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"Blessed is the Maiden within me, for she bringeth courage and freedom..."
[Shekhineh Mountainwater]
The goddess is of age and is full of energy: she is the Maiden. In her dark moon phase, she sees woman's blood-of-life consecrate the earth. Goddess' energy is classically virginal: complete unto itself. In her dark moon phase, she also infuses her followers with charismatic poetry, grace and eloquence; but, she is also the crescent scythe wielded by the crone. We exhibit the dark moon gifts as lexical and physical prowess when we speak and act to glorify and/or defend the natural, the beautiful and the sacred against the unenlightened and oppressive.
History, time and again, shows us the formidable aspect of the Maiden within a single woman by the poetry of her words and the power of her sword...she is, simply, in the blood.
Blood Tale I
Queen Boudicca of the Iceni (a Briton tribe) rose to power when her husband was killed and daughters raped by the Roman oppressors (Boudicca was flogged). In response to this atrocity, Boudicca rallied her people and formed an army, sacked London, burned Emperor Claudius' temple to the ground, repelled Roman reinforcements and, ultimately, poisoned herself rather than be captured (she died in 62 CE). This tenacious defense of the Briton culture undoubtedly contributed to the Roman governor's more agreeable policy change toward the natives. Tacitus, a Roman scribe who documented the Briton-Roman war, has preserved the knowledge of Boudicca's unconquerable spirit and the eloquence of her trademark rallying of the Briton tribes:
Boudicca, in a [chariot], with her two daughters before her, drove through the ranks...
"This is not the first time that the Britons have been led to battle by a woman."
...she took the field, like the meanest among them, to assert the cause of public liberty, and to seek revenge for her body seamed with ignominious stripes, and her two daughters infamously ravished.
"From the pride and arrogance of the Romans, nothing is sacred; all are subject to violation; the old endure the scourge, and the virgins are deflowered. But the vindictive gods are now at hand. A Roman legion dared to face the warlike Britons: with their lives they paid for their rashness; those who survived the carnage of that day, lie poorly hid behind their entrenchments, meditating nothing but how to save themselves by an ignominious flight. From the den of preparation, and the shouts of the British army, the Romans, even now, shrink back with terror. What will be their case when the assault begins? Look around, and view your numbers. Behold the proud display of warlike spirits, and consider the motives for which we draw the avenging sword. On this spot we must either conquer or die with glory. There is no alternative. Though a woman, my resolution is fixed: the men, if they please, may survive with infamy, and live in bondage."
[Tacitus Annals, chapter 35]
Blood Tale II
Ironically, over a millennium after the Roman-Briton War, the British were posturing as the Romans did and the Ashanti tribe of Ghana found itself under British oppression. There was a secret meeting in Kumasi, held by the Ashanti chiefs, to discuss what to do about the kidnapping of King Prempeh by the Brits. Yaa Asantewa, Queen Mother of Ejisu, was at this meeting. Some chiefs thought about waging war, but fearful others were against it in favor of begging the British governor for the king's return. At this point, Yaa Asantewa stood up and said:
"Now I have seen that some of you fear to go forward to fight for our king. If it were in the brave days of Osei Tutu, Okomfo Anokye and Opolu Ware, chiefs would not sit down to see the king taken away without firing a shot. No white man could have dared to speak to chief of the Ashanti in the way the governor spoke to you chiefs this morning. Is it true that the bravery of the Ashanti is no more? I cannot believe it. It cannot be! I must say this: if you, the men of Ashanti, will not go forward, then we will. We, the women, will. I shall call upon my fellow women. We will fight the white men. We will fight till the last of us falls in the battlefields."
Nana Yaa Asantewa's statement inspired the men to swear to fight the British until the king was returned; and Asantewa led the fight against the British and kept them barricaded in their fort for months until reinforcements turned the tide. At that point, 1,400 Brits entered Kumasi and Asantewa and other Ashanti leaders were captured and exiled. This was the Anglo-Asante War of 1900 (CE). Asantewa's indomitable spirit as protector of her culture (during this last major war in Africa led by a woman) is an integral part of the history of Ghana.
The Maiden within us defends many things today: the rights of the species, in general, and of women, in particular; the rights of Gaia that bears all life; the rights of endangered plants & animals; the truth of our ethnic cultures --- of herstory --- consequently, the truth of humanity; the right to become beautifully wise and old; the right to be educated, respected, enlightened, loved and abundantly full.
So, may we all go outside and pay homage to Gaia today...the grass, the water, the sky, etc. Let's feel her under our feet and rejoice in the sheer power of our blood, passed to us from our mothers and from their mothers and from their mothers, ad infinitum...an endless stream of strength and nurturance fed and sustained by the greatest Mother, then and now (even as we are fighting to save and purify earth elements for ourselves and future generations). May we continue to speak and act from the heart and to be the wielding scythe of truth and evolution...
....and recognize that we have always been in extraordinary company...
...it's simply in the blood............
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QaR
November 2008 
Access: Public