Gather the women, save the world

An interview with writer Jean Shinoda Bolen

The situation: overpopulation, global warming, war and terrorism, domestic violence, threat of nuclear winter-the consequences of patriarchal goals of power acquisition and control?

The solution: gather the women, change the world

“The world can change when women speak from what we know. ... It isn’t up to the men, it’s up to the women to bring to the table what we know as a gender,” Jean Shinoda Bolen, M.D., recently told the Minnesota Women’s Press. “If you have a sister archetype and mother archetype, you can make change. We have a different approach than men.” Bolen, a psychiatrist and Jungian analyst, also writes and speaks about the importance of women joining together to initiate and make change in the world. She will bring her message to the Twin Cities on Jan. 20, when she is the keynote speaker and workshop facilitator at the inaugural event of a new organization called Honoring Women Worldwide.

Women’s energy can change the world

Bolen is the author of 10 books, including “Goddesses in Everywoman” and “Goddesses in Older Women,” and uses strong mother and sister archetypes-by which she means the characteristics of nurturing, caregiving and protecting-to encourage women to be voices for change. Bolen’s message is about honoring women and drawing on our mother-bear energy to protect and save what we love.

She is particularly interested in what can be accomplished by women in what she calls the “third phase of life.” “In the third phase of a woman’s life something stirs in the body,” Bolen said. “We are an amazing resource-women between the ages of 50 and 70+. We will either change the world or be a footnote as a result of our work in the women’s movement. Thanks to women’s rights and changes in health care, we live longer. Here we are at ages 50 or 60, looking to live to be 90. Women who are in their 50s or 60s have a sense of the shortness of life and a sense of gratitude. They have a wish to give back. Many have resources-knowledge, abundance, good health, they have traveled. They now think, ‘What can I do to change the world?’”

Circles for change

Two recent books by Bolen, “The Millionth Circle” and “Urgent Message from Mother: Gather the Women, Save the World,” serve as handbooks for making change. The first step, according to Bolen, is to form a circle of women with whom to share life stories. When one listens to others’ stories, personal growth happens, connection and inspiration takes place, confidence grows, and changemaking seeds are planted. Sometimes you might see in someone else in the circle, reflected back, what you can’t see in yourself.

Bolen encourages women to “Call friends together, have a discussion, use “The Millionth Circle” as a guide, form a circle. Start with the circle-meeting with like-minded women who have a desire to make change in the world. Ask yourselves: What are we here for? What are you here for? What would I do if I had the support of a circle that gave me the courage to make change? Just asking yourself these questions, stirs the psyche,” Bolen said.

Bolen sees the Honoring Women Worldwide event as a starting point for those discussions. She explained, “We will invite women to remember and honor moments in themselves, their mother, the women in their lives. We start with becoming conscious of the importance of experience with other women, the women who have helped you become who you are now. With that realization, you can take a next step. When you start to honor women-honoring archetypes that could be in any woman, your mother, your friends, yourself-the world can be changed.”

If you go
Jean Shinoda Bolen will speak and sign her book, “Urgent Message from Mother,” Fri., Jan. 19, 5-7 p.m., at Amazon Bookstore Cooperative, 4755 Chicago Ave. S., Minneapolis. 612-821-9630.

On Sat., Jan. 20, from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Bolen will be the keynote speaker and workshop facilitator at an event sponsored by Honoring Women Worldwide at Coeur de Catherine Center, College of St. Catherine, 2400 Randolph Ave., St. Paul. 612-801-5853.

For further information:
www.honoringwomenworldwide.org
www.jeanbolen.com
www.millionthcircle.org