Starhawk and the Fifth Sacred Thing

I am a witch, by which I mean that I am somebody who believes that the earth is sacred, and that women and women's bodies are one expression of that sacred being. My spirituality has always been linked to my feminism. Feminism is about challenging unequal power structures. So, it also means challenging inequalities in race, class, sexual preference. What we need to be doing is not just changing who holds power, but changing the way we conceive of power. There is the power we're all familiar with - power over. But there is another kind of power - power from within. For a woman, it is the power to be fertile either in terms of having babies or writing books or dancing or baking bread or being a great organizer. It is the kind of power that doesn't depend on depriving someone else.

-Starhawk


We are looking for new stories, and we are looking for old stories. We want stories that are ancient, to give us a sense of history, but we also want a story that is new, to distance ourselves from the painful, vengeful, destructive, consumptive, gluttonous story that we are forced to be a part of every day.

We are looking for a story that holds more sacred than the almighty dollar and our own ego gratification.


Each being is sacred - meaning that each has inherent value that cannot be ranked in a hierarchy or compared to the value of another being.
-Starhawk, The Fifth Sacred Thing


We do not know the words. we do  not know the path, we do not know how to escape the prison of a culture that we find ourselves in.  


Any ritual is an opportunity for transformation. To do a ritual, you must be willing to be transformed in some way. The inner willingness is what makes the ritual come alive and have power. If you aren't willing to be changed by the ritual, don't do it.
-Starhawk

What are we to do?