{"id":102,"date":"2010-10-04T10:10:00","date_gmt":"2010-10-04T10:10:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/thequeenofmyself\/2010\/10\/ruin-and-beauty.html"},"modified":"2010-10-04T10:10:00","modified_gmt":"2010-10-04T10:10:00","slug":"ruin-and-beauty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thequeenofmyself\/2010\/10\/ruin-and-beauty.html","title":{"rendered":"Ruin and Beauty"},"content":{"rendered":"


This has been a year of such violence. Against women. Against strangers. Against entire populations. Against. Against. Against. Always against. Corruption, greed, hate, fear and stupidity combined have perpetuated a barrage of traumatic damage against Mother Earth, Herself, and all of Her creations. <\/p>\n

And Mother Nature has retaliated in full violent force. Hurricanes, earthquakes volcanoes and rogue weather patterns. Floods of Biblical proportions. Tornadoes in Brooklyn, NY for Goddess sake.<\/p>\n

Like everyone else, I have been bombarded with images of all this violence. I feel the pain of the people, the planet, the animals, the ocean. I know and have seen the deep, heavy pain that dulls the mind and defeats the spirit of so, so many folks who are suffering a sort of catatonia of the soul. I get how hard it is. How horribly hard it is for most people all over the world. <\/p>\n

Still and all, I feel a profound responsibility to maintain an optimistic outlook. To entertain possibility. To trust transformation. And I am honor-bound to encourage and inspire a positive attitude in those who I encounter in person and through my writing.<\/p>\n

I firmly believe that women, especially women of a certain age — we Queens — need to take matters into our own hands and start to change things — from the inside out. <\/p>\n

It is time to step into our sovereignty and regally proclaim “Sorry, this path we have been pursuing in not tenable. We need a new attitude. A new vision. A new direction and new directors. Step aside. <\/i>This is how we need to do things from now on.” <\/p>\n

A third of all women in the United States are over the age of 50. We are the largest demographic. That’s a hell of a lot of power — if we would just claim it, embrace it and use it.<\/p>\n

Recently, a serendipitous affirmation arrived in my in-box
from Deena Metzger<\/a>, an exemplary Queen, pioneering Amazon and poet extraordinaire whom I have long admired.<\/p>\n

Read this with hope in your heart.<\/p>\n

The piece is long, so I will run it in two parts. Look for Part Two tomorrow.<\/i>
 <\/p>\n

Ruin and Beauty<\/b><\/p>\n

By Deena Metzger<\/p>\n

I STARTED WRITING THIS BECAUSE I AM ANGUISHED ABOUT THE STATE OF THE WORLD AND SO ARE YOU. I cannot imagine coming to the end of my life and realizing that I didn’t do everything I could have done, that I was distracted or preoccupied and I didn’t become everything I could have become in order to help save the natural world, the environment, the earth, all life, Creation. You reading this feel the same way; so let us begin and proceed undaunted on behalf of Beauty.<\/p>\n

You are not asked to sacrifice your life or anyone else’s for Creation. Actually, you are asked if you will live your life fully on behalf of Creation. You are being asked if you will live fully on behalf of all our relations. We are so divided trying to save this and then that, that we cannot save the whole. The changes we are called to are systemic.<\/p>\n

I AM WRITING THIS SO THAT YOU WILL MEET ME IN A STORY STREAMING TOWARD HEALING. Spirit says it is possible. I do not write this to give you false hope or to discount your fears. Your fears are appropriate. The situation is dire. All of creation is threatened at this moment.<\/p>\n

Still, Spirit says, there are hidden passageways to restore creation.  But … entering them asks everything of me and of you.<\/p>\n

I AM WRITING TO YOU BECAUSE I HAVE THE STRANGE BELIEF THAT SOMETHING UNEXPECTED, AND EVEN HOPEFUL, MIGHT OCCUR IF WE LOOKED AT THE WHOLE, the entirety of what we are facing and heartstormed together. I am writing because I can’t look at the whole of it alone. I am writing this because Spirit says there are ways, hidden passageways, to save Creation.<\/p>\n

I am feeling a most urgent obligation
Not to mention suggest or even imagine
Any but the most positive possibilities.
But only project willful wishful thinking.<\/b><\/p>\n

I know the world is still turning
So there must be a chance for peace.
– QMD<\/b>
Donna Henes<\/b><\/p>\n

Part Two tomorrow<\/i>.<\/p>\n

 ***
The Queen welcomes questions concerning all issues of interest to women in their mature years. Send your inquiries to thequeenofmyself@aol.com<\/a>.
 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This has been a year of such violence. Against women. Against strangers. Against entire populations. Against. Against. Against. Always against. Corruption, greed, hate, fear and stupidity combined have perpetuated a barrage of traumatic damage against Mother Earth, Herself, and all of Her creations. And Mother Nature has retaliated in full violent force. 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