Arise, Come, My Darling
Question + Photo by Annie Petrik
Q: What is the significance of a fig? Because let me tell you — I feel so connected to them. I don’t know how to explain it.
A: My God I love this question. It is *the* question. The original question. The question that makes us human. This question is ancient — the answer, too. And it lives in you. In fact, you’ve already spoken it, right there in your question.
The short of it is: you tell me.
And part of me wants to stop there, say less. And maybe on another day, in another conversation, I would. But something in me — perhaps that same something that’s got your attention — is asking me to go on. So I will.
I can begin by guiding you to turn inward and see what you unearth.
What do you think it is? What does it feel like, to you? Happy? Warm? Scary? Curious? Melancholy? Familiar? Exciting? Do you see any colors, hear any music? Does it remind you of anything?
There are no wrong answers here, but the answers must be yours. I cannot tell you what your experience is — you tell me.
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If I’m going to talk about Eve, I have to talk about Lilith.
Lilith has been called many things. But in my story, she’s Mother Earth herself. She’s the source of our own truest nature. And I think it’s time we all get to know her, to know this part of ourselves. Here’s an excerpt from the piece I’ve been writing the past several years.
…Months later I came across the story of Lilith.
Due to the two differing creation stories, one being man and woman created together and the other Eve created second, the Jewish tradition decided Adam had a first wife named Lilith. And that when he wished to lie on top of her, she refused, and was banished from Eden. Eve was then created from his rib. Lilith was cast as a demon, many claiming she was the serpent who would later speak with Eve.
Of course, serpents were also an ancient symbol of wisdom, feminine power, and sexual energy. So there’s that.
Since she wasn’t written into the myth until centuries later, the more I read about Lilith, the more I saw comments like, “Disregard her, she’s not real.” And it made me ache, almost as much as the misogynistic narratives. Because her presence has been so felt in my life. But then eventually, it set me free. Here’s what I mean.
Lilith was made up to explain the kind of woman who would rather be exiled than be treated as less than. The kind of woman who takes no shit. Who will release anything that doesn’t honor the whole of her. She will leave. She will let you leave.
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I cried several times in the first chapter alone. The material book itself is just as stunning. If you need a copy in your hands, Kelly at Fairytales can hook you up — let her know you’d like to place an order and she’ll have it ready within the week.
“Somewhere between broke and bein’ free”
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“With my fingers sticky with berry juice, I’m reminded that my life is contingent upon the lives of others, without whom, I simply would not exist. Water is life, food is life, soil is life — and they become our lives through the paired miracles of photosynthesis and respiration. All that we need to live flows through the land. It is not an empty metaphor that we call her Mother Earth. Food in our mouths is the thread that connects us in a relationship simultaneously spiritual and physical, as our bodies get fed and our spirits nourished by a sense of belonging, which is the most vital of foods.”