Synchronicity . . . gotta' love it!

There I was typing away on the latest issue of the Goddess Gift E-zine featuring the "Forgotten Goddess",Hestia, Greek Goddess of the Hearth) when my inbox pinged that I had new mail coming in.

That email made it Synchronicity-squared. (More on the email later)

Paying attention to synchronicity is my usual modus operandi in deciding on the subject matter for the newsletter. I try to pay attention to anything unusual or challenging that's happening in my life at the moment, while asking myself "Which Goddess is trying to tell me something important?"


All too often I have to ask "And what the heck is She trying to say?" as well.


But not this time. The issue was chillingly clear. Her message was clearly, "Sharon, you need to get more FIRE in your life. Literally!"


Now the Goddess didn't mean passion (either sexual or motivational), but real, live fire. The kind in the hearth. So it was pretty obvious that it was Hestia I was supposed to be channeling as I wrote.


Not a big surprise since our heat pump had just imploded during an unseasonable cold spell here in the mountains. And the company we've always dealt with had the audacity to say it'll be 4-5 weeks before they can install a new unit. Brrrrrr!


So, thanks Hestia, for sending the message. I pulled up my big girl pants, fired our old company and finding a young upstart company to do the job next week!


Moral of the story: This, my friends, is why it's always a good idea to be on a first-name basis with a goddess!
(A good place to make their acquaintance is our free monthly newsletter. So take us up on the invite to Subscribe by using the button on the right.)


And about that email that was pinging away all this time . . . it brought the welcome news of a mystery solved.

A reader of last month's entry on the Iron Jawed Angels wrote to inform us that the original author of the circulating email was none other than Connie Schultz who first published it as a column titled "And you think it's a pain to vote," which ran in Cleveland's Plain Dealer Feb. 19, 2004. Many thanks to Anon. for sharing that information in the comment below.


Enough for now. I go to through another log on the fire. Sharon

A friend of mine sent me an email that's been circulating for a few years. The original author is unknown.

It's about the women who became known as the “Iron Jawed Angels” and about the HBO film of that name. (See the video clip below.) It’s a harrowing story, but one that will inspire you. These American 'goddesses' risked all to gain the right to vote for women. We should honor their courage.

Politics has always been an ugly business. Personal attacks create gain in the public arena. It works through fear to promise safety. It reduces us to the most superficial self-defining and calls that democracy.

But the political process also reminds us that each of us matters, hearing our voices to determine who will stand in place to represent our national character. . . an opportunity for each of us to make a difference in the world.

WHY WOMEN SHOULD VOTE

This is the story of our Grandmothers and Great-grandmothers; they lived only 90 years ago.

Remember, it was not until 1920 that women were granted the right to go to the polls and vote.

The women were innocent and defenseless, but they were jailed nonetheless for picketing the White House, carrying signs asking for the vote.

And by the end of the night, they were barely alive. Forty prison guards wielding clubs and their warden's blessing went on a rampage against the 33 women wrongly convicted of 'obstructing sidewalk traffic.'

(Lucy Burns)
They beat Lucy Burns, chained her hands to the cell bars above her head and left her hanging for the night, bleeding and gasping for air.

(Dora Lewis)

They hurled Dora Lewis into a dark cell, smashed her head against an iron bed and knocked her out cold. Her cellmate, Alice Cosu, thought Lewis was dead and suffered a heart attack. Additional affidavits describe the guards grabbing, dragging, beating, choking, slamming, pinching, twisting and kicking the women.

Thus unfolded the 'Night of Terror' on Nov. 15, 1917, when the warden at the Occoquan Workhouse in Virginia ordered his guards to teach a lesson to the suffragists imprisoned there because they dared to picket Woodrow Wilson's White House for the right to vote. For weeks, the women's only water came from an open pail. Their food--all of it colorless slop--was infested with worms.

(Alice Paul)

When one of the leaders, Alice Paul, embarked on a hunger strike, they tied her to a chair, forced a tube down her throat and poured liquid into her until she vomited.

She was tortured like this for weeks until word was smuggled out to the press.

http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/suffrage/nwp/prisoners.pdf

So, refresh my memory.
Some women won't vote this year because--why, exactly?
We have carpool duties? We have to get to work?
Our vote doesn't matter? It's raining?

Last week, I went to a sparsely attended screening of HBO's new movie 'Iron Jawed Angels.' It is a graphic depiction of the battle these women waged so that I could pull the curtain at the polling booth and have my say. I am ashamed to say I needed the reminder.

All these years later, voter registration is still my passion. But the actual act of voting had become less personal for me, more rote. Frankly, voting often felt more like an obligation than a privilege. Sometimes it was inconvenient.

My friend Wendy, who is my age and studied women's history, saw the HBO movie, too. When she stopped by my desk to talk about it, she looked angry. She was--with herself. 'One thought kept coming back to me as I watched that movie,' she said. 'What would those women think of the way I use , or don't use, my right to vote? All of us take it for granted now, not just younger women, but those of us who did seek to learn.' The right to vote, she said, had become valuable to her 'all over again.'

HBO released the movie on video and DVD . I wish all history, social studies and government teachers would include the movie in their curriculum I want it shown on Bunco night, too, and anywhere else women gather. I realize this isn't our usual idea of socializing, but we are not voting in the numbers that we should be, and I think a little shock therapy is in order.

It is jarring to watch Woodrow Wilson and his cronies try to persuade a psychiatrist to declare Alice Paul insane so that she could be permanently institutionalized. And it is inspiring to watch the doctor refuse. Alice Paul was strong, he said, and brave. That didn't make her crazy.

The doctor admonished the men: 'Courage in women is often mistaken for insanity.'

Please, if you are so inclined, pass this on to all the women you know.

We need to get out and vote and use this right that was fought so hard for by these very courageous women. Whether you vote democratic, republican or independent party - remember to vote.

History is being made.

A Clip from Iron Jawed Angels

Oops!

Forgive us, friends, for we have blog-sinned. It's been quite a while since we last posted.

Sorry ‘bout that.

There was, of course, a reason, but if it’s all the same to you we’re going to take a pass on the long, boring explanation, and just get on with it!

Moon Goddesses and the womanly art of intuition were featured a recent edition of The Goddess Gift Newsletter. (Feeling deprived because you missed it?? Just use the link on the right to get your own free copy delivered straight to your mailbox each month.)

The Greek goddess Artemis is a well-known example of a moon goddess; Hecate is another. These goddesses are associated with the moon because of their 'diffuse light' or knowledge. In other words, their intuition.

An intuitive way of knowing can be described as "understanding or knowing based directly on your experience of something without using reasoning or the application of your logical, analytical mind". Intuition is the work of your right brain . . . in essence, intuition can be described as your "gut feelings", the voice of your inner guide.

Newsletter subscribers were invited to take a 'Moon Goddess Quiz' to see how intuitive they were. Hundreds took it. Here's the test again for those of you who haven't seen it yet. Then
compare your results to those who took the survey.

Which way is she turning?

Clockwise? Counter-clockwise?

What do YOU see her doing?
What does your "gut" tell you?

If you thought:

Clockwise . . . then you use more of the right side of the brain, i.e. you tend to be "right-brained". Right-brained individuals are generally thought of as more imaginative and intuitive (they "get it", sense the meaning underlying events and messages).

They tend to "see the big picture" instead of focusing on details and are at home with the interpretation of symbols and images. Right brained individuals are oriented both to the present and the future.

Counter-clockwise . . . then you tend to use the left side of the brain the most, i.e. you tend to be "left-brained". Left-brained individuals are generally thought of as more logical, detail oriented, relying on facts and appreciating a sense of order.

They are practical people. Knowing and understanding things is important to them. Left brained individuals are often more oriented to the past and the present.

I must be losing my mind . . . she goes one direction for a while and then the other. No, you weren't hallucinating . . . you apparently function in both sides of your brain and, most importantly, HAVE A STRONG CONNECTION BETWEEN THE TWO!

So.....leave a comment and let everyone know how YOU scored!