Wise words from my parents

As a child my parents would often say to me that the most important thing to remember in life is, "Never trust anyone in authority and always think for yourself." It took a long time for the real truth and meaning of those words to become apparent.

It has been a bad week for authority in these islands. In the United Kingdom the authority of parliament is in tatters after revelation upon revelation of duplicity, secrecy and attempts at covering up multiple expense scandals. There are so many Terry Pratchett books I cannot remember in which one a character says, "We always put our politicians in prison the day they are elected, don't you?" Then Terry goes on to explain, "It saves time later!" Perhaps it also speaks volumes that there is a greater outcry over our politicians use of money than there ever was of them lying to us and taking us into an immoral, illegal war. The police have serious issues with acting in a political way at demonstrations, violence and causing the deaths of innocent people.

In Ireland the full horror of children's lives destroyed by sexual, physical and emotional abuse over decades has been revealed in an official five-volume report. This whole matter made even worse by the fact that it's publication was delayed by years as the Christian Brothers sought legal action to withhold the names of those responsible. To quote Ruth Gledhill, "Torture, rape and beatings. That's the unforgivable story of Roman Catholic Ireland in the 20th century. Still the perpetrators have not been named, and may never be brought to justice. It would be no exaggeration to call this a holocaust of abuse."

It is particularly telling that although boys suffered the most sexual abuse, "Female witnesses described, at times, being told they were responsible for the sexual abuse they experienced, both by their abuser and those to whom they disclosed abuse." How the story of Eve ripples down the years!

And this, "P**** W*** was two years old when he was taken to court with his two brothers aged three and four and a sister of six months. The crime: their mother was in an unhappy marriage and had left her husband. She was viewed as the guilty party by Church and State. We were put in the dock, charged and sentenced for, 'having a parent who does not exercise proper guardianship.'" His memories of the next 14 years are of physical and sexual assualt, hunger, fear and privation at the Artane Boys' School near Dublin run by the Congregation of Christian Brothers. And then there is the anguish of a mother who had her children ripped from her arms because she had the audacity to stand in her own power and demand a divorce. "For years we couldn't believe that she had tried to get us out but she made numerous attempts and was told it was impossible. She had to go back to her husband if she wanted her children."

Yesterday morning there was a discussion on the radio between a victim of abuse in Ireland and an Anglican priest who was clearly a good man who knew how to listen. One thing he said struck a chord, that authority - church and secular - tends to try and keep people like children. Or, he could have said lambs (to the slaughter). Authority cannot cope with people who stand in their own power and think for themselves. Authority thrives on secrecy and abuse.

If anything good can come out of all this it will be a total end to deference and the realisation by the majority of those words spoken so often by my parents many years ago, "Never trust anyone in authority." Of course I am reminded of some words of Karen Tate, "With this means of (Goddess) worship or thought, spoon-feeding from a pulpit is over and the journey becomes as important as the destination, The independent, intuitive, immense and immanent nature of Goddess can then remain a living tradition without the pressure of restrictive dogma created by a select few."

Time for a new way of living, may Goddess set us all free.

Rooted in the land

With the approach of the Spring Equinox there is just the very first sign of greening on some trees. The beginnings of a surge of new growth and renewal in response to the brightening light. Trees are special, they have a very deep presence which is impossible to ignore. We are drawn to them, we have our deepest thoughts beneath their boughs. Though very different we have much in common. Trees are deep rooted in the land. Their connection with the land is firm and fixed. In a real sense they and the land are one. As free roaming creatures women and men do not appear at first to be deeply rooted in the land. At best they are fee to roam freely across the face of the earth. Yet this is to belie a deep truth. Women and men are just as deep rooted in the land as trees.

We all know where home is. After many years or even generations that may not truly be where we live. Wherever there is a diaspora there is a longing for home, a need to visit, to connect, to know. A longing to learn the language and customs of our forebears.

To dispossess someone of the land is one of the greatest crimes that can be committed. To dispossess someone of their land requires terrible force. It is like uprooting an ancient tree that has clung to the land for generations. There is always death, burning, torture and the rape of countless women, the deaths of many children. And then there is the cultural annihilation. The attack on culture and language. The ridiculing of the Goddesses. The forced worship of one all-powerful god or warrior leader. The pain of exile. The cry of the refugee. The tragedy of homelessness. The utter sense of loss.

This month has seen reports of the continuing agony of Darfur, the five year destruction of Iraq and the pain of the Tibetan people. It has seen the un-satiable greed of a few threaten the homes of many. In many ways a typical month in a world of patriarchy in which weak, unthinking men, always fail to learn the lessons of history. A world in which weak men who avoid at all cost war for themselves and their families, send the daughters and sons of others to kill, maim and die on the sole justification of fabrication, lies and Orwellian use of language. They are men guilty of enormous crimes against peoples and their land. They are men in whom we can put no trust.

The Spring Equinox is a brief time of poise and balance when the whole world is equally bathed in life-giving light. Trees achieve their own poise, balance and presence in response to the nurture of their native earth and the call of the light. From them we have much to learn.

la Lirica

Peter Popham has an article in The Independent today noting that Italy is celebrating four centuries of la Lirica (opera). He writes, "The first performance of an opera which is recognisably the ancestor of the masterpieces of Verdi and Wagner took place on 24 February 1607 in the city of Mantua, near Lake Garda in northern Italy. It was Orfeo by Claudio Monteverdi, a staging of the powerful Greek myth in which the poet Orpheus descends into the Underworld in search of his love Eurydice and persuades Persephone to release her - on condition that he does not look back while in the realm of the dead. Orpheus breaks the condition, and Eurydice has to return to hell forever."

Then he goes on to say, "It was fitting that a musical setting of this great pagan myth should have sired the art form which, in the centuries ahead, became a formidable rival to established religion as a crucible of high emotion and spirituality."

I have always been deeply moved by Monteverdi's music and simply love Ofeo. I shall be delighting in this opera again in March when I travel to Leeds to a performance by Opera North. Orfeo builds on the work of the Camerata, Florentine artists and musicians who wished to re-create the dramatic theatre so loved by the pagan Greeks and Romans.

The story of the Goddess Persephone is one of the oldest of all Greek myths. As such it takes us to the very heart of our being and universal concepts of life and death. It portrays the strong bond between a mother and her daughter and the difficult transition through puberty. Above all the three Goddesses - Demeter, Persephone and Hecate - show us how to stand against the suffering that women and children often have to bear in a patriarchal world.

And speaking of patriarchs, Orpheus fails in his bid to rescue Eurydice from the underworld. He has all the charm of his poetry and music. He has a deep love for his wife. But he lacks the one thing all men need to discover. He fails to trust the women in his life. He cannot trust Persephone to be true to her word and he cannot trust Eurydice to follow him. He cannot free Eurydice from the underworld because he cannot trust her to be wild and free.

It is here that this great pagan myth stands against established religion. It tells us that man's failure to trust women is a disaster. Wild freedom, life abundance all are dependent on this trust. Which reminds me to dance "Kore" this Spring - a beautiful choreography that evokes Persephone.