There are many female gods recognized and honored by the tribes and Nations. Femaleness was highly valued, both respected and feared, and all social institutions reflected this attitude. Even modern sayings, such as the Cheyenne statement that a people is not conquered until the hearts of the women are on the ground, express the Indians understanding that without the power of woman the people will not live, but with it, they will endure and prosper.
Interpretation
The quote highlights the significance and power of women in society, emphasizing their role in the survival and prosperity of a community.
Paula Gunn Allen's quote reflects on the reverence for the feminine divine across various tribes and nations, illustrating how societal structures have historically honored women. It underscores the belief that women hold a central role in the continuity and strength of a people, asserting that their well-being is directly tied to the community's survival and success. The Cheyenne saying cited indicates that the true measure of a people's strength lies in how they treat and value their women.
In practice
This quote could be used in a women's empowerment seminar to highlight the importance of valuing female contributions.
The hoop dancer dances within what encircles him, demonstrating how the people live in motion within the circling spirals of time and space. They are no more limited than water and sky. At green corn dance time, water and sky come together, in Indian time, to make rain.
What is perceptible to one’s mistrust is the cut-and-dried way that life is divided up and the ready-made form it assumes, the ever-recurring sameness of it, the pre-formations passed down by generation after generation, the ready-made language not only of the tongue but also of the sensations and the feelings.
You can't judge an internal injury by the size of the hole.
It’s not that I’ve been dishonest, it’s just that I loathe reality.
Seeking out causes is a pastime of the mind. There is no duality of cause and effect. Everything is its own cause.
We but half express ourselves, and are ashamed of that divine idea which each of us represents.
When my father was born, it was part of the Austro-Hungarian empire. When I was born, it was Lithuania. When I left, it was Hungary. It is difficult to say where I come from.
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