BLESSING FOR PEACE
We pray for all who suffered violence today,
May an unexpected serenity surprise them.
For those who risk their lives each day for peace,
May their hearts glimpse providence at the heart of history.
That those who make riches from violence and war
Might hear in their dreams the cries of the lost.
That we might see through our fear of each other
A new vision to heal our fatal attraction to aggression.
That those who enjoy the privilege of peace
Might not forget their tormented brothers and sisters.
That the wolf might lie down with the lamb,
That our swords be beaten into ploughshares
And no hurt or harm be done
Anywhere along the holy mountain.
JOHN O'DONOHUE
From the book, Benedictus
County Clare, Ireland
Have you missed my not including goddess information in my last couple of blogs?
A repost of parts of a blog in 2015.
------------The other evening some of us gathered to watch a relatively old video in the series "Goddess Remembered" (1989) created by Donna Read of Canadian Broadcasting.
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Now there's a movement called Eco-feminism. As well as lots of other environmental groups with very positive momentum. It's needed more than ever.
So what's with studying goddess cultures that existed so long ago, before the ones of today where we find the goddess in second place in a hierarchy of deities? Name one religion today where goddesses are venerated either as primary or even equal to male deities.
They were egalitarian societies where women and men were equals. Societies that lasted thousands of years without warfare.
How can archaeologists tell this? They examined the ruins of cities without any defensive fortifications. There are no weapons besides those used to hunt and prepare foods. See Marija Gimbutus work for more information on this.
Just think. Life without warfare at all.
Nobody who greets a stranger had to worry about evil intentions. A time when Rumi's poems would truly mean you welcome all guests to your home, even without knowing who they are.
Imagine when the deities of these civilizations were female, as evident through thousands of figurines, carefully made and even placed in areas of the homes and cities suggesting rituals of some kind. There are very very few male oriented sculptures which were found. This led the early male archaeologists who found all these female forms to think only of "fertility goddesses" and that ancient men perhaps had made them with the same intentions modern men have in looking at feminine beauty.
But my thoughts also bring me to wonder if any of the craftsmen were indeed women.
I'm thrilled about the concept that a culture where men and women had equality would mean that women would be equal to men...and men would be equal to women. Nobody would be Top Dog. Nobody would be Bottom Dog.
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It is so hard to express the concept of true equality across to a culture (today) where there is such hierarchical competition to be the winner, to prove something is better than something else, to elect only the one candidate, and then the 49% who lost don't have any representation. We are submersed in a culture of inequality, and don't see it, just like the fish who has no concept of water until she's out of it.
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Power "over" the earth is now the most important place where we need a new way of co-existing. If we want to continue living on it, we need to recognize our symbiotic relationship with all life, the chemicals we create and discard, and how we can improve the earth rather than destroy it.
Today's Quote:
I'm thrilled about the concept that a culture where men and women had equality would mean that women would be equal to men...and men would be equal to women. Nobody would be Top Dog. Nobody would be Bottom Dog.
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It is so hard to express the concept of true equality across to a culture (today) where there is such hierarchical competition to be the winner, to prove something is better than something else, to elect only the one candidate, and then the 49% who lost don't have any representation. We are submersed in a culture of inequality, and don't see it, just like the fish who has no concept of water until she's out of it.
Power "over" the earth is now the most important place where we need a new way of co-existing. If we want to continue living on it, we need to recognize our symbiotic relationship with all life, the chemicals we create and discard, and how we can improve the earth rather than destroy it.
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Winter Shadows, 2026 by Jeff Bourgeau.
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Today's Quote:
O Great Spirit, I awake to another sun, grateful for gifts bestowed, granted one by one.
Twylah Nitsch
Seneca Medicine Woman
Seneca Medicine Woman
I like the peace poem! It would be nice to live in a world without war.
ReplyDeleteTake care, have a wonderful week.
It's a nice dream, which has been kept alive through many wars, with their peace declarations, and then more wars.
Delete...women need to be the peace makers, because men have done a lousy job of it!
ReplyDeleteGood idea. I hate to say it, but I'm going to be posting about the recent ICE murder in Minneapolis before the end of the day.
DeleteThere was the time you describe in the early agricultural villages. Then empires developed and patriarchy ensued.
ReplyDeleteIt’s been only a few thousand years of patriarchy. I wonder if people were also demonstrating against it back then, who saw the insanity that might be coming…
DeleteImagine...
ReplyDeleteAs dear John Lennon said.
Yes, just knowing the ideas of peaceful living continue in the face of so much constant violence is how I keep going!
DeleteImagine was written by Yoko, who let him use it. He said so.
ReplyDeleteI like the range of body sizes among goddesses. I'm small and don't identify with the massive Willendorf type of build. So when I see a slim goddess I think, ah, she sees me!