Your Playing Small Does not Serve the World!

I am one of the lucky people who heard Marianne Williamson speak last night in Dublin and hence the quote above. She is truly inspiring in her clarity of thinking, the depth of her analysis and her passion to spread the idea of 'Miraculous Thinking' by deepening our connection to ourselves through meditation and prayer and opening ourselves up to new possbilities and ways of being in the world. Her central message is that when we act out of a place of LOVE we can clearly see who we are and what we need to do in this lifetime, not only for our sake but for the sake of the planet and future generations. I recently read her book 'Return to Love' which Nelson Mandala quoted an extract from in his inauguration speech in 1994 (bottom of page). On the subject of inspirational women I had the good fortune to be invited into the 77 Women of Richmond Barracks Quilt project. The project was spearheaded by artist Marja Almqvist and historians Mary McAuliffe and Liz Gillis. The 77 Women were involved in a variety of roles in the 1916 Easter Rising and were held in Richmond Barracks briefly after their arrest before being transferred to Kilmainham Jail. These women were mainly unknown and their contributions devalued and not acknowledged as part of Irish history. This project writes these women back into our collective historical knowledge. It is so important that we know about the women who went before us who were instrumental in creating the Ireland of today, the diversity of roles and positions they held in society, and what they stood for. The '77 Women of Richmond Barracks Quilt' and the book 'Richmond Barracks 1916: We Were There – 77 women of the Easter Rising' inform us of who these women were and their contributions to Irish history. Historian Mary McAuliffe, says 'the women had strong uniting ideologies they were passionate about feminism and socialism as well as nationalism'. They had experienced and witnessed first hand the poverty, injustices and inequalities that mobilised them to action. They were fighting for a just, equal and free ireland. The picture below is of me beside the quilt which was presented to President Higgins on 8 March International Women's Day this year.

Each of the women from Richmond Barrcks was twinned with a woman living today and I was lucky enough to be twinned with Meg (Maire) Carron a 19 year old member of Cumann na mBan, who was stationed at the Four Courts during the Rising. It was one of the garrison's that came under the most fire and in these dangerous circumstances she despatched important messages to the leaders who were stationed in different garrison's across Dublin. She also provided First Aid to the wounded and cooked and cared for the Volunteers. After her release from prison, tireless in her efforts and passionate about supporting the famillies of the dead or imprisoned volunteers, she gathered information and organised ceilidhes and other fund raising events to ensure they were financially supported from the Dependents Fund. There is so much more I could tell you about her but I will save it for a future newsletter. Reading about her life has brought tears to my eyes and yet there are still more questions than answers. One of the great moment's of sadness in my own research about her was finding out that her grave in Glasnevin cemetery is unmarked (see the picture below) and that is why the artist Marja Almqvist designed her panel in the quilt with an image of a a headstone and two wreaths of flowers. The inscription I dedicated to her is 'Brave, Beautiful, Protectress'.