Spending the past few days with my teacher, Otter, has given me much happiness and helped me to re-connect with my feminine roots.
Being a child of the 60's, when womens' roles in the home and workplace were starting to change, caused me to lean more towards masculine energies at an early age. None of us young girls wanted to be taken for granted like our mothers and grandmothers often were. To us, it looked like all most women did was stay at home, have babies, cook, clean and get fat!
Too, some of us wanted to have the same opportunities to learn and do what the boys did. I remember wanting to take woodshop in school and was not permitted to do so because I was a girl and had to learn to sew. And when I joined the Girl Scouts, I discovered we would be making pot holders and yarn dusters instead of going on cool camping trips like my little boy friends did. Ugh!
But I think what really turned me against being feminine was my religion. Women were not allowed to be priests, the holy trinity was all male, and our god seemed to resemble my hot tempered Dad. Not to mention Eve, who along with her snake friend, caused the entire human race to be banished forever from paradise. Later in life when I learned god was once female and the reasons behind the shift from the feminine to the masculine I became very angry and left that religion behind forever.
Through the years, I've honestly seldom felt discriminated against and I believe most men try to be supportive and respectful of women. Things have changed so much since my youth. Now men participate in the birth process and caring for the children along with sharing house chores. Some even stay home while their wives go out and work.
Still, old thought-habits die hard and a little defensive chip remains on my shoulder when it comes to female equality and traditional female roles. But Otter asked me who I love the most in my life aside from my husband and why, and of course, the answer is my Mom. Because she was and still is such a great mother to me :>)
Otter suggested I could look to our Mother Earth as a role model because although she is more powerful than all of us humans together, she gives everything of herself, and still remains wild and free. So I will take Otter's advice and do just that.
Thank you to my teacher, Otter, for your lessons!
If you'd like to read more details about Otter Medicine and what this animal can teach us, be sure to click on the link under the photo above of the beautiful painting by Alysa of HonoringMotherEarth ~
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