Mother's Day has unfortunately become another activity of a commercial nature, yet it was originally a celebration of the archetype of the sacred feminine revered in all traditions around the world. On this special day, let's take a look at what this holiday really means and what it means to be a mother in 2021.
ORIGIN OF MOTHER'S DAY
The earliest traces of celebration in honor of mothers date back to ancient Greece where spring ceremonies were dedicated to Rhea, the mother of Zeus and the other gods. On the side of the Romans, religious festivals celebrating the Matronalia (matrons) take place on March 1. There is archaeological evidence that these spring ceremonies punctuated with pagan rituals honoring fertility extend to virtually all cultures. The date of Mother's Day varies from country to country, but the majority of them have chosen to celebrate it in May. In their religious syncretism, the early Christians often equated pagan celebrations with their new doctrine. This is the case, for example, with the celebration of December 25, corresponding to the great feast of the undefeated sun (Sol Invictus) and the birth day of the solar deity Mithras, which was converted into a Christian feast commemorating the birth of Jesus of Nazareth.1 In the case of the cults of these pagan goddesses, it became more complicated to associate these celebrations dedicated to mothers and fertility with the Virgin Mary because of the theological arguments surrounding her virginity.
Pagans who largely depended on the natural cycles of the seasons and the fruits of Mother Earth for their survival possessed a deep respect for the sacred feminine. In contrast, Christians have no place for the archetype of the goddess in their central dogma. According to the mystery of the Incarnation of Christian theology, God became incarnate in a man, Jesus Christ. This is how we gradually saw the sinking of the sacred feminine in favor of the patriarchal and misogynistic values that still dominate to this day ...
Since the establishment of Mother's Day by the Americans in 1908, the celebration of fertility has become the feast of merchants and restaurateurs. It is estimated that Canadians spend an average of $ 492 million on Mother's Day, or about $ 50 per mother, and it's the second day of the year when you eat the most in restaurants.2 Obviously. , these statistics date from before Covid ....
FLOWERS AND CHOCOLATE?
Despite what the commercials have us believe, modern moms don't go crazy over our fleeting bouquet or our high calorie commercial chocolate. According to a survey, only about 4% of them appreciate gifts.3 What 6 in 10 mothers want most is spending time with their immediate family.
TIME, THIS RARE FOOD
We believe that times have changed since the massive entry of women into the labor market and that division of labor is a given, but is it? According to Canadian statistics from 2010, women spend almost 8 hours a day in activities associated with their job and 4:38 in unpaid tasks such as cooking, cleaning, etc. occupy children between three and five hours a day, depending on the age group to which they belong. In comparison, men spend roughly the same time at work, but dedicate an hour and 15 minutes less daily to unpaid chores and half the time caring for children.
In short, by trying as best we can to combine our professional aspirations and our family life, we always do more and this, to the detriment of the time that should be devoted to rest and meditation, physical activity, our life. social, and above all, to ourselves. Isn't it overwhelming to learn that despite years of social struggles, mothers today admit to having an average of only 17 minutes a day for themselves? 5
MODERN GODDESSES ARE OUT OF BREATH
Even though the average life expectancy of Canadian women is 83 years, 6 I see every day that we are far from being in optimal health. Despite the phenomenal advancement in technology, medicine and social advancement, most of us are in survival mode: we suffer from exhaustion, depression or anxiety, hormonal imbalances, thyroid disorders, illnesses. autoimmune and cancer more and more often and earlier and earlier. According to the latest Gallup poll, only 5% of us rate our overall well-being as good.7
What is happening to us? Could it be that the discarding of the fertility goddesses and the sacred feminine is having an impact on our homes and our daily lives? Our frenetic lifestyle resulting from the race for capitalism and its little sister the sacrosanct productivity, the breakdown of families and single parenthood, the increase in the rate of autism and our aging parents, these are all factors that create a disproportionate work overload for women. Add to this the unrealistic beauty standards we are subjected to via the media and the lack of appreciation of the stages of a woman's life, including the transition to the wisdom of menopause.
DOMINATION OF THE SACRED TEMPLE
Even our reproductive cycles and pregnancies are seen as hindrances to our productivity that we must medicalize! Some even plan their deliveries or cesarean sections during their vacation so as not to interfere with their jobs! In Quebec, 25% of births take place by cesarean section.8 However, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), a cesarean section rate greater than 15% is considered abusive and is likely to have more negative consequences than positive taking into account the risks associated with the surgery.
In order to cope with all the requirements associated with our role as a good mother, we also stuff ourselves with "magic pills" prescribed by experts and aimed at masking the disturbing symptoms implemented by our flouted body which tries so well. it hurts to grab our attention and pull ourselves out of our general state of emotional anesthesia. Almost 14% of Quebec women take antidepressants, 9 and more than a third use synthetic hormone therapy.10 Even if these drugs are in some cases essential, in many others they could be advantageously replaced by solutions. effective and safe natural. These prescriptions are far from trivial, because in addition to the economic and social burden they generate in direct costs and those resulting from the associated side effects, we must think of the much more devious that they inflict on the woman who consumes them. ...
While we are more and more cut off from our feminine values such as our intuition, our sensitivity and our creativity, our body becomes a "machine" of which we must be wary, even the enemy to fight in order to submit to the dictates of the fashions of the day that demonize the diversity of shapes, skin tones and the normal aging process.
The once worshiped body of our life-bearing goddesses has now become the cash cow of the pharmaceutical industry, fattening the fashion and porn industries in the process!
In this hellish process, we unfortunately forgot that the body constitutes the sacred temple of our soul. This abysmal break from the sacred feminine is also manifested in terrifying statistics relating to acts of violence lavished on mothers, and what about our collective indifference to the damage inflicted on our original mother, Mother Earth?
HEALING THE SACRED FEMININE
Women suffer, and when we suffer, children, men and all of society suffer too. Illness results from this deep suffering, from this fracture between our soul and our personality. It is high time to change this state of affairs and restore the balance of polarities in our society so that every woman can heal her painful part and in return, offer the best of herself to the world.
Practitioners of complementary health approaches such as naturopaths can be valuable allies in this process, because we advocate a truly holistic approach to health based on four fundamental pillars - diet, physical activity, emotional health and the environment - and respectful of the values specific to the sacred feminine. We help women reconnect with their feelings by valuing it, and we give them back their power by empowering them for their health and seeing them as full partners in their healing process. We offer them natural alternatives and solutions to many of their symptoms, and we allow them to make informed choices about many conventional practices in terms of contraception, perinatal care, diagnostic tests, etc.
MY MOTHER'S DAY WISH
What I wish for us on this sacred day dedicated to the celebration of female abundance is to reconnect with this common maternal archetype that we all share - whether we have given birth or not. Let us choose to replace competition with collaboration, let us refuse to adhere to practices that flout our bodies and our values as mothers! Let’s share our experiences and practice openness, non-judgment and unconditional love. It is this vibration of love that acts like a tuning fork and allows us to re-tune to this universal high frequency that underlies all life.
REFERENCES
Le culte de Sol Invictus. http://www.cndp.fr/archive-musagora/merveilles/merveillesfr/colosse/sol.htm
http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/mothers-day-by-the- numbers-1.3568796
Mother’s Day commercialization by the numbers. http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/mothers-day-by-the- numbers-1.3568796
http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/89-647-x/2011001/hl-fs- eng.htm
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2552188/The-average-mother-gets-just-17-minutes-time-day.html
http://www.statcan.gc.ca/tables-tableaux/sum- som/l01/cst01/health26-eng.htm
http://www.oprah.com/spirit/Total-Well-Being-Defined- by-Deepak-Chopra-Video_1
http://www.canalvie.com/famille/grossesse/articles- grossesse/pratique-t-on-trop-de-cesariennes-de-nos- jours-1.1344185
http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/82-003-x/2014006/arti- cle/14032-eng.htm
http://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelles/dossiers/hor- monotherapie/ths.html