Isn’t It Madness …

Art by Catrin Welz-Stein

When I was a young child, I always heard that women could not be newscasters, or politicians, or astronauts, or any number of positions which were considered to be of leadership and importance. As I grew up, I saw that to be untrue. Often I wondered why we divided everything into male and female. As my youngest son asked when he was a small child : Why do we have men’s and women’s clothing? Why not just clothes? I agree! And while we’re at it, let’s quit splitting things up into gender for any reason! If somebody’s good at something, that’s what they should be doing. Give men the freedom to stay home and take care of children and cook, if that’s what they want to do. I feel a change in the air. Join me in celebration!

“Isn’t it odd that once upon a time in Europe a woman could be killed for making potions from the plants around her.

“Isn’t it insane that once upon a time wise women were burnt or drowned for helping birth babies, knowing their herbs, gathering in groups of more than two, being outside alone, being strong, being beautiful, being ugly, being different, being sexual, being non sexual or touching a nettle, smelling a rose or drinking wild teas.

“Isn’t it madness that a woman who knew her body, her mind and her heart was cast aside as evil, as a sinner and her life taken away.

“Women! Do not let the ancestral memory of this that is held in your make up, in your bones and blood hold you back. Rise dear sweet sisters, rise so that our daughters and daughters’ daughters don’t have to wonder when we lost our tongues and denied our hearts.

“Grow a new tongue, invite the wolf in, awaken the witch and dance under the moon. Embrace your heart, your womb, your gut and your wisdom.

“Roar dear sister, break the silence and take back your power so the young ones won’t have to.”
~ Brigit Anna McNeill