Many / One

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Compiled by JoAnn Kite

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Dancing in the Flames, The Dark Goddess in the Transformation of Consciousness
Marion Woodman and Elinor Dickson

1 "The Great Mother (of the pre-Iron Age) was seen as the 'One', the creatrix of all things and the ultimate source of life and death. Her Oneness was bound to the realm of nature as the unconscious personification of it."

2 "In terms of our mythology, a new image of God/Goddess yearns to be found within ourselves. The kingdom is first within. It is manifested through body and mind. We are moving beyond an ego consciousness not only to an integration of body and mind but to a transcendence of the body/mind split, to a new level of consciousness based on the dance between soul and spirit."

3 "The beauty and the horror of the whole of life are held together in love."

4 "The realization is dawning that on this planet, seen as a whole for the first time from space, we are all part of an interdependent system. We are inextricably tied to each other."

5 "The wisdom of the Goddess manifests in the love we feel rather than in what we think."

6 "All we have to do is open our eyes an extra sixteenth of an inch, and there She is, dancing in every apple tree, in the song of every purple finch, as well as in the flames of passion that we call life."

7 "Intellect can give us knowledge, but wisdom is based on experience that, if reflected on deeply enough, leads us to paradox and the recognition of the unity that exists."

8 "The interdependence we talk about today was recognized intuitively as early as 2000 bce, based on the understanding of the (Egyptian) Goddess (Maat) as the unifying principle in all of creation."

9 "The sense of oneness is evident from the following descriptions. In the Book of Wisdom, Sophia 'reaches mightily from end to end of the earth' (8:1) and…is praised because 'Though she is but one, she can do all things' (7:27). In the aretalogies of Isis we read, 'I am Isis, sole ruler forever, and I oversee the ends of the sea and the earth. I have authority, and though I am but one I oversee them.' (Cyrene 4)."

10 "All experience is one – life as well as death."

11 "The individual psyche is a microcosm of the cultural macrocosm."

12 "We know we can change ourselves when we realize that we are not dependent on how we feel, nor on how others feel about us, nor on what the situation is around us. The values we hold, the choices we make within ourselves and for ourselves remain our prerogative."

13 "If we see the opposites in ourselves, we are less likely to judge and blame others. If we have identified too closely with the light, have too idealized an image of ourselves, then our shadow will surely come up and hit us on the backside. The same is true if we have identified with our negative side; we could be struck from behind by our goodness. Either position is a denial of our wholeness."

14 "In the world of the Self, we meet all those of whom we are a part, whose hearts we have touched; here there is no aloneness, only presence. There is no egoism involved here, no need to win or lose, no need to control. The projections have been withdrawn and reclaimed as parts of ourselves. Only when this happens is genuine relationship possible."

15 "It is only be recognizing and healing the dualities that exist in ourselves that we can come to a true sense of interdependence with the rest of creation."

16 "Integrity in love is the only true guide to the wisdom that leads to freedom."

17 "Transcendence and immanence are two sides of one deity."

18 "It is within the chaos that a deeper, intrinsic order reveals itself. This is not the imposed order that we have become so accustomed to in a patriarchal, conceptualized world, an order that is not connected to the creative matrix. Rather, it is an order that emerges instead of being imposed. When we are connected to this emerging order we are psychically living from the incarnate feminine energy that has within it the possibility of transformation."

19 "Love is the true antithesis of fear. It expands where fear constricts. It embraces where fear repels."

20 "Not until we recognize the Divine Immanence, the light of the Goddess in matter, can we hope to establish a balance, a reconnection with our own deepest nature that can root us in a world of meaning and imagination."

21 "The same stream of life that runs through my veins night and day runs through the world and dances in rhythmic measures. It is the same life that shoots in joy through the dust of the earth in numberless blades of grass and breaks into tumultuous waves of leaves and flowers. It is the same life that is rocked in the ocean-cradle of birth and death, in ebb and in flow." Rabindrath Tagore

22 "Self-knowledge comes through a relationship with and a commitment to something or someone beyond one's self, beyond the gratification of one's personal needs."

23 "Humanity is grounded in the love that holds the cells of the body together."

24 "We stand in the presence of the Goddess-God unveiled on Earth. The timeless intersecting time."

25 "Knowing we have done our best and it simply wasn't enough opens our hearts to other human beings whose best has likewise failed. The mind has its logic; the heart alone can know wisdom, bridge chasms, make peace."

This body of quotes compiled by JoAnn Kite