Skills: Be A Goddess
from Contributor: Jana Eilermann
“I dance with the wind. I bathe in the rain. I flow with the river. I grow with the leaves. I am one with the vibrant energy of earth”. –The affirmation of Mawu.
My first encounter with the goddess symbol was at a support group led by Heidi Houser at T.H.E Center. We were shown a deck of Goddess Guidance Oracle Cards and asked to pick one. I don’t remember the card I chose that night, but I do remember Heidi seeking me out in the group and giving me a different card. As I was passed the card of Mawu, I finally let Heidi in, which considering I had already had 5 sessions of therapy with her, was pretty important. The writing under the picture of the African goddess read “You have been called upon to help with environmentalism”.
About 4 months later, I began my journey of reclaiming beauty with the help of Heidi and the women of the Reclaiming Beauty Playshop. We discussed the goddess symbol and used it to reflect on our own strengths and powers. The playshop began around the same time as the fall semester. I was taking a class that, in combination with the workshop, helped me find a spiritual connection that I have been searching for for years. The class was Women in Religion LINCed (Learning in community) with Women in Literature. We read some amazing poetry, stories, etc. One of our earliest readings was written by a new favorite of mine, Starhawk, from her book Spiral Dance:
The importance of the Goddess symbol for women cannot be overstressed. The image of the goddess inspires women to see ourselves as divine, our bodies as sacred, the changing phases of our lives as holy, our aggression as healthy, our anger as purifying, and our power to nurture and create, but also to limit and destroy when necessary, as the force that sustains all life. Through the Goddess, we can discover our strengths, enlighten our minds, own our bodies, and celebrate our emotions. We can move beyond narrow, constricting roles and become whole.
The Goddess is also important for men. The oppression of men in Father God-ruled patriarchy is perhaps less obvious but no less tragic than that of women. Men are encouraged to identify with a model no human being can successfully emulate: to be mini-rulers of narrow universes. They are internally split into a “spiritual” self that is supposed to conquer their baser animal and emotional natures. They are at war with themselves: in the West to “conquer” sin, in the East to “conquer” desire or ego. Few escape from these wars undamaged.
For our final project, we were charged to recreate the Judy Chicago Dinner Party with plates to represent women we have learned about in the semester that were important to us. I racked my brain to try to conjure an image of my most inspirational women, but what it came down to was that I was most inspired by the image of the goddess and the connection of women to the earth.
Jana as Mawu
I did some research and found that different cultures had different images of the Earth Goddess. My favorite was Mawu, of East Africa. While doing my research I learned that Mawu is closely associated to the Virgo sign, and is a twin, which resonates with my life symbol card according to the tarot, the Lovers. It suddenly felt like everything was falling into place. I found myself feeling connected to something larger and more powerful than me. I had found something that I didn’t know I was missing.
When designing my plate, I wanted to emphasize the goddess in me. I combined aspects of Mawu, and dressed in authentic clothing from Senegal. I wore flowers in my hair and presented my plate decorated with an image of a beautiful blonde goddess hugging the earth with images of water, mountains, sun and stars, and of course, adorned with glitter.
