Aspiring to Express Sublime Feminine Intelligence
All genders can do it
SUBLIME FEMININE INTELLIGENCE
What are the qualities of people who embody sublime feminine intelligence, as I aspire to do?
• They believe that no one is free unless we all are free; that the supreme goal is to reduce suffering and increase joy.
• They are lovers of equality; activists committed to social and economic justice; in service to people who are from disadvantaged backgrounds; excited to protect and preserve the health of the natural world; passionate about diminishing militarism, plutocracy, bigotry, misogyny, and racism.
• They prize their understanding of the interconnectedness of all things.
• Listening well is a quality they value.
• They are willing to expand and adjust their understandings of the world if they encounter new information that reveals their previous beliefs are obsolete or too narrow.
• They consider the needs of as many people as possible, not just the needs of their immediate community and network of allies.
• They are emotionally intelligent. They understand it’s as crucial to develop a savvy relationship with our feelings as it is to be intellectually smart.
• They regard relationship as a crucible for spiritual work.
• They are not fundamentalists and authoritarians who believe that only their truths are true. They are willing to consider the value of alternate points of view. They are open to the perspective that everyone has a piece of the truth, but no one has the entire truth.
• They regard practical expressions of kindness and compassion and ethical behavior as sacred practices.
• They proceed as if loving and caring for animals and plants and the earth is a prime test of our spiritual intentions.
• They understand that to accomplish practical changes that serve the greatest good requires hard work in the trenches of political struggle, often having to deal with people who have different beliefs.
• They regard play and fun and humor as not diversions from “serious” spiritual work, but rather being at the center of it.
• They are nuanced, not simplistic; respect dialog more than authoritative pronouncements; seek consensus, not doctrinaire obeisance; understand that perfectionism is often the enemy of the good.
• They aspire to regard everyone as a potential teacher.
• Love is their highest priority, their go-to motivation.
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The art is The First Supper by Susan Dorothea White
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When the divine feminine, the goddess, is no longer revered, social and psychic structures become overmechanized, overpoliticized, overmilitarized.
Thinking, judgment and rationality become the ruling factors. The needs for relatedness, feeling, caring or attending to nature go unheeded. There is no balance, no harmony, neither within oneself nor in the external world.
With the disregard of the archetypal image so related to passionate love, a splitting off of values, a one-sidedness, occurs in the psyche. As a result, we are sadly crippled in our search for wholeness and health.
—Nancy Qiualis-Corbett, The Sacred Prostitute: Eternal Aspect of the Feminine
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poem by Lauren Brazzle Zuniga at https://www.laurenbrazzle.com/
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7 self-care strategies for dismantling the patriarchy:
https://tinyurl.com/DismantlePatriarchy
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TEAMING UP TO OVERTHROW PATRIARCHAL SPIRITUALITY
I was exultant to be interviewed by Jeff Brown for his new podcast. I am a big fan of his work, and feel that his work and my work have a lot of overlap.
https://tinyurl.com/BrownAndBrezsny
Here's the podcast interview on Apple: https://tinyurl.com/BrezsnyAndBrown
Here's the podcast interview on Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/BrezsnyBrown
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Here's a description of our conversation:
Jeff and Rob deconstruct "patriarchal spirituality" and invite us to embrace a spirituality that honors all the aspects of our uniquely human story: our egos, our bodies, our feelings, our traumas, our relationality, our individuated purpose.
With our hearts on our sleeves, and our boots on the ground, we are then present for all of this, and capable of making a real difference.
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PS: Patriarchal spiritualities are the antithesis of an embodied and inclusive consciousness. They confuse self-avoidance with awakening, and make it impossible for humanity to recognize and transform the challenging realities before us.
Detached from the stuff of our humanness, we become incapacitated with respect to effecting real change.
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Here's the blurb I wrote for Jeff Brown's book, Grounded Spirituality:
Jeff Brown is an iconoclastic visionary about intimate matters. There aren't many of those around, since most modern geniuses seem devoted to seemingly more glamorous and critical matters like artificial intelligence, 3-D printers, and smart chips implanted in our brains.
But the truth is—at least in my view—revolutionizing the way we do our inner work and craft our intimate relationships is the most important action we can take to transform the world.
And Jeff provides potent ideas to help us do just that. His rigorous imagination is in service to creating a more emotionally intelligent culture.
When I read his words, I get riled up in all the best ways. He disrupts my habitual thought grooves, which inevitably leads to unexpected healings and inspirations.
These days the word "soul" gets carelessly bandied around by many lazy and sloppy thinkers, but Jeff is not one of them. He is reverent and impeccable, an astute connoisseur of the soul and its needs.
Read Jeff Brown on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SOULSHAPING
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SUBLIME MUSIC
Fatoumata Diawara is an amazing singer, composer, and guitarist. She sings primarily in Bambara, the national language of Mali, and builds on the tradition of "songs of advice" from the culture of her ancestral Wassoulou region.
In her songs, Diawara has addressed the pain of emigration; the struggles of African women; life under the rule of religious fundamentalists; and the practice of female circumcision.
Here she is in a Tiny Desk concert:
Gorgeous song and video by Fatoumata Diawara:
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35 PRACTICAL STEPS MEN CAN TAKE TO SUPPORT FEMINISM
by Pamela Clark
1. Do 50% (or more) of housework.
2. Do 50% (or more) of emotional support work in your intimate relationships and friendships.
3. Consume cultural products produced by women.
4. Give women space.
5. … but insert yourself into spaces where you can use your maleness to interrupt sexism.
6. When a woman tells you something is sexist, believe her.
7. Educate yourself about sexual consent and make sure there is clear, unambiguous communication of consent in all your sexual relationships.
8. Be responsible for contraception.
10. Have progressive name politics.
11. If you have children, be an equal parent.
12. Pay attention to and challenge informal instances of gender role enforcement.
13. Be mindful of implicit and explicit gendered power differentials in your intimate/domestic relationships with women…whether a partner or family members or roommates.
14. Make sure that honesty and respect guide your romantic and sexual relationships with women.
15. Don’t be an online bystander in the face of sexism.
16. Be responsible with money in domestic/romantic relationships.
17. Be responsible for your own health.
18. Don’t ogle or make comments about women. (i.e., Keep your tongue in your mouth and comments to yourself.)
19. Pay attention to the sex of experts and key figures presenting information to you in the media.
20. Ensure that some of your heroes and role models are women.
21. Praise the virtues and accomplishments of women in your life to others.
22. Have integrity with your male friends. (i.e., Don’t be a “bro.”)
23. Don’t treat your spouse like a “nag.” If she is “nagging,” you are probably lagging.
24. Know that acknowledging your own sexist opinions and stereotypes you hold is not enough. Do something about them.
25. Befriend women.
26. Find female mentors/leaders. (i.e., Be subordinate to women.)
27. When in a romantic relationship, be responsible for events and special dates associated with your side of the family.
28. Don’t police women’s appearance.
29. Offer to accompany female friends if they have to walk home alone at night…or in a public space where they may be likely to feel unsafe.
30. Inject feminism into your daily conversations with other men.
31. If you have a tendency to behave inappropriately toward women when you are under the influence of drugs or alcohol, do not consume drugs or alcohol.
32. Be aware of the physical and emotional space you occupy, and don’t take up more space than you need.
33. Walk the walk about income inequality.
34. Get in the habit of treating your maleness as an unearned privilege that you have to actively work to cede rather than femaleness being an unearned disadvantage that women have to work to overcome.
35. Self-identify as a feminist.
More on this subject:
https://tinyurl.com/FeministMenSupport
https://tinyurl.com/MenSupportFeminism
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SOULFUL SINGING SUPERSTARS
Five soulful singing superstars have formed a soulful singing supergroup: Starling Arrow, a blend of Leah and Chloe of Rising Appalachia, Tina Malia, Ayla Nereo, and Marya Stark. https://starlingarrow.com/
Here's a playlist of songs by the five women of Starling Arrow:
Other great songs done by the women of Starling Arrow:
Ayla Nereo: "Wheel of Time" — https://tinyurl.com/2p98ysu7
Rising Appalachia: "Resilient" — https://tinyurl.com/2fm8n2pc
Rising Appalachia: "Medicine" — https://tinyurl.com/3zdd8jd9
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FREE WILL ASTROLOGY
Week beginning December 1
Copyright 2022 by Rob Brezsny
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Sagittarian comedian Margaret Cho dealt with floods of ignorant criticism while growing up. She testifies, "Being called ugly and fat and disgusting from the time I could barely understand what the words meant has scarred me so deep inside that I have learned to hunt, stalk, claim, own, and defend my own loveliness." You may not have ever experienced such extreme forms of disapproval, Sagittarius, but—like all of us—you have on some occasions been berated or undervalued simply for being who you are. The good news is that the coming months will be a favorable time to do what Cho has done: hunt, stalk, claim, own, and defend your own loveliness. It's time to intensify your efforts in this noble project.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): The bad news: In 1998, Shon Hopwood was sentenced to 12 years in prison for committing bank robberies. The good news: While incarcerated, he studied law and helped a number of his fellow prisoners win their legal cases—including one heard by the US Supreme Court. After his release, he became a full-fledged lawyer, and is now a professor of law at Georgetown University. Your current trouble isn't anywhere as severe as Hopwood's was, Capricorn, but I expect your current kerfuffle could motivate you to accomplish a very fine redemption.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): "I stopped going to therapy because I knew my therapist was right, and I wanted to keep being wrong," writes poet Clementine von Radics. "I wanted to keep my bad habits like charms on a bracelet. I did not want to be brave." Dear Aquarius, I hope you will do the opposite of her in the coming weeks. You are, I suspect, very near to a major healing. You're on the verge of at least partially fixing a problem that has plagued you for a while. So please keep calling on whatever help you've been receiving. Maybe ask for even more support and inspiration from the influences that have been contributing to your slow, steady progress.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): As you have roused your personal power to defeat your fears in the past, what methods and approaches have worked best for you? Are there brave people who have inspired you? Are there stories and symbols that have taught you useful tricks? I urge you to survey all you have learned about the art of summoning extra courage. In the coming weeks, you will be glad you have this information to draw on. I don't mean to imply that your challenges will be scarier or more daunting than usual. My point is that you will have unprecedented opportunities to create vigorous new trends in your life if you are as bold and audacious as you can be.
ARIES (March 21-April 19): Journalist Hadley Freeman interviewed Aries actor William Shatner when he was 90. She was surprised to find that the man who played Star Trek's Captain Kirk looked 30 years younger than his actual age. "How do you account for your robustness?" she asked him. "I ride a lot of horses, and I'm into the bewilderment of the world," said Shatner. "I open my heart and head into the curiosity of how things work.” I suggest you adopt Shatner's approach in the coming weeks, Aries. Be intoxicated with the emotional richness of mysteries and perplexities. Feel the joy of how unknowable and unpredictable everything is. Bask in the blessings of the beautiful and bountiful questions that life sends your way.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Of all the objects on earth, which is most likely to be carelessly cast away and turned into litter? Cigarette butts, of course. That's why an Indian entrepreneur named Naman Guota is such a revolutionary. Thus far, he has recycled and transformed over 300 million butts into mosquito repellant, toys, keyrings, and compost, which he and his company have sold for over a million dollars. I predict that in the coming weeks, you will have a comparable genius for converting debris and scraps into useful, valuable stuff. You will be skilled at recycling dross. Meditate on how you might accomplish this metaphorically and psychologically.
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OUR COLLABORATION
I really do feel that you're here with me as I create these horoscopes. In a sense, you're my assistant. Our telepathic connection is utterly palpable and practical.
The hopes and questions you project my way stream into my higher mind, coloring my psychic environment and enriching my desire to give you exactly what you need.
If you ever want more inspiration generated in that same collaborative spirit -- beyond the horoscopes you're reading here -- keep in mind that every week I also offer EXPANDED AUDIO HOROSCOPES for you. They're four-to-five-minute meditations on the current state of your destiny.
To listen to your Expanded Audio Horoscope, go to https://RealAstrology.com
Register and/or log in through the main page.
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The cost is $7 per sign. (Discounts are available for bulk purchases.)
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GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Tips on how to be the best Gemini you can be in the coming weeks: 1. Think laterally or in spirals rather than straight lines. 2. Gleefully solve problems in your daydreams. 3. Try not to hurt anyone accidentally. Maybe go overboard in being sensitive and kind. 4. Cultivate even more variety than usual in the influences you surround yourself with. 5. Speak the diplomatic truth to people who truly need to hear it. 6. Make creative use of your mostly hidden side. 7. Never let people figure you out completely.
CANCER (June 21-July 22): In my dream, I gathered with my five favorite astrologers to ruminate on your immediate future. After much discussion, we decided the following advice would be helpful for you in December. 1. Make the most useful and inspirational errors you've dared in a long time. 2. Try experiments that teach you interesting lessons even if they aren't completely successful. 3. Identify and honor the blessings in every mess.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): "All possible feelings do not yet exist," writes Leo novelist Nicole Krauss in her book The History of Love. "There are still those that lie beyond our capacity and our imagination. From time to time, when a piece of music no one has ever written, or something else impossible to predict, fathom, or yet describe takes place, a new feeling enters the world. And then, for the millionth time in the history of feeling, the heart surges and absorbs the impact." I suspect that some of these novel moods will soon be welling up in you, Leo. I'm confident your heart will absorb the influx with intelligence and fascination.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Virgo author Jeanette Winterson writes, "I have always tried to make a home for myself, but I have not felt at home in myself. I have worked hard at being the hero of my own life, but every time I checked the register of displaced persons, I was still on it. I didn’t know how to belong. Longing? Yes. Belonging? No." Let's unpack Winterson's complex testimony as it relates to you right now. I think you are closer than ever before to feeling at home in yourself—maybe not perfectly so, but more than in the past. I also suspect you have a greater-than-usual capacity for belonging. That's why I invite you to be clear about what or whom you want to belong to and what your belonging will feel like. One more thing: You now have extraordinary power to learn more about what it means to be the hero of your own life.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): It's tempting for you to entertain balanced views about every subject. You might prefer to never come to definitive conclusions about anything, because it's so much fun basking in the pretty glow of prismatic ambiguity. You LOVE there being five sides to every story. I'm not here to scold you about this predilection. As a person with three Libran planets in my chart, I understand the appeal of considering all options. But I will advise you to take a brief break from this tendency. If you avoid making decisions in the coming weeks, they will be made for you by others. I don't recommend that. Be proactive.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Scorpio poet David Whyte makes the surprising statement that "anger is the deepest form of compassion." What does he mean? As long as it doesn't result in violence, he says, "anger is the purest form of care. The internal living flame of anger always illuminates what we belong to, what we wish to protect, and what we are willing to hazard ourselves for." Invoking Whyte's definition, I will urge you to savor your anger in the coming days. I will invite you to honor and celebrate your anger, and use it to guide your constructive efforts to fix some problem or ease some hurt. (Read more: tinyurl.com/AngerCompassion)
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I think one of the most beneficial things men can do for themselves is reclaim their femininity. And of course that then extends to liberating women as well.
Thank you so much for your wisdom. I recently read something you wrote about all the trauma you went through--so much violence targeted at you or your loved ones. It was shocking. More shocking is that despite it all, you are unconventionally wise. This recent edition is so needed. We have a long way to go to get to healthy as a global human community. We are the sickest animals in so many ways.