By Kathe Schaaf
Hello to the wonderful women in our WSF community:
The past few weeks have been a reminder that there are no quick and simple solutions to the problems that we face on this planet. The release of the redacted Mueller report brought into focus once again how deeply divided our country remains — and reminds us that it is up to us to do the hard political work of mending our broken democracy. The shocking images of the flames leaping up the spire of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris stirred up deep ancestral memories of the many thousands of women who were burned in Europe during the Inquisition – and calls us to reclaim the spiritual authority that was systematically stripped from us by the patriarchal church. The amazing Greta Thunberg continues to cry out the urgency to act in the face of climate change – and challenges us to rise up and demonstrate that we love our Earth more than our convenience or our profits or our political alliances. Acts of violence have been perpetrated in places of worship where people of diverse faiths gathered around the world – and compel us to keep surrendering to the love at the heart of all the world’s religions.
We hear from some of you that you feel overwhelmed and tired, that you feel grief-stricken and powerless.
One of our young leaders just sent this message: ‘Your feelings are also your superpowers.’
One of the greatest gifts that women bring to this crazy world is their willingness to FEEL — and to use those feelings to fuel their FAITH, which in turn fuels their activism and their leadership.
We are not talking here about some Pollyanna kind of wishful thinking — or some rigid and judgmental dogma. We are talking about a new kind of faith that is compassionate, flexible, curious, pragmatic and loving. We are talking here about the healing power of the Sacred Feminine.
We believe in you and in your ability to stand up for what is right. We trust your wisdom and your big open-hearted faith. We believe in your intuition and your rich life experience … and the way those two gifts dance together to make you a force to be reckoned with.
Take a deep breath. Exhale fully. Trust yourself.
And then go out there and find a crack that you can flow into with your light and your love.
It works.
Image: Photo by Garrett Sears on Unsplash