BLOOD MEMORIES

absolute beauty of a Mashpee Wampanoag woman - Cheryl

Great strides have been made to liberate Western women from the shackles of historical tyrannies administered by church and state. Some things were lost over the centuries of Western domination, and thought. In the wake of so much upheaval of European, and American social structures the divinity and the sacredness of womanhood, motherhood, the breasts, and the sanctity of the womb; of the punany were barely regarded in the political forays into the intellectual and emotional drama of changing the lives and conditions of Western women for the better! In that mix white Americans, for example, have all but forgotten the importance of the Black African slave mothers who raised generations of white boys and girls during slavery, and the Black mothers employed during long period of neo-slavery from the aftermath of the Civil War through the dawn of World War II.

When Moses was found by the Pharaoh's daughter, and his mother came out of the reeds and offered to be the handmaiden she deepened, and raised the level of sacrifice, and emphasis, and power of blood covenant far beyond the sacrifices, and the meaning of covenants laid by men in her time, and of her culture. In her time the Hebrew men laid covenants between one another. There were seven (7) steps to that ritual.

Standing before each other in front of witnesses each man takes off his coat. The gesture says, "this (coat) represents me. I am giving you me. We possess each other". Next they take off their belts. The belts represents one's strength. It is the symbol of a man's strength. This is where the weapons are worn. The third step is central to the ceremony and the point I want to make. An animal is sacrificed and split in two."The halves are split amongst us and put behind us".  The two men walk through the mounds of blood, and flesh making a figure 8 (the symbol of infinity) until they are standing face to face in the center of blood. They are inside death prepared.

What supports and builds community and relationships better: the letting or the giving of blood? The Hebrew covenant ceremony was between men. It was inclusive. Each man's family and generations were included in the ceremony. Vows were made when each man slashed their wrists or palms, placed their wrists in the air and locked them together. In their vow they are beginning to enter Blood Covenant prepared to die as the animals had died.

"My life is yours. If we break this covenant Let God do this to me!" they said looking at the dead flesh surrounding them

The scars say, "I have made a covenant for life and it is a responsibility. What talents I do not have I now have through this new relationship." The witnesses hear all the terms of the covenant, and a memorial is built to the covenant. In the end a loaf of bread is broken and shared between the friends saying to each other, "This is me into you. We are one flesh of each other's flesh." A cup of wine is shared that tells the two and the witnesses present; "This is my blood. It has become yours as you drink. We are together. We are blood-relatives for life."

I purposely severely limited the number of wombs I entered. One of the reasons was a logical one. There is a distinction between intimacy and sexual intercourse, and the two I envisioned as a teenager, but at 13 years of age it was taught to me quite clearly: make it now. I made the choice thus embarking upon a journey of such magnificence and magnitude! Women's Moontime opens them up to the energies of the Moon, Water, and Earth Mother. What that feels like, as a woman, I know not.

~ Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories 3.16.12

absolute & compelling black power within Kina