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Societies of Peace: Matriarchies Past, Present and Future

6/19/2011

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REVIEW BY PEGI EYERS
“Societies of Peace: Matriarchies Past, Present and Future”
Edited by Heide Goettner-Abendroth
Inanna Publications

With the timely publication of Societies of Peace: Matriarchies Past, Present and Future we now have a definitive textbook on the incredible outpouring of modern Matriarchal Studies that has occurred in recent years. An excellent anthology of research, essays, and ideas by luminaries in the academic world, Societies of Peace also brings together political activists, goddess scholars, feminists and indigenous women from all over the world. The new paradigm of Matriarchal Studies is here to stay! Presenting concrete social alternatives to the looming global crises our patriarchal civilization has wrought, Matriarchal Studies holds great political potential and lifeboats developed from thousands of years of experience.

If we take the wisdom in Societies of Peace and DELIVER IT! as Kenyan activist and powerhouse Wahu Kaara suggests, it will have an incredible impact on the world.  The times require a fundamental shift in the way we perceive our collective reality, and findings on matriarchal cultures can offer us the vision of a new/old egalitarian society.

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The Minoan Queens
Matriarchies have a non-violent social order, conform to motherly values, and are based on gender equality.  Political decisions are reached through consensus, and social guidelines guarantee a good life for all. Matriarchal spirituality, deeply rooted in a reverence for Mother Earth and her gifts, prevents the exploitation of nature or animals.  These societies, both ancient and still existing on the planet today, are humanity’s – and especially women’s – greatest heritage.  Societies of Peace presents to a wider public the message of an alternative social and cultural model that promotes trust, mutuality, and abundance for all.

Edited by Heide Goettner-Abendroth, the founding mother of modern Matriarchal Studies, the scholarship and ideas in Societies of Peace are taken from two groundbreaking World Congresses on Matriarchal Studies that she led – “Societies in Balance” in Luxembourg in 2003, and “Societies of Peace” in Texas in 2005.  For the first time at these Congresses, international scholars working on Matriarchal Studies and women’s spirituality in isolation from one another came together to connect and collaborate. The book features exciting, creative and important contributions from (among others) Riane Eisler, Barbara Alice Mann, Peggy Reeves Sanday, Claudia von Werlhof, Lucia Chiavola Birnbaum, Vicki Noble, Susan Gail Carter, Annette Kuhn, Lamu Gatusa, Bernedette Muthien, Fatimata Oualet Halatine and Wilhelmina J. Donkoh.
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The Matronae ~ Celtic Mother Goddesses
Of special interest is Genevieve Vaughan’s contribution and sustaining support, both to the Texas congress and the book, as well as her essay “Matriarchy and the Gift Economy.” The guiding light for the new gift economy movement, Genevieve Vaughan describes the practice of “freebies” like housework, childcare and other “random acts of kindness” that already exist in society, unrecognized and unappreciated by the dominant patriarchy. Within a matriarchal culture, the modes of distribution are based on the principles of nurture, and needs are met directly resulting in a more functional community than a market economy based on self-interest, greed and profit. Gift-giving creates positive relationships, justice and solidarity, and with radical change, can be adopted as a new alternative economy at local levels and beyond. 

The knowledge and insight made possible with modern Matriarchal Studies is absolutely amazing, and has the capacity to change the historical record and create a paradigm shift in the prevailing worldview.   Societies of Peace: Matriarchies Past, Present and Future gives us the tools to wake up and take on this great work, which is creating alternative, life-affirming matriarchal models as the basis for a new society!


This review originally appeared in "Crone: Women Coming of Age" Issue #4 Metamorphosis   www.cronemagazine.com

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Pegi Eyers is the author of  Ancient Spirit Rising: Reclaiming Your Roots & Restoring Earth Community, an award-winning book that explores strategies for neurodecolonization, social justice, ethnocultural identity, building land-emergent community & resilience in times of massive change.
PURCHASE LINKS
Amazon.com 
www.stonecirclepress.com

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Eco-Soul

5/22/2011

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PEGI EYERS

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How deeply are human beings entwined with the natural world? Bespoke wisdom, a vision from the wild, or an offering from my animist Clan Mothers, an epiphany came to me in the trance state between sleeping and waking. This fantastical manifesto, an ontology inspired by our most ancient beginnings, extends past the far reaches of modern environmental theory and gives us much to contemplate as we continue to be humbled by the Great Mystery. 

OUR SOULS LIVE IN THE EARTH
AND THE EARTH LIVES IN OUR SOULS

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WHAT IF it was proven beyond the shadow of a doubt that your soul is eternal?  That your soul is a unique and sacred spark, a blessed part of the Divine Mystery that animates your inner life from birth to death and beyond?  AND WHAT IF it was proven that your soul is on a continuous forward journey?   AND WHAT IF PROOF EXISTS that between lifetimes your soul resides IN the landscape and IN the various features, elements and creatures in the natural world? THAT IN FACT, the natural environment serves as a vessel or holding place for your spirit? 

The trees, plants, wetlands, grasslands, wildflower meadows, sand dunes, mounds, rocky escarpments, underground tunnels, caverns, ponds, lakes, rivers – any of these numinous and holy landscapes could serve as dwelling places for your soul.   

AND KNOWING THIS TO BE TRUE, believing beyond a doubt that the continuum of your soul depends on this eco-resting place, how can we allow the destruction of the natural world to continue?  The contamination created by conveniences and technologies,  the pollution dumped into the water systems, air and earth, the forests logged, the animals harvested, the earth’s body stripped by mining, the replacement of wild nature with highways, fences, factories and cities all pose a real and terrible danger to your personal destiny.   After your physical death, where the Great Mystery will place your spirit cannot be predicted. (Unless you have had exceptional training and have willed it so.  Making personal decisions affecting the process of being born into death used to be a given in Indigenous societies.)  
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Therefore the reckless and thoughtless damage to the environment on every level MUST BE STOPPED!  It goes far beyond the adage of "We are All Connected."  We now know that without access to the undisturbed natural places on this beautiful planet that have been provided for our soul's rest and return, our spirits will surely and completely disappear. Contrary to the modern worldview, humans are not meant to exist in close proximity to concrete cities, technology and the built environment, but thrive in the truest sense ONLY in the embrace of the green and natural world. 

The farther away we push nature the smaller our souls become – this is not a metaphor but a fact, as experienced by the millions today who feel a void, something missing in their lives.  Endless void-fillers, distractions and therapies exist to address this emptiness, but most of the theories bypass the simple truth that would address the foundational requirements of our eco-soul.  The contemporary endemic shrinking of the spirit is a reality, and healing is possible when we return to our ancestral and earth-connected roots, reclaim our enchantment with the world, embrace the wild for our ensouling, and re-establish the connection to Mother Earth so vital to our well-being.
            
As we co-existed peacefully with the Earth for millennia, we must expand once again into our true nature and potential as fully-realized human beings. To survive as beings of both body and spirit, we must acknowledge our vital reciprocal relationship with nature and embrace our true human role as keepers and protectors of  Earth Community. 

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Examples of the Eco-Soul dynamic are found in earth-connected and Indigenous societies worldwide, in oral tradition, myth, and even contemporary filmmaking. Based on Yolngu Matha Indigenous Knowledge and filmed in  the Ganalbingu language, the Australian award-winning movie Ten Canoes is a dazzling and accurate portrayal of a pre-contact hunter-gatherer society deeply bonded to the natural world in Arnhem Land, Northern Territory. During the course of the movie, the storytelling in their oral tradition reveals that the souls of their people continue to live in a particular wetland, or billabong, between lives, and that the pregnant women of the tribe will go there to coax a soul into their belly.

Sourced from the ancient folklore of Europe and elsewhere, James Frazer states in The Golden Bough that  the  spirits of  the  dead  reside  in the trees,  awaiting rebirth. The Indigenous peoples of Lithuania, Greece, Italy, Germany, Sweden, Britain, Africa, Indonesia and the Americas worshipped the trees as sacred beings with in-dwelling souls, and protected them from harm. Depending on the culture, trees can be the abode of spirits, gods, ancestors, or souls waiting to be born.

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The Dryad by Evelyn De Morgan
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Ten Canoes Film Poster
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Hypogeum in Ħal-Saflieni
One of the ancient megalithic structures found in Malta, the Hypogeum in Ħal-Saflieni is the oldest intact underground temple in the world, and is thought to have been sacred space for rituals of birth, death and regeneration. Both above and below ground, the temple complex of this ancient matriarchal society (3800 to 3600 BCE) reveals construction and symbols that celebrate fertility and the female form. Having amazing acoustic properties, the subterranean chambers and structures enabled powerful communication with the spirit realm, and were places for worship, divination and healing. From tomb to womb, the Hypogeum in Ħal-Saflieni was also the burial place for thousands  of community members, and the Chamber of All Souls held the spirits of the collective between lives as crucible, vessel and cauldron. The highly-evolved wisdom held by this society allowed for the successful migration between disembodied and incarnate spirits, in a dance of Sacred Mystery that embraced the perennial cycles of life.


Pegi Eyers is the author of  Ancient Spirit Rising: Reclaiming Your Roots & Restoring Earth Community, an award-winning book that explores strategies for neurodecolonization, social justice, ethnocultural identity, building land-emergent community & resilience in times of massive change.
PURCHASE LINKS
Amazon.com 
www.stonecirclepress.com

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I Am Woman!

4/26/2011

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Artisan and writer Maia Heissler is the creator of a charming sub-culture of elfin creatures called “The Forest Friends.”  A pleasure to contemplate for all ages, she constructs these magical beings from natural materials and arranges them in dioramas of earth-connected and harmonious activities.  As lifelong companion to the “wild places and wild things” in her own backyard, her beautiful rune stone set (Lifestones) came about by allowing space for the deep meaning inherent in the movements of animals and the shapes of leaves, roots and branches to come to her as insights which she translated into beautiful symbols.  Maia’s goal is to re-sensitize people to the wisdom of nature and inspire us to love the earth, and  her recent book "Wild Things for the Soul" does just that with its blend of spiritual memoir, nature writing and DIY modalities.  

As wisewoman and Green Goddess embodying the interconnectivity of all things in her life and work, Maia offers "I Am Woman" - a powerful manifesto of empowerment for women of all generations:


I AM WOMAN

I am Woman – Spirit, Body, and Mind –
And I am opening myself to the grandeur and the power I was created for.

There were those who, even well-intentioned, would form me according to a standard mold.
I am greater than that.

I was taught to clean house, and there is honour in keeping beautiful surroundings,
But I also understand the importance of eradicating the stains and cobwebs from my inner self,
and in keeping bright the luminous crystal that I am.

I was taught to mend clothes, and there is honour in being well-clothed,
But I am finding greater fulfillment in healing the rips and tears in the fabric of life.

I was taught to cook, and there is honour and joy in nourishing bodies,
But I have learned how much more vital it is to nourish my soul and to share insights with others.

I was taught to be a wife, and there is honour in being a helpmate,
But I have grasped that my first love and loyalty must be to myself.

I was taught to raise babies, a great trust, and a privilege and responsibility to be honoured,
But I have discovered my own little girl self is waiting to
be cleaned, clothed, nourished, and protected,
Waiting to be loved, cherished, and played with.
I rise now to look after her, for this will be a balance and a well
Of joy whether I am maid, mother, or wise woman.

I was taught to be submissive; there is little honour in that.
I prefer to surrender in a way that empowers me.
I claim the right to make my own choices and to speak my own truth.

I strive now to understand and live the full meaning of WOMAN.
Head high, shoulders back, I stand tall in this body that houses my soul.
I completely love, accept, and respect myself.
I am beautiful.
I am proud and confident in my femininity, without being
apologetic, pompous, or provocative.

I walk a path of Light, Truth, and Healing.
When I stumble, I embrace the lesson, and gently forgive myself.

I am compassionate and supportive without taking
away another’s responsibilities.
I am generous without being depleted,
for I have learned to set boundaries.
I am strong without being hard.
I am open and truthful with myself and others.
Dignified and gracious,
I am a picture of gentle strength and quiet might.
I AM WOMAN.

Maia


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You can see Maia's "Forest Friends" and her other inspired offerings at

www.forestfriends.ca










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Persephone Rising

4/10/2011

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This year on my March 17 birthday (the day of the Celtic green!) I looked out over the expanse of drab lawn uncovered by the recently melted snow and saw that the robins had returned.  Spring enfolds very slowly here in central Ontario.  The robins touched with red busily foraging and the tiny buds barely visible on the highest branches are the first hopeful signs of renewal and rebirth.  Year after year, ravaged by the cold in myriad ways (I don't like winter) it's no wonder that I resonate with Persephone, Queen of the Underworld, and her monumental struggles.  In the discovery of Her story and the deep meaning inherent, I found a myth that speaks to my own experiences with hibernation and illness, and my emergence into the light of recovery and transformation.

In Greek mythology, the maiden Persephone, daughter of the harvest Goddess Demeter, is abducted and raped by Hades, the Lord of the Underworld.  Facing abuse, adversity, and the bleakness of her new home, she still manages to find her true self and embody the dark and mysterious persona of Hades' new wife and Queen of the Underworld.  In the meantime, Demeter searches desperately for her daughter.  She neglects to nurture the land in the process, and the earth becomes a wasteland barren of crops or vegetation.  Eventually Persephone is rescued by her mother, but because she was tempted by Hades to eat pomegranate seeds, she must return to the Underworld every half-year.  Persephone now divides her time between the upper and lower worlds, with an awareness and existence in both the dimensions of the living and the dead.  She cannot return to her original innocence, as she has eaten the seeds of death and knowledge and has evolved from Maiden to Queen. 
 
Picture"Persephone" by Dante Gabriel Rossetti

The ancient Greek Demeter-Persephone myth was central to the Eleusinian Mysteries, and represents the dark and the light, two aspects of a single force,  two faces and two phases of the same fertility Goddess.  The latent power of the Maiden under the surface of the earth causes seeds to germinate, and the quickening power of the Mother above the surface of the earth causes new life to burst forth and blossom.  The two fold into each other in the endless cosmic cycle of birth, life, death and rebirth. 

The Persephone myth contains many layers of meaning for us today, and working with the story of her descent into darkness we learn that our own experience of powerlessness can be our greatest teacher.  When we are betrayed by our own bodies or by dire circumstance, we enter into an Underworld of disability and pain, and lose our yang energy and the ability to act of our own free will.   But like Persephone, when we surrender to the deep currents and dark places of our misplaced fears, many gifts and blessings can be found.  We quickly learn to trust and honour the mysterious workings of our bodies at a deep cellular level, which is very grounding and humbling.  We learn to trust our own unique purpose which may (or may not) include a healing crisis. We learn to slow down, to recognize our limitations and appreciate the small things in life, like the gestures of kindness and the everyday places we take for granted.  Illness becomes our teacher and the greatest gift is the "turning within" which occurs.  When in this yin mode we experience the peace at the heart of the world.  Peeling back the layers, we come close to the Divine Plan and can feel the location of the "key to the soul" - the sacred energies that are at play in our lives.   What at first feels like the push of The Dark Goddess into a life-shattering experience transforms into Her embrace!

As Daughters of the Goddess, we can keep the themes of Persephone's story close to our hearts.  She is the "green fuse" in our soul, and represents the regenerative energy and potential for growth and transformation.  Looking deep into the language of the myth we can develop the skills to transform ourselves as we adapt to all of our experiences, both light and dark, and move toward wholeness and awareness.  Persephone teaches us that at our core we are of the highest ultimate value, and have an intrinsic self-worth.   No longer afraid of the shadows in the Underworld, we have embraced the holy darkness, and claiming all parts of our soul, emerge into the light with joy and love both for ourselves and others. It is time to bloom, to ripen, to embrace our full power and celebrate our extraordinary triumph after a long and painful struggle.
Picturepomegranate seeds = fertility

For me, Persephone ultimately evokes springtime, sunshine and liberation! She symbolizes the recurring patterns and gravitations within my own self.  In Her name I acknowledge the healing of the feminine and honour our transitions, the cosmic dance of all  life,  and the sacred cycles of the seasons.  As surely as spring follows winter, and as the richness of the darkness moves creatively into the light, if we can surrender to our transformation nothing is ever lost.




unfurling first - the buds of willow
the grass - a thick carpet of green
the birds - can't stop their joyful singing
Persephone has returned!




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Pauline Johnson's "Easter" Revisited

3/17/2011

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Pauline Johnson (Tekahionwake)  1861 – 1913

One of the first women writers to define Canadian literature in our founding years, the iconic Pauline Johnson also made a huge contribution to First Nations oral and written history.  Her  life is extraordinary given her unique perspective as the daughter of a Haudenosaunee Chief and an English mother, a blend that informed her literary output and theatrical performances within the prevailing Victorian society, and a heightened reverence for her Indigenous traditions and the subtleties of the natural world.

I recently discovered the poem "Easter," written by Pauline Johnson on April 1, 1888, and was thrilled with the inherent imagery of strong feminine forces at play in the cycles of nature, guiding the transformation of early Spring into the warmer days of April.  Influenced by the romantic prose of the Victorian era and her genuine connection to the natural world as being conscious and alive, Johnson succeeds in describing the attributes of each season as if they are elementals or animated spirits.  Using gentle, yet passionate phrasing, Johnson expresses the yearning of the heart while clearly evoking the mystery, timelessness and dreamlike qualities of wild nature.  Giving voice to the processes in nature (called anthropomorphization by western knowledge systems), discovering the beauty of the wild and expressing this adoration was the intrinsic purpose of poetry for Pauline Johnson.  
PictureOstara by Johannes Gehrts, 1884
As we engage in the current Mother Earth recovery project and a return to ecocentric values, we can learn much from the animistic dedication, respect and enjoyment of the natural world that Pauline experienced. Recognizing the strong feminine energies in Pauline’s poem "Easter," I like to imagine that she was aware of the power of the Divine Feminine in the spiraling aspects and cycles of all life. Feeling a strong soul-sister connection that transcends time and space, I took the liberty of changing two Christian words that appear in the poem; “Lent” to “Imbolc” and the word “Easter” to “Ostara”. These simple alterations miraculously birth the poem anew as an expression of Goddess Spirituality and the pagan Rites of Spring. I humbly offer this revisitation with respect and the tenderness of hope, that perhaps Pauline would have approved. ​ ​

EASTER  

Pauline Johnson ~ April 1, 1888

Imbolc gathers up her cloak of sombre shading
        In her reluctant hands.
Her beauty heightens, fairest in its fading,
        As pensively she stands
Awaiting Ostara’s benediction falling,
        Like silver stars at night,
Before she can obey the summons calling
        Her to her upward flight,
Awaiting Ostara’s wings that she must borrow
        Ere she can hope to fly –
Those glorious wings that we shall see to-morrow
        Against the far, blue sky.
Has not the purple of her vesture’s lining
        Brought calm and rest to all?
Has her dark robe had naught of golden shining
        Been naught but pleasure’s pall?
Who knows? Perhaps when to the world returning
        In youth’s light joyousness,
We’ll wear some rarer jewels we found burning
        In Imbolc’s black-bordered dress.
So hand in hand with fitful March she lingers
        To beg the crowning grace
Of lifting with her pure and holy fingers
        The veil from April’s face.
Sweet, rosy April – laughing, sighing, waiting
        Until the gateway swings,
And she and Imbolc can kiss between the grating
    Of Ostara’s tissue wings.
Too brief the bliss – the parting comes with sorrow.
    Good-bye dear Imbolc, good-bye!
We’ll watch your fading wings outlined to-morrow
        Against the far blue sky.


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Pauline Johnson/Tekahionwake ~ Limited Edition Giclee Print
mixed-media art by Pegi Eyers

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Pegi Eyers is the author of  "Ancient Spirit Rising: Reclaiming Your Roots & Restoring Earth Community," an award-winning book that explores strategies for intercultural competency, healing our relationships with Turtle Island First Nations, decolonization, recovering an ecocentric worldview, rewilding, creating a sustainable future and reclaiming peaceful co-existence in Earth Community.
Amazon.com 
Stone Circle Press
  ​

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Junk Shop Joys

3/7/2011

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I love Dolores Stewart Riccio's magical "Divine Circle" novels featuring the five gifted Wiccan women Cassandra, Heather, Fiona, Phillipa and Deirdre.  Riccio fashions the crime-solving adventures of these classy, spunky, crafty, mystical and creative wise-women into entertaining and informative reads.    There are wonderful references to myriad practices of the Craft ~ Sabbat celebrations, Goddess worship, rituals, spell-casting, energy healing, time-bending, shapeshifting, psychic & clairvoyant skills, oracle work with tarot & pendulum, special foods, herblore and even Wiccan arts and crafts! 

Being an enthusiastic secondhand store "picker", one of my favorite parts in The Divine Circle of Ladies Courting Trouble is the finding of an old moldy book of recipes and spells by Fiona at a yard sale.  Only in Plymouth, Massachusetts would such a thing be possible!  This fascinating antique book becomes a reliable reference for exactly the right spell or "key" or potion or recipe, just when the Circle seems to be at a loss and seeking otherworldly options.  I love old books, and the serendipity of finding exactly what you need when you need it, is for me, the most fascinating aspect of living a magic-filled life. 

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In that spirit, I was taken by surprise to see a gorgeous miniature book entitled Wicca: Ancient Feminine Magic in one of my local recycling shops.   Not passed down to me from mysterious ancestors, but priced at $1, a unique find nonetheless!  A welcome addition to my magical library, it contains many inspirational passages such as this:

"Open the door.  There is magic in the wind outside, chanting to you.  The ways of Wicca are of pleasure and delight.  Approach Wicca with love and respect.  Learn to pay attention and listen to the world around you. Mother Earth holds many secrets in her bosom.  These secrets are whispered to those who will listen."

You just never know what you might find (or what might find you) in with those curios and clear-outs.   Blessings in Her!

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Sky Woman Falls to Earth

2/23/2011

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“Painter of Light” David Parson began his Goddess Series some years ago, and he pays tribute to the Divine Feminine with lush paintings and pastel works. His creative vision honours Gaia, Vesta, Hera, Medusa, Sarasvati and other Goddesses from around the world.  In 2010 David produced the luminous and incredibly beautiful painting “Turtle Island” as inspired by the creation story of the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) people.  The People of the Longhouse traditionally have a matrilineal society, and their creation story includes a Goddess/Creatrix known as “Sky Woman."  The deeper meaning of cultural teachings and Indigenous Knowledge is embedded in the oral tradition, and this sacred creation story was passed down from the Ancestors for millennia, through generations of storykeepers.

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"Turtle Island" by David Parson

Sky Woman Falls to Earth

In the beginning there was no earth to live on, but up above in the Sky World, there was a woman, Sky Woman, who dreamed dreams.  One night she fell through a hole in the sky and fell downward toward the great emptiness. There was nothing below her but a heaving ocean of water. The beaver, the otter, the muskrat and the turtle saw her fall, and fearing that she would drown, sent a flock of ducks to catch her.  The ducks flew underneath Sky Woman, caught her on their backs and set her safely down on the turtle’s shell.

After she had rested she told the animals what must be done.  She said that she needed soil which could be obtained from the bottom of the sea that covered the world.  The strong beaver was the first to go down toward the bottom.  He was gone for a very long time, until finally his drowned body floated to the surface.  The otter considered himself to be a much better swimmer than the beaver and he was the second to make the attempt.  He was down for an even longer time, and when his body surfaced he too was dead.  Finally, the muskrat attempted the dive.  He was underwater even longer than the otter, but his body eventually floated to the surface.  Sky Woman discovered a tiny piece of soil in the crevice of the muskrat’s paw, and she sprinkled this on the edge of the turtle’s shell.

As Sky Woman slept, the world grew from the edge of the turtle’s shell and extended as far as one could see in every direction.  By the time she awoke there were willows growing along the edge of the world, and they were the first trees to grow upon the earth.  The birds and the animals rushed about building countries and continents, until, in the end, they had made the whole earth, while all the time Sky Woman was riding safely on turtle’s back.  And the turtle holds the Earth up to this very day!


View the "Goddess Series" and more from this award-winning artist at ~www.davidparson.ca   “The process of creating is what sustains me, what connects me to my authentic self.  With divinity we grow…..to grace we aspire…..in love we cherish the day.”   David Parson 


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Pegi Eyers is the author of  "Ancient Spirit Rising: Reclaiming Your Roots & Restoring Earth Community," an award-winning book that explores strategies for intercultural competency, healing our relationships with Turtle Island First Nations, decolonization, recovering an ecocentric worldview, rewilding, creating a sustainable future and reclaiming peaceful co-existence in Earth Community.
Amazon.com 
Stone Circle Press
  ​
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Seeds and Beads

1/26/2011

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Seeds

PictureSeed Necklaces from Mexico
Never doubt the power of small humble things like seeds.  The heart and soul of creation, the fertility gifts of Gaia that are tenderly nurtured by the plant-spirits, seeds carry the ultimate promise of rebirth and regeneration, the growth of the springtime blossom and the tiny sprout that are the "green fuse" in wild nature.  As small and unadorned as they seem, seeds hold the essence of the eternal spiral of life and represent spiritual renewal to the human soul.  Recently an Anishnaabe friend brought back a gift for me from the Caribbean, beautiful seeds Indigenous to the region strung on simple, yet meaningful necklaces.  She could not have known (except with the intuition of an earth-connected wisewoman) that these seeds would have such compelling meaning for me. Many years ago when my beloved grandmother's estate went up for auction I rescued items that were important, giving up many other objects in the mercantile process.  Much later I realized that the unassuming and simple little things she collected, like her apple seed necklaces, were now lost forever.  I regretted not having known the true value of the small things that had touched my heart.   But in one of life's surprising and serendipitous moments, the longing I carried all those years dissolved when my friend placed the humble seed necklaces from Mexico into my hands. Chi Meegwetch for turning the sacred wheel of destiny, for allowing the circle to come around again, for bringing closure and a healing balm to my heart. This gift is a reaffirmation of the potent seeds of love that are Mother Earth's gifts, and the gifts of our Mothers and Grandmothers to us all. 


Beads

PictureBeads and Baubles
An Anishnaabe friend gave me these modest and decorative bead bracelets at the solstice with a humorous request to "buy back the island of Manhattan on behalf of the original inhabitants of Turtle Island." How incredibly funny and dreadfully sad at the same time!  Can we even imagine how beautiful and pristine the eastern seaboard was at the time of European contact?  With our modern attitude of ennui can we even begin to understand how the original inhabitants of North America were embedded in the sacredness of the natural world, and how they respected the demarcated niche that humanity held in that ecosystem?  Yes, the Eurocentric conquerors used beads as part of their trade offerings to secure access and title to lands. But what would pretty trinkets have meant to people that held the entire magnificent luminous world in their hearts and minds?  To peoples who are in and of the land, not above it or separate from it, the idea of land ownership  is inconceivable and obscene.  How they must have tolerated these crazy white men, not believing for a moment that their world was in jeopardy. Now a couple of centuries have passed, Manhattan's skyscrapers and concrete jungles blot out the natural landscape, and if there is one thing we know for sure (the gift of indoor plumbing none-withstanding) is that the "civilized world" of the arrogant and destructive Settler  Society is not the correct way to be living on Turtle Island.  To earth-based traditions it is self-evident that we are inseparably linked to nature.  We ARE nature, and the time has come for all people to remember who we are, where we belong and what is Sacred.  We need to love the land, and to give thanks for the gifts of the Earth.  The recovery of the Indigenous soul in all of us should come first, as it is the thread of our humanness woven inextricably into the world.  Then, let us recover Manhattan, with green spaces, permaculture, bicycles, natural power, green technology, heirloom seeds and community gardens and whatever else it takes.  And yes - nice joke, big sister, and Meegwetch for the baubles!



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Pegi Eyers is the author of  "Ancient Spirit Rising: Reclaiming Your Roots & Restoring Earth Community," an award-winning book that explores strategies for intercultural competency, healing our relationships with Turtle Island First Nations, decolonization, recovering an ecocentric worldview, rewilding, creating a sustainable future and reclaiming peaceful co-existence in Earth Community.
Amazon.com 
Stone Circle Press
  ​ 


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The Divine Feminine Fire

1/17/2011

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BOOK REVIEW BY PEGI EYERS
The Divine Feminine Fire:
Creativity and Your Yearning to Express Your Self
By Teri Degler
Dreamriver Press, 2009

“The feminine fire is a primordial, elemental force that is powerful
beyond our wildest imaginings.  It is, in fact, power itself.”  
Teri Degler's brilliant work of scholarship and wisdom connects mythology to our spiritual and creative journey and the awakening of the Divine Feminine.  By decoding texts from religious and mystical traditions and delving into the mysteries of kundalini energy, Teri has been able to identify the Divine Feminine Fire as a source of empowerment already embodied within us.  This cosmic force, also known as Shakti, Shekinah or Sophia, is not just the voice of the feminine, or the divine within, or of our higher self, but it is the force itself.  Teri helps us to understand this force, how it exists within, how it manifests, and how it propels our spiritual journey and boosts our empowerment and self-expression.  We know this power as the yearning we feel to help others, to heal, to grow spiritually, to express our creativity and to transform our self and the world.  Often we suppress the yearning to create in favor or more socially acceptable activities.  Teri counteracts this with the life stories of both historic and contemporary women, and gives us teachings on how to "fire-up" our creativity and birth our own passions, desires, projects and visions.
Examining the Divine Feminine Fire at work in the fascinating lives of Mahadevi Akka, a 12th century Hindu saint and Mechthild of Magdeburg, a 13th century Christian mystic, reveals surprising similarities to the spiritual experiences of women today.  The kundalini-shakti experience of Mahadevi teaches us to become comfortable with our wilder, more powerful emotions, and the holy spirit experience of Mechthild teaches us to go with the flow, to accept and embrace the life-long process of transformation.  Covered with greater detail in her earlier book "The Fiery Muse", Teri describes how the works of Hildegard of Bingen parallel the universal life force (the Divine Feminine "Shakti" principle), triggering a transformation of consciousness that led to Hildegard's mystical experiences and divinely-inspired creativity.

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'Cultivating the Cosmic Tree' painting by Hildegard of Bingen

Teri finds that three manifestations of the Divine Feminine from different spiritual traditions - Shakti, Shekinah and Sophia - share many of the same characteristics.  They represent the embodiment of the sacred within, manifest as divine light, are seen as the universal life force, and are a source of transformation and creative inspiration in our lives.  Inspired creativity is part of Shakti Awakening - a path that combines both spirituality and creativity.  Teri has found that the source for spiritual experience and creative energy is exactly the same, and moves us in the same transformational direction.  Creative blocks and the critical inner voice can be overcome, and our work is to allow ourselves to hear the call of the creative spirit, recognize the urge or profound need to create, and give this feeling its full expression.  The energy of life and creation is impossible to control, yet it pulses through each one of us and has a role to play in our daily lives.
Women have always had access to the Divine Feminine within, but Teri gives us the actual steps we can take to recognize this energy, make it real, and discover how the embodied Divine Feminine can become an ever-expanding source of creativity. The first step is to recognize Her in your life by becoming familiar with the sacred stories of Shakti, Shekinah and Sophia; the second is to learn to listen to Her when she is calling you; the third is learning to hold Her great power in your body, to simply be with Her; and the fourth step is to express Her, the creativity of your soul, and allow Her to flow outward from the heart of your being.  With these four steps we can integrate the Divine Feminine into our lives, connect with Her through creative expression of all types, and "radiant with joy and enthusiasm", dedicate ourselves to manifesting Divine Feminine Spirit in the  world!

"It is time!  Our most crucial job right now is to embody the
Divine Feminine."
  Marion Woodman

Go to www.teridegler.com to receive her newsletter "The Feminine Fire."

This review originally appeared in "SageWoman: Celebrating the Goddess in Every Woman" Issue #80 Healing Ourselves  www.sagewoman.com



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Pegi Eyers is the author of  "Ancient Spirit Rising: Reclaiming Your Roots & Restoring Earth Community," an award-winning book that explores strategies for intercultural competency, healing our relationships with Turtle Island First Nations, decolonization, recovering an ecocentric worldview, rewilding, creating a sustainable future and reclaiming peaceful co-existence in Earth Community.
Amazon.com 
Stone Circle Press
  ​ 

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Women Are the Only Hope

1/8/2011

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Way back in December of 1987, I wrote a poem entitled Women Are the Only Hope in a meditative moment.  Little did I know that the title would be the wording and precursor to a concept that would later appear in the collective consciousness, and expressed by (among others) Mendelson Joe!
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Women Are the Only Hope

Watching as darkness falls,
the perfect moment
when shadows shift in the sky,
brief lights backdrop the landscape,
quickly fading to black,
I wonder about the rift between men
and the dimensions within women.

Time and again I’ve thought
of a tree standing tall,
supporting the sky
in complete control of a quiet life,
and in synergy with the environment.
Unlike man, even at his best.

In this world of acceleration,
who rises from the shadows?
Women are the only hope.

Pegi Eyers, 1987


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Raconteur, railer, multimedia artist and musician Mendelson Joe believes that activism and speaking out can make a difference, and that women are the only hope for the future.  This excerpt from his book Alien is an extraordinary passage, eloquent in its plea for the empowerment of all women.  If you are not familiar with his work see www.karenrobinsongallery.com

Women Are the Only Hope by Mendelson Joe
"The world is in such a mess now. There will never be leadership from men, because there are too few men who think like David Suzuki.  So we’re fucked.  The only hope is women - I really believe it.  By using technology to communicate with one another, women can start to change the world.  They should make use of everything that connects people – the internet, telephones, television, writing, singing.  Women have to somehow unite and take control of the world.  And the only way they can do it is by withholding sex from men.  That’s the only way you can control men, to not allow them access to you unless they behave right.  These are not original thoughts.  If women were to band together and control men in this way, it would be at the risk of their own well-being, because the men would go around raping everybody.  So women not only have to becomes strong, they have to be protective of each other and they have to be aggressive.  Well, that’s an awful lot to ask overnight.  But it’s gotta happen soon.  Mothers are less likely to build bombs and drop them.  Women are less liable to want their children to go to war.  Women are less likely to knowingly pollute where they know their children are going to be living."
Alien: The Strange Life and Times of Mendelson Joe © Mendelson Joe 2000

This strikes me as a powerful wake-up call for the coming together of women in sisterhood and support.  Since the revival of the play Lysistrata in which the women of classical Athens withhold sex to end the Peloponnesian War, there have been instances of women "saying no" to deal with corruption in the oligarchy or to establish peace.  Not that this would be likely to occur on a large scale (?) but we can imagine what might happen if the wives of world leaders decided to give it a try!  The reality is that the unity of women can make a huge difference.  We need to reject the competitiveness and mistrust of each other that has been instilled in us by the patriarchy to keep us disconnected from each other, and from our personal and shared power.  We must have our voices heard as a collective.  As with women everywhere, I have gained an extraordinary amount of awareness and empowerment since I wrote this poem in 1987.  Change seems to come slowly, but the Great Turning is happening today.

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world.  Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has." 
Margaret Mead



RESOURCES

Jean Shinoda Bolen has been urging us on to the tipping point with her work >Gather the Women, Save the World<   She is a leader for today’s time of transition, and advocates setting up women’s circles and grassroots groups at the community level.

>Women Are Our Only Hope< by Anthony DiGiorgio

>Societies of Peace: Matriarchies Past, Present and Future< edited by Heide Goettner-Abendroth



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Pegi Eyers is the author of  "Ancient Spirit Rising: Reclaiming Your Roots & Restoring Earth Community," an award-winning book that explores strategies for intercultural competency, healing our relationships with Turtle Island First Nations, decolonization, recovering an ecocentric worldview, rewilding, and reclaiming peaceful co-existence in Earth Community. 
Stone Circle Press https://bit.ly/2IK4HfX
Amazon https://amzn.to/2uSbHN7



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    Pegi Eyers

    Musings on the ethos of the Divine Feminine as
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