| In the beginning, everything began, as it always does, | | | | women. They began to torture the women. They |
| with birth. The Great Mother of All gave birth, and | | | | began to kill the women. They bound women's feet |
| the Earth began to breathe. Again, and again, and | | | | for this pain gave men pleasure.They burned women |
| again, the Great Mother gave birth. And the plants | | | | at the stake for how dare any woman pretend to |
| began to breathe and the animals began to breathe | | | | know the healing ways of the plants. They stoned |
| and the two-legged ones began to breathe. All forms | | | | women to death for it frightened them to see even |
| of life began to breathe. To breathe, to live. In the | | | | the smallest bit of her holy flesh. They cut out the |
| air, on the land, in the water, and even in the fires of | | | | pleasure parts from between her legs for here was a |
| deep sulfurous vents where light never shines, all | | | | power that seemed uncontrollable. And they told her, |
| forms of life began to breathe. And they were all | | | | again and again, until she began to believe it was |
| very hungry."What shall we eat?" they asked the | | | | true, that she was not sacred, that she was not |
| Great Mother. "You eat me," she said with a smile. | | | | made in the image of God.The men told each other |
| And they did. They ate of Her body. The plants sent | | | | that women were inferior, that the animals were |
| their roots down into the earth and they ate of Her | | | | inferior, and that the plants were inferior. Soon, |
| flesh and Her bones. The plants drank Her clear blood. | | | | puffed up with false pride, the men began to devise |
| From her deep springs, from her flowing waters, the | | | | ways to use the women and the animals and the |
| plants ate. And they grew strong. And they gave | | | | plants without respect for their power, without |
| birth. The grasses multiplied and rippled in the wind. | | | | respect for their sacredness. The men began to |
| Roots grew fat and juicy. And everywhere there | | | | believe that their view of the world was the only |
| were amazingly-shaped leaves, and flowers of many | | | | view of the world.From one side of the Earth to the |
| colors, and fruits wondrous to behold.The animals ate | | | | other, they abused the women and the plants and |
| Her. They did not eat Her flesh and Her bones as the | | | | the animals. They used them without regard and |
| plants did. They could not send their roots into Her, | | | | kept them locked away. They ignored the cries of |
| for they had legs and they moved about on the face | | | | pain. They came to believe that women and plants |
| of the Earth. Some of the animals ate of the grasses | | | | and animals actually enjoyed being hurt. They |
| that grew from the Mother. Some of the two-legged | | | | confused some women so terribly that these women |
| ones ate the seeds of the grasses and the roots of | | | | began to believe that they actually were dirty and in |
| the plants and their leaves. They ate and they ate | | | | need of punishment. They tortured so many women |
| and they ate. They began to give birth, too. Soon | | | | that the wisdom of the women seemed to be the |
| there were many, many mouths eating the Mother. | | | | lie, and the lies of the men took on the trappings of |
| There were many, many feet stirring up the red dust | | | | truth.But the Great Mother lives in every woman. In |
| of the Mother. There were many mouths to praise | | | | every place and every time, the Great Mother shows |
| her abundance. And many mouths to feed."I am you | | | | herself in the form of every living woman. "Eat me." |
| and you are me. I am here for you to eat. Now eat | | | | she whispers in the dreams of the woman. And the |
| me. Eat all of me." she urged them. And some of the | | | | woman throws off the bed covers and walks |
| animals ate Her flesh and Her bones in the form of | | | | barefoot into the moonlit night. She is yearning. She |
| the other animals. And some of the two-legged ones | | | | feels a deep stirring in her belly. She looks at the |
| ate Her flesh and Her bones in the form of the | | | | moon and she fancies that she hears the moon |
| animals. And her clear blood became red. And this red | | | | speaking to her. "You are sacred. You are the |
| blood flowed in the bodies of the animals and the | | | | beginning and the end of all existence. I am you and |
| bodies of the two-leggeds who ate of the animals | | | | you are me. Keep sacred the days of your bleeding |
| who ate of the plants who ate of Her. And the | | | | and I will share with you the wisdom of the plants |
| Great Mother was well pleased.Now this red blood | | | | and the animals and the very Earth."Can she believe it |
| flowed in the bodies of the two-legged ones. It | | | | is true? Dare she believe the truth of the words she |
| flowed in their bodies and it sang to them. This red | | | | seems to hear? All her life she has been told that she |
| blood sang to them of the endless wisdom of the | | | | is not pretty enough, nor smart enough, not strong |
| Great Mother, and the endless dance of the moon, | | | | enough. Everything seems to tell her that she is too |
| and the endless spiral of birth and life and death. And | | | | round, too emotional, too sensitive. And not sacred, |
| the ones who were round and full like the Mother felt | | | | in fact, the complete opposite of sacred. All the days |
| the blood stirring in their bellies. The good red blood | | | | of her life she has heard the stories of the wonders |
| moved in their bellies and they were full of wonder, | | | | of man, the creator. She has heard it so often that it |
| and they said to the Mother: "What shall we do with | | | | has the sound of truth: God is a man. God is |
| the red blood that moves so strongly in our bellies, | | | | all-powerful, so men are all-powerful (and women are |
| Mother?" And she replied: "Give it to me. Return this | | | | weak). God is clean, so men are clean (and women |
| blood to me. Nourish me. Allow me to replenish | | | | are dirty). God is pure, so men are pure (and women |
| myself from your blood." And so they did.Each month | | | | are filth). God never bleeds from between his legs |
| when the moon grew dark and disappeared, the | | | | and men never bleed from between their legs (so |
| blood began to flow from between the legs of some | | | | the flowing blood of women is a sickness, a curse, a |
| of the two-legged ones. From the wombs of the | | | | punishment). How can she believe that her blood is |
| two-legged ones, the blood flowed: red and rich and | | | | sacred? How can she allow herself to feel pleasure, |
| nourishing. The red blood flowed into Her and she | | | | to name it good, to name it holy? How can she dare |
| said: "You are me and I am you. Your blood is my | | | | to believe that she is the Goddess?Yes, the Goddess! |
| blood. And my blood is yours. Forever and forever, | | | | The Goddess who is alive in every woman, in every |
| we will nourish each other. And if you will keep holy | | | | place, in every time. The Goddess who whispers in |
| the days of your bleeding, I will teach you all the | | | | our dreams. The Goddess who smiles in our lives. The |
| secrets of the plants and the animals. And if you will | | | | Goddess who stirs the blood in our bellies. The |
| keep holy the days of your bleeding, I will teach you | | | | Goddess who knows that every woman is wise and |
| all the secrets of Heaven and Earth." And so the | | | | powerful and sacred. The Goddess who calls to us: |
| women kept holy the days of their bleeding, and | | | | "Keep the days of your bleeding sacred. Remember |
| they grew wise in the ways of the plants, the ways | | | | that your blood is the blood of life, the blood of |
| of the animals, and the ways of Heaven and | | | | peace. Feed me your blood, your moon-time blood, |
| Earth.And so it was for many, many turns of the | | | | oh my daughter, my lover. Feed me, for I hunger |
| Earth around the Sun. Until the change. No one really | | | | and I thirst for you."Return to me. Return to yourself. |
| knows where it started. Like a small fire, at first it | | | | Remember yourself. Remember me. I am the Great |
| seemed harmless. The women were wise and they | | | | Mother. I am the Goddess. I am the Wise Woman. |
| thought no harm could come to them. Were they | | | | Listen to my words. Listen to my song. I am in you, |
| not the very Earth herself? To harm a woman, was | | | | thus I can never be lost. My story is your story. And |
| it not the same as harming the Mother? And who | | | | it is the true story of birth and life and death. Eat me. |
| would be so foolish as to harm their own Mother? To | | | | Feed me. You are woman and so am I. Through me, |
| harm the source of nourishment and comfort and | | | | you exist; through you, I exist. We are the ones |
| strength?Yet there were those who were so foolish. | | | | who create. We are the ones who nourish. We are |
| Deluded, they grew arrogant, and began to tell the | | | | the ones who open the gates between the worlds. |
| story of creation in a strange way. They began to | | | | We are the ones who must reclaim ourselves, who |
| believe that a man gave birth to the Earth and to | | | | must reweave ourselves."Oh sister, dear sister, the |
| humans! They said that man was the source of all | | | | threads are thin, the song is faint. Tell me it is not |
| nourishment and wisdom. They said that man was | | | | too late. Tell me that you hear me. Tell me that you |
| the image of God, and that God was jealous, and | | | | believe me. Tell me that the Goddess has returned. |
| angry, that God demanded pain and blood and | | | | Tell me you are listening to the plants and the animals |
| despised the simple pleasures of the body, of the | | | | and your own deep knowing. Tell me you are looking |
| earth. They said that God lived above, not within the | | | | past the slick, simple lies and into the messy, complex |
| earth, that God lived in heaven and was above all life. | | | | truth. Tell me that you feel the red blood stirring in |
| They said that men were above all life, too. That | | | | your belly."Tell me it is not too late. Tell me the |
| man had dominion over all of life, over all of the Earth | | | | sisters are awakening. Tell me the moonlodge is |
| herself, to do with as he pleased.Oh, how silly their | | | | rebuilt. Tell me that the words of White Buffalo Calf |
| stories were. Surely no one could believe such stories! | | | | Woman were not in vain. Tell me that Kwan Yin's |
| Surely everyone could see clearly that woman was | | | | heart is not breaking. Tell me that Venus is safe. Tell |
| the source of life, and nourishment. Surely it was | | | | me that Artemis roams free in the woods. Tell me |
| clear that the women's blood was the life of the | | | | that Lilith is welcome at your table. Tell me that you |
| Earth and the life of the people. And that the | | | | remember that pleasure is holy to me. Tell me that |
| pleasure of the body was holy, was sacred, was | | | | you refuse to believe that you delight in pain."Tell me |
| good. That the Earth was alive, was our true Mother, | | | | that you feel me reaching out to you from the deep |
| and must be respected. That we are part of Her, | | | | core of your being, from time out of mind. Tell me |
| dependent on Her for our very breath.But, like a small | | | | that you feel me waking up inside you, waking you |
| fire left alone when the wind is blowing, the strange | | | | up to your beauty and your power. Tell me that you |
| stories of God, of man as creator, grew and | | | | are reclaiming your truth and turning a deaf ear to |
| multiplied. The small fire of deceit rapidly became a | | | | the lies. Tell me that you remember that you are the |
| raging storm, a storm that threatened all life. For the | | | | Goddess. Tell me that you remember that you and I |
| men began to say that the blood of women was | | | | are the same. Tell me you keep sacred the days of |
| bad, that women's moon time blood was dirty, | | | | your bleeding. Tell me you honor your crones."I have |
| unclean, even dangerous. They began to say that | | | | been with you since the beginning, and I will be with |
| women themselves were dirty and dangerous. They | | | | you at the end. I am part of you and you are part |
| began to say that the Earth was dirty and | | | | of me. Allow me to love you. Allow me to honor you. |
| dangerous. They began to think of themselves as | | | | Allow me to return."Susun Weed |
| apart from the Earth, as separate from the Earth, as | | | | PO Box 64 |
| better than the Earth. They began to think of | | | | Woodstock, NY 12498 |
| themselves as apart from women, as superior to | | | | Fax: 1-845-246-8081Vibrant, passionate, and involved, |
| women, as the master of women.The women did | | | | Susun Weed has garnered an international reputation |
| their best to tend to the holy fires. The women did | | | | for her groundbreaking lectures, teachings, and |
| their best to keep the days of their bleeding sacred. | | | | writings on health and nutrition. She challenges |
| The women did their best to teach their daughters | | | | conventional medical approaches with humor, insight, |
| how to learn from the plants and the animals and the | | | | and her vast encyclopedic knowledge of herbal |
| Earth. And the women did their best to be true to | | | | medicine. Unabashedly pro-woman, her animated and |
| the mysteries of the moon-time and the wisdom of | | | | enthusiastic lectures are engaging and often |
| the Great Mother.But the men were lost. Without the | | | | profoundly provocative.Susun is one of America's |
| wisdom of the women, alone and apart, the men | | | | best-known authorities on herbal medicine and natural |
| forgot the ways of peace. They forgot that the | | | | approaches to women's health. Her four best-selling |
| Earth was their Mother. They forgot that all women | | | | books are recommended by expert herbalists and |
| were sacred. And they began to fight. At first they | | | | well-known physicians and are used and cherished by |
| fought only among themselves. But soon the | | | | millions of women around the world. |
| sickness spread and the men began to fight the | | | | |