Whispers of the Sacred Feminine as the World Burns
The Sacred Feminine is whispering to us even as the world burns.
The west coast of the U.S.A., where I live, is literally engulfed in wildfire flames.
I feel the oppressiveness of the smoke. And it is with fatigue, sadness, anger, grief, and a sense of desolation that I feel like I am burning too.
I wake to hushed stillness. Not the calming type. The type of stillness that tells you the storm is still there but is “resting” for the moment only to return, to descend with more power.
I wake to see an amber, hazy, shrouded glow in a smoke-filled sky that should be bright blue and speckled with puffy white clouds as we approach early fall. It’s as if an old orange blanket has been draped over the stars, dimming the universe.
I wake to see the wildlife in my yard…birds, rabbits, owls, deer, continue their innocent lives even while their home, Mother Earth, is so sick. As I witness their striving for survival, my heart hurts.
And as the world is burning, summer is coming to an end and we are approaching my favorite time of year, fall.
As the season changes, one thing remains constant, we can find comfort and strength in remembering, returning to, and re-birthing Sacred Feminine energy.
Fall: The Whisper of the Sacred Feminine
Fall is the whisper of the Sacred Feminine. The world softens, the veil thins, the light becomes more subtle… whispers of feminine energy.
It is usually a time ripe with change, with vibrant expectation and gratitude, with the orange/red/yellow colors speaking of abundance, not destruction.
Fall is the time when the Sacred Feminine energy and spirit become even more available to us as the veil thins, creating opportunities for an awakening spirituality.
It is a time of first hearth-fires and chilly nights. Of warm soups on the stove and apple crisp for breakfast.
But this year, the fall is starting off in a very different way. It is filled with a weariness from what we all have endured this past winter, spring, and summer.
This fall has all of us heart-weary, plodding along, and holding onto hope.
With all that we can muster, many of us are harnessing our faith in goodness, believing as we have never believed before, that Love Conquers All.
We are committed to taking any action we can take to be part of healing the collective.
Wake to the Whispers
Because this fall is charged with a desperate longing for deep healing, we must wake up to the whispers of sacred maternal energy. For the divine feminine is revealing that the destructive energy of fire cannot be ignored and it is not always about cozy hearth fires warming us on chilly nights.
The wisdom of the Divine Mother is truly showing us, that we must walk through the darkness, before we can return to the light and experience a Re-Birth.
Under the best of times, the fall can be a retreat of quiet reflection; of counting our blessings for how the previous seasons have unfolded.
It can be a time for gathering in community, around tables of bounty, telling stories, continuing family traditions, sitting so close we can feel each other’s breath.
But we are not in the best of times. Now, sitting so close that we can feel each other’s breath has become something to fear, not cherish.
The things we have deeply cherished about our fall rituals, the things which have enabled us to leave the mundane and enter the sacred, and the things that have nourished us on a deep soul level, may not happen.
Because of this, more than ever and in spite of our weariness, sadness, fear, grief, and desolation we must access our capacity to endure.
And we do this by Remembering, Returning to, and Re-birthing the Sacred Feminine.
Remembering that Sacred Feminine energy soothes and heals in times just like these.
Returning to the Sacred Feminine, is our home of Wild Belonging.
The place within us and around us where we are rooted to the things that truly matter, where we truly belong, and are deeply loved. The unbreakable place that cannot be destroyed.
The place that is not only accessible if one has money or means or resources or a certain skin color. But the place that is available to all humans.
The place where everyone has a seat around the table.
The place where competition, individualism, and exclusion is not glorified; and instead community, collective support, and equality and justice reigns.
The place within us and around us that reverently holds, protects, and nurtures life. All life.
The wisdom of the Sacred Feminine has known these enduring truths from the beginning of time:
Pain precedes Transformation.
Labor is required for birthing Life.
Death comes before Rebirth.
Change comes from Blood, Sweat, and Tears.
Light and Darkness are necessary aspects of Growth.
Enduring and Rising Again
The Sacred Feminine has endured burning times. Literally and figuratively. And She always Rises again.
Women have been burned at the stake when their power, inner strength, and wisdom have threatened the patriarchy and systems of power and greed.
We have also been burned time and time again, throughout history, through our experiences of exclusion, rejection, objectification, abuse, and exploitation.
What is happening now in our world, awakens a deep wounding in the bones of EVERY woman.
We know. We remember. We have been here before.
We have done this before. Our ancestors have done this before and their strength lives on in our bones.
And because we have been here before, we also know that we can return to our roots, to our Wild Belonging. We know we will endure and RISE.
This poem from Tanya Markul says it all,
“You see,
what they thought
was a phoenix
rising from its ashes
was really
a woman.”
In returning to the home of the Sacred Feminine, our Wild Belonging, we are able to connect to the power of LOVE. The Source of life.
Here, we hold onto our faith that tells us there is always something greater at work, beyond what we all can see and understand.
Here, we remember that the eternal Source of spirit, of love, of life and light, residing deep within the cosmos, the oceans, the earth, will protect us. And we will heal.
I am walking beside all of you who are weary, scared, and grief-stricken. I am committed to being present, as a therapist and a woman, to answer your calls of distress. I feel the burning, the pain, the fear, the grief.
In spite of it all, I am committed to returning to what I know in my bones to be true: even after the darkest night, the violent hatred, the brutal burnings, the labors that feel as if they will never end, we are ALWAYS held in the arms of the loving mother, the Sacred Feminine.
And when you are too tired to remember, when you are too tired to take one more step, or when I see in your eyes that the labor has become too painful and you don’t have the strength to continue, I will remind you of the tremendous, ancient resiliency that resides within you.
Like a mid-wife at the final hour of birth, I will encourage you to keep pushing, to keep going, because new life is waiting for you as you cross the threshold.
I will remind you of the love and power of the Sacred Feminine that is available to you and to all humans.
Returning to Her, returns us to our true home of Wild Belonging. There, we Remember. We Rise. We are Re-born.
As always, peace in the journey,
Jane
Jane Ryan
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