True Leadership Inspires Us Toward Revolution

What does it mean to be a woman leader today?

I’m hungry for a reclamation of ecologically embedded, erotically well, women’s leadership. Leadership of this sort is, by necessity and definition, revolutionary. Ecologically embedded, erotically well women’s leadership is a gnostic, animist leadership. One which imagines a world that is not merely safe for some humans but that is, without equivocation or compromise, generative for all Life.

I recently had the wonderful opportunity to watch the Women Making Movies’ production, Without A Whisper: Konnón:Kwe, the true history of women’s rights here in what we now call the United States of America. The film corrected a mistake I (and many other well-meaning feminists of European descent) have made. Long before European settlers invaded and colonized this land, females and those who fluidly moved between male and female, were not merely included in governance and decision-making – they were the decision-makers. As one of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy matriarchs in the film tells us, “We aren’t feminists. We’re the law.”

In this world, where the women are the law, they serve as ecologically embedded representatives of the Earth’s constituency. They do not serve as ego-centric individuals making decisions merely for themselves or even for their families, or even for their neighborhood or larger community or even the human community at large. As the matriarchal decision makers, they work for the Earth, representing the needs and interests of Life itself. Of course, this includes their children and their children’s children. But also, equally, their responsibility includes the interests of Water, Air, Oak and Toadstool (to name just a few). Their responsibility includes the past, the present and the future of Life.

Many of us know the story here (and if you don’t, you’ll likely not be surprised to find out) that when the European, deeply misogynist, colonizers held their court proceedings to steal the land from the First Nations people under the pretense of legal processes, they were aghast to find out that the First Nations men were unable to make decisions or participate in agreements without the participation of the women of their community. The colonizers had no idea what to make of this, thinking it must be a joke and then dismissing – even more, if that was possible – the men, since they were clearly ‘caught in the skirts’ of their women. Already, the women settlers were the property of the men, as were their children and any inheritance that came to them through their lineages. Already, of course, women throughout Europe had been slaughtered and tortured for being doctors, midwives and community-tenders. It would take them (us) more than 400 years to ‘win’ the right to have even a marginal voice in the laws regarding our own bodies and reproductive rights. And that war is not over yet. This is where true leadership inspiring revolution comes in...

As I listened to the wisdom of the great, great, great granddaughters of the Haudenosaunee grandmothers who ‘were the law’ on behalf of all Life, I closed my eyes and imagined what it would feel like in my body if my great, great, great (many more 'greats' here) grandmothers had been the law on behalf of all Life. I believe in the historical accuracy of matriarchal cultures predating the patriarchal empires that have taken over the world. And so, And so, if I loosen my grip on what we call 'history', and make critical room for 'herstory', I can imagine a time, back before a singular overlording 'God the Father' and the cultural pandemic of monotheistic religion, before the orthodoxy that led to the violent subordination and sequestration of women, when my foremothers spoke on behalf of Life.  

What can we, women, do to begin to remember, into the bones of us, the ecological role our grandmothers fulfilled, on behalf of Life? How do we find our true shapes amidst so much distraction, erroneous history and false naming? For the last two decades, it has been my devotion to create spaces in which women can explore, excavate, exorcise, reclaim, and invent ourselves, in our own, and our foremothers, images (rather than those that have been offered us by a deeply damaging overculture)...so that we might take our place as the law on behalf of Life. That's a tall order.

I’ve just wrapped up the first journey of Weaving In The Dark, an experiential, embodied training for women leaders. It turned out the word ‘training’ isn’t really accurate because of course, we don’t need training. We simply need nourishment, space, some permission and a gentle guide to invite us back into our deep, wise imaginations and visions, our deepest dreamings and our wildest rage, which is, of course, love. Even though a few thousand years of brutality undermining our essential expression and intrinsic power has made us timid and self-conscious, our essential selves are right here, just under the surface, hungry for nourishment. Here, we can let go of the endless doubting of these waters that run through us so deeply some of us feel like we will drown in our own urgency if we don’t find a through-line for the wisdom and vision to flow.

This last 10 weeks with these 22 women was one of the highlights of my life so far. We uncovered the roots of our belonging and the unique ways this essential voice on behalf of all Life lives in each of us. We redefined leadership one moment at a time, as we gracefully wove our voices and our silence together, making sure each woman had space to stretch herself and space to be held in her quiet contemplation. We sang, read poetry, screamed, rattled, cried and laughed a lot together. We explored what it’s like to want more, and more still, while also being full and plenty. We unceremoniously dismantled and dispatched with the current examples of leadership as we explored what it means, for each of us, to be an ecologically embedded, erotically well, unapologetic woman at this time – the very definition of the leadership this Earth is dying for.

In a few weeks, we will embark on another round of this 10-week nutrient-dense meal – this gentle, raucous extravaganza. If my words have stirred you, you might consider hopping in our boat. There’s plenty of room for YOU.