Spiritual Feminism

I am a believer in the matriarchal prehistory. I am a feminist spiritualist. These two
statements feel real to me. They do not represent a false vision of female power
and domination. They are visions of an ancient undocumented society in which
men and women worked in partnership to protect and nurture a fragile,
misunderstood life span, where the supernatural was reality and danger lurked at
every corner.

I am not an intellectual but I love to read. I am not an artist but I can appreciate art in many forms but mostly I am not a scientist where proving the validity of a myth becomes critical. Myth and lies are not synonymous. No one has to convince me that stories which are told over and over and believed to be true are true!
Perhaps their original meaning was lost and perhaps not. What is to be gained from the story is the essence. If women were always under dogs in this world of ours there would have been no need to  systematically destroy their credibility over the last five thousand years. The mysteries of women will always  frighten. Our power to nurture life, in particular, is still as unfathomable to men and often to ourselves, as
any other mystery.

I can say with absolute certainty that many factors brought about these changes in the way that culture has  divided the two genders of humans. We are essentially the same mass of cells. And, so far, we have not  been able to find another way to reproduce our species. Yet we still struggle with the idea of female and  male being equal partners in the life cycle of humanity. We are so blessed. Where is our love?

The millions of women, men and children who died fighting for a women’s right to be respected  and honoured should not die in vain. The ‘burning times’ of witch hunts and the Inquisition was  but one example punishing women’s connectedness to earth and her appreciation of natural  laws in health and healing. What started as a blatant control of religion soon turned into a  hate-filled, fear-based, accusatory tirade against some women and their families for two to  three centuries. Devil worship, magic, sorcery, evil, were all words which could bring women to  trial and punishment. The ultimate sacrifice often included death by fire or drowning.

Women today are still abused, beaten, killed, and used mercilessly even in  so called ‘civilized’ societies. For the last six thousand years, dehumanization  of women has been perpetuated in the name of a deity who happened to be  identified as a male. I doubt that the Goddesses of ancient lore would have  singled out and sacrificed female energy in their quest for power. Even if the  prehistoric life was not idyllic, as least there was the benefit of feminine role  models. Mythology has many stories of women in power, women deities,  and warrior women who fought for human rights. We know that our ancestors  paid homage to the great mother. Earth was seen as nurturing and life giving.

Life cycles were normal, connected to the moon, easily explainable in the context of daily life.  The first menses was celebrated and understood. Women  learned to move in a natural cycle. When did these events become  unclean and dirty? Conception, childbirth and child-rearing were  carried on within the love and support of a community. Life may  have been a struggle but it was a shared endeavour.

Nothing has changed! We may control much of our life today but we still need to honour and appreciate  ourselves. No one needs to tell me that women had a different life before history was written. We were  there, in the cells of our mothers and grandmothers that have been handed down to us. In the context of  history and time, we stumbled but found a way to right ourselves and now we will walk tall again.

As I read the literature that is written by many western – born authors, and read by women who  struggle with understanding their history (or herstory) , I am amazed at how simple it was for me  to believe in a natural and enduring feminine courage and strength. Intuitively, I knew that  despite an unproven and undocumented time in our distant past, women and their mysteries  were the main thread in the fabric of life.