Tuesday, December 24, 2013

Songs of Ancient Midwives and other Arisings


This piece is brand new (as of Christmas Eve, 2013).  I don't yet know what to title it:  "Our Lady of _____________?"  I think I'm going to contact a few friends and request a title, and see if  Her archetypal name is floating around out there somewhere.

But there is a surprising sense of Arising in these Icons that  I've felt compelled to finish  these past few weeks.  The Arising of the life-giving, creation-giving Goddess, arising from the past, arising from the mythic body of the Earth, arising from the shadows in this time of need.  And now that I think about it, this day is about the birth of the new Sun God, the Christ Child..............

So why, when I searched the internet, was it so hard to find any poems about Birth, let alone Midwives?  Believe me, there are plenty of poems about Battle and the glories, or not so glorious, realities of War.  I think this is another indicator of our world's  patriarchal priorities (death is way more important, and interesting, than the bringing forth of lifeAnd even that becomes trivialized or co-opted.

Anyway, these works surfaced from the depths of my own creativity, and some dreaming part of me, some collective part of me, had to bring them forth...............

 "Sings with the Voices of Ancient Midwives the Songs They Once Sang, Singing the New Life Into The World.........."

"Shrine for the Ancient Midwives"

"Bloom Where You Are Icon"

"Reliquary for the Flight of a Phoenix"