Staff of Asclepius
My Winter Solstice and Lunar Eclipse ritual included a promise to myself and a prayer to the Goddess and the Universal Divine asking for assistance in keeping that promise. That promise was to love myself. To love and accept myself for who I am and by doing so I would be empowered to live my life to the fullest. For me that includes caring for my health, making new friends, and getting beyond fear of failure to do what I love.
How did I spend Imbolc, that time of year where we light candles to see the hope in the darkness of Winter on the cusp of Spring? I joined almost three hundred women via the phone and Skype for “Fat Positive Art & The Fat Body Beautiful with Substantia Jones and Her Models.” As someone who’s struggled with body image all of my life, it was a relief to laugh and listen to Substantia and the models share their stories about getting comfortable in their own skin. There was a fifteen minute Q&A at the end for callers. If you listen to the call, once you register, you’ll hear me use my birth name, Tara, instead of my spiritual dedication name, Masery.
Image: A drawing of a woman dressed as a WWII factory worker, showing off her arm muscle. Captioned “Body Love Revolutionary” www.bodyloverevolution.com
The call was part of a Body Love Telesummit that began in January and continues until March 1st. This Body Love Revolution is lead by Golda of bodylovewellness.com. She is an author, personal coach and has a degree in health counseling and integrative nutrition. Golda has taken on the challenging and controversial role of being a Fat Activist. It’s controversial because when people hear about Fat Activism they assume it’s a battle cry of “It’s okay to be lazy and stuff yourself with food all day.” In reality, that is a stereotype. As a Pagan woman with large curves, I’m familiar with stereotypes. Fat is used as an insult and since Wicca, a new religion and branch of Paganism consisting mainly of women, gets a lot of flack. There is a Youtube video entitled “100% of Wiccans are Fat, Ugly, Fake Bisexuals.” People lash out when they don’t feel good about themselves, don’t they.
Women with big curves are just as spiritually and emotionally complex as anyone else. Fat Activism is about walking away from self hate and spending money on fad diets and dangerous weight loss pills, to embrace self-confidence, love for our mind, soul, and body so healing can begin. Be it healing their confidence to a healthier and realistic view of nutrition and exercise.
From the Body Love Revolution main site:
“We are bombarded with messages about our bodies and our health every day. We’re told to diet, no matter what that might do to our bodies … We’re told to wait to be thinner before we do what we want, no matter what that might do to our lives.
And yet, there are lots of us who are working to change the status quo. Whether we do it through activism, or art, or medical research, or just finding ways to live our lives outside the boundaries that we’re supposed to accept, we are part of something bigger than ourselves. It is a revolution in the truest sense.”
Golda has assembled a group of intelligent and creative women to discuss various topics on health, fashion, and art during the free telesummit. By registering you’ll get information on how to connect via phone or Skype and have access to recording of all of the calls. www.bodyloverevolution.com/#Register
In part two, I’ll share more about the beautiful models and photographer, Substantia Jones, of the Adipositivity Project. www.adipositivity.com
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