WEIBLICHKEIT HEUTE

One day when I was completely at a loss I went to a wise old lady. She told me to change my life completely to cope with my big crisis. But how could I manage it? I didn’t have two pennies to rub together and saw no way out. The wise lady said: “Devote yourself to a flower every day. Just one bloom a day will help you to rearrange your life.”

So I went home and found some marguerites in the meadow behind our house. I sat down and looked at them. They seemed to smile and melted my heart. I was relieved for a while. Suddenly my problems came into my mind. How could those lovely little marguerites ever help me to overcome? I felt depressed again.

A little voice whispered: “Just one flower!” Without wondering who was talking to me I immediately picked one marguerite, took it home and put it into a vase. When darkness set in I still cowered in front of the little marguerite. I lighted a candle. The petals gleamed in a brilliant white. It was surprising me. Devoting to its prettiness my mind grew lighter and brighter.

The other day I woke up refreshed for the first time in a long while.  But when I looked after my marguerite a sad sight expected me: it was withered! After a while I succeeded in overcoming my frustration and went to the market. In front of a flower stall I found a lonely rose lying on the floor. I picked it up quickly and felt happy about that occasion. When I put it in my freshly refilled vase at home I said to my rose: “Don't let me down! I need your help!” I marveled at its beauty like I never had be amazed at a rose’s bloom. Calm and silence came over me. I collected my thoughts. Step by step I arranged them in proper order.

After a week having been concerned with one flower every day I felt much better. New ideas came into my mind and I began to read interesting books and meet friends. My flower told me each day what to do. I felt grateful to my flower, to its beauty and color and order, to its smile and its whispering. Out of thankful thoughts a new confidence grew up. And after a while my inner voice spoke more clearly than ever before. I got more and more happy. Dark and heavy thoughts had left my mind. Little by little my everyday life was reshaped happily.

It happened years ago.

And I still make time for arranging flowers each day.

LONGING FOR WOMANHOOD

What Follows Emancipation?  

About the book of Marion E. Jacob

by Peter Fenkart

What is WOMANHOOD TODAY? 

For decades, women believed that the only way to establish their validity was to struggle to be equal to men. Today, the concern is to unfold woman’s natural sphere of action; to discover her womanhood.

This book invites both genders to ask the right questions in the search for the meaning of true womanhood.

- What defines womanhood? Why does our society undervalue it —other than that to which men like to allude with descriptive hand gestures?

- Why do we value predominantly male characteristics such as assertiveness, the desire to win over others, taking risks, and narrowly focusing on one point, instead of on interrelations? A direct consequence of this is the current state of our society, economy and environment.

- How can a woman use her inborn strengths to decisively help society meet today’s challenges?

Marion A. Jacob shows us that there is a significant dimension to womanhood beyond sex, eroticism and established gender roles. She also makes it clear that it is important for all of us to move towards understanding the significance of womanhood. The author gives a voice to women of different age groups and different places in society in form of recent interviews and conversations. In that, she succeeds in delineating a new understanding of a woman’s role: the unfolding of her womanly capabilities and powers.

More and more people feel this longing for womanhood. Allow yourself to become part of one of the greatest adventures of our time: the discovery of true womanhood!

The Author:

Dr. Marion E. Jacob studied philosophy, German language and literature studies, cultural sciences, Protestant theology, and pedagogics. Her Ph.D. dissertation was entitled “Grimm’s Fairy Tales in the Media”. After completing her studies, she worked as a free-lance documentary film maker, television presenter, and editor within the German public sector television system. She quickly rose to become the head of the Bavarian television network’s department ‘Culture and Family’. Eleven years later, she founded the “BlueBear Media” film production agency. She is married with the physicist Friedrich Jacob.

Today, Dr. Jacob is a writer, media consultant, personal trainer and a sought-after speaker on the subject of womanhood. The power of the media has always resided in the male domain. But Dr. Jacob is successfully standing her ground in this environment. In doing that, she has gained insight and understanding of the significance of womanhood as an invaluable quality - for both, women and men.