Mother Wit, by Diane Mariechild
Sep. 26th, 2023 11:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lb_leeMori: I've been working my way through Diane Mariechild's 1981 book, Mother Wit: A Feminist Guide to Psychic Development. I was super dubious, only grabbed it because it was closing time at the gay thrift shop, but it's the first book that's really got me attempting meditation with any success, the relaxation exercise is great, and attempting the other exercises in it (for the sake of you, my humble blog readers!) has gotten me some unexpected, interesting effects. There's a lot of stuff that I feel would be super helpful for people working to deepen their connection to their bodies, their headmates/otherselves, and so on, especially for folks who are into that sorta New Age women's spirituality thing. There's a whole lot of interesting phrasing like, "multifacets of your own personality or the multidimensions of your being (other living persons that are a part of your total or core energy)" (pg. 90) that make me raise my eyebrows.
Buuuut (and this is why I haven't posted about it publicly before), that comes with major caveats, because 1981 is only a year after the CREATION of the Multiple Personality Disorder diagnosis. More importantly, it's also before the Memory Wars, and while that makes this book a fascinating time capsule, it also means there's stuff on "past life regression," a bunch of hypnosis stuff (though not using those exact words), and "Revivification of Past Experiences," all of which is taboo nowadays, and not without reason. For people who aren't well-saddled on the consensus reality horse, or who have a buttload of trauma waiting in the wings, these exercises could cause some serious trouble.
This book DOES discuss how to protect yourself, and comes with sensible warnings like, "If the idea of astral travel is very frightening to you, then it's best not to attempt it. Researchers have found that attempting to project astrally alters the respiration. This could create difficulty for people with heart trouble. So if you have any such difficulty, don't attempt astral projection." (55) I appreciate that. However, there are also chapters on "psychic healing" and such that give me the wooglies. (Also stuff about how you have chosen all challenges and stuff in your life, which I VERY MUCH disagree with.)
In the interests of investigating it thoroughly for possible recommendation for others, I've been trying to do as many of the exercises in the book as possible, neglecting only the ones that seem dangerous for our crazy ass to try (NOPE I sure ain't gonna try to access my past lives, no thank you madam) or that we have found our own homebrew versions for that do the job better already. (I also admit to not doing chakra stuff, just because I can only imagine the eye-rolling Bob will do. He has Opinions on people half-assing mystical stuff from his country of origin.) Even when I've been just sorta playing along, I've gotten some weird, interesting, so far harmless effects--bits of otherworld memory bubbling up, my arms going Tesla coil for the first time since before I died, that kind of thing.
It's been interesting, and I wanted to make some note of it, just not a public recommendation. So here it is!
Buuuut (and this is why I haven't posted about it publicly before), that comes with major caveats, because 1981 is only a year after the CREATION of the Multiple Personality Disorder diagnosis. More importantly, it's also before the Memory Wars, and while that makes this book a fascinating time capsule, it also means there's stuff on "past life regression," a bunch of hypnosis stuff (though not using those exact words), and "Revivification of Past Experiences," all of which is taboo nowadays, and not without reason. For people who aren't well-saddled on the consensus reality horse, or who have a buttload of trauma waiting in the wings, these exercises could cause some serious trouble.
This book DOES discuss how to protect yourself, and comes with sensible warnings like, "If the idea of astral travel is very frightening to you, then it's best not to attempt it. Researchers have found that attempting to project astrally alters the respiration. This could create difficulty for people with heart trouble. So if you have any such difficulty, don't attempt astral projection." (55) I appreciate that. However, there are also chapters on "psychic healing" and such that give me the wooglies. (Also stuff about how you have chosen all challenges and stuff in your life, which I VERY MUCH disagree with.)
In the interests of investigating it thoroughly for possible recommendation for others, I've been trying to do as many of the exercises in the book as possible, neglecting only the ones that seem dangerous for our crazy ass to try (NOPE I sure ain't gonna try to access my past lives, no thank you madam) or that we have found our own homebrew versions for that do the job better already. (I also admit to not doing chakra stuff, just because I can only imagine the eye-rolling Bob will do. He has Opinions on people half-assing mystical stuff from his country of origin.) Even when I've been just sorta playing along, I've gotten some weird, interesting, so far harmless effects--bits of otherworld memory bubbling up, my arms going Tesla coil for the first time since before I died, that kind of thing.
It's been interesting, and I wanted to make some note of it, just not a public recommendation. So here it is!
no subject
Date: 2023-09-28 02:11 am (UTC)My first thought on 'multifacets of personality' was local archetypes and how those are sometimes treated - phases a person goes through and roles they fill. Also, now that I'm thinking of it, the inner child work that's seen more nowadays. Interesting that the MPD diagnosis came out right before the publication though. Perhaps the awareness of one helped awareness of the other, or she was influenced by emerging psychology? How differently was MPD conceptualized when the diagnosis first appeared?
>> For people who aren't well-saddled on the consensus reality horse <<
There is a certain amount of healthy skepticism, patient waiting, and mental neutrality to experiences that is needed for those sorts of things, and I'm sorry to say people see a lot of... very hopeful and believing individuals locally who're trying those.
It's something you always need to take with a grain of salt, unless you have some way of verifying.
- Masa (he/him)
no subject
Date: 2023-09-29 02:00 am (UTC)Perhaps the awareness of one helped awareness of the other, or she was influenced by emerging psychology? How differently was MPD conceptualized when the diagnosis first appeared?
Rogan: That's a great question, which I'm not sure of the answer of. I DO know that this was around the time that medical multi became seen way more as a "(white) woman thing," where before it was more gender-equal. Take this with salt, but I suspect that it coincided with the women's movement at around this time, which involved the violence against women/children movement, renewed focus on incest and sexual violence, and women creating groups to explore these issues together. Now, which was chicken and which was egg (or if the relationship was even that simple), that I don't know.
And yeah, we know enough about our psychological weaknesses to be really cautious and careful about this kind of stuff, but even so, by just READING some of these exercises while in a prodome state, Mori was getting weird (thankfully non-negative) effects. I feel like if we'd attempted this earlier in our life, there probably would've been a lot more chaos, and there are still a bunch of exercises that we just WILL NOT do, regardless.
no subject
Date: 2023-09-28 09:42 am (UTC)I'm glad it comes with some warnings, in my experience these things tend to have a certain wide eyed "what do you mean this could hurt people???" so it's nice to see someone at least trying? But alas, that trying needs to come with psychic healing and... it's not the law of attraction because it's the Eighties, but you know?
(And this is just idle curiosity: but is it the gay thrift store because the proprietors are gay, the items are gay, or both?)
no subject
Date: 2023-09-29 02:04 am (UTC)Mori: YEAH. Like, I remember running into someone who didn't get while going into a hypnotic state to review a past life would be bad, and I'm like, "Noooooo, we multis have DECADES of damage regarding this shit, IT IS SUPER BAD NEWS for a lot of people!" (Including us. When I say "not well-saddled on the consensus reality horse, I mean us.)
alas, that trying needs to come with psychic healing and... it's not the law of attraction because it's the Eighties, but you know?
Mori: YEAH. Like, at least it's blocked off pretty cleanly by chapter, so I can just be like, "Okay, the first two chapters and the one of exercises for children are all pretty darn interesting/useful, and all the others are probably worth reading, but be SUPER cautious around the Healing chapter and the Co-Creating Your Reality one, which I thought was going to be cool headspace building stuff but ended up being affirmations and shit."
(And this is just idle curiosity: but is it the gay thrift store because the proprietors are gay, the items are gay, or both?)
It is a shop whose profits go to a queer charity, and since we live in a gayborhood, there's a LOT of gay wares that end up there. We have better luck getting queer books by regularly trawling its book section than going to a proper bookshop!
no subject
Date: 2023-09-29 08:46 am (UTC)Ooh, a thrift store that gives money to a gay charity sounds excellent! I'm glad such a thing exists.
no subject
Date: 2023-09-29 04:02 pm (UTC)