#28 - This 100th International Women's Day with Marianne Williamson's Powerful Spiritual Messages about Women

In honor of this 100th International Women's Day (which in all honesty, to me, is always like any other day. 'Cause seriously! ONE day in the year, to honor women? what does that mean about the other days? Plus, as i'm experiencing it here in Cameroon, for the second time in my adult-life; I'm noticing how the day is more an occasion for women to wear their "Pagne"/Women's Day outfit, and abandon themselves to wild -if not - wreckless celebrations, vs elevating reflections. Quite unfortunate. But well... ) 

That's one of the main reasons why,  in the hype and euphoria of this very day, I'd like to share some powerful excerpt of Marianne Williamson's (whom most of you have noticed to be one of my favorite spiritual-guru) 1993 book: A Woman's Worth, which I find still as pertinent today as it was 18 years ago. Another reason being simply to share some excerpts of this book, which keeps inspiring me, each time I reread it, and so for  every women who stumbles upon this blogpost I hope you get inspired, get elevated, and why not buy the entire book for more spiritual nourishment! 

(Source: "A Woman’s Worth" – Marianne Williamson(1993 edition) Random House Inc, New York )

"It’s very difficult being a woman. It’s very difficult being a man too, I realize, but this book is a book about women…

More women cry, loudly or silently, every fraction of every moment, in every town of every country, than anyone – man or woman – realizes. We cry for our children, our lovers, our parents, and ourselves. We cry in shame because we feel no right to cry, and we cry in peace because we feel it’s time we did cry. We cry for the world. Yet we think we cry alone.

We feel that no one hears, that there’s no listening that matters. And we must all listen now. We must hold the crying woman’s hand and minister to her tenderly, or she will turn this collective feminine shadow self – into a monster who will go unheard no longer…

Womanhood today is tentative and unsure, a thing defined more by what it isn’t than by what it is. For some women, this is not a problem. They have risen above the complexities of society’s projections and misunderstandings and now fly high above the clouds. For most women, however, the resistances they encountered as they reached for the sky were so great that their wings have now drooped, and they try no longer.

Womanhood is a mass pain of unspoken depth; and when we try to speak it, we’re liable to be told, “There you go – complaining again!”

As long as this is true, not half but all humanity is obstructed in its journey to ur cosmic destination. This destination is far, far away, a place so deep inside us that we have barely glimpsed its outer walls…

Watch.wait. Time will unfold and fulfill its purpose. While we wait, we must not go unconscious. We must think and grow. Rejoice and dream, but kneel and pray. There is holiness in the air today; we are giving birth to goddesses. They are who we are for they are us: friends, therapists, artists, businesswomen, teachers, healers, others. Start laughing, girls. We have a new calling.

You can tell who we are: We use whatever our business is as a front for talking about things that really matter.

“What?” you say. “me, a goddess?” Yes, I say, and don’t act surprised. You knew when you were little that you were born for something special no matter whet happened to you, that couldn’t be erased. The magic could not be drained from your heart any more than lady Macbeth could wash the guilt from her hands. Sorry to tell you, but you had it right yeas ago, and then you forgot… In reading this now, you might remember what it is.” (pg 3 – 6)

At every moment, a woman makes a choice: between the state of the queen and the state of the slavegirl. In our natural state, we are glorious beings. In the world of illusion, we are lost and imprisoned, slaves to our appetites and our will to false power. Our jailer is a three-headed monster: one head our past, one our insecurity, and one our popular culture.

Our past is a story existing only in our minds. Look, analyze, understand, and forgive. Then, as quickly as possible, chuck it.

Our insecurity is inevitable in the absence of personal meaning. Without a sense of connection to deeper, more noble ideas, we are doomed to a desperate struggle for things that fill us up: the job, the relationship, the looks, the body. We are tyrannized by a belief that we are inadequate. No nazi with machine gun could be a more tormenting presence.

The monster’s third head is the pop culture we collectively spend millions of dollars supporting each year. It does not support us in return… like many battered wives, we look endlessly for love in places that have no capacity to love us back. We must consciously choose to do this no longer.

Until we do, the monster will keep us locked up in his dungeon. Deep inside us, however, is an inborn escape hatch. It’s a love that doesn’t end of waver or make money off us or play games with us or stomp on our heart. It’s our spiritual core… Within this realm, we find God, the Goddess, and our own sweet selves” (p.7-8)

“Many of us have set up our lives so that we are constantly busy, living on a kind of adrenaline that poses as energy. This is an insidious trick of the negative mind: building a wall of frantic activity that mitigates the experience of a meaningful inner life. We lose a tremendous amount of personal power and healthy energy by allowing ourselves to be lured away from daily spiritual practice. The spiritual life is our  inner life, and a woman is lost without her connection to the God and Goddess within her.” 53

 “A woman is meant to hold the heart of the world within her hands. She must cater to it and minister to it and kiss it when it cries. We are meant to keep the home fires burning, the fires in our hearts. We are meant to prepare the food, the spiritual food of love and compassion. We are meant to care for the children, not just our own, but every child. When we do not recognize our cosmic function, our own hearts break, and so does the heart of the world." 54 

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There's no better song I could think of ending this blogpost with than Corneille's "Le bon Dieu est une femme" (God is a woman) - And do translate the lyrics into English using Google translate. They are that good ;) 

Enjoy, and receive my warmest love on this day.

Olivia