Women Weave the Worlds

First Published in Matrifocus, Beltane, 2003

When you stand in a field and raise your arms, feeling yourself lifted into the air though your feet are still in the soil, you are being who you were meant to be. When you hear the wind wailing against the trees and wonder what they are saying to you, you have almost remembered why you were made.

Before time, Wind molded the sky, but could not venture below the soil. The angels scampered joyfully on the wind, pursuing a moment of time that had somehow broken free. Yet, still they were bereft of the deep satisfaction of embodiment. On earth, Tree framed the wild places and nurtured the growing of the beasts, birds and herbs, yet her branches could not grasp beyond the low breezes. The new planet-bound species concerned themselves only with their own generation and comfort, never raising their leaden eyes above their feet.

One moment before the gulch between the realms of Wind and Tree became uncrossable, they came together to create a bridge between them. Their creation would, like Tree, be able to stand up to whatever would come with pride and strength. Yet she would also be fleet like Wind, rising in spirit to the upper reaches of the clouds. Woman is Wind and Tree.

The first woman awoke on the day of her birth to find that she was her truest self when she ran. She owned the soil of her roots in each step and the breath of wind against her face. The sensation of her body was luscious, yet after she had run too far, dizziness brought back the joy of flying with Wind.

When she finally stumbled to the ground she began to breathe heavily and one day a sound came from her mouth. This was the gift of Wind so that she could speak to one world of what she saw in the other. She had never heard her own sound before and she liked it. In time she could make her sound without running and she learned to command her voice.

First she named herself, then she gave a reality to those things around her with her words. When she began to voice her wishes she discovered that she possessed magic. Once put into words, her desires took on life, delighting and inspiriting her. This was the gift of Tree, who turns water, sun, and soil into all life, so that she could make herself into whatever form she needed for her travels between the worlds.

For hundreds of years the woman practiced with voice and magic till she found that she was able to transcend to heavens that Wind had never even known existed. She could push herself to depths far below Tree’s roots and wander for years without knowing all the caves and fiery veins within.

Finally, she journeyed to a place that was neither above nor below, but simply beyond. This was the nexus of all the worlds, the very core of herself. It was the home of her power, her wisdom, her voice and magic. From here she could walk through a portal to any realm in the universe. Just as she was on the threshold, she hesitated. When she stopped, the chamber itself disappeared. Without its light the pathways through which she had come to reach it were dark and her memory of how to return to earth vanished.

Finally, after centuries of panic, she heard a strange sound like the wailing of the universe birthing itself. By following the din to its source, she found her way back to the earth’s surface and consciousness. She opened her eyes to see Tree thrashing and Wind shrieking. Apart each was silent, but together they had called her back.

“We love you too much to let you be lost forever. For now, you must stay between earth and sky and forget that you can travel to where we cannot watch over you. If you do try to go beyond, we warn you that you will doubt whether you have really been anywhere. If you try to use your tools to bring back tales from other worlds, others will fear and persecute you,” Tree and Wind said to woman. And so it was for thousands of years.

What she did not know was that Wind and Tree were her Guardians as well as her Mothers. When she practiced her tools within the realms of Wind and Tree, within Nature, the woman and all her descendants began to venture back into the farthest heavens and the underworlds. Once again, women attempted to enter the chamber that was the coming together of all the worlds and, while they could not make their feet move into that place, many brought back words they had heard or images they had seen.

“Here all realms come together.”

Streams of light issuing from women’s mouths and hands.

“Thread by thread, in the darkest hour.”

Their own faces.

And each time they hesitated and were lost, Wind and Tree brought them back home. Still, the woman who returned was never exactly the same woman who had left. Perhaps she would startle everyone with a completely new idea to resolve an irresolvable conflict. Her garden might bloom more resplendently than ever before. She may weave a plain cloth with such brilliancy that those who saw it lost sight of the thread and saw the sun.

The worlds above and below were also transfigured. Deep wells of spirit were infused with the gravity of the women’s everyday lives and moved from ether to action. Angels entered time on the shoulders of their visitors and knew both the sorrow and liberation of death. Immortals shared in the blind passion of struggling to get through every day and thus became Goddesses.

Now the need for the worlds to come together is so great that the women cannot help but travel throughout the spheres. Now the life we have created is in such danger that there is no time for hesitation. Now the perspective of world we live in has become so small as to be unsustainable. It is time for women to weave the worlds together. Tree and Wind are not calling us back, but coming together to awaken us to enter the chamber of ourselves and bring its wisdom home.

When you hear the wind howling through the trees in a way you have never heard before, it is tree and wind calling you. It is time for you to once again use your gifts of voice and magic to journey to those places that are both within and without you. You are the weaver of the worlds.