One for All and All for One Once and for All
By Donna Henes, Urban Shaman
© 2003
April 11. 2003

I just returned from standing for an hour in the freezing rain with Women in Black for a silent peace vigil at Ground Zero. Fifty of us standing shoulder to shoulder, calm and still, eyes straight ahead, patient and passionate in our belief in bearing the presence of the possibility of peace.

I was haunted by the specter of that holy hole in the ground, the once upon a time site of nearly twenty Spring Equinox egg standing ceremonies that I have celebrated there. Those towers that had once ringed my public altar, now reduced to a forlorn mud pit, were still a backdrop for tourist souvenir snapshots as they always were. I can think of no better way to honor this sacred shrine and the spirit memories buried there, than by standing in a tribute of peace.

Most people hurried right by, curious, but not wanting to engage. A few flashed furtive, or occasionally flagrant, peace signs as they passed, smiling in silent support. Others were more outspoken ‘Äî most of them quite odiously ‘Äî proclaiming their support for this war. “Go to France,” shouted someone from the back seat window of an extra long white stretch limousine.” Well, I wish.

A trucker leaned out of his window to tell us to “Love it or leave it.” And a bearded man who was walking by, commented, ostensibly to his friend, “You know, they are supporting Sadam Hussein.” I hardly think so, honey. One young man spit at me ‘Äî not on me, thank goodness. Now, I have been jailed several times, beaten up, tear gassed and shot at, all as a result of my long time pursuit of peace and civil rights, but I have never been spat at.

hatred bounces.
Ý e. e. cummings

Such vehemence. Like it is a terrible thing to feel that a mother has the right to put her child to sleep each night without any risk of that child being shot, trapped in the midst of some hostile crossfire ‘Äî be it in Iraq or the South Bronx. Like any one really wants to live and work in a war zone ‘Äî in Palestine or Bosnia, Zimbabwe, the World Trade Center or East L.A. Ask anyone. “Do you want bombs and missiles to blow up your house?” Like there are two opposing sides to the necessity for peace.

The fact is, there is no such thing as opposing sides. There is only one side. Just us folks, here, all being born and all just trying to live life as best we can. We are all the same, allied, much more alike than different. There is no us and them. There is only us. We ‘Äî all of us who occupy this planet: humans and other animals, vegetables and minerals; organic and inorganic; living and not; past, present and future ‘Äî are the world.

We, this people, on a small and lonely planet
Traveling through casual space
Past aloof stars, across the way of Indifferent suns
To a destination where all signs tell us
It is possible and imperative that we learn
A brave and startling truth
Ý Maya Angelou

We all come from the earth and return to her belly, as ash, as mulch. We are all made of the same substance, same as the sea, the soil, the stars. There are, and ever have been, only so many molecules in existence and no more ever, and all the rest ‘Äî birth, growth, death, development, change, adaptation, transformation, evolution ‘Äî is really just about recycling.

We breathe the same air as our cave-dwelling ancestors; inhaling and exhaling, exchanging carbon dioxide and oxygen with our plant relatives unt old billions of times over the millennia. And the same holds true for water. We drink the tears of crocodiles and elephants. It rains, it pools, it evaporates, it rains. We drink, we pee. Again and again and again in a grand scale cosmic round robin.

All borders and boundaries and separations are pure illusion. Each time we touch someone, we leave some particles of our skin atoms behind and pick up a parcel of new ones. Thus we merge, literally becoming part of each other. I am you and you are me and we are we.

We are all in this together, inextricably bound on our beautiful blue planet spinning through space. Remember that extraordinary photograph of Earth taken from the moon? We are one family, one community, one world, one living, breathing entity. And the sooner we realize it, the happier, safer and saner we will be.

These are terrible times of artificial division, manipulated resentment and real fear. The real dynamic being played out right now is not about warring religious, economic or nationalistic factions. Not even about war. The struggle is actually between those who believe that the world is defined in terms of opposition ‘Äî war or peace, right or wrong, rich or poor, with us or against us ‘Äî and those who are able to see things in a more holistic, congruent manner.

If only there were evil people somewhere
insidiously committing evil deeds, and it
were necessary only to separate them from
the rest of us and destroy them. But the line
dividing good and evil cuts through the
heart of every human being. And who is
willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?
Ý Alexander Solzhenitsyn

These are deciding times. It is imperative for those of us who see the big picture to decide, to commit, to make a concerted effort to reach out in ever-expanding circles of affinity and embrace. Now is the time to create healthy, functioning networks in recognition and in honor of our mutual state of being and our common fate. Let us set our intentions on unity and use our energy to begin to convene.
Convene. Convent. Coven. Co=together.

Yes, let us please convene. Let us come out of the cocoon closets of our isolated, separate selves and come together. To make connections. To make friends. To make whoopy. To make magic. To make sense. To make art. To make amends. To make time. To make love. To make change. To make peace in our hearts and on the planet.

Let us put ourselves forth as co=operative partners; as inter=dependent members of our families, communities and species; as consciously co=existent inhabitants of our planet and as conscientious co=creators of our combined future.

All I have is a voice
To undo the folded lie,
The romantic lie in the brain
Of the sensual man-in-the-street
And the lie of Authority
Whose buildings grope the sky:
There is no such thing as the State
And no one exists alone;
Hunger allows no choice
To the citizen or the police;
We must love one another or die.
Ý WH Auden

© Permission is granted to copy, reproduce, re-print or promulgate in any manner this copyrighted material so long as correct attribution and contact information is included.
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Donna Henes, Urban Shaman, is the editor and publisher of the highly acclaimed quarterly, Always In Season: Living In Sync with the Cycles. She is also the author of Moon Watcher’s Companion, Celestially Auspicious Occasions: Seasons, Cycles and Celebrations and Dressing Our Wounds In Warm Clothes, as well as the CD, Reverence To Her: Mythology, The Matriarchy & Me.

In 1982, she composed the first (and to this date, the only) satellite peace message in space:
“chants for peace * chance for peace.”

Mama Donna, as she is affectionately known, has offered lectures, workshops, circles, and celebrations worldwide for 30 years. She is the director of Mama Donna’Äôs Tea Garden & Healing Haven, a ceremonial center, ritual consultancy and spirit shop in Exotic Brooklyn, New York.

For further information, a list of services and publications, a calendar of upcoming events and a complimentary issue of Always in Season: Living in Sync with the Cycles . contact:
MAMA DONNA’S TEA GARDEN AND HEALING HAVEN
PO Box 380403
Exotic Brooklyn, NY 11238-0403
Phone/Fax 718-857-2247
Email: CityShaman@aol.com
www.DonnaHenes.net