A WOMAN'S PREROGATIVE TO CHANGE HER MIND

It has only been within the last 100 years since women have made inroads in the realization that a woman has a mind. History has not been kind to women or their intelligence. There are women in history who have left their mark, however they are few and far in between.

What is mind? One could say that mind is an accumulation of knowledge and experiences. Or, some would say it is the level of intelligence. Mind is all of this and how we use our mind determines our level of intelligence. What some may call intelligence could be categorized in levels of intelligence. I will return to this subject later. First, I will share how women have been programmed to think of themselves as lesser beings and how men have been programmed to think they are the superior beings.

Women have for eons been the beings who have been the objects of the most prejudiced of all. It seems as though there has always been prejudice whether it be color, creed, culture or religion. But the one class of the most prejudice has been against women regardless of her color, creed, culture or religion.

It is time now for women to use her prerogative to change her mind. The word prerogative is used without most of us really thinking about its meaning. I grew up saying perogative, however I have since learned that this is a misspelling and a mispronouncing. Somehow I prefer perogative – a personal choice. I have often said over the years when questioned as to why I made a decision to do something different other than what I had first said and my reply was “It’s a woman’s perogative to change her mind.”

According to Dictionary.com, the correct definition is An exclusive right or privilege held by a person or group, especially a hereditary or official right.
We do have the right to change your mind.

A REVOLUTION OF ATTITUDES

Bettye Johnson ©

** This is not a calling forth a revolution of violence or controversy. It is not promoting the bashing of men. Bashing of men is counter-productive to women’s evolution. There are men who respect and love women. Their numbers at this time are too small to truly change the bias against women.
** Working for equal rights is a long and arduous road. I have written about the plight of women all over the world because the attitudes of men toward women has not changed in many countries and is slowly changing in the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and European countries. This isn’t about equal rights. This is about a change of attitudes of men towards women; women about themselves; women towards men; and men about themselves. It is a revolution of attitudes.
** Women need to recognize they have aided and abetted these attitudes the majority of men have towards women by believing they were less than and deferring to men. We have to change our attitudes about living as victims. We cannot expect change until we change our attitudes and our outlook on the world. Change must begin with a change of individual attitudes.
**A new religion appears to be replacing the standard religions. The new religion is Corporate America who controls all the advertising we are blitzed with in our newspapers, periodicals, television and radio. We are led to believe that being sexy will make us happy. Taking this drug or that drug will alleviate stress, bloated stomach and other aches and pains will make us well and happy. All it does is cover up the symptom but never cure the root cause. We think must have the best and most beautiful auto vehicle. We are a debt-enslaved nation.
**It appears younger women in the United States have more freedom than their mothers or their grandmothers had. The senior women have deferred to their husbands all their married life. Many still vote according to the way their husbands vote. Younger women and girls as well as the older women are distracted and enslaved by the media blitz, which includes television and the movies. These women must be thin, beautiful and alluring according to what the media dictates.
**Have you noticed that there is an over abundance of overweight women, children and men? In their subconscious they know thin, beautiful and sexy is not all it is cracked up to be. Frustration, doubt, fear sets in and the obesity gene are triggered. The advertisement world has a field day with a diet for this and a diet for that. Diets don’t work because the basic attitudes do not change. Diets are only a form of self-punishment.
**In the United States the medical and pharmaceutical professions enslave the majority of the populace. On week days usually beginning at 7 A.M. all over the country the parking lots of medical buildings are filled with autos and these are not hospitals. The United States has the largest concentration of sick people other than those in the third world countries where starvation, war and pestilence are killing them.
**There must be a change of consciousness in this world for humans to survive. The Earth will survive, as Mother Nature will see to that. We are on the cutting edge and to survive turbulent times we must rise above the issues of war and enslavement. Let this change begin with the women and those men who are open-minded. Change will come with a change of attitudes.

ENSLAVEMENT ATTITUDES:

~ I need a man to make me happy. Have you ever asked yourself why? Women have been programmed by attitudes, input from religions, books, movies, and television that every woman should have a man. Could it be a subconscious program that the only worth you will know is having a husband or a significant other in your life.
~ Men are more intelligent than women. Really? And who decided that? Women haven’t had a chance to develop their intelligence. However that is changing and more and more women are using their intelligence. In many cases, it is still an uphill climb for women. Sr. Francis Crick won a Nobel Prize for his discovery re the DNA when he actually stole it from a woman scientist. Albert Einstein has become a sacred icon and it is not known to many that he had the help of his first wife. He didn’t do it alone.
~ Since God created Adam first, then man is superior to women. If one were to reason this ancient attitude that has been carried down through the ages, one would realize that if Adam was created first, then the woman was the evolution of the first being. It is the woman who carries the seed of the child. Why did Eve tempt Adam? She was asking him to join with her in seeking the tree of knowledge. Was Adam a dummy? And who was the serpent? In ancient lore and wisdom, the serpent is wisdom. I grew up believing that woman was put on Earth to serve man. I have moved far away from that attitude/belief.
~ Man must be the breadwinner of the family. This attitude and belief goes back eons when in actuality, women were the ones who labored while the men hunted. Yes, the men ‘brought home the bacon’, but women labored to keep the household and family from falling apart. This is also changing. Today in the U.S. a marriage is usually a two-job family. Much of it is done to ‘keep up with the Jones. The population has been given through advertising that the family must have all the luxuries that their parents didn’t have. ’
~ I must be alluring and sexy to appeal to a man. This attitude has been fostered by Corporate America, which includes the garment designers, cosmetics, and entertainment world. If one were to really think about it, to follow the dictates of advertising, one is giving her power away. What is wrong with natural?
~ The man is the decision-maker. Again, this is programming. Society has been a patriarchal power for too many eons. It is time for women to take back their power and demand an equal say. Of course, in the marketplace it might not work. Women can change this by developing their intelligence and create businesses where they can be their own decision-makers.
~ Since my husband, partner, lover likes sports, and then I should too. Why? I have seen too many give away their power to their mate for the sake of togetherness and to have something in common.
~ The woman’s place is in the home. Again, why? If a woman chooses to be a stay-at-home mother/wife – then the only reason should be that it is her sincere choice. There are some women who abhor the thought of going out into the workplace. I have an idea that this goes back to women being in a harem perhaps in some past life. I ask, is this using their intelligence and expanding it?
~ It’s o.k. for women’s to teach Sunday school, and religious classes, however they are not qualified to be a priest, minister and in some cases a rabbi.
~ Father knows best. Really? Not if it means the woman's ideas and knowing are considered. I had two husbands who would argue with me that I was wrong on different issues and when I was proven right, each told me, "Even when you are wrong, you are right." Women, stick to your knowing! It is time to stop giving your power away. I have done it in the past and never more. It never pays to force a point of view just to be stubborn. That is not a productive attitude. It is to look at both sides of the coin and choose an intelligent reason.

**Attitudes are choices. None of us needs to be a bulldozer to have it our way. When we are wrong, we should admit it although no one likes to 'eat crow.' The Revolution of Attitudes is the journey within each of us. We have choices. We can be miserable, a whiner or we can be happy and productive – and powerful. The choice is ours.

Science and the Female

Books and articles that place women beneath men have subjugated women for eons and are tiresome. In writing my book. Secrets of the Magdalene Scrolls about Mary Magdalene, I found it a challenge to find any credible history of that era. The information available has been written by men and for the most part, men who were monks. That should tell us something. Some claim to have evidence of the genealogy of the bloodline of Mary Magdalene and Jesus and this is even more interesting. There is no documentation that I can find. Men put the so-called reputable charts together and only once in a great while a name was given for the mother. Thus, it became that the lineage was handed down from king to king. This in itself is suspect and I wonder if these kings and men of royalty were hatched in an incubator.

Science today is indicating that this is not so. There is scientific evidence from archaeology combined with the study of the DNA and genes that it is a possibility women and men came from one woman nicknamed Eve. The primary piece of evidence is called mitochondria

An article by Rebecca Cann of the University of Hawaii, together with her two male coworkers, stunned the scientific world when it was published in the British journal Nature on January 1, 1987. The article, Mitochondrial DNA and Human Evolution, alleges that all people living on Earth now can date their ancestry back to 200,000 years ago to a particular woman living at that time. Since that article was published, there have been other scientific studies and subsequent research alleges it could have been a group of women. What does this mean for women?

It means that the hereditary maternal DNA is carried by the mitochondria, which is passed from mother to daughter. Any mitochondria in the male sperm dies and is not passed to the daughters or the sons. Therefore, if a man and woman have only sons, the woman’s mitochondria carrying the lineage dies out. When a son with no female sibling marries a woman and they have a daughter, then the son's wife's mitochondria DNA is passed down. From my perspective, it would be quite onerous to trace the lineage unless one knew who the females were.

What is the mitochondrial? From the science reports I have researched, the general consensus is that it carries the power of the energy of a cell. It could also be called the power generator of the cell. The mitochondria also have other functions, but for the purpose of this article, I want to emphasize the importance it has in tracing a lineage because the mitochondria also has its own DNA.

I find it a tragedy that down through the ages and today in some cultures, it is the male child that is desired and in some cultures the female baby is killed. Because of the attitudes of the men of history, almost all knowledge of powerful and wonderful women has been either suppressed or eradicated. In some instances women such as Mary Magdalene, Lucretia Borgia, Marie Antoinette have been portrayed as either sinners or in unflattering terms. I chose to portray Mary Magdalene as a powerful woman in her own right and I used my research to write this story in novel form. She was the wife of Jesus and they had two children.

I find it interesting that I have three sons and therefore my mitochondria are not passed down. It stops with me. However my sister had three girls and they will carry on the line. My granddaughters now carry the maternal lineage through their mothers’ mitochondria. I primarily raised my sons alone, as their father was a career military man and away two-thirds of our married life. This arrangement gave me the opportunity to raise my sons as I wanted to and they have all grown into splendid men. They are loving, caring men and are not prejudice against women.

We, the women must take the responsibility of teaching our sons and daughters that each is an equal. It can begin in the womb. While carrying a child in the womb, the woman can speak to it and begin the teaching along with playing classical music. A fetus is aware in the womb. Now, that is another study in itself. To teach our children means we cannot use the old terms used by so many that only re-program.

This is a powerful time in history. On the one hand, women and children are being raped, maimed and killed in various parts of the world. And yet, there is an awakening and I don't think it will be possible to keep women suppressed for too many more years. Each of us must take responsibility to do what we can to end this prejudice and enslavement of women. We are powerful. We are the hope of the world.

For further research, I recommend reading Zechariah Sitchen’s book The Lost Book of Enki. An excellent website is from a NOVA documentary, Tracing Ancestry Through MTDNA, http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/neanderthals/mtdna.html

FROM THE MUNDANE TO THE DIVINE

Bettye Johnson ©


The signs of awakening are often quite subtle. From my experience this was so for me. Before my awakening I was a wife and a mother of three growing sons and during this time I was what one would call a person with my mindset a W.A.S.P Republican housewife. (W.A.S.P. stands for White, Anglo-Saxon Protestant). I was married to a career military man who had served two tours of duty in Vietnam and having grown up in an era of patriotism during WWII, I could not understand the attitudes and protests of the sixties. It took the Watergate scandal involving President Nixon to crack my belief structure.

At the beginning of my forties, a thought would come into my head, By the time you are fifty, your life will be different. The first time it happened, I paused and thought Huh? Where did that come from? From that time on, this thought would pop into my brain off and on. It was also during this decade that I began to feel a disquiet. My life was boring and mundane. The relationship with my husband was one of no depth or understanding. We were like two strangers going through the motions of pretending to be like Ozzie and Harriet. My sons were in high school and about to begin the graduation process, thereby leaving the nest. I was ripe for change.

Sometimes we do not recognize the gift in what appears to be an adversity. Mine came in the form of an automobile accident where I sustained a whiplash neck injury. One year later the orthopedic surgeon told me that medically speaking, I should be well and suggested I see a psychologist. This shocked me and after one session with a man who thought I was a woman going through menopause, I knew there was no understanding or help there. This set me on a journey of self-discovery. My first step began with a twelve-step program, Overeaters Anonymous (O.A.). This brought out of me a buried desire to be free of my husband – my mundane marriage.

My sponsor in O.A. introduced me to metaphysics and my first book that began opening my mind. The name of the book was The World Before by Ruth Montgomery. The information given in her book resonated with me and my journey into the Divine and Enlightenment began.

It would be some years later when I realized that the thought coming into my head was a message from my soul. On my fiftieth birthday I had my coming-out party. I was newly divorced and well into my journey of self-discovery. I was an avid seminar, workshop junkie. I wanted to know and understand everything. I explored crystals, the tarot, metaphysics, astrology, the paranormal and various forms of healing. I had an inner knowing that they were all only stepping stones and not the end result. I studied New Thought, Religious Science, Divine Science, Unity and even received my Ph.D. (which I do not choose to use.)

Little did I realize that all of this was the journey of awakening to the Divine within me. A year or longer after my divorce, I was introduced to a ministerial school of Divine Science and went to one of their classes in a city located sixty miles from my home. What I heard resonated within me. The following session I enrolled as a student. It was here that I met my late husband and he was the magic of a relationship I had yearned for all my life. I call him my Mr. Magic. He passed from this plane in 2001 and with no regrets; I am onward in my journey.

In 1983 my husband and I chose to attend a Brugh Joy and David Spangler spiritual week at Asilomar, California. It was here that I awakened to my teacher. I was not into channeling and when it was announced one evening that three people would channel their entities to talk about peace, I was ho-hum and laid back on the floor. I barely heard the first two have their entities speak. Then the third one, a cute little blonde from Tacoma, Washington left her body and another entity took over. The moment this entity said “Indeed,” I sat up like a bolt of lightening. I was mesmerized because I knew that I knew him. I didn’t have any memory of where or when I knew him, but I knew he was a Master Teacher. When the session was over, I could not recall what Ramtha the Enlightened One said, and I pondered this for a long time.

It wasn’t until 1985 that I reconnected with him via a video and from that moment on, he has been my teacher. There is an ancient saying that when the student is ready the teacher appears. I attended events after seeing that early video and when the Ramtha School of Enlightenment was formed in 1987 in Yelm, Washington I became a student. My husband retired and we moved to Washington State. At the time of our move, I thought it was to be near friends and also a son in the Navy. That was the outward motive, however the inward motive was to be in this school.

My journey is my own unique journey just as the reader has her or his own unique journey. Not all of us are pulled to the same teacher. I can only share what I have learned from Ramtha. My understanding is that the Soul creates the map for each one’s incarnation. This is decided before we are born into this lifetime or any other lifetimes. Some come in with a knowing in certain areas that others do not have. An agenda is set by the Soul and our parents are selected for their genetics and DNA. What we have not owned as wisdom in previous lifetimes are the challenges we face in this lifetime. We have only to look back on our life to know what was to be resolved.

Ramtha has called Heaven the Plane of Bliss and it is on this plane that after the death of the body, the Spirit that we are rests and contemplates. The Soul is the recorder for the Spirit and it retains the experiences of every incarnation lifetime after lifetime and it sets the program for the next incarnation. We incarnate with an agenda to resolve any unfinished resolution of an attitude or the emotions of an experience. From my understanding I have learned to seek the gift of wisdom from each experience and the changing of an attitude or belief.

I have traveled through the experiences of being a victim of people and circumstances and now in reflection I can see where I was a participant and the experience came because I had something to learn from it. I can now understand that much of my earlier life was similar to the character in the movie Groundhog Day. We keep doing the same thing over and over hoping we will get different results. I have learned to take full responsibility for everything that occurred to me in my life and I can now understand that my attitudes and beliefs brought the experiences to me.

It has been similar to peeling away the layers of an onion one by one and laying to rest the attitudes of resentment, harboring anger, jealousy, prejudice, unworthiness and so many more. There are emotions attached to each of these attitudes. How have I done this? It’s been a journey over the past thirty years of being willing to look at my limited ideas and beliefs without a near-death experience. I have no qualms about changing an attitude that I recognize as limiting. I recognize that fear is one of our major obstacles and fear is not an attitude. I have been taught the biology of emotions, how the brain works, quantum physics and much more in my school, an academy of the mind.

Science is now backing up much of what I have been taught. From Psychology Today, Sept-Oct 2002 issue, Susan Fiske writes: “Emotions have a powerful effect on the mind, and fear—considered a strong survival instinct—is particularly potent.” The author interviewed Elizabeth Phelps, Ph.D., Director of the Phelps Lab at New York University’s Psychology Department and in regard to being asked about the role of the amygdala to fear, Phelps responds: “It has been called the seat of emotion.” Very few people know that there is a place in the brain where fear resides.

From my understanding, fear has been fed by our emotions and attitudes stemming from beliefs. As children we were given many programming beliefs and the amygdala has held all of them. Some of these fears we came in with and it is our job to put them to rest. From my own experience, I have learned to let go of expectations of others. This was a biggie for me. I have learned that when I have no expectations from others, then I am lifted from a burden and let go of the emotion of disappointment. When the amygdala is not fed the same emotions over and over, this aspect of fear dies on the vine so to speak.

Socrates said “Know Thyself” and many centuries later Shakespeare wrote “And this above all…to thine own self be true.” Awakening is a journey into enlightenment. It is an evolution. Ramtha has taught, “To evolve means to change and evolve means to learn, and to learn means to be in knowledge of.”

What is the Divine? It is the God or the Creator within. It doesn’t matter the name given, because we are each endowed with a direct connection and it surrounds us and is in us. We are inseparable. We can only shut off our awareness of its presence. I would say that everyone has a deep-rooted desire for union or reunion. We seek here and we seek there. There is an ancient story attributed to great sages. They were discussing where to hide God and one said, “Let’s hide God deep in the ocean.” The others said that woman/man would eventually conquer the oceans so that wouldn’t work. A second sage suggested that God be hidden in the sky and again after a consensus, it was agreed that woman/man would eventually conquer space. After much discussion whether it would be deep in the earth and other places, one brilliant sage suggested, “I know, we will hide God within woman/man because they will never think to look there.”

What is enlightenment? I can only share my perspective. Enlightenment is a never-ending journey. It is the conquering of our limitations and gaining the wisdom from each of our experiences. Ramtha calls these our pearls of wisdom. When the light goes on in our brain, this pearl is given to our Divine self. How else will it know itself unless we give it our own personal unique pearls of wisdom?

Ramtha taught a discipline of creating one’s day. In the movie, What the Bleep, Dr. Joe Dispenza, a student at that time, shared it. It is a powerful tool and I use it every day and also in the evening when I retire. JZ Knight is also progressing this discipline by sharing her experiences of using it. Women especially need to utilize this tool because women have been enslaved and suppressed by men for eons.

When I wake up in the morning, the first thought I bring up is “I am wonderful!” I repeat this three times. The next thought I have is “I am genius!” Again, I repeat this three times. The third thought is “I am powerful!” I repeat this three times. Then I get up, go to the bathroom and instead of getting involved in busy things. I go and sit quietly and think of what I want to experience during the day. It may be that when I am traveling in my car that I always go to and from my destinations safely and that I am kept out of harm’s way. Then I ask for genius ideas to come into my mind. It may be that I want the sales of my books to increase or receive a request to speak at some event. Perhaps I want to experience joy all day long. It can be whatever one wants to experience during the day. It may be that the body is healed and whole. Or, it may be that today I experience being thirty years younger.

The mind and the brain are not the same. The brain is the sender and the receiver of thoughts and words. Whatever we think and speak becomes mind. Russians scientists have scientifically proven and explained that our brain has the capacity to be programmed by our words, our language and our thoughts. Baerbel’s summarization of Gosar and Bludorf ‘s work states, “The human DNA is a biological Internet and superior in many aspects to the artificial one. The latest Russian scientific research directly or indirectly explains phenomena such as clairvoyance, intuition, spontaneous and remote acts of healing, self-healing, affirmation techniques, and much more.”

We are each Divine and we are each creators. When we change our beliefs, thoughts and the words we use, we change our mind and become enlightened.

A CRITICAL POINT FOR WOMEN

Bettye Johnson ©

History…tells me nothing that does not either vex or weary me.
The quarrels of popes and kings, with wars and pestilence in every page;
The men all so good for nothing, and hardly any women at all –
It is very tiresome. Jane Austen (1775-1817)

We are at a critical point of evolution of not only the Earth but for humans as well. No longer can we women sit back and allow the men to continue as they have for the past eons. War seems to be their solution for greed, retaliation and conquest. The time is now for women to resurrect the feminine principle. As I understand it, the feminine principle is one of life-giving, nurturing, creativity and an ongoing evolutionary process. Mother Nature is considered the feminine principle. Another name for Earth is Gaia, the feminine.

In looking up the word ‘feminine’ in the New World Dictionary of American Language, I was astounded – yet why should I be – at the definition given. “Feminine: 1) female; of women; girls 2) having qualities regarded as characteristic of women and girls, as gentleness, weakness, delicacy, modesty, etc.” It really is a dichotomy in view of the feminine principle is action in Mother Nature. Nature is not weak nor is she delicate or modest. At times she is not gentle. Man may be able to harness Nature, but no one can tame Her. Now who made up the definition of feminine? Why of course, a man.

Is it any wonder that women have been thought to be powerless? The male history writers gave the few women in history that had power manly attributes. Males write history. This is why now women have to re-empower themselves. We look to Nature. A seed is planted in Her soil and nurtured until it sprouts and becomes.

Praying for peace will not work. All through the past, people have prayed for peace and it did not bring lasting peace. One side usually has been declared the victor with the winner writing the history. People from both sides were praying to the God they believed in. It makes one wonder, is one God more powerful than the other? The Dai Lama did not keep the Chinese out of Tibet. The Jews did not keep Hitler from sending many of them to the ovens. Germany did not win. The Civil War in the United States had brother pitted against brother, Christian against Christian with the South losing. Is God dead? No, it is humans acting out their greed, anger, hatred and fear. God is the observer - both loving and allowing.

Peace as this world knows it is tenuous. There has to be a more effective way for this world to evolve beyond war and strife. There must be a shift from a male dominated world to a world of women and men sharing as partners. It must be a partnership of respect with no suppression of either sex. Women must be given freedom from abuse, enslavement and prejudice. Men must be freed from their prison of being in charge, the breadwinner, along with being abusive. It is time for a change in the way we view our world. Women can impact the world by effectively coming together as a cohesive group and demanding change.

We are living in trying times. Today we are reeling from the shock of September 11, 2002. We have war in Iraq. Throughout history (his-story), there have been wars. For the most part women have had little or no say in the affairs of a country, a continent, or the world. With a few exceptions, men have ruled the world and women along with their children are swept up in the maelstrom of war sending their sons and now their daughters. Some never return home. Is this what motherhood is all about? Are we raising our children to be fodder for a war machine?
Women became dis-empowered five thousand years ago and before. We, the females, have become the largest group of people where there is tremendous bias and prejudice against. Women in Nigeria, Ghana, Egypt and most African nations are subjected to genital mutilation. They never know the pleasure of copulation. Women of Muslim countries such as Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and even parts of India are enslaved by a belief system and treated no better than a slave. They have no rights.

It is interesting to note that these Muslim women for the most part wear black tents and the black color is known to enhance heat. Since it is very hot in these countries, these tents are like ovens. However, the men wear white, which is cooling.

In India, women were and are being burned on a pyre when the husband dies, because there is no room in the society for a widow. Even today widows go to a place where they can live together and wait until they die. Even though this is changing, there are still instances of a man or even his mother who will kill the wife by pouring boiling oil on her. This is done because the dowry has run out or the mother-in-law does not like her. The Washington Post ran an article regarding an Indian mother who killed her three small daughters and herself by jumping into a well. She did this to escape harassment from her husband and mother-in-law because the fan and television promised as part of the dowry by the young mother’s family had not been provided. There are many barbaric acts against women.

Women are stoned to death for adultery in Muslim societies. We can say that is terrible however Pat Robertson, of the Christian Right, is reported to have said in regard to our space program and the possibility of extraterrestrials that “…the threat is so serious that people who believe in space aliens should be put to death by stoning – according to “God’s word.” This was purportedly said in 1997. It is unfortunate this mentality is alive today.
Women have had little to say in the churches. There has been no female Pope or Dai Lama. In the Protestant churches some headway has been made like that of a snail. However, the sexual practices of priests and churchmen are being uncovered with their molestation of young children.

Even today we have women who work against the freedom of other women. I am speaking specifically of Phyllis Schlafly. In the 1970’s I worked for the passage of the Equal Rights Amendment for women. This amendment was written in 1921 by suffragist (feminist) Alice Paul. It had been introduced in Congress every session since 1923. It passed Congress in 1972, but failed to be ratified by the necessary thirty-eight states by the deadline of July 1982. Thirty-five states ratified it. It failed by three states.

Schlafly was one of its outspoken critics stating it was not needed. Here was a woman who claimed to be pro-family. Her stand was that a woman’s place was in the home and women should not take jobs from men. The women on welfare and single mothers did not count. Not only was she a paid speaker and a writer of articles and books, it also, meant she was away from home quite a bit. That is the height of hypocrisy. Today she has a column on Internet and her latest is still bashing women. “Hooray for Hootie! At last we have a real man who can resist the histrionics of the pushy feminists. It’s so refreshing to know that somewhere there is an American man willing to stand his ground…”

It was these feminists nee suffragists who in the 1920’s worked hard to see that women had the right to vote and worked to get an amendment to the Constitution for no sex discrimination. Unfortunately many of our elected femaile government senators and representatives fully realize the sacrifice that women such as Alice Paul gave in order for them to have the vote and the privilege of holding offices.

Women have been subjected to just about every abomination that man can envision. In China it became the practice during the Latter Tang Dynasty (923-936 AD) to bind the feet of young girls beginning around age 3 so that their feet never grew. Big feet were considered alien to feudal virtues. It continued even when it was banned by the Manchuria who established the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). In remote mountainous areas, women still had their feet bound even when the New China was founded in 1949. However, the last manufacturer of shoes for these feet closed its doors in the 1990’s.

Even today, in the twenty-first century we really have no freedom to partake in the running of this world. In every country, men are the decision makers. Few women in the past one hundred years have been the head of a government. Indira Gandhi of India was one and Golda Meier another. Queen Elizabeth II is a figurehead. She is not a decision maker for the government. There is a saying that ‘it is a man’s world’. And it has been.

Currently we have a woman running for the presidency and we also have a female as Speaker of the House of Representatives. These are small steps, but we should not expect them to carry the load. After all, they are operating in a man’s environment. We also have women on the picketing lines protesting the contrived war in Iraq and they are to be commended. Now is the time for the women to become vocal as well as visible.

No one can give another self esteem because it must come from the inside. Each woman should realize her worth from within and stop giving her power away. There are many avenues open for a woman to find her own worth and place in the scheme of life. Women can still do this and be a loving mother and wife. I know because I did it. It is up to the individual to take the first step. Ask and it shall be given. Knowledge is the greatest gift one can give to oneself. Knowledge is power. Seek and you will find. Life is a gift. Please treasure your life and you can make a difference.

Bettye Johnson ©

GAINING INDEPENDENCE - Part I

Bettye Johnson ©

How does a woman gain independence? Even in this 21st century, women are collectively still lagging behind in becoming self-sufficient and having the freedom of choice. There are no hard and fast rules because each woman’s life is different and unique. It may not seem unique, however under the crust of mundane daily chores there is a unique being. Just as no one has the same fingerprint, each woman has her own unique capabilities that have been hidden and suppressed.

I have no set ‘how-to’s’ for a woman. It is up to each woman to first have a desire for change. It may not come to her in her youth or even in her twenties or thirties. For some it remains suppressed. Each of us enters into this world with an agenda. Living on Planet Earth is one of the toughest challenges there is not only for women, but for men too. Men are caught up in mind-sets that are hard to throw off just as women are caught up in their programming. Some of the programming is subtle.

I was born at the beginning of the Great Depression in the last century at home because my parents did not have the money for my mother to go to the hospital. Perhaps this is a blessing. My parents were poor and we lived in Dallas, Texas. My mother did not work because ‘a woman’s place was in the home.’ My mother served my father by waiting on him ‘hand and foot.’ Every morning she would bring him the newspaper and a cup of coffee to him while he was still in bed! I grew up under a belief system that woman was put on Earth to serve man.

When I think about what my life could have been if I had never entered the Foreign Service with the U.S. State Department, I shudder to think about it. Leaving Texas at the age of 23 was the smartest move I ever made. This began my fabulous non-academic education.

Shedding the limitations of being a woman in a ‘man’s world’ has been a journey of self-discovery. By this I mean shedding one embedded belief at a time or peeling away a layer of old programming at a time. I have also had experiences with women of backbiting, jealousy and control. I realize now all of this came from their own sense of inadequacy. While working at the embassy in Tokyo, I met and married a career military man. I became a stay-at-home wife and mother. I am grateful for this experience because my husband was away two-thirds of our married life and I was able to bring up our sons the way I wanted and to be able to make decisions on my own.

My husband was an enlisted man and during his first tour of duty in Vietnam, he was given an officer’s commission. This thrust me into a position from being an almost non-entity in the military world into being the wife of an officer. Thus I was able to experience both sides of the coin. After he was promoted to the rank of Captain, we were stationed at a small Naval Air Station outside of Boston, Massachusetts. My husband was a Marine and this joint base trained the naval and marine reserves also known as ‘week-end warriors.’

I joined the Navy-Marine Officers’ Wives Club and was soon elected to fill the position of corresponding secretary. I had been in clubs before and always ended up being the corresponding secretary. I now know why. It gave me the opportunity to create and write newsletters. In this club, the officers held the position for six months. My term was almost up and it was time for new elections.

The evening before the committee met to discuss the slate of new officers to be voted on, the Marine colonel’s wife called and told me that I could not expect to be nominated to run for president of the wives club because my husband was not of a high enough rank. I was astounded because the thought had never occurred to me. In fact, it rankled within me. The Colonel was the highest-ranking Marine officer on the base and the Navy counterpart was a Navy Captain who was in actuality in charge of the entire base. He outranked the Marine Colonel.

The following morning I attended the committee meeting. I was not angry with the Colonel’s wife, because it had never crossed my mind to run for president. I just didn’t like being told I couldn’t. The meeting went well and then the Navy Captain’s wife looked at me and said, “Bettye, we want you to run for President because we think you are the most qualified.” I didn’t dare look at the Colonel’s wife. I swallowed and said that I would consider it and let them know.

Of course I accepted the challenge and the Colonel’s wife attitude changed. During my tenure, I was nominated for Military Wife of the Year for the First Naval District and competing with nation-wide military wives of all branches. It was an honor to even be nominated.

What did I learn? I learned that by not reacting, that I was the winner. This was how I handled a put-down and jealousy from a woman. I have since realized that power is a two-edge sword. Power can be used to control and tyrannize or it can be used to lead. I would urge all women to think about this last statement. Do we lead our children, or do we use tyranny? In organizations and the workforce are we a leader or do we become a tyrant? I observed the Navy Captain’s wife and she was a leader and I honor her for what she imparted to me.

Yes, there was a flush of ‘success’ from this experience, but I was far from realizing my independence as a woman. There was more to come.

A DIALOGUE

Way back in 1983 I began to write letters to God and I received answers. For those of you who read this – if the word God is offensive to you, then substitute whatever word you are comfortable with. We cannot exist without a higher power that operates our bodies. The following is one of the first letters I wrote and the replies.

Dear God:
What am I doing here?
You say to learn…to gain wisdom.
Why do I need wisdom?
Oh, so I can realize who I Am.
Big deal! I am a woman…a wife…a mother.
You say those are only the roles that I have chosen to play?
Ah, You say that I was made in your image so I must be an extension of you.
I…I think I understand. However it seems to be than mankind has made You into our image!
You say that’s correct.
Well, I really don’t think that it is working.
Oh, so you agree.
If I am an extension of You, then why have I been taught that I am only a worm in the dust?
You say that worms and dust are God too. And that it has been mankind that gave us that teaching.
This is all so confusing and hard to understand!
You say I never will understand until I allow my beliefs to change.
Beliefs. Change. Yes, I think I know. Be open-minded. Change the attitude. Allow.
You’re glad I am finally getting the picture!
How can I allow when I hear people are actually praying that God will strike down their enemies?
You’re telling me to still allow?
If I allow, the world will go to pot.
You say so what? What if the world goes to pot? It is all an illusion.
How can you call the world an illusion!? This is reality! People hurt! They feel pain!
Oh. One person doesn’t eat for three days and they call it fasting. They feel cleansed and spiritually high.
Another person hasn’t eaten for three days and they feel deprived, hungry and hurt.
A woman is in labor. She will go into her pain feeling joy because she is bringing forth new life. Another woman will be in labor screaming at her pain. Fearful and hating every moment.
A man is fired from a job and feels worthless.
Another is fired and feels freedom to explore new dimension, new avenues of expression.
What is reality? What is illusion?
You have given me much to contemplate. What?
You say Life is my exercise book and I create every page.
I think I am beginning to understand. Reality is only the perception I give it. What?
Wow! Oh my! You thought I would never get it!
Am I hearing You correctly?
I am free to create nonsense or lies or even tear the pages!
Oh my God! Say that over again!
I MUST LIVE LIFE AS AN EXPRESSION OF YOU! I AM WORTHY!
Thank you.

Be The Change

Having just completing John Perkins book, Shape Shifting, I was left with some mixed impressions. Predominate in this book are his interactions with shamans of tribes in the Amazon in Ecuador. I realize now that he crystallized in my thinking of why these indigenous tribes are being taken over by materialism and the loss of the rainforests.

There are two tribes Perkins visited and these tribes were enemies and have been known to be headhunters. It sounds primitive, yet these tribal people are in tune with nature and have a great reverence for her. In their shape shifting, they can become anything they focus on with intent. It sounds pretty wonderful. However, from my impression it is primarily the men who shape shift and who are the tribal elders. Where are the women? They are in the ‘kitchen’ preparing food and drink for the visitors and the men.

One of the tribal chiefs made a profound statement. The demise of the tribal way of life and the rainforests didn’t happen until after the white man’s religions and medical treatments were introduced. Today religion and the pharmaceutical companies contribute the most to the de-evolution of mankind. It is not my intent to say Perkins’ book isn’t worth reading. I highly recommend it because it gives a great description of shape shifting and that with intent and focus it can be accomplished by anyone.

The tribes in the Amazon are not evolving because even though they have a great understanding of nature, their lives are status quo. They also have enemies and kill them. They are not contributing to healthy change.

There have been many books giving reverence to Tibet, the lamas and the Dalai Lama. What is not noticeable in these attitudes of reverence is that these men do not work for their food. It is the villagers who feed them and predominately these villagers are women. Has there ever been a female Dalai Lama? If a woman becomes a Buddhist, she enters a female monastery and that is the same as the Catholic religion.

There was one interesting piece of information in Perkins’ book where he tells of the evangelist Billy Graham. Graham was heard to say that he would never ride in a car with a woman who wasn’t his wife. Not even his secretary. The implication was that he would be tempted to have a sexual attraction with them. It goes all the way back to Eve tempting Adam in the Garden of Eden - meaning women were the seducers.

I have been asked a number of times, how can we heal the Earth? We can’t until the Earth feminine and the physical feminine (woman) are honored and treated with respect and with equality. In the United States there are women in high government positions, however they strive to emulate the man and therefore demean themselves and women. These women are not shining examples. The shining examples are the ones we rarely hear about. In the present U.S. government, there are no high ranking powerful women who speak out against the war, take a stand for being pro-environment or represent us in Congress except perhaps for Barbara Boxer and Nancy Pelosi. What I am realizing is that for the Earth and the status to evolve into equality, there must be a major shift in awareness.

In the Western world and this goes for the East also, outwardly there appears to be evolution with the advance of technology. However this evolution is in reality de-evolution because it is not contributing to the Earth or women.

Women, by their nature are natural nurturers and now is the time for women to nurture themselves. This does not mean that women should become selfish and ignore or leave their families. I suggest that women stop putting their dreams on a shelf and after awhile the dreams become covered with the dust of time. I suggest that women be the change they want to see. If shamans have a mastery of shape shifting through focus and intent, then we women can develop our focus and intent to fulfill our dreams and we can still have a husband and children or a career.

I can speak from experience because I have had a number of dreams that I put on a shelf and I also allowed someone to almost quench the fire I had within. I have now taken my major dream off of the shelf and dusted it off. I love to write and I have two published books with another soon to be released. I also have a 13 year old granddaughter living with me that I am care-giving together with my single parent son. It really comes down to loving who we are and to know that each of us have value and choices. Happiness is only a choice away.

If we take time for our self and this also includes men, we can be inspirations to our children, our mate and our employer/employees. We cannot live someone else's dream. Sacrifice is a demeaning term. Women were sacrificed during the medieval times by being burned at the stake for being intuitive and healers. I have observed too many women caught up in trivial pursuits such as watching soap operas, gossiping, living in the past by holding on to anger, resentment and never taking responsibility for their lives. This is what I call 'self-sacrifice.'

I cannot change the world. I can only change myself and be the change I want. It is all a choice.

THE RESURRECTION OF THE DIVINE FEMININE

For eons the Divine Feminine has been nailed to a cross of prejudice, bias, suppression, mutilation, and murder. Now is the time of the resurrection of the Divine Feminine. It is the age of her resurrection in every woman on this planet. Long has she lain dormant, waiting for the moment to be rebirthed. There have been golden threads – both female and male, who have kept her alive in the form of the goddess in mythology

What were the beginnings of the Divine Feminine? From whence did she come? To understand this, one must realize that we live on the Plane of Polarity or Opposites. This is the nature of this planet and there has always been both female and male. One could not exist without the other just as there would be no electricity without the female and male. We only have to look at a garden hose and see that the female component must be hooked up to the male faucet in order to bring forth water. Each human has both female and male and the spirit inhabiting the human form has chosen to express outwardly as female or male.

We have all wondered or asked at sometime or other why women are so prejudiced against. It isn’t only the culture of the United States; historically and presently it is in almost every culture. Women are the most prejudiced against species – even more so than dark-skin people. If one were to pull a thread, in all likelihood it would go back to a brother hating his sister in one of the original pantheons of gods. Yes, there have been instances where women were a matriarchal society and there are a few isolated societies today such as the Nagovisi of Bougainvillea in the South Pacific, perhaps one in India and again in Peru.

History is a record of the winners or those in power and written by men. The deeds and greatness of women has almost been obliterated from history. We get snippets of their greatness here and there. Few people know of the greatness of Cleopatra. Historically she has been portrayed as a sexual siren that seduced Mark Anthony. The Egyptian queen was a brilliant mathematician, chemist and philosopher. She wrote science books and Arabic texts suggest she met weekly with scientific experts. Eleanor of Aquitaine was a powerful queen and history has attempted to play down her role in the second Crusade when she accompanied her husband with her female knights that she had trained. These knights were women and there were approximately 300 of them. History will say that they did not fight. Perhaps they did and it just wasn’t recorded.

These were two women who used their brains and their greatness still lives. There have been numerous other great women, however history has given them bad press coverage. Almost all female rulers have bad reputations. Lucretia Borgia has been labeled a poisoner and Pope Gregory I or Pope Gregory the Great gave Mary Magdalene the label of prostitute. The Catholic Church made him a saint and for centuries women have been made to feel guilty and tainted by her label. We have had women imprisoned, sold into slavery, burned at the stake as Joan of Arc was and labeled witches. Even today in some areas of India, husbands burn women if the dowry runs out or if the husband dies, the living wife is burned alive. In parts of Africa we have young girls mutilated by having their clitoris removed so she cannot experience sexual orgasm.

These acts are not evolutionary and this is the age of the Resurrection of the Divine Feminine in its emergence from ignorance to brilliance. No longer should a woman be a sex object or kept barefoot, pregnant and in the home. The recent success of The DaVinci Code has triggered an enormous interest throughout the world about Mary Magdalene. So-called scholars have written books attempting to prove that author Dan Brown was in error. The Catholic Church has even entered into the fray. It made me wonder why and since I have done in-depth research for my book Secrets of the Magdalene Scrolls, I know why.

Dan Brown’s book went further than Holy Blood, Holy Grail and touched the nerve of the Catholic Church and theologians because they have been promoting a lie and if uncovered, it would destroy their credibility.

Mary Magdalene was not a disciple of Jesus. She was his wife, his trusted friend and a teacher in her own right. She was his equal. She was the mother of their two children Sarah and James. Sarah was born in Egypt after the crucifixion and from there Mary Magdalene took her children to southern France.

The Divine Feminine is being resurrected through Mary Magdalene and she is the icon for the women of today. She was intelligent and she carried the message to Europe. Through her ministry she continued the teachings that she and Jesus attempted to impart in Palestine. Both were going through forms of initiation into a higher degree of gnosis. What is gnosis? It means to know.

Women have the innate ability to know or have intuition. It is a trait that men in power have attempted to stamp out for eons and because a god hated his sister, women were told they were soul-less and labeled with vile names. Mary Magdalene carried this stigma for hundreds of years and yet her greatness has been kept alive.

The Church perpetuated the lie about her because she was the one who carried the message to the world. It was not Peter. If one were to have a first pope, it would be Mary Magdalene. She went to France and began establishing centers for learning. The name church was not used at that time. Peter hated women and worked against her and possibly Paul. The Church was established by men who hated women although some male theologians would disagree. Virtually all records regarding Mary Magdalene and her ministry have been obliterated and those of her children. She represents the Divine Feminine.

Why has a thread of knowledge been kept alive? My theory begins with the First Crusade when the Knights Templar had their beginnings. A small group of knights who went to Palestine discovered something. There were nine in number and it is said they remained for nine years and excavated what was supposedly King Solomon’s Temple. There have been numerous books written speculating they found gold, treasures, and riches. My theory is that they discovered knowledge. I would say that these nine knights became members of an ancient school of wisdom and perhaps were taught esoteric secrets of the magi. In all likelihood they learned the truth about Mary Magdalene and Jesus. Perhaps these riches were in the form of scrolls. Why do I say this? After nine years, they formed a group that evolved into the Knights Templar and used this group as a cover outwardly of protecting the roads for the pilgrims to come to Jerusalem. It would be intelligent to use a cover for their beliefs and activities because they would have been persecuted and perhaps put to death.

The Knights Templar brought back to France the knowledge of sacred geometry and they were responsible for the architecture of the great Gothic cathedrals. The Cathedral at Chartres is filled with symbology that only one who has studied ancient symbols would know, and I have studied ancient symbols. Another aspect is that the Knights Templar promoted Mary Magdalene and it would be appropriate to say they were responsible for the proliferation of the statues of the Black Madonna not only in France but also in Italy, Spain and other countries.

There are those who will say the worship of the Black Madonnas belongs to the cult of Isis. From my viewpoint, the origin of the Black Madonna go all the way back to Ninhursag – Mammy, the creator of the human form. It’s like connecting dots where there were large gaps in understanding. Mary Magdalene was the torchbearer and she was black and Ethiopian. The Knights knew this and when you go to the churches in the Languedoc region of France, you will usually find the church is dedicated to Mary Magdalene and it has a Black Madonna.

If Mary Magdalene were alive today, I have a sense that her message to women would be

Question all assumptions, values and definitions

Become aware of one’s thoughts and the words spoken.

Question every known system of thought that places limitations on the female.

Trust in one’s own knowingness even when criticized.

Begin developing one’s own intellectual courage and it may mean standing alone.

Having the courage to stretch one’s own concepts.

Having the courage to risk failure.

Moving away from the need for approval.

Giving up stereotypes of a woman’s role.

An open mind unlocks doors to new adventures and greater knowledge. A lack of knowledge keeps a woman subordinate. An open mind also means acknowledging the greatness of some men. Men are not all bad. Most of them have been programmed to think that the female is the weaker sex. It is time for us to gently lead them away from that programming. I have been fortunate in having three sons and in retrospect I did a great job in virtually raising them alone. They are beautiful men and treat women with respect.

What else would Mary Magdalene tell the females of today? I offer something I learned as a student at the Ramtha School of Enlightenment, an academy of mind and Gnostic teachings. The words we think and say are what create our lives. Our brains are like computers: garbage in, garbage out – the old GIGO. From Ramtha I learned that the word always is a key word to use and if we want to change our mind about an attitude, concept, need for approval or whatever, we create a new thought beginning with I have always…I have always been intelligent.

I have always been competent.

I have always been brilliant.

I have always been able to speak well.

I have always been loved.

I have always loved myself.

I have always had value.

I have always welcomed new ideas and new thoughts.

I have always been forgiven.

I have always been free of guilt.

I have always had an open mind.

I recommend saying your words until they become a mantra and begin each day with this until the brain accepts it and you no longer have feelings of doubt or guilt. This is an exercise for the males in your family also if they are willing to take the plunge.

The Roman Goddess Minerva and the Greek Goddess Athena have been given the attribute of wisdom. Each is depicted wearing a helmet and has been also been given the title of being a warrior. She is a great representation of the Divine Feminine and her helmet represents the skull that houses the brain. There is a beautiful reproduction of a painting by artist Mihran K. Serailian in Manly P. Hall’s book The Secret Teachings of the Ages. One can go on-line to the Philosophical Research Foundation’s site and click on Books. From there search the paintings until you come to The Opening of the Third Eye. It is worth it and this is my reminder of the power in women that has been kept from them through the ages.

Our brain is the greatest computer every created and we use so little of it. It is written that Jesus said, In my Father’s House are many mansions. During the time of Jesus, he didn’t have the words to say in my brain are many neuronets and each one is a new place I can live from. He was teaching illiterate people who could not read or write and he had to use words they could understand. Mary Magdalene was his partner and wife. She also knew this.

Today the Divine Feminine has been resurrected with Mary Magdalene being the icon and torchbearer. Now is the time for each woman to develop this within and to pass it on to her daughters and/or friends. We do not have to act a certain way or be a certain way. All we have to do is give up the past programming and be ourselves. It is that simple. Simple, yes – but not easy. The first step is to be willing to give up old habits of thinking. It takes patience and determination to change. It takes repetition over and over and over. It is seeking knowledge and applying it to our lives. It is a journey into the unknown where great riches await each of us, and great experiences with gifts that are ours to enjoy. It is a journey of becoming the Divine Feminine. You can become whatever you want to be.

copyright: Bettye Johnson