Herstory

It's harder to trace women's history. Even now it is the culturally accepted norm for a woman's family name to be erased when she enters a monogomous relationship with a man.

Astarte and her consort Baal, Asherah and her consort El. Both female and male aspects of divinity worshipped together, until patriarchy stamped out the feminine divine. History is written by the conquerors, so I wouldn't believe a word written about the 'vile' worship of the feminine principle. Particularly by a group of people who believe it's OK to slaughter a city of women, children and animals. (How is that better than the so-called child sacrifice these victims were accused of?)

Because my god is right, your god is wrong. I'm the winner, you're the loser.

However, women are great story tellers. Women preserve their family history, through scrapbooks and photo albums. Woman is the heartbeat of the family, keeping the strands together, keeping the relationships between generations and between her children.

And whether or not history is true, does not matter.

I know my truth, because I am. This is my story. Herstory. I will write new myths, because a myth after all, only helps to explain a truth. The truth remains. The myth can be re-written.

Myths and Truth

Since my teens, I have always believed that the creation myth was just that- a myth. Rich with meaning and symbolism, but not literal fact.

If one wishes to believe the Earth is 6,000 years old, that's fine. But what a limiting belief to live with.

I attended a special presentation once, sponsored by a local church, with a visitor from a Christian organisation dedicated to proving that the Bible was to be taken literally, particularly the creation story.

They seemed to be afraid that disproving the creation story would disprove the very existence of God. Or at least, destroy the foundation for Christianity; the reliability of the Bible.

This same fear was the motivation behind the persecution of Galileo who claimed that the sun was the centre of the solar system. In the end, he was forced to recant this belief and spent the rest of his life under house arrest on the orders of the Inquisition.

We now know the truth thanks to other brave people that went to the source...nature itself. These people, known as scientists, found indisputable proof that the earth is not the centre of the universe. And yet, somehow, Christianity survived.

I believe that God speaks through the Bible. I believe God has spoken to me through the Bible. I also believe that God has spoken to me through many other 'secular' books, poems and lyrics. None of these are to be taken literally and venerated as holy in themselves, but they all contain spiritual truths.

Towards the end of his life, Albert Einstein attempted, unsuccesfully, to find a theory that would unite all the laws of physics. One of the reasons he failed was that he rejected the theory of quantum mechanics. Einstein said, “I can’t imagine God playing dice with the universe.” Ironically, it was his restrictive religious beliefs that got in the way of his science.

I am not afraid to have my beliefs challenged. Well yes I am, but I am more afraid of not knowing the truth.

The truth will set you free, but first it will make you miserable.
-James A. Garfield, twentieth president of the U.S.