The W.O.R.D.S. Project (Words Open Resonating Depths of the Sacred): A weekly alphabetical search for questions.*
Feeling something’s deeply wrong
Equality and equity are words they say, but
My body knows the wound of centuries,
Ingrained in the soul of every woman who has ever been called “bitch” or hysterical for
Nothing more than speaking her heart’s song or acting with her
Intuition, her gnosis, her body’s knowing.
No, this wound is deep and it gapes open at times, crying out for balm.
Express the rage. Create! Until we can all shout and cradle the swallowed words of our grandmothers.
~
Expressive writing — expressing the emotions, the body’s feelings, flowing from the unconscious — to my understanding, is a way to tap into the culturally suppressed side of our psyche, which can be symbolized by the “feminine,” that which is archetypically the nurturer, empowerer, and collaborator in both females and males.
This type of writing, then, can be considered a form of self-mothering. It is a way to care for our inner child.
The following is an excerpt from my Masters’ thesis that explains this further:
I believe it is the suppressed “feminine” voice of the psyche, that which yearns for connection and affiliation with nature, others, and self, which has been held down by fear in order to keep hierarchy in place.
Releasing this “feminine” aspect through writing gives voice to the other half of our psyche and to our natural selves, our actualized self and helps bring us into balance.
Like a mother builds up her children, we can write to vanquish the fear, to build self-confidence—to empower ourselves—so we can empower others.
Through writing we can enter whole, balanced, meditative states that increase “flow” and feelings of connectedness.
When we write we are fostering our own psychic growth towards self-actualization which paradoxically connects us to ALL through understanding and compassion for our shared human-ness.
Prompt: I feel the feminine wound…
joanna tebbs young 