Goddess Diana Interview

I met Goddess Diana briefly at the 2005 Artella retreat. She led a Laughing Meditation class that people kept talking about throughout the retreat.

She describes herself as having a "deep intensity" - that she purposefully balances "with gentleness." Come meet intensely interesting Goddess Diana.

When I was young I never fit in: not in school, not in the community, not even in my family. My grandmother made sure I was seen as the Black Sheep of the family. My husband {of 9 years} says that he never fit in either.

When I was young I had a mouth on me. If there was truth somewhere I'd blurt it out. My grandmother hated it. I think part of her was intimidated by that and didn't know how to deal with it. My words came from the heart, but her thought was: children are to be seen and not heard...I don't know how to shut my mouth for my own good.

I was the first person in my family to learn English (around age 4). English was not my native language, Hebrew was - then French (I lived in Israel, then Canada).

I have a bumper sticker that says: "Who says I want to fit in?"

I limit my input..take in nourishing things...In the morning I spend time with Louise Hay's book Inner Wisdom. My husband, Noah, and I read the same book before bed every evening...

I can read the paper later in the day... if I read the newspaper early I won't get out for my walk..it's so depressing. We're bombarded with fear in our society - "the world is ending" makes everything harder.

My husband and I love to say "hello" to people on the beach - they are so surprised - we're in a society that knocks us down.

She also mentioned her spirituality...For me art is very spiritual. You have to be peaceful to allow it to come out.

September 11, 2001 touched me deeply. It was intensely personal for me. I am very sensitive - have been my whole life, it's the type of person I am.

It wasn't how it happened, but the fact that it DID happen. Shortly after 9/11 I read Conversations With God - my husband said it seemed as if all the drawers in my head fell out. I didn't know how to put them back in...or if I was going to put the drawers back in.

The book said: "Know that I love you"

I had a spiritual crisis. I questioned everything I knew in my life. When you know something to be true - when it's ingrained in you and then your belief is completely reversed - you're not exactly sure what to do.

the poem "Dash" - about the dash on a tombstone. It says life is not about the year you came in or the year you went out, it's about that dash - and I started to think "what about my dash?".

It's hardest remembering that I'm an individual and don't want to fit in...I lose faith every once in awhile - when will I find my tribe?

As an aside - it doesn't really fit any of the 5 Square-Peg interview questions - I asked Goddess Diana how she came to call herself Goddess Diana. She talked about being affected by the events of 9-11-2001 - of reexamining her spirituality - and looking beyond the patriarchal system.

I read a book called On Femininity. I read the book, i put it down. I picked it up again a month later. To know truth I need to let it sink in. The book talked about all the crazy things we do as women. I'm into the body - this is our first vessel...I stopped shaving my legs and pits.

I started to think how women are not being heard. We've made huge baby steps, and I'm not knocking the progress we've made, but how can we live in a world ruled by men, when 51% of the world is women?(I'm not knocking men, either).

Reclaiming the Goddess is huge for me. I am giving up the patriarchal system. Last names are patriarchal. {Laughing} My last name changed from Sachs to Baker to Weisenfeld - the first one no one could spell, the second one people "got", then the third one people can't even pronounce. I don't need a last name.

The Goddess is a trendsetter. She doesn't care what anybody says. She's completely unconventional. Goddess Diana also quoted Mary Anne Rademacher-Hershey: "Courage doesn't always roar. Sometimes it is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, 'I will try again tomorrow'."

Tim Sanders' Love Is the Killer App - not using old model of tangibles, now we're looking at people coming first!
Inner Wisdom, Louise Hay
Sacred Mirrors Visionary Art of Alex Grey
We are all Water Babies - Jessica Johnson & Michael Odent
She Moves to her Own Rhythm - Shiloh McCloud

Goddess Diana has a childlike quality - you can see it in both the pictures we have of her on Square-Peg-People (the one above and the one she sent us for the interview listings). It's hard for me to describe that quality precisely, but it involves both the way she presents herself and the way I feel in reaction to her presentation.

I know my own usual reaction to titles - the rebel in me flares up when someone in a social situation introduces themselves as "Dr. So and So" (substitute any title). Everyone else is Betty or George or Stanley, but this pillar of arrogance won't use his/her first name - they insist on a title.

Not so with Goddess Diana - calling herself "Goddess Diana" feels natural to me - not put on - not insistence on a title, but something deeper. Something similar to how I feel when a child says "I'm a fireman" or "I'm a princess" (or, as my son did when he was verrrry young, with a jump rope sticking out of his back pocket that was his tail - "I'm Reepicheep" - the rat from C.S. Lewis' tales of Narnia).

When a child says something like that seriously - there is something there that I do not want to disturb. Something I believe it would be wrong to disturb. They are who they say they are - and it's only people who've lost their childlike wonder, people whose creativity is buried deep - who would insist on "truth" (small "t") - as opposed to Truth (capital "T").

Goddess Diana uses the term - the title "Goddess" with consistency and integrity - in all her correspondence - in every conversation - even in a court room! Goddess Diana told me about having to "fire a company that was doing work in my home." She explained that, where she had to sign to terminate the work, she "signed the paperwork Goddess Diana...the company started a law suit...they tried to use that against me {signing as Goddess Diana}, but it didn't work."

She also uses the title universally. Goddess Diana prefaces every woman's name with "Goddess". Since we've been corresponding, I also found that she prefaces every female children's names with "Goddess-in-training". Everyone is included!

Goddess Diana's gifts to me have been: reminding me of that childlike knowing - her wholehearted stance in knowing who she is - and the beautiful (again, childlike) expression of that invitation to everyone! Wouldn't we all do well to practice these? Keep on Goddess Diana - keep speaking "Goddess" for all of us - till we all remember who we are!

Please visit Goddess Diana's website at www.zeblaru.com - where she's currently working on a perpetual calendar featuring her grandfather's art. She says that "...his art reflects his love of women...his paintings have a mystical quality."

Interview with Goddess Diana