A Theme...

Today I walked with a dear friend and sister...she took me to a place that has flowing water (rare for these parts). A place called Bear Creek with babbling, dancing, clear, breathtaking, affirming, flowing water. There is still snow on the ground right now, though not for long. The sun was shining brilliantly, the song birds singing joyously for Spring is most assuredly here.

As we walked we talked about our yearning, our longing, the sense of urgency that comes from living in a global culture that has silenced something that, to us, feels as crucial as water, as air, as oxygen. We talked about the starvation we feel for the wild and free creative spirit and energy that is the feminine herself. 'How do we survive?' 'How can we continue to struggle with concepts like money and rent and profession, when all we care about is finding, celebrating and dwelling within Her?'

We acknowledged that so much of our daily thought and energy is taken up with our projection, onto other women in our community, of perfection. We imagine that other women have figured out the money thing, that other women have figured out the partnership thing, that other women are having regular mind-blowing, spiritually fulfilling, deeply honoring sexual encounters. And yet, I have not met a woman who truly has. For the last five years (really, for my whole life) I have been a woman to whom other women speak their Truth. It has just happened that way. And certainly that is why I am doing what I'm doing now: resurrecting and celebrating female Truth as if human survival depended upon this one task. I can say that despite appearances I have yet to meet a woman who is not struggling under the weight of urgency, of longing, of loneliness, of deep primal (primary) desire. This has become our common female odyssey, even if we refuse to acknowledge it.

And so, I am left, once again, wondering what might happen if all women committed to speaking our Truth. Really...if you knew you were alone in the forest, with only the songbirds and the trees to hear you, what would you utter? What burden would you lay down? What Truth rests heavy on your shoulders, or in your heart? What if you knew that the fate of the world rested upon your utterance of this familiar Truth? What if it were really that simple...what would you dare speak to the hills, to the birds, to the sky?

As my dear sister and I came to the end of our walk, we arrived at a spot on the trail that the sun had thawed. It was as inviting a spot as I've ever experienced. There we removed our shoes and socks and let our bare feet sink deep into the wet ground. The mud was thick and rich and warm. We walked and pranced and prayed in silence as the wet earth seeped up between our toes saying "Yes...this is yours. Now, what will you do with it?"

This moment, every moment, is yours and yours alone. You are here right now. Take off your shoes, sink your feet into the rich earth and let the mud seep deep. Speak loudly and assuredly...tell someone your Truth and do it as if all life depended upon the success of your endeavor...because dear sisters, it most assuredly does...

A Beautiful Ceremony...

As promised we held a welcoming ceremony tonight, to offer some of the first story excerpts that were gathered from our Texas/New Mexico trip and to tell stories of the journey, of the women, of the land. Men, women and children gathered in my 900 square foot home to witness and read and ask questions...to help us 'land' from a journey that, I'm now convinced, won't ever truly be done.

It was a powerful evening. First of all, we don't usually do our Story Spirals with men. And tonight we had beautiful, strong, reverent men in the room. It worked. It is healing to provide space in which men and women can speak their truth knowing all that will happen is deep listening and respect. It is healing every time.

It was also powerful because a sampling of the beautiful wisdom that was spoken to us on our trip was unveiled and offered into the world. Only the beginning for sure. But already, within moments of the evening conclusion, I had received an email from one of the men in the circle. As he had left the gathering he had asked if he could take one of the excerpts home because he was so moved by its innate poetry. In his email he offered the story transcribed into a poem, each phrase powerfully honored by the addition of space on both ends. The title of the excerpt-turned-poem is 'The Weight of Her Burden'.

There is nothing like being witnessed by another person, nothing like being truly seen. And the process tonight was not only a chance for the women who just returned from this journey to be welcomed home, our travels to be commemorated. Far more, this evening was about honoring and witnessing what is quickly becoming a globally vibrant conversation and offering...and the power of having men as part of this journey is a long-time dream of the GCW's founding members...Thank you....

Women in Reality

A Few years ago, as I was just beginning to put the conversation together that is now the Global Culture of Women, I became obsessed with gathering women. Luckily, I have very forgiving friends, for despite the fact that I bombarded my circle with new classes, workshops, interviews, councils (you name it, they came) they still talk to me today.

One of the offerings that came out of that period of this ever-shifting journey is a course/conversation called "Women in Theory & Reality". The goal was to illuminate the disparities between the mythology of our female lives and the actual, ground zero, reality. The idea being that if we women actually told the full Truth of our lives this would unleash transformation on the planet like nothing we could imagine. This belief is largely what inspired the GCW. Muriel Ruckeyser said, "What if one women told the truth about her life? The world would split open." We live in a world of double-speak. We live in a world that has been spin-doctored to the point where even we, women, often put a saccharine coating over our own realities, even with our closest friends.

For this reason, it has been one of the long-standing desires of the GCW vision not to allow it to get too bogged down in descriptive words. Really, there aren't words within the English language to describe this vision anyway. We won't be missing much by keeping Her safe from jargon. In 'The Great Hoop of Life' Paula Underwood states "English is one of those languages based on naming things rather than describing them. As such it trains us to categorize everything that comes into our lives, in spite of the fact that so many things are neither this nor that."

To know the full reality of our female lives (both the incredible despair and the infinite breathtaking beauty) we have only to take ourselves to the land I just returned from: the borderlands of Texas, the country that is neither this nor that. Where people have been living on land their mother's, mother's, mother & father farmed. Where heritage means you can remember ten generations back because your ancestors made a point of telling their stories and their grandchildren made a point of listening to them. Where a wall is being built that separates families and communities that have been within walking distance of each other for centuries. Where Mexican men, women and children are incarcerated and held without bail or representation for months on end. Here there is no saccharine coating strong enough to cover reality. And it is most certainly not this or that...it is both/and and everything in between. Like the micro-pollutants alive and well within the Rio Grande on any given day coupled with the fact that it is impossible to negate the innate serpentine beauty of that river...it is both/and.

The reality of our female lives is an intimate indicator of the reality of all life on the planet. This trip showed me, in vivid and sometimes shockingly grotesque detail, that all life is in grave jeopardy. Yet the irony of this moment is that in order to get out of it, in order to change it, we have to allow ourselves to be motivated not by what is wrong but by what is so perfectly right. We have to allow ourselves to perceive, be blown away by and remain fiercely dedicated to, the beauty and perfection that is all around us all the time. Armed with these visions, the grotesque, unjust and inhumane could be reversed, healed and transformed easier and faster than waiting for an elected official to do it for us.

Each day, day in and day out, for the 22 days we were on the road, I witnessed the most extraordinary Love and devotion to life. The most extraordinary unconditional nurturing, humanity and courage. The most extraordinary generosity, faith and trust. Over and over I saw this in the women whom we sat with, as they told stories, spoke their Truth. Each time a woman speaks her Truth the spin-doctored mythology of our lives is split wide open and in this space, in this schism, Love is the only thing that grows. And let me tell you, from where I sit, it's nothing but gorgeous...

Border Beauty

Sitting with Martha in her outdoor sanctuary in Terlingua Texas, mid-morning: This town is directly on the border of Mexico...on a clear day you can see the mountains of Mexico looming large and beautiful. Martha grew up just north of here in a town called Marfa, a roaring metropolis compared to the tranquility of this beautiful, ancient town. Terlingua is the town that became famous for, among other reasons throughout history no doubt, the length of miles the high school kids had to go to get to school – over an hour by bus each way, each day, on winding roads through the hills all the way up to Alpine, Texas. Needless to say, the drop-out rate was enormous. That’s all been remedied now thanks to a Superintendent who was focused on the education of the children in her district. Now they stay right there in town and attend school.

As she told pieces of her own story, Martha spoke about her Woman's Voice. This is her passion. At 45 she is feeling a very different Voice alive within her - one that doesn't really worry what others think about, that is concerned first and foremost with speaking her values. She is a school teacher, a librarian, an avid gardener, an activist, a mother of two teenage boys, a wife and a woman's woman (she is aligned with the women in her community and speaks of this connection and female community as her lifeline). When I asked her what helps her stay strong in her Voice she looked around her and acknowledged the abundance of nature that thrives in this arid, hot environment; the plant life she has surrounded herself with...a patio overlooking the Chisos Mountains of Big Bend (incidentally, their outhouse shares this same sublime view, complete with a 270 degree view of Mexico and a composting toilet). Her garden 'room' (for this is truly their living room) is surrounded by a dry rock wall that curves in the most female fashion around their property perched on the hill. Plants are everywhere...really, everywhere. They’re growing out of pots, out of cracks, out of walls...out of each other’s pots, everywhere you look there are plants overflowing their containers. Martha says, “I have to have my hands in dirt, it’s the Mother, the Source. I think we all, all women, must put their hands in dirt, even if it’s just in a pot that is in our house.” Thanks to Blythe (who is constantly aware of the visual representation of the energy that is in front of her) I am looking at every woman's hands and Martha's are powerful - earth hands.

After we said goodbye to Martha and worked our way down the winding desert driveway, our ever-expanding car was newly adorned with three gorgeous plants in two big pots. She gifted us with Agave, Aloe and Blooming Onion pips from her garden. The Blooming Onion is Border tradition; when a woman has to leave the area for some tragic reason the women gift her with a Blooming Onion and it’s her responsibility to let them know when it blooms...like announcing the birth of a child, the word spreads like wildfire through the grapevine that so-and-so’s onion has had “babies!”

Refinement...

Many months ago, when the awareness of this trip made its way into my consciousness, I said ‘yes’ for several reasons. For the last several years I have tried to practice offering those thoughts and ideas that I perceive as ‘mine’ up to the world with no expectations that I have found an ‘answer’ or that I am ‘right’. It feels to me that, if they survive this trial by fire, if they still feel ‘true’ after they’ve been handled and passed around, then they are true. And also, in a bold departure from my cultural indoctrination, it has been my experience that truly co-created ideas are the strongest ideas. They are often ideas that not only blend the wisdom of the current cognizant generations but also those that have come before.

So, I said ‘yes’ to this walkabout because it felt as if it was time to simply offer this project up to everyone and anyone. It was time to leave home, hit the road, stop in towns we had never heard of until we bought the map. It was time to sit with women whom we had never met before that moment; time to invite each and every woman who was interested to join this conversation, offer their wisdom and step in as midwives. It felt like all this was crucial to the truth of this vision. And, with still one week to go, this trip has provided exactly this (and so much more that isn’t easily conveyed in words).

This trip has delivered a quickening and refinement of the vision, so much so that it feels as if the mission statement needs to be revisited.

This ‘project’ is less of an entity than it is a calling, an INVITATION. She is an invitation to all women to speak our truth and wisdom to each other. “What if one woman told the truth of her life?” asks Muriel Rukeyser. “The world would split open.” Yesterday I told my story to Janet Meek, midwife, earth-mama and revolutionary heart-centered female being. After I said my last words, blew my nose and looked up at her through teary eyes she said, “I feel like my heart has been split open.”

It is not that we must gather women’s stories. First and foremost, we must tell our stories.

Our stories, each and every one of them, are medicine. Each story provides us a way home.

The Global Culture of Women is an invitation for women to speak our Truth and Wisdom. It is a loom on which the great and gorgeous collective body of Women can weave the individual threads of our Female Wisdom and Truth together, creating a new tapestry of human consciousness.

The Miracle Gender

Sitting with Jane, in the home that she grew up in, the property she was born on, surrounded by family heirlooms. Sitting at her kitchen table, sipping ice tea with lemon, creating a space for a story of breathtaking power and integrity to be offered to the planet. This activity, the act of gathering a woman’s Truth, is so far beyond the English language’s paltry capacity to describe it.

Jane is in good company in a group of women who say something like, “well, I’m not sure what good my story can do...but I’ll offer it up if it will help the project.” And then she proceeds to tell a story of a life that has been lived (and will continue to be lived), with the most exceptional integrity, guided by the deepest fiercest Love; a story that has the power to unite the female gender.

There are moments in the story gathering process where the wisdom and Truth that is being offered is so full it feels impossible to speak about it. It just becomes one of those moments that must be integrated into each individual’s soul in her own time, in her own way. As Jane sat at her table, having quickly dismissed the Fear card, she spoke about the moment in her life when she went to her father to request that he (re)teach her how to shoot a gun. The first time he taught her it was because he felt strongly that she know this skill, just as he felt strongly that she know what the taste of squirrel was like. These are just things a Texas farm girl needs to know, according to her practical Dutch father. This time, however, she was seeking his help so she could protect herself from the aggression and abuse of her second husband, who had already broken into her home and raped her once. She knew that if he succeeded in breaking into her home again he would probably kill her. With four children to take care of she wasn’t about to let that happen. So, when the eventuality happened that he broke into her home again she grabbed the gun and stood her ground for a moment long enough to consider what it might mean for her to shoot and kill the father of two of her children. It occurred to her that she couldn’t shoot him. That shooting him wouldn’t be right.

In this moment, on this planet, the reality is that it isn’t a rare thought for a woman to imagine whether killing her intimate partner is justified. There are thousands of women behind bars in this country alone, imprisoned for the crime of protecting themselves against an ex-partner turned deadly aggressor. The most frequent cause of death for women globally is violent death at the hands of a man we have at one point been intimate with.

And here sitting with Jane I am offered a third definition of the Feminine Principle: the capacity to expand to Her surroundings, to continue to become what is needed in any given situation, despite being mortally threatened Herself, the ability to become something greater than what Her individual needs might dictate in service of those who are reliant upon Her for their survival.

This is where the mundane meets the magic...where it’s probably not possible to fully comprehend the miracle that is the female gender. This magic is probably sitting right in front of you in the form of your sister, your mother, your auntie or best female friend...I urge you to gather her story today...don’t wait. Don’t wait another minute...

Three Generations of Warrior Women

This morning we had the incredible honor of sitting with three generations of powerful Texas Hill Country warrior women. With just a little more planning (this gathering was organized at 6pm the night before!) we could have had four generations but Great Grandmother Annabel Lee (McClary) Pillow was in Fort Worth five hours away during this incredible moment. She and the littlest female among this power-clan (3 year old Maya who was sick at home with dad) were invoked early on in the interview. Throughout the interview two more females of the clan, Jessica's five-year old sisters, were dancing around the property, dipping in and out of the interview.

First we sat with Jessica, who is 15, daughter of Lisa, 40, and granddaughter of Kathleen who is 62. Jessica talked about dance and the connection with dance and perfection, nature and perfection. She spoke of women and nature, and at such a young age has already learned that, for her as for so many females we've talked with, nature is a profound resource for feminine wisdom. "Nature is perfect. It's almost the only thing that is." Later she adds to this short list: "Women are perfect too. And when I dance I get to remember that." We had the truly breathtaking opportunity to witness Jessica in her perfection: dancing middle-eastern belly dance on stage with her instructor/mentor and another elder. There is a righteous power waiting to spring into planetary action within the body of aware young women. I think of it as I think of this project; a filly with all the power of a team of thoroughbreds, but she's not ready to run in an all-out gallop, not quite yet. For this, to know when the time is ready, she has elders who see the power in her. For all those women who have, against all odds, insisted that women's empowerment goes hand in hand with women's embodiment, we say "yes!" because we've just witnessed it with our own eyes.

It's easy to see where Jessica gets her convictions. Jessica's mother, Lisa, a biology professor and basketball player (she's 6'2") got the 'proof' she was looking for, for the perfection and power of the female gender when she went to graduate school in the natural sciences. "Everything is labeled in the feminine. And the female chooses. She is always the one to choose....Women are powerful. Just powerful. Sometimes we forget that and that is a shame." When I ask what role men can play in the lives of powerful women she answers, without hesitation, "My husband protects me and my daughters. They feel truly safe. Protection is what men can offer us.”

Sitting with these three generations of strong warrior women you get a powerful dose of sisterhood – but there is a definite ‘leader’ of this tribe; Kathleen, who at 62 has become the one to bring indigenous wisdom, ritual and culture to the family. She has taken it upon herself to shift the lineage of her family to one that includes a space for deep female wisdom. When daughter Lisa speaks about spirituality and what that means to her, why it’s so important and how she is ready to merge a deep sense of spirituality into her marriage, Kathleen looks out over her property then offers (in a somewhat playful but quite serious tone) “We can have a ceremony here, a circle, we can all drum and dance; Jessica on horseback wearing a leather dress, barefoot with her beautiful bone necklace on.” Kathleen breaths sisterhood, really. She has come to her own deep well of female spirit and now considers it an honor and responsibility to live it. Yet she does this with humility, a ‘we’re all in this together...' sort of energy. Sitting with Kathleen is a rare chance to feel both like a sister and an apprentice at the same time. This has become another definition of the Female Principle to me: the fact that we are all ‘both/and’ all the time – both teacher and student all the time; without that understanding precious wisdom and energy fall through the cracks.