The Fall of the Patriarch

We are living at the precipice of one dominant worldview making way for a new era to emerge. The systems we have lived by of hierarchy and oppression are spinning out of control. Racism, colonization, dominance of the earth, and patriarchy have caused tremendous harm to disempowered people, our relationships with one another, and our relationship with the earth. These oppressive ways of being are falling apart and they need to be.

In my work as a therapist, when I am meeting with folks and hearing their intimate accounts of the impacts of oppression, the healing work I witness them do is part of healing wider circles of impact. There are a number of cis gender women I work with who were raised as girls to sacrifice themselves emotionally, to caretake others, particularly men. These women now as adults are experiencing the tremendous cost of that forced emotional labour and are finding their personal power and choice in this. This has been an era of white men socialized into positions of power and privilege, who were afforded gendered and racialized roles where they did not have to learn empathy or emotional regulation skills, while women, queer, and racialized people had to do this work for them. When those in positions of lesser power stood up, there were often harsh consequences.

These interpersonal experiences also are held in a cultural context of generations of unresolved trauma. Historical traumas crossing all of our ancestral lines can be unconsciously transmitted to the next generation when there is not intentional healing work. I walk alongside courageous people opening these personal and cultural traumas and witness as they bring embodied healing to their lives and the coming generations.

In therapy I see the intersection of the personal and the political, and the personal and the planetary. What happens on a political level impacts individuals, like the mental health of trans and two-spirit folks when their human rights are violated, and what happens at a planetary scope impacts individuals, such as a fear for our future with climate change. The reverse is also true, what happens on an individual basis impacts the wider scope of politics and the earth. For example, ‘trans joy is revolutionary,’ as the transgender community reclaims voice, a deeper understanding of all genders ripples out, and our thriving can be an opening for the earth to thrive again. We are interconnected beyond ways we can comprehend.

The story of the patriarch also plays out in our relationship with nature. We extract endless resources, we “use” the earth, and gaslight ourselves out of seeing the impacts. Instead we can participate in healing our relationship with earth by centering to the needs of the earth in this time. Environmental justice and social justice are inextricably interwoven.

As those who have been oppressed are becoming empowered and reclaiming their voice, the patriarchs feel threatened and are savagely by any means trying to regain control. They are aware their power is threatened. Their unhinged antics may get worse before it gets better.

Women, transgender people, those who have been racialized and marginalized, Indigenous peoples, and the voices of the earth are sending roots deeper into our collective empowerment. Many people socialized as males are finding ways to empower their sensitivity and to promote equity. Collectively a new way of being is emerging, of justice and interconnection. Great care and resilience are needed in this time. Emerging among us are safe spaces to be enraged, to cry, and to be creative together. We need to ground ourselves through the fog of gaslighting and listen deeply to our inner knowing.

In times when you feel overwhelmed by the state of the world, and experience harm as the patriarchs spin out of control, remember that you are not alone. We can call together voices for a new paradigm based on mutual respect, compassion, integrity, and equity. We can inspire a new way of being where humans and the earth can heal and flourish.

Earth blessings.

Sincerely,

Melissa Clews-Hunt 

“The personal is the political” – Feminist Movement

“The personal is the planetary.” - Joanna Macy

“Joy is an act of resistance.” – Toi Derricotte, Black Feminist