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We think the world needs fresh
new approaches to questions of the origins of culture, why humans
differ from animals, why we are the marvelous, amazing, terrible,
peculiar, cruel, kind, dangerous, and occasionally constructive
beings that we are. So in this Journal we introduce Metaformic
Theory because it is a new approach, one of several in the arena
of menstruation and culture, but the one calling for the broadest
changes in the way we think of human origins and processes through
which we, and our ancestors, have attained the culture that surrounds
us.
We want to engage in a dialogue with and about theorists
of consciousness.
In this first issue we feature six articles related to
Metaformic Theory. Judy Grahn’s “The
Emergence of Metaformic Consciousness” gives an academic
overview of some of the ideas encompassed in the theory, while
Luisah Teish offers a personal
account of how she searched for positive menstrual stories
in African traditions, with roots in New Orleans; she outlines
a coming of age ritual for girls. Deborah Grenn’s thealogical
perspective is engaged in “Connecting
with Deity Through a Feminist Metaformic Thealogy”.
Mary Beth Moser traveled to Italy and Sicily to make her connections
between miracles, Black Madonnas, and menstruation in “Blood
Relics”; while biologist Tina Proctor has taken on the
subject of menstrual
synchrony, and our fellow primates, the endangered orangutans.
Judy Grahn’s impassioned “Are
Wars Metaformic?” combines an entreaty for peaceful
rites to replace warfare with the perception of a pattern of major
national bloodshed every 28 years.
And, in the section called “Tidbits”
we begin a series of anecdotal contributions on the subject of
menstruation and culture. We accept articles on menstruation and
culture that range from the scholarly to the personal, from Literature
to Orature, from field studies, ethnographies, theologies and
philosophies to the anecdotes we remember from our own family
lineage.
Judy Grahn’s Metaformic Theory, and probably all
theories of menstruation and culture rely on myths and folk stories,
and on religious practices as well as on scientific reasoning
and studies of artifacts, hormones or primate behaviors. Above
all, those of us raised in families who in the distant past lost
their memories of menstrual origins of culture, must rely on the
sustained knowledge and memories of indigenous peoples—for
which we are grateful. Judy Grahn’s book Blood, Bread,
and Roses: How Menstruation Created the World is now online
and soon will be downloadable, at no cost.
So we are multiple-genre, and multi-disciplinary in our
approach to what we think is one of the most important subjects
to surface in modern times: the reclamation of women’s rites
as essential to our humanity, and of men’s rites as parallel
to them.
Metaformic Theory is important because:
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Metaformic
Theory returns women to a crucial place in cultural origin
stories, in our histories, in our rituals, in our religions,
and in the ordinary and extraordinary everyday things that
billions of women do all over the planet—so women can
again identify themselves as being part of culture creation
in major, leading, and centralizing ways. |
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Men are not displaced
from a crucial role in cultural origin stories by this theory,
nor are they demonized. The cultural contributions of men,
as with women, are put into the perspective of ritual, and
so both sexes have a better chance of understanding each
other.
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Evolution is postulated
as a different shape than the vertical line of “progress”
that so inevitably de-humanizes various groups while privileging
others. Grahn’s theory holds that evolution is constantly
braiding; beginning in the shape of horizontal strands consisting
of the “parallel” rituals of each gender, which
are categorically different from the rituals of the other
gender. That is to say, women and men bleed differently,
much of the time. As the strands of ritual elaborate into
cultural forms, the sexes lose track of what each other
is doing. One begins, historically, to become more elaborate
than the other, with a consequent imbalance that affects
everything. As part of this dialectical tension, “crossover
groups” of various kinds, and in particular transgendered
peoples, help to effect the bringing together of the ritual
strands, into what can be imaged as a “braided”
form, that allows a more balanced flow of evolution.
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Menstrual theories
teach that synchrony is a primary basis for evolution, women’s
solidarity and intelligence, rather than our isolation,
weakness or sinfulness, are emphasized. Women can help each
other lose the shame and confusion of not knowing where
we fit in as culture movers and shakers, and become engaged,
active participants. This encourages and enables women to,
for example, intelligently struggle to gain a full measure
of control within institutions that affect them related
to health and our bodies, motherhood, sexuality, the economy,
marriage, education and children’s welfare, religion,
government, science, the military, the welfare of the planet,
and so on. |
The editors wish to thank Laura K. Brown for being with
us through two years of meetings, and Vanessa
Tiegs for her painting and her stunning gallery of menstrual
paintings.
Special thanks to Dianne E. Jenett and Kris Brandenburger for
editorial assistance.
In future, the Journal will include art galleries and an
interactive blog, as well as many more articles. We hope readers
will engage with our authors, that students engage teachers with
questions, and themselves contribute pertinent articles, metaformic
tidbits and blood stories.
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