Joanna Macy
Originally published June 26, 2009
First in line to get my book signed, I looked across the table at the deeply wrinkled face and cloudy eyes radiating grounded crone wisdom, and I reached for her hand.
“You’re a grandmother,” I said softly.
“I am a grandmother,” she said, her reply affirming my acknowledgment of something deeper beyond the literal meaning. “You’re a grandmother too, for all those future beings.”
Joanna Macy took my book and signed, “for Holly, friend and protector of the future generations. Love, Joanna.”
A renowned activist, author, speaker and workshop leader on Buddhist philosophy, systems theory and deep ecology, Macy delivered a passionate speech at this year’s Harmony Festival with the energy of an optimistic twenty-something. Filled with idealism and ready to change the world, she spoke with a fire mixed with the wisdom of a grandmother, occasionally addressing the audience affectionately as “sweeties” and “honeys.”
As I listened to Macy, I was reminded of a centuries-old Native American prophecy that speaks of the circle of grandmothers coming together during these chaotic times, encouraging humanity to turn to these sages for guidance and the action needed to assure our place on earth. It says, “When the Grandmothers from the four directions come to speak, a new time is coming.” In 2004, a group of thirteen international women leaders came together forming the first International Council of Grandmothers.
The Circle of Grandmothers is one expression of the Capricorn archetype at “The Turning of the Ages.” Capricorn is the archetypal giver to the community. As elemental earth energy, it is committed to sustainability. They are the teachers looking back at the previous seven generations, gleaning knowledge about what has worked and what hasn’t, informing them as to what is needed in the present to sustain the next seven generations.
An embodiment of this archetype, and in keeping with the role of Capricorn at The Turning of the Ages, Macy’s ideas are traditional and revolutionary at the same time. An elder and wisdom keeper, she talked about the need to rejoin the natural world. One of the most widely known “deep ecology” methods is the “Council of All Beings,” a communal ritual in which participants speak on behalf of other life-forms.
Macy also addressed her concept of “Deep Time,” work meant to refresh our spirits and inform our minds by experiencing our present lives within larger, temporal contexts. One of the ways to do this is to invoke the “Beings of the Three Times.” This reminds us of our place in time and our connectedness with those who have gone before and those who come after us, as well as those living now. Doing this evokes the inspiration they can offer us in our work for the world, heightening our sense of gratitude and responsibility and strengthening our will.
Borrowing the perspective of future generations and in that larger context of time, Macy spoke of “The Great Turning” and how it is allowing us to come alive again, bringing out great courage and creativity. This is happening simultaneously in three areas or dimensions, the third being the shift in consciousness-perceptions of reality, both cognitively and spiritually. The realizations we make in the third dimension of The Great Turning save us from succumbing to either panic or paralysis.
“We need our imaginations to rise above consensus society,” she said. “Gratitude for being alive at this moment when everything is at stake-that is liberation from the consensus society. Don’t be afraid of the dark, of your own emotions, the loss of species and cultures. If you’re alive, you’re carrying grief and despair-don’t be afraid. Keep breathing. Say, ‘I know I’m suffering with my own world.’ It means you’re connected to the web.”
Macy continued, “You are made from the living earth. When you’re not afraid of your pain for the world and its suffering, nothing can stop you. When you go to act, know that you have been around for a long time, a vast authority of fourteen billion years.”
“But it’s not just about the suffering,” she added. “We also have to feed our appetites for joy and beauty, the juice of our own hearts, gasping with gratitude about being alive at this moment.” Poetry is one way. Picking up a book, Macy read her translation of poet Ranier Maria Rilke’s Sonnets to Orpheus.
Quiet friend who has come so far,
feel how your breathing makes more space around you.
Let this darkness be a bell tower
and you the bell. As you ring,
What batters you becomes your strength.
Move back and forth into the change.
What is it like, such intensity of pain?
If the drink is bitter, turn yourself to wine.
In this uncontainable night,
be the mystery at the crossroads of your senses,
the meaning discovered there.
And if the world has ceased to hear you,
say to the silent Earth: I flow.
To the rushing water, speak: I am.
© Holly Alexander at http://www.yourdivineblueprint, 2010. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Holly Alexander and http://www.yourdivineblueprint.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
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