Saturday, May 10, 2008

Venus, Mercury & Standing Women

Michelle at "Crow's Feet" has written this week about Standing Women Day, Sunday 11 May. There's also an explanatory video at her blog.

This is a beautiful idea, tapping into collective consciousness, to send heartfelt hopes and wishes for the future of our planet out into the ether.

Google led me to a Standing Women Blog I've taken the liberty of copying some text from there - one person's experience of last year's event:

"First there were two, then four, than another three, then two more, then.... From down the hill, over the fence, up from the street, from across the stairs, they came to answer the call from StandingWomen.org. We intuitively formed a circle. Women and men and children and Coyote, the dog, came together in the lush clover with the majestic Loretto Convent building boarded up and empty behind us. We casually introduced ourselves to one another as we rang our Tibetan bells and cow bells and school bells and silver bells to announce the location. And then at 1:00, we held the silence. Sometimes the noise from the busy street or voices from the top of the hill intruded, but this circle held the silence. In those five sacred minutes, our silent intentions joined the bustle and rode the gentle spring wind to join with others who were also standing. A chill snaked up my spine as I looked around and beheld the circle of strangers and friends and family standing together to change the world. This silence was golden indeed! When the bells rang out to end the silence, my soul sang." (May 2007 Standing in Ontario, Canada.)

This Sunday, Mercury, planet of communication and all mental activity, will be in one of its own signs, Gemini, at 11 degrees. Venus, planet of love will also be lying in one of its own signs, Taurus at 12 degrees. So, it could be said that the influence these two celestial bodies, planet of communication and planet of love, on Sunday will be unadulterated, their qualities strong and unimpaired, helpful to the kind of enterprise in question - Standing Women Day.

I couldn't help recalling, as I read Michelle's blog, a character in the movie "Dances With Wolves" - a woman who had been captured as a child, and lovingly brought up by a Native American tribe. Her Native American name was "Stands With A Fist". I have a feeling that today's women will need to "stand with a fist", showing resolute determination, if anything is ever going to change in this world.

The pledge of Standing Women:

We stand for the world's children and grandchildren, and for the seven generations beyond them.
We dream of a world where all of our children have safe drinking water, clean air to breathe, and enough food to eat.
A world where they have access to a basic education to develop their minds and healthcare to nurture their growing bodies.
A world where they have a warm, safe and loving place to call home. A world where they don't live in fear of violence-in their home, in their neighborhood, in their school or in their world.
This is the world of which we dream.
This is the cause for which we stand.


I intend to join in, in a way others have suggested, by making my blog for tomorrow my own "stand".
standingwomen.org

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