Echoing Multiverse

Chang e or Chang o, the Chinese moon goddess. The details of her story vary, but generally she is married to an archer who shoots 9 of the 10 suns to prevent the Earth from scorching drought.  He is awarded elixir of immortality by the Great Queen Mother Goddess of the West.  To keep the elixir from burglars, Chang e drinks it.  The elixir causes her to float up to the moon, where she is separated from her husband, but at least has a jade rabbit and busy woodcutter for company. China's lunar landers are named after her. Chang E, Moon Goddess original painting by Echoing Multiverse available via Saatchi Art .  Stickers, prints, and other merch available through RedBubble or Fine Art America . In older stories, she also births the 12 moons.  In some versions of the story with the archer, Chang e is reunited with him during the 8th moon of each year.  The Mid-Autumn Festival celebrates this reunion, and is one of the largest holidays in China.  According...

 I first saw a version of the feminist protest fist symbol on a t shirt that said, "I'd rather be fighting the man."  I really wanted it, but didn't have the money to buy it at the time.  If I was making a new version, I'd pair the symbol with "I'd rather be fighting the patriarchy."  It's a system, not an individual.   Feminist Protest Fist - I'd Rather Be Fighting the Patriarchy, original painting by Echoing Multiverse available via Saatchi Art .  Stickers, t shirts, and other merch available through RedBubble or Fine Art America . Patriarchy is also not a universal system.  There are many matrilineal cultures still existing in the world, even with the global imperial capitalist missionary patriarchy actively working to squash them into submission.  Patriarchy with patrilineal descent is not the natural state of humanity.  It is one possibility, that is actually pretty rare historically.  Fighting the patriarchy is not futile. Fi...

 The Mercury symbol is one of the symbols that has been proposed to represent nonbinary gender.  Mars is traditionally the male symbol.  Venus is female.  Originally the Mercury symbol was a representation of Mercury's staff with its two entwined snakes.  Mercury was a male god to the Romans, their version of Hermes, but snakes have represented the divine feminine since much further back than their co-opting by the Roman patriarchy.  For example, the Egyptian Goddess Wadjet was depicted as a snake entwined around a papyrus stem as early as the Predynastic Era (prior to 3100 BCE).   Someone crossed the staff sometime in the 11th century to look more Christian, which also makes the symbol look more feminine.  Nonbinary, a mixture of masculine and feminine traits. Mercury, nonbinary symbol, original painting by Echoing Multiverse available via Saatchi Art .  Stickers, buttons, and other merch available through RedBubble or Fine Art America...

It's Diversity and Inclusion week at the offspring's school.  Last year they had Wear the Rainbow day and of 1700ish students and staff, the teen saw three others participating.  So afterwards I asked teachers and her guidance counselor to consider participating next time because it didn't make the kid feel good diversity and inclusion vibes to be so alone.  Direct result or just coincidence: this year's Diversity and Inclusion week substituted On Wednesdays We Wear Pink day in the place of Wear the Rainbow day.  Mean Girls peer pressure totally says diversity and inclusion to me.  So, in protest, the kid has made every day this week gay day with their wardrobe choices.  So proud. And it coincided with me reading I Kissed Shara Wheeler by Casey McQuiston, which is an amazing book.  Quote from the author: "...you deserve ridiculous, over-the-top high school rom-coms about teenagers like you, just like the straight kids have!"  Recent surveys have s...

I've been reading a lot about evolutionary psychology lately.  It seems that what really made us human was the bond between mother and child.  Our big brains force us into the world before we can even hold up our own heads.  We essentially must continue gestating outside the womb.  The learning and empathy that develops between mother and child in infancy forms the basis of everything we call love, and lays the foundation for our cooperative culture.  Evolution, driven by the mothers.  It's been a series of fascinating reads, and it's reminded me of the quote about how having a child is like forever having a piece of your heart walking around outside your body.  Or, in the case of my painting, your whole heart.  My heart and I, walking through the parking lot of the New York Renaissance Faire a couple of years ago. Having a Child Is Like Having Your Heart Walk Around Outside Your Body, original painting by Echoing Multiverse.  Available via S...