Tlazo*Teotl : a classic case of character defamation

Woman,
as the magical door from the other world,
through which lives enter into this,
stands naturally in counterpoise
to the door of death,
through which they leave. 

Joseph Campbell, The Masks of God

 Tlazoteotl giving birth to Ceneteotl, the Divine gift of Maize (corn)  

Huasteca / Azteca / Toltec

Tlazoteotl intrigues me. I like her so much that I have given her the nickname 'Tlazo'. As snapshots from the continuum of the female psyche, mythological goddesses always give us clues about some essential characteristic of the collective feminine. Tlazo addresses one of our least favorites: the interminable duty of cleaning. 

If you don't think that cleaning is a inherent pre-occupation (meaning, it comes before all other occupations) of women, consider this advert for an event in London in 2002: 

Cleanliness, Dirt and Women's Roles

A one-day multi-disciplinary symposium for researchers focusing on the association of women with the concepts of cleanliness and dirt and their role in keeping bodies, clothes, homes, society and the urban environment clean from c1800 to the present day.

 Thursday 7th November 2002, 9.30 am - 5 pm
At The Women's Library, Old Castle Street, London E1 7NT
£20 including tea and coffee
       

Multi-disciplinary, you say? Do you mean what we already do at home: sweeping the floor and doing laundry while cooking dinner and giving baby a bath at the same time - after we get home from "work"?

 

We now learn that we are also held responsible for the cleanliness of "society and the urban environment". Gosh, we've got to get a plan to windex the street lamps in our spare time. We can figure it out at the Symposium - at least there, we're given tea.

Tlazo got a bad rap (a bad rep, you might say) from the Spaniards, who referred to her as The Goddess of Filth. This is not just inaccurate, it is also insulting, as she should more rightly be thought of as the Goddess of Cleanliness. She is often pictured carrying her escobas (brooms).

That thingy in her left hand must be the broom -  before the invention of broom-STICKS, apparently. Possibly the other item is a Swiffer Duster, an essential tool while giving birth. Man may work from sun to sun, but Tlazo works even with a baby still hanging from the umbilical cord. Dust never sleeps, you know. 

  

Trust the Euros to get it backwards, as they did with most everything in the so-called New World (it was only 'new' to them). So, where is Huasteca, exactly? That's actually new to me.

https://unearthingarchaeoblog.wordpress.com/tag/mother-goddess

Somehow, the Borgia Codex, where the stories of Tlazo, and many others, are recorded, is now in the archives of the Vatican. The Codex has been kept intact, and that's the best that can be said for its inequitable change in ownership. 

The Vatican acquired it from the estate of Cardinal Stefano Borgia, after whom it is named. Early on, Stefano developed an avid interest in history and became a collector of all manner of antiquities; his classical education was sponsored by his uncle Alessandro, the Archbishop of Fermo. But how did he get the Codex? 

Turns out he purchased it from one Alexander Von Humboldt, a Prussian geographer, naturalist, and explorer, who spent considerable time traveling in Latin America. Von Humboldt turns out to be somewhat brilliant, being one of the first to propose that South America and Africa were once part of the same land mass. 

Von Humboldt also resurrected the ancient Greek word KOSMOS as the title for his account of the journey, published in multiple volumes over a 21-year period.  In it, he sought the "unifying principles of scientific knowledge and culture", even suggesting a holistic perception of the universe as "one interactive entity". Now that's progressive (which is what we say when a European stumbles on to a concept that indigenous people everywhere have always known. Golly, we catch on quick, several thousand years later). 

Interestingly, Kosmos actually means "orderly arrangement" - even extending to the concept of  'decoration' -  from the Greek Kosmeo: to put in proper order. One of the earliest of human decorations was the practice of applying red ochre to the bodies of women, often done at the conclusion of the menstrual period to indicate that the woman was no longer 'dangerous' (i.e., bleeding). 

So powerfully did this blood strike terror into the hearts of men that any number of unspeakable consequences might befall them by coming into proximity with it. In one tradition, a woman who stays in the village during her period (instead of retreating to the Moon Lodge) could be blamed for anything bad that happened. Another taboo prohibits a menstrual woman from touching a corpse. Apparently we are even dangerous to people who are already dead.

So the red signal - the Kosmetikos - was very helpful. It kept the world in order, by signifying when a woman was 'safe', and a suitor could approach her without risk for paralysis or developing a hunchback. It worked so well that we still use it today - but now, we call it lipstick. Untold dollars are spent on 'Kosmetikos'!

What I know is this: there is no place on earth, where people are living, that you can go without finding some woman cleaning it up. We are all Goddesses of Filth, by this definition. So, we're putting in for a different job title, please - the Queen of Clean, the Empress of MessLessNess, or something catchy like that. Otherwise, you Spaniards can go windex your own street lamps, see? 

Happy New Moons,

Ms. Kiva's Mom

• 
  

The Invitation

A woman draws back the curtain to her chamber, 

inviting you in to 2016 ~

                                           Happy New Moons to all!

Synchronize Your Cycle at the Mercury Cafe!

You'll simply be amazed at how easy it is to regulate your cycle with the elegant simplicity of synchrony. We can finally demonstrate the scientific evidence that confirms the validity of the practice of our ancestral Grandmothers. 

And is it ever beautiful.

Mercury Cafe, 2:00 pm on Sunday, January 17th.  Pre-register for the event and qualify for $1 off the purchase of a MoonTimer 2016 Lunar Calendar for Women and Girls. Great for inter-generational bonding  - bring your daughter AND your mom! 
 

Book dinner reservations directly with the Mercury, at (303) 294-9258. The Mercury Cafe, Denver's most environmentally conscious restaurant, offers a wide spectrum of healthy delicious food. 

Visit our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/moontimer

MoonTimer Lunar Calendar 2016

2016 Calendar $20.00 USD Synchronize Your Cycle, January 17th, Mercury Cafe $10.00 USD Workshop & Calendar (pick up at the event) $19.00 USD

MoonTimer 2016 Lunar Calendar for Women and Girls - now available!

Right on time for holiday gifting, here is the perfect choice for the women in your world, of any age. Even those who are not interested in the MoonTiming system of our ancestral grandmothers, explained on the back cover, will enjoy these beautiful 'snapshots' from the inner landscape of the sacred feminine, which resides in all of us, male or female. Men who give this will be regarded as profoundly sensitive to the female experience! You KNOW that's going to work for you - see how I help you, fellas?!

To avoid shipping charges, you can buy direct from me at the upcoming workshop on December 16th, 6:30 pm, at the Mercury Cafe. You do not have to attend the workshop to purchase a calendar. Cash or personal check gratefully accepted - no credit cards please. THOSE WHO PRE-REGISTER for the workshop will receive $1 off on calendar purchases (discount is limited to 3 calendars). Book any dinner reservations directly with the Mercury Cafe. Those interested in reselling can contact me at rubiconmoon@gmail.com, or leave a voicemail at 303.351.3962. Thank you, my friends, and blessed Holy Days to you!

MoonTimer Lunar Calendar 2016

2016 Calendar $20.00 USD Synchronize Your Cycle, December 16th, Mercury Cafe $10.00 USD Workshop & Calendar (pick up at the event) $19.00 USD

Toxic Shock is still with us

I'm excited. In November, I'll be giving two workshops to girls in a Leadership program designed and facilitated by Ceiba, USA / Grandmother's House of Herbs and Cures Education Center. In collaboration with another project called the Monthly Moon Coalition, the young ladies of high school age will be assembling and then distributing 'Moon Packs' - a month's worth of feminine hygiene supplies - to homeless women here in Denver. 

Prior to that, we're giving them sessions on Defending Bodily Integrity (physical self-defense, and emotional self-defense: reporting sexual assault or abuse), Body Branding (the significance of tattooing, piercing, etc), Communication Skills for Healthy Relationships, and more. Sessions are weekly, starting this Wednesday, November 4, from 6:00 - 7:30. Contact Mavis Salazar, 720.231.4711, to enroll your daughter. The program concludes on December 13th with the distribution of the Moon Packs. 

I will be sharing The Astounding History of Feminine Hygiene, in which we observe the crazy contraptions they have designed over the years for our 'convenience' -- some of which have killed a few of us. 

I actually had considered that there might no longer be a need to discuss tampon safety. It has been almost ten years since I used to teach this to teens and tweens at Girls Incorporated of Metro Denver (where my curriculum was nominated for a national award in sexuality health education), and with all the new and innovative hygiene supplies on the market now - my daughter uses the Diva cup, and loves it - I presumed that toxic shock was a thing of the past. But JUST TO MAKE SURE, I did a Google search. 

I was shocked and saddened to see that only just this past March, 13-year old Jemma-Louise Roberts acquired toxic shock from using tampons. Doctors misdiagnosed her condition as a simple flu -- and a week later, she died. 

The doctors never asked her: Do you menstruate? Do you use tampons? Physicians need to be retrained to ask these questions. This is the recommendation of Dr. Philip Tierno, the man whose research forced the Rely tampon off the market. Symptoms reported by women included rashes, vomiting, diarrhea, fevers. 38 women died from TSS, of the 813 cases reported to the CDC in 1980 alone. 

Teens and young women especially need to be asked these questions. Dr. Tierno says that only half of teenage girls under the age of 16 have the antibodies to fight off TSS, the common staph bacteria that resides naturally in many people (estimates for its prevalence range from between 20% to 33% of the population). As women age, they may develop more antibodies, but even women in their forties have died from tampon-induced TSS toxicity. 

Better yet, girls could be educated in advance on the dangers of tampon use. Why is this not part of standard health information? The Rely tampon was popular because women wanted a one-tampon solution to their periods - so they left these 'Super Absorbent' tampons in for days. 

Knowing the facts changes behavior. The recommendation is that women should change tampons every 3 hours, and NEVER leave one in overnight, which gives the bacteria time to multiply. Use a pad at night!  

But alas, even changing OUR behavior isn't enough. The other dangerous factor is the use of synthetic materials in tampons, creating a more favorable environment for the bacteria. The Rely tampon had polyester among its components; rayon and plastic are  still in use in tampon manufacture, especially within the big three: Playtex, Tampax, and Kotex. In fact, Kotex is currently being sued by 26-year old Lauren Wassen, a former model who lost her leg in 2012 using their 'Natural Balance' tampons (ironic, no?). And she even changed them regularly, per the recommendations. Now THAT IS scary.

There has never been a case of Toxic Shock resulting from an all-cotton tampon. Dr. Tierno continues to pressure the manufacturers to convert their synthetic products to cotton - OR, he suggests, add a skull and crossbones to their labeling.  Of course, unbleached cotton would be best, as we don't really need DIOXIN from the bleaching process coming into contact with what Chris Bobel, president-elect of the Society for Menstrual Cycle Research, describes as "the most absorbent part of our bodies". 

A woman may use as many as 16,800 tampons during her menstrual career - isn't it time to make them safe?

Since 1997, Representative Carolyn Maloney has repeatedly tried to get support for legislation requiring safer tampons; her most recent effort, introduced in April 2015, is called the Robin Danielson Feminine Hygiene Product Safety Act, after a woman who died nearly 20 years ago at the age of 44, from tampon use. The bill would require disclosure of contaminants like dioxin, synthetic fibers, and other chemical additives like chlorine, colorants and fragrances. A press release from Maloney's office says, “Given the present lack of research there is no way of knowing if diseases such as cervical cancer, endometriosis, infertility, and ovarian cancer may be linked to a woman's use of feminine hygiene products.” 

So far, the only studies that have been done are by the tampon companies themselves -- another case of the fox guarding the hen house. Proctor and Gamble resisted all responsibility for the illnesses and deaths of the women who used their product, sending reassuring messages out in response to letters and to the media about the safety of the Rely tampon. It may come as no surprise to you, dear reader, that some of materials published by Dr. Tierno and his colleague Bruce Hanna, following their investigation, have now 'disappeared'. But their original research still stands, and is published here (paste into your browser) : 

http://www.jstor.org/stable/4454795?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents 

Warn your daughters - and your sisters, and your friends about the dangers of tampons. Try the Diva cup instead, or other alternatives, like re-usable pads. While we wait for the law of the land to protect us (don't hold your breath, hey?), we can vote with our dollars, and throw our support behind Carolyn Maloney. 

Meanwhile, I wonder if we will be stopped by the police for 'giving' to the homeless. If so, I will have to ask them how forcing homeless women to bleed in public, with no protection, is benefiting the public health.

Go with the flow,

Mrs. Kiva's Mom

October 2015

Hello friends -

The October 2015 image is inspired by the work of a Hopi potter named Rainy Naha.

She follows in the tradition of the legendary Nampeyo, who, in the late 1800's, single-handedly resurrected an ancient style of Hopi pottery when she discovered patterns in potsherds excavated at a prehistoric ruin on First Mesa. Nampeyo revived the lost techniques of pottery firing, using sheep bones to make the fire hotter and the pots whiter, and incorporated the designs of her ancestors, using a palette that became known as Hano Polychrome, a distinct combination of beautifully muted earth tones.

Nampeyo achieved international recognition for her work and became one of the most widely photographed ceramic artists in the Southwest, with pictures of her taken by Edward S. Curtis, Adam Clark Vroman, William Henry Jackson, and the pioneering Kate Cory - an courageous artist herself, who lived among the Hopi from 1905 until 1912. Cory writes that Nampeyo also "smoothed the fired pots with a plant with a red blossom" - another technique of ancient Tewa origin.

At left is a beautiful portrait of Nampeyo from Edward S. Curtis, taken in 1900, owned by the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts.

Also striking is the image at right, taken in 1875 by William Henry Jackon. Here we see the young Nampeyo wearing the characteristic Hopi hairstyle indicating her status as a marriageable woman, having competed her moon initiation. What a rare find this is! I was delighted to excavate it!

There is plenty about Nampeyo on the Web, and she is well worth the investigation.

About Rainy
The work of modern-day potter Rainy Naha uses a similar palette, and her ceramics are absolutely magnificent. Like Nampeyo, her daughters are also potters with extraordinary skill, and sign their pottery with the feather glyph of their grandmother, Rainy's mother, known as Feather Woman.

 Here is Rainy's 'Tumbling Parrots' Jar.

The precision and the impeccable balance of her color and design is simply extraordinary, not to mention the soul-full love for her subject that radiates from the piece. 

And how about this one? Her SOLSTICE jar, from 2002.
Breath-taking! 

Do an image search for Rainy and be astounded by the grace and beauty in her work. She shows us a sacred perspective.

Bucket List Item: own a pot by Rainy Naha, and give her a huge hug of gratitude for the blessings she gives to humanity through her art.

Back to the Future

There have not been any recent posts to this blog because I've been heavily invested in creating the new calendar files for 2016.

Last year, I followed the advice of a tech consultant, who recommended that I make smaller files to accommodate display on mobile devices. That is why the Lunar Calendars for 2015 consist only of the 'month grid', without any of the accompanying panels that I refer to as 'sidecars'. Basically, I cut the files in half.

But I really missed the sidecars. The original sidecar for October 2015 (before I took the consultant's advice and pared down the images) is shown above.

The tech consultant disappeared from the project when his father became ill. Naturally, I completely respected his priorities since I myself had cancelled most of my typical activities during the period when my own mother was ill.

But as I began work on the 2016 files, I felt compelled to bring the sidecars back, and also to incorporate the logo into the design of the calendars. So this has been a real birthing, a labor that has taken on the dimension of a divine obsession, and has required my complete attention for the last few months.

I am very excited to present these new images to you, which I will do in the very near future, as I am attempting to not only get them in print, but also make them widely available in e-book formats. For every month's calendar, I will also provide a commentary here on the blog,

Thank you all for your continued interest in the MoonTimer Calendars. And by the way, I am available to present workshops to your group on how to synchronize your cycle. I love to talk with women about the elegant system of our ancestral grandmothers, who invented the world's simplest method for regulating the cycle. 

The science that validates MoonTiming - which has been denigrated as superstition - only became available in the last century. That's how long it has taken science to catch up with what the grandmothers knew 25,000 years ago, when they first began charting the moon's path through the sky and pegged the menstrual cycle to it. This was done out of necessity, in order to insure the safety and survival of mothers and children, by being able to accurately forecast the birth of a baby. 

Please contact me at rubiconmoon@gmail if you are interested in learning Everything That No One Ever Told You about the menstrual cycle -- a revelatory experience! 

Go with the Flow, 

Kathryn

August 1, 2015 - Talk to the Hand

If you know the way, light it for others. 
                                                                              -- anonymous

Durga. She's one of the goddesses who is not to be trifled with. Single-handedly, she defeated the Demon Army that even the gods themselves could not overcome.

And who is the Demon Army? It is made up of soldiers from our own lower selves - the un-redeemed, unresolved, and unconscious aspects of ourselves that sabotage us, stand in our way, and show up in the most awkward and ungraceful moments of our lives. They are like skeletons that spring forth from the ground, armed with shame, blame, anger, despair, and resentment.

These un-integrated aspects are our most unloved parts. We don't want to own them, so we attribute their existence to other people, such as our parents (who will undoubtedly go wrong here and there), teachers who do not recognize our talents, bosses who demoralize us with criticism instead of support, friends who mistake our intentions, relationships gone south, even to institutions like government, school, church. And truly, we do receive woundings from many quarters.

These wounds impact our self-worth, which can become so damaged that we are vulnerable to predators. We then select relationships where we are under-valued, used, and even abused, and are unable to defend ourselves. Our own thoughts can be every bit as dangerous as external predators.

Durga might be a good archetype to befriend. Armed with great resourcefulness and abundant weaponry, she defends against our own ignorance of the divine spark at the source of our being. She says, STOP beating yourself up, and start fighting against the thoughts of unworthiness, the thoughts that say no, the self-doubt and self-criticism, the barriers to manifesting the light that has a home within you.

Although we have a divine origin and a divine destination, mistakes and wrong turns are taken by us all in our path through this messy world. Sobonfu Some, a teacher of the Dagara wisdom traditions of West Africa, says that she does not beat herself up because the world itself does enough of that!

When we cultivate gentleness, honesty, and acceptance in the conversation with our skeleton soldiers, we can benefit from the lessons in our experiences. Having fought our way through the brambles, finally to an embrace of all we have endured, we essentially draw a map of the landscape through which we have come, and can offer it  to other travelers. Our suffering then is transformed into a healing salve for the pain in others. A sweet and fragrant flower has grown where there was once muck and mud. If you have ever planted a garden, you know that first, the weeds must be cleared. It is okay to pull them out by the roots. Whatever stands in the way of our best purposes can be let go.
At last, we reach a place where those who criticize us, those who demoralize us, those who attempt to curtail our freedom or who denigrate what we cherish - the enemies from within or without - will be met with Durga: Talk to the Hand. Either make a positive contribution to what I'm working towards, or get out of my way.

When Durga defeated the Demon Army, the gods gifted her with treasures, saying: "Bless us with all that is good for us." 
    
This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine.


Shine it on!
Ms. Kiva's Mom