Women Rising in the Middle East

Dearest Zahira, dearest Wise Women of our Circle,

First, Zahira, thank you for connecting with all of us as the unbearable situation unfolds in Palestine and Israel. Your message of last Saturday is exactly the ‘ALARM BELL’, the ‘wake up call’ that Scilla so powerfully evoked in Charney Manor, and that we all deeply felt.

This is our raison d’etre as a women’s initiative: When we hear the wake up call of such terrible suffering, we know that a deeper, wiser, more compassionate and far-sighted response that serves the highest interest of everyone is needed and is possible; and we know and that we as women are best placed to tap into it, to voice it, and to implement it together.

In this holy month of Ramadan, Palestine, and the entire Middle East is burning – again. We women know these flames could envelop the world if we don’t ‘inner act’  – from our souls – NOW. As the Israel-Palestine crisis broke and ISIS captured Mosul, I was on a peace mission in Turkey to meet exiled Syrian peace activists and refugees from Syria, Iraq and Palestine. My heart broke open over and over with their stories of suffering and courage.

It feels to me as if the events in the Middle East are happening in my own womb. This, I believe, is not just my feeling: many of us, especially women, feel this. Because the Middle East is our womb: our centro sagrado. It is not just the birthplace of the recent world religions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, but also the cradle of humanity. It is the holy ground of the great Goddesses – Inanna, Ishtar, and Isis; it is where prophetesses protected their people from calamity with their compassionate wisdom. That is why we women feel this crisis so acutely. We can sense that it is again our task today as women to womb and birth the future.

Devastation and hope co-exist today. Since my return I have had inspiring conversations with Jean regarding my deep concern about the Middle East crisis as a turning point for humanity. These talks combined with Zahira’s email have triggered three initial thoughts on how we might start to bring our individual and collective consciousness to bear on this region to visualize alternative scenarios:

*First, as an immediate response to Zahira’s call for support, could we all connect this weekend to Zahira, and through her to all the women of Palestine and the wider ME region who have already suffered so long? We could all spend a moment, at any time that suits each of us, in meditation or prayer for the transformation of this violence and the emergence of a scenario that is in the highest interest of everyone. We could share any visions, insights or reflections that come to us with Zahira and the group. We could continue this connection each weekend through this crisis, sending our prayers, visions, intentions and energy to Zahira and through her to the region. This would be a simple, powerful way to conjoin our energies, without meeting face to face.

* Second, could this be the right time to form a small Circle (committee) of women who feel called to ‘inner act’ in response to this Middle East crisis? to visualize what the region needs from a higher feminine perspective and what we could offer. Elza is already planning an initiative in the region next year. Perhaps this Circle/Committee could comprise Zahira and Elza, Scilla, myself, and any one else who feels so drawn, such as Olivia and Peggy, who feel deeply connected to the region too. We could discuss this on 23 July and share with others.

For my part, I am tuning in to receive guidance on how best I can be of service to the people of this region through this crisis, as i believe it holds the key to our future as humanity. Do call on me if I can lend my presence, voice or expertise to your own initiatives for peace. 

Zahira, we are all connected to you and the Middle East, wherever we are around the world. With our conjoined voices, visions, and intentions, a new awakening is nigh! 

With all my love, Rama

 

below: TWO TESTIMONIES of Women I met in Palestine and Syria to show us that there are women still caught in the web of suffering and others who are relentless beacons of courage; may they and all women in the Middle East receive our prayers and energy to heal and sow peace.

 

Testimony: Salaam from Palestine

I am Salaam, from Nablus.

I was born in 1967.

I hate the year of my birth

For it is when the Occupation began,

And I hate my name, ‘Salaam’

Because my parents dreamt of peace when I was born,

But now I know their dream may never come true before I die.

Each year of my life was filled with pain and suffering

As children, as adolescents, as adults,

Not one day did we feel secure.

Even our most beautiful occasions were marred.

The Occupation always intruded and broke our happiness.

The day I got married and wore my beautiful bride’s dress

There was an attack, and all the guests fled.

Teargas was everywhere.

I wept all day,

My wedding dress was ruined.

What I suffer is not unique.

It is what all of us have suffered.

Every story is filled with tears like mine.

The worst came in 2000.

When they invaded us again with tanks

And patrols surrounded our homes night and day

In the old city of Nablus.

For 12 days I hid with my five children

Underground, with no lights, no food, nor drink.

All hours of day and through the long nights we heard the tanks and shooting.

It went on and on and on; I was sure no single person was left alive.

When the tanks withdrew and curfew ended, I came out.

I couldn’t believe it when I saw a few people who’d survived the shelling as we had.

I raced with hope and fear to my cousins’ house just nearby,

But I found nothing where their house had stood for centuries.

Only some rubble scattered on the ground.

I screamed! I called for help. We searched

For 9 hours, through every stone and brick, and under shattered glass.

We found them, piece by piece, all 9 of them: my cousins, aunt and uncle,

And my three little nieces who played each day with my own children.

All 9. Dead.

*

All day, each day, the same worry haunts all of us mothers:

How to keep our children safe and alive?

We do not breathe, we cannot. We do not speak, we cannot.

The pain is too much.

I feel I am in an oven: everything burns inside.