Woman

Bonnie Knapton

December 23, 2023

Since the beginning of our becoming, she has been the creatrix of diverse lands, through the vehicle of her very body.

She held the first life in her being, nourishing the young from the milk created from her sustenance, her body communicating with her babe, producing the perfect balance of nutrients her baby needs.

Once seen as a deity, goddess of life and the land, a reflection of nature’s cycles, engraved with the secrets of her bounty. Her given name was Mother Earth, the blessings of her intuitive magic ran through her veins. She knows pain. She sees it in all the faces that surround her, misfortune indented on their faces as lines of wisdom.

She was a dedicated fool. The land was new, vitality growing around her, and she tried it all. This was the only way to be humbled with knowledge. Galivanting across the earth finding newfound foods, medicine and that which could be moulded into something brand new. She grew accustomed to the role of the fool, the freedom in wonder. Unbeknown to her, there was a heavy price to bear, too.

Time escalated, and new-found discoveries were brought to light. Theories were born from a lack of understanding. There was a powerful yearning to control the answers to the questions we couldn’t fathom (and still to this day, cannot comprehend through anything but our own reflection). An animalistic desire for domination reigned.

Man became fearful, unbeknown to the powerful possibility of equality. The lack of resources we had in these lost times, was feeding on their greed. They formed a male god, vast in their own honour, but their desire for answers came at the cost of her freedom to walk the earth as she was.

Their inner dis-harmony spit venom from their mouths, branding us dirt. Witches. Prisoners. Our only role was to create life, the one thing out of their control. Unholy from the power they couldn’t fit into their shackles of questions.

Their hands were tied, their dreams were chained, their voice muted, their freedom given away, their holistic gifts deemed to be witchcraft. Their potential was seen as unworthy, the truth was forgotten. That without us, there would be no life on earth. They lost sight of the fact that without having us in the sphere of possibilities, their capabilities would be void.

I wonder what would have happened if such a warped life didn’t take place. It took many different forms in many life-times, but with the same message, and the same face. Would there be war? Would poverty reign? Would the gift of a woman be submerged still, in many developing countries, and in the whisperings of a new age?

She can be found within story, mythology, song, and history, she is within the call of the wild, within nature, she is within my dear sisters born to the wrong body, she is within us all. She is in every face, every body, every sense, every culture and environment. She made us, moulded us, and continues to nourish us, no matter how you talk of her or experience her. She is a fool and seer all in one.

I just wanted to leave a note to underline that this piece is not about the bashing of ‘man’, but of honouring a woman. Both do not need to co-exist. This is me telling the flickers of a story that we all know, but some may have not truly considered.

This is my story, her story, your story, my mother’s, and the ancestors before us. They were a product of their times. And still, in many developing countries, women are still met with the same fate. Not able to work, eat, express themselves, drive, be independent, or even have their own free will.

It breaks my heart that these disturbing theories, based on ignorant propaganda, still live on to this day. We may feel like this isn’t affecting us, but there are still whisperings of this inequality through every movement we make through this life. This is happening right now. Not to mention, far worse, that I haven’t given a name to here. It’s ingrained in our world. I just hope, through education, commitment, self-awareness, and compassion, we can contribute to a world where we remember the primal, innate humanness in us all.

©️ Rights Reserved, Bonnie Knapton