And to clarify: Women’s and Men’s bodies both consist of Nature itself - elements, molecules, systems, emotions, etc. From Women’s bodies comes new Life. Men participate in this of course, but I don’t think you can deny the mythological impact of seeing a baby emerge from a Woman’s body! Humans tend to helplessly turn everything into Story and Metaphor, and Mother Earth’s daughters don’t escape this. They make us, however deeply and subconsciously, think of the bloody, dirty life-giving Earth. Even the way we look at “dirt”/soil has become corrupted by this; in reality, dirt consists of a living tissue, comrpised of insects, microbes, decaying plant and animal matter, air, moisture, in wonderous structures. Any book on soil science will make clear that the Native American notion that “dirt comprises the Mother Earth’s flesh, and has LIfe” says it rather plain and straightforwardly. What does dead dirt look like? Dust!

We call things Dirty that we despise, when in fact all our beautiful lives originate in the soil.

So yes, women don’t “own” the only close relationship to Nature, or somehow have more Nature in them. The Goddess requires a God to fertilize her, you know? The God requires a Goddess to receive his seeding of Life. When we look in a Woman’s eyes, mythologically we can see the all-encompassing home of the soil, the valleys, the safe places to sprout. When we look in a Man’s eyes, we see the floating seeds, the pollen dust, the wandering winds carrying children-to-come in search of safe harbor. We see these things and much more. We can’t help it. Story makes us human.