"The world will be saved by the Western woman" said the Dalai Lama during the September 2009 Vancouver Peace Summit. Since then, many have been pondering what His Holiness meant by that statement, which also represents a "call" to women to take action. For many, his comment highlighted the truth that women are emerging as leaders of the global change movement.
The "Return of the Goddess" indeed, which to me means, among many other things, Restoring the Balance to our divided collective human psyche.
In a previous post, I also pondered the term "Crone", and possible other ways of expressing the idea of a wise older woman as we emerge into the largest, most educated, and most long-lived, older population the world has ever known. One of my favorites was "Saga", "she who speaks", the teller of a long story. Discussing both the Dalai Lama's words, and reflecting on the meanings of "crone" as well, I found a great blog by Canadian writer and ecologist Nina Munteanu, and take the liberty here of quoting from her, since she says it much better than I could.
"Marianne Hughes, executive director of the Interaction Institute for Social Change (IISC), pondered the idea of the aging women as hag (originally a representation of feminine power) and how it relates to the Dalai Lama's statement on her blog.
“I'm not entirely sure what [the Dalai Lama] meant,” said Hughes, “But I am wondering if when he travels across the globe and sees so many of our sisters impoverished and repressed he sees western women of all ages in a position to speak out for justice and to take on the responsibilities of “the hag”... to take loving care of the planet and its people.”
The original meaning of the word “hag” in Gaelic referred to a saint with great powers who was responsible for the land, the waters and the people. The term had since been distorted through patriarchal propaganda; “the Hag” is currently being redefined as a strong, beautiful and ageless woman and has its similarities with “the Crone”, the third stage of a woman’s life and evolution from maiden to mother to crone."........"By the year 2008, postmenopausal women will comprise the largest demographic group in America. With our increased lifespan, the ancient tripartite divisions of Maiden, Mother, and Crone are more meaningful in women’s lives as the Crone stage occupies one third of our lifespan. Moreover, our current Crone generation (those born in the forties and fifties) is the first in the history of humankind that can claim (and HAS already claimed) economic autonomy and power."**
**Nina Munteanu, sfgirl-thealiennextdoor.blogspot.com
