Janie Rezner is an extraordinary artist, musician and writer. Her art is on our Facebook page and she will be a presenter at the workshop that the Feminist Peace Network is facilitating at the U.S. Social Forum. Here is a beautiful inspiring video that she has up on You Tube:
Cross-posted from Reclaiming Medusa:
With her kind permission, what follows is a thought provoking essay by Janie Rezner about what I suppose might be called the faux meaningful mantra. As I told Janie in our correspondence about this piece, my personal not-so-favorite is the notion of living in the moment. As if we can separate this moment from the history that brought us here or pretend that it has no impact on the moments that will follow. The only true power is power with and from within, and the notion that meaning can be gained from constructs of power over will always be a falsehood.
Right Relationship and being in Gratitude.
I believe these concepts are rather popular these days… in the spiritual ‘realms’ at least. And sometimes worn like a mantle by the folks touting them, who may perhaps inwardly pat themselves on the back about being “on the path.”
However, in these conversations seldom is there a mention of the suffering peoples in the world…
Spiritual and religious services and gatherings, rituals and sacred musical events –environmental groups, any gathering of serious minded persons, who do not even make a mention of the suffering peoples, women and children, and grandmothers and grandfathers of the world, not a mention or a prayer for the innocent and oh so vulnerable animals and other creatures of this earth who suffer beyond measure, living horror filled lives and deaths… and the continuation of WAR, and the degradation of our earth itself…
Seem to me to be kinda short on Compassion…
And that there is NO MENTION of the horrific sexual abuse against millions and millions of women and children all over the world, at this very moment, who are being violated and tortured, by insane patriarchal men, all over the world, at this very moment…
Where is the ‘right relationship’ in that?
And, further, regarding we humans, men’s that is, “sacred vow with the animals that it’s ok with them to be sacrificed, “ that they are willing to hand their life over to you –so we may eat…. you know, how those Indians did it… in a sacred way… you remember…
Do you really think that antelope was put on earth to feed YOU? What about it’s OWN life… I wonder which animal “they” polled to come up with such an idea??
Let’s turn it around… “oh by the way” – says the monster, “I’d like to kill your daughter tomorrow so we can eat her. Thanks so much.”
Where’s the right relationship in that?
I suggest HUMILITY and GRATITUDE FOR THE GIFT OF LIFE EVERYWHERE…
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My commitment is the bring forth a new paradigm grounded in the supremacy of the Great Mother, our creator. That is what real supremacy looks like!! She is our mother, for heaven’s sake. How else do you think you got here??? Did you fly into earth on your own?? Whose body held you and nourished you and protected you all those months you came into being… and in the months and years beyond… as we came into our adulthood…and who is still a powerful and essential part of our lives?
In order to move into a higher state of consciousness, we need to bring into our awareness the “shift” that is happening–the reemergence of the Great Mother, the Sacred Feminine. This is the time to call her forth–to proclaim her space in our consciousness.
Janie “Oquawka” Rezner
Spiritual Feminist Warrior
The following inspiring words are excerpted with permission from a talk given by the extraordinary Janie Rezner at the Living Light Vibrant Expo in August. Janie has posted the entire piece on her website and I urge you to read it in its entirety.
My thesis is that once upon a time we lived in peace and harmony on Mother Earth, in gratitude for the gift of life. Although that time has been erased from our conscious memory and most of our history books, it did exist. We see the desperate state of our world today. How did we get here? Where does violence come from? Exploring these questions I propose that we can dare to reclaim our birthright of peace on earth, thus finding our way back into the wisdom of the Mother.
I heard a black activist elder the other day eloquently speak of the importance of holding the suffering and abused peoples (and creatures) of the world always in the center of your world vision. As we move toward new/old ways to heal our earth, it is important that we be aware that much suffering is going on at this very moment. This suffering must be acknowledged. Think how we would feel if the shoe were on the other foot.
I believe change is happening here and there, and will finally come together in a grand culmination, making us realize that an extraordinary wisdom has brought us together, a wisdom beyond all that we could fathom, a wisdom that continues to expand before our eyes and hearts.
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We live in a world gone awry, a violence ridden world. A world where all it‘s creatures great and small, along with the air and water and soil are poisoned and dying, where greed, violence and perversion reign. We find ourselves at the logical conclusion of patriarchy: the suffocation of life on earth.
Underneath war and all other forms of violence lies a single cause: the absence of the sacred feminine, exemplified by the denigration of the mother and her love, the denial of the wisdom of the grandmother.
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It is clear that life simply has no meaning in this patriarchal world. The earth and it’s creatures can be poisoned, torn apart, bombed, mountain tops blown off, contaminated with depleted uranium and a myriad of other poisons designed by “their” crazed minds—and it is just “ok” with these folks. Our food supply, laced with harmful and addictive additives and pesticides, fumes from gasoline, our clothing, almost every item that surrounds us in daily life, from shampoos to sheets, plastic refrigerator dishes, water bottles, IV hospital bags, have been drenched in or emit poisonous chemicals, and each one of us carries a high load of them. We are surrounded by electronic devices that deliver another type of wounding to our already overloaded immune systems. We are dropping dead from cancers of all types and other diseases. Almost 30,000 children starve daily and their mothers with them. American children suffer in poverty. “Oh well.”
Global hunger is on a terrifying rise. Food riots rocked India, Indonesia, Haiti and other countries last year. Lack of water in India is a deadly issue, and in many other countries as well.
And there is another whole level of violence . . . toward women and their children. Woman, Mother, Earth, Dark, Life, are all part of the same paradigm, and give a patriarchal man the shivers. Anything connected with woman is “contaminated” and to be hated and feared, or at the very least, scorned. And, heaven forbid should a feisty woman appear on the scene.
The violence we see in some men, not all, is not due to levels of testosterone. We’ve lived for at least 45 thousand years without violence. Little boy baby’s hearts are filled with the same love as little girl baby’s. So what happened? Why are women so feared and hated by some—not all—men? I have an answer. If you were running a world culture purposefully maintained by violence, fear, power-over and greed, you wouldn’t want anyone to come along and suggest that loving each other and sharing would be a better way to go, would you? Of course not.
So, that “heart centered world of the mother, ” of kindness and love and protection, natural feelings for any mammal, I might add, must be made bad. The little boy is shamed for needing his mother, anguished soldiers are taunted by their superiors for needing help, The male child is shamed every moment in his young adult life should his vulnerability peek out among the guys. “What a Mama’s boy!” “oh, look at the crybaby, crying like a girl!” Being like a girl is very bad. A common Jewish daily prayer is/was “ thank you God for not making me a woman.”
The young boy must deny his need for his OWN mother. He must cover his heart, he can’t allow himself to be nurtured, for fear of being shamed, and of being hurt. And since he has internalized the shaming, he will feel ashamed himself for having vulnerable feelings, not realizing that his feelings of need are natural and appropriate. ( Think about the rough and heartless environment of so many of our children.) And, so the little boy learns to hide his deeper heart-felt feelings, including outrage at his abusive treatment . . . and for his own preservation, to stop feeling.
The rage doesn’t go away, however, but since it can’t be expressed to his abusers, eventually it is vented on those who are considered “lesser than” and weaker, like women and gays and blacks—anyone perceived to be different.
And, when you don’t feel your own feelings, you don’t feel other people’s feelings, and then you can DO ANYTHING. There aren’t many loving feelings in this patriarchal life, are there? Our world has become horrifyingly violent and militarized. All we need to do is read the news. Or see a movie.
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I believe we all know in our deepest heart, that a land of peace and love is how it is supposed to be. The tiniest child knows that. Little children draw hearts and the sun with rays emanating from it.
We came in peacefully and treasured our time here – - -our ruins and graves and our amazing art and sacred rituals of those earlier days are a window into another life, another time, when we lived in peace. It was a time without money or a clock. A time when we deeply felt our connection to the sacred earth, when we were fully present to our surroundings, not distracted and over stimulated by a myriad of sounds, and schedules, and anxieties, all designed to dull the pain of a world gone awry, a world without love and compassion.
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Awakening to the Mother ‘within’ is a an organic process that is being called into being, within each of us—from the deepest regions of our deepest selves. It is process of awakening to our own divinity, and to the divinity of this precious earth . We see our beautiful place, a gift from the Mother, and we are grateful for it, and with profound conviction, rise up to protect and heal it! We reawaken to our place, our destiny on earth.
