HOW I FIND FREEDOM IN GOD EVEN THOUGH I LIVE IN A PATRIARCHAL WORLD SERIES PART I

Easy, Man Isn't My 'GOD' nor does Man Define GOD for or to me!!!

Yesterday I posted on this tree [pic below], and how Awesome God is, which HESHE is, anyhow, I realize that the mention of God can and does trigger for most women because God has always been defined By men and By yes, Patriarchal Constructs or Frames.   So I thought I would share a few things for next couple of days, of how I see God, why?  Because over the past couple of years it has been GOD who has set me free from so many of the patriarchal lies that bind women, even though yes, I still live in a patriarchal world and in fact in my own personal life still deal with yes, patriarchy, even misogyny.  I don't discuss my 'private' life on the web and I probably won't, I tend to be somewhat of a private person...However, all I will say, is that Yes I still deal with Misogyny on levels that it's still very painful, very frustrating AND IF, IF I went along with what Religion says [and there was a time I did attempt to 'mold' myself into man's doctrines] I would have been in a nuthouse long ago.  It was GOD and yes, even Jesus that gave ME the strength to DUMP all the constructs and be Free to just be--

now before I go on, I will say, I do not attend church [nor will I ever] nor am I what you would call a 'traditional' or 'western' Christian...I am of no denomination nor am I strictly 'by the book'.  And it is not my intention to 'preach here', but what I would like to do is redirect Focus, to some things that have Empowered me and aided me in being able to not only heal but see from eyes that no matter what horrors are in this world, those horrors do NOT have to hold a power Over me....

so, Beginning with this 'dancing tree', I would like to share with you how God has shown me, HIS HER sense of Humor, and so since I began with this tree, allow me to share with you these photos I stumbled upon yesterday....

this first one, how God feels about humans who Trash the environment, or who treat others nastily or who Ignore HisHer provision, detailed care, art in creation, etc., from a site called Tree Climbing Day [there are several odd trees, click on photo to go to link] but I am choosing the ones that LOL stood out to me, starting with the Ticked Tree

 

See God Does understand those times when I have just had enough of men's b.s. and I just wanna go, F You, oh God Does understand, believe me and has a great sense of humor to relay to me that maybe HESHE knows and understands ME more than I do sometimes,

then of course, there are some other hilarious displays of humor from yes, God's trees, like this one, LOL,

next time a Man comes on the scene, such as a feminist blog, just whip this out, ROFL, man thinks he has the monopoly on penis size, Ha, Ha, Don't think so

 

lol Couldn't resist that one, yes I would say GOD has one hell of a sense of humor alright, and HisHer 'size' lasts a hell of a lot more Time, He doesn't need any Viagra, Ever!  [yea so next time some MRA throws up male superiority, just plaster This on your blog, that should shut him up]

Oh and all this 'labia shame' b.s. that the Porn culture throws our way, GOD has something to say to you too, because GOD is dang proud of HISHER labia, clitoris and vulva, so proud that it isn't Covered up in shame

 

And they come in All shapes and  sizes too, so Next time some jackass man tells you, you don't measure up, tell him to shove a sock in his mouth because GOD begs to differ,

And gee Amazing isn't it, they aren't surgically 'altered' or mutilated, no GOD won't have any of That NONSENSE,  and if You don't like God's body image style OR HISHER creation of the Female Body,   then well, remember, 

OK that's just for starters, so you see GOD empowers my Body Image, I love my Body, Curves and all!  If you click on these photos there are numerous other trees with various nipple shapes, thigh shapes, penis shapes and vagina shapes...and Yes I believe with my whole heart GOD speaks to us all through Nature,  in Thousands of ways.  And you know the Awesome thing about Trees is that they provide shade, they provide ample branch strength to hold up rope swings so that we can fly and listen to the birds at the same time.

 

I spend a lot of time swinging Still, yes even at my age...this winter, me and Jesus made a deal that during snow I would swing...it's one thing I had not ever done, was swing during a snow storm, so it was a date, sure was, I was to make a thermos of hot cocoa [which I settled for tea since I didn't have any Fair Trade at the time--arrrgh, come on Grocery Stores get ON the ball with this, it like totally sucks having to go twenty miles for Fair Trade Choc], bundle down and first snowstorm head on out to the park.  Now it wasn't a tree swing, just a swing set at a local park but there is right near it a huge Oak tree, some Cottonwoods and Numerous Fir, Pine and Aspen trees.  So one afternoon it was snowing and so He told me, 'remember you and I have a date'  so I bundled up in layers with my long Camels Hair coat [that I purchased cheap at a thrift store years ago, it was made in Russia and it has lasted me for years and it is So warm, our winters can get a bit cold so the coat was I think a blessing, not my favorite color, the camel brown/beige but it is baggy, long and warm as toast.  And great for wearing bulky sweaters underneath].  So I bundled up, wrapped my  head up in my wool scarf so I could stay outside for a long time because long and WIDE, the key is Wide, wool scarves can be wrapped around where they don't fall off and yet still leave enough room if one wants to cover the face loosely so you can breath warm air back onto yourself...which helps when it's wind chill factor and below zero.  

And I headed off, I was hoping for large snowflakes so I could see the outlines of the shapes but the wind was whipping it  up so didn't get to see those [I have on a couple of occasions seen some amazing snowflakes, you know what you Can see with naked eye] but anyway so I began to swing, watching the snow grace the large Oak or Cottonwood? in front of the swing not too far away, don't have a photo but found one that is Kind of similar to give you an idea of what I was seeing [the one tree anyway]

 

having my talk with GOD and the next thing I know [without sharing all the details as this was kind of a special time for me] my attention is brought to watching the smoke come out of a chimney where a fireplace was burning...so I'm swinging in this snowstorm, warm but yes a Bit chilly so I could see the smoke from my breath, which I have always loved that--and so I'm watching this big Oak tree and the smoke billowing out from the fire chimney and it makes all these beautiful shapes, as If it was Dancing in the Snow, the snow was in no way This heavy but this was the only photo I could find that shows 'chimney smoke During a snow storm' so to give you an idea

So anyway I'm swinging, which Isn't as EASY to do when it's freezing outside, no matter how well one is bundled up, though it WAS beautiful, the air other than the wind was silent and the smoke would change colors from a whitish gray to a darker shade of almost this teal gray and it looked as if there was a ghost, laughing at all the houses with the people hunkered down inside--and all this time there is this ghost smoke being, from a fire inside, bellowing out, it was really amazing to just watch.  And then I thought of fire, how vital fire has been in the life of humanity but also how destructive the force of fire can be, you know the mind thinks all sorts of odd things, when contemplating God in nature...how distinct yet powerful HisHer forces are, how Dependent we are on them TO LIVE yet at the same time, those same forces can take us out...if ya know what I mean, kind of gives a Whole new meaning to the phrase mother's use,

"I brought you into this world and I can take you out of this world",

LOL, except you see, when GOD says it, GOD can do it, and so, I'm swinging, watching the smoke, and then my breath, because that was another cool love I had and had talked to GOD about numerous times, some memories I had walking in winters growing up and how I would watch my breath, you see I walked long distances in the snow [yes I  had shoes lol] and Winter is one of my Favorite Seasons, Fall is my Favorite so anyway, I would take walks during Winter when I was younger [my back injury doesn't allow me to do as much now as I would like] and that included walks in day and numerous walks at night--I especially Loved night snow walks because how everything looked like it was covered in diamond flakes and the way the street lights would play with the shadows.  So the breathing...I'm sitting on this swing, took a break from swinging as I was tiring out [back injury there as well] and thinking images between my breath and then the smoke from the chimney fire, and then it dawns on me...

here's what our breathing looks like, now I chose this photo because even though it's a horse it's has good detail

 

You see the smoke right, from the breathing...well OK so I'm thinking on this, how GOD gives us LIFE in our breathe, through the air, how our heart beating with a time [like a clock] and how all that works, you know, how the Trees breathe back and how that whole cycle works, and then, I get a mental image kind of like this,

what I think is GOD's BREATH

 

Yea Yea I know, it's just the steam and mountains, blah blah blah, yea Whatever, lol, I don't see it that way, to me it's All ALIVE, from the trees to the blades of grass to the particles that make up the air, and so let me include these photos as well [click on photos to go to links, I'm just choosing them from images/google browsing--mentioning this because some of these are from photographers and they have several in their galleries]--

how GOD breathes in Snow

 

now She has a blog of her work, am including link here because I want to come back and look, it caught my eye, amyelkins.blogspot.com 

So, GOD breathing back to me, never thought of it that way before until that day...So you see, while Living in this screwed up misogynist patriarchal world, and having to have had to Deal with the PTSD from yes misogynist abuses, from past trauma, I know what it is to wrestle with the inner demons of hatred, resentment, Despair, and losing my Faith not only in humanity but in GOD too,

been there, done that, been in that Pit.  Religion didn't pull me out of the pit, if anything Religion helped to throw me into the pit and by religion I also mean man's ideals, man's philosophies, man's answers and including how man Defines GOD and tells us, has always told us who GOD is in Man's image of course,

while demonizing She, the Female, Woman, while demonizing her, controlling her, killing her and Erasing her.

But you know no matter How much Man and Man's systems erase, they cannot Erase our words, our Existence nor our Herstory, and they cannot Erase, GOD.  GOD as in HE and SHE.  GOD is everywhere, 

Nature is GOD's masterpiece, of art, literature, science, history, herstory [there is Reason those water vessels in women's graves are still around], and yes, even

humor.

Nature is GOD's gift to all of us Women--

whether we See it or not, is up to us, She in GOD won't force herself on us, yet SHEHE is always there...waiting, breathing always...His and Her love to us.

more to come, Peace,

Jane--edit, note

I wanted to show someone the photos here, links and when I clicked, links didn't show SO, I am adding links here, because I don't like to post photos without links...I hope other photos here have not left out link sites, but I will be sure to check from now on,

the tree [male penis and vulva trees] shown [there are several various photos of Mother Nature's trees and various body shapes] here:  http://duo.irational.org/international_tree_climbing_day/  BTW, my Intent here is not to do some Porn tree series, hardly, but to SHOW, the trees, being that they are also what give us LIFE in the oxygen we breath [without Trees, Tree of LIFE we DIE], we are made in 'their image' the Bible says, I believe all parts of our bodies are modeled after Something in yes Nature, that is why I show these, man has in his small mind/self hate projected hate and dominance over the female body, I want to show that our Body is something that is to be respected, not to be ashamed of either, but to see it in it's Total LIFE FUNCTION, just like in NATURE...

horse breathing in snow:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/rockandracehorses/3340881836/ 

storm cloud:  http://biggovernment.com/prahe/2010/12/10/economic-storm-clouds-on-the-horizon/  [I clicked it on google looking for face in cloud photos, was looking for a Particular one but couldn't find it, liked this one so, there ya go]

dancing tree  http://whisperingcraneinstitute.wordpress.com/2007/02/22/trees-we-do-not-like/

ticked off tree:  http://duo.irational.org/international_tree_climbing_day/day2008/

chimney smoke:  http://flickr.com/photos/rtct/2254118436/

Sorry about that, I just don't like to put photos here without the Credits, for some reason they aren't going to the Link when you click on them...so, from now on I'll be checking to make sure they do...the oak tree swing and the cottonwood or oak I remember getting from google images, when I find them I'll post the links.  Again my apologies to the photographers, it wasn't my intent to steal photos...that and I like to go to the links and look at the galleries and That is how I  noticed, so, OK,

to readers, sorry about the additional edit, hope you understand.  This is how I used to do each photo btw when I began this blog then they changed the format, and clicking the photo immediately sent you to the web site, but now that doesn't seem to work so either I'm not doing it right or something--but I'll look into it.  

Sincerely,

Jane