Reawakening the Power of the Bear Goddess, and rooting back into the Earth
On March 18th, 2016, in occasion of the congress “Native Peace Cultures, the Paths of the Earth”, we prepared an important event to celebrate the Mother of Life and the Spring Equinox. For quite some time, I had been focusing my work increasingly upon animal forms of female expression, as well as on the Shamanic energies that we women nurture within our bodies, and which render us sisters and daughters of all living creatures. Be it as a bear, serpent, fox, owl or pheasant, tiger or tiniest bee, the Goddess of Life cyclically changes shape, assuming the most various forms, and we can learn how to flow in her drift, according to the necessities of time and space.
On this specific occasion, we dedicated our ceremony to the Bear, the most ancient and popular incarnation of Wilderness within our hemisphere, Lady of the Mountains, of Forests, Caves and Stars.
Who else but you has suffered greater violence or oblivion?
The ritual commenced with her death, introduced by a monologue held by actress Jelly Chiaradia. And lo and behold how low the scepter has fallen, just as the tender bonds that united us to her who brought us the spiral of life. And thus
[..] dies the earth
Each time
That you fall prey to fear
And the mysterious movement
Is not comprehended
But offended by the indecencies of a corrupt mentality
That has transformed
The magic of ancestral words
Into the slumber of freedom and vibrations of love
Now bound and buried (1)
But in silence and darkness of night, the Foxes have arrived. They have silently guided my path as a Shaman in a vital and fundamental way. And I am ever more convinced that the foxes hold an important lesson and message for each woman of our times. For the Foxes are able to walk the line linking life and death, and they teach us to frolic and prance about and make fun of the world, and display the irreverent side of Womanhood, our sensuality, the true sense of the grotesque and the ludicrous, and regeneration and awakening after long sorrow and pain.
But who shall succeed in the task of bringing the Bear back to life at the end of a winter that lasted so long as to resemble death? The Foxes spread the message, inviting all the women to act by the power of their Vulva, by the power of the Cave and the Hollow from which all of life comes into being. And their laughter, their singing and their dancing rings out loud to set their Bear Soul free, revolting and involving all spectators. And the Bear scepter abandoned on the barren soil comes back to life, and blossoms in the hands of those who take the task upon themselves to raise it once more, and is entrusted to a young man and a young woman, so that they may take it to a sacred place, to the center of a labyrinth guarded by women. These women remind us that water, earth, fire and air are the elements we are all made of.
At this point, singing and drumming continue to guide women, men and children while they bring offerings and flowers, which such emotion, which such joy! For this is the “sacred” place, a place where we may thank the Goddess that nurtures and protects us, a ceremony shared. We abandon our ego, and animals and souls are joined again. We are reconciled to the Bear, and as Mary Daly said, plunge our Roots back into the Earth, uniting in her name, and healing the wounds that have been inflicted on Womankind for almost five thousand years.
These are the ceremonies of women, which the world needs in order to bring humanity back together, free of patriarchy and domination. And such are the follies women are capable of, highly powered ceremonies, empathic and emotional, that heal both outside and within.
(1) Excerpt from a monologue by Jelly Chiaradia
Cerimony curated by Morena Luciani Russo in a joint venture with Sarah Perini, and with the participation of:
Licia Chitaroni, Matilde Bellazzecca, Enza Ferragina, Elena Ribet, JellyChiaradia, Francesca Rugi, Sabina Violante, Daniela Degan, Lina Rossini, Daniela De Stefanis, Alessia De Gasperi, Emanuela Sposato, Isabella Landi, Giovanna Clerico, Grazia Carlino, Valentina Ares, Federica Carmana, Titti Bertolin, Mattia Rossi, Laura Ghianda.