From Garden to Briar Patch: Ode to Eve

“From Garden to Briar Patch

Ode to Eve: another perspective on original sin”

Words and Image by Toni Truesdale

Poor Adam,

Would have been blind all his life

If it hadn’t been for Eve.

She was the smart one, you see;

She thought it all out

Knowledge was the key!

She listened to the wisdom of snakes

And ate to see….

 

What kind of sin was that?

You may quite rightly ask.

For what kind of deity demands

People be stupid, mute, blind, deaf, still;

And who would want to believe in that kind of supreme authority

That says “Do not question ME!”

(Adam did, Eve had her doubts)

 

Thrown out of the garden, (That Primordial duo),

Is how the story goes,

And into the world,

Where ole Eve gives birth;

Wait, don’t women do that anyway?

What kind of curse it that?

And where would any of us be?

 

Now, all women have been blamed,

(for thinking it appears)

And called imperfect for centuries,

(for seeing it all clear)

Why? Cause we wanted knowledge!

And for this, a male ”god” wrathfully imprisoned us

Psychologically;

(said: we needed to be controlled, wanted to be dominated)

 

And Eve is still cursed for her intelligence

Original sin it is called. But, is it “god” or Men

That so fear the wits of women?

 

In reality,

Like the trickster, Brier Rabbit,

We are born into a thorny world,

For who wants to live cloistered anyway?

And would we rather be free?

To think, to question

And to SEE.

 

So when you see that image of the couple,

Standing meekly by the apple tree,

In their nudity.

Think about it.

Is that what you want to be?

 

The Great Tree of Life

Is far older than any Authority;

Is from what we all are descended,

Our Mothers, Grandmothers, Great Grandmothers, Great, Great and so on…

Mitochondrially….

 

So thank the thoughtful Eve,

She challenged “god” and won,

For the thorny bush is filled with roses,

And that beautiful garden has always been

In all glorious fecundity,

Inside us,

All Women in history.

Dana/Danu: Song of the Tuatha de Danaan

Spirals pecked into rock

Set into massive stone shrines,

Built to last all the ages of humanity.

They signal the constant cycles of seasons;

Newgrange, Knowth, Dowth…

Portals for the Sidhe that

Drift into this world from the Other

At Equinox, vernal and autumnal;

From the chthonic world they were cast

By the Sons of Mil.

 

Waters swell to the surface,

From deep subterranean waters

Within this greening land.

Wells and Grottos mirror the darkening sky,

Just as they did for the eons of

Offerings and prayers

Left with generations of hope.

 

This is the song of Dana/Danu

Stone, water, land

Great Mother of the Tuatha De Danaan

The mysterious, gifted and beautiful

Ancestors of Ireland.

 

Please remember all my work written and painted is copyrighted, Thanks!

Coming: Spirit Women Coloring Book and The Great World Tree by Toni Truesdale

Spirit Woman Story: Skywoman

Spirit Women Stories
"The Woman who fell from the Sky" Iroquois Creation story
There are thousands of stories that explain who the world began, as many as the diverse cultures of the world. There are commonalities in all, water or the abyss, we begin in darkness and water. As human beings emerge usually after the earth is formed and animal wildlife exists, the stories can part in interpretation. The Judeo-Christian belief finds fault the female, even though she brings about modern life. And the Tree of Life common, in so many stories, forgets that the roots are from ancient female lineage. Forgotten also is An/Ana, male and female duality; and Inanna, their sacred daughter.
The most ancient story, predating the garden of Eden, is of Tiamat of the mid-east. She'll follow in another blog because she deserves her own discussion...
The Skywoman story is reflective of the duality myths. But just as the Iroquois (Onondaga, Seneca, Mohawk, Tuscarora, Oneida, Cayuga; together they call themselves the Haudenosaunee)  love to expand on the human gift of explaining the world and promoting understanding; their original tales are complex and meaningful.  The Great Tree of Peace is the direct descendant of the "Tree of Life" and remains central to their culture to this day.
Her story, The Skywoman, begins in the skyworld. From this beautiful place, a young woman pregnant with twins,  fell into the abyss to land on the back of the turtle. Her body became the earth;
her twins, nurtured by the divine grandmother, created the world as we know it with their dynamics of oppositional dialectics. They call the world, "Turtle Island".
See this story in "Skywoman" by Joanne Shenandoah and Doug George, illustrated by the wonderful Mohawk artist( and my long time friend), John Fadden.
More Spirit Women Stories and their roles in the Creation of the world follow in new blogs.