Sande Hart

We, as humanity are standing on a bridge with the old story crumbling behind us; the unraveling systems of domination, holding on with tooth and nail to the old decaying scaffolding, creating more chaos and division. Ahead of us is the emerging potential, pulling us along by the rise of consciousness towards a new reality of Partnership.

Dr. Riane Eisler, who is the architect of The Center for Partship Systems refers to this new dynamic as, "shifting away from the legacy of domination that we’ve inherited and building the Partnership Systems needed to support human thriving and the survival of our planet." Therefore, it's critically important to focus on the right side of this bridge and not get stuck in what we have inherited, and certainly not stay static in the middle. As women, we hold a sacred responsibility to bring forth and sustain life, and when we choose to midwife the divide towards that end, we can say we are futuring into reality a world that we are contributing to the system that supports human thriving and the survival of our planet.

Since the beginning of our modern story, women have been disproportionately impact by conditions of systems of domination. Not only for injustices against their rights, but also the rights of nature, those we love, including our community and the world. Women, like nature are wired with gossamer threads connected to all living things and they carry their sorrows as our own, consciously or not. No wonder so many women are expressing despair that seems to get darker every day.

Know the darkness is good medicine.

Yet that darkness is a gift. It's showing us who we are. It's an invitation. It's the tension that compresses creativity into something new and necessary. It's time to embrace the darkness. Know that here is where new life springs forth. Know that great ideas need to germinate in darkness. Know that in the darkness we can truly be with our truth without distraction. Know the darkness is good medicine. The darkness is also where we rest and refuel.

Since the day it was announced that Donald Trump would be our President of the United States for a second term, the reaction bears no resemblance to the 2016 election results. Then there was an indignant, "Oh Hell No!" response and pink pussy caps and rebellious handmade signs hit the streets. Women and men alike were outraged, and we showed it. More women's organizations were developed and/or reinvigorated, and programs and toolkits were birthed out of the tension.

But unlike the rebel yell of 2016, this time there an exhaustion and a quiet cry of disbelief. Could it be we are realizing that this time requires us (women in particular) to go into dark? The conflict between our nature to respond to suffering and injustice, and the self-preservation necessary for anyone during these times is confusing. Maybe that's because it's time to unravel the old myths of who we have been and what has been normalized. These times are confusing, and confusing is good. It means things today do not make sense, and they shouldn't.

Perhaps what we have stepped right over on all our marches, programs, campaigns, and other means to "fight back" was the simple recognition that we might be recirculating the same tired old story of the myth of who we are ourselves. This is where that darkness comes in handy. While we may not know to what to "do" we do have full agency right now to know what to "be."  These are historic times, and we know that what happens at this time will impact future generations. They will want to know who women were in the face of the emerging resistance to systems that do not serve us or humanity. We are those women.

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