The priorities of the patriarchal mind are pretty obvious when you look at the budget, and as far as the powers that be, non-essential services, like food stamps (1%), education (6%), the environment (3%) (and heaven forbid, even the arts) (just about no %).......have to be cut back.
(Thanks to the American Friends Service Committee and their 1 percent for Peace campaign http://www.afsc.org/about)
Oh, and here all those "free loaders" who sponge off taxpayers with foodstamps.................funny how most of them are either under 12, or over 70...........................
" Empathy is the invisible hand. Empathy is what allows us to stretch our sensibility to another so we can cohere in larger social units. To empathize is to civilize. To civilize is to empathize."
Here's a beautiful short video about empathy and human evolution. On so many levels, from mythology to archeology to evolutionary biology we've been long conditioned to think that war, competition, intellect over "lower (feminine)" emotional intelligence, and individualism over the need to cooperate and belong........is the way it's always been. It's just not true. Rifkin explores a hopeful argument of human evolution as the development of empathy in pre-history from small family units to the possible evolution, now, of a global civilization and global empathy. I think of the vision of "Motherworld" that Kathy Jones and the Goddess Temple of Glastonbury. Certainly I agree that the next evolutionary step will not be an intellectual one, so much as an empathic evolution, a capacity to not only "see", but to truly "feel" our interconnectedness and interdependency. The "New Age" begins with revaluing, and continually evolving, the
capacity for Empathy, not just with other human beings, but with the
entire planet.
"Bestselling author and ethical prophet
Jeremy Rifkin investigates the evolution of empathy and the profound
ways that it has shaped our development and our society. Taken from a
lecture given by Jeremy Rifkin as part of the RSA's free public events
programme. The
RSA is devoted to creating social progress and
spreading world-changing ideas. Find out more at http://www.thersa.org .
Produced and edited by Abi Stephenson, RSA. Animation by Cognitive Media.
This
piece is brand new (as of Christmas Eve, 2013). I don't yet know what
to title it: "Our Lady of _____________?" I think her face is sorrowful, and of course the image of old, broken, decorated tiles or potshards have always meant to me reclaiming and arising of that which has been lost, broken, buried in the ancient past. There is a surprising sense of Arising in these Icons that I've felt
compelled to finish these past few weeks. The Arising of the
life-giving Goddess, arising from the mythic body of the Earth, arising from the shadows in this time
of need. And now that I think about it, this recent holiday, buried beneath all the consumer frenzy, is about the Solstice, and the birth of
the new Sun God, the Christ Child..............
When I searched the internet, was it so hard to find any (good) poems
about Birth, let alone Midwives. Believe me, there are plenty of poems
about Battle and the glories, or not so glorious, realities of War. I
think this is another indicator of our world's patriarchal priorities (death is way more important, and interesting, than the bringing forth of life. And even that becomes trivialized or co-opted.) Perhaps this is part of what the sorrowful expression of this "Madonna" means, seeking to arise in the fragmented consciousness of humanity..........
Certainly, these works keep surfacing from the dusty depths of my own creativity, and some
dreaming part of me wanted to bring them forth.
"Sings with the Voices of Ancient Midwives the Songs They Once Sang, Singing the New Life Into The World.........."
"Shrine for the Ancient Midwives"
I'm always making Shrines, Reliquaries, "Containers" for images or objects that are important to me in one way or another. This is a universal human impulse, and such shrines provide us with a "memory station" to re-connect with what is large, meaningful, sacred in the midst of daily life. Here's a few new ones:
"Bloom Where You Are Icon"
The "Reliquary for the Flight of a Phoenix" is something I make over and over. It began on the Summer Solstice in 2003, when I was at an artists colony in Connecticut, I-Park. That ecstatic summer I would walk in the woods and fields, and let the objects I found tell me stories, integrating them into story sculptures. A bright yellow feather, perhaps from an Oriole, became a relic left over from the recent flight of a Phoenix, born again from the ash and, as one holds that magical feather in one's hand, somehow you participate in that glorious, distant flight. It becomes your own flight as well.
"Reliquary for the Flight of a Phoenix"
Here are a few from earlier times. I've always loved the one below, which I guess shows various symbols of transformation, including the Phoenix and the Snake, and of course, the breaking away of masks that enclose the soul. If that makes sense..................
Did I see you?
feel your smile
as you
fell?
People cross bridges
cars pass under them
or water
you waited
then jumped
(it must have happened
quickly)
but what was it that rose in you
like a slow Phoenix
new wings
outstetched?
....Felicia Miller
One of the "Persephone Icons", and Persephone is always identified for me with the eternal process of life dying and being reborn.
One of the Spider Woman Shrines I made at Wesley..........to remind myself that we are all "weavers" with the actions of our minds and hands. So may I align with the Great Weaver................
"I hope we shall crush in its birth (of our nation) the aristocracy of our monied corporations which dare already to challenge our government to a trial by strength, and bid defiance to the laws of our country."
In 1844 the Factory Acts were passed to address the injustice of exploitative child labor. These acts addressed the working
conditions that children and women had to work in. All women
and young persons (13-18) were limited to work for only 12 hours and
children under 13 could only work for under 6 ½ hours. In addition, all
children under 8 could not be employed in factories. This was a
continuation of the first factory acts in 1833, and there were 3 more
factory acts to follow.
Eventually child labor, and slavery, were outlawed in the U.S. Later came environmental protection laws, affirmative action in the labor market, decent work environment protection, and pensions for retirees.
And also anti-trust laws to limit corporate power.
Faces of the past.
Just about everything we buy now does away with those laws.
Faces of today.
Do you know where your chocolate comes from?
It might not be so appetizing......
“The history of the twentieth century was dominated by the struggle
against totalitarian systems of state power. The twenty-first will no
doubt be marked by a struggle to curtail excessive corporate power.”
The Winter Solstice has been celebrated since time immemorial, and in the cold Nordic countries, where the return of the Sun's life giving warmth is of particular concern, there is evidence that it's been celebrated since the time of the Megalith builders and before. Yule/Jól was was probably connected to the full moon nearest
the winter solstice.
Among many others the long-bearded god Odin bears the names jólfaðr (Old Norse 'Yule father') and jólnir (Old Norse 'the Yule one'). "
The Yule Log
The origins of the Nordic Yule go back to a feast to honor the Norse God Odin, who among other things was the jolly God of Intoxicating Drink. The
custom of the Yule Log or Yule Tree emerged from this winter festival as well. The custom
of Yule log varies from region to region. It's good to remember the primal importance of the gift of warmth and of fire to early people living in the cold North, the "flame at the Hearth" for ancient families. The Log may have originally been a large tree (Christmas Trees)
brought to the house with great ceremony.
On Christmas, people light
the Yule log placed in the hearth. The burning of the
Yule Log brings good fortune for family and friends. After Christmas celebrations, a piece of the Yule
log is retained to relight next year along with next year's log.
Origins of Santa Claus
"The appearance of Santa Claus or Father Christmas, whose day is 25th of December, owes much to Odin, the old blue-hooded, cloaked, white-bearded Gift bringer of the north, who rode the midwinter sky on his eight-footed steed Sleipnir, visiting his people with gifts. … Odin, transformed into Father Christmas, then Santa Claus, prospered with St Nicholas on the Christmas stage."
......Margaret Baker
St. Nicholas was a 4th-century Christian bishop
from Lycia (now in Turkey), who was known for his charity, and giving gifts to the
poor. In one notable story, he met a pious but impoverished man who had
three daughters. He presented them with dowries to save them from a life
of prostitution. In most traditional Iconic images, St. Nicholas is
portrayed as a bearded bishop, wearing clerical robes, an important patron saint of children, the poor, and
prostitutes.
So few people know that Santa Claus is a blend of an early Christian saint living in Turkey (Saint Nickolaus) and the Norse god Odin, with a few other influence thrown in over the ages. But I guess that would take away the fun............
The other mythos from which Santa Claus derives is much earlier, Odin, the ruler of Asgard. Odin was often
depicted as leading a hunting party through the skies, during which he
rode his eight-legged horse, Sleipnir. In the 13th-century Poetic Edda,
Sleipnir is described as being able to leap great distances, which some
scholars have compared to the legends of Santa's reindeer (and, of course, the Edda are from Finland, which once abounded with reindeer). Odin was portrayed as an old man with a long, white beard.
Odin (1886) by Georg von Rosen
I read that during the winter, in some pagan folklore, children would place their boots near the chimney (and in the cold of a Nordic winter, it's a good place to put them), filling them with carrots
or straw as a gift for Sleipnir. When Odin flew by, he rewarded the
little ones by leaving gifts in their boots. Like traditions of the "Green Man" in England, in rural areas of Germanic
countries this practice survived despite the adoption of Christianity.
As a result, gift-giving became associated with St. Nicholas rather than the earlier Pagan god Odin. Only now we hang stockings by the chimney, and leave cake and brandy rather than carrots and straw.
