Respect Your Mother part 1
Estimated Reading Time: 8 minutes | Playlist:
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Just so you know, this is a long one and I did my best to break it into two parts.
It is the real new year (Spring)! I have been in deep inquiry around what it means or looks like for the natural world around us to celebrate or welcome in the new year. Observing nature, this means things begin to slowly turn green, a final stage of shedding happens, then things begin to bloom and blossom bringing in all of the color. In the South we often recognize this as pollen chalk coats every aspect of the outdoors, even the parts we wouldn’t think it would. We see this transformation of seasons through the flowers and trees, the activities we witness by various animals and should be humans.
While investigating Spring and how the Earth awakens, it made me think of the ways a woman’s body reflects her spring time within the 28-day cycle. Where there usually is an increase of energy and desire to be out doing things or engaging with others. With Spring on the horizon and Earth Day coming up soon, my heart was leading me to question the connection to womanhood (since we celebrate Women’s History in March) and the Earth. Somewhere deep within me, I KNOW there is a connection between women and nature and for sure, I was going to dig and find it. After all, we often call the outdoors, ‘Mother Nature’ and there has to be some historical reason for it right? I’ve shared close to a million times, Eliot Cowan, in his book Plant, Spirit, Medicine, offers the thought to us that if we see this hierarchy of humanity over or versus nature and we do not recognize the Earth as a living being or ancestor, then we will be able (and willing) to exploit her for her resources without any remorse.
We are witnessing the widespread consequences of exploiting Earth via our current climate disaster and the ways our (American) over consumption has caused ourselves and the planet danger. Yet, it was not always this way. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, concluded its 2023 study sharing that the greatest threat to our climate is, you guessed it colonialism and more recently the link between harms against humanity life genocide and war, have been named as major impactors of climate change. How did we get here and what the hell does this have anything to do with how we honor women during Women’s History Month?
A Herstory of Connection
In one of my lineages, the belief is that before we came to this Earth we lived in other realms and existed as energy. When we were ready we chose our parents as portals to come through and then came to the Earth to live a human experience while carrying out what in yoga we call our dharma (duty) and in my lineage we call our purpose. In the village, society relies on the women in and for spiritual and ancestral practices. Animist in nature, every aspect of life, village life, rituals and ceremony incorporate nature and most if not all of ritual and ceremony is done in nature to maintain the interconnected relationship we share with the Earth. It is the wisdom of the women that contributes greatly to the healing, divination and maintaining traditional knowledge of the village, sustaining it to thrive and exist in the future. The women are the lineage keepers, medicine workers, agricultural leaders, economists, spiritual healers and caregivers.
As healers, lineage keepers, healers, spiritual leaders the women and their connection to land were a daily practice and often the major key to creating economics and markets for their community in the village. Living in and teaching the children about reciprocity with nature was a serious matter and one, I am grateful to teach my young people today. The honoring of the land and Earth itself were expressed by dancing and singing, communing and talking to the living beings in nature with us and providing offerings. Often while doing what is viewed as menial daily tasks and food preparation, children were cared for and taught by the village via oral tradition and storytelling. In storytelling, there were stories and fables of Anasazi, Brer Rabbit and other characters meant to teach our children various lessons and morals.
In cultures and spiritual beliefs around the world, nature and Earth-based practices were beliefs or woven into the fabric of ritual as an honoring and way of recognizing the abundance and fertility of the land is what provides and has provided for the sustainment of our lives. These beliefs have crossed cultures like the Greek with Gaia, Afro-Peruvians with Pachamama, Erzulie Dantor in Haiti and Mama Dlo or Mami Wata in Afro-Caribbean. These beliefs have always led to a reminder of the connection (and need for reciprocity) between the land spirits, Earth and the rest of nature. Unfortunately, after the introduction of colonialism to much of the globe, these indigenous and traditional ways of being were deemed as witchcraft or demonic and have either interwoven threads of Christianity or stopped the practices all along.
Where was the disconnect?
The shortest version of how we got here is during the European Enlightenment Period in Europe which then led to the Crusades. The point of the Enlightenment period (17th and 18th centuries) was to shift the world as it was known at the time from a feudal system to a capitalist system. Meaning throwing out the monarchs and structured or dogmatic religion in favor of what would become democracy and the separation of church and state. In order to accomplish that, scientists via philosophers emphasized science, individualism, reason and challenging religious authority. However, whenever a system is crumbling and being replaced by new systems, there is always some conflict (war even) as it fights to survive. This is where men began to value intellect over intuition, what could be seen and proven versus what could be felt or unseen, even if it produced results and empirical research was valued over experiential research (more on that later). Humanity became more about the mechanics and less about the beliefs which affected in particular these two areas of life, religion and women.
Because of this viewpoint, the Enlightenment period set the world on a path of denying and marginalizing nature and the Indigenous world or ways of life. Many philosophers began their own projected gender ideologies creating and forming patriarchy while utilizing science to prove the differences between men and women (and later using the same process to justify slavery).
This image is one I grew up seeing as a Christian. The Umbrella of Authority was not only how men were charged with leading their families but also used to remind women of their place within the church and home structure. Originally credited to Bill Gothard of the IBLP (Protestant) Church.
Examples in Religion (Christianity)
I’ve shared many times how I grew up in the Black church, specifically the Pentecostal and Apostolic denominations until becoming an adult and choosing non-denominational before leaving the church altogether. My share here is not one of critique of the church, although in its origins it would be well deserved and I will eventually share more of my thoughts on that as I have had to unpack and decolonize my faith and spirituality. At this moment, this information is strictly that information. It is intended to be shared so there is a common memory in regards to the church and its role in colonization, patriarchy and our separation from nature. I am also aware that if this is your first time reading something like this it may cause some cognitive dissonance. I invite you to sit with whatever those feelings are that come up for you so they can be unpacked slowly and later on.
During the Enlightenment Period, science (as it was known in that time) was utilized to prove or disprove religious beliefs, in particular Christianity. The Crusades (often remembered as the knight and shining armor days) were encouraged under orders of the King to share and spread Christianity around the world. This is where the mandate for Manifest Destiny and the Doctrine of Discovery came from. Acts done in the name of the King and in ‘service’ to God, men were rewarded with salvation or eternal life with God if they conquered other lands and increased the number of Christians, most often through force and violence.
Witch trials and hunts became common as women who lived on land not owned by men and connected to nature were labeled as witches and worthy of being put to death. These women were viewed as unruly, wild and feral (link) often this was linked not only their physical biology but also to the sexual and sensual nature of women. Women in charge of their own bodies?!! So those determined to conquer and expand the territory of the ‘kingdom’ for their King, often tortured and killed women they deemed to be witches. Most times, this required no proof other than for a man to deem her a witch. This could be because he personally lusted after her. It could be because he asked for her hand and she refused, it could have been because she treated him with herbs and medicine when he was injured. Sounds a little familiar to today's choice word used, just swap that w out for a b. If you want to learn more, I highly recommend this episode of ‘Scene On Radio: The Repair Season 5’, it brings us into how we have found ourselves separated from nature AND why we are facing the climate crisis that we are facing today.
Insert Colonialism
Colonization began after the Crusades because what should they do about the people existing on the lands prior to their desire to expand, in the name of Christ and the King right? In the same ways women were demonized and labeled as witches, people around the world in countries and territories already established living amongst others were being conquered (and contrary to popular belief, it was not because they were smarter or stronger but moreso because they were willing to exploit tribal weaknesses like the introduction of diseases to indigenous communities). For colonization to take place it requires the destruction of ones Indigenous ways of living. This includes culture, traditions, beliefs, foodways, family dynamics, rituals, societies and so much more.
On Turtle Island, the First Nations people were called savages, in Africa the colonization of Africa was against ‘undomesticated’ and ‘uncivilized’ people. This because the justification layered with Manifest Destiny and the Doctrine of Discovery to enslave Africans and traffick them to the ‘new’ territories to support this new capitalist (and ‘independent’) system. The way that women were labeled as witches was similar to the same formula used to enslave Africans. If we prayed or worshiped our ancestors or lived in relationship to the Earth without seeking to control her, we were labeled as not being ‘smart enough’ to control or take ownership of the land. The beliefs of Indigenous or tribal communities all around the world were not the same of those from Europe and as a result, we have the separation of humans and nature to this day.
Pause
This was a bit much right? Wheww, if you are following along reading this, I want to invite y0ou for sure to listen to the following podcasts featuring some of my favorite people to listen to and follow in regards to this portion of history and bringing us into the present day. You can also find these titles, on Instagram on the Earth highlight in my bio. You don’t have to listen in this order but several of these will provide information for you before getting to the podcast finale (at least at the moment) Scene On Radio Season 5. Next week, I will leave you with a link of resources for additional unlearning.
AND… if you can’t wait for next week, come practice with me in this Springing Spring class.