In the Shadow of Eve: Healing the Wounds of Patriarchy

Genesis 1:26-28 ... 26: and God said, let us make man is our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion ... 27: so, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them ... 28: and God blessed them

Genesis 2:7, 18, 21-22 ... 7: then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground ... 18: the Lord God said, I will make a helper suitable for him ... 21: so, the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; he took one of the man's ribs ... 22: then the Lord God made a woman from the rib ...

Gensis 3:20 Adam called his wife Eve ...

The King James "Version" (KJV) of the Bible is an excellent book if used in the right way. Beyond the allegories, the cool stories, stolen myths, lack of historical facts, condemnations, hellfire and brimstone, support of enslavement and the condemnation of women references, it's an excellent source of positive encouragement, motivation and inspiration ... if used the right way. The problem is that in our American culture ... at its inception ... with Bible in hand ... it was and continues to be used, generation after generation, to subdue, to diminish, to enslave, and to render helpless the minds and spirit of who we are.

Genesis 1 is reflective of the spiritual balance (God is spirit, right?) of both the masculine and the feminine. They were created at the same time. Energetically, spiritually they were divine and complimentary beings made in the "image of God he made them."

In Genesis 2 the man was made first, and Eve made "from him" ... neither made in the image of God. However, the creating of this "version" cemented the illusion of a woman's position as less than a man's, the illusion of hierarchy with her following as needy and weak.

But ask yourself, how is that possible? Do men actually have one less rib than we? Does a man come into this world other than birthed through a woman's womb? I say not. It is a false narrative designed to distort the balance, the conjoined power of the masculine and feminine.

The stellar female that was created by God in Genesis 1 was strategically, purposefully and to our detriment ignored and replaced by the woman named Eve. This was done for the sole purpose of subjugating, exploiting, oppressing, erasing and devaluing femininity. And we have lived in that shadow ever since, woefully and willfully.

But now, it is time to "gently" but effectively reclaim our rightful place in the experience of this life. We are being called from the graves of our ancestors to do so. This is the time of awakening. it is our time to balance this "over exaggeration" of masculine energy, pushing for dominance, control, power, greed, war and destruction without regard for human life, community, truth, health or family. I mean consider the "in our face" reversal of roe vs wade, why did there need to be a law that allows women to manage their own bodies anyway? Are our bodies still not our own?

There is no need to fight, no, we don't need to "fight." There is enough of that in the world. We just need to check in, assess the roles that we are choosing to play and own them, own our choices. Recognize the power of who we are as grandmothers, mothers, sisters, daughters, aunts, and appreciate the difference that we have made in this world, the lives that we have brought here and the relationships that we have nurtured. We get to choose to honor ourselves as the stellar feminine, she who was created in the image of goodness, truth and with divine energy.

A beautifully crafted staircase that embodies the deeper themes of change, reflection and transformation.

We get to recognize the roles that our ancestors played, the gift of freedom that they would want us to have. We get to acknowledge the roles that they "had to" play and how they would want us to represent them today. We get to not be in the shadow of a "lower-cased" woman strengthening a man's ego while he diminishes her own.

We get to awaken and remember:

• That we are the reflection, the embodiment of the beautiful women that came before us. Beautiful not in a man's eye, but beautiful by design.

• We are a descendent of women that lived, fought and paid the price for us to be here. We get to make them proud.

• Our body is a gift from creation, from our ancestors perfectly made. We must treat it as such.

• Our mind is a gift from the expansion of life, needed to learn and discern.

• Our spirit is a gift from the unseen lives, energies and vibrations eternal.

• We are a divine, a "stellar" expression of the universe.

Woman ... the world is changing, not for us, but with us. It is time that we prepared the way for the females that follow. It is our responsibility. We must remember our ancestors, our mothers, aunts, our grandmothers and their mothers. Remember them. Honor them. Respect their lives, their sacrifices, and the journeys that they made when they were here.

It is time to step out of the shadow. Heal the wounds of patriarchy, of negative masculine energy for you ... are source.

Be well.