Monday, 10 August 2009, early afternoon – siesta time,
Assisi, Italy
Last night the gathering of the Global Peace Initiative of
Women, ‘The Divine Feminine – Guiding Global Transformation’, opened with two
hours of prayer, chanting and singing. It was beautiful, with a lovely energy
building throughout the time. Women and men from lots of different perspectives
– I don’t want to list them because it seems an unnecessary detail – it was
just wonderful to hear the different languages, different feelings, different
traditions, different forms of expression – and to see the smiles, the
seriousness, the passion, the concern, the caring, the sincerity.
Today the sessions began with meditation before breakfast, and
then more chanting/singing to the Divine Mother, asking for help, singing
devotion, singing prayer. We have translation from Italian to English when the
speaker is Italian and English to Italian when the presenter speaks in English.
The Call to Gather pointed out the needed global and individual changes (again, another list with which we are all familiar) and
then asked, ‘how can we understand the transformation needed, and what is the
role of the feminine perspective in fostering these shifts?’ I have detailed
notes from these talks, and I can tell you that the conversation deepened
throughout the morning and over lunch, and I have a sense that much good will
come of all this. Some good laughs, a few cries, some great stories, some
insight and revelation – all that a good GPIW gathering (all that a good human
experience) offers.
I am learning a lot and so want to study and integrate it
all RIGHT NOW...but I am practicing patience and know that it’s an evolving
process.
Soon I need to go and light the candles and tidy the chairs
(Ananda is calling), so I’ll just put this up for now. I miss you all and am
with you and you are with me here. Thanks for the good company!
