Category Archives: Women and Leadership

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

≈ 2 Comments

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)

 

 

MOTHERWORLD: THE WAY OF THE WILD FEMININE

27 Tuesday Sep 2016

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

≈ Leave a comment

 

On the morning of the introductory Webinar to an online course on “The Way of the Wild Feminine”, I drew this Tarot card for the group from the Motherpeace (Vicki Noble) deck: XX – Judgment. Healing the Earth. It felt like a blessing for our gathering, in the numinous way that synchronicities do. We wild souls, wise hearted women, are ready to celebrate our old stories and all that we have come through, done, failed to do, suffered, triumphed, gained and lost. Clearing the way to letting go, to dissolving the old roles, identities, maybe careers, perhaps relationships. Mostly letting go of any old story that told us we were not worthy, magnificent, brilliant rays of the sun and creators of the world.

The Judgment Tarot card speaks to the return of the Feminine, a time of healing and regeneration. It directs us to listen to our hearts, and judge for ourselves where the truth lies. In many indigenous and mystical traditions, the Feminine ray of light is coming back into manifestation. Or as pagans and feminists might say, this is the time of the return of the Goddess. In Gnostic teachings, the Female Aion is the great manifested thought. In this Tarot image, the sun’s rays shine the rainbow light of the core Self and the community, expanding the world of the small self. We return to the integrated, holistic world of the goddess with the healing energies of the heart and the Bodhisattva compassion and forgiveness of isis, Tara, Kuan Yin.

This suggests to me that wild mind, Grandmother-Mind, is what we have to bring to bear on the urgent needs of the world. Wild mind is an inclusive, contextual, relational, integrated and visionary intelligence which sees the Both/And realm of possibilities in long range vision, seven generations out. It is a thinking with the heart. From those awakened hearts comes our own wild genius as wisdom keepers. As one of the 13 indigenous Grandmothers said in 2014:

“We are standing in the vibration of a sacred prophecy, the prophecy which tells us that consciousness is preparing the spirit of the feminine, the spirit of the Grandmothers.”

Jung’s idea of awakening the indigenous soul, the wild soul, is kin to awakening the Grandmother Mind. This is the unforgotten wisdom that resides at the heart of our psyches. It is not only in some of us. It is within each of us. As Jean Houston puts it: We not only live in a Universe; the Universe lives in us. This is why so many of us are drawn now to the teachings of the Aboriginals, the Hawaiians, Native Americans, Africans. We resonate with their stories for deep within our own souls, our cellular memories, we remember and recall our very own wisdom roots which have been traumatized out of conscious memory.

When we connect to our Wild Feminine power, we shift the field of collective consciousness, allowing each of us to tap into a New Story.

We can reclaim these memories and their power in many ways. One of the most powerful and direct ways is through your dreaming which is a primary focus of the online course.

The night after the 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 motherworld, 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.

The time is now to restore the wild woman to her rightful sovereignty.

Join our online course and community beginning October 12 through the Depth Psychology Alliance.

The Way of the Wild Feminine: A 6 week online course

  • ~Come alive to your new story in a journey of Nature’s Seven Directions
  • ~Awaken your Inner Shaman and Wild Genius
  • ~Ignite the energies of the solar Feminine and give voice to your true story
  • ~Learn how chaos and complexity new science models describe your Heroine’s Journey
  • Become a powerful messenger for the beautiful new story that wants to be born in you, through you, for the good of all. Awaken a new sense of power and guidance. Be renewed. Come alive again. Help to create a world “in which it will be easier to love”

Each 90-minute class will feature an interactive-style lecture and commentary, with opportunities for participants to write, share experiences, dreams, and insights. Please come prepared to interact and participate. Note: This course will be offered in a video webinar format, so participants will not be heard or seen until they request it

Course dates:                               

OCT 12, 19, 26, NOV 2, 9, 16                              Time: 12 pm to 1:30 pm PT14aa208f38466ca1406e3da35a1f68c9

Click here to REGISTER for the 6-WEEK COURSE

 

 

 

The Grandmothers: Secrets of the Old Ones

31 Wednesday Aug 2016

Posted by in Dreamtime, Shamanic dreaming, Women and Leadership

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

, ,

A few weeks ago I dreamed a group of us women went down to a pool where a herd of elephants was standing. It was very crowded. We squeezed in, skin to skin, with these giant animals who were so strong, so gentle. As we settled into the water up to our chests, the elephants began to rumble, to vibrate. We were there to learn how to tune into their vibrations, to sound with them, at the same level of 500 waves per second, or maybe minute. The attunement was the task. The harmonizing to the same song. Not quite audible but felt. And in the communication, a message.

What might that message be, for us humans, us women, us Grandmothers? Because this was not a dream about elephants. It was a dream from the elephants.

On the physical level, there is a message about the terrible dangers they are exposed to – poaching, habitat destruction, hunting. But this dream felt more like a reminder, an awakening, for us women in the pool to reclaim the ancient wisdom we have forgotten, of the strength, compassionate power and urgent need to care for our Earth and to dream a new song that will carry us all for generations.

As tough protectors and gentle nurturers, elephant Grandmothers remind us of the importance of family, of tending to the babies, of community. They are a matriarchal society where the elder females have an honored and essential role to play. They are the ones who carry the cultural knowledge and history of the herd. The location of safe areas of plentiful food, of watering holes. Having a Grandmother elephant in the herd has a critical influence on the survival of the babies, of her own daughters if she dies before they are nine years old. Unlike most mammals, elder elephants can continue to bear young so there could even be three generations bearing calves at the same time. Perhaps for us elder women, this trinity represents maiden, mother, crone and speaks to our creativity at any age. Bearing new babies from the wombs of our imagination. Elephants are extremely intelligent with brain structures similar to primates like us humans, chimpanzees, apes, monkeys and cetaceans (whales and dolphins). They have amazing hearing and communicating capacities, able to hear low frequency sounds (infrasonic) better than almost any animal on Earth. And they can communicate at long distances for 5-50 miles, as well as being able to sense through their feet an oncoming thunderstorm, tsunami, herds running at a distance. They are the keepers of memory. The guardians of the land. They keep harmony in the herd, but can be fierce in protecting the young ones. They have great power, stamina and patience which they use in service to the whole, to the community.

In this dream is a story about the law of vibration, about interdependence and interconnection. It is a story told now by physicists as well. When we realize we are all swimming in a mighty Universe of vibrating energy, that we are fields of vibrating energy ourselves, we can then dream new forms with our very thoughts.

As women, perhaps as Grandmothers, we too carry the ancient wisdom, the old stories, that are essential to the wellbeing of future generations.

A poem from artist and author Patricia Reis comes to mind:

From the beginning/We have been with you./We are the ancient ones/And we remember.

We remember the time when there was only love/The time when all breathing was one…

We are the ancient ones/And we have waited and watched/You say that you have no memory of us/You say that you cannot hear our voices…

We say the time of waiting is over/We say the silence has been broken/We say there can be no forgetting now. We say       listen.

We are the bones of your grandmother’s grandmothers/We have returned now/We say you cannot forget us now/We say we are with you/And that you are with us.

Remember. Remember.

 

 

FIRE UP YOUR DREAMS FOR MAY DAY!

28 Tuesday Apr 2015

Posted by in Women and Leadership

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

, , , , ,

In each moment the fire rages, it will burn away a hundred veils. And carry you a thousand steps toward your goal                 Rumi Many mornings this winter I was waking up between 3-5 a.m., with rushes of fear spreading across my collarbone and down the insides of my arms. I have hated it. And really resented being woken up so early, in the dark. I tried all the coping strategies I could think of: Prayer. Chants. Mantras. Swearing. Sometimes I would get up and read. Or better, write. That helped for awhile but made the days very long and tiring. Finally I surrendered, remembered there must be a meaning to this, a purpose, something I needed to know for my own soul growth and evolution. So I sat up in bed and asked it: Fear! What are you doing here? What do you need me to pay attention to? She answered: I’m not fear, I’m Fire. Your heart is on fire and you are ignoring it. It was time to stop stalling and hiding my new story, the new business of Primetime Revival for women’s legacy and leadership. Time to trust my heart and lead with love. Scary indeed. The fear at at the threshold of answering a soul calling, a new story, can be quite intense, way beyond the friendly encouragement to “step out of your comfort zone”. To me, stepping out of my comfort zone refers to trying to hold a Frog stand position in yoga for more than 3 seconds. The leap into the new story can feel like death, and is in fact the death of a former life, identity, path, way of being. This is the transformational process which asks us to surrender to the alchemical power of fire. How do we step across the fear threshold, through the fires of initiation, to align with and live our authentic calling? We need the power and passion of our love for what matters, the “why”, which is much bigger than our personal fears. We need to trust our dreams, desires and the guidance of Self. We need allies, mentors, community. Fear is an instrument of the Self, the soul, placing us in impossible situations to encourage, to force us to bring out some undeveloped and precious part of ourselves. For women, this is very often their power. Jung said: “When it comes to the really great and decisive questions…the rational way proves to be a cul-de-sac.” The solution, the answer, always comes from some unexpected direction, and is represented by a symbol, a dream, a synchronicity, the still, small voice of intuitive whispers. At times like these, we need to renounce our own plans, surrender to the Divine, and allow the great mystery to make a new way. In a book by Rabbi Alan Lew ( Be Still and Get Going) he refers to two definitions for fear in the Hebrew bible. One word is pachad – our worries, worst case scenario predictions, the voice of the inner critic and perfectionist. This is how our small self, the personal ego, shows up. But a second word, yirah, names the feeling that overcomes us as we move into a larger space than we have ever lived in before. The surges of additional energy, like my fiery chest and arms, can feel overwhelming. But it also tells us we are in the presence of the Divine as we draw close to our soul assignment. Safely contained in the spaciousness and knowing of the bigger story of us, gradually the ego will learn to let go and surrender to the powers of the transforming Self. Life can become a continual unfolding of the creative, and the sacred. Becoming fearless we will accept the numinous, mysterious and purposeful guidance of the Self. If you are feeling the anxiety of such a cul de sac, a seemingly dead end in your own life, there are many tools and practices which help. ~First, know that you are not alone. The intensity and quickening you feel are not only your own life changes but the enormous upheaval in the world as we move from patriarchal, dominator cultures to sacred Feminine power, the New Story of partnership and collaboration. The highest version of ourselves is ready to emerge. ~Open up new lines of communication between self and Self by paying attention to dreams, gut instincts, the still, small voice, surprising appearances of animals or people or even songs on the radio, spelling “corrections” on your iPhone. Synchronicities. Let imagination lead. Let yourself play and be happy. Enjoy time in Nature. Follow the wisdom of your heart, your “heart-mind” as the Taoists say. ~Release the old story by telling the truth not only about how you feel, but what you need and desire. And dream. These are holy. It is the Divine coming through you. Be a servant leader. A blessing to others. Awaken to the power to co-create your life and shape the collective future. We women do have the power. Let love lead the way. You don’t need to know the whole story. Just start moving in the direction of your aliveness and joy. Find a tribe to co-create and collaborate with. Fire up your dreams. Life is in many ways a dream, and the collective dream of too many is a shared mass hallucination of decidedly suicidal tendencies! So it is important for you beautiful and brilliant women to live your dreams. Wake up to the magnitude of your influence and imagination. As Beltane approaches, honor the way of the Fool (in Tarot) and Fool’s journey. Be a fool for love, plant your hopes, dreams and creative goals. Be a beginner. Begin. The Universe is conspiring to bring you your greatest good, your greatest success. Teilhard de Chardin wrote of the importance of “conspire” meaning to breathe together in a conspiracy of love. Let’s be such conspirators. This we say also as we hold the beautiful people of Nepal in our hearts after the terrible earthquakes. Dream Wisdom: On Her Way One of the core meanings of Beltane is the marriage, the coniunctio, of the sacred Feminine and Masculine. In a recent dream, a very hopeful image of both the return of the sacred Feminine and the creative support of the masculine appeared: I am worried the Goddess has turned Her back on us in this world of wars and conflicts, the destruction of the environment. I haven’t seen Her in awhile. I walk into a large, light art studio where a male sculptor friend is working on a tall block of granite. It is somewhat in the shape of a tombstone, about three feet across, four or five feet high. There seems to be nothing there yet. But wait. A slight rounded shape at the top, the back of a head. The sculptor turns the stone around and I can see the beginnings of a Goddess form. He continues working, carving intricate details of the Goddess Venus of Willendorf. Then the shape begins to move out of the block. She comes out of the stone followed by a stream of different Goddesses, all moving out of the stone and dancing into the room. Kuan Yin. Tara. The Minoan snake Goddess with snakes in her arms. Pele with masses of curls. I am so shocked by this in the dream that I cannot remember all that I saw. Only that the Goddesses were alive, released, and dancing, at the hands of this faithful sculptor. I awoke with such hope for the future. The divine Masculine in service to the emerging, wild and sacred Feminine. The Celtic holy day of Beltane or “bright fire” is today, May 1. This is the beginning of beginnings, the emergence from darkness and winter with the seeds of our new story. As spring is the regreening of our world, perhaps it is also the season for the regreening, the rewilding, of you. It is time to celebrate life, joy and abundance. Dancing around a May pole, we celebrate the marriage, the coniunctio of Feminine and Masculine. This is a magical time, a time of “No Time”, when the veils between the worlds are thinnest, the faeries, ancestors and helping spirits come close. Fire has a sacred healing and purifying power, burning off the unwanted and unnecessary aspects of ourselves to leave our essence. So let’s celebrate the marriage of our own complementary energies, the Feminine and the Masculine and celebrate a marriage which promises renewal of ourselves and the world. The birth of a new story. A new life. Come into the dance of life! 480777149_056c90f467Steele_Day Lily II Unknownsc

COME ALIVE ! POWER A NEW DREAM

10 Sunday Aug 2014

Posted by in Women and Leadership

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

, ,

Every morning I take my grandson to practice walking in the sand of the Marina, watching the dabbling ducks, Canadian geese, chortling pigeons, black and white stilts with their brilliant orange legs. Scout especially loves the pigeons. Perhaps it is the majestic sweeps they make overhead, or their constant cooing, or the magical iridescent colors of their neck feathers. Monday as we walked I found myself singing “When the moon is in the seventh house, and Jupiter aligns with Mars. Then peace will guide the planets and love will steer the stars. This is the dawning of the Age of Aquarius.” I had watched an old YouTube recording of the Fifth Dimension singing this theme song from the 1967 musical Hair, and wonder if there is any hope for peace in the Mideast. So much peace near the pond yet my heart breaks at news of more dead civilians in Gaza. The children! There is absolutely no justification, no religious or political legitimacy, to the intentional harming and killing of children. None. We are the adults, the parents, the grandparents whose first priority is to care for the children. All the children.

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.

Last summer I wrote this poem, called Heart-Bone

Once when I had yelled at my daughter,

Five years old, as I struggled to fix the garbage disposal

She said “You hurt me in the heart-bone.”

Twenty one years later,

We prepare for her summer wedding.

Deep in the earth, new life stirs.

Deep in the sky, the sister stars rise.

On my dining room table, sunflowers cluster

Like a field in Italy.

We could carry our hearts into the world

Like sunflowers.

Open and bountiful

Seeding what we love

Blessing the greening of the earth,

The one true heart-mind,

Blossoming

Sun fire   earth fire

Heart fire

Warms us down to the bone.

The heart is our doorway to a new story, a new birth, a new map for the world. Do not listen to the old stories that claim love is wishy -washy, the heart is weak. Those are the lies of the estranged ones, the fearful and cowardly ones. There is nothing stronger than the lion hearted. Use the light available at this time to fire up your courage. Bring yourself into the world you long to see. Power your dreams that have awakened you in the wee hours of the dark night, under the full moon, in the middle of a summer’s day.

Don’t waste time attacking dead ideas and old stories of power. Use everything – magic, intention, science – to allow a new story to manifest. Every thought you have directly affects every event in the universe. Awaken to your new dream. Take action to make it real, to bring it to life. Share your true, deep story of who you are and why you are here.

Aquarius SuperMoon August 10 is one of 5 supermoons this year. Close to the Earth and especially powerful, this is a chance to break free of the old story. We need to restructure. In the midst of struggle and the tension of old, rigid patterns, a breakthrough could come. Or a startling event that wakes you up. Time for out of the box thinking! This Full Moon illuminates supportive networks, flashes of genius, kindred spirits, quantum leaps in spiritual growth. Be true to yourself. Act on behalf of human freedom.

It is a time of magic to connect with the energies and illuminating spirit of the sun and the returning soul of the world. The practice of magic always begins with an image, an imagining. As John Lennon sang “You may think that I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one”. An image, especially a shared one, can shift us out of the limitations of our culture in a way just words cannot. It allows us to see the possibilities of other dimensions, non-ordinary reality. But seeing with the long eye, the strong eye, is not enough. Magic is nothing without will-determination, directed and intentional action, energy. The Sun, moon and other cosmic forces come together to bring us into the New Age of Light. Sun in Leo illuminates who we are and what we are to be and do.

Full Moon in Aquarius illuminates our way forward into the new world. Now we come to understand and realize our unique design and destiny for this new time. It is important to come together in groups to power our dreams.

August is the month of illumination. There are great new opportunities in this Renaissance year. On August 22-23, according to astrologer Dane Rudhyer, we enter the Aquarian Age. Our soul purpose is revealed, come to light. This is a time of global awakening, and a time for the emergence of Aquarian avatars. In Sandra Ingerman’s June Transmutation News http://www.sandraingerman.com/transmutationnews.htmlshe heard a spirit voice say “Tear up the old script.” The old story is done. Reading this was a synchronicity for me, as I had just dreamed: There is a man climbing a red ladder holding a manuscript. He is going to hand the new script to the theater troupe waiting on the stage above.

Do not abandon yourself. Accept the real you. Don’t hide your light. Become your Soul Self. Be creative. Get exercise to release tension and lessen anxiety. Dance, make music, make love, sing. And take action!

Leo rules the heart. All lights are lit. Be an unblocked channel for love. Pay attention to your dreams, chance encounters, sparks of intuition. This is a power gate of fire. A magic seed time. Whatever you focus and intend now will flower in the Fall.

Yesterday as I was driving to lunch with two old college friends, the cloudy humid sky caught my attention. There was a huge sweep of pink painterly clouds, with just a small circle of light green in the center. “Oh, there’s going to be a rainbow”, I thought, and continued to watch as it grew, the colors intensifying. Finally I pulled over so I wouldn’t miss the whole thing or have an accident. By now, there was a red streak at the top of the clouds, patches of pink, a line of yellow. The green circle had grown to a center of turquoise, surrounded by light blue. And at the bottom, the longest section of this formation, a baseline of purple.

The beautiful unbounded rainbow first shone in the colors of the heart chakra, pink and green. That is all I can think about today. What new dreams can begin in the heart? How can we carry our light and the power of love into the world? What do you love? Who do you love? Shine that light. Let your heart sing. Heal the blows to the heart bone. Take that new vision, the new project, the new dream for your life, and let her shine. The iridescent clouds showed me a rainbow so much larger than the usual closed bridge form. As wondrous as rainbows are, perhaps reality is that the entire universe is colored brilliantly like that but we only have a glimpse, now and then. Be like that with your colors, your light. Do something surprising and brand new and beyond old limitations. Be aware of your powers, the gifts that only you can give, and give them. Light your heart fire

 

 

Aside

Tell a New, Wild Story – Map a New, Wild World

20 Friday Jun 2014

Posted by in Book, Women and Leadership

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, ,

 

We live and create, ourselves and our world, by the stories we tell. We need the true stories of women and the deep dreams of the wild and sacred Feminine to orient and guide us. It is time to recapture history and reclaim a stolen legacy.We are looking for new lands.

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

As we come to the summer solstice, we gather the power of fire, the courage of the lion, the energies of transformation, the magic of Pele who creates new lands.The most important focus is to strengthen our inner authority, to be the authors of our own lives.

Pele as an archetype is the passionate, creative and transformative force that rebuilds the landscapes of our lives and makes a new map of the world. At the summer solstice, the longest day of the year, we are called to step into our power. Fire brings renewal, the bounty of the earth, clarity, focus, and the ability to move forward and take action. Last year around this time I dreamed of a great lion with bright red hibiscus flowers behind her ears, seated on my front porch. In the dream, a writer friend told me the lion had many stories to tell. I enjoy revisiting this image often, as the lion is such a powerful animal, symbol of courage, royalty, wisdom, strength, who is also the keeper and protector of alchemical secrets. These secrets are the stories of women’s lives, long exiled to the underworld, but now emerging to map a new world.

Time for you, dear reader, to blaze a trail. Illuminate the path you have found, as a wayfinder. Be a beacon in leadership, leading with sparks of inspiration, the fire in your heart. Fire transforms situations, conditions, living and nonliving beings. Envision your new ways of being and actualizing. Ignite the visions aligned with your soul assignment. Fire is a sign of action. Entertain the possibilities that give you a tingle of energy, and take aim. Be willing to be a fool for the emerging self. You may only have a glimpse of the new big picture for yourself, for the world.The summer solstice brings power to you. It is also the time to enjoy the warmth and bounty of the season. To have fun, to play.

What does your own personal myth look like? Your soul story is your medicine. What is the work your deeper life is calling you to? What makes your heart sing? Find your myth. Reconnect to source. Bring this new story to life. “Carry your heart into the world like a life giving sun” (Hafiz) When we women tell our own stories we are creating the world, the cultural myths through which power is defined and maintained.

The map of the psyche and the map of the world are reflections of the same story. Right now, much of the world is living the deeply rooted myth of a separate self. This is changing, as the ancient indigenous wisdom and the new revelations in science reunite through the emerging wild feminine. Her stories return the missing piece of wholeness to the self and soul to the world. With our wild hearts and soul wisdom we can be wayfinders, explorers, pilgrims and discoverers. We use the wisest map which begins in the heart.

We move with the rumblings and tumblings of the waves of the future calling to us. When we work in collaboration with the energies of nature, and connect to our spiritual source, we can pull islands out of the sea.

“If you can see the island in your mind, you will never get lost” said Mau, master navigator in The Wayfinders by Wade Davis(2009)…

Can you see the image of your desired island?

Here is a short version of a manifestation practice to bring a new dream into being:

Haipule- . Hai is a root word meaning “desire or need”, “to present an offering”, and “to pursue”. Pule is a prayer, blessing, also a magical spell. When we look more deeply into the roots of this word, we find pua – to appear, pu’u – to desire, lele – to burst forth, and le’a – to succeed. In addition to the meanings of words, we are guided to the process of how manifestation happens, and is blessed. You can do this short process throughout the day.

Ha means to energize by deep breathing and remembering.

I means to affirm what you want.

Pu means to imagine what you want.

Le means to perform an action. So the process of haipule is to affirm, imagine, and act to create a new dream. When your new dream has enough energy, it becomes reality. That is, it replaces the current dream.

Longer processes of empowering Haipule engage the elements of Nature, and strengthening connection to spirit, to Source, through creative and expressive activities. (This version of haipule from shaman and author Serge Kahili King, Ph.D.)

If your dream is a collective one, like working for the protection of the environment or peace, it is most effective to do these practices in a group, in community, with collective wisdom.

Recently we lost two brilliant courageous and revolutionary women Wayfinders, Angeles Arrien and Maya Angelou. In the practice of honoring the dead by living from the example they set, we can each contribute our spark of hope, the courage of our wild hearts, our imagining the new story, the new land. This is an exciting and powerful time for wild feminine visionaries. For just a few examples: Michelle Bachelet, President of Chile, has just reversed permission for five dams which would have gravely damaged Patagonia. Martha Beck, author and mentor, has a visionary book out – Finding Your Way in a Wild New World.

There are many coaching, mentoring and online businesses which reclaim the mighty Feminine: The Essential Feminine Company (Maureen Simon), Aphrodite Academy, Goddess Academy (Elizabeth Purvis), Feminine Power (Claire Zammit and Katherine Woodward). Nancy Mills and The Spirited Woman Foundation, who reminds us in her Summer Solstice post that tomorrow is a day we will have no shadows. So if you are burdened by the shadows of self doubt, of fear of owning your full and magical powers, tomorrow enjoy your freedom to create! Discover a new island. It is calling us to come to a new, wild world of connection, peace, and harmony.

“When we come to it 
We must confess that we are the possible. 
We are the miraculous, the true wonder of this world. 
That is when, and only when 
We come to it.

~ Maya Angelou ~ (A Brave and Startling Truth 1995, United Nations 50th anniversary)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Book Launch: The Wild Feminine is Here!

23 Thursday May 2013

Posted by in Book, Women and Leadership

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Image

Last night I dreamed I was carrying a green garden hose for miles across a flat landscape of golden plains. First I had to get out of the city, wind my way around cars stuck in a traffic jam. Then a long, long walk, the hose streaming water until I get to my destination – a clinic, a conference of writers and healers. Someone helps me find a large container to collect the water.

Mary Oliver’s poem comes to mind: “You do not have to be good. You do not have to walk on your knees/ For a hundred miles through the desert, repenting. You only have to let the soft animal of your body/love what it loves.”

The container is this book. It is a moment of arrival as I offer The Wild Feminine, a collection of personal essays and stories which point to not only things, people, places I personally love and learned from, but to the stream of feminine awareness, consciousness, and power which is returning to moisten a desiccated land. We live in a fragmented, conflicted world where feminine authority, wisdom and creativity are so urgently needed to restore us to wholeness, to holiness. This is my little offering. I take heart in feeling the community around me, my tribe, the many ways in which the wild feminine is returning.

I loved Arianna Huffington’s Smith commencement address Sunday. She spoke passionately of this need for women to redefine success by including “well-being, wisdom, our ability to wonder, and to give back”. This society’s narrow definition of success is not good for anyone. Certainly not for the environment, or women, or men, for that matter.

The wonders and richness of living close to nature, to our own wild souls,  are part of my stories. Opening to the magic and mysteries of being spiritual beings, to delighting in the joys of the ordinary and everyday, are experiences I hope you will share with me. Learning to reconnect to our own peaceful, knowing centers is a lifelong practice, as is dissolving the illusion of separateness from each other. Every moment we are being guided to use our capacities for love and for transformation, to know there is so much more to who we each are. My purpose in sharing this book is to embolden you to own your own inner authority, to use your feminine power to participate in creating our future, a world in which it will be easier to love. This is an exciting and hopeful time, as the wild and sacred feminine is emerging in every corner, in our dreams, in new science, in the ways we are speaking to each other.

Now I feel like we should have a song. And dance! Although that is way beyond my capacities.

Love and blessings to you all.

View The Wild Feminine: Stories to Inspire and Enbolden on Amazon

 

Thinking with the Heart of a Leader

02 Friday Nov 2012

Posted by in Women and Leadership

≈ 1 Comment

On my deck overlooking the water, the orange and pink abutilon have re-blossomed, their brilliant heads hanging like bells over the tall terra cotta pot. Weeks ago they looked deader than dead. Leaves blackened with spots that almost covered all the green. On closer inspection, the tiniest of white specks. What was wrong? Was there any hope? I found a helper, Felix, at the local nursery. Tattooed from neck to arms to ankles, I figured he had an interesting story, a tough life, some time ago. And he knows and loves plants. “Yes, there’s hope”, he said. “See how hard it is trying to live.” I got the oil spray. Watched and treated morning and evening. Fierce flowers, just needed some assistance. Protection. Care.

As I watch President Obama tour the devastated storm damage on the East Coast, with his characteristic care, compassion,calm and competence, I am awash with the urgency of this election. We women will make the difference, and must. Are you aware that since 2001 the United States has spent close to $4 trillion on wars? Without even counting the incalculable cost to American, Iraqi and Afghan families in terms of grief, loss, dislocation. Yet in this country, 23.1% of children live in poverty. Only Romania has a worse record! One in 9 babies is born prematurely, risking early death and lifelong disabilities. Here we rank in a tie with Somalia and Thailand, at #131 out of 184 countries worldwide. There are more than 7 million children living without health insurance. Almost 2 million kids homeless. Why are we not taking care of the children? This includes care of the environment.

Whether you are literally a mother or not, you know that we are all connected. We, as adults, are especially responsible for the care and protection of the world’s children. We have as our President a leader, a father, a husband who absolutely respects and honors women. The first piece of legislation he passed was the Lilly Ledbetter Act, to right the wrongful pay discrimination she suffered for 19 years. Look up this lady, born in Possum Trot, Alabama – she’s amazing, tenacious, brave, and smart. She persevered even after the U.S. Supreme Court reversed her lower court victory which had awarded her $3 million. Remember too, dear reader, that the next President will likely appoint one or two Supreme Court justices. The GOP war on women, from state to national levels, is breathtaking in its relentless aggression and hostility. If you grew up when I did, before birth control was available, you will understand the huge consequences of not having access to birth control. Not just for a “woman’s right to choose”, true as that is. I am absolutely pro-life, as well as pro-choice. Meaning: I value the life of the mother, her partner, any existing or future children, her desire and need to work, to be educated, to contribute her gifts to the world. These health care issues are family, economic, spiritual issues.

Dear Reader, I haven’t quite got the hang of the 250 word blog. There is so much to say. Remember what the Dalai Lama said in Vancouver at the Peace Summit, 2009: The world will be saved by the Western woman. Vote in honor of yourself, your mothers and grandmothers, who perhaps did not have that right. Vote for the future of your daughters, their fullest, richest lives.

Today Felix was back helping me plant a blueberry bush. As we were chatting along, he turned to me and said “I feel like time is speeding up. Do you feel it, too?” “Yes, yes I do!” I answered, thinking of all the exciting Birth 2012 stuff that is happening. He added: “It really feels like a quickening.”  And so it is. A new way of life, a new world is possible. Think with your wise and wild heart. Use your greening power of care,connection, creativity, avoiding the pitfalls of polarizing black and white issues and answers. Vote for the leaders at all levels who do just that.