RIP Matriarchy EGALITARIAN RISES. .

Over the past few months especially with the Presidential Election of 2016 approaching fast I have been engaged in some very intriguing conversations about our structured society, and matrimonial, and patrimonial way of viewing our world.  . One of which, just happens to be about the difference between matriarchy and patriarchy. Two of our sisters I will use as subjects simply by our society standards for this article. Hillary Clinton is a perfect poster of the evil matriarch(female, women) this is not true she is just an evil person, has nothing to do with her being a woman. Elizabeth Warren now she is in the "other" category which I would take as a compliment.She knows of the persecution of that title and all that it will bring. (matriarch).  Of course just stick any of the "good ole boys white club in the other ring.

The one resounding echo was "Women in charge and enslaving men". I am speechless and that is hard to do. While I expected the counter parts of the male gender to sputter out this nonsense it hit me hard to hear my sisters tell the same tale. I retreated back to my office and felt the need to clear the air and set the record straight, or as straight as our experiences have clearly defined.

ma·tri·ar·chy
ˈmātrēˌärkē/Submit
noun
a system of society or government ruled by a woman or women.
a form of social organization in which descent and relationship are reckoned through the female line.
the state of being an older, powerful woman in a family or group.
"she cherished a dream of matriarchy—catered to by grandchildren"

I purpose a different viewpoint if I may, a reassurance of offering what a matriarch was defined pre-contact America's. Sisters hear and read this well, this is how we rise and how we also fall walking behind in the shadow's.

Matriarchy is a term used to describe a society different or in the "other" category. The label derived from the early European hierarchical patriarchy This mostly entailed the church and religious motives along with a superior unjust inequality. . It often applied to any society that did not conform to what was defined as 'civilized". Basically, what this meant was that any society where women were considered equal to their men counterparts the Europeans automatically viewed the culture as "other or uncivilized" and subjugated it in the most brutal and and forceful ways possible.(The religion sector became the dominant patriarch building block.  Don't really see a difference today? The simple truth is these societies posed a threat then and still do today,to the hierarchical patriarch type of system and the European invaders views of how the world should be.

Take a look at the definition I posted above the first one is the only one people see, not sure why perhaps because it is the first, or the most negative of the three listed. I am going to ask you now, to return to that section and take a good look at the second and third definitions and hold those in your mind for the next part of the article. Let's get down to the nitty gritty of what is truth, and what is myth. I also say, remember this too, words don't teach but experiences do. While digesting the words from the definitions I ask you to recognize the grace, the dignity, and soulful purpose of those statements. After all, the matriarch represents women which is the feminine energy, and patriarch the men which in turn is the masculine energy, which by the way we all have a 50/50 shot of containing both, while some tip either way on the scale. Sisters take this as a spiritual movement a circle of all the energy that has been passed down over centuries, and now let's remember and awaken.

Let's introduce a new word a word that the First Nations People (the ones post pre-contact Americas
they held a society know as a" egalitarian.." They relied on constant consensus and basic cooperation for their basic survival. Which in today's world is still the level at which we live. (wages being a prime example) They worked together to solve societal problems and they firmly believed in society safety nets..Can we say the same? It also helped that they shared everything in the community. This is not even considered today.

Many first nations followed the adage you might never know one's father, (brutal times), but you always knew one's mother, grandmother, and elder woman. This also stemmed from a belief of the these people that human sexuality was not a threat to society. Women were just as free to pursue their sexuality as men.Gender, and gender identity, sex, and sexual orientation were not stigmatized by these First Nation people. In other words, if a person who happened to be a women was a better hunter and warrior than gatherer (which required a high level of plant recognition)and weaver, she was not only allowed but highly praised to achieve and excel to use her skills as a hunter and warrior for the balance of the community. The same logic applies to the men of the society. Both are accepted for their strengths not their gender.

The matriarchy of the First Nations were highly dependent upon equal rights for every member of that society, sharing the power amongst all members of the given society.  Sisters what has happened to our spirits our truest essence of our birthright.? Sharing the wealth was considered in the best interest of the egalitarian society for it kept harmony which brings balance of members which also meant strong opposition to inhumane treatment. Basic birthrights; air, water, food, shelter, etc, were just not a consideration.


So now I see how these conversations take a turn and end up in some off the wall realm between what is word, and what is experience. I truly see why in this day and age why so many hierarchical patriarchs and monarchs, and democracies, women, men, feel the heebejeebees over the word Matriarch...I stand today, as the leading woman in my linage, my family, my community of sisters, I see a new horizon, new awakenings, a powerful surge of energy growing and expanding perhaps the First Nation's Peoples are not so lost and forgotten, perhaps they merely have quieted until we rise once more. Yes, I will be the one that when the conversations move to the realm of matriarch, I shall claim EGALITARIAN as the crowd hushes and ignorance bleeds silence, perhaps then a true conversation shall emerge.

My sisters be strong, be free, but most of all FLY to the truest energy that we are...We were born of the same, by the same, and for the same of all energies in this universe.
Peace

Intergrading Meditation Into Drug and Alcohol Centers.

Drug & Alcohol Rehabilitation Centers Today

Over the years the industry of Drug and Alcohol Treatment has grown to enormous numbers it is also projected to grow by 31% from 2012 to 2022. Speaking from experience of twenty four years in Recovery the spiritual side of the program has become watered down with a very narrow viewpoint for the 21st century. The rehabilitation center I came out of(1992) was old school mostly medical and emotional with very little attention to the holistic and spiritual side from the get go. Yes, prayer is implemented from the first hour of entrance and yet so much is left untouched. Thank goodness for AA meetings and sponsors.
 Addiction no matter what the ism is, boils down to dis-ease with oneself, hence the phrase it is a disease. The facts  are that most addicts come broken and lost, empty and feeling apart from not a part of the world.  A pattern of bad habits, bad choices, and well the spiral continues to the rock bottom point.  

The industry today is big business, from the courts, to the centers. to the sober living houses, long gone are the half-way houses of old. This is the 21st century and while it has kept up with the medical and psychological sides, it lacks still on the holistically spiritual side which is truly having the individual tune into his or her body, mind, and spirit as a center of three. This century has brought forth the holistic concepts of homeopathy, holistic healing, Reiki, EFT tapping, Yoga, Herbs and natural organic eating, energy and sound therapy, and my favorite Meditation just to name a few that have really come to the forefront of awakening and tuning into our truest selves. 

When entering a rehabilitation center, most people are at their lowest in all three centers, body, mind, and spirit. This is the point to which many if these were implemented at the beginning of the journey it would allow old habits to be quickly countered with new healthy loving habits and also create a earlier practice motive. Early recovery demands early methods of meditations. 

How Meditation Helps Recovering Alcoholics

However, at the root of every meditative practice is a quest for detachment or inner calm. In this sense, meditation fits nicely with recovering alcoholics’ central goals, i.e. establishing distance between themselves and their desire to drink.

It’s this psychic distance between wanting to have a drink and actually doing so that is so useful to recovering alcoholics. When students enroll in meditation classes, either through an alcohol rehabilitation clinic or an independent meditation schools, they learn to view their own impulses from a third-person perspective. In so doing, there’s a potential to cultivate peace and contentedness without resorting to alcohol or substance abuse.

Relation to Rehab

Many alcohol and drug addiction treatment programs have included meditation in their overall treatment plan. It’s not used in place of other therapies.  Instead, it provides powerful additional support for addicts in recovery. Part of the value of meditation is that those in treatment can practice it even after the initial recovery period is complete.  This makes meditation a valuable tool they can use to stay sober for the rest of their lives.

Research supporting Meditation for Addiction

A growing body of research supports meditation as an effective addiction recovery technique. For example, one study found that recovering intravenous drug users felt meditation was one of the best therapy tools to help them overcome their addiction [1]. Researchers who examined incarcerated substance abusers found that those who were taught how to meditate had lower levels of relapse and more positive outcomes after release than those who received only conventional recovery treatments [2].

Research suggests that meditation also helps people with alcoholism and drug addiction when it’s incorporated into a practice that includes physical exercise. For instance, yoga sessions that include meditation have been shown to be an effective part of addiction recovery [3]. In another study, recently-abstinent cocaine addicts who learned Qigong, a Chinese practice that incorporates meditative techniques, reported fewer cravings and other addiction-related symptoms than those who received a placebo treatment [4].

Meditation is not only for the spiritual

With all the talk about higher powers and Buddhist or Vedic meditation, a person couldn’t be blamed for assuming that meditation as a part of alcohol rehabilitation is a specifically spiritual endeavor. While it’s true that the world’s best known traditions of meditation all have a spiritual bent, there are just as many secular takes on meditation as an act of mindfulness rather than prayer.

What is Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy

“…mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT), brings together the latest understandings of modem science and forms of meditation that have been shown to be clinically effective within mainstream medicine and psychology.”

- Mark Williams,The Mindful Way through Depression

Since this sort of thinking circumvents any talk of faith or otherworldly intervention, it gives scientists a chance to have an empirical look at the benefits that meditation can play in addiction recovery. One study conducted by the Department of Family Medicine at the University of Wisconsin found that mindfulness meditation can play a role in preventing relapse.

Dr Aleksandra Zgierska coordinated the study, and she says the practice of mindfulness as a means of staving off cravings is nothing new – it’s just that most of the evidence of its effectiveness was anecdotal until recently. Now, backed by clinical research, meditation as an alcohol rehabilitation tool is garnering mainstream attention.

To integrate this holistic healing and many of the others into mainstream  rehabilitation centers would only prove to add one more useful tool on the road of recovery. To be so archaic in this Dawn of Aquarius Time seems to be counter productive to the generations walking out of today's center's without every tool possible to their complete recovery and cure of this dis-ease.