(Prose) The Value of Women’s Spirituality Centers by Francesca Tronetti, Ph.D.

Life stressful, especially in this American economy. Wages are low and trying to find a good paying job takes a lot of time an effort. Writing new cover letters, and gathering references, then having to fill in online forms with all the same information a second time. Publishing articles and blog posts, presenting at conferences, writing editorials for journals, finding new journals to publish in. Just thinking about it all is enough to cause us to lose sleep, laying in bed awake asking ourselves how we will ever get through this. And even when we do sleep, we are plagued with anxiety dreams which steal our rest and leave us feeling worse in the morning. Then was wake up and it is rinse and repeat. And this has consequences beyond a lack of sleep and higher stress levels.

We spend our days always thinking of work to be done, bills to be paid. However, if we are always frazzled and teetering on the edge of a meltdown then we won’t be able to focus on anything else. We won’t have the engery to be active in our communities or to agitate for change.  We will be focused on just getting ourselves through the next twenty-four hours.  And anyway how we are supposed to help stop big companies from polluting the water. We all have other things we have to do and besides the government is corrupt, and nothing we do will change anything. 

It all seems so overwhelming, and it is. This society is designed so that we are always focused on the physical side of now, paying our bills, making sure the car doesn’t break down, keeping expenses low. We are so afraid of that unexpected bill which would leave about half of us on the street that we have forgotten that we have forgotten about the spiritual side of now. Meditation and yoga are great if you have the hour to drive to the yoga studio and back, the money for a membership, and the stylish yoga clothes. Even spirituality has become commercialized and is seen as something for the middle class.

We need to change this, to open spirituality up so it is available to everyone and not just as a YouTube video they can watch. We need a way to connect to the world spiritually, to connect with whatever higher power we recognize to reinforce in us the knowledge that all livings things on this planet are inexorably linked together.  We must have a way to calm ourselves and clear our minds, or else our task will seem monumental and not worth beginning. 

I have been visiting a women’s spirituality center called the Maetreum of Cybele located in Palenville, NY.  It is a woman’s only facility and is the home for the Cybele Pagan sisters of the United States. I’ve been visiting this center for over a decade and have helped to build it back up from a building on its way to being condemned to a thriving center which welcomes women of all faiths who want to improve their spiritual health.  Through the years the Maetreum has become more self-sufficient with solar panels and a windmill, fruit trees, a small garden, and chickens for fresh eggs.

I would like to see more centers like this established all over the country.  Places like these would offer women and men a chance to engage in group activities such as drumming or meditating or if they choose, they can sit and relax, just let the stress of life or work ease through them without having to be on time and participating in activities.  They would be self-sufficient to a great degree, growing their fruits and vegetables, baking bread, and canning or preserving their harvest in a root cellar.  What they did not grow themselves they could trade for with local farmers or others in their area that grew or raised what they needed. 

Ideally, they would be outside of cities, with a good deal of land surrounding them.  A place to commune with the earth or the spirits I think we need to be removed from distractions.  No hearing sirens or loud music as someone drives down the street.  And, since people are not always able to drive more than an hour outside the city for a weekend retreat, it is important to create a sanctuary within one’s own home as a place to relax and let oneself go. I think that this sort of spiritual refreshing is important on more than a personal level. 

(Meet Mago Contributor) Francesca Tronetti, Ph.D.