Last night I had the privilege of real-time conversation with amazing women. We talked of the power of women gathering – and the gathering power of women. They are connected; they feed and fuel one another. They both matter.
I read from Women Who Run with the Wolves
Lianne’s words:
Something integral to our experience of being women on this planet is that we gather together. And through that gathering, we affect a lot of change. We are the holders of Wisdom.
I sort of think of it as a phantom limb; when this need to connect and be in relationship with other women is repressed, it doesn’t disappear…The ache calls out to us and says, ‘I’m here. I’m here.’
Clarissa’s words:
Let us admit it. We women are building a motherland; each with her own plot of soil eked from a night of dreams, a day of work. We are spreading this soil in larger and larger circles, slowly, slowly. One day it will be a continuous land, a resurrected land come back from the dead…This world is being made from our lives, our cries, our laughter, our bones. It is a world worth making, a world worth living in, a world in which there is a prevailing and decent wild sanity.
I agree with Lianne. We know an ache in its absence; the power of women gathering with one another. I agree with Clarissa. Women are gathering in power and building a world; a prevailing and decent wild sanity.
Hear the cry. Express your wisdom. Let your decent wild sanity prevail. Be fed and fueled. Gather. Howl. Roar.
We are the ones we have been waiting for.
(Alice Walker)
No more waiting.
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{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
Hello Ronna, this is an extremely powerful post & it resonates very strongly with me. I recently re-read ‘The Red Tent’ by Anita Diamant, after a gap of many years & I was astonished at how deeply it moved me. Thinking it over, I realise that the story connected with the journey I have been on the last few years & that will never end. If you haven’t read ‘The Red Tent’, then I highly recommend it.
I also think the time has come for me to re-read ‘Women Who Run With The Wolves’.
All good wishes to you.
Thanks for your comment, Kirsten. So glad you’re here and so glad the post resonates. Yes…I read The Red Tent when it first came out – many years ago – and have recently pulled it back off my shelf to re-read. Your prompt has me inclined to move it up in the stack of things waiting me…It is a journey; cyclical in many ways and most definitely unending. The beauty of women alongside is what makes all the difference…Oh, and the howling.
This post has nagged at my brain a bit and will probably be fodder for one of my own. BUT…are we really really USING our feminine power to change the world? Unfortunately, I don’t think so. Women have been distracted by several things: worrying about their looks/bodies/food, over scheduling their kids (over thinking parenting in general), looking for romantic love, 3 things that MEN rarely give as much thought or energy to. We buy into this, self included, as the most important things, not worrying much about our legacy, the under-empowerment of our sisters in this and other nations, or how to empower ourselves to live the richest, best lives possible.
So, I read this and I think yeah, we have the potential, but are we actually DOING it (because we are equal to or greater in number than men).
On the bright side, since I seem to be in a feminist mood this morning!, 60% of US college students are women and if my own son is any indication, this generation of women, on the career front at least, are going to kick men’s asses.
Many hugs…
Kelly
‘Love your thought around this, Kelly…and…I think that even the stating of such is what reminds me that we’re on track. It’s the naming of/voicing of that enables movement. And the fact that we are now, ongoing, increasingly naming/voicing such things? I’m encouraged. And – as always – so much more room for growth, change, howling!!! Let’s DO it!
“No more waiting” – it is in communities like this one that is developing and making these changes happen, right here, right now. We are becoming more aware of what we are capable of. And we have the support of this community. I know it is making me stretch out to other communities and work on building them, supporting women in all sorts of areas. Getting away from worrying about looks (check out http://www.operationbeautiful.com for an example) and being the perfect mom (just take a look at some of the great blogs out there where moms are talking about getting away from over-scheduling and perfection, giving each other permission to be ENOUGH).
And yes, Kelly, some days it is very hard to see if we are using our feminine powers to change the world. However, I have faith that the tide IS turning and that we are making a difference. I see all kinds of great things starting to happen here and in the world (www.girleffect.org as another example). We are no longer afraid to stand up and be heard. In so doing, we are giving our daughters, nieces, girls everywhere; permission to do the same. I have such faith that there are changes coming.
.-= Shawna Cevraini´s last blog ..Lewis and Clark Adventure =-.
Way to Roar and Howl, woman!!!