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Thanks, Benjamin. Of course it’s impossible to share all of what influences a moment and this distillation of PM in one post. There’s so many more threads all weaving into this moment than my family history, and you highlighted one that has been on my mind this week – the connection with the repressive and distorted nature of the Church (and patriarchy in general) and the difficulty I have in speaking my truth loudly when it breaks from “established authority,” and fully trusting a truth that is a direct transmission through my body.
I am lucky in that my Mom took us to a very progressive Catholic church where they bent some rules, focused on social justice and engaged in real spiritual dialogue at every mass. Of course there are significant complications with that church in my family history as well – a story for another time – but it is actually where my Mom met her core group of friends who formed a women’s spirituality group and explored the Divine Feminine, Tarot, Reiki, flower essences, etc. I rediscovered those things on my own as a young adult but did have early exposure through her influence, and it made a difference. My Mom had the inclination towards freedom from the system she was raised in but she married into a family (twice) with very traditional and patriarchal Catholic programming and she’s never fully broken out from the yoke. My brother’s crime and her subsequent downward spiral arrested much of her development around this. I hope my work on this bit of lead can further the healing backwards and forwards through time and generations.
Thanks for a sharing a bit of your common thread and connecting. Also, you never need to apologize for taking time to respond. You so thoughtfully and deeply tend to so many and it is a gift to be within your circle of care.