Today’s blog
Lynn Murphy Mark
Independence day
This morning I woke up to this poem, sent by Katie:
SHE. On the tip of her tongue.
My religion is other women.
This isn’t tongue in cheek.
My religion congregates around a fire,
in a cramped room we booked to talk,
in an idling car for way too long,
in someone’s living room,
in the cold,
because there’s more to say and hear.
There is a spark of divinity I know to look for
when she says something she’s never said out loud before.
There is a spiritual rumble in the dehydrated voices of women
who aren’t used to saying so much.
When I hear another woman articulate something
I’ve never been able to,
that’s the voice of my god speaking to me.
It’s ancient, forbidden knowledge,
and it fills my body with myself.
There’s power in our warm red blood.
~ Lane Lloyd
I also read a Heather Cox Richardson’s post for today, July 4. She reminded me that the founding guys wrote that “all men are created equal”, not even bothering to include women in this proposition. Her letter for today was shorter than usual, but it sent me on a quest to find out more about women’s rights in the United States of America.
The 19th amendment to our Constitution finally gave women the right to vote in 1920. That is 144 years after the Declaration of Independence was signed. But even what happened in 1920 did not guarantee that all women would be allowed to vote. In Southern states, Black women were restricted from voting by laws quickly passed after the 19thamendment was ratified. Indigenous people were not even granted the right of citizenship until 1924 with the passage of the Indian Citizenship Act. Their right to vote was governed by state law and until 1957, some states barred Native Americans from voting.
My whole life has been deeply influenced by women. My mother taught me the value of thinking for myself. She taught me to be independent in as many ways as I could be. I don’t think the words, “women’s rights” ever issued from her lips, but I did grow up believing in the concept of equality for all. Mom had some friends who were strong and courageous women, who solved world problems around the bridge tables. But we lived in Latin and South America, not exactly known for women’s rights. The societies we ran in were definitely male dominated, but somehow I got the message that I am entitled to be an equal wherever I am planted.
I have been a member of several groups that happened to be all women, and I have learned my best lessons in spirituality and female power from the participants. One of my friends, Marilyn, has a degree in feminine spirituality and is an expert on goddesses and the roles they have played in religions around the world. Ask her a question about this topic and settle in for a lesson. She can explain the Sacred Feminine through examples of the Holy Mother, and the influence of Goddesses through the ages. She can also talk about how women, who had a critical role in many ancient spiritual spheres, managed to give away their power to men. When that happened, the whole idea of second class citizenship was born.
So, here we are on Independence Day, with so many issues to work on that aim to guarantee equal rights to all. As long as there is misogyny and sexism rampant in the world, there is no real independence for us, the women who hold up half the sky.