" Our Lady of the Shards" is an evolving series of ceramic ICONS that began when I
found myself staring at a pile of shards of broken pots. I thought of how
archeologists might feel, sorting through the buried fragments of lives and
civilizations long lost. Piecing shards together to find the hands that made those
artifacts, the faces of the forgotten rising from the buried past?
And particularly the faces and the hands of the women, the forgotten Midwives who brought our ancestors into the world, the Wise Women and the Weavers and Spinners, the Spirits of Place and Priestesses cast aside in the advance of
patriarchal monotheism.
Whether buried or broken, their time has come to be seen and known again.
found myself staring at a pile of shards of broken pots. I thought of how
archeologists might feel, sorting through the buried fragments of lives and
civilizations long lost. Piecing shards together to find the hands that made those
artifacts, the faces of the forgotten rising from the buried past?
And particularly the faces and the hands of the women, the forgotten Midwives who brought our ancestors into the world, the Wise Women and the Weavers and Spinners, the Spirits of Place and Priestesses cast aside in the advance of
patriarchal monotheism.
Whether buried or broken, their time has come to be seen and known again.
OUR LADY OF THE MIDWIVES
A number of years ago I met a midwife who was retiring. Her hands had brought many children into this world, so I asked if I could take a cast of her hands. She took what she told me was the "Midwives Gesture". My Icon celebrates her life and work, and the lives of Midwives going back into prehistory, those un-named ancestors who brought us here through that Portal.
"I hate the scribblers, who only write of War
and leave the glory of the past unsung between the lines."
Robin Williamson, "Five Denials on Merlin's Grave"
I reflect on the ongoing tragedy of patriarchal culture and priorities, whereby the military, whereby technologies devoted to Death, are celebrated, funded excessively, endlessly mythologized. The U.S. has the highest military budget in the history of humanity. We tell our "his-story" in segments of wars and conquests, with civilizations somehow managing to occur in between. What might be accomplished, if even a fraction of that preoccupation with competition and death went to serve Life? How might we live, how might we act, if the welcomers of souls into this world were as celebrated, as honored, as remembered as those who are are experts at killing?
A number of years ago I met a midwife who was retiring. Her hands had brought many children into this world, so I asked if I could take a cast of her hands. She took what she told me was the "Midwives Gesture". My Icon celebrates her life and work, and the lives of Midwives going back into prehistory, those un-named ancestors who brought us here through that Portal.
"I hate the scribblers, who only write of War
and leave the glory of the past unsung between the lines."
Robin Williamson, "Five Denials on Merlin's Grave"
I reflect on the ongoing tragedy of patriarchal culture and priorities, whereby the military, whereby technologies devoted to Death, are celebrated, funded excessively, endlessly mythologized. The U.S. has the highest military budget in the history of humanity. We tell our "his-story" in segments of wars and conquests, with civilizations somehow managing to occur in between. What might be accomplished, if even a fraction of that preoccupation with competition and death went to serve Life? How might we live, how might we act, if the welcomers of souls into this world were as celebrated, as honored, as remembered as those who are are experts at killing?
More in the Series:
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Tse Che Nako the Spider Woman Weaving the Worlds with Her Stories The Priestess
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The Memory Keeper Verity
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Hecate The Black Madonna
Our Lady of the Desert Spring
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The Memory Keeper III The Weaver