Treat Earth Like the Goddess She Is

Mother Nature, Mother Earth . . . terms we use so frequently, but do we fully understand and embrace the meaning behind these words . . .

How is the Earth like a Goddess?

In classical Greek mythology, Gaia was the Earth Goddess. She was the first to take form out of chaos. She then gave birth to the sky, mountains, rivers, oceans, and all living things on the planet.

The words matter, matrix, and material come from mater - latin for "mother" We refer to the our planet as "mother earth" and "mother nature" easily.

It was once just as easy and natural for people to worship Mother Goddess, the Divine Feminine and see women in her likeness. To imagine divinity as female was a natural consequence of observation.

Is the Earth just as alive as a Woman?

In the mid 1960s James Lovelock (atmospheric scientist) and Lynn Margulis (microbiologist) formulated the Gaia Hypothesis, proposing that the Earth is alive and that it functions much as our bodies do to maintain homeostasis. Our bodies are an environment in which temperature and chemistry must be kept within a very narrow range of fluctuation. To be alive and healthy requires very sensitive interaction among our many systems - circulatory, respiratory, digestive and so on. Gaia (earth godddess, planet earth as feminine form) has equally complex interactive systems that must also maintain balance - oceans, soil, atmosphere, biosphere and so on.

What does it mean to think of the Earth as Gaia (Mother Nature, Goddess)?

Inhabitants of the planet Earth must realize that we are in a relationship to Gaia as in a fetus in the body of a pregnant mother. In the womb we are provided for and protected. We can only thrive if our mother's body is healthy.

"We all know our beautiful green planet is in danger. Our way of walking on the Earth has a great influence on animals and plants. We are all sleepwalkers, not knowing what we are doing or where we are heading. Whether we can wake up or not depends on whether we can walk mindfully on our Mother Earth. The future of all life including our own, depends on our mindful steps. We have to start learning how to live in a way that the future will be possible for our children and grandchildren"
~ Thich Naht Hanh, The World We Have

When we are finally able to see the earth as our mother and love her as she is, then we will also realize she needs us


Why does caring for the Earth seem like a women's movement?

In our society boys are often shamed for being soft hearted, emotional, imaginative and are discouraged from interests and inclinations that seem "unmanly" Leaving girls to be the "emotional, nuturing" counterparts. Leaving girls as the more likely ones to respond to beauty and to little children and animals. Women are the ones who can be emotional. Women are the ones who bear children and know of the effort it takes to raise a child into adulthood. Women are the empathic gender and therefore in order to save the world, we must gather the women. Beliefs such as this have led to the rise of Eco-Feminism.

Ecofeminism is a social and political movement which points to the existence of considerable common ground between environmentalism and feminism. Ecofeminists argue that a strong parallel exists between the oppression and subordination of women in families and society and the degradation of nature.

We have a beautiful mother
Her oceans wombs, her wombs oceans
The summer grasses her beautiful hair
Her brown embrace eternal
~ Alice Walker, poet/writer

If we want to see progress in future generations we must celebrate, love and respect that which gives birth to us and sustains us - women and the Earth. There are goddesses in every woman. Let's start treating our women and our planet as the Goddesses they are.

Women, United, Are Uniquely Equipped To

An adaptation of excerpts from "Gather the Women, Save the World" by Jean Shinoda Bolen

Women have qualities that men have not developed, and these talents are needed right now! The dormant power of women together is the untapped resource needed by humanity and by the planet. The distinguishing female abilities that contrast with standard behavior have to do with qualitative differences in response to stress and use of communication. These differences relate to women's ability to manage resources responsibly, to work together for the common good, and to base ethical behavior upon compassion for others. In 2000, research conducted at UCLA found that females of many species, including humans, responded to stressful conditions with a TEND & BEFRIEND response, not flight or fight like many male species.When women's lives become stressful, they talk to their friends, look after their children and animals, straighten up the house, water their plants, clean the lab, studio or desk where they work. And as they do, their stress level goes down, and the amount of the maternal bonding hormone, oxytocin, goes up. Men on the other hand, have an increase in adrenaline, when they're stressed, a reaction that prepares their bodies to run or stay and fight (flight or fight)

In the male world, which we currently live in, intellectual development (rational thinking, data-based infomration, objectivity, the realm of the mind) is fostered and rewarded while emotional development (feeling, intuition, aesthetic appreciation, subjectivity, the realm of the heart) is usually not. When both are importan, both sides of hte personality develop and both hemispheres of the brain are used. Since the women's movement, girls, especially, have has social support to develop both sides of themselves and have been freer to do so than boys. As a consequence, women as a gender are more likely to be whole people in this sense.
It is time to gather the women - for only when women are strong together can women be fiercely protective of what we love. Only then, will children be safe and peace a real possibility. Without an adult or society to protect them, children are vulnerable to whatever bad happens. Boys wait their turn to be men with the upper hand and girls become acculturated to becoming powerless women.

Until women collectively become involved in creating a culture of peace to stop violence begetting violence in the human family, women and children continue to be the primary casualties.

I believe that the socialization of very young boys, who are shamed for being soft-hearted, emotional, imaginative, or sensual, and are discouraged from interestes and inclinations that men consider unmanly, contributes to one-sided development. The other contirbution is fear and humiliation. Unprotected, neglected and abused boys and young men grow up to emulate those who has power over them. The plague of violence in the home, in street gangs, and by terrorists is a reflection of an economic and social world where Goddess and Mother as a feminine principle is absent, and no one cares about each person in the humnan family. Until women who believe the divine sacred feminine principles are able to protect both their boys and girls from abuse and bullying, boys can not grow into whole people.

The male perspective, from schoolyard experience on, is that males gang up, take advantage, and that a team player or a guy who wants to stay out of trouble keeps his mouth shut. This "go along to get along" and "look the other way" attitude is a pre-vailing one in many places. Something that men instinctively seem to know that women do not is that men in high positions either know what is going on and don't want it known or they don't know and would rather not know. In a male world, once a man knows a problem exists, he knows it can make him look bad (be "one down". Women's experience is different . In the female world, it is not only bonding and stress-reduing to discuss a problem or admit a mistake, it generates support, ideas, and possible resources. Women are more able to admit mistakes, ask for directions, work collaboratively, seek consensus, be motivated by empathy to alleviate suffering, and take care of vulnerable. Until women are equal partners in setting values, it is not safe for boys and men to be feeling and nurturing people without suffering from patriarchal judgments that they are not man enough. Patriarchy is endangering all species and the planet itself. Mother Earth and mothers need women to set the priorities, take care of resources, and stop wars and other abuses of power.

However, there is a blueprint to begin the construction of a world in which women would be safe from violence, exploitation, and discriminiation, could look after the well-being of their children, and have a voice in all areas of life including the environment. The blueprint comes from previous women's movements, but this next movement we are approaching may be a women's peace movement. The goal is to stop violence, resolution of conflicts, and restoration of peace. Domestic violence, school ground violence, street violence, terrorism, and wars have the same origins in the need to dominate and to be predator of prey.

Women who respond to this message have a sense of connection and sisterhood with other women. We are experiencing a time when the fate of the Earth and all life upon it is at risk. There is a great connection between the status of women, women health issues, and the condition of our environment.

In villages and neighborhoods, mothers gather and talk, share infomration, gossip, laugh, keep an eye on the children and do whatever else brings them together. On college campuses, women organize meetings, talk into the night, form life-long friendships. Women bond through conversations in which rappport and trust grows through what we tell each other and how we respond. We talk about ourselves and our relationships. Women learn through conversation. Women's stories can inspire "if she can do that, I can too!" They also provide warnings of what to be wary of; women listen and take heart "What happened to her could happen to me" There is an empathic support, problem solving, and stress relief in women's conversations. Women's talk leads to symmertrical connections, rather than heirarchical ones, and consensus building, both of which are needed for cooperation and collaboration. Women's talk needs to be recognized as a positive force - a means and method of bonding and understanding eac other and other people - that humanity needs to be able to take a next step toward planetary community.

What cannot be done by men or by individual women, can be done by women together. Earth is home; it is time to take loving care of the planet and all life upon it, beginning with where you are, what you love, and your vision.