#smashthepatriarchy

A Brief for the Reckoning

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by Beth Weaver-Kreider

Whereas he has harmed her;
Whereas he has hid the harms
that his brethren have done her;
Whereas he has forced entry;
Whereas he has broken her doors
and made her afraid;

Whereas he has taken what is not his–
namely her body,
namely her peace of mind,
namely her sense of safety,
namely her agency;

Whereas he has controlled her
and forced her submission;
Whereas he has set himself above her;
Whereas he has turned a deaf ear
to the sound of her voice;
Whereas he has denied her her sovereignty;
Whereas he has created a god
to bless his wars and pillaging
and denied her the comforting arms
of her divine mother;

It is hereby resolved:
There shall be a reckoning–

The trees shall be told, and the rivers,
the creatures of the woods, and the birds of the air.
To the fish shall it be made known,
to the winds and the waters,
to the dancing flame, and to the stones.
Nemesis with Furies, and Medusa,
shall bring him his due.

He shall be brought to account.
Both his deeds and his refusal to act
when confronted with her harm
shall visit him in nightmare;
He shall absorb her fear as his own;
Her voice shall echo in the chamber of his skull
night and day, ceaselessly;
He shall feel in his body
the battlefield he has made of hers;

He shall speak a word
and no one believe him;
He shall cease to prosper;
His power shall wane and diminish;
His brothers shall call him out and name him.
His vitality, drawn from her sorrow and labor,
shall be drained away;
His fortunes, wrought by her travail,
shall vanish.

In witness whereof,
her sisters shall stand vigil.
So mote it be.

Waking the Goddess

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Illustration by Arthur Rackham

There was an old woman lived under a hill,
and if she’s not gone, she lives there still.

I’ve been thinking again about the poem about the old woman who lives under the hill, the woman who is the Goddess, sleeping, still there, always there, as she has been through these many hundreds of years of patriarchy. Thinking about how I can feel her Awakening again. How I want my prayers to awaken her.

Thinking about the maidens in Faerie Tales who fall asleep for a hundred years. Thinking about Mother Mary in her Dormition, falling into sacred sleep as she is transported to heaven.

And then as I was howling in my prayer this week, it struck me again how we do magic for our selves. How are prayers and our desires have to begin in the work we do in ourselves. And so waking up the Goddess means waking myself up. And waking myself up again. And waking and waking and waking and waking myself again and again and again and staying awake.

And now, when I pray the Glorious Mysteries, and I reach the Mystery of the Dormition, I am calling it the Mystery of the Awakening, and I am Mary, and Mary is the Goddess, and we are all the Earth. And we are howling ourselves Awake.

And we are shaking off the patriarchy with the circles we are building, the baskets and the bowls, the linked hands and arms–where we protect the children and the elderly, the vulnerable, those who need respite. We are setting the captives free. We are raging in the streets. We are howling at our sister the moon. We are waking and waking and waking and waking.

Earthquakes: 100 Days (84)

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Tying Up Loose Ends

Day 84:

Today I finished the seven I started yesterday. I accidentally got an eighth from a previous day mixed up with the stack. Tomorrow I finish blocking this batch of about thirty, and then I’ll start putting them together.

One of the images I have been working with lately in my magic//spiritual practice/prayers is that of the patriarchy and white supremacy and christian nationalism as structures. Towers and fortresses and cities. And we, who are creating the New Thing, are the Earthquake that will bring those structures to rubble.

So every women’s group (book club, moon circle, coffee klatsch) is a little earthquake. Every support system for queer folks, every community-building experience, every mothering or teaching task, every group using a bartering economy, every fiber arts and make your own club, every act of Resistance—it’s all earthquakes. What are your earthquakes? How are you shaking up the patriarchy? Rattling the white and christian supremacists? Undermining the heteronormative agenda? I want to put my intention into everything I do.

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Earth Day: 100 Days (60)

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Tying Up Loose Ends

Day 60:

I’m so grateful for my colleagues. Got a nice pep talk from a neighboring teacher this morning who helped me shift shame into possibility.

I finished the white panel of the bamboo shrug this evening. Here is where I so often abandon a project. I had a vision when I started, and the shapes of these four panels just don’t seem to fit like I intended. Ugh. I’ll strategize tomorrow or this weekend.

Meanwhile, I am still caught in the web between Beauty and Rage.

Motherless
by Beth Weaver-Kreider, 2026

end stage patriarchy
and the men are drugging the planet
checking her eyes to see she’s asleep
before they ravage her

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Bear in the Woods: 100 Days (56)

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Tying Up Loose Ends

Day 56: 

I needed to switch it up today, so I worked on a prayer shawl UFO, and sorted my black-lined granny squares. I thought I probably had enough for a sweater, but I think I have only about half of what I will need. I want to add a couple evil eye patches, and I tried turning one of my eyes into a similarly sized square. It’s a little big and a little awkward. I think I’ll need to look up some patterns.

Bear in the Woods
by Beth Weaver-Kreider, 2026

You know that bear in the woods
we choose over meeting strange men?
She is our sister, that bear.
That wolf.
That snake.
That lion.
Those fangs and claws
that venom, those coils
and red raw rage to rend and tear.
That massive spider in the cave.
That flock of ravens circling above you 

They are our sisters, all.
And they are coming for you.
You who rape.
You who watch.
And you who keep the silence 
of the bro-codes. You.

You want to know how it feels
to feel unsafe in the woods
or anywhere?

Prepare yourself
to find out.

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Knit a Spell: 100 Days (55)

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Tying Up Loose Ends

Day 55: 

About five rows tonight. And a card from the Forest Fae deck by Nadia Turner: The Old One. The ancestors call. Seek their wisdom.

Today is National Haiku Day. Here’s a photo of the one I wrote last year.

Knit a Spell
by Beth Weaver-Kreider

she knits and crochets
purposeful tangles in string
to trap evil men

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Rage: 100 Days (54)

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Tying Up Loose Ends

Day 54: 

About three more rows tonight, and two reluctant sweater models. The blossoms are pawpaws, fully open now from the little globe I photographed earlier in the week.

Rage
by Beth Weaver-Kreider

Call that volcano Women’s Anger
and that one Awakening.

Feel the tectonic shift of plates
beneath your feet
the earthquake of women rising
lifting mountains
opening rifts with their rage
shaking the foundations
of the houses you built
to cage us

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Carrying Water: 100 Days (50)

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Tying Up Loose Ends

Day 50! Halfway there!

I finished the grey panel today and began on the white. I think I can see my way to finish this one. I had my doubts for a while. Went up to see my friend Sam Lewis today. Saw lots of buds and blooms, a flock of deer (I love their tails!) and a grumpy red-tailed hawk (she was making a sort of growling sound). At least three new kite remnants in the trees and wires.

Carrying Water for the Patriarchy
by Beth Weaver-Kreider

See how she trades away her own desire for desirability,
thinks proximity to power will bring her power,
thinks that will bring her safety,
puts on a mask to immobilize her face,
performs her femininity
with vacuous eyes and fatuous lies,
a puppet for the lords of greed.

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NO KING ANY TIME: 100 Days (34)

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Tying Up Loose Ends

Day 34: 

Today’s Project was a couple more little dolls for the second set of ten.

I was going to make a new sign for tomorrow’s NO KINGS march:

TURN THE FILES INTO TRIALS

PROSECUTE THE PEDOPHILES

because I think it’s really important to keep calling for prosecutions. But I pulled out my signs from previous NO KINGS Marches, and decided to re-use the one from last time.

No King Any Time (A Side) and Nothing Is More American Than Rejecting Kings (B Side). I usually wear Weeping Liberty around my neck. George Washington was from NK1. I’ll carry my Wave Goodbye to the Patriarchy handkerchief.

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Fierce: 100 Days (29)

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Tying Up Loose Ends

Day 29: On Which We get Sweet and Fierce

I outfitted five more fierce poppets for Radiance today. Don’t be deceived by their sweetness. They’re ready for the work, and they have no more patience for patriarchy. 

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