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Dear Susun, I Love you!

"Hi Susun,
Want you to know that every time I hear you speak, see you speaking, or read
your writings, I invariably hear myself uttering these words, "I love you, I
love you, I just love you."
What you present is what I know to be deeply true for me.
Thank you for being the beautiful and honestly wise self that you are,
:`)
Yvette"

Review of 'We’Moon 2011: Gaia Rhythms for Womyn-30th Edition of We’Moon Datebook'

We’Moon 2011:  Gaia Rhythms for Womyn

Mother Tongue Ink

30^th Edition of We’Moon Datebook

The theme for the thirtieth edition of We’Moon’s calendar (born as We’Moon Almanac in 1980) is Groundswell, a particularly appropriate metaphor to recall the robust combination of peace and justice movements, earth-based spirituality, feminism, and the growing visibility of the goddess that, according to Bethroot Gwynn and Musawa, played such a strong role in the birth of We’Moon.  What, We’Moon asks us, is stirring now?  What new groundswell is on the rise?

And the fabulous art in this year’s calendar answers this question resoundingly.

If you are new to We’Moon, this calendar is a magnificent place to begin.  If you are an old friend, you will be cheered by its heft. 

This calendar has, well, everything.  Astrological information is given in detail, noting both sun and moon signs and transits, eclipses and the dreaded Mercury retrograde, asteroidal and planetary ephemeris.  If you are attuned to astrology, you will be delighted to discover this is We’Moon’s Saturn Return—the datebook’s history is told in “We’Moon Evolution:  A Community Endeavor,” page 188.  If you are not, this calendar alone provides plenty of information to educate you in astrological ways.

The Wheel of the Year and the Holy Days, based on the ancient Celtic calendar, are noted and discussed, illustrated by the accompanying art, and referenced to the Goddess.    Marna’s fall equinox discussion (page 142) is particularly wonderful as she describes listening for the “chitter-whispers” of our great-grandmothers.  The seasonal celebrations of many cultures are mentioned, enriching our knowledge.  Did you know about the Creek Green Corn Ceremony or the Slavic Goddess of Spring, Lada?

My personal favorite way to use the We’Moon calendar is to remind me to connect to the moon in her cycle and mine.  The illustration by Susan Levitt, page 7, is one of my favorites in this endeavor.   While every day carries an artistic representation of the moon phase on that day, Levitt’s drawing and its relation of the moon phases to the growth of a plant is very meaningful to my daily life.  Susan Baylies’ fine Lunar Phase calendar is also reproduced in the back pages as well as a full year of moon phases presented one traditional month per page.

The We’Moon calendar also serves as textbook, in the very best and highest sense of the word, presenting womyn’s  texts in prose and poetry, in history and biography, mythology and spirituality, in drawing and painting, photography and mixed media, sculpture and collage, as manifesto and as how-to. 

I always learn so much from the We’Moon calendars.  This year, I learned about The Seriously Pissed-off Grannies and the Mother Earth Water Walkers.  I found beloved and well-known artists here like Sudie Rakusin, Yvonne Pearson, Max Dashu, and Kate Cartwright.  Goddess bless Google, because I love Googling the names of artists I don’t recognize when I find them in We’Moon and discovering entirely new (to me) bodies of work to inspire me and to tell others about, like Meganne Forbes and La Tigresa (Dona Nieto).  How did I get this old without discovering them?

As a fiber artist, I particularly like the back cover art of this year’s spiral datebook—“Women Mend the Earth,” painting and poem by Toni Truesdale.

Sewing, mending spinning

Piecing, darning, knitting;

Weaving the elements that

Re-enact creation into this worn world

With the tools of femininity;

In constant, preserving patience

Repairing the broken fibers.

This groundswell of positive attitude, of women who can heal and renew, infuses this year’s calendar with joy and possibility.  As Carol Bridges says in her poem “My Tribe Through Darkness Comes Shining,” page 50, “We’ll make a new world out of anything/You give us.”

Don’t miss the opportunity to share in this important thirty year anniversary celebrating the realized potential of women.  I have been honored to review it.

~Jan Calloway-Baxter

Jan is relishing her Queen years in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where she lives with her green man/soul mate husband and numerous animals.  She grows herbs for food, medicine and magic, supports local agriculture, and commits fiber art at every opportunity, especially creating Goddess Dolls for women and girls.  She studies with and writes for Susun Weed as well as for SageWoman.