By TLB Contributor: Jeanne Powers
During the 60’s, the era of the Flower Children, women let their true emotions, their true thoughts and their true beauty run free. The clothes were magnificent – colorful, free-flowing, original, rich and unrestrained, as was the time. The music was powerful and very thought-provoking. It was inspired by a generation deeply disenchanted with the way society was running and the Vietnam War. It was a time of great hope that we could make changes through great beauty. The derogatory term “hippie” didn’t even begin to describe what the real essence of what the time embraced. For the first time men and women were both expressing how they really felt. They were Love Children. It wasn’t airy-fairy. It was real.
It was a magical time. It wasn’t because of the wide-spread use of drugs or free love. We rebelled against the “status-quo,” the “Establishment” (that group in society exercising power and influence over social and economic matters and resisting change). In spite of the Establishment, the decade of the 60s presented social and political changes never before seen. Or since. The suppression was off. As in the song “Are You Going to San Francisco?” there was a whole generation with a new explanation.
The 60s bypassed the historical model of women being assigned their roles and men theirs. It was a time of knowing we are spiritual beings first, and men and women second. It was a spiritual Renaissance that needed no analysis. The period served to allow the sexes to disband the notion that we have to “be a certain way” and illustrated that we were just who we were, beings of kindred spirit who sought to restore the only thing important: love. It was a confirming time for that reality.
Second Wave Feminist Movement
Concurrent with the hippie movement was the Second Wave Feminist Movement.
In my opinion, and remember it’s my opinion, women rebelled not because they were receiving less pay for the same work men do, but because they wanted to be recognized as the magnificent creatures they were (and are), the ones who for generations have had to prove she is worthy of respect, deserves unconditional attention to her needs and recognition of the true values she brings to the world.
The Feminine Spirit
Over the last few years I have learned a great deal from listening to many influential women. One thing that has dramatically stood out is that some of these speakers, all involved in assisting other women, discovered a situation that is truly eye-opening – being that many thousands of women are depressed. If you’ve been or are depressed, you are definitely not alone.
Going from homemakers in the 50s, to feminists and free thinkers in the 60s to active participants in the working place, several of these speakers found that women have lost their way. They discovered that women long to be back to being cherished as women, no longer in competition with men. They are tired of the struggle and the fight. She wants to return to her feminine spirit without having to prove she’s worthy.
Do you want to be regarded as the Goddess you are and treated accordingly?
The sad thing is that women have felt they’ve needed to take on masculine qualities to be respected by men. It’s gotten her nowhere except exhaustion.
Transformation
In the 70’s I went through a transformation. I was very confused about the “identity” of myself as a woman. I honestly had no clue. I was married to a man with an impressive reputation. I deeply resented being known only as his wife with no other noticeable qualities of my own. It just so happened during the same time period, I lost over half my head of hair. You can imagine the identity crisis I went through. I was forced to change my entire lifestyle and in the process I learned a lot more than just how to regain a beautiful head of hair. Out of that transformation was born my first self-help book The Modern Rapunzel: Natural Secrets to Ending Hair Loss (and Other Miracles) which describes my physical, emotional and spiritual growth process in practical terms. It took several years to identify the factors that would become certain and not vary in their workability and truth. I refused to not look and feel the way I wanted and in the process found out some amazing things about being a woman.
I discovered my basic femininity because I had to feel right with myself. Little did I know that my search would naturally result in finding out who I am as a feminine spirit.
A Common Calling
Do you see we’re in a mess, worse than what was happening before and during the 60s? Finding a common cause to rise to and taking a stand against the injustices we are facing in our world today rests with us, women. Any man who is truly a man sees that too. I’m not disparaging men in the slightest. Inherently most men don’t have the fundamental mindset we do. And they’re okay with that.
They’re the ones who keep the financial structure of our country and our world intact and functioning. That’s their job and they love it. Women also perform that function but not as widely as do men.
Let’s stop fighting men and let them do their jobs. Let them support us in our endeavors to do what is natural to us.
A Shift
Much of what I say here may be met with avid or even fierce disagreement. That’s okay. I’m not trying to push buttons. But we know we’re at a time in our history where a dramatic shift is needed. I don’t need to remind you of what’s happening with the toxins in the environment that pervade everything we breathe and consume, the poor health condition of the majority of Americans, the vaccines that are destroying our children’s immune systems, the drugs that are destroying our ability to think and perform, the threat of losing ground on our basic human rights.
A Woman’s Rightful Place
My intention is to help woman rise to her rightful place as the guardian of the future for herself, her family and for generations to come. Women must step forward now and assume their role as spiritual leaders to reverse the dwindling spiral. We’re at a pivotal point in history. We must pay attention, act and be effective to ensure a future where self-expression, well-being and love are in full bloom.
We have had to weather many changes, have had to assert our viewpoints and our position only to be relegated again and again to a place that’s not comfortable or natural for us. It’s time to shine above the fray and not worry whether our feminine voice is considered valid by others. Each one of us knows how to heal and knows instinctively what is right. Follow your true heart and you will be empowered from within to make your voice heard. We need, as women rising together in one voice, to fill this world with love. We are the ones who will make it real.
Woman
What are the inherent qualities residing in a woman that truly separates her from her male counterpart? What are the qualities she needs to shine as herself which gives her the spiritual and emotional strength to persist? What works so we are empowered instead of exhausted? I have found that most women don’t know. It’s time to find out so the woman of today can step forward as the truly magnificent being she is.
My next blog will address those essential questions.
“Nothing in this world can take us home. Only the radar in our hearts can do that, and when it does, we return to our castles. There we are crowned in gold, and we remember how to laugh, how to love, how to rule.” Marianne Williamson
With all my love, Jeanne
BIO
http://www.themodernrapunzel.com/
Leave a Reply