Duann Auer Rhodes

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Remembering Ann Blyth, who has passed away at age 98. Reuniting here with her "Mildred Pierce" co-star, Joan Crawford in 1955.

“In Celtic cultures, the young maiden was seen as the flower; the mother, the fruit; the elder woman, the seed. The seed is the part that contains the knowledge and potential of all the other parts within it.”

- Christiane Northrup, MD,
Women's Bodies, Women's
Wisdom

[Image: The Golden Door painting by German artist and illustrator Sulamith Wülfing (1901-1989).]

The Smart Witch by Elizabeth

Classic The Smart Witch
Post from 18 June 2023

“And then there are the cravings. Oh, la! A woman may crave to be near water, or be belly down, her face in the earth, smelling the wild smell. She might have to drive into the wind. She may have to plant something, pull things out of the ground or put them into the ground. She may have to knead and bake, rapt in dough up to her elbows. She may have to trek into the hills, leaping from rock to rock trying out her voice against the mountain. She may need hours of starry nights where the stars are like face powder spilt on a black marble floor. She may feel she will die if she doesn’t dance naked in a thunderstorm, sit in perfect silence, return home ink-stained, paint-stained, tear-stained, moon-stained.”

- Clarissa Pinkola Estés

[Image: Pondering the Garden watercolor painting by Seattle-based artist Helena Nelson-Reed.]

The Smart Witch by Elizabeth

Classic The Smart Witch
Post from 18 June 2024

"Men suffer in silence." No, they don't. They take it out on everyone around them.

And the woman closest to him keeps the receipts.

She's the one walking on eggshells because he had a bad day at work. She's the one absorbing the cold shoulders, the snapping, the sarcasm, the emotional withdrawal — all because he was never taught to name what he feels so instead he becomes what he feels. And somehow she's supposed to decode it, fix it, and never once complain about being his emotional punching bag.

That's not suffering in silence. That's suffering out loud — just in her direction.

The "strong silent man" narrative has given generations of men permission to emotionally offload onto women without ever being held accountable for it. Because if we call it suffering, it sounds noble. It sounds like he needs protecting. But what about her nervous system? What about the woman who learned to read his mood the moment he walked through the door just to survive the evening?

Unprocessed pain doesn't stay silent. It just finds the nearest safe person and makes them unsafe.

She is not your therapist. She is not your emotional landfill. And loving you was never supposed to cost her her peace.

Please give this video some love so that I can do something nice for my roommate #getwell #surprise #roommates

I think I could turn and live with animals, they are so placid and self-contain’d, I stand and look at them long and long.

They do not sweat and whine about their condition, They do not lie awake in the dark and weep for their sins, They do not make me sick discussing their duty to God, Not one is dissatisfied, not one is demented with the mania of owning things, Not one kneels to another, nor to his kind that lived thousands of years ago, Not one is respectable or unhappy over the whole earth.

- Walt Whitman (1819-1892),
Leaves of Grass

[Image: Forest of Dreams (2022) oil painting with resin on board by Japanese fantasy arrist Harumi Shinozuka.]

The Smart Witch by Elizabeth

Classic The Smart Witch
Post from 09 December 2022
Post from 10 December 2024

“Don’t be afraid. There are exquisite things in store for you. This is merely the beginning.”

- Oscar Wilde (1854-1900)

About the Author:
Oscar Wilde was a celebrated Anglo-Irish writer, playwright and poet, who was known for his wit and flamboyant style in late 19th-century London. He wrote famous works like the novel The Picture of Dorian Gray, and plays such as The Importance of Being Earnest and An Ideal Husband.

[Image: The Garden digital artwork by Little Fish Design.]

The Smart Witch by Elizabeth