(This Musing is by Merry Cole and reflects her own personal journey, not necessarily the “official doctrine” of The Gathering Inn. The nice thing about The Gathering Inn is that there is NO official doctrine, everyone is encouraged to be wherever they are in the stream.)
ALL PROBLEMS HAVE SOLUTIONS! Some solutions are very simply that “it is what it is” and we learn how to accept what “is” with gratitude for the lessons learned and opportunity to experience “what is” with no resistance. Other problems have solutions involving our action and our task is to seek the Goddess’s wisdom on what our part is in the solution.
Two related “problems” pull at me at some deep soul level.
One can simply be called the Injustice of Gender Inequality. I am talking about the status of women in this country and in Third World and developing countries. I cannot sit here in my well heated home, snuggled up with a book and a cup of coffee knowing that thousands of my sisters are being left behind or denied education, health care, basic human rights, political influence, world leadership; or worse, are being brutally abused, raped, oppressed, kidnapped and sold into sex slavery, and worse. For a thoughtful and brutally clear (but hope-filled) picture of just how widespread this is, read “Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide“, by Nicholas D. Kristof and his wife, Sheryl WuDunn. They are the first married couple to win a Pulitzer Prize in journalism. The title comes from the Chinese proverb that says “Women hold up half the sky”.
Tom Brokaw says: “this book will pierce your heart…” Actor George Clooney says: “I think it’s impossible to stand by and do nothing after reading Half the Sky”. Greg Mortenson, author of Three Cups of Tea, a wonderful story about his efforts to builds schools for girls in Afghanistan and Pakistan, writes of Half the Sky, “It is brilliant and inspirational…. the book ends with an especially compelling ‘what you can do’.”
The second “problem” facing all of us is the blatant disregard and abuse of our planet and her resources, escalating local and international wars and terrorism, tribal genocide, almost universal stress levels never known before, the speed at which many of us live, greed and power run amok, a lack of understanding about the oneness of all of creation, and a global patriarchy that has disregarded, dismissed, and denied the Divine Feminine for way too long.
So, what’s the solution? I want to suggest two books which address this far more eloquently and clearly than I can in this short space, written by people who have studied and lived this much more deeply than I.
The first is “An Urgent Message from Mother: Gather The Women, Save the Earth“, by Jean Shinoda Bolen. (By the way, who borrowed my copy?) Ms. Bolen states that women’s circles are forming around the world in response to the cries of the planet and when the millionth circle is formed, we will see the shift in consciousness from the abuses of patriarchy to the healing of the Divine Feminine. The Millionth Circle is a concept given much credence by the UN. The premise is based on Ken Keyes Jr.’s “Hundredth Monkey” theory: that a behavioral change in a growing number of individuals will reach critical mass, and the entire population’s consciousness will leap forward to embrace the new behavior as if by magic. Bolen’s version is this: form consensus-based, peace-loving circles of support, and one day the millionth circle could alter the psyche of the human race.
“Never have we needed the wisdom of Jean Shinoda Bolen more. This book brought me back to my spiritual center reminding me how much we need the stories of women to restore empathy to the world. Bolen has given us all an assignment: Gather, circle, act. Mother Earth is asking for our help. How can we not respond?” —Sue Monk Kidd, author of The Mermaid Chair and The Secret Life of Bees
Go to: www.gatherthewomen.org for some fascinating reading about what women’s circles around the world are already doing and ways in which you might support that work.
The second book is a powerfully rich little book entitled “The Return of the Feminine and the World Soul“, by LLewellyn Vaughan-Lee. Dena Merriam, founder of The Global Peace Initiative for Women writes in the forward of this book: “… taps into what may be the most important message of our time–the need for the re-emergence of the feminine. As he (Mr. Vaughan-Lee) so beautifully recounts, only through the Divine Feminine can the world, now so desperately wounded and degraded, begin to heal and transform itself. (He) explains what our role is in the process, how we can bring the masculine and feminine into greater balance and bridge the unreal divide between spirit and matter. … we must all be engaged in restoring the feminine to her rightful place.”
It is the most helpful explanation of the Divine Feminine I’ve encountered to date and really helps me put language to the life long yearning of my heart to connect with a deity who represents my half of the human race. He also brings a wonderful balance to his treatment of the masculine and feminine as they were originally intended. He states: “Reinstating the Goddess means restoring the sacredness of a nurturing, all-embracing divinity. God’s masculine omnipotence and transcendence need to be balanced by the (Goddess’s) feminine aspects of care and nearness.”
My personal belief at this moment in time, and one of the current edges of my study and learning experience, is that the world is shifting in it’s collective consciousness toward the feminine in order to bring healing and balance. There is a grass roots global energy among the women of the world (as well as those men who have responded to and welcomed the Divine Feminine in their own lives) and it is building stronger each day. My fondest wish for The Gathering Inn is that this wonderful space become one of the “million circles” drawing women to come learn and experience what it means to truly be in touch with their divine feminine birthright and essence. I hope you will join us.
~ Merry Cole
