The woman without hands

"The woman without hands spoke to me about a life severed from the power to grasp one's deep life as woman, to hold onto one's inherent power. One day that summer while browsing in a small shop, I happened upon an illustration of the Virgin Mary drawn in detail except for one thing. She had no hands.

As I looked at the print, I realized that over the long course of church history, Mary had been the closest thing Christianity had to an archetype of the Feminine Divine. for many she filled the vacuum in the divine image and came to represent the feminine 'side'. She was referred to as Queen of Heaven, Lady All Holy, Sovereign Mistress of the World."

from The Dance of the Dissident Daughter, Sue Monk Kidd

A woman's journey from Christian Tradition to the Sacred Feminine

musemother

Feminine Spirit

"For women, spirituality is less a hero's journey to a distant land than a finding of our center in a God who is present in the homely practicalities of day-to-day life."

I recently picked up A Woman's Journey to God, by Joan Borysenko, while researching the Mother God for an upcoming class on Mary and Kwan Yin. It does my heart good to see her talk about women's spirituality being manifest in the day to day life, in the "home" where I spend so much time doing daily, practical (or impractical) things like cleaning up yesterday's hot water tank leakage, airing out the stinky cat litter box, or filling the house with the flavourful odour of beef stew simmering in a slow cooker all afternoon. Some days, it all seems so random; in spite of daily meal schedules, I can wander in circles all day feeling like I'm not getting much done, let alone living a life of 'spirit'. My goal is to get through the day, and the lists.

..."In the work world, where seminars speak of setting goals and objectives and then working relentlessly to obtain them, the apparently aimless exerse of walking without direction seems addled and unwise. Yet this is often an important theme of women's work and career stories. When we are walking Sarah's circle, there is no final destination. The process, the journey itself, is one of staying in alignment with what our own inner guidance is telling us. If we quit listening, we begin to feel anxious and inauthentic. The important relation to our own spiritual Self, and our relationship to God, suffers."

Joan Borysenko calls it wisdom and courage, not confusion, to wander in the 'don't know' space - don't know where I'm going, or what's coming next, or who I am. "It creates the space for something new to be born." How refreshing it is to read this. I am often in the transitional space lately, and it is comforting to know that I do not have to set goals, have answers, always know where I am going or who I am. Just trying to live in the present moment, in my body, paying attention to my intuition, to my gut feeling, to the feeling in my gut of butterflies or fear or nervousness or excitement, is challenge enough.

"Women's spirituality is about that presence (the wisdom and love we embody) as we walk through daily life, at work and at home, seeking the place of the heart from which healing and joy naturally flow."

"For women on a mission, coming into a balance of being and doing doesn't come naturally." (ie addicted to frenzied doing, burning out, we become dry and irritable and stressed vs calm, centered, relaxed) "The big question becomes, 'How can I get what I need without being selfish to others?'" (Borysenko) Maybe that is the burning question for ex-Catholics like myself, raised on a diet of Hail Mary's and good works, putting others first. Remember the oxygen mask on the plane - you need to put it on yourself first, then on the little ones.

I send out my prayer for connection with whatever is true compassionate love in the Universe, mother or father god; however that can manifest in my life, with the people I run into, spend time with, eat and play with. In the homely day to day 'stuff' of life that needs doing. I call out for patience and self-love, more compassion for my limitations, understanding how my being off-centre affects my family.

Mostly I pray to understand what love is, how to feel it.

Kwan Yin, mother of mercy, bring it on!


musemother

bare bones and motherfamine

we are the bones of our mothers, we come from the bones of our mothers, we are starved for the cellular lustre of our mother's listening, our hearts crave mothering, and it feels good to read about Mary Magdalene as part of the Divine Mother that was 'x'd out of our conscious worship/awe eons ago, after the mother goddesses (read: pagan idols) were destroyed, burned, defiled, and the Father gods enthroned in her place - we lost the couple-ness, the duality. Life is duality, life is dual, egg and sperm, yin and yang. Night and day.

this motherfamine is our song of loss and ache of being for somehting deep, rooted inside our female bodies (and our male bodies), a call or longing for wholeness.

she was lost to us before we were born, as Adrienne Rich says. this honey nectar of mother love - how love the self, if you are woman, and are not in love with the feminine?

some musings on the brink of thunder, under a darkening sky, this July morning, watching the wind in the oak leaves frolic and blow. Remember the anointing, the sacred ointment poured out over Jesus, 'wasted' some said, the bride of the king giving him a special symbolic bathing in rich perfumed oils, and then her tears, and her hair rubbing his feet dry. the sensuality of spirit marrying spirit, inside the flesh.

Manna, breath of life, says the Dolphin in my cards this morning. Connect with divine energy through breath. Sacred Breath.

Dear reader, come play in the great ocean! Breathe, dance, dive deep. Open your heart and receive. Life.