Dark Moon MA Grieving
Grieving, sometimes with one or both hand palms turned inward in front of the face, often touching the head, indicating sorrow, grief and lamentation.
Isis in mourning, statue from the Louvre Museum in Paris.
The MA grieving pose brought Barbara and Medwyn into a circle of four women gathered in the Pitman Hall residence for students of Ryerson University in Toronto. Susan Walsh, Pamela Richardson Barbara and Medwyn were ‘room-mates’ during the 2017 CSSE conference. We started with a sounding release, then moved into the pose together. Later Barbara and Medwyn took MA grieving for a walk to Page One a local café that had become a favourite spot during our time in Toronto. Here we typed our reflections on vintage manual typewriters, finding a new way to capture the reflections from our pose.
Group Sounding with Medwyn, Barbara, Susan and Pamela for Greiving Ma Pose
Medwyn's Pose May 29, 2017
moving from sounding into the pose a natural pause
finding my hands in gentle contact with my body
arms crossed on my chest and abdomen
one hand by my throat the other hugging my side.
sit breathe wait
breathe more and wait again
raising my arms above my head now
hands crossing over each other
I grasp my hair
gently at first then pulling a little
whooosh a rush from the top of my head
down my torso then draining down my legs
the sense of loss the emptiness
that precedes grief
something to mourn
holding my hair a little tighter now
am I holding on to that which I have lost?
am I resisting the grieving?
breathe let it flow
breathe again……. aaaaahhhhhhh
softening my grip relaxing my arms a little
now my hands can move more gently into holding my hair….
no need for pain here
simply an acknowledgement of feeling my body
allowing her wisdom to guide me
gradually releasing my grip
my hands find themselves
folded into each other
in front of my face
tips of fingers gently touching my third eye
now i’m seeing something familiar
green world is coming to comfort me
always remember the green
images flash into my mind
the lush green trees and meadows
the kites circling in the sky above
groomed green graveyard grass
granite stone rose carved
marks her grave
the mourning continues
i open the channel to loss and grief
this woman’s way re-enlivened by
feminist goddess scholars
simple profound
a gift
to remember our bodies and our ways
sinking deeper into the pose
my hands find their way to a new form
left hand cupping left eye
feeling the warmth of my palm chakra
feeding me
right hand resting softly on my knee
warmth flowing through down my leg
comfort connection
eye to leg balance ease reassurance
breathe breathe soften
relax into the warmth of my own embrace
how the grieving woman holds to herself
the space of love she needs in her grief
breathe again again resting in this loving space
one last move returning to the beginning
always the cycle
beginning growing integrating releasing descent
renewal return restore
a few more breaths
the space of me is soft and open
the space of me is love
the space of me in MA is sacred
interwoven with all the grieving beings
the mourning women of the ages
releasing the loss in love
Barbara' typed reflection of the Grieving Ma Pose
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