Honor to our Mothers, Ruah, Gaïa and Hava

To our Mothers

Rouah is called our Great-Grandmother-from -before-the-Beginnings,

Rouah, which means

‘light breeze’ but also ‘stormy wind’

‘breath’ and ‘inspiration’

'breath of life' and 'last breath'.

Rouah called to life our Grandmother Donna-Vie,

she who gave birth to plants and animals.

Rouah is invisible as air is, but she isn't the air.

She is as deep as the cave from which we came,

but she’s not the cave.

She’s as far away as the sun,

as close as the tongue in our mouth,

reassuring as the flame of fire at night,

mysterious as the-light-who-is-dying-and-reborn,

small as the lice in our hair,

as great as Gaia, whom she called into existence,

but Rouah is not light, nor tongue, nor flame, nor lice,

nor Gaia, whom she called into existence.

She is our Grandmother-of-the-Beginnings, Gaia

who was visited by the Universe, he who sether pregnant with Life;

Gaia who, after unfathomable times,

let the-little-beings-whom-we-hardly-seeout of her waters ,

let plants emerge from her body,

gave birth to animals by letting us out of her cave.

Among the animals was born our Mother, Hava,

the one who entrusts her cares to the Great-bird-who-visits-the-spirit-who-is-on-high

the one who asks advice from the One-who-slips-on-the-ground-and-lives-in-the-cave-from-which-we-came.

She taught us how to live in peace,

how to ask forgiveness from the earth

when we cut corn or dig up roots to eat,

how to thank

for the fruits we harvest and for the water we drink.

Hava warned us

to kill an animal only when it is inevitable

and eat them only when winter makes our children lose weight.

And we, women, men,

we knew

from the beginning

the temptation to eat more than necessary the delicious rabbits, fish and chickens,

the inclination to appropriate the most beautiful woman and take pleasure with her, despite her,

the fascination of food stocks in order never to lack, and which rot in their corner,

the lure of the best land, occupied by our cousins,

the fascination for the strength of men in battle.

We knew all this.

But we also knew

the pleasure of seeing rabbits approach us and satisfy us with the fruit of the earth,

the joy of respecting our Mother Gaia and trusting that she will provide,

the sweetness of the consensual loves, playful, full of sweetness and complicity,

the peace that reigns if we share

the delicacy of women who gently pamper and correct us.

And we knew how to live

thanks to our women,

thanks to strength and softness,

through pleasure and the ability to suffer,

thanks to abundance and abstinence,

through our cries and our listening.

Yes, we knew how to be

thanks to the wisdom of our First Mother, thanks to Hava,

and to her Mother Gaia, Mother of all Life,

and to her Grandmother Rouah, breath of life,

honour to our Mothers

forever.