“She Rises” uses a thousand perspectives to perceive Her Presence!
Yesterday I finally finished this extraordinary book and wanted to share a few thoughts with you.
First, once again I am astonished at the amount of labor that went into this amazing creation.
Secondly, I wish this volume had been available to me during the ten years that I taught Women’s Studies. I believe that the Women’s movement cannot survive without the goddess in whatever form she may manifest, and I found myself out on a lonely limb whenever I introduced the spiritual aspect of Feminisms.
“The Language of the Goddess” helped me bridge the gap and it is only in retrospect after reading “She’s Rising” that I see that Gimbutus’s work informs many of the writings and art work in this volume. Once again I am reminded that the image precedes the word.
So many of my young students were not interested in past writings and could relate only to current publications. If only I could have passed along this collection of women’s experiences of the goddess… As a former instructor I am grateful that RTM has produced such a volume for teachers everywhere.
Equally important is my belief that goddess spirituality is critical to the survival of the earth because without a shift away from patriarchy (which I also call “powerarchy”) and its paradigm of domination we cannot help but continue along the path we have chosen towards destruction of ourselves and the planet..
“She Rises” uses a thousand perspectives to perceive Her Presence. I am reminded of a painting of Green Tara whose eyes peered out of every part of her body and mind…
It was my immersion in goddess spirituality that helped me to develop my voice to become an advocate for animals and plants (who have no voice), opening “the way” to the work that sustains me during these difficult times.
“The Goddess does not rule the world… She is the world”
On a more personal level I agree with Helen Hwang completely that it’s necessary to focus on honoring the goddesses of our own spiritual traditions or the ones our archetypal imaginations brought to us…
For me the goddess is Animal and Plant and all the Forces of Nature working together in the service of Life often personified as The Great Bear or a Tree.
One often “forgotten” reality is, as Hwang have said, that “evil thrives in a climate of violence”. As we become more and more violent as a global culture we need to have the courage to stand in this truth and to keep naming this horror for what it is. I know how overwhelming that truth can feel. There are days when I feel I cannot stand to stay in the truth of what I know because there seems to be nothing I can “do” about it.
As I have said before I feel privileged to be a small part of this community we call Return To Mago.
Thank you Editors, Helen and Kaalii, thank you.