My life has been profoundly transformed by the Women’s Music movement and its role in translating feminist values and energy into cultural experiences in concert. What a time it was! I will never forget moments that I was privileged to share with thousands of other people when the spirit of our commitment to social change was palpable in the energy in the room. I experienced a very real sense of the presence of woman-centered Spirit at other gatherings of women’s culture during that time, i.e., Judy Chicago’s Dinner Party.
In the past year, I have begun to work with the labyrinth, an ancient meditation tool that transcends all religious traditions. I have brought my music (both songs and solo piano) and feminist perspective to a collaboration with a truly extraordinary woman, Lauren Artress, founder of Veriditas, The World-Wide Labyrinth Project. Our co-creation is called “At The Edge: A Conversation Between Seeker and Activist” with music and the labyrinth.
In January, I began to facilitate Community Labyrinth Peace Walks on the third Sunday of the month – first at the Montclair Women’s Cultural Arts Club and shortly (June 15) at the North Berkeley Senior Center. One of the consequences of these gatherings has been the formation of the East Bay Labyrinth Project, a group dedicated to installing a permanent 11-circuit labyrinth at a public and accessible site in Berkeley.
The obvious question is: what is Margie Adam, a feminist singer-songwriter-organizer, doing working with a meditation tool in the middle of a critical moment for social justice activism?
Here’s what I know so far. Each of us is being called by world circumstances to raise her voice, to offer whatever resources she has to resist violence and hatred. Walking the labyrinth has grounded my work and released amazing energy in me, integrating my activism and spirituality in new ways. It is a place to find solid ground, to unwind and then gather myself, so that I can do my work in the world more effectively. While walking with other people in community, it is also a place where I have felt the presence of that same woman-centered Spirit that infused my life with hope and determination twenty years ago and fuels me to this day.
If you are seeking ways to integrate your activism and spirituality, I hope you will consider attending one of the Community Labyrinth Peace Walks I will be presenting in the next months. See Concerts and Appearances Page for details. Also, Lauren and I will be presenting “At The Edge: A Conversation Between Seeker and Activist,” an evening that will weave these impulses with music, story-telling, commentary, discussion and a labyrinth walk at Grace cathedral, San Francisco in the future.
It also seems clear that I will be presenting the labyrinth in various settings, with and without my music, for peace and justice groups, conferences and festivals. I am very interested in making the labyrinth experience of community and connexion available to as many people as possible.
See you on the path –
Margie
For more information: Pleiades Records