In Defiance of Oppression – The Legacy of Boudicca by Joey Morris

 

Champion of the Dawn by ArtLatkowski

Now, perhaps more than ever, do I find myself turning to the fierce female warriors of the past for inspiration; those who found themselves facing seemingly insurmountable odds and choosing to fight for their freedom and liberations.

With political currents lending themselves to the suppression of women, seeking the driving back policies of bodily autonomy and civil liberties that would otherwise encourage fairness in our world, it is not difficult to feel under threat by the powers of Patriarchy. 

It seeks to invade us – our countries, our ways of life, our bodies and even our minds; to bend and break women. To rule over us.

We shall always resist.

Boudicca, the Celtic Queen of the Iceni tribe of Ancient Britannia, found herself and her daughters attacked, raped, and disinherited by the vehicle of Patriarchy that was the Roman Empire.

She chose to fight back.

In the ongoing aftermath of the political situation surrounding Doctor Ford and Kavanaugh, opinions and people were/are divided, battlelines were/are drawn, cries for basic human decency seemed to fall on deaf ears as female survivors in particular were ridiculed, mocked and disbelieved on one side, with an outpouring of support and revealing of stories on the other.

I honour every survivor who speaks out.

Thank you for shining a light where it is needed, and to those who do not or can not speak out; you are still heard, and loved.

As Women’s Civil Liberties have been attacked in Poland, Women there are in full rebellion. They are showing the power of Women who refuse to be dictated to by the state.

I honour every woman who puts herself on the picket line in order to find for justice, and a better tomorrow for all daughters.

These are just two examples in a sea of exploitation.

Women are attacked, sexually abused, shamed by the system of Patriarchy, and sought to be chained by their oppressors.

What seemed stark to me in the fallout of recent events was the response to shame and silence women, particularly by other women.

You somewhat expect the men who profit from holding women down to repeat their foul rhetoric, you know that they will fall on their outmoded swords and eventually we will bury them with that.

But to see women so indoctrinated that they throw other women down hoping for praise and scraps from this table is disturbing.

I had been speaking on a separate personal issue that affected myself as another woman sought to discredit my work and mocked the fact that I was a sexual abuse survivor. (From this point on I will term this 'warrior' as I think survivor is not wholly better than victim and I do not like defining myself or those other warriors by the actions of their attackers.)

This came in the same political climate which saw other Warriors being shamed and I witnessed other women being triggered by her poison, and I could not let that pass.

Recent years have been a collection of uncomfortable truths, forcing us to sit in places within ourselves which are foreboding and inhospitable, so that we peer endlessly into the shadow of our being, and the shadows that plague other women indoctrinated by Patriarchy.

The path this year has been littered with learning... whether we like it or not.

As we see ourselves through complex and difficult scenarios, we glean insight into our true nature; what elevates us, what chains us, what washes us clean again.

Knowledge though, is beyond power, it is sacred, an ethereal cord to the wisdom of the universe, inviting us to sample the taste of the cosmos, taking a bite of infinity.

To share the knowledge and experience of Women is a great tool in the war for the liberation of all.

It can be awe inspiring and crushing at the same time, to feel both infinite and insignificant, to see our lessons and flaws laid bare and yet to know they are over in the blink of an eye.

Our lessons may be over quicker than we realise in this incarnation, but the legacy lives on, our actions, our words, have lasting impact.

We stand for change, and liberation.

We shall not be shamed or dominated.

As Boudicca called together the different Celtic tribes, so too shall we gather all the clans of Women and their allies from across the world.

As she resisted the overwhelming pressure from a corrupt society to bend to their will, so too shall we. 

We shall invoke her complete refusal to be passive and accept a death by a thousand cuts.

We will not be dominated, nor oppressed, and we shall draw our battlelines.

We too will create a legacy of defiance in the face of oppression that will scream out across the ages, to be heard by our daughters and their daughters afterwards.

We are free creatures, and we will remain free.


Invocation to Boudicca
"I speak now to Boudicca
Ancient Queen of the Iceni
I call forward from the depths of time
Your ferocity of conviction
Lend me your strength,
To never cower in the face of oppression,
Instead to bear my teeth and woad my brow.
Let them underestimate us
We will make them bleed for their hubris
And count this mistake amongst the fallen
Boudicca
Ancient Queen of the Iceni
Who saw the travesties of an invading force
Whose designs were domination
To break the backs and wills of others
And knowing this,
Broke their vanity
To teach them the meaning of fear
Boudicca
Ancient Queen of the Iceni
Keep me resilient when my heart quakes
And aches from the dispassionate cruelty of others
Help me raise a spear far above my head
And howl a battle cry so frenzied
That all those who seek to tether me
Will know trepidation."

- Joey Morris

Stay tuned for this powerful anthology - and for the children's book, My Name is Boudicca.


Joey Morris is a Celtic Creatrix and UK-based daughter of The Morrigan. She is an author, creatrix CEO of Starry Eyed Supplies, and co-owner of the What the Flux podcast.

To become a tempered blade of The Morrigan, one must be baptized in blood and fire. These struggles within my lifetime have led me to become a voice for the voiceless, to reach out to the broken, and to poke the shadows in others so that they might begin to heal..

Such a path is dangerous. But so are we. This is the birth of a wild witch who sees with their 'other eyes' and treads the path of edges, sharp and unusual, but filled with adventure, magick of the liminal and the in-between spaces.”  – Joey Morris

Within the spiritual landscape, her soul mission is to deepen the understanding of our interconnectedness by both honouring the sacred and exploring the masks of the self through channelling relationships to the Divine through written work, poetry, videos, products, and services.


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