She's Coming...collage by Licia Berry, 2010
When I made this piece last month (click on the image above to see larger), I was utterly fascinated by it. Utilizing an old advertisement for “The 50 Ft. Woman” film, I cut carefully around this epic female and placed her in the remote and rocky landscape of the Four Corners area of the American southwest, one of my old stomping grounds.
What has surprised me is how captivated I still am. When I look at this image, I feel excitement, expectancy, recognition. I feel it in my body.
I have walked the ground in this place. I lived in the southwest for 10 out of my 45 years, enough to get a feel for the magic and history and intensity of this area of our country. The openness of the skies feels like a direct connection to spirit; the color of the ground and rocks are like an artist’s canvas (have you ever seen pink and purple dirt before?); the quality of light in the dry air makes everything so clear. There is nothing like it. I wouldn’t be surprised if I live there for more of my remaining time on the planet; it gets in your blood and in your mind, and calls to you when you are away.
So when this immense woman wanted to be placed in this sacred location, I wasn’t too surprised; what HAS me rapt is the story that is unfolding in my consciousness through this image.
I’ve known for some time (eons?) that the Sacred Feminine enjoyed Her place in the sun on this earth thousands of years ago, then needed to go underground as human consciousness explored the imbalance of power of the immature masculine. The whispering of this tale started as I began to have children; the keys in my own body began to unlock this ancient knowing as I felt Her awaken. The awareness has continued to hit home in more conscious ways as I grow older and more trusting of my body and its messages to me.
I have also learned in my shamanic and inner process work that the rocks of the earth are very much like the bones of the body; they hold memory in their dense structures. The stone, whether it is on the surface or deep under the gaze of our eyes underground, retains the knowing of what has transpired here. In indigenous knowing, the “rock people” are said to speak to those who will listen. I’ve been listening to the rocks for some years now. They speak slowly, and they are wise. They are some of my most trusted elders.
This is what has been whispered to me: from the lore of old, a primeval tale begins to spin from the weaver’s web. The ancient story goes: She of the earth, and the body and the feminine ways of knowing, She-the other half of existence– retreated to the far, remote places due to the imbalance that human consciousness explored. It wasn’t safe to express Her; many, many lives were lost to drive home the point that She was not wanted any longer.
And so, She became of the rocks and earth again, She backed away, retreating to the subconscious, a distant memory that has almost faded to nothingness. And She waited. Buried under the ground, buried in the depths of the black void of the earth, buried in the cells of our bodies and the collective mind. Until there were enough of us to hold Her memory again, to bring Her back to life on this earth, to embody Her consciousness again and bring the earth into balance.
I look at this image and I feel Her eyes open, the crust of sleep falling as pebbles from her eyelashes. While the ravens caw and circle overhead, I feel Her stiff body disengage from the womb of earth that held Her tenderly and securely while She slept. While the mountain lion gazes comfortably from its rocky perch, I feel Her stretch under the power of the enlivening sun, the kiss of Great Father, who blesses, welcomes and heralds Her return. And I feel her intent as She strides across the vast desert floor, the weight of Her immense body shaking the very ground as She walks. She has a date with the people of earth.
This image, born of my own subconscious, tells me that She is re-born out of memory, and into waking life. She of the earth, the rocks, cradled while She went to sleep (out of necessity), has been awakened and has re-emerged in humanity’s consciousness. And She’s coming.
