I loved this piece, Rachel! Patriarchy, capitalism, and neoliberalism are clearly teetering on some cataclysmic edge. I've worked to protect land, water, and ecosystems for decades, and in the face of the current assaults, I've been grappling with what the more beautiful story might be. This, in addition to questions of what the more beautiful story might be for all of us. While I seem to have found a relatively healthy personal balance--though not without some low-grade anger, grief, and anxiety related to all the awful forces you've outlined--the world is a big place and the assaults are nearly endless. The End and the birth of a new paradigm cannot come quickly enough.
So much to unlearn, so much to take in, to create our own lives, weaving it thread by thread in our own pace and terms. Reading this as I wake up from a nap, taken on a Saturday morning in the chaos of home, priorising rest over everything else, I feel that this is just the beginning of the journey back to me and freedom. As baby 2 is about to enter the world I am feeling a page is turning, one where I really start living truthfully instead of fitting in a mold that hurts and limits.
I am embracing now that I will both need, and contribute to, the sisterhood, the female support, the matriarchy.
I was raised, brainwashed really, to believe in hyperindepence - being able to fend for myself, fend together as a couple or let my husband fend for me. None of these choices are healthy.
Raising three special needs children and being chronically ill, I had to realize (thank you, universe, for your absolutely crystal clear message!): I cannot do it on my own and neither can the women around me.
I need my mother, my cousin, my sisters through blood or friendship, my daughters. And they need me.
Needing one another, making ourselves willingly, beautifully connected with, and dependent on, each other is not a sign of weakness or failure. It is what is meant to be. It is HOW we are meant to be.
I do not know yet how exactly the second half of my life in sacred sisterhood will unfold. Will we create a three generation form of shared living within the family? Join a spiritual community? And how will my husband and son, two sensitive, awakened and attuned men, be included? What about finances and physical or mental restrictions in old age?
So many open questions. I can only trust that doors will indeed open as my intuition, my female strength, my knowing becomes stronger: No, indeed, the toxic path delineated by patriarchy and capitalism is not for me.
I pulled #24 “It’s Time for a Nap” from Colette Baron-Reide’s Wisdom of the Oracle deck. My question before pulling it was, “What are my next steps?” I burst out laughing when I read it. I’d just written my to-do list for the day… (mowing the lawn, pulling weeds, updating the art on my print-on-demand site, taking my old WiFi equipment to the UPS store to return to the provider) I decided to only complete one of the tasks on it, (the last item) and to take the rest of the day as a relaxation day as the card commanded. A part of me is relieved, and a part of me is deeply uncomfortable with this level of “irresponsible behavior.”
Thank you for this wonderful piece ❤️ I am living this in real time and doing a lot of Tarot work to help me navigate this uncharted territory. Here’s to new beginnings!
As my world crumbles around me, and the promise of patriarchy and capitalism fails, I am seeing new pathways. I am learning that I don’t need to own things to appreciate them, and that is key to our personal and collective freedom.
1. "The Goblin King makes his final seductive offer to Sarah: "Just fear me, love me, do as I say, and I will be your slave." "The logic is absurd: I'll be your slave if you willingly become mine first. It's the same contradictory nonsense as all patriarchal deal-making."
Or alternatively, it simply is a request to co-operatively submit to each other. Instead, you espouse that a woman says no to an offer of mutual self-sacrifice, mutual companionship and love, and instead go out alone in a blaze of glory. The radical feminist immaturity on full show here.
This type of offer is as old as time, just like the vows of "until death do us part", or in the tradition of the West, "Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her". Ephesians 5:23-25.
MUTUAL, mature, loving self-sacrifice for the good of something bigger than ourselves. Family, children, love.
2. "or we can choose to fall in love with the process of building something better: something that honours our nervous systems, our needs, our appetites, our anger, our rest."
I agree, let us reject radical feminist dreams of "independent woman girl-boss" where one "doesn't need no man", and instead, build something BETTER, something in direct alignment with our evolved "nervous systems" and "our needs"... such as having children and build a loving, mutual, steel-bond with a special man who likewise desires commitment, children, and to serve you.
If it's not become abundantly clear yet - asking women to become even more self-focused, to retreat inwards even more, to create more time to become lost in social media scrolling, to bask more in feminine solipsism, is NOT making women happier or healthier, and it is NOT working for society at large either.
We've hit the Dead End, that's for sure, and all developed economies on the planet have done so quantitivately - there aren't enough children being born to sustain our populations, and so within just 100 years, countries are about to self-implode due to complete catastrophic demographic collapse. That is irrespective of whether everyone becomes suicidally anxious and depressed from locking themselves up in their bedrooms all day or not.
Wait: are you actually defending the Goblin King? The manipulative, baby-snatching weirdo in tights and a fright-wig? Lol. Bowie’s character is not a symbol of love. He’s the embodiment of coercive control trying to trap an underage girl in his lair.
There’s a difference between partnership and possession. Between mutual respect and submission. And between actual desire and patriarchal fantasy dressed up as devotion.
You call this “mutual,” but only one person is being asked to disappear.
You’re welcome to your beliefs.
But don’t mistake compliance for love. What a gigantic turn-off.
I loved this piece, Rachel! Patriarchy, capitalism, and neoliberalism are clearly teetering on some cataclysmic edge. I've worked to protect land, water, and ecosystems for decades, and in the face of the current assaults, I've been grappling with what the more beautiful story might be. This, in addition to questions of what the more beautiful story might be for all of us. While I seem to have found a relatively healthy personal balance--though not without some low-grade anger, grief, and anxiety related to all the awful forces you've outlined--the world is a big place and the assaults are nearly endless. The End and the birth of a new paradigm cannot come quickly enough.
Thanks Wendy 💚🌿
I also can’t wait to experience the more beautiful story…
Let’s keep dreaming it into being together 💃💃💃
You are welcome.
Yes, please! 💃💃💃
So much to unlearn, so much to take in, to create our own lives, weaving it thread by thread in our own pace and terms. Reading this as I wake up from a nap, taken on a Saturday morning in the chaos of home, priorising rest over everything else, I feel that this is just the beginning of the journey back to me and freedom. As baby 2 is about to enter the world I am feeling a page is turning, one where I really start living truthfully instead of fitting in a mold that hurts and limits.
I love that.
Giving birth to both a new child and a new you.
And creating a future for all 💃💃💃
That is it! For me it’s also paving the way for my daughter, that she sees rest, she sees listening to oneself, she sees community, she sees support 🧡
Beautiful piece, wise words. Thank you!
I am embracing now that I will both need, and contribute to, the sisterhood, the female support, the matriarchy.
I was raised, brainwashed really, to believe in hyperindepence - being able to fend for myself, fend together as a couple or let my husband fend for me. None of these choices are healthy.
Raising three special needs children and being chronically ill, I had to realize (thank you, universe, for your absolutely crystal clear message!): I cannot do it on my own and neither can the women around me.
I need my mother, my cousin, my sisters through blood or friendship, my daughters. And they need me.
Needing one another, making ourselves willingly, beautifully connected with, and dependent on, each other is not a sign of weakness or failure. It is what is meant to be. It is HOW we are meant to be.
I do not know yet how exactly the second half of my life in sacred sisterhood will unfold. Will we create a three generation form of shared living within the family? Join a spiritual community? And how will my husband and son, two sensitive, awakened and attuned men, be included? What about finances and physical or mental restrictions in old age?
So many open questions. I can only trust that doors will indeed open as my intuition, my female strength, my knowing becomes stronger: No, indeed, the toxic path delineated by patriarchy and capitalism is not for me.
I pulled #24 “It’s Time for a Nap” from Colette Baron-Reide’s Wisdom of the Oracle deck. My question before pulling it was, “What are my next steps?” I burst out laughing when I read it. I’d just written my to-do list for the day… (mowing the lawn, pulling weeds, updating the art on my print-on-demand site, taking my old WiFi equipment to the UPS store to return to the provider) I decided to only complete one of the tasks on it, (the last item) and to take the rest of the day as a relaxation day as the card commanded. A part of me is relieved, and a part of me is deeply uncomfortable with this level of “irresponsible behavior.”
Wonderful piece, I really enjoyed reading it!
That’s hilarious and also profound 🙄🤣
Definitely time for a nap, a break, a rest, a reset.
Thank you for this wonderful piece ❤️ I am living this in real time and doing a lot of Tarot work to help me navigate this uncharted territory. Here’s to new beginnings!
The only difference between capitalism and cannibalism is the spelling, basically.
This writing hits so deep for me today. Thank you for putting this crossroads into words 💛
As my world crumbles around me, and the promise of patriarchy and capitalism fails, I am seeing new pathways. I am learning that I don’t need to own things to appreciate them, and that is key to our personal and collective freedom.
Yes, yes, yes, always and every time yes. My virtual orgasm as I re-give myself permission. Thank you for another great post.
Amen
LOVED this. Thank you 🙏 ❤️🔥
Thank you for this - seeing life through the lens of possibility instead of just what’s in front of us can change everything! Love your work
Thank you so much - we are so glad to have you with us on the journey!
💃💃💃
Enlightening. Thank you.
A regenerative culture and future is on its way. Rest, Repair / Recover, Regenerate. Play. Repeat.
1. "The Goblin King makes his final seductive offer to Sarah: "Just fear me, love me, do as I say, and I will be your slave." "The logic is absurd: I'll be your slave if you willingly become mine first. It's the same contradictory nonsense as all patriarchal deal-making."
Or alternatively, it simply is a request to co-operatively submit to each other. Instead, you espouse that a woman says no to an offer of mutual self-sacrifice, mutual companionship and love, and instead go out alone in a blaze of glory. The radical feminist immaturity on full show here.
This type of offer is as old as time, just like the vows of "until death do us part", or in the tradition of the West, "Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her". Ephesians 5:23-25.
MUTUAL, mature, loving self-sacrifice for the good of something bigger than ourselves. Family, children, love.
2. "or we can choose to fall in love with the process of building something better: something that honours our nervous systems, our needs, our appetites, our anger, our rest."
I agree, let us reject radical feminist dreams of "independent woman girl-boss" where one "doesn't need no man", and instead, build something BETTER, something in direct alignment with our evolved "nervous systems" and "our needs"... such as having children and build a loving, mutual, steel-bond with a special man who likewise desires commitment, children, and to serve you.
If it's not become abundantly clear yet - asking women to become even more self-focused, to retreat inwards even more, to create more time to become lost in social media scrolling, to bask more in feminine solipsism, is NOT making women happier or healthier, and it is NOT working for society at large either.
We've hit the Dead End, that's for sure, and all developed economies on the planet have done so quantitivately - there aren't enough children being born to sustain our populations, and so within just 100 years, countries are about to self-implode due to complete catastrophic demographic collapse. That is irrespective of whether everyone becomes suicidally anxious and depressed from locking themselves up in their bedrooms all day or not.
Wait: are you actually defending the Goblin King? The manipulative, baby-snatching weirdo in tights and a fright-wig? Lol. Bowie’s character is not a symbol of love. He’s the embodiment of coercive control trying to trap an underage girl in his lair.
There’s a difference between partnership and possession. Between mutual respect and submission. And between actual desire and patriarchal fantasy dressed up as devotion.
You call this “mutual,” but only one person is being asked to disappear.
You’re welcome to your beliefs.
But don’t mistake compliance for love. What a gigantic turn-off.
You have no power here.