confusion broken affirmations healing

peoples telling me watch out its heavy here come twenty twelve its end is nigh

i heard this back in the year ten eighteen a comet omen in the sky

i been around long time, but only just got born came down in yesterdays acid rain

did not save the planet did not help a whale use a lot of pesticides on  my brain

sometimes compost walk not drive many times buy good stuff wrapped cellophane

maybe some days did not could not care not seems real what difference me trash wreck

the planet all the people toxic mind, not got energy even green who really give a feck

recycled packaging on catwalk watch me walk the plank and drown in disgusting hell

polluted aitch two oh I don't really like being out in nature wild places am an empty shell

out of all my tidy tiny moments in the great big history of the universe big bang bad

to stamp around with great big carbon footprints live in factory dump fucking mad

now you telling me it's a consciousness not tuned in to reiki vibe chakra healing power

meditate now to save the world and human evolution 777 souls saved in darkest hour

so fucking tired, so brutally addicted, fearful, watch the radio listen to the tv make movie

about tsunami towers come crashing down god did angels did it apocalypse is groovy

yeah i don't give a shit I only do today tomorrow buy it from convenience store consume

that's how i was raised now you think i gonna earn karma points ya effin merchant of  doom

i wanna see the end i want stand in middle of total awfully chaos get obliterated life suck

anyhow I am sick and ill with all the cliches and the poison in my body and the earth fuck

it's not my home and always get told how to live what to buy now not to buy what's right

walk dont walk run get on bandwagon get real gia theory barefoot bloody stephen hawking

no they telling me it aint just the eco issue its tune into vibrational healing chanting not talking

confusion bloody apathy indifference is what i am i dont feel anything i want it blown apart

stockpile weapons dried foods learn survival skills stand in front of oh christ great tidal wave

crashing in on you when it comes then it's over not stupid tired bored and cynical not brave

who is better than that who's better than you who gets redemptions who's got a safety token

already i been around for all time but feel like i just got here don't know nothing already broken

(eva day)

WHAT TO WRITE ON PEOPLE'S WALLS

Community and our relationship with others in our immediate and global environments will be a key theme of this blog.  I have posted this take on the world of social networking, to focus on how it can be both a positive resource and also, of course, a disconnected one....


WRITING ON THE WALL

there's not a lot left to say about the meaning of walls these days, is there? not after pink floyd
and all the poets and authors who've used walls as symbols of sanctuary or as isolation to avoid
having to deal with the complications of people and all their messy bloody human: stuff.
oh they say concerned, rejected, maybe fussing: i can't get through.  when you've had enough:

so then I just think but  how the hell can i describe the strange architecture I design
how to feel less blocked, more whole, make a place that's a meeting point, and truly mine?
it's not real its virtual,  superficial:  do walls have faces? yes,  a polite and neat facade -
come  write on my wall paste and copy hearts and hollow hugs and some meaingless charade.
look at my profile, this is me, I always look good from the right angle,  if the light falls well
but today i don't have likes and comments dont want pokes feel fake like an empty shell.

now you will think me harsh, my space not fun, or fb and  twitter friendly: social screwball
are you alienated by the blankness of my page today,  pictures of barbed wire on my wall?
and though you never really talk to me, I'm in your collection: we went to the same school
and yesterday, last week, sometime on news feed i was not like this but friendly, cool
maybe you might not want to leave the cheerful goofy comments or update me with a tweet.
some people will facebook friend  you but then ignore you passing by in the street.

I wonder why I feel so pointless, really bored and irritated, don't want to paste and copy,
feel like writing weird graffiti on my wall and making bad response to anything that's soppy.
if twelve people made me smile this week then i'm really bloody lucky and honestly I'm glad -
but I don't want to get these pasted chain messages they make me feel lonely and more sad.
if I want to tell you something special I'll find images, words more personal to share
I don't want to use the same standardised, latest, mass-produced slogan posted everywhere:
then i think, i'm just a bastard, a social aberration if i don't send it forward,  it's unkind.
I do enjoy the networking, and the upbeat stuff, but sometimes a wall's to hide behind.

god damn it today I'm grim and surly and i don't get the point that fb's not for "ugly raw."
I wish that we could connect more: see, feel each other  as people, I want to make a door.
but even then, sometimes I would have to close and lock it. use a sign "not to be disturbed"
god damn it, as you read this, either you get it or by now you're switched off and feel perturbed?

the tough reality though is that I'm ill and stuck at home, and if you are too you'll understand:
more and differently than anyone healthy, active, the isolation in fukkin nowhere land
and how the anchor and the lifeline of the computer and the link with others
often is a vital point of contact, your community, yet how at other times it smothers,
making us feel trapped, frustrated, urgently yearning to be in the world and real
and wanting to be more than words and pictures on a screen: to think, exchange, feel..

and when you're sick and sore and in four walls and behind the walls of internet
you might be wanting living presence, touch, the many strokes and signals we don't get
and so our moods and our reactions get distorted, unhinged and confused
we send out invitations to friends to people we don't know or previously refused.
we forget to answer messages, or we write them in a panic, frantic without reflection
we wonder why someone does not respond on chat, we inflict or suffer on-line rejection
or if we get really messed, missing normal life, we have posting frenzies or suddenly disappear.
did you ever sit at home, fekked up, and staring at your screen in weird shut down and fear?

 we do odd things like removing half our contacts list, in a way that seems quite cold and clinical,
or write intense outpourings telling general acquaintances that we love them: do I sound cynical?
 I'm not you know, I feel, care, breathe, laugh, hurt, enjoy, as we all do and yet feel remote, strange
but my god however alienated it can seem at times, I would go mad without this this laptop inter- exchange

(eva day)

A CELEBRATION OF THREE GODDESSES: LILITH

Lilith is known variously, according to orgins of local myth and spiritual tradition, either as a Demoness (Hebrew and Judaic Myth and Folklore) or as The First Human (also Judaic and in other branches or judaic folklore) and in that incarnation, mortal rather than divine.  Also known as a Goddess, and mother of Eve and subsequently Adam.  And so: Wild Mother of Humanity. 

Variously, we might relate to Lilith in many forms of manifesting.   Probably most familiar in her dark and corrupt form (traditional patriarchal view, perhaps, but may also serve women and men in our understanding of our shadow side and potential for fearsome and primal passion.) She has become increasingly, in this sense and in the spirit of freedom she represents, a symbol of feminist liberation. She can also be understood as human, rather than divine, or in some stories, is the first being and so our primary origin and a metaphor for early matriarchal societies: in other stories she was made alongside and at the same time as Adam, and so can represent equality and duality.  Later stories told her as having been born from Adam, which seems a bit silly to me.....   excuse my moment of levity, but as some myths changed and were altered to reflect the increasing domination of patriarchy over time, it seems that the men could not quite bear to leave the women with anything that was sacred to them: not even childbirth.....   Oh well, guys, Lilith is also to be admired as being the kind of woman who has really kept up with the changing times: very current, and you can have a lot of fun and adventure with her, too....   but you gotta respect her... or it gets heavy!  xx eva

LILITH THE DARKNESS SHINES WITH BEAUTY

in the night of the beginning there was darkness, a stillness almost solid a deep presence unseen

and Lilith breathed creating space within her and around; from Nut The Black Sky, emerged a Queen

an impulse born from the egg of an owl and a serpent who had conjoined in astral joyous dance

ancestress  of all those dangerous women, who turn mens heart to stone with the she devil glance

so the legends of the night of fear of superstition deny your granddaughters their blood line of glory

but never silenced, Lady Lilith comes in dreams, to girls, with wild passion, to sing her lusty story

they say she visits men too, compels them to masturbate, spill fertile seed when they are sleeping,

the shameful fantasies that monks had in their chaste cells were the nocturnal curse of Lilith creeping

out from the forests and the wilderness beyond the tamed garden of the book of laws and fathers rule

she who dances naked in the deserts and the unchartered land she is seductress, rebel, danger, cruel

these are the stories that separated women's heaven from earth:where rests a fox? a bird? nature's child?

what rhythms move you to aband the well-guarded territories of the known to leap joyful, spirit free, wild? 

the daughter of eve has no place to rest her head, she must make a nest inside an ancient sycamore

Lilith is not bound by time, nor civil obligation, politeness, she is wonder, bliss, mistress of sacred lore

she  will dance freely, naked, in the moonlight, she declares she will not marry, nor will she conform

she is the shocking illumination of uncertainty and possibility, the lightning in the fearful storm

Mother of Adam, GrandMother of Eve, sacred, shaped from soil and water, infused with fire and wind

she is the prophetess of freedom, she is not the victim of those who blame her when they have sinned

Lilith is She who blesses beauty, liberation, passion, the birthright of your daring and your muse of power

the snake that devours itself, swallows your body, sacramental Witch, Demoness,  her tongue her flower

a Maiden who laughs in exhilaration, mother who births your transitions in her breast, crone who will deliver

all her children, in the thread of Fates, back to the earth to ashes and to dust, blessed life taker death giver

She is Alpha, Omega, her solitude is poetry her loneliness your union when she enters, bliss:

Come to me Lilith cries the hot blood exile from the safer Garden, heal me with your kiss.

 (eva day)

This for me is just one personal moment of an approach or relationship to Lilith and her archetype.....  she is many shades and moods and an experience rather than a static presence.  I first discovered Lilith when I was in my early twenties, and amongst other traditions, was exploring The Kabbala and attending a weakly study and meditation group in that tradition.  A  major focus for this, of course, was the Kabbalistic Tree of Life  (or Qabbalistic.)     Lilith  is associated with "Da-at! on the Tree.  Da-at is The Void: the dark or deep place, the abyss which must be entered or traversed, in order to journey further into spiritual growth.  It may be full of fear, or a sense of deep loss, or not-knowing; it's gift is power (of creativity, of spirit, of courage and compassion) and vision. 
Lilith to me as a young woman, with a young child at the time, was a story of Grandmother of us all and mother of Eve - and a sense of female tradition of boldness and ownership of self.  (Rather than women's lives and bodies being owned by a patriarchal culture.)

None of this is to imply war between the genders, or a stereo type of a kind of stroppy female resentment.  Lilith can be equally harsh or benevolent to either sex: what she does require of us as that we meet ourselves in oour rawest form: sensuality, lust, laughter, wildness, fear and courage, sexual energy and the urge to pro-create and create.... she doesn't take a lot of ..... bullshit. 

To meet Lilith - whether you be male or female - I think you have to get past a lot of social niceties,  civilised conditioning and assumptions about human behaviour and our relationship to nature, to the life force and the divine: and just open to the energy and ecstasy, to desire and urge and the physicality of our creative processes.
(eva day)

eva day

After much frustration, I chose the John Collier painting of Lilith, as so many other images were sexualised in a rather commercial / commodity style, making her look a bit like a pole dancer, which was not the point at all!! Like a lot of Victorian Romantic art, again this is a very idealised image and slightly too "nice."  But it works in other ways, as she is very self-contained, in her whole manner and posture.  She is not referring to or engaged with anyone else, neither man nor woman, except the snake (sacred female symbol of wisdom, mystery and propesy, as well as sensual and sexual power.)  She is in a moment of self-love and being with her own nature.

Here is an image for the Tree of Life

 

Lilith is featured as first on my list of "Women of Inspiration" in an earlier post (trilogy of articles on outstanding women through history.) There, I featured her very briefly - leaving reader to do their own discovering - in her human form as "first woman" - free and bold.

I like the folk tales in which she leaves the tamed garden and refuses to return, and rejcts marriage to Adam.  On closing this trilogy of Goddesses, I find myelf thinking: we need to keep telling our stories:

women, men, children, alll of us story-tellers: not just our own stories, but the stories of one another, of those we seek to understand and have compassion for and of all people. Each of our individual stories reflects something of our collective story.

all good wishes, eva day

Three Goddesses - a Triad of Celebration. Blessing of Saraswati.

The Blessing of Saraswati

(Hindu Goddess of wisdom, learning, arts, culture and intellect.)

so often, saraswati, images for the intellect  cut through our perception with a sharp blade;

here I meet not a fierce warrior woman but a calm and gentle friend in a peaceful glade.

I approach seeking pearls of wisdom, the sound of your sweet music, the language of soul,

called me and your promise is one of inspiration, heal the broken mind and  make me whole.

saraswati did I invoke you, or did you bring me into being, awake me from a dull and lonely trance

call me out from my  darker mood of frustrated mind, invite me to celebrate the graceful dance

of poetry, and the abstract, of ideas and fascination, of learhning and your gift of reflective insight

to play, to ask, to be curious, to seek to understand and to discover. read me scripture, read me prose

of rhythm and of divine and human truth; teach me reason, logic, sing me the truth that kindly flows

like a hopeful river of appreciation, harmony and refreshment, carry me to companionship and discourse

with others who, like me, love to walk in worlds of  knowledge, art and beauty, sail the river to its source

I was alone saraswati, my dreams were follow of sorrow and of feeling lost, my thoughts confused and bleak

bring me softly with your intelligence and perception to the rich new worlds, the friendships that I seek

and I will tell stories for you saraswati, bring others to your garden, give offerings of the verses and the song

 of the joy of meeting, for the artists, the musicians, the students, writers, teachers who know that they belong

in many worlds, in togetherness in the journey of the path of consciousness, through shadow or through light

Oh saraswati when we gather together or we sit quiet in a private space, to muse, to create, it is you whom we invite.

show us how to listen to our hearts and to take you deep inside our contemplation,  be our teacher,  guide and mentor

hold us in your arms, in your name may we be craftsman, philosopher, sculptor, dancer, actor, songmaker, inventor.

to you we dedicate the work we shape, the play we celebrate, the instruments and tools of our devotions and the care

we bring to practising our arts and skills, and may we respect this gift: not for ourselves alone, but to generously share.

(eva day)

Reflecting on what Saraswati means to me, I related to her as a friend,  at a time when I have felt a great flow of creative energy and readiness to learn, to write, dream, discover, and to connect with others to share inspiration - yet at the same time, a sense of isolation and frustration.  Saraswati may well know that some of this frustration is born of real isolation, during a period of prolonged illness, and of the frustration of feeling the creative spark, yet wrestling with a mind and concentration often fragmented by symptoms and medication.  Saraswati's music is a peaceful calming tonic to soothe these struggles, and clear the sould to create and share.... I ask her to bring me closer to others for sharing.

I would be interested to hear which Muses, Magical Spirits, Goddesses or other Mythological or Symbolic beings light your creative life.....

She holds the pearls which symbolise Knowledge and Leanring, and The Vedic Scriptures - Sacred texts.

Three Goddesses - a triad of celebrations. Brigit.

(some of my more creative writing goes on my other "Cloud Kooky Land" Blog - but this, I wanted to offer here, as for me it is from a place of hope and healing in weaving into our lives the metaphors and guiding spirits for the values we hold most dear).

Beating the Bounds with Brigit.

walking the boundaries of the familiar place, adventures in my bones, going home, i sing

of the  wise poet and the healer,  the skilled blacksmith whose benevolent gifts I bring.

welded words I forged from the boldness and the uncertainties of my journeys, and the calm

of returning home, into the embrace of family, friends, safety, the  gentle healing balm

for the tired spirit,  dispensed by kind Brigit of the Flame, who brings protection, rest

and is with me in my glad returning, in the rhythm of my daily life, in my traveller's quest.

home and hearth and the fire of family, community and belonging: a sense of safety, ease.

with the intricate craft of the blacksmith, from this fire, the Bright One made me sacred keys

which would unlock the closed and frozen places of inspiration stilted, in my spirit and mind.  

and when in this I was afraid and vulnerable, she gave her protection to me and all humankind,

for those who will invoke and honour her: and meet her with intelligence, drink from her wells:

keep the eternal and sacred flames of inspiration burning in the heart, learn her healing spells.

she will guide you in adventure and in retreat or sanctuary, surround you, lead you by the hand

ask Brigatta's blessing in your villages, parishes and farms, on fences, hedges, walls: but understand

they are the peripheries of wise caution, security; do not make human barriers of enmity and strife.

go to hills and high places, raise your arms, your vision,  invite Brigit's loving kindness into your life.

(eva day)

(Notes:  "Beating the Bounds" was an ancient practice in Britain and elsewhere, in which local people would walk the parameters of a parish, farm, or village, and beat with a stick the most important marking points of the boundaries, along with prayers and rituals for safety and well-being.

Brigit, or Brigatta, is a Celtic Goddess.  Sometimes associated with the Warrior Goddess arechetype, and with war and victory.  Here invoked in her most importan aspect, as Protector, Emlightened One, Bringer of Wisdom and Intelligence: poet, healer and blacksmith.  Brigit was known as The Bright or Eternal Flame, associated with the hearth fire, home, and also sacred wells and hills and high places. In some myths, she had a face beautiful on one side, ugly on the other.  Very sacred and loved and honoured by the ancient Celts.)

THERE ARE TWO MORE GODDESSES IN THIS TRIOLOGY, I OFFER.  SARASWATI, HINDU GODDESS OF LEARNING, CULTURE AND THE ARTS, AND LILITH (IN MUCH FOLK LORE, KNOWN AS A DEMONESS, BUT I HAVE CHOSEN TO PRESENT HER IN HER GODDESS FORM, AS BENEFACTRESS OF FREEDOM, AND NATURAL SPIRIT, POWER AND SENSUALITY. I WILL POST EACH SEPARATELY.)

When Brigit is present with her two sisters, she is worshipped as a Triple Goddess. 

She is also possibly the origin of the stories of the later Saint Brigit, or certainly closely associated with her. 

I see the mystery of the our wounding and our healing in the beauty and the ugliness of her face

she brings her suffering, shares in ours, reveals compassion, protects our ground with loving grace

I see the mystery of the our wounding and our healing in the beauty and the ugliness of her face

she brings her suffering, shares in ours, reveals compassion, protects our ground with loving grace.

I wanted to find a good picture of Brigatta with the two aspects of her face shown powerfully...... those I found should two attractive faces - the "uglier one" far too  "prettified" for what I was looking for.  I wonder if someone who is a painter or drawer could come up with an image that resonates my sense of the contrast of pain and suffering, and compassion and healing..... ?
eva day

Meditation video for self -healing and for Japan .....

Japan and the Pacific Basin - sending prayers and healing energy

healing our lives, ourselves and our world, and human community,  is the theme of this blog.  So I wanted to share this beautiful video I found - Four Seasons of Japan. 
Mostly, through illness, I have found it difficult - or impossible - to meditate in any traditional or familiar form.  When I want some of that healing energy, I have sometimes simply sat quietly, listening to calming music, breathing slowly, and looking at pictures or a video of positive images. 

If you wish to do the same, please imagine sending love and healing through your whole being.....   and towards the end, sending it out to Japan and all of the pacific basin.   The pictures in this video are so peaceful and stunning.  The music is soft, gentle.  Credit to the musician and the maker of this video are clearly shown at the beginning and end, with details of where you can order further CDs or videos: my thanks to them for sharing this one on youtube.

eva day, wishing good health to you and hope and renewal for those affected by the earthquake and tsunami.  xx eva

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5clWM2cuU8M


here, I give a couple of links for fundraising and donations, specifically with children in mind: the children of Japan and children affected by other global crisis. 

http://www.unicef.org.uk/UNICEFs-Work/Emergencies/

http://www.montrealgazette.com/business/Zynga+Partners+with+Save+Children+Raise+Money+Japan+Earthquake/4427553/story.html

Contemporary Period: Women who Inspire (Part 3 of trilogy of posts)

  I decided to limit this list to 30 contemporary women.  otherwise it will go on and on forever (which it will in real time)....   so now have a challenge. How to choose only six women from between WW1 and WW2 until up to date?   One difficulty is to acknowledge a bit more, those women working directly and primarily for suffrage - both here in UK and worldwide, and for a political voice.  All kudos to New Zealand by the way - and all it's women at the time, for being first to "give" women the vote, as it is generally described. In Europe, Finland got there first.  Perhaps I am a bit touchy of skewed here, but it's always slightly annoyed me that popular summaries on England first steps to franchise for women usually say that they were given the vote in acknowledgement for efforts in WW!.  Ok, did they not do anything for hundreds and thousands of years before that, to deserve it.?  Oh, but I am being snippy!!  Emmeline Pankhurst perhaps made a smart move actually: during WW1 she and other WSPU leaders changed the name of their newspaper from The Suffragette to Britannia and focused away from votes for women and to a very patriotric war drive. Sadly she feel out with daughters Adele and Sylvia over this.  Adele was in Australia and campaigning against the war.  Sylvia wanted to keep the focus on women's franchise, regardless of events unfolding and perhaps she had a bloody good point: there can always be something else more important in the way of such issues, as the women of the French Revolution discovered.  Emmeline also tended to have more liberal-conservative views than her daughter Sylvia (who was more radically socialist and very passionately involved with causes  of working class women.)  Also I could chose Millicent Fawcett, or over the pond, Susan B. Anthony or Elizabeth Cady Stanton.  And many others. 

25) Emmeline Pankhurst.  I chose her in the end, because she was English, and so am I and there is my direct link to the ballot box. Also because she was matriarch of a family of strong, activist women - whether they fell out or not.  And because she shares the same birthday as me: like a sort of Patron Saint of Social Awareness.  I cannot imagine (except in thinking of Hep C treatment)  the reality of hunger striking, which she - not in her youth by this time - and others endured, especially the repeated cycles of it and the health problems and pain they suffered as a result. But they had passion and guts - at the risk of their guts, I suppose.  And the breaking and destruction of property to make a point was pretty radical for a nice middle class Edwardian lady.

http://womenshistory.about.com/od/suffrageengland/p/pankhurst.htm

26.) Anne Frank.   I wanted to chose a woman who did something outstanding during WW2 and again this was a hard choice. One of the many espionage or resistance workers? Tokyo Rose maybe or Edith Cavell?   (Her life and courage still brings tears to my eyes when I re-visit it:  read about her and the different interpretations of the choices and actions she took.... she may have been hugely misunderstood.  I may write a separate article on her, and the different interpretations of her story, at some point.)  Finally I chose Anne Frank, because of the powerful legacy of her diary and because she was not yet a woman but coming to the verge of womanhood and denied the chance to survive, thrive and flourish: yet her voice, innocent and yet mature and wise and thoughtful beyond her years still resonates and is a symbol of the terror and tyranny of war and racism and brutality yet at the same time of hope and loyalty and human bonds.  Everyone who first reads the book (or sees the film) is devastated at the moment when the diary ends abruptly and Anne and her family are ... disappeared: it is a real awakening to the danger of distorted power, and racial hatred gone mad... I think that many young girls who read the book, must wonder what sort of woman Anne would have become; and sense she would have been the person they themselves hope to be.

http://www.annefrank.org.uk/node/14

27)  Aung San Suu Kyii.  "It is not power that corrupts but fear. Fear of losing power corrupts those who wield it and fear of the scourge of power corrupts those who are subject to it."  Beautiful spirit, strength of a nation, of south-east asia, of a world of inspiration to others fighting for freedom and democracy.  Through 15 years of house arrest and many other trials and battles, she never gave up and always spoke out.  The personal price she paid was huge - separated from her children who were in France, and her husband who died during her period of house arrest.... and when offered freedom if she would just quietly go away and leave the country, she refused. Burmese,  Nobel Peace Prize winner, politician and activist for civil and human rights and democracy.

tp://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-11749661

28) Virginia Satir.  Psychotherapist, author and Family Therapist.  Her work was recognised as being highly effective in supporting dysinctional or troubled families through conflict and towards well-being, and was the model for much of the later development of Neuro-Linguistic Programming. Her book "Peoplemaking" is (I think) a guide of essential guide to being a human being, belonging to any kind of family and understanding what self-esteem is.

http://www.webster.edu/~woolflm/satir2.html

29)   Elizabeth Kubler Ross .  Healer, counsellor, psychiatrist, author and teacher.  She helped thousands of people to understand the processes of palliative care, death, bereavement, grief, mourning and insights into the power of prayer and compassion, acceptance and visions of the life of the spirit beyond the death of the body. Her book "On Death and Dying" has been a companion to many facing death and loss.
http://www.healthy.net/scr/interview.aspx?Id=205

28) Waatari Maathi.  Has worked tirelessly in Africa and globally for environmental issues and awareness and many important green projects.  Started a major project of tree planting in communities in the 1970's in Kenya and has continued her efforts since then.  Maathi is a former assistant Minister for the Envrionment in Kenya.  She is  a tireless worker for democracy and civil rights. She attracted controversy some years back, when it was reported that she had allegedly  stated that  Aids and HIV were "deliberately created by Western scientists to decimate the African population." She denied having said this but later in an interview, said:  "I have no idea who created AIDS and whether it is a biological agent or not. But I do know things like that don't come from the moon. I have always thought that it is important to tell people the truth, but I guess there is some truth that must not be too exposed," and when asked what she meant, she continued, "I'm referring to AIDS. I am sure people know where it came from. And I'm quite sure it did not come from the monkeys."   Maathi is the first African woman and the first environmentalist to win the Nobel Peace Prize.

http://womenshistory.about.com/od/wangarimaathai/p/wangari_maathai.htm 

  There are so many more women who could have been added to this list, of course - to all the three sections of it, through time, but particularly to this contemporary sections as we have more and fuller records of names and biographies, and as in some countries, women have greater choice and freedom now than through long centuries in the past, therefore we know a few more of them.  As I think about these women, through time, and mark International Women's Day, I am at a place in my own life where I am hoping to regain my strength and ability to be active in the world and have quality of life.  As I speak - I have a relativity democractic and safe country and environment to step out into. I can vote. I have hot water and electric lights and decent sanitation.  I am educated by world standards for women to an amazing degree, having furthermore the resources to continue to self-educate.  I have health care ( let's not discuss the Hep C mess, right here - I have treatment.) I wear what I want and talk to men, women and people of different backgrounds, creeds and political views without undue fear. I have access to contraception and nobody forced me to marry someone I did not want to marry.  Nor did they sell me into enforced prostitution and trade in rape or subject me to sexual mutilation.  I am not afraid that I am likely to be whipped, stoned or beaten with government permission. I know that if I had no food in the cupboard this time next month, I could seek some form of welfare support.  In the bigger global picture (world population)  - I am a priveliged  exception rather than a rule.  One of my intentions for the year ahead is to take some small action or gesture when possible - and to seek to do so - which is about making the small differences that make a difference in the lives of other women and - people generally. Things we can most of us do at least once or twice in a year might include; writing an article, or researching.  Going on a march or protest.  Donating to or helping with fund raising for a significant cause.  Going to the voting station and exercising our own franchise.  Prayer. Writing to Government Ministers /local newspapers/ etc.  Leaving a violent relationship.  Reporting violent abuse. Teaching our daughters and talking with and listening to them.  Starting or joining a community project.  Speaking to the woman - at the school gate / next door / in the waiting room......  and loving ourselves and our friends and family.

live well, love much, laugh often.  eva day. xxx