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!
