid? Why do people support actions and people that work against there own interests? They do you know. It is a Horatio Alger thing. Only smart people will get that reference.
Well, I chalk it up (maybe I should say chuck it up) to evolution. Yep. Most people, even really educated ones, do not understand the concept of evolution. Survival of the fittest is a rather misleading shorthand phrase. Fittest does not mean best. Fit only means having reproduced oneself biologically. If you live to pass on your traits you have been successful evolutionarily. You are fit. The fittest means leaving behind the most surviving offspring.
Intelligence is not a fit trait. At least not high intelligence. The more educated someone is the fewer children that person is likely to have. Presuming education equates at some level with intelligence, having fewer children than everyone else is going to mean there are very few intelligent people in the population.
Culture is supposed to evade this fact of life by being the way we pass on information outside of the biological dictates of genetics. Culture allows us pass on knowledge to individuals who share no family connections with us.
Basically, intelligence helps us all, but it doesn’t stop the ignorant from overpopulating the planet by at least one half.
And who am I calling stupid? You really want me to make enemies don’t you?
- Well adherents of the extremist Quiverfull brand of über-patriarchal fundamentalism for one. Actually the males in this cult are exhibiting an often-practiced male animal behavior. It is the social chador American ultra-conservative American Fundamentalism.
- Fox News watchers, secondly. ’nuff said.
- Climate change deniers.
- Namby-Pamby Democrats who try to avoid any strong and or progressive stands.
- Republicans who know they are liars.
If we do not start using the knowledge we have, then well, we deserve the massive multi-system collapse that awaits us within just a few years from economic, environmental, and climatic catastrophes.
Oklahoma Senator James Inhofe is almost certainly the next chair of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. He is an idiot.
There I ranted. You can stop holding your breath now.
Deja Vu All Over Again Within The Women's Peace Movement
I am approaching the ten year mark for becoming a peace activist. That is a big chunk of my life and probably worthy of some reflection.
Working with groups of women to create public messages that cannot be missed and are memorable has been a big part of my life over the last decade. I became involved in working for peace, which is distinct and stands apart from being anti-war.
Working for peace has allowed me to find my personal power and true convictions. My search for peace and how I can help create a more peaceful world for my daughters and granddaughters has opened areas of understanding about my personal and family history and indeed about culture and humanity that I could have missed had I walked a different path. I have found meaning behind phrases. The courage of conviction means much more to me after facing adversity and knowing that truth and goodness backed me up. It is not a zealous fervor, rather it is a calm peace.
Working for peace, for me, requires being peace. After years of involvement I can now see themes and threads within the cloth of the movement. The patterns repeat and can prompt questions about the very notion of progress. I’m not sure that things ever really get better. Overall things just change. We can have some influence over the aspects of our lives where that change occurs, however. We, as a culture, can change the areas where we direct our focus. The places we focus our attentions are the areas where we put our practice and the areas where our visualization of goals can change outcomes.
I like the birth of movements and strategies. Small numbers of newly energized people more easily focus on large unifying goals, and differences have not had time to become entrenched. Ten years down the road that is less likely. The differences between the Democrats and the Greens, for example, in the ranks of the women’s peace movement are more evident as tactics that clearly frame different belief sets become the focus of disagreements within the larger group. There is a reason beyond simple financial considerations as to why 501c3, also known as “nonprofits,” steer clear of allegiance to particular political groups.
I love working for peace and pressing progress towards the area of peace. I dislike internal, fracticious divides as to who is more left or right. I dislike absolutes. I dislike oversimplification. I dislike the internal absolutes that divide people who should be working together for advancing overarching principles. Whether these divides are political or religious, we sometimes have to look beyond the differences to commonalities. Where can we work together? This is the question we should be asking ourselves.
I have no room for division. We can only advance toward common goals. You can call these goals progressive or conservative, but neither is accurate, we can only move toward preservation of our best aspirations as we move forward in time. The words of a woman who lived 150 years ago echo in my thoughts as I write this. I will listen for her voice in the messages that I hear this week I will align myself with the women who echo her message in calls for present and future action. That is all I can ever do.
Arizona Governor Jan Brewer Calls on Legislature to Do The Lord's Work
This is getting ridiculous. You can read it for yourself, here, but basically Governor Jan Brewer seemed to step over some political/religioius boundaries when in today’s replacement statement for the State of the State address she said, “With our faith and our courage tightly in place, we will step forward from this Chamber, dedicated to the Lord’s work — continuing our service to the public.”
Arizona is run by right wing corporate money and has over-representation in its legislature by Christian and Mormon fundamentalists, most of us know that, but essentially charging the legislature to leave the legislative chambers and go out and do the work of a feudal concept of a male diety is way, way over the top.
Being over the top is nothing new to Brewer. She and her ilk seem to want to rule and not govern. I don’t want any elected official to do the Lord’s work, I want them to do what they were elected to do, the people’s work. I can ignore references to God by officials now and then, but this purely Christian religious charge to the legislature is offensive to me and probably is to others who think that the welfare of citizens beingplaced in the hands of people who believe in a feudal framing of the concept of a deity to be quite frightening.