The Power of Sacred Stories

Sacred stories have the power to change us from within. Although teller and listener may dwell in different times and places, through the magic and artistry of the tale itself, different worlds are momentarily and magically drawn together as the listener is moved from the world of Chronos with its emphasis on the clock and calendar time of past and future. In the moment of the story, is an invitation to step through the portal of Kairos, and into the mythic realm of intuition and imagination, where signs and symbols are the keys to further mysteries. Here, time as we know it ceases to be of importance, as this is the realm of the Eternal Now.

The inner child loves a story; the adult within searches for meaning. Feminine nature responds to the intuitive and masculine temperament to the logical. As individuals, we are composites of the children we were and the adults we become and it is in the tales we share and love, that we grow. As children, all our favorite stories began with 'once upon a time' and ended with 'and they all lived happily ever after.' In Western culture, the foundational story of how humanity found itself on this beautiful blue planet floating in space, begins in the Garden of Eden, a metaphor for Natures' verdant setting. We certainly begin with 'once upon a time' but as we look at our present clash of world cultures in a natural world that has been gravely abused, can we honestly envision a 'happily ever after' for the human family?

With a traditional reading of the biblical Creation story, it is difficult to imagine. Kabbalah and mystical Judaism has always suggested that there are many ways to understand the mystery of our ancient stories if we are willing to delve below the superficial level. Awaiting discovery below the literal interpretation of the Garden of Eden, magical myth and metaphor are the keys that have the transformative power to alter the course of human history for our children and grandchildren. There is the potential for a 'happily ever after' - for replacing the fear of our diversity with respect and celebration. Cooperation is possible once we add the missing letter 'o' back into the word 'corporation.' There is a path to individual empowerment and healing and the possibility of creating a global family living in harmony with the Earth. Are you ready?

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Eve, God and Evolving Consciousness

How would western culture have evolved differently if the foundational feminine archetype, Eve, had been described as the heroic, curious and courageous woman who started the human journey of spiritual beings? Kabbalah offers exactly this interpretation of the Garden of Eden story for those willing to delve below the surface. By so doing, not only are we able to empower women to release themselves from the emotional shackles of guilt, remorse and shame that have crippled too many for too long, but additionally, we are able to re-envisage an image of God that is relevant in a quantum age.

The traditional reading of the Garden of Eden not only sets the stage for the diminishment of women, but also for a misunderstanding of the nature of God. This mystical and mythic telling of the tale intuits Divinity as the Creative Source of All Life, the wellspring of compassion. This God metaphorically plants two trees in the 'Garden'- the forerunner to the world of Nature that is home to the human family on Earth. The Tree of Knowledge is the symbol for the physical world of duality that allows us to constantly make choices as we learn to use the gift of free-will. This Tree is the gift of our 'human-ness.' The Tree of Life awaits. It is the gift of our 'being-ness' with which we reconnect as we spiritually evolve and grow in consciousness.

In the deeper reading of the familiar story, we can hear the missing phrase that is written, not in the story as we know it, but rather in the spaces between the letters of the literal text. Humanity is told: "Do not eat of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge... until you are ready for all that life will bring- the joys and the heartaches, the successes and dashed hopes that are part and parcel of life in the physical. In such a sharing, the curious, intuitive and courageous 'Eve'- archetypal feminine energy, is willing to take the opportunity offered, to bring human consciousness to the physical realm just as God intended, but only when 'she' was ready for the illusionary separation from God and spiritual realm. God does not punish humanity by casting them out; here God, compassionate and unconditionally loving, holds the space for human beings to correct their errors and enjoy their successes as they make the choices necessary to experience this earthly journey.

As we reclaim the revealed Eve from the negative strictures of the traditional image that concealed her beauty and her strength, women are invited to welcome the 'Eve' within, and honor her intuitive wisdom, courage and curiosity- part and parcel of our inherent birthright. We have the opportunity of again moving the human story forward at this transformational moment in the new millennium, so full of promise and potential. The implied image of God, 'I shall be that I shall be' or 'I become that I become' is the evolving, mysterious, multilayered and unifying field and force in whose image we, consciously evolving humanity, are created. Are we ready?

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Sacred Sites, Mystical Portent

There are sacred place on the Earth, entrances to the mystical Kairos — place of wonder and mystery that we feel rather than see. They are portals to an unseen realm, that on passing through, we are transported from the mundane world, and its fixation with the clocks and calendars of Chronos time, as described in my book, "Dancing In The Footsteps of Eve."

I have personally never visited Petra, but have seen photos and read descriptions such as in Dorothy Atalla’s new book, "Conversations with the Goddess." Having been to Antelope Canyon and the Anasazi villages of the South West, I do know the powerful energy of such places, transformative energy that may remain dormant, perhaps for years, before we understand the impact of our having being there.

Our digital world is amazing and can transport us in time and space, connecting us as a global family in ways never before imagined. However, digital travel does not allow us to touch and be touched by the magical energy of sacred places. The shared spiritual journeys of those who are fortunate enough to have been there, lifts our imaginative yearning and allows us to soar. Atalla’s journey begins in Petra, Sue Monk Kidd and her daughter Ann, describe mystical Greece in their book, "Traveling with Pomegranates." We fly with them as we enjoy both books that provide joyful reading experiences for women longing to connect with their spiritual source.

Feminism in Jewish Fables, Folkore, and Legend

I am delighted to invite you to open this link:

http://inscribe.typepad.com/inscribe_journal/2010/07/feminism-in-jewish-fables-folkore-and-legend.html

Bridges Volume 15.1 is a special issue on "Fables, Folklore and Legend" and is packed with new feminist spins on some of the oldest and most timeless stories in Jewish literature. The issue opens with Agi Legutko’s essay on dybbuk possession legends and the creativity let loose in their transformation by contemporary Jewish women writers in the novels of E. M. Broner, Francine Prose, Judith Katz, Pearl Abraham, and Ruth Knafo Setton. These stories of transmigrating souls are followed by stories of the soulless golem and Simone Yehuda’s modern fairy tale of a pregnant golem named Rasa who seeks a “soul voice.” As Yehuda does a riff on the connections between women’s ability/inability to give birth and the Talmudic statement, “A woman [before marriage or childbirth] is a golem,” Heather Mendel’s “Transforming Divinity, Transforming Ourselves” looks deeply into the Garden of Eden story to reveal Eve as representing the innate and necessary curiosity humans need to experience the miracle of life. From Mendel’s teaching on the mythical Garden, readers move to Darlene Miller-Lanning’s essay on the artist Berenice D’Vorzon’s vibrantly painted divine “gardens” in nature and then to Henrietta Bensussen’s tour of very real gardens in Europe. Berenice Fisher’s family legend of her mother’s visit to a rose garden in Iraq, in 1930, is at the heart of her one women play about women’s agency in war and peace activism. Finally, the ability of folklore and legend to speak to each of us individually is powerfully represented in Zelda Kahan Newman’s short story about a raven visiting a synagogue on Yom Kippur.