Category Archives: Ecopsychology

THE GREENING OF SOUL:CREATIVITY and THE WILD FEMININE

13 Thursday Jun 2019

Posted by in Baby Boomers, DIVINE FEMININE, Dreamtime, Eco-feminism, Ecopsychology, feminine power, Happiness, Jungian psychology, New Story, spiritual ecology, Uncategorized, Women and Leadership, women's leadership

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Did you not see that when your creative force turned to the world, how the dead things moved under it and through it, how they grew and prospered, and how your thoughts flowed in rich rivers? If your creative force now turns to the place of the soul, you will see how your soul becomes green and how its field bears wonderful fruit?                                                C.G. Jung, The Red Book

 

In yoga this week, we were doing a pose called “Parivrtta” something. (I looked it up: Parivrtta Paschimottanasana.) One leg is stretched straight out; the other folded at your thigh. Then you stretch sideways towards your toes with both arms. The goal, as I saw it, was about a foot and a half down the horizon to my toes. Hmm. Maybe with more effort and hard work, I’d get there this year. Or next. Then the teacher added: Now, I want you to think about receiving and not trying or pushing. Immediately I felt a softness, an expansion, and I flowed forward with ease all the way to those seemingly distant toes. No “work”. No “trying”. No “striving”. Just joyfully touching my toes.

The expansion with ease can seem magical, but it is really opening to Source. To infinite creativity. When we are aligned and open, we can grow into greatness. Each of us is a wild genius and you have everything you need already within. You are enough, perfectly designed and brilliantly destined to create in joy.

“Be wild; that is how to clear the river. The river does not flow in polluted, we manage that. The river does not dry up, we block it. If we want to allow it its freedom, we have to allow our ideational lives to be let loose, to stream, letting anything come, initially censoring nothing. That is creative life. It is made up of divine paradox. To create one must be willing to be stone stupid, to sit upon a throne on top of a jackass and spill rubies from one’s mouth. Then the river will flow, then we can stand in the stream of it raining down.”

Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estes

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Q: Are you consciously initiating change in your life or shrinking to fit an illusion of safety in your same old story? BE the change; don’t wait for it to wallop you from the outside. Neptune (dreams, intuition, unconditional love, mystic knowing) in Pisces is calling!

The best thing to do for the world is to become the fullest truest expression of you and go to the unknown. Love your life into being.

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Maybe you have had a dream that offers you some clues about how to get into the river of your life again. How to connect to your creativity, your joy, the sense of your life as adventure. Maybe you are stuck and missing a sense of vitality. Of direction. Of the joy of feeling your soul moving you.

I would love to help you unblock the river, and connect to the River underneath the river. I will be offering The Way of the Wild Feminine ecourse live online beginning July 17th. In the meantime, why not take a dip into the waters of your dreaming and take advantage of a greatly discounted consultation hour for only $97? Available for the next three days until Friday, June 14th, 5 pm. Send payment to PayPal address: drmsteele@gmail.com

Use that address also to contact me so we can schedule your hour consultation within the next 30 days.

In a dream of many years ago: I am in a line of Native American women dressed in fringed buckskin dresses, shells and turquoise, hiking down the steep, winding path to the great river. Each of us carries a bundle wrapped in cloth which we hold in front of us. When we reach the river after a long walk we watch the water for awhile, to find the right place to enter. Then each of us chooses one of the flat granite rocks, moving into the water to spread open our bundles on the stone surface. When we first unwrap them and lay everything on the rock, the different objects look a bit disorganized. Everyone has different objects in their bundles. Gradually we find an arrangement that fits, placing the objects in the sun on the flat rock. We do this to give thanks, to offer everything we have. But the most important part of the process is feeling our way to the placement on our own particular rock that has an echo, a resonance, a connection from the rock and the earth beneath the rock. This line of energy is also reflected in the sun to the sky. You set your things just so, in the right order, and they are lined up with the blue sky above and the brown rocks and water and sandy earth below. These are our offerings, our gifts, our thanks, now aligned with the energy beneath what is beneath the rocks, and above what is above the sky. This is an infinite source of divine energy. This is how we connect to our power and the map of our soul’s destiny.

Just as our bodies have energy meridians and an auric field, so does the Earth. There are places on Earth where the spiritual energy is especially strong, ley lines which are energy lines passing through sacred sites and places of power. The Big island of Hawaii is one of those places, an energy vortex similar to our body’s chakras and to acupuncture points. These sacred places can heal us, connect us to our deepest source of energy and creative flow.

But all of Earth has healing and creative energies available. It can help you now to spend some quiet time in the wild. Meditate. Dream. Go within, and let the energies from the Great Below connect you also to the star and planet energies of the Great Above that are influencing us right now. Particularly, jovial Jupiter in his home sign of Sagittarius opposes Neptune (intuition, dreams, source of mystery) in his home sign of Pisces. A propitious time for your spiritual inspiration and unconditional love to team up with the expansive, dynamic, confident and jovial Jupiter who brings abundance to whatever you focus on.

I would love to help you unblock the river, and connect to the River underneath the river. I will be offering The Way of the Wild Feminine e~course live online beginning July 17th. In the meantime, why not take a dip into the waters of your dreaming and take advantage of a greatly discounted consultation hour for only $97? Available for the next three days until Friday, June 14th, 5 pm. Send payment to PayPal address: drmsteele@gmail.com

Use that address also to contact me so we can schedule your hour consultation within the next 30 days.

If you are creatively engaged, you will be happy. Discern what is true for you- what you carry in your bundle- and let the illusions, false teachers, fake news, cookie-cutter programs, go. Focus on connecting the deep truth and magic of you to the inexhaustible source of divine energy.

I would love to live
Like a river flows,
Carried by the surprise
Of its own unfolding.

John O’Donohue

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Master your creative power with ease and flow. Don’t focus on the obstacle, the limitations of your current situation, the seeming insoluble problem in your path. Get to the river. It is still and always flowing. Know yourself to be a creator with a divine power to manifest, and wake up fully to this moment.

As above, so below, as within, so without, as the Universe so the soul. Hermes Trismegistus

Adjust your vision to what you love to do. Look within. How might you get into the flow again. Pay attention to your happiness your joy. Jupiter expands what you focus on.

Make a vow to be brilliant in your chosen work. Grow yourself into greatness by stripping away false beliefs, illusions, distractions and drama. Love your life into being. Use joy as your navigator in the river of life.

 

“When you do things from your soul, you feel a river moving in you, a joy.”                                          Rumi

 

 

 

YOU BELONG TO THE STARS:TAKE WHAT IS YOURS AND LIVE IT

10 Thursday Jan 2019

Posted by in Capricorn 2019, DIVINE FEMININE, Eco-feminism, Ecopsychology, feminine power, Jungian psychology, New Story, New Year 2019, Uncategorized, Women and Leadership, women's leadership

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Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?   Mary Oliver

There’s a secret name inside you

That belongs to the stars

Wind, trees, waves, soul

Take what is yours and live it.

                                                Veronica Goodchild, Songlines for the Soul

 

 

daefd436b2eae106b1dde31b70fe288b.jpg2019 is a Universal “3” year. Three is the archetypal number of the Wild Feminine: Creative. Dynamic. Playful. A transformational catalyst and changemaker. This the year to bring your dreams, your vision down to earth and give them your whole hearted commitment. The next two weeks the portal is still open to use these energies for seeding your intentions sourced in your wild heart. This is your year to use and build on all you have learned, let go of, triumphed over.

Something was initiated this past weekend. A fateful connection? An epiphany about who you truly are? A revelation of your soul destiny? Or the shadows of your fear about claiming your power?

To be strong does not mean to sprout muscles and flex. It means meeting one’s own numinosity without fleeing, actively living with the wild nature in one’s own way. It means to be able to learn, to be able to stand what we know. It means to stand and to live.

                                                                        Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estes

Last weekend’s Capricorn New Moon and solar eclipse energized a paradigm shift, a pivot point in our lives. They bring a call to action. Eclipses are thresholds to destiny: Closing and completing some old story and initiating a major transformational shift in our consciousness, our dreams and desires.

You are encouraged to step out and take the lead. To be responsible for building your dreams.

Match your dreams and goals with a commitment, a plan, to actualize them. Decide what you will and will not do. Although it is often characterized as a rather stern, strict, controlling fatherly disciplinarian, the steadfast sacred Capricorn Goat is the wise elder, the Council of Grandmothers holding space for wise, compassionate governance. The Council of Grandmothers is one expression of the Capricorn archetype of The Great Turning that Joanna Macy speaks about. They are the teachers, as Capricorn ruled by the Lord of Time Saturn, bringing past, present and future together to care for the next seven generations.

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This will be a year of exploration, adventure, and action, building new structures and foundations. The new moon/solar eclipse January 5-6 is a pivot point -very possibly an initiatory change and paradigm shift for you.

Capricorn rules the tenth house in your astrological chart, the house of public image, achievement, your work in the world.

Capricorn is steadfast. Ambitious. Disciplined. Focused. Agile and aware. As the goat moves up steep and sometimes treacherous slopes to the mountaintop, she takes small, sure steps. Persevere. Don’t worry about taking big leaps. But do seed your intentions, begin to build the structures, systems, foundations that will support your vision flourishing.

The last 8 years have been preparing you for this moment, as we all prepare for 2020 – a convergence of planets not seen for five hundred years. Big change is afoot. Do you need a new name? Are you ready to allow yourself to accept the mantle of your Great Work and get whatever help you need to bring it to life? Get your heart energized by what you love, how you love to live. The greatest manifesting energy is not in your brain but in the deep intelligence and exceptional power of your heart. In both ancient indigenous wisdom and modern science, the heart is the most knowing part of us. “Listen with the ears of your heart” (as a dream deer once told me) to find your story and dream to make this world more beautiful. To help to create a world in which it is easier to love.

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Are you a PrimeTime woman (50+) a visionary entrepreneur, a transformational leader or aspiring leader who yearns for greater access to your feminine power, your Wild Feminine soul, and a path to bring your wild wisdom into the world?

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(Art: Puu’wai by Francene Hart)

If you are ready to choose more aliveness, freedom and power – If you are committed to putting soul first in your plans for 2019 -Contact me at drmsteele@gmail.com to book a complimentary 20 minute session to explore the promises of The Wayfinder’s Journey offered to a few private clients and to groups in 6 week classes or a 6 month mentoring program beginning in February 2019.

Redefine power. Revision success. Reclaim joy.

Now it is time to identify and bring your original medicine into the open.

This can be a major turning point if you’re ready to make a big change. Perhaps adjust your vision. But choose freedom, aliveness, power.

Join the imaginal with the material world. Bring your dreams and visions down to Earth.

 If there is to be a change, it will come from us. Right here, where we stand. Women were

always the story-givers, the memory keepers, the dreamers. Listen now to the land’s long

dreaming. Do you see what it is dreaming? It’s dreaming you.”

  •                Sharon Blackie, If Women Rose Rooted

Reset. Reboot. Make a commitment to show up in a different way. To shine as you are. Unapologetic. Not ashamed. Boldly certain of where you stand, and what you stand for. Don’t diminish yourself or play small. As 2018 was a year of much inner work, descents, reviewing, possibly the blocking of your outer plans, 2019 will be a year of creativity, courage, collaboration and heart centered expression. It is important to have a clear and focused plan. For a jumpstart on learning how to marry your vision to a grounded plan, contact me for a complimentary 20 minute session drmsteele@gmail.com. We will focus on celebrating your old story, strengthening your feminine powers, calling on your dreams, finding a path to align with the call of your wild soul. Are you ready to claim a new name?

Root yourself in the nurturance of your heart and to come home to yourself. You are now at a crossroads, and it’s time to accept your beauty, your power, in following your heart.

This is your time for Mastery.

Expect yourself to succeed.

Trust that you are capable.

Something new will be birthed in 2020 , a convergence of planets that happens once every five hundred years – but is coming into view, into manifestation now. It’s time to get serious and more disciplined as you commit to placing your personal stamp on the world. Something that will endure. Your legacy. There is an opportunity to harness your imagination to enhance and accelerate the production of your Great Work.

Uranus is back in Aries for 3 more months (until March 2019). This is your last chance for the next 84 years to take advantage of Uranus (the Great Awakener and revolutionary energy) in Aries energy.

You are meant to be lit up with the fire of your heart. Accept who you are at a soul level. Enlist the help of your inner shaman, your wild and wise heart, to nurture you. Find a mentor. Join a sisterhood community. Walk your true, destined path and name your spiritual destiny. “This is how I am meant to be. This is how I am meant to serve.” Share what is profoundly true from the root of what matters to your heart. Make a promise: Now I use it. Now I take this to heart. This is who I am. This is my Divine mission, my soul assignment. I accept.

 

 

 

 

 

 

2019: FIND YOUR VISION, YOUR VOICE, YOUR VALOR, YOUR VALUE

02 Wednesday Jan 2019

Posted by in DIVINE FEMININE, Dreamtime, Eco-feminism, Ecopsychology, feminine power, Jungian psychology, New Story, New Year 2019, solar eclipse, spiritual ecology, Uncategorized, Women and Leadership, women's leadership

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“For last year’s words belong to last year’s language, And next year’s words await another voice.”                    T. S. Eliot Four Quartets

This is a critical moment in our history and in the evolution of consciousness for women’s voices to be heard. I think this is going to be a year of power and beauty for the awakening woman, the visionary entrepreneur, the healer, creative, Dreamer; the transformational leader and aspiring leader.

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2019 ushers in new beginnings, like every New Year, but this one is especially potent for a fresh start in career and leadership. For example: let’s celebrate the fierce hope that a new Congress in the United States brings, with an historic 126 women of diverse ethnicities, religions, races seated. The image above Rainbow Boat of Women speaks to the Wild Women Wayfinders who are the dreamers of a New Story, the pioneers and pilgrims, the midwives to the evolution of consciousness, the beauty and power of the emerging possible.

2019 is the year to face the truth about who you really are and make a bid for freedom. Get something done. The 2019 New Year will begin with some powerful aspects as the Sun conjunct Saturn in Capricorn will beckon you to devote to your purpose and aim for achievement. Jupiter in expansive Sagittarius encourages use to go big on our vision and aspirations. To add to the fire, Mars will come home to Aries giving us the impulse to take action on our goals.

You are encouraged to step out and take the lead. To be responsible for building your dreams. The steadfast sacred Capricorn Goat is the wise elder, viewing life from the mountain tops and seeing all as it truly is.

If you have been wanting to try something new, this is the time to try it. Your intuition is strong. You can make big decisions and make use of opportunities.

Today (January 1) Mars enters Aries giving us the courage, the inner fire, to take action, to move. This will be a year of exploration, adventure, and action, building new structures and foundations. In a week (January 6) will be a pivot point -very possibly an initiatory change and paradigm shift for you -as the new moon in Capricorn and a solar eclipse urge us to let go of the old story that isn’t working and take clear, focused action on our soul assignment. Capricorn rules the tenth house in your astrological chart, the house of public images and one’s work in the world. Although it is often characterized as a rather stern, strict, controlling fatherly disciplinarian, Capricorn as Sea Goat is a beautiful blend of earthy, grounded, practical energies with sensitive, creative and magical qualities too. Governed by Saturn, Lord of Time (who also rules Aquarius), Capricorn is concerned with maturity, boundaries, stability and structure. A holding place for governance. Evolutionary astrologer Daniel Giamario calls Capricorn “The Council of Grandmothers”. As the centuries-old Native American prophecy predicted, “When the Grandmothers from the four directions come to speak, a new time is coming.” In 2004, a group of thirteen international women leaders did come together forming the first International Council of Grandmothers. This was the manifestation of a big vision that spiritual teacher and storyteller Jyoti had, which matched the dreaming of other women. Without knowing how she and her partner would make this happen, it did.

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Reset. Reboot. Make a commitment to show up in a different way. To shine as you are. Unapologetic. Not ashamed. Boldly certain of where you stand, and what you stand for. Don’t diminish yourself or play small. Uranus stations direct in Aries before going into Taurus, lending great momentum and motivation to your desires to succeed. As 2018 was a year of much inner work, descents, reviewing, possibly the blocking of your outer plans, 2019 will be a year of creativity, courage, collaboration and heart centered expression. It is important to have a clear and focused plan. For a jumpstart on learning how to marry your vision to a grounded plan, contact me for a complimentary 20 minute session drmsteele@gmail.com. We will focus on celebrating your old story, strengthening your feminine powers, calling on your dreams, finding a path to align with the call of your wild soul. Are you ready to claim a new name?

The Circle of Grandmothers is one expression of the Capricorn archetype of The Great Turning that Joanna Macy speaks about. They are the teachers bringing past, present and future together to care for the next seven generations.

The dreams and visions coming to us now allow us to come alive again, to a new story of consciousness. This year urges us to build with great courage, creativity and cooperation the structures which will enable the new story to grow and flourish. Some of these desires and dreams were seeded eight years ago. You are being called to play your part in the global shift of consciousness as we awaken and remember who we truly are. We are the midwives of the new story. We carry the promise of the emerging possible. But this takes planning. Sourced in deep feminine wisdom, values and vision, there is a world trying to be born. The larger ecology of Becoming emerges from awakened feminine power. Recover a sense of beauty. Reclaim joy. Revision success. Redefine power. Bring your unique talents, your soul gifts, your powerful medicine to this New Year of creativity, courage, and collaboration.

As Mars moves into Aries bringing passion, assertiveness, drive and a pioneering spirit, this is an excellent time to use your courage and daring on a focused, strategic plan for your new story. Look forward to 2019 to bring new order to your life. To root yourself in the nurturance of your heart and to come home to yourself. You are now at a crossroads, and it’s time to make a commitment.

“The wild soul is calling out, calling for us to sing our song as the new myth breaks through, calling for new vision, for new creations, for the embodiment of subtle knowledge, centered in the compassionate heart.” Veronica Goodchild PhD

This is an auspicious time for a mentor and I would be honored to explore that possibility with you. Contact me at drmsteele@gmail.com to schedule a complimentary 20 minute session via telephone, Skype or Zoom.

This is your time for Mastery.

Expect yourself to succeed.

Trust that you are capable.

Something new will be birthed in 2020 but is coming into view, into manifestation now. It’s time to get serious and more disciplined as you commit to placing your personal stamp on the world. Something that will endure. Your legacy. There is an opportunity to harness your imagination to enhance and accelerate the production of your Great Work.

Uranus moves back into Aries for 4 more months (until March 2019). This is your last chance for the next 84 years to take advantage of Uranus (the Great Awakener and revolutionary energy) in Aries energy.

What allows you to feel free? With gratitude, honor your growth this year. You can have a brand new life. Fully expressed. In joy. We are catalysts. Changemakers. The carriers of the emerging possible. You are meant to be lit up with the fire of your heart. Accept who you are at a soul level. Enlist the help of your inner shaman, your inner warrior, to nurture you. Find a mentor. Join a sisterhood community. Walk your true, destined path and name your spiritual destiny. “This is how I am meant to be. This is how I am meant to serve.” Share what is profoundly true from the root of what matters to your heart. Make a promise: Now I use it. Now I take this to heart. This is who I am. This is my Divine mission, my soul assignment. I accept.

“There’s a secret name inside you/that belongs to the stars/wind, trees, waves, soul/Take what is yours and live it.”

                                                 Veronica Goodchild -Songlines for the Soul

 

 

 

HEAL YOUR FEMININE WOUNDS, RIDE THE RISING TIDE OF POWER

19 Monday Mar 2018

Posted by in Baby Boomers, DIVINE FEMININE, Eco-feminism, Ecopsychology, feminine power, Feminism, Happiness, Jungian psychology, Uncategorized, women's leadership

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“When anxious, uneasy and bad thoughts come, I go to the sea, and the sea drowns them out with its great wide sounds, cleanses me with its noise and imposes a rhythm upon everything in me that is bewildered and confused.” Rilke

“The cure for anything is salt water: sweat, tears, or the sea.” Isak Dinesen

The Pisces new moon of March 17, 2018, is a healing moon, revealing much that needs to be completed and released.This healing and completing new moon closely conjuncts Chiron, the wounded healer, which reveals and heals the wound of separation from Source, from each other, from our wild, whole and holy selves. The New Moon conjunct Chiron exposes your deepest wounds. Chiron is wrapping up his transit through Pisces (February 2011) so it would be beneficial to look for indicators of your healing journey since then. Chiron is an instrument of healing through art, or your compassion in helping others. You have been gathering riches and resources of soul.

Jupiter in Scorpio has sent us to the depths of our collective psyche, into dark realms we might have been avoiding for years and would prefer not to visit! We are helped to have courage to face difficult issues which were hidden or ignored until now. Face the truth. Free yourself from fear and other binding emotions and beliefs holding you captive. You are capable of navigating this darkness with more skill and strength than ever.

Our collective attention is focused on the current patriarchal rot of corrupt and cruel power. But we are not only witnesses. We are visionaries and agents of change, bringing the healing power of right action, balance, using power to protect, preserve, life.

 Slow down. Reflect. Have compassion for yourself and others. There is the potential for great healing now. If you are feeling the pain of an old, old wound, open your heart. Be aware we are all together, in oceanic oneness, swept up in an ongoing process of personal and collective evolution. Challenged mightily to surrender the old story. Let it wash away to make space for the new. Accept and allow.

If you feel you are slogging around in soggy, damp, emotional ground, be aware of the fertile soil for new beginnings. There is every opportunity and many allies for the healing now of very old wounds, or those sufferings perhaps ignored for the last seven years. Allow and accept the tides, the waves of feeling, to wash over and through you. You will soon be spurred on to take action for your success.

This is a good time to break away from a job that does not bring you happiness and success, or relationships that squash your self expression and freedom. Go inward. Trust your instincts. The wounds not yet healed are revealed and brought up for transformation. The challenge is to face them while embracing and celebrating all you have been through. What you have learned. How brave and strong you have become.

“Take stock of what you have achieved. Celebrate the completion of tasks. Be joyful. Ask for guidance. Build community. And make sure you don’t ignore the gifts you’ve been given or refuse help when offered.” (Donna Woodwell, Donna Philosophica)

 As events of this new moon unfold, accept this may be a vulnerable and painful time. Nurture yourself. Ask:

        ~What small step do I need to take next?

         ~What milestone in my life can I celebrate?

~What difficulties, obstacles, suffering have I managed to surmount, overcome, endure?

          ~What gifts and lessons am I grateful for?

          ~What seeds can I feel pushing through to be cultivated?

 In a paradox of surrender (accept and allow) and taking action, we trust that we are being directed to the truest, most expanded version of ourselves. Focus on your most deeply held ideals, what you want for the long term.

Here is the opening to take a deep dive into the deeper intelligence permeating all life. Perhaps you are learning to breathe underwater. This is a very good time to sink into your Dreaming, to go inward. If you would like some assistance navigating, breathing underwater, exploring the deep water, reading the tides, call or write: drmsteele@gmail.com, 510-540-0777 for a complimentary 20 minute discovery session.

Surrender your burdens knowing that you are held by the limitless ocean of possibilities. Feel the compassion and acceptance of what is. Forgive yourself. Forgive others. So much is being offered for your awakening and healing.

Chiron has been in the Feminine water sign of Pisces for seven years, facilitating the healing of women. As individuals reveal the secrets of their victimization, the repression of the Feminine for millennia, wholeness – holiness – is restored. The Feminine wounds have been revealed, awakened, heard and seen. They are being healed. And a powerful reconciliation of feminine and masculine energies is powerfully underway.

On Tuesday, the Spring Equinox, light and dark will be balanced. Persephone will rise from the underworld. And Aries begins the new year of the zodiac, bringing the fire of action to our new beginnings. The Sabian symbol for this day: A woman just risen from the sea. A seal is embracing her.

 Maybe this is a Selkie (according to Celtic mythology), bringing her back the skin of her power and magic. Are you ready to reclaim the stolen skin of your power and magic?

 

TAKE OFF YOUR MASK! STEP INTO FEMININE POWER, MAGIC, MYSTERY

03 Wednesday Jan 2018

Posted by in Cancer Super Moon, DIVINE FEMININE, Dreamtime, Eco-feminism, Ecopsychology, feminine power, Goddess, Jungian psychology, New Year 2018, Shamanic dreaming, spiritual ecology, Uncategorized, Women and Leadership

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[Art: “Mother of the World” Nicholas Roenich]

 

“And now we welcome the new year, full of things that have never been”

                                                      Rainer Maria Rilke

Take off your mask. Come home to yourself.

 2018 will be a year of alchemical transformation. It is an 11 universal year in numerology, master number of new beginnings. It is also the vibration of creation and partnerships. Step up. Expand beyond what you thought was possible. There will be increased synchronicities, miracles, the possibility for fulfillment of your destiny. As we move into the Aquarian Age, we enter the mystery as a huge shift begins in the world. Pushing the restart button, get ready for liberation and illumination. Now is the moment. Focus.

This super moon in Cancer, the Full Wolf Moon, brings to light just what needs to end, transform or shift in some radical way in the structures, foundations and old stories that keep playing out in your life. This is true on both personal and collective levels. This Full Wolf Moon will throw you into the heart of mystery of your purpose with radical shifts. Use the energies of this Cancer moon to get over your fears by filling yourself with unconditional love. Mature into your purpose, taking responsibility for your feminine power and sovereignty. Conjunct to the full moon was Black Moon Lilith, and Eris, two fierce feminine warriors who are fed up with  being ignored.

Saturn moved into Capricorn at Winter Solstice December 19. At the Galactic Center, the vast black hole in the middle of the Milky Way, we see into holy darkness. The womb of creation. The place where stars are born. And new stories are birthed. What did you seed at Solstice?

 The future cannot be controlled but it can be created. It may feel like we are being sucked into a vortex of destructive economic, political and environmental news. But we are birthing a new story. It is important to tell ourselves, repeatedly, that we have the strength to succeed. We are the ancestors of the future.

Saturn is tough but bestows true authority and the power to make change on this planet and in our lives. He means serious business, an initiation into our own authority, responsibility. Like the Hawaiian word for responsibility – kuleana– this is not just about “duty” but the privilege and blessing of being given a sacred task, the blessing of your gifts, your healed wounds, to accomplish it. Now it seems to me Ho’okuleana is even more important: the shared and collective responsibility to heal ourselves and care for our world kin and the planet.

There is great energy to ground your vision, focus, build a structure to support you, boundaries to protect you. Saturn is the master of time. Stay steadfast in serving what holds you to your greatest good.

Are you ready to act? Saturn rules social structures, communal life, government, financial systems. Via Cathy Pagano [http://www.wisdom-of-astrology.com/public/page/blog?i=2] and Daniel Giamanio, some ancient cultures saw Capricorn as a Council of Grandmothers who shared their wisdom for the common good. This is the wisdom of the earth and of the body. The last time Saturn was in Capricorn was 1988-89. What were you doing then? What have you learned?

In a current online course Kaypacha(http://newparadigmastrology.com/kaypacha/) “Getting Stronger with Saturn” we learn how Saturn allows us to claim our sovereignty, own our authority, by insisting we honor the boundaries, borders, structures of time and the real limitations of third dimension time and space.

Find home within your inner Mother, nurture yourself and your dearest creative babies. Capricorn and Saturn are excellent at structuring and stabilizing your visions and goals.

Saturn is also the planet of synthesis, helping us to put it all together in alignment with our soul’s destiny. Define yourself. Time is limited. What has been deconstructed over the last few years is ready to be reconstructed, renewed. Get it done. Saturn asks of us to come into correct alignment with our soul’s purpose, to stretch towards the Goddess as she is reaching for us. He is the Magician. This could be a very creative time for you.

I especially love helping midlife, Baby Boomer, Primetime women 50+on the journey toward Reinvention. Renewal. A journey to discover your legacy and leadership. This could be the most meaningful chapter of your life! And the world needs you. Perhaps you have felt ashamed of your dreams and wishes, and hidden your power. Time to let that go. Open to the initiation of your authentic authority. Learn to trust your intuition, your instincts, your visions. Build a foundation and framework especially in relationship to the world. You have the maturity now to dedicate yourself to this journey. First, a deconstruction. Deconditioning to your previous reality. Perhaps you need a radical new perspective, a reconditioning, a restructuring. Step outside of the old story, the old rules. Redefine power, revision success, and reclaim joy.

As this is such a month for imagination, tapping into your enthusiasm and creativity, why don’t you join me in person (Bay Area, California) or via Skype for a consultation? Find your joie de vivre. A new initiative is ready to begin. Let’s map it out and prepare to implement and manifest . A call to action is emerging from the Universe, calling you to freedom.

 

 

 

 

 

 

THE GREAT AMERICAN SOLAR ECLIPSE: A CALL TO QUEENSHIP

20 Sunday Aug 2017

Posted by in American history, DIVINE FEMININE, Dreamtime, Eco-feminism, Ecopsychology, Jungian psychology, Shamanic dreaming, solar eclipse, spiritual ecology, Uncategorized, Women and Leadership

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The wind is roaring through the trees here in Marin County, the sun alternating between brightness and clouded. It already feels eerie and anticipatory for tomorrow’s cosmic event. It will be a psychic event as well, a time of completions and new beginnings. Imagine what is possible. And I must add, as I sit at Peet’s cafe, typing, that “The Age of Aquarius” by the Fifth Dimension is playing. Magic is afoot!

The solar eclipse that will happen tomorrow is called the Great American solar eclipse. It is the first total eclipse whose path is entirely within the United States since the birth of our country in 1776. It is the first time in 99 years it will be visible across the entire country. And yes, you may have heard it has a direct impact on the current President’s natal astrological chart. We do not know exactly what the effects will be. (I imagine he will be gone by October). The shadow of leadership has fallen on our country. The original sin of our country’s founding, our genocidal history with Native peoples, with slavery and festering racism, with the exclusion, fear and hatred of women, has been revealed. It is not just the character of one man. It is the original sin at the roots of our country.

What then are we called to do? Because this solar eclipse is in the sign of Leo, under the fixed star Regulus “the heart of the lion”, it is a call to reclaim our authority, sovereignty, dignity and courage to lead from the heart of hope. To bring our original medicine into ascendence for healing, wholeness, beyond dualities and conflict. It is a wake up call to work together, as “We, the People”, to create a more perfect union. To bring our heart’s hope into the future we imagine is possible. It is happening. It just happened in Boston, in the heartfelt responses and growing courage of leaders after the Charlottesville tragedy.

In the horrifying events of Charlottesville, and the equally horrifying responses of our American President, the shadow of American history is exposed at its very roots. The shadow of our original sin. In response, we bring our original medicine. There is an alignment in this eclipse with the fixed star Regulus, the brightest star in the constellation –the heart of the lion. Regulus moved into Virgo in 2012. The virgin Queen. The feminine ruler. This is the energy of the Goddess available to us now.

 Beginning in 2012, and resonant with the prophecies of Native American and other indigenous cultures, the star of leadership is shifting to the Feminine. Awaken your royal heart and be bold, courageous. This is a time of quickening, of acceleration. Everything is up for review (Mercury in retrograde). Release all that is not essential. Honor the old beliefs, the wounds, the old story, but hold to what you love. Be fierce as a mama lion for all of that. Especially release the old story of duality and conflict, played out in such ugly ways in current events. Feel empowered by being in the field of unity, oneness, the flow of change and transformation. How fiercely can you love?

The Sabian symbol for this Leo new moon is: A mermaid emerges from the ocean waves ready to take on human form. This is the divine Feminine rising from the collective unconscious, ready to manifest in visible and fully conscious form.The Sabian symbols came to clairvoyant Elsie Wheeler in 1925 and were transcribed by Marc Edmund Jones. They are symbols for the meaning of each degree of the zodiac. Popularized later by astrologer/philosopher/composer Dane Rudhyar who integrated Jungian depth psychology, Western and Eastern philosophies with astrology in his book An Astrological Mandala: The cycle of Transformations and Its 360 Symbolic Phases.  

In a dream this week, I saw another image that speaks to the current situation: There is a group of us women in a circle, holding scripts for a new screenplay or script which is being written. I call a dream teacher to invite her to join us and am surprised when a particular Jungian analyst answers. I didn’t realize she was interested in the role of the rising Feminine, although I know her to be a strong dreamer. I recover from my surprise, remembering her dream of a powerful, mystical healing which came through chanting with the ocean. I tell her I am good at seeing the patterns, the context, the myth beneath the personal stories. In my dream, the theater we are going to use is just emptying out. Row after row of old white men are filing out towards the front, to the side of the stage. We only see them from the back. Balding gray haired men. We come in with enthusiasm, chattering away, to work on our screenplay or our script, each carrying a piece of the story. Or perhaps each with her own story, which will become the script or the screenplay. We are not on the stage yet. But we have filled the theater. We are almost ready to start rehearsing our parts, our lines. Maybe we are ready for at least a read through.

 [Lion with flowers art: Sally Barlow at Makaio Design. By permission]

How to find your original medicine? Your wild genius? What you have to offer for these times, to create a future in which it will be easier to love? What is the unique ability or talent, the gift you came here to give? As “original medicine” is a concept from indigenous cultures, I like to recall one of the meanings of indigenous: “born from within. This is how you locate your original medicine. Go inward and really claim your own sovereignty. The power you want to rule with. The values you want to live by and bring to the world. Bring your original medicine to this revealed blackness of original sin in the United States. Crown yourself Queen. Each unique creation, invention, expression of our being is essential and irreplaceable. Own your story. Share it. Make it part of the new story we are readying for the big screen, the big stage. Show up. Be visible, be heard. Discover the key and the core of your personal power. It is found by following the compass of your heart.

The solar eclipse erases the old story. Dissolves into the unity of the hieros gamos – sacred marriage of King and Queen. Claim your Queenship. What is it to wear a crown (see the corona of the sun just visible) Make peace with the old. Then shine with your true enthusiasm (filled with the divine – en theos) and imagine the possible. In my dream of the women entering the theater with their scripts, I almost forgot this dream voice, perhaps the stage director, who cautions: ”Steady. Steady”.

The effects of your intentions set now will be felt for the next 6 months to two years.Do not lose heart. Do not flip into despair with each demented tweet you hear. Keep your heart open to the light which is available to you now, open your heart, and shine that into the possible and emerging future. Hold that higher vibration. Hold steady, steady to what beautiful future you can imagine, “a world in which it will be easier to love”.

SEEING IN THE DARK: FIND YOUR WILD MEDICINE

18 Tuesday Jul 2017

Posted by in Book, DIVINE FEMININE, Eco-feminism, Ecopsychology, Jungian psychology, spiritual ecology, Uncategorized, Women and Leadership

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Yesterday I visited a favorite “soul’s place of resurrection”, hiking the Tennessee Valley trail in Marin County to the beach. Author Sharon Blackie defines such a place as one where a soul is happiest on earth and, at the same time, most in touch with all that is eternal. It was a magical, breathtaking clear sky day where I watched a blue heron stand poised, present, patient at the edge of the blackwater pond spotted with bright green islands of plants. The water broke and rippled as an otter, sleek and shiny, playfully surfaced and dove over and over again in joy. At the beach, strings of brown pelicans streamed across the water along with smaller black seabirds and sharp winged white birds which just skimmed the waves, chittering and chirping. On the way back, a black snake slithered across my path and into the grass. What gifts did I carry home with me? Peace and joy, certainly. Hope. The example of dignity, determination, grace, balance, standing steady as heron waited for just the right opportunity to plunge. The reminder to play, have fun, be curious like otter. And of course Snake. Ancient wisdom, transformation, the weaving path of the wild and sacred Feminine. So many messengers on the path showing “This way, this way.”

As I continue to write on the theme of seeing in the dark, finding your wild medicine, I want to begin sending you resources – books and teachers, mostly – which give such beautiful and profound stories of reclaiming feminine wisdom and power.

Sharon Blackie, a psychologist, storyteller and writer, has written a mythic, poetic and revolutionary book If Women Rose Rooted: The Power of Celtic Women (2016) September Publishing. Click here Winner of a Nautilus award, it is a eco-heroine’s journey and a reclaiming of the power of women rooted in the land, their own indigenous wild wisdom, their forgotten stories. Although Dr. Blackie is Scottish and Irish, the stories much like Clarissa Pinkola Estes stories will resonate with women across many cultures. It is also a call to every woman to reclaim the powerful stories from her own ancestors, and the land to which she belongs, so that she might revision the world. She is singing to the creators of a new myth by telling the rocky truths about her own weaving journey to find her place of belonging. She accurately and painfully names the wasteland we now live in and passionately resurrects the moral and spiritual authority women have always had and must now reclaim if we are to regenerate this planet and our own wild souls.

Before we can change the world we need to change the stories we tell to ourselves, about ourselves, about who we are. The stories we live. My eye tends to be on the collective dreams that are emerging from women weaving a new myth, a shared dream, and these Celtic stories of “the wise, the powerful, the strong, the brave” do the same.

“If women remember that once upon a time we sang with the tongues of seals and flew with the wings of swans, that we forged our own paths through the dark forest while creating a community of its many inhabitants, then we will rise up rooted, like trees…well then, women might indeed save not only ourselves but the world.” 

Blackie quotes Okanagan writer Jeanette Armstrong who explains the word for ourselves is actually “ones who are dream and land together”. Before anything else, we are living, dreaming Earth pieces. When we stand in our feminine power, we are reclaiming the power of the Earth speaking.

“If there is to be a change, it will come from us. Right here, where we stand. Women were always the story-givers, the memory keepers, the dreamers. Listen now to the land’s long dreaming. Do you see what it is dreaming? It’s dreaming you.” (Blackie)

What do you see in the world right now that needs your unique wild medicine?

What  dreams, synchronicities, sightings, seem to be calling you into a new story?

How does fear stop you at the threshold?

Are you ready to accept help, from allies and mentors, animal, spirits, ancestors, to reclaim your feminine power?

To become Elder, as Blackie describes,  is to become strong- strong as the old white bones of the earth, strong enough to endure and persevere. To become Elder is to hold the power, stay the course. Above all to become Elder is “to become the the wise woman: the one who knows the secrets and speaks the languages of the land, who speaks with the moral authority of the Otherworld, who weaves the dreaming of the world.”

So many of our stories, our journeys are like Sharon Blackies: losing and rediscovering our feminine powers, then finding way to use it in service to what we care about most. We bring a different kind of power: Relational. Collaborative. Connecting. Embodied. Magical. Including our intuition, our dreams, navigating by synchronicity. This unique form and expression of power is the deep feminine. It has to do with womb power, creativity, birth giving, connecting to and being devoted to the Earth, the cycle of seasons, spiritual guidance from the Otherworld. As Marion Woodman said of the crone, contradicting the cultural myth of an older woman’s invisibility: “She is not withdrawn. She is alarmingly present. Like a tuning fork her truth shatters hypocrisy. Others in her presence are released into what’s true in themselves…or flee.”

How do we attune to the new myth? It is very difficult being between stories, carrying a piece of “what is to come.”  Because we are not only Earth of course but cosmos. We belong to the stars. What might be coming? We are living through a time of extreme contrast, when the dying and death dealing old story is for a moment all around us. But we are dreaming our way to a new story. Drawing a map that begins in our hearts, and takes us to the bones of a new foundation.

“The things that women reclaim are often their own voice, their own values, their imagination, their clairvoyance, their stories, their ancient memories. If we go for the deeper and the darker, the less known, we will touch the bones.” Clarissa Pinkola Estes

Have you found your way to the bones, the bedrock of your soul truth? Are you standing rooted in the dream of your wild heart?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

FALLING: FINDING YOUR WILD HEART IS THE KEY

12 Monday Jun 2017

Posted by in DIVINE FEMININE, Dreamtime, Eco-feminism, Ecopsychology, Jungian psychology, Shamanic dreaming, Uncategorized, Women and Leadership

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On Friday night we had a Full Rose Moon, or Strawberry Moon, named by the Algonquin tribes as the season to gather the ripened fruit. What are you harvesting at this time in your life? Is it sweet? Does it feed you?

 Sunset in the ethereal waves:

I cannot tell if the day is ending, or the world, or if

The secret of secrets is inside me again.

                           Anna Akhmatova (trans Jane Kenyon)

 There is much to distract us, to disturb us, to distress us in the world today. Yet there are also beautiful, brave, bold new energies and creations emerging like strings of strawberries from the dirt. This is a time for us to define, refine, sift through what our heart’s mission and soul purpose really is. Like sifting nutrients from the mud as  Flamingo does, we can gather the sweetness and the essence of our truth to partner with others in our tribe for a new story. We must let go of our old stories, anything that is superfluous, and speak the truth.

 When order crumbles, mystery rises. (John Shea)

 Breaking free from an old story can be abrupt, as I found out recently.Sometimes, by falling, we may have to shed all that is not essential to our wild souls to get to the heart of what is trying to be born. At least that is what happened to me, when I collapsed on the sidewalk in front of the restaurant Chow in Lafayette.

Feeling a little nauseous after lunch – perhaps it was the coconut milk chai latte? The earlier political discussion about the firing of FBI Director Comey as I jogged around the reservoir? The poaching of rhinos? Not knowing where we were moving in three weeks? -I had gone to my car to rest on the reclined driver’s seat. But as the nausea subsided, I began to feel dizzy. Black spots spread rapidly across my field of vision. I had just enough time to grab my keys and open the car door, calling to a woman nearby talking on her iPhone. “Excuse me, excuse me, I need he..” then slid to the concrete with keys in hand.  Splayed on my back like a stranded starfish. I hear my keys hit the concrete. For the next 20 minutes or so I could hear people around me, trying to help. I could not make a sound nor open my eyes. A man picks up my wrist. Then lets it go and it falls to the ground. “Does she have a pulse?” “Yes but it’s weak.” “Is she breathing? Is it agonal breathing? Does she have alcohol on her breath?” That annoyed me. But for the vast stretch of time there was only stillness. Silence within. No stories. No opinions or feelings. No fear. No lights at the end of the tunnel, either, or faces of beloved lost ones. It did pass through my mind this might be the end. That was okay. All was well. Just as it was. I wasn’t struggling to breathe nor was there any pain at all. Most astounding, although it felt quite simple and matter of fact, not at all dramatic, was that I was completely There, and utterly Not There. The thought passes by that perhaps I m leaving. I have no opinions about any of this – rare for me. No feelings at all – also rare. Yet I am completely present to sound, the feeling of the breeze, a hand on my face, a pounding on my chest, a few slaps to my face. Perhaps I had some feelings about that. The same level of annoyance when on of my helpers asked if there was alcohol on my breath, if I had been drinking. But no place for my indignation to land or be expressed. It just passed along. I did not see my ancestors, nor see a light, or a tunnel. Perhaps that will be different someday. But maybe leaving will be like this. Peaceful. Quiet. Simple. So very calm.

 Eventually, as my heart rate began to rise above 50 in the ambulance, a hydrating IV in place, I opened my eyes to the most vivid sights. The green of the trees, the white of the EMT’s coat, his deep brown eyes. Where had I gone? Nowhere. Everywhere.

At the hospital overnight for observation and EKG monitoring, the tests were extensive, thorough, from CAT scan to echocardiogram. Nothing turned up. “You’re the healthiest, strongest elder I’ve ever seen!” enthuses my lovely Indian doctor. “Ha!” I respond, nodding to my IV drip. I tell my two older children not to visit as they have their own children in tow. My older daughter sounds very somber on the phone. Is she burdened by my absence and inability to help with Scout this weekend? But it turns out when they put her call through I was housed in the Oncology ward and she thought they hadn’t told me yet that my 2001 cancer had returned. It was just a free spacious private room with a view. I had one visitor: My youngest daughter who has not spoken or written to me for two years, for reasons I do not know. Periodically in that time I have written to her, especially after a dream of her. Trying to stay connected, trying to stay in my heart. Recently I have fantasized running into her in Berkeley- perhaps at Whole Foods, or Berkeley Bowl where we both shop – and yelling at her. Turning my back! Refusing to acknowledge her! But when I saw here in my room all that fell away. No effort. It just was no longer there. I was happy. I patted the side of my bed “Come here.” And we snuggled for a good long while. We talked some. Not much, about what was going on in our lives. No tears, no hurt, no anger. No need to explain the past, no need to define the future, either. “I love you.” “I love you.” It was just perfect as it was. She did confirm a dream I had written to her had, in fact, happened. That was enough to know. Confirmed for me that visible or invisible, we are connected. The gifts and learnings of this mystery continued to unfold. A friend and colleague Nancy Mills “The Spirited Woman” who runs a wonderful global women’s foundation called me for the first time in over a year. She had been thinking about me a lot. The urge to call me would not let her go. She had a new scarf for this month’s donation named “Awakened Energy” she thought I should have. Then I had to tell her what had happened, leaving us both silently stunned.

 As with all mysteries, it will be a long time, if ever, I will understand the falling. What exactly fell away. Who is left.  I will say there were many miracles about this day and much to be grateful for. Usually I would be on the freeway at that time, to pick up my grandson from preschool. But that morning we could not get my car seat to work so his mom would pick him up. I had a few seconds warning allowing me to get out of the car rather than pass out inside my parked car. I did not hit my head on the concrete. People helped. Someone even put an explanatory note on my car so it would not be ticketed or towed. How did they know to do that? I have health insurance and the hospital care, extensive testing, were amazing. One of the women who tended to me on the sidewalk tracked me down at the hospital. I was so happy to be able to thank her and to tell her I was fine which “made her day”. “You were so pale; we thought you were gone.” I did not tell her that I was, and was-not, gone.

 A few days later I went back to my office and found a dream drawing from February 2017 which foretold this event:

 Towards the end of the dream, I fall to the ground with all my keys and several tools on a heavy key chain beneath me. A man hands me back just one key, a large key with full rounded top, in solid gold metal. Then he says “You only need this one. That’s a mistake so many people make.” To try to understand this one key, on waking I had drawn it with oil pastels to perhaps see what it was. [The drawing packed in a moving box at the moment.] The large solid gold key turned out to be a Goddess with rounded arms and an abstracted, triangle form to her lower body. At the center, a heart.

So this is the key, the one heart, which I had forgotten in trying too many different things and tools and templates for my livelihood, my calling. Which I am sure I will forget again. Perhaps not. So much of the old story fell away when I fell to the ground. So many surprising and wonderful new connections since that day. In searching for a likeness, today I found many Anatolian Goddess figures from about 5,000 B.C. The word “Anatolia” (Turkey) means City of Women. So I am centered again, solidly, simply, in the heart of my work with the sacred Feminine, the Wild Feminine, my soul sisters. Just this one heart is what I offer.

This is an especially good time to tap into your intuition to see what life, what love, is asking of you. To listen for the soul story longing to be born through you.There is great wisdom available to you when you are honest, when you allow your heart to sing. Sometimes it helps to have a translator and mentor to discover the key to your heart, so that you may celebrate and create with it. Contact me if you would like a consultation in person (Bay Area, California) or Skype call. In celebration of this Strawberry Moon, summer solstice (June 20) and still being here I am offering a 20% discount on a half hour or hour session. From $275 to $220; half hour from $150 to $120. Email me to book an appointment.

SEEING IN THE DARK: FINDING OUR WILD MEDICINE ~ PART I

29 Wednesday Mar 2017

Posted by in Dreamtime, Eco-feminism, Ecopsychology, Jungian psychology, spiritual ecology, Uncategorized, Women and Leadership

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SEEING IN THE DARK: FINDING OUR WILD MEDICINE ~ PART I

 

For all the devastation of these dark times -the attacks on women, children, the elderly, immigrants, the land, on the truth, international relationships, – T-rump’s essential role as the cruel Fool has catalyzed a fierce awakening. He has woken us up. If Hillary had won, we would be tempted to apathy – without suffering, without feeling. Now, we are engaged, we are concerned, our hearts are broken on a continual basis with the daily news of more devastation. Still, we rise. From the depths of our wild, wise selves we are seeing in the dark and bringing our wild medicine to the surface. We are turning what was shameful – our caring hearts, our feminine power – into brave and effective actions, together. Millions of women around the world marched for life in January wearing pink pussy hats. In this widespread show of humor, of flamboyance, of strength, of pride, women reclaimed a “dirty” word that has been used to degrade, insult and shame women long before T-rump used it in his crude boast about sexual assault.

Monday, March 27th 2017 was a new moon in the fire sign of Aries. This marks the beginning of the New Year in the zodiac, the strongest new moon of the year. Aries energizes leadership, fires up new ideas, ignites action for charting a new course. Venus, sacred to the Goddess of love and beauty in many traditions, is retrograde, gone to the underworld to reclaim – like Inanna – shadow parts of herself which have been repressed and ignored. For women this is often our exiled feminine power.

This feminine power is buried within all of us. “The one who knows”, as Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estes calls her, is breaking through frozen ground like spring grass and blossom as we saw in women’s marches and brave actions around the world.

Our deepest sources of creativity and understanding lie out of sight in darkness, in the unconscious. We must learn how to perceive “through the eyes of soul as well as through the eyes of the ego.” This dual way of seeing, being, and acting, Dr. Estes explains, is the most direct way to reclaim the gifts and the “healing apothecary” set into each soul at birth. We must learn to see in the dark to mine the raw gems of mystery, dreams, sudden knowings, and the shadows of power as individuals and as society.

Many of the dreams I am hearing, and experiencing myself, take place in group settings – conferences, classes, circles. The purpose generally seems to be some kind of learning, some kind of education. The root of the word educare is to bring forth, to transform. We are carriers and midwives of the new myth. It is a collective dream. Of many ways to dream this dream onward, to strengthen the New Story, I find sharing our dreams, writing and telling story, and encouraging each other to step into the light with what we know, what we see, of “What is To Come” is most powerful. In the following dream, we women in a hostile environment wash off the shame of patriarchal projections, and find our way to the beauty and joy of community as we reclaim our wild souls, our wisest selves.

Dream #1: Surfing with Flamingos

There are many of us women staying in a hostel. I step into the rustic tin walled shower and find it clogged with black, inky water from the women who have showered before me. I am quite indignant at the poor maintenance of this place. As I shower the water washes black ink off of me as well. Eventually the water runs clear and drains. I see out the window a view of the ocean and go down to the beach for a swim. In the water to my left, a flock of flamingos is surfing a wave to shore, grouped in the curl of the wave.

The dream of a “hostel” where the women must wash off black dye seems to speak to the dark projections of the hostile Masculine which have shamed us and shut us off from the beauty and power of our wild natures. When we wash off these projections and rinse off our shame, we are free to come into the light. Called by the wild wisdom of nature and the vast ocean’s creativity and mystery, we find our way to the ocean where the flamingos are surfing. They are a joyful community, a flamboyance of feminine energy and magic, surfing the large waves of change.

Here are some gifts from Flamingo medicine which come from several of her unique features

~Balance: ~With her long legs, wades in deep water while remaining grounded.

~ Just as Flamingo wades into the muddy waters and stands at the edges of the shoreline to locate and taste shrimp, we find the real nourishment and aliveness for us stands at the shoreline of our souls. These are the thresholds of our most dramatic and challenging changes.

~The upper part of the beak is hooked sharply, almost as if broken. This movable part scoops up mud, forcing it through a comb-like structure (lamellae), retaining what is edible. This distinct ability to eat upside down, filtering food from the mud and silt, speaks to the need for us to learn how to filter our soul lessons and soul nourishment from the emotional waters.

~Radiant, vibrant, graceful, beautiful, elegant, flamingos are a fine example of feminine beauty and magic. Be bold, be brave, show your colors.

~Associated with the Phoenix, flamingos are a sign of rebirth, of resurrection. You can rise again from devastation, your fall from grace. As a guidance totem and heart healer: Discern what is poisonous or not useful in your life and what can heal your wounds.

~They are shapeshifters, masters of illusion as they stand on one leg, or tuck their heads, and can bend over backwards.

~The flamingo’s tongue is unusually large and fleshy for a bird, acting as a powerful pump to pull water backwards and expel through filters. The tongue gives us speech. Communication is a gift of Flamingo. Use your voice!

~This is a 30 million year old species within the crane family, pointing to our ancient power as creators, as artists of life. In spite of the overuse of flamingos as decorative, tacky lawn ornaments, they have power and medicine in two areas vital to us as women:

The creative process.

Coyote medicine.

Exposes illusions, or makes them

A shapeshifter

A Trickster

~Because of her pink color, associated with the heart chakra, Flamingo reminds us what you put into your heart influences your colors. Flamingo is a visionary and draws its power from water, from our emotional life and from the collective unconscious.

 

O mother of the sea

Lend me a wave that is strong and true

To carry me from this Age which binds me.

 

I do not need a ship, mother,

But make it a buoyant swell

To bear me up and float me on the sea’s dreaming

Then beach me on some lighter shore…

                                                      Sharon Blackie, “Peregrina”

 

 

DREAM A NEW STORY. WALK IT INTO THE WORLD

23 Monday Jan 2017

Posted by in Eco-feminism, Ecopsychology, Jungian psychology, Shamanic dreaming, spiritual ecology, Uncategorized, Women and Leadership

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Walking. I am listening to a deeper way. Suddenly all my ancestors are behind me. Be still, they say. Watch and listen. You are the result of the love of thousands.

Linda Hogan

Marching in Oakland, California on January 21 with thousands of other women, men, children of every age and ethnicity I felt the weight of the previous ten weeks finally lift. Recalling the marches of the 60’s against the war in Vietnam, this felt celebratory, hopeful, joyous. My three year old grandson danced to the music of a Dixieland band as my daughter and I stood in our Mt. Nasty T-shirts. There was no tear gas here. No violence, no arrests in any of the international marches. We continued all day to watch TV coverage of the worldwide marches like a tonic, a balm, an antidote to the dark and shocking illness of the Election.

The November 9th morning after the results were in, sleepless and felled by a flu-like force, I faced an afternoon of teaching an online class on “The Way of the Wild Feminine: Dream a New Story, Draw a New Map of the World”. This week’s topic was the Way of the North- Destiny, the Place of the Give Away. It was supposed to be inspiring. It was meant to be uplifting. I planned to talk about the emerging wild and sacred Feminine consciousness, the turning of an Age, the death of the patriarchy and the excesses of greed, domination, conquest, destruction. Instead, the most extreme, shallow, cartoonish version of patriarchal shadow was elevated to power. It was impossible! I would have to cancel the class. Flattened, devastated, hollowed, speechless, I wasn’t quite in my body.

But other women from around the world would show up online. Maybe we needed to talk about this. I prayed for help, for guidance, for Goddess of Wisdom Sophia to be next to me to lend strength. What I heard was: I will not be next to you, I will speak through you. Much relieved, I began the class. Women found their “standing rocks”, the bedrock of their values, beliefs. We spoke with sorrow, anger, heartbreak, fierceness for what truly matters. We rose like mountains to find a higher, wider perspective. We found the grounding and solidity of rock, the “thinking like a mountain” by embodying that strength and timelessness from the inside out. The stories were not so much the climbing of the mountain path in a struggling or striving way, but the adventures of the spiral journey of our own individual paths, unique gifts and Give Aways for this time. What had begun as a morning of absolutely the worst time and timing, became a place of perfect time, of perfect timing. We called on Grandmother Spider Women to weave our thoughts and stories into the starry skies, to claim the magic and joy of Hummingbird medicine. To stand in the center of our own power without flinching, and to boldly commit to living our wild heart wisdom in the world from now on.

We are volcanoes. When we women offer our experience as our truth, all the maps change. There are new mountains.                                                                                           Ursula le Guin

 We are all storytellers. We are all mythmakers, dreaming a common dream, bringing the old and the new story of human culture and consciousness together. Myths can be medicine for our culture.  As Jean Houston puts it: We not only live in a Universe; the Universe lives in us. We participate at every moment in supporting or challenging the existing myths of women’s place in the world and what it means to be human.

The wild genius of feminine wisdom has a new story to tell, and is drawing a new map of the world. The word “draw” means to make a picture, as in sketching, writing or speech. But it also means to pull in a certain direction, to attract, to bring forth like a pump draws water. What are you being called to do by future generations? In this new story, this story of Becoming, we can map out a world “in which it will be easier to love” (Father Paolo Freire).

Are our hearts on fire? In those days of the 1960’s, during the anguish of the Vietnam war, something beautiful did begin to bloom. The summer of love. The hope of a New Age, the dawning of a new day. Perhaps this could be a Renaissance of that hope. Perhaps now is the very best time to use our power to dream a new story, for ourselves, for the world.

After an earlier Webinar I dreamed there was a huge, thick, beautifully illustrated book on the coffee table. Titled “Motherworld”,  it is an atlas. Maps of the world. Because it is we women who are the mythmakers, the carriers of the emerging possible, the wisdom keepers, the keepers of the flame. And it is time for us to come alive to our new stories and home to our wild, wise selves.And to tell these stories to each other.

The wild feminine is not only sustainable in all worlds, it sustains all worlds. Let’s admit it. We women are building a motherland; each with her own plot of soil eked from a night of dreams, a day of work. We are spreading this soil in larger and larger circles, slowly, slowly. One day it will be a continuous land, a resurrected land come back from the dead. Mundo de la madre, psychic motherland, coexisting and coequal with all other worlds. This world is being made from our lives, our cries, our laughter, our bones. It is a world worth making, a world worth living in, a world in which there is a prevailing and decent wild sanity.

Clarissa Pinkola Estes, Ph.D.

Let us become powerful messengers for the beautiful new story that wants to be born now in us, through us, for the good of all. This election has awakened a new sense of power and guidance, an urgent need to reclaim our legacy: The sovereignty of the wild woman, with the men who support the heart of the world. As President Obama said:

“I’m asking you to believe. Not in my ability to bring about change — but in yours.I am asking you to hold fast to that faith written into our founding documents; that idea whispered by slaves and abolitionists; that spirit sung by immigrants and homesteaders and those who marched for justice; that creed reaffirmed by those who planted flags from foreign battlefields to the surface of the moon; a creed at the core of every American whose story is not yet written: Yes, we can.

Yes, we did. Yes, we can.                            (Farewell address, January 10, 2017)