Women Healers

The Mystery within...

“The Courage to Heal—A Guide for Women Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse,” by Ellen Bass and Laura Davis deepened my understanding of the healing power of the women’s circle retreat I described in my last post on Self-Compassion. The honesty and courage of the victims’ accounts, and their insights of what it takes to heal wasn’t easy to read but worth the effort.  It highlighted the need for women to regain their role as spiritual healers.

 “Incest is not a taboo.  Talking about it is a taboo.”  That quote reveals the great challenge of healing for both women and men.  A woman in Bass and Davis’ book, using the name of Gizelle, told of her strong feelings for revenge against her abuser.    She said, “…I am letting it all come right on through.  And the more I allow all of it to come up, the more I find myself moving toward love.  The more I block the rage, the more I stay stuck.  I trust the validity of my outrage.   …But at the same time, I believe that the only way to stop abuse is to come from a consciousness of love and forgiveness.  Hate cannot be stopped with hate.  Abuse cannot be stopped with abuse. And so for me they’re both right there.  I reconcile it by saying I trust the process.  I trust the validity of my outrage.  The outrage is because I honor and value and love life.” 

And Gizelle goes on to identify the Mystery that will heal both women and men:

“I feel there’s a great deal of magic involved in this healing process.  And what I mean by magic is that the old ways of healing, that have been lost, are waking up.  I’m awakening in my cells a lot of that old knowledge.  It comes from the earth, from the spirit of the earth.  It’s the knowledge of women who have healed through the centuries.  It’s very mysterious and it’s very in our gut.  It doesn’t come from books.  It doesn’t come from medicine.  It doesn’t channel through churches, or through yoga teachers, or through anything like that.  It’s ancient traditions that were passed down from mother to daughter until they were lost through witch hunts and the systematic elimination of women healers.” 

“This knowledge connects with the capacity to heal the rift that has the world in crisis that has us in danger of extinction.  It’s the healing power of mother earth.  It’s been taken away and lost.  And She’s coming back through us now.”

“…Only She is more powerful than the forces of destruction and death.  …To me She is the sweetest force, the most gentle healing force there is.”

What if we more often trusted our outrage to eventually lead us to a consciousness of love, forgiveness and healing?