[FROM THE ARCHIVE: February 8, 2022]
We are trying to bring some feminist awareness–such as protecting Mother Earth–to the current political scene where, alas!, one whole political party has no interest in combating climate change, i.e. saving Mother Earth. And awakening not power-over but a transforming power of creativity. Power-with. Thus, the DM below.
Speaking of creativity, Eckhart applies the annunciation story to our creative work when he writes: The work that is ‘with,’ ‘outside,’ and ‘above’ the artist must become the work that is ‘in’ him, taking form within her, in order towards the end that she may produce a work of art, in accordance with the verse ‘The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee’ (Lk. 1:35), that is so that the ‘above’ may become ‘in.’
Indian art historian and Hindu philosopher Ananda Coomaraswamy recognizes that “Eckhart thinks of God as a mother.”
Adrienne Rich tells us: the images of the prepatriarchal goddess-cults did one thing; they told women that power, awesomeness, and centrality were theirs by nature, not by privilege or miracle; the female was primary.
The Goddess represented the intrinsic power and sacredness of creativity itself. She embodied transformation, and one expression of this in ancient societies was the reverence for pottery making, which, Rich writes, “was invented by women, was taboo to men, [and] was regarded as a sacred process.”
She observes: It does not seem unlikely that the woman potter molded, not simply vessels, but images of herself, the vessel of life, the transformer of blood into life and milk — that in so doing she was expressing, celebrating, and giving concrete form to her experience as a creative being possessed of indispensable power. Without her . . . invention and skill, the pot or vessel — the most sacred of handmade objects — would not exist.
She adds that in primordial terms the vessel is anything but a ‘passive’ receptacle; it is transformative — active, powerful. . . . The transformations necessary for the continuation of life are thus, in terms of this early imagery, exercises of female power.
This power was not over others, but transforming power, was the truly significant and essential power, and this, in prepatriarchal society women knew for their own. In biological motherhood, too, as in these other activities, “woman was not merely a producer and stabilizer of life: there, too, she was a transformer.”*
*See Adrienne Rich, Of Woman Born: Motherhood As Experience And Institution, pp. 93f., 96-99, 101
Adapted from Matthew Fox, Meister Eckhart: A Mystic-Warrior for Our Times, pp. 69-73, 95f.
See also Matthew Fox, Creativity: Where the Divine and Human Meet, pp. 39-40.
Banner image: “Embraced by Grace.” Stained glass window commemorating the Annunciation, in Swaffham’s Catholic church, Norfolk, England. Photo by Fr. Lawrence Lew, O.P., on Flickr.
Queries for Contemplation
What does it mean to you to be told that the annunciation story applies to you when you are being creative? What follows on Rich’s teaching that women’s power is transformative power? How does that differ from power as power-over?
Recommended Reading
Meister Eckhart: A Mystic-Warrior For Our Time
While Matthew Fox recognizes that Meister Eckhart has influenced thinkers throughout history, he also wants to introduce Eckhart to today’s activists addressing contemporary crises. Toward that end, Fox creates dialogues between Eckhart and Carl Jung, Thich Nhat Hanh, Rabbi Heschel, Black Elk, Karl Marx, Rumi, Adrienne Rich, Dorothee Soelle, David Korten, Anita Roddick, Lily Yeh, M.C. Richards, and many others.
“Matthew Fox is perhaps the greatest writer on Meister Eckhart that has ever existed. (He) has successfully bridged a gap between Eckhart as a shamanistic personality and Eckhart as a post-modern mentor to the Inter-faith movement, to reveal just how cosmic Eckhart really is, and how remarkably relevant to today’s religious crisis! ” — Steven Herrmann, Author of Spiritual Democracy: The Wisdom of Early American Visionaries for the Journey Forward
Creativity: Where the Divine and Human Meet
Because creativity is the key to both our genius and beauty as a species but also to our capacity for evil, we need to teach creativity and to teach ways of steering this God-like power in directions that promote love of life (biophilia) and not love of death (necrophilia). Pushing well beyond the bounds of conventional Christian doctrine, Fox’s focus on creativity attempts nothing less than to shape a new ethic.
“Matt Fox is a pilgrim who seeks a path into the church of tomorrow. Countless numbers will be happy to follow his lead.” –Bishop John Shelby Spong, author, Rescuing the Bible from Fundamentalism, Living in Sin
3 thoughts on “Transformation and the Divine Feminine: Rich & Eckhart”
The Divine Feminine Is the Divine LOVING Wise Healing Creative Spirit within and among Us guiding Our spiritual journeys in the Sacred Process of the ETERNAL PRESENT MOMENT in our compassionate daily lives with one another, with Sacred Beautiful Mother Earth and all Her living creatures and graceful abundance, and within Our Loving Evolving Diverse WHOLENESS~ONENESS of Our COSMOS-OMNIVERSE….
It means a lot to me to imagine the annunciation story applying to me as a playwright. I’m giving birth to a story, fleshing out an idea; but it’s me co-creating with Spirit. Only 22% of the plays produced in the U.S. were written by women, so it’s easy to get discouraged; but I remember Thomas Aquinas’ words: “The same spirit that hovered over the waters at the beginning of creation hovers over the mind of the artist at work.” Often, a play or part of a play (its plot, its theme, a scene) comes from somewhere else, not from anything I had in mind when I began. I have a general idea in mind but no outline. I open myself to Spirit and sometimes see my hands flying across the keyboard typing ideas from where I do not know. Often, I have little idea where an idea will take me, and sometimes the beauty or power of what comes out amazes me. I Iook back and ask, “Where did that come from?” There is always the possibility of transformative power to me or to someone later who hears or reads my words. Who am I to limit that?
Michelle, I am a playwright and songwriter, too. Much of my inspiration comes from dreams! I am currently working on a suite of “peace songs.”
My husband and I practice “with-ness” and NVC (nonviolent communication).
I am thankful for the renaissance of Creation Spirituality and rebirth of the feminine!