To my Pagan-inclined and even not Pagan-inclined friends:
"The importance of the Goddess symbol for women cannot be overstressed. The image of the Goddess inspires women to see ourselves as divine, our bodies as sacred, the changing phases of our lives as holy, our aggression as healthy, our anger as purifying, and our power to nurture and create, but also to limit and destroy when necessary... We can move beyond narrow, constricting roles and become whole."
Thank you, Starhawk. (Has anyone else read The Spiral Dance? In my Religion, Magic and Witchcraft class, in the anthropology department, that I'm taking right now mentioned this in one of the books we read, so I decided to see if our library had it--and they did! I'm on a reading-what-I-want-to kick this Spring Break, and I feel that I'm getting to recharge in a way... Now I've got a list of about ten billion feminist/spirituality/Goddess related books on my list, not to mention the tons that I own that I haven't read yet. XD)
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I think one of the most important lines in there for me was that of being allowed to view "our anger as purifying," and to "limit and destroy when necessary."
I feel that I have been berated and shied away from because I have "limited and destroyed" where I have found necessary--and for the record, I don't think that's anyone else's business. Since I've found this Path, I've been trying to focus on the nurturing aspects that the Goddess brings--but I think it's important that this author has brought up the destructive ones, as well, because neither I nor anyone should be forced to nurture what we find poisonous.
That's where we get complicity in sexual and domestic abuse, and in all kinds of abusive relationships, friendships, and companionships. And that's one thing I do not, have not, and never will tolerate.
I have a lot of anger not only because it runs in my family (and I know that, which is why I retreat and don't confront people when I'm angry), but because since starting college, I have really been faced with a lot of things I need to work through, things in our society that need purifying--such as the eternal hatred towards and oppression of certain groups: women, people of varying sexualities, the poor, various ethnicities, the list goes on forever.
One of the biggest things college has done for me is open my eyes to how deeply that hatred runs---and frankly, it pisses me off. My anger in these cases is purifying in that it is a desire to act and to change. And this has stemmed to pretty much every other aspect of my life. Where I see injustice, in whatever form it takes, I react against it. Usually this is on behalf of my friends, but frankly, sometimes it's for me. Some people see reacting against things on one's own behalf as selfish, but I find it just the opposite; if you're neck-deep in hatred and negativity directed at you, what can you possibly do for anyone else? And I think many can't really handle that because they are far too used to the status quo. I live my life exuberantly, celebrating where I will and purging the negative and destructive where I have needed to--and if that scares people, that's their weakness, not mine.
Everyone is different, and this is the particular way I handle my being, my problems, and my power. I don't expect that everyone else will see this way, this balance of positive and negative, as valid--but I do, and that's what matters for me. I was recently inspired by a Hindu saying that pretty much says, Just as there are thousands of rivers running into the ocean, so are there many paths that lead to Braman--a.k.a. ALL RELIGIONS ARE VALID. There are many paths; there are many manifestations of what is divine--and this is mine, simple as that.
My power--as a human being, not just as a woman--comes in both creation and destruction, and I think I need to try consciously accepting that, perhaps before I can expect others to.
Reading this book, even though I'm barely into it yet, has started to be a very vindicating experience. The past few weeks, I was beginning to go through a moment where I questioned my own worth--"What is it about me that blah blah blah," and I sure as fucking hell am not going to do that, anymore. I needed my eyes opened and I think this has helped.