Enhancing my relationship with the feminine, both divine and manifested, was what drew me to Esther Harding’s book Woman’s Mysteries Ancient and Modern. What I hadn’t expected is to have my concepts of self and relationship to my essence as a woman so completely questioned and overturned. This, however, is what has transpired and, despite the difficult questions that I have been posed, I have a completely new and unexpected relationship with my feminal nature. This is one book that I can honestly say has changed my life and my understanding of it.
For as long as I can remember, I’ve been attracted to the feminine – at least on an aesthetic level. I believed that my desire to be as womanly as possible physically meant that I was really connected to my own feminine essence, or eros (although I wouldn’t have termed it as such). When it goes below the surface, however, it has been the masculine traits I have long espoused and venerated within myself, an understanding that has only become clear to me from reading Woman’s Mysteries.
I won’t go so far to say that the book was a pleasure to read or that I didn’t sometimes find myself overwhelmed with Jungian theory. My tendency to examine things in linear terms (a masculine attribute) had me often questioning the validity behind information that vacillated between historical tales and mythical legends; “What is the point of all this detail? Where is the truth in all this?” I asked. The reality for me became clear when I was able to get below the facts and minutiae and explore where the myths and symbols resonated within me.
One aspect of Harding’s work that I found myself intrigued by was her study of moon worship and its associated initiations. My love for finding patterns (another masculine quality) was delighted to find triadic relationships woven throughout the many myths and rituals: three phases of the moon, three initiations, three gifts of the moon, and three forms of the goddess. The ultimate guidance offered to me in these various trinities seems to lie not in groups of three but in the balance of pairs/syzygies: masculine and feminine, inner and outer, conscious and unconscious. I felt the enthusiasm of this discovery not only at a logical, mental level but in a deeper part of me, a part longing for equilibrium at my very core.
According to the book, such a deep equipoise of the masculine and feminine has been obtained throughout history through various initiations. Since the initiations described in the book, such as sacred prostitution, are hardly possible for a woman in this society, relating to the book’s wisdom meant finding ways in which it could be practically applied. Developing personal rituals are key to changing my connection to my own feminine essence since reading stimulating work and gaining a rationale understanding just won’t cut it with this one – not when dealing with something much deeper than rational reality.
Thankfully I already have the space I need to explore these rituals in my modern-day life. It was already quite clear to me that dance is extremely helpful in deepening my understand of both self and Self, dropping into a place deeper than my logos-oriented mind, exploring my own emotional experience, and relating to the cyclical nature inherent in all aspects of life. What this book has helped me to understand is that such an experience of authentic movement, especially one that is a women-only space such as Dance Our Way Home, can provide the container I need, or rather that we as women need, to recreate our own rituals, our own initiations, and reconnect to our own truth. Through dance we can begin the healing that we need, not only as individuals, but as a larger collective as well.
Dancing has opened up new realms of knowledge I previously had no conscious notion of and I am increasingly finding wholeness within such a place. For this I am grateful to Esther Harding for sharing her timeless insights as well as to my dance community for sharing their hearts, their love and their journeys with me.
Thank you to all the beautiful dancing goddesses. Keep dancing!
This book has now become a print-on-demand title. The Toronto Women’s Bookstore is quite willing to order it, so please support our wonderful local business by visiting http://www.womensbookstore.com/ or writing info@womensbookstore.com for ordering information.
You have a very good site, well constructed E20-001 | 642-647 | 642-637 | 1Y0-A05 and very interesting i have bookmarked you hopefully you keep posting new stuff.Fine 000-107 information, thanks to the author. This work is really useful and significant.Resources like the one you mentioned here will be very useful to me! I will post a link to this page on my blog. I am sure my visitors will find that very useful.640-461 | 640-721 | 70-513 | 000-979 | 1z0-536
THE brouhaha around public workers in Wisconsin obscures a few things. C_TSCM52_65 First, states have big fiscal problems: pensions (in the long term) and structural deficits (oh, right about now). C_TSCM62_65 Health-care costs, not public workers, are the main driver of structural deficits. HP0-D09 Second, most state pensions were faring reasonably well before the financial meltdown. HP0-Y29As recently as 2008, pensions were 84% funded, according to the Centre for Retirement Research at Boston College. P_BPX_70 (Eighty percent is usually deemed an acceptable level.) Mismanagement has meant that some states, P_CRMSRV_70 such as my adopted home of Illinois, are in dire trouble soon. P_HCMWPM_64 Joshua Rauh of Northwestern expects the pension funds in Illinois will run out by 2018. P_PRO_64 However other states have more time to prepare for doom. P_PROD_64Ohio’s pension funds are due to run dry in 2030, assuming an 8% annual return. P_SRM_70Wisconsin’s won’t run out until 2038.Benefits for public workers are a problem, no doubt, 70-671 but I wonder whether the fight over bargaining rules is eclipsing an immediate crisis. 000-031 The deadlock in Wisconsin may be replicated elsewhere. 000-038A bill in Ohio, to abolish collective bargaining for state employees, is just as aggressive as that in Wisconsin. 000-M92 Protesters descended on Indianapolis yesterday to oppose a few anti-union bills, 000-M93 including one that limits collective bargaining for teachers. C_BOSUP_90Perhaps the attention on bargaining rules is a negotiating tactic—"agree to make concessions or you won’t be able to bargain at all. C_DTB1_07" But the fight may become a dangerous distraction. certidea THE brouhaha around public workers in Wisconsin obscures a few things. C_EPMBPC_70 First, states have big fiscal problems: pensions (in the long term) and structural deficits (oh, right about now). C_EPMBPC_75 Health-care costs, not public workers, are the main driver of structural deficits. C_FSTBAN_70 Second, most state pensions were faring reasonably well before the financial meltdown. C_ISR_60 As recently as 2008, pensions were 84% funded, according to the Centre for Retirement Research at Boston College. C_MDMS_04 (Eighty percent is usually deemed an acceptable level.) Mismanagement has meant that some states, C_SOA_TA_70 such as my adopted home of Illinois, are in dire trouble soon. C_SRM_70 Joshua Rauh of Northwestern expects the pension funds in Illinois will run out by 2018. C_TADM50_70 However other states have more time to prepare for doom. C_TB1300_07Ohio’s pension funds are due to run dry in 2030, assuming an 8% annual return. C_TBIT44_71Wisconsin’s won’t run out until 2038.Benefits for public workers are a problem, no doubt, C_TCRM20_70 but I wonder whether the fight over bargaining rules is eclipsing an immediate crisis. C_TERP10_60 The deadlock in Wisconsin may be replicated elsewhere. C_TERP10_65A bill in Ohio, to abolish collective bargaining for state employees, is just as aggressive as that in Wisconsin. C_TFIN22_05 Protesters descended on Indianapolis yesterday to oppose a few anti-union bills, C_TFIN22_64 including one that limits collective bargaining for teachers. C_THR12_64Perhaps the attention on bargaining rules is a negotiating tactic—"agree to make concessions or you won’t be able to bargain at all. C_TPLM22_60" But the fight may become a dangerous distraction. certidea
validates the ability to install, configure operate, and troubleshoot medium-size route and switched networks, including implementation and verification of connections to remote sites in a WAN. curriculum includes basic mitigation of security threats, introduction to concepts and terminology, and performance-based skills. This new curriculum also includes (but is not limited to) the use of these protocols: IP, Enhanced Interior Gateway Routing Protocol (EIGRP), Serial Line Interface Protoc Frame Relay, Routing Information Protocol Version 2 (RIPv2),VLANs,Ethernet, access control list validates the ability to install, configure operate, and troubleshoot medium-size route and switched networks, including implementation and verification of connections to remote sites in a WAN. curriculum includes basic mitigation of security threats, introduction to SSCP dumps wireless networking concepts and terminology, and performance-based skills. This new curriculum also includes (but is not limited to) the use of these protocols: IP, Enhanced Interior Gateway Routing Protocol (EIGRP), Serial Line Interface Protoc Frame Relay, Routing Information Protocol Version 2 (RIPv2),VLANs,Ethernet, access control list testkings / testking VCP-410 / testking 350-001 / testking 640-802 / testking SY0-201 / testking 70-680 / testking 70-640 / testking 642-813