Women and Water
As a student, teacher and independent scholar of pre-patriarchal women's culture and spirituality, I feel that to really understand our environment and what is happening in/with it, it is vitally important to understand and respect the connection women have with the environment.
Basically, woman is the environment. The curves of valleys, canyons gorges, caves and mountains of the earth and the wild and serene flows of her waters reflect the body of woman in our sacred form. The earth's ability to spring forth the magnificent diversity of life from her body, sprouting it from her holy dark that reflects the dark matter (from "mater", meaning "mother") in the universe, or yoniverse, nurturing the tender sprouts into fruition, directly mirrors woman's sacred ability to birth and nurture from our own bodies. Our ability to give birth is more than a biological function. It is the very assurance of the continuity of life itself. From our blessed breasts, milk, for which the word "galaxy" is named, as well as the "milky way", flows abundantly, sustaining the very life emerging from the body of the mother.
What happens to the environment when women are not allowed to breast feed? When companies like Nestle colonize women and teach them that a canned and/or boxed product, no doubt invented by men, is better than breast milk for babies? Wbat happens to the environment when breasts are considered to be "indecent"? When women internalize these lies?
Woman is the creatrix of life. Our ancestors/ansisters had no doubt about this fact, as evidenced by archeological, anthropological and cultural herstorical confirmation of the primal truth of women's existence. A black female deity from Africa, color of the dark energy and matter of space and the soil of earth, is the original deity of our planet. Women, when left alone and "allowed" to be the mothers of humanity in the ways in which we see fit, would ensure the quality of life for all living things, as did our ancestors/ansisters, and would know better than to destroy our environment.
Unfortunately, women have not been "allowed" to be ourselves for the last 5000 years, and have since been colonized, oppressed, repressed, suppressed and who wouldn't be depressed from such a savage/ravage-- basically flattened by male control and stupidity. What happens to the environment when women are not seen, respected, loved, revered, and honored? What do we expect will happen to our environment when the values of mothering, love and compassion are replaced with out of control male ego, domination, rape, control, violence and war? If women are not loved, how can a rainforest be?
How women are treated befalls the culture, environment, civilization as we know it and everything else. It is painfully clear that the worldwide oppression of women is obviously reflected in the degradation of the environment. It is also painfully clear to me that while we can make advances in helping the environment by being less consumption oriented, becoming more conscious of not taking more than we need, giving back in important ways, and where relevant, remembering our privilege as first world people, until women are restored to our rightful place of respect in the world, the environment will continue to reflect the hideous inequality, hatred and misogyny on this planet-- until it is transmuted.
One area of working with this trasmutation is in purifying water, the single most important resource begging for attention. I have recently come to an understanding that water is the reflection of our state of mind. It is interesting to note that early people who were in direct relationship with the Goddess, or Great Mother, or whatever you choose to call Her, had a profound respect for water, and its connection to the life fluids-blood and milk. The early symbols of spirals, meanders, zigzags and chevrons, first appearing on rock art and then in pottery, were representative of life-giving water. These symbols were precursors of the written language, so perhaps we could say not only do we come from water, so does language. Water, then and now, remains the life-giving Goddess/Mother.
Right now, our water is seriously disrespected and polluted, worldwide. I see a direct connection with the mistreatment and oppression of women and the wanton disrespect of water. Water, in its natural pristine state, forms absolutely beautiful crystals in response to its environment, as well as to the spoken and written word. When women are allowed to flourish, we create an environment full of beauty and joy, the truth of which can be seen in some of the earliest rock art from Africa. Water, exposed to caring and loving energy, mirrors that energy, and can heal itself. So, then, can we.
Our bodies are composed of 50% to 70% water during our lifetime. When water is exposed to the words "love and gratitude", it forms itself into exquisite crystals. Imagine what can happen to us and to our environment if we truly practice love and gratitude.
Japanese scientist and doctor of alternative medicine, Masaru Emoto, has shown water's ability to directly mirror what is happening around it. It is obvious that the messages from water can once again remind us of our true heritage and from whence we come. Because he has seen that the hexagonal crystal structure of water is the basis of life and nature, he says it is absolutely essential that we return to Mother Nature, which to me, is another way of saying we must remember the Goddess, and what follows from that is that women must be globally respected and honored.
My vision sees women as not only the birth-givers and caretakers of life, but also the stewards and protectors of pure water for our communities ("muni" means "gift"). I feel it is of vital importance to keep our precious water from becoming the commodity of greed, privatized as an object of privilege, and keeping it accessible to all as our birthright and inherited gift from the Great Mother.
To aid my vision I have co-founded a women-owned environmental business, Environmental Purification Systems, currently looking into removing MTBE from water in California as well as investigating other serious environmental concerns.
Leslene della-Madre (formerly Leslene McIntyre) is President of EPS. She also continues her lifelong work of healing and midwifng the spirit, teaching and writing. Her new book Midwifing Death: Returning to the Arms of the Ancient Mother is now available. (Contact www.midwifingdeath.com for further information.)
