From dust to stardust

From dust you are, and to dust you shall return. Ash Wednesday liturgy

We have calcium in our bones
Iron in our veins
Carbon in our souls
And nitrogen in our brains.
93 percent stardust
With souls made of flames
We are all just stars
With people names. Nikita Gill

These two quotes have been circling around my head over the last couple of days. From dust to dust - 93% stardust. From dust to stardust. Stardust we are, and to stardust we shall return.

This Lent, I want to try to spend time reflecting on the journey I've come on over the last few years. It is an unashamedly feminist journey, so if you want to come too, feel free, but know what you're in for. The more I think about it, the more I believe that I am stardust with a human name, called by Godde to journey with Her, to bear witness to Merlin Stone's famous quote, "In the beginning, God was a woman," and to know the truth, that I am created imago Dei, in Godde's image as a woman in my female flesh and skin and spirit - contrary to so-called "saint" Augustine, who said,

Woman does not possess the image of God in herself but only when taken together with the male who is her head, so that the whole substance is one image. But when she is assigned the role as helpmate, a function that pertains to her alone, then she is not the image of God. But as far as the man is concerned, he is by himself alone the image of God just as fully and completely as when he and the woman are joined together into one.

Augustine, you were wrong and your misogyny has made our journey as women immeasurably harder. Until this vileness is repudiated, women's stories will continue to be lost and men continue to exercise power over women. Women will still be raped, shot, put down, ignored, passed over, and dominated, while this kind of thinking is still accepted.

I have finally come to know that from stardust I came, and to stardust I will return, made in the image of She Who Is, Godde, Wisdom, Sophia, Goddess, Great High One, Hine-nui-e-te-Po, Trinity of Mother, Child and Spirit, creatrix of all that is and is to come, originator and Prime Cause of the big bang. Maybe the big bang was her giving birth to the universe? Interesting idea.

As I said in my last post, I will not be complicit in my own subjugation. This Lent, I intend to reflect on my place in the world and where Godde touches it - and the world - and what I can do to change what I see all around me.