So I was doing a Tarot reading today and explaining to my querent that a LOT of women seem to be divorcing their husbands right now. Mostly because their husbands are boring, depressive or ... well ... one is psychotic in my opinion.
I've been thinking about this a whole bunch. The other day my Dad commented that I'm a total mystery to him. I said, "That makes sense. Because men are like the Sun. Either they're shining, or they're not. Women on the other hand, women are like the moon and they go through phases. One day they're shining bright, the next day their energy wanes, the next day they're like a new moon, dark and completely not open to shining for anyone. The sun is up in the daytime and down at night. But the moon wanders the day sky, then shows up at night, then you don't see her for a few days because your timing wasn't right, then she's blaring in your face, full blast."
The moon is traditionally linked to womanhood, and the sun to masculinity. In Greek mythology, the twins Apollo and Artemis were born, with Apollo, the male, given to rule the Sun, and Artemis, the daughter, given the Moon. The moon reflects the light of the sun ... when she feels like it. That would make some think she needs the light of the man, er sun, to shine. She sure does. But c'mon we're more complex than that! The Moon's visible power is in her reflection of the Sun, but her greatest power is in her invisible control of the tides on Earth. Don't forget that she too has a domain where she rules - and that her domain is totally separate from that of the Sun (man). There is absolutely no reason for a power struggle!
Ironically, the sun is the PERFECT distance from the Earth, and the moon the PERFECT distance from the Earth that when you're standing on Earth the two appear to be the same size. Exactly. Isn't that bizarre and miraculous? Can't we learn from that?
So, back to women divorcing their hubands. I've been thinking about how the sun is like men, predictable and unchanging, and how the moon is like women, in a state of constant flux and much faster movement. I've been hearing a lot over the past year about how divine female energy is reawakening on Earth after millenia of being stifled by patriarchal order. This is obvious through things like the Women's Movement, but I'd say overall the Goddess energy is becoming more apparent in all women. I have friends/sisters who earlier in their lives seemed submissive and meek, and are now stepping forward as powerhouses.
It feels to me like women are taking a moment right now in the world to eclipse the men, just like how the moon can eclipse the sun. It's like we just want to step in front of all of the men in the world for just 15 minutes (a solar eclipse after all only lasts for a few minutes) and be like, 'Dude, I'm over it! Yeah, you're bigger than me, but when everything is put into perspective in life, I'm not afraid to stand in front of you." I think that's why so many women are feeling restless in their boring or frustrating relationships.
It won't last, the moon has no intention during an eclipse of blocking out the sun. But the sun can't eclipse the moon, at it doesn't want to. A lunar eclipse is when LIFE, or the Earth, eclipses the moon, and should have nothing to do with male energy - it's more like a woman (Mother Earth) eclipsing herself (the Moon).
And so, men, just relax as we get this out of our systems. It's been building up for a while and we need to do this for our own sense of empowerment. It's natural and really not something that we care to control. It's not about getting rid of male energy, because without the sun's light, the Moon is stuck in darkness. Women like men, believe it or not. I know that I sure like them a lot, especially when they shine a light on me and I get to decide how much of it I reflect back (Sun/Moon). I don't want the male light to go out - no way Jose! I just need a little independence for a moment.
On this note, I was thinking about the whole economic crisis. I wonder, and this is just a wondering, if big banks - the good old boys - and other old powerful institutions are crumbling because they're not prepared to handle this shift in female energy. Any person or organization that isn't prepared to see a little challenge of patriarchal order won't survive these times. And that's ok. It's just the natural role of the universe to clear out rigid energy. That's what women do anyways - we like to shift things up. So if you are rigid, and don't have spring-loaded reflexes, expect some frustration with female energy over the next little while.
I have seen some men recently also who are doing just that - they're remembering that they DO have joints, and they DO have flexibility and they're mixing it up again! Yahoo! I see a lot of men, "good old boys" who are learning new things, opening up to possibilities and taking socio-emotional risks that they wouldn't dream of 10 years ago. This way, when the Goddesses in their lives swing around for an eclipse, they just lean to the left or right - and keep her on HER toes. We like that - the chase. Men are like dogs, they fight for a bone because they want to chew on the bone. When they get the bone they're happy, even if it was a handout. Women are like cats - they like the hunt. We bat the mouse around a few times, and the minute we win, we're disinterested. No chewing the bone for us! That's boring! Artemis was, after all, the great huntress.
So my hope is that we can keep our heads light and high and feel gratitude for the economic and political shakeups right now, and get excited to clear away silly old patriarchal cobwebs and enjoy those fabulous masculine energies in our lives that give us our light, and dance with our tides. No more tin men, without hearts and rigid joints! Time to LUBE UP! If you don't learn it from Dorothy, the Wicked Witch of the West (west = sunset) will drop by and get you movin! Mwahahahaha. :D
And THAT just might be a threat ... lol
Showing posts with label Nature. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Nature. Show all posts
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Monday, October 6, 2008
My Owl Totem Story
Oh, I tried to sleep tonight. It's already 5 AM and I tried to go to bed at 4, but I lied in bed feeling inclined to post my newest learning. Which will be my next post. This one is a shorty that comes first!
Yay!
Several months ago I was given a reading where the Owl was identified as an animal totem for me. For those who don't know, an animal totem is a specific family of animal or species that has habits, adaptations and lifestyles that one can study and learn valuable lessons about life from. Any person can have a number of totems that either follow them through life, or that pop up for short periods to teach them something.
Now it's a long story, so I'm going to whittle it down, but it's fun and meaningful to encounter a totem in the wild. It's fun because it's like tangible evidence that the real, actual animal is aware of you. So! I've been thinking for about a week that I'd like to go sit in the mountains and see if I could hear or see an owl. I've never seen or heard one in real life that I can remember. I never really even remember seeing any at any zoos or anything. For the past week I've been glued to clips of owls on YouTube.
So tonight I went running on the Provo Canyon trail with my sister Crystal. I had my MP3 player on as I ran. We went late, and it got dark as I was running. When I turned back and met up with Crystal, I turned my MP3 player off and we walked the last mile or so back to the car. We were just chatting and then I heard it! "WHOOo hoo hoho hoo ohhoooooohoo hoohoo" Ha ha. From what I've watched on YouTube it sounded like Great Horned Owl!! Far away from us I think, but we called out and said, "YO! Come down here so I can see you!" He didn't come down, but that didn't matter! He TOTALLY was hooting for me. I'm so stoked because it wasn't like I went and sat in the woods and meditated on owls or anything - I was just out exercising and I turned off my MP3 player right before I heard the hoots. Cute, huh!?!?
I also tried to tempt him down by claiming I had a skunk with me, because skunk is one of my totems too, and is the favorite food of the Great Horned owls. But, it was a lie, so naturally the wise old owl didn't fall for it!
Yay?
Yay!
Saturday, July 12, 2008
Our Mother Earth : High Priestess meets the Empress
Yesterday I sat in one of my final intuition classes with my incredible coach Marinna Siri, focusing on communicating with Mother Earth. I was challenged (as was the rest of my class) to connect to "Mother Earth". Ahhhh the GREAT GODDESS!
Ok, so we all started focusing on opening our chakras, allowing an intuitive channel. And as members of the class began to share their experiences I made contact.
The first thing She - the GREAT She - had to say to me was, "Why are you calling me mother? Is that all I am to you? Someone to cuddle you, clean you, feed you, nurture you? Am I nothing else?" I've had a previous conversation with Her where She has asked me to stop calling her Mother Earth. She even gave me a name : Sahashara - which happens to be the Sanscrit name for the crown chakra. But naturally, as a social creature of culture, I promptly returned to calling her the more known "Mother Earth."
This question, though left me surprised at myself. Why was I calling her mother? How would I feel about EVERYONE calling ME mother? (For the record I have no children right now.) More so, how would I feel about being expected to mother everyone. Yuck. Blech vomit vomit. There is nothing less appealing to me than being in a room chock full of children who's parents are inattentive, and these children expecting me to mother them. And I LOVE children. But I don't ever want to be identified in life as simply a "mother." (Mother meets astrophysicist, sure.)
But seriously, when was the last time you referred to Mother Earth as "Mother meets Weatherwoman" or whatever?
Recently I read a book by Jean Shinoda Bolen called "Goddesses in Everywoman." (Ironically her featured book today is called "Urgent Message From Mother" - what are the odds?). In the book she loosely follows Jungian psychology to identify the 7 main archetypes of a woman's psyche and outlines those archetypes using the stories of 7 Greek Goddesses. It's an incredible book and I recommend it to everyone. You see, Demeter is Mother Earth. She's the nurturer, the one who brings harvest, the one who obsesses over caring for children, caring for the elderly, etc. But Demeter is only 1 of the 7 faces of the Great Goddess.
And so "Mother" is one of the many appropriate titles for our Goddess Earth.
And now we get to Tarot (thank God!). In Tarot, the Great Goddess is divided into two characters, two Major Arcana cards (though She shows Her faces throughout the deck). Card #2, the High Priestess, and Card #3, the Empress. The Empress is traditionally pictured (I am currently calling Rider-Waite imagery the "tradition" which I know some consider a faux pas), ahem, she's traditionally pictured outdoors, sitting very relaxed in a comfortably flowing gown, arguably pregnant, with pomegranates and golden wheat symbolizing her fertility. She is Mother Earth in all of her Demeter qualities. And our culture tends to leave Her there. But that's the Empress -card number 3. Before the Goddess was ever the Empress, She was the High Priestess.
The High Priestess is pictured indoors, seated between two pillars (labeled for two pillars in the temple at Jerusalem). She has a curtain of behind her that hangs from the two pillars. And behind that curtain is a great mystery. She holds a scroll or a book entitled "Tora" - perhaps representing the mysteries of the Jewish Bible. The High Priestess is the inner woman, the inner Great Goddess. She is no Mother. In fact, the High Priestess in Greek Mythology was Persephone, Queen of the Underworld. And, not coincidentally, Persephone is the Daughter of Demeter. Before the Goddess was ever a mother, she was a daughter and a queen.
The High Priestess is, as is Persephone, the gatekeeper to the underworld, or that is, the unconscious. She is the agent who grants us passage into our deepest selves. She gives you passage to the moonworld, the world ruled by Artemis - the fearless huntress.
Think about this. Water symbolically represents emotions. The most significant water on our planet is ruled by the moon - that is to say, the ocean's tides are controlled by the moon. One cannot look into the depths of raging waters, but only into the depths of relatively still water. The same way, emotions are controlled by our inner selves, not our rational selves. Not the Empress who sits outdoors, but by the High Priestess who lives within. Raging emotions must be stilled before they can be understood, and the moon, or Priestess, is the gatekeeper to still waters.
The Earth is 70%-ish water. Our bodies are 70%-ish water. As I was intuitively connecting to "Mother" Earth yesterday, she reminded me that we only occupy 30% of her surface. That is to say, she is only 30% our Mother. The other 70%, of her surface, the gateway to the deep, dark, mysterious depths of her, are covered in water. The doorway to her other 70% is guarded by the Queen of the Underworld. The Goddess before she became the Mother.
Have I lost you? The bottom line is this: we oversimplify the Goddess every time we say "Mother" Earth. Tarot shows this - it defines her using two cards, two faces. This is a mirror of our culture. How many of us squeeze ourselves into one role in life? How many of us feel "wicked" for not feeling like the Empress at all times? How many of us consider it a guilty pleasure to explore the underworld of our consciousness?
It's not healthy. It's not natural. And bottom line, to limit oneself is an illusion anyways. Our best example of the this is the very planet we live upon. Who are we to say we are masters of it - we who are land-dwellers by nature. Sure technology can get us up into the air, or down into the water, but we as a species are not capable of living, as a species, in water or in the air. We are land-dwellers and we are truly masters of only one of her elements: Land (Earth). We limit her to this, because we feel limited.
Perhaps, if we broaden our perspective of her, and of all things, especially ourselves, we will evolve.
Ok, so we all started focusing on opening our chakras, allowing an intuitive channel. And as members of the class began to share their experiences I made contact.
The first thing She - the GREAT She - had to say to me was, "Why are you calling me mother? Is that all I am to you? Someone to cuddle you, clean you, feed you, nurture you? Am I nothing else?" I've had a previous conversation with Her where She has asked me to stop calling her Mother Earth. She even gave me a name : Sahashara - which happens to be the Sanscrit name for the crown chakra. But naturally, as a social creature of culture, I promptly returned to calling her the more known "Mother Earth."
This question, though left me surprised at myself. Why was I calling her mother? How would I feel about EVERYONE calling ME mother? (For the record I have no children right now.) More so, how would I feel about being expected to mother everyone. Yuck. Blech vomit vomit. There is nothing less appealing to me than being in a room chock full of children who's parents are inattentive, and these children expecting me to mother them. And I LOVE children. But I don't ever want to be identified in life as simply a "mother." (Mother meets astrophysicist, sure.)
But seriously, when was the last time you referred to Mother Earth as "Mother meets Weatherwoman" or whatever?
Recently I read a book by Jean Shinoda Bolen called "Goddesses in Everywoman." (Ironically her featured book today is called "Urgent Message From Mother" - what are the odds?). In the book she loosely follows Jungian psychology to identify the 7 main archetypes of a woman's psyche and outlines those archetypes using the stories of 7 Greek Goddesses. It's an incredible book and I recommend it to everyone. You see, Demeter is Mother Earth. She's the nurturer, the one who brings harvest, the one who obsesses over caring for children, caring for the elderly, etc. But Demeter is only 1 of the 7 faces of the Great Goddess.
And so "Mother" is one of the many appropriate titles for our Goddess Earth.
And now we get to Tarot (thank God!). In Tarot, the Great Goddess is divided into two characters, two Major Arcana cards (though She shows Her faces throughout the deck). Card #2, the High Priestess, and Card #3, the Empress. The Empress is traditionally pictured (I am currently calling Rider-Waite imagery the "tradition" which I know some consider a faux pas), ahem, she's traditionally pictured outdoors, sitting very relaxed in a comfortably flowing gown, arguably pregnant, with pomegranates and golden wheat symbolizing her fertility. She is Mother Earth in all of her Demeter qualities. And our culture tends to leave Her there. But that's the Empress -card number 3. Before the Goddess was ever the Empress, She was the High Priestess.
The High Priestess is pictured indoors, seated between two pillars (labeled for two pillars in the temple at Jerusalem). She has a curtain of behind her that hangs from the two pillars. And behind that curtain is a great mystery. She holds a scroll or a book entitled "Tora" - perhaps representing the mysteries of the Jewish Bible. The High Priestess is the inner woman, the inner Great Goddess. She is no Mother. In fact, the High Priestess in Greek Mythology was Persephone, Queen of the Underworld. And, not coincidentally, Persephone is the Daughter of Demeter. Before the Goddess was ever a mother, she was a daughter and a queen.
The High Priestess is, as is Persephone, the gatekeeper to the underworld, or that is, the unconscious. She is the agent who grants us passage into our deepest selves. She gives you passage to the moonworld, the world ruled by Artemis - the fearless huntress.
Think about this. Water symbolically represents emotions. The most significant water on our planet is ruled by the moon - that is to say, the ocean's tides are controlled by the moon. One cannot look into the depths of raging waters, but only into the depths of relatively still water. The same way, emotions are controlled by our inner selves, not our rational selves. Not the Empress who sits outdoors, but by the High Priestess who lives within. Raging emotions must be stilled before they can be understood, and the moon, or Priestess, is the gatekeeper to still waters.
The Earth is 70%-ish water. Our bodies are 70%-ish water. As I was intuitively connecting to "Mother" Earth yesterday, she reminded me that we only occupy 30% of her surface. That is to say, she is only 30% our Mother. The other 70%, of her surface, the gateway to the deep, dark, mysterious depths of her, are covered in water. The doorway to her other 70% is guarded by the Queen of the Underworld. The Goddess before she became the Mother.
Have I lost you? The bottom line is this: we oversimplify the Goddess every time we say "Mother" Earth. Tarot shows this - it defines her using two cards, two faces. This is a mirror of our culture. How many of us squeeze ourselves into one role in life? How many of us feel "wicked" for not feeling like the Empress at all times? How many of us consider it a guilty pleasure to explore the underworld of our consciousness?
It's not healthy. It's not natural. And bottom line, to limit oneself is an illusion anyways. Our best example of the this is the very planet we live upon. Who are we to say we are masters of it - we who are land-dwellers by nature. Sure technology can get us up into the air, or down into the water, but we as a species are not capable of living, as a species, in water or in the air. We are land-dwellers and we are truly masters of only one of her elements: Land (Earth). We limit her to this, because we feel limited.
Perhaps, if we broaden our perspective of her, and of all things, especially ourselves, we will evolve.
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