Onusa is an immersive museum that amplifies feminine ways of being and relating to ourselves, each other and the planet, using art and storytelling.
Women’s empowerment is a crucial aspect of healthy & prosperous societies. Educating girls and empowering women is one of the most high-impact and cost-effective ways for every nation on this planet to take positive action on climate change. Project Drawdown ranked educating girls as their number 6 solution for tackling climate change. When combined with voluntary family planning, it actually becomes the #1 solution.
According to The Hunger Project, the empowerment of women is also the most effective way to end the chronic persistence of hunger and poverty. Studies by the Center for Partnership Systems (CPS) of statistical data from 89 nations, demonstrate that when the status and power of women is greater in a society, so is its general quality of life and its long-term economic success.
Empowering women and girls could be the most powerful solution for building a safe and prosperous future for everyone on the planet.
Beyond the science and data, modern anthropologists, historians and spiritual leaders have increasingly been looking to the past, through women’s spirituality and the power of the female perspective, to find new visions for the future and solutions for the many painful crises we face in our modern world.
Female-oriented civilizations of the past had a profound respect and reverence for Nature, who was herself treated as a deity (the Great Mother). The suppression of these matrifocal societies where the feminine was revered and women were empowered, is linked to many of our modern social and environmental challenges. The collective repression of the feminine within us has led to the destruction of the original holism—the intimate interconnected principle by which our ancestors lived by and indigenous people still do—in favor of division and separation, the most devastating separation being the one we created with the planet.
The collective imbalance caused by the overemphasis on hyper-masculine ways of being in modern societies—the glorification of logic, power, accumulation and conquest—has alienated us from our inner feminine ways of knowing—intuition, nurture, fluidity, interdependence—types of wisdom that help us understand the interconnectedness of all things, and get into right relationship with each other and Nature.
Sources: 'The Great Cosmic Mother' (Barbara Mor & Monica Sjöö), 'Goddess Remembered' (Donna Read).
To shape the future that is needed in our world, we must bring into balance the feminine and the masculine, and empower feminine intelligence: the qualities of compassion, inclusivity, sensibility, deep listening, collaboration, interconnectedness and intuition. Feminine wisdom and intelligence have been suppressed for centuries and are desperately needed to address the critical issues we face in the world today.
Feminine intelligence is genderless—it lives within all of us, people of all gender identities and expressions. We all possess both masculine and feminine intelligence, and these two forms of innate wisdom want to be expressed within us, in balance. Feminine intelligence is a way of knowing and being that wants to nurture rather than destroy, regenerate rather than deplete. This intelligence can allow us to be responsible guardians of humanity, the planet and all life. It invites us to practice ways of being in the world that allow for a prosperous future for all. We need this whole-system intelligence which operates on radically different values from those reflected in our current system of domination, to restore integrity to our human and social systems.
Tuning into feminine intelligence also allows us to acknowledge the vital role that women play in any society. Women experience cycles and rhythms in their bodies, and hold the possibility of creating life within. Women’s perspectives are essential in shaping a future that works for all life. Listening to women and learning from their intimate connection with nature allows all of us to deepen our relationship with the Earth, and enter into right relationship with all life.
The conscious activation of feminine intelligence is essential for the future of humanity. Human and planetary healing depends on each one of us—women, men and all people— to reclaim our ancient innate feminine wisdom, individually and collectively, and rise to shape a new world, in harmony with all of creation.
Sources: FemmeQ.
Onusa is a space for all people to explore, practice, and embody qualities and principles of the feminine. It’s a space for people to come into connection with themselves, each other and the planet, through the practice of feminine ways of being. It’s a library and museum of women, womanhood and femininity.
Through the exploration of women from diverse histories, cultures and mythologies, and through the power of storytelling and art, Onusa offers a holistic and inclusive space for every person to connect with the power of feminine intelligence.
In the world of Onusa, you will often hear us refer to feminine archetypes, such as the Mother, the Queen, the Warrior, the Wild Woman, etc. Learn more about archetypes here.
Nour Tohmé is a Lebanese illustrator, multi-disciplinary artist, and experience designer. She is the creator of Draw Me a Song, an award-winning art project exploring the fusion between music, pop culture, visual arts, and feminine empowerment. Her work focuses on using art and creativity as tools for social change, and exploring the connections between art and holistic activism.
Onusa emerged out of Nour’s art around feminine empowerment, and further aims to amplify feminine intelligence and wisdom, using immersive art, transmedia storytelling, and experiential learning. Nour is currently working on expanding Onusa’s virtual and physical worlds, to create spaces of practice and education around feminine qualities and principles. These spaces aim to explore how art and experiential design can help shift culture and behaviors towards a more harmonious relationship with each other and the planet.