The Da Vinci Connection -- Open Space and the Feminine

Tue May 23 16:48:29 PDT 2006

I read the following this morning and was struck by the synchronicity 
with what Harrison had written. Is this description of Memorial Day the 
common tale of origin?

May 29 Memorial Day
The customs of honouring and communicating with the dead around this 
time (See Lemuria (May 9), Pentecost (May 19) and Trinity Sunday (May 
26)), suggest an ancient origin for this festival. The American holiday 
derived from an incident on April 25, 1866 when four young Southern 
women, after scattering magnolia blossoms on the graves of the men they 
had lost in the Civil War, walked over to the other side of the 
graveyard where the Union soldiers were buried and decorated their 
graves as well. Sympathetic reports of this act of reconciliation 
encouraged communities all over America to hold their own "memorial" 
services, usually including a parade, a patriotic oration and a 
community picnic.
from:
http://www.schooloftheseasons.com/maydays2.html#amb

I found The Da Vinci Code to be an alternative history lesson with a 
plot thrown in.

The evidence  suggests to me that the shift to the masculine had 
happened centuries before the Christian era

I would add two books: "The Woman with the Alabaster Jar" by Margaret 
Starbird for further exploration of Mary Magdalen and the Holy Grail and
"The Alphabet Versus the Goddess" by Leonard Shlain to examine the role 
of alphabets and literacy in the  shift from the feminine to the 
masculine in cultures around the world.
Tom Robbin's wonderful novel "Skinny Legs and All" has some interesting 
things to say about all this. He suggests that the Temple in Jerusalem 
was at times dedicated to Ishtar as well as that old war god Yahweh.
Martin Scorcese's "The Last Temptation of Christ" presents Mary Magdalen 
as a priestess of Ishtar.

Eric

Harrison Owen wrote:
> I, along with many other folks, have just finished wandering through "The Da
> Vinci Code" in preparation for seeing the movie. Hardly great literature,
> but definitely a good read - exactly the sort of thing one needs as a warm
> up for the summer-lite reading. It is obviously marvelous fiction in terms
> of most of the plot, organizations and characters - but I was surprised just
> how deeply I became involved for reasons having nothing to do with all the
> plots and counter plots.
>
> Who knows how it happened exactly, but it is pretty clear that sometime
> around the 3rd-4th centuries the presence of the Feminine took a distinct
> nose dive in the West. A long time ago, when I actually thought I would be a
> REAL academic, I spent a lot of time reading and thinking about the multiple
> religious bodies in what used to be the Roman Empire. One of my favorites
> was Magna Mater - or the Great Mother, also known as The Earth Mother, The
> Goddess. Turns out, She was real popular with a number of folks in the Roman
> Legions along with many others. As such Magna Mater constituted more than a
> minimal threat to the Empire and the Emperor, who rather liked being God
> himself. It also turned out that the Great Mother was not quite the nice
> lady all of us might hope for, but that is a different tale. To make a long
> story very short, and oversimplified, The Great Mother was run out of the
> Empire, and although a lot of folks might blame the Christian Church, I
> think the truth of the matter is that those early Christians and
> Christianity simply provided a handy alternative. If you couldn't have The
> Great Mother, what were you going to do?
>
> However it happened, the Feminine has been largely absent/repressed in The
> West, an observation which is hardly novel at this point. Perhaps one of the
> best statements comes from Riane Eisler in her notable book, "The Chalice
> and the Blade." Which, incidentally, should be required reading before
> seeing the "Da Vinci Code." :-) I might argue that Riane had a little too
> much "Chalice" and not enough "Blade" - but that is obviously a male
> speaking and for sure serious correction, even over-correction was in order.
>
> So what does all this have to do with Open Space? Starting perhaps a dozen
> years ago I noticed that when we were doing training programs, a significant
> proportion of the participants were women. Initially the ratio might have
> been 3/1 (males to females), which might not seem like much now, but even a
> dozen years ago, professionals in the field (of OD, Facilitation etc) were
> predominantly male. More recently the ratio has switched almost completely -
> 3/1 females to males. I even had one program where the ratio was 15/1!
> Watching this tend I came to a conclusion - Women Get it! But what about the
> Guys? 
>
> Over the years it has become apparent the male of the species is by no means
> excluded, but I think there may be an extra loop of learning, at least for
> some of us. It is all about consciously accessing our Feminine. Of course,
> what is sauce for the gander is sauce for the goose, and I believe that my
> female colleagues improve their capacity to open and hold space to the
> extent that they consciously access their Masculine. Which brings me to a
> central point - Balance, or better yet, a dance of male and female energy.
>
> Perhaps this could be part of the answer to the ongoing conundrum - how
> could something so simple (OS) be so powerful and simultaneously feel so
> good? In Open Space the continuing dance of male and female insures that the
> whole of humanity is present. Not just male. Not just female. But both -- in
> constant conversation. 
>
> There might also be another clue to a continuing mystery - How could it be
> that something with the track record of Open Space (easy, economical, and
> effective - with massive experience) still be perceived as weird, far out,
> "touchy-feely," and definitely not to be used HERE? The answer might be
> that, when seen from the testosterone laced executive suite (where the
> inhabitants are mostly male, but females are infected as well), Open Space
> becomes a definite threat. It is not just that the Feminine shows up - but
> she shows up as an equal partner in the dance. That would be sufficient to
> threaten any Emperor! 
>
> Now back to the Da Vinci Code!
>
>
> Harrison
>
> Harrison Owen
> 7808 River Falls Drive
> Potomac, Maryland   20854
> Phone 301-365-2093
> Skype hhowen
> Open Space Training www.openspaceworld.com <http://www.openspaceworld.com/>
>
> Open Space Institute www.openspaceworld.org
> Personal website www.ho-image.com 
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Eric Lilius
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"Ultimately what we're touching is the invisible, 
all-pervasive Intelligence that surrounds us and penetrates us. 
It is grooming us to be able to tolerate its splendor. 
It can't just reveal itself openly because we would be forfeited; 
we'd never know what hit us." 
				Terence McKenna

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