Women as Heart of our World

Special Thanks to Rev. Shiloh Sophia McCloud for the use of this beautiful art!

This year marks the 20th anniversary of Sophia Center. Today it is estimated that 9 out of 10 people are less interested in religion and more into spirituality, seeking out and living towards the deeper meaning in life. What was true twenty years ago was that many, many women were seeking a safe place to explore their lives and its deeper meaning. They wanted to think for themselves and explore how to live lives in more conscious ways. This is even truer today than it was 20 years ago. In the twenty years I have walked with these women and responded to their stories and to mine by creating sacred art that could capture what has heart and meaning in life, the journey of feminine consciousness has become an ever increasing passion of mine. One thing that has always been the real power of our species is the heart of a woman. This is the fire that continues to burn a bright light of hope in our homes and neighborhoods. It is the civilizing energy in our world. It also has amazing magical powers.

Two stories illustrate this: At about age 15 months I chanced to swallow a fish bone from a salmon pattie my mother carefully thought she had inspected before I ate a tiny piece of it. It lodged in one of my bronchi, apparently. A Doctor reassured my mother when I was taken to see him that it would be okay and not to worry. But, within a day of this proclamation by "Dr. God" mom knew something was wrong. When no one from the hospital would take her seriously, she called the Red Cross and got some action. At last I was admitted in a very grave condition to the ICU. My father, who was on a special assignment with the military in Alaska was brought home in an emergency transport because by this time I was not expected to live through the night. A priest was brought in to give the last rites. My mother kept an anxious vigil for 3 long days. Each day the medical staff was sure I would succumb but my mother just willed me to live and I did! Later, when I was a teenager, I saw this wondrous power myself. We had a little lamb that had been rejected by its mother. A sheep farmer up the road from us came to assess the situation and he advised putting the lamb down because he had never seen them recover from such a sickly state. "It was why its mother rejected it in the first place," was his wisdom on the subject. My mother refuse to believe this and said to the little lamb, "your name is Angel, and you will live, if it's the last thing I do!" Little Angel did live and went on to bring forth twins each spring.

I know many of you out there know what I am talking about. Either you are, or you know an amazing woman whose heart was or is strong enough to heal the whole wide world. I believe that at this time it is the collective heart of women who have kept our world from imploding. As the spring continues to unfold for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere and begin to wane in the Southern Hemisphere, let us do what ever we can to join our heart power together as we wind down women's History month. It is a month every year where we remember and celebrate the heart of women through time who have been the gathering place, the fermentation in the dough that gives sustenance to the soul of our world and culture. Praise and celebrate a woman somewhere in your life today! Light a candle on an altar somewhere for the awesome expression of the Sacred Heart that you are as well, for no matter our gender, we all are under the influence of this Heart of which I speak.