Claiming Your Shamanic Priestess Self

I recieved this today, and it is so precious, I had to add it to my blog site!

You might think I’d say… “This course is awesome, you should take it!”… That’s totally an understatement! This is truly a ‘PROCESS’ of transmutation, which has totally amp-ed up my self-esteem and self-worth big time! It has birthed a new level confidence. Anyaa and her amazing Apprentices Kristina & Zanzara, reflected to me, who I truly am (each one has their own special gifts… just like other leaders & apprentices of the SPP). They acknowledged my power, love, and truest essence, right to their core. That kind of reflection, made me feel nurtured in the most comforting way one can possibly imagine.

Yes…they pushed my buttons, but in a good way. They lovingly reflected what I needed to learn most, and what I need to let go of, etc. They also acknowledged what gifts I offered them, that they found valuable. So there was a sense of equality as Sisters, rather then a hierarchy.

This is a beautiful experience for all ages of women. We all just honour each other, as adoptive-spiritual Sisters. We’re like long-lost Priestesses that have finally found each other again, that hold sacred not only the upper chakras, but also the lower chakras. We honour the teachings of our light-side, but also honour the teachings of our shadow-side.

The initiations I hold most precious. They are spiritual acts in the moment that always bring out the Divine. I understand old ancient pagan rituals now, as the SPP has taken it more into an up-to-date version of ceremony. This totally resonated for me, in that we had a basic template, but each used our own imagination about how the exercise related to ourselves. It was so much fun, and truly transformational! This is more of a modern creative way of “Shamanic Journeying”. It’s not strange, but actually really fantastic!

I must say that I can’t believe how much ‘living ceremony’ meant so much to me during this ‘process’! I always thought ritual was weird. Now I see that there is some form of ‘magical alchemy’ that creates transformation. I think taking a sensitive topic, and then mixing it with creativity, fun, and theatre, makes a sacred space for metamorphosis to occur.

There were many highlights. I really enjoyed all the prep-work for each event. Each time I went, it felt like going somewhere really magical (ie: like the ‘Mists of Avalon’!)… our retreat centre was actually on an island with real mists!

Each event I wanted to look my best, share my best homework attempts, and bring the right ceremonial supplies, including the joy of finding accessories to accentuate my Goddess/Priestess makeshift outfits… so I got to be a Princess for the day, several times throughout the process… thank-you very much! The little girl in me that still loves Disneyland, also still believes in… fairies, unicorns, magic, Gods & Goddesses… which was a wild fantasy come true!

The SPP creates a sacred space with lots of fun activities (ie: dancing, meditation, tarot cards, sacred talking circle, feasts, writing assignments, creative projects, etc), that’s accentuated with the most beautiful modern Goddess music! It’s also incredibly feminine and loving, as it feels like being tucked away in a ‘receiving blanket’, being re-birthed as a true Priestess to myself, and to the world… however I choose to express that gift the process gave me. There’s no dogma, so my own spiritual belief viewpoints are totally honoured, just like everyone else’s. It’s also an excellent opportunity to become an ‘Ordained Minister’, if you choose (an additional exciting option… which I took!
… now I can minister weddings, funerals & births!).

The Shamanic Priestess Process ‘naturally’ instigated a ‘mid-life’ crisis that I’m presently in. I wouldn’t have done it, agreed to it, or have moved through so much in one-year, had it not been for the amazing leadership, and wonderful circle of sacred women. Since the official process has been over, the transformation seems to have amplified pending changes (…I’m still in the process ~ which is more then wonderful J ).

I need to let go of the old that no longer is serving my life, in order for my new dreams and goals to manifest and come in. The SPP helped give me the nurturing love and care, to make all of that possible… which I’m truly grateful for… more then words can possibly express!!! Even leaders can benefit greatly from the program.

Now I have a wonderful group of Sisters not only in my circle, but previous ones (and future ones), as well as a larger network on an international level. There are many Priestesses, as our sacred circle is growing! This kind of continued support after the course is over, is such a joy to be part of, to allow further growth on my journey, creating a sacred space for my higher-self to manifest into my life as a reality, rather then a dream… in more deeper, and subtle ways.

This process makes your dreams a reality. Because of this, all of the commitments involved are totally worth it! I dare you to feel that worthy, to treat yourself with that much respect and care, to get all of the nurturing support, with TLC and a little tough love that you need; to make that shift in your life, so you can truly soar!

I dare you to allow yourself to be that great! This process has the most amazing support system and tool set, to fully claim your true-self, as a Shamanic Priestess to the world!

Love & blessings,
Priestess Sahara

Nourishment, Kundalini, and the Menopausal Woman

by Mary Lane
Author of Divine Nourishment: A Woman’s Sacred Journey with Food

Fall is a time nature separates the seeds from the chaff in the plant kingdom, embeds them in her body and has the grand cosmic lovemaking with spirit to consecrate her impregnation. You can see and feel it as the brilliantly colored leaves reveal the sacred merging. It is a time when life and death are merged as one. Nature is supported by the animals, wind and birds to spread her seeds, as she carpets her body with the decaying leaves to give them a warm safe bed for the winter. She protects the seeds of her next generation before she retreats and takes time for herself. She rebuilds her energy in the winter before giving birth in the spring. It is truly a magical time and an honor to witness.

Menopause is a passage into the autumn of our life. It prepares us to take a look at the harvest of our life, separate the wheat from the chaff and distill the wisdom from our journey. Once we have taken the time to go inward and do the work it takes to distill the wisdom it is time to come back out as a wise woman and plant the seeds of our wisdom for the next generation. This is quite a different scenario than we have witnessed in our culture for the last few generations. Women have just gotten old after a difficult menopausal passage and discarded by our society. Their usefulness has been hidden by our lack of awareness of the value of this phase of her life. They have been medicated and have had no idea what this passage is truly about. With so many women from the baby boomer generation going through this passage at this time we can not afford to have a vast amount of women just getting old. We can not afford to not honor and welcome our wise women into society to support the collective transformation we are going through. This generation of menopausal women need to take their rightful place in society. We need them!

Nature has been my teacher for many years. I spent 15 years living in the Hawaiian islands on Maui. It is the newest land on Earth. It energetically embodies the creative, orgasmic sexual energy erupting wave after wave. The fire goddess Pele rules in this part of the world. It was the place I focused on learning what this thing called sexual energy was really about, beyond what I was conditioned with from a culture that has definite issues about it. She taught me well. Just as Pele and the energy of those islands taught me about my sexuality as it is reflected by nature, the mountains of North Carolina are teaching me what it looks like to embrace and embody myself as an elder wise woman – integrated with my sexuality. These are the oldest mountains in the world with deep, wise feminine energy. I am a full time student of this phase of life with the best teacher there is.

What do the two have in common? How does one support the other? And what does it have to do with menopause and Divine Nourishment?

First of all, nourishing ourselves according to the Earth’s wisdom, the embodiment of the fully integrated woman, balanced with her masculine, with no apologies about her oozing infinite creative sexual energy, and wise enough to recycle, is the first step in shifting our self rejection as women and open to our wisdom.

Many women naturally experience a rising of kundalini energy as they approach menopause. Their energy is shifting from being projected outward to attract procreation to inward and movement upward through the chakra system. Some experience this as hot flashes as the energy hits up against blocks. This energy is available to clear out the blockages through the entire chakra system that does not represent the fully authentic, integrated powerful feminine. It scours the system for all conditioning that is not compatible. It is a powerful serpentine energy that is the master of transformation. And it is there for us at this time. When we hang onto the old illusory ideas of who we are as a woman menopause can be a nightmare. When we work with this energy in a conscious way it is a journey into our authenticity which prepares for the phase in life that is intolerant of anything less. It prepares us to take our place with the wisdom that comes from the depths of our soul’s journey. It prepares us to be so grounded in it that we are unshakable. We are no longer under the influence of society’s conditioning. We have the strength and power to tell it like it is as we pass the baton to the next generation laced with deeply earned wisdom.

Is it no wonder that it was necessary to convince women that this passage was quite the opposite of its reality? Can you imagine a generation of women from the baby boomers coming into this phase of their life fully empowered? What an impact it would have on this collective transformation.

Honoring ourselves, shifting the self rejection, nourishing ourselves according the our wisdom reflected from nature and making friends with our sexual energy is important preparation for this most sacred passage.

When we are not grounded in our life, unable to nourish ourselves appropriately the kundalini rising through our bodies can become a dangerous vehicle that can carry us to realms we are not prepared for. It can shred and dismember us in such an unmerciful way we can’t integrate it. It is the most powerful energy in the Universe and should not be taken lightly. Opening to this energy in a way that supports the cleansing of the chakra system and prepares us for our role as wise women without getting blown out of the water is a tricky dance.

Nourishing ourselves according to nature’s wisdom grounds us on this wave of transformation season by season at a manageable voltage. We become acquainted with ourselves, transforming cycle by cycle. We are experienced riders by the time menopause arrives. We can then utilize this serpentine energy as it rises up our spine, seasoned with meeting ourselves and ride the wave through this sacred passage. We can then integrate this transformation, embody it and take our place as the elder with a baton that is worth passing on. There may have never been a time in history that is calling for this more than now. We can do this.

When we have been able to experience this sexual, creative serpent energy moving up through our entire being our relationship with this energy takes on quite a different flavor. It no longer is a localized experienced that ends quite quickly. It connects every cell in our body to the Divine. We can ride this wave, bathing ourselves with life giving energy that weaves together the physical and spiritual existence of our soul. We have been well trained by the wave that moves through the Earth’s body from living and eating seasonally. There is much more to this seasonal lifestyle than meets the eye.

Mary Lane is the author of the ebook “Divine Nourishment / A Woman’s Sacred Journey with Food.” She has many years and credentials as a chef and 5 Element Nutritionist, along with Plant Spirit Medicine. She has a strong background in inner alchemy according to ancient Taoist practices and teachings of Mary Magdelene. She lives a lifestyle that allows her to have a deep connection with the natural world, and considers herself a full time student. Mary weaves this all together offering tools in aligning and grounding ourselves in the wisdom of nature through the doorway of nourishment. She draws upon her life’s journey to offer support and wisdom for women who are reclaiming the Divine Feminine within. For more information, see divinenourishment.net.

Mary & Anyaa are offering a week-long event: The Crone, Kundalini & Creativity April 8th-15th, 2010 at Isis Cove Retreat Center in Western NC. click here for a full flyer.

Mary & Anyaa will be offering a free women’s circle evening on Tuesday, 7 pm on March 16th and Tuesday, March 30th at The Women’s Health & Wellness Center, 24 Arlington St., Asheville, NC 28801.

Overview of the Evening:

We will gather together to learn from each other in sacred circle, as seasoned women of consciousness. Cronehood is ready to be re-visioned as a time of integration, making whole and birthing a new creativity in alignment with each woman’s own unique soul qualities. The time is ripe for the Crone to take her place on the wheel of life at the Turning of the Ages. We will move, share, journey and overview The Crone, Kundalini & Creativity, a week-long event taking place for the first time here in Western NC. Co-facilitators Anyaa McAndrew and Mary Lane will guide us through a magical evening dedicated to the menopausal woman!

Feminine Energy in Shining Light on Shadow

My Priestess Sister, Rebecca Noel, sent me this recently, and it is a very important message for sacred women:

This series was truly illuminating and very eloquently covered the issues I’ve been grappling with recently of where exactly is the line between focusing energy on what you don’t want and looking at what’s happening in the world at the moment…..what is the line between educating oneself about some of the darker shadow things happening and giving power to it by focusing on it….Where is the line?

This series exquisitely details how information is neither good nor bad it’s the fear we attach to the information that keeps us from taking action to make change for the better and why the feminine energy doesn’t want to explore any of the negative stuff going on in the world and instead looks to men to be our savior but why our energy is needed the most at this time….I highly recommend watching/listening to this… especially all women.

http://www.ecstaticvisioning.com/blog/law-of-attraction/feminine-energy

Reclaiming the Feminine Divine

Creation

I will forge my own goddess in the fire of my need

Unmet by the father-god daddy-world

(call her Kali)

Hammer her curving, open form on the anvil of my power

(call her Hecate)

Carry her close in the medicine bag of my heart

(call her Inanna)

Worship her with love of self

(call her Diana)

Love of life

(call her Demeter)

Love of Earth

(call her Gaia)

She asks no burnt offerings, no fatted calves,

No “Thou shalt nots”

Indeed, she sings to me “Thou shall!”

Oh, truly is she flesh of my flesh, blood of my blood,

Bone, sinew

Never further from me than my heart, my skin

My belly and breasts,

I call upon my goddess, “Rise up within me!”

And, oh, she rises.

Karen Runkles Throener © (1996)

The story below belongs to Anna Cariad-Barrett, A Minneapolis Shamanic Priestess who emerged in 2005. This was a piece of Anna’s thesis and an affirmation of her priestessing in the world.

Anyaa McAndrew

In the fall, I began my first semester of the Marriage and Family Therapy graduate program at the University of Wisconsin-Stout. This program affirmed my background in systems theory, social activism orientation, and prepared me for clinical therapy work with individuals, couples, and families. At the same time, I began what I view as the second half of my graduate studies. Inspired to open more fully to a relationship with the Divine I signed up for a year-long developmental spiritual process which focuses on personal empowerment and explores the feminine face of the Divine.

I gathered with a circle of women for many powerful weekend workshops and community events. (facilitated by Anyaa McAndrew, High Priestess, and Psychotherapist) This process does not involve particular beliefs, dogma, and structure. Instead, it is a fluid and evolving developmental process that supports and enlivens the unique journey of each woman into her full spiritual empowerment and self-knowing. As it explores the priestess archetype, it is called the Priestess Process. The “P” word! What does the word “priestess” trigger within you as you read it?

For many in Western society it is a denigrated and dangerous word. It has been associated with other terms: witch, whore, unholy, illegitimate, exotic, and dangerous to the social order. It has taken time for me to step away from this dominant patriarchal social perspective and define the archetype of the priestess for myself. To me, a priestess is a woman who is a spiritual facilitator, takes a personally-empowered spiritual stance, and honors both feminine and masculine aspects of the Divine.

Over the hundreds of years of the women’s holocaust, or the witch trials as they are popularly known, thousands if not millions of women were tortured and killed (Armstrong, Pettigrew, Studio D, National Film Board of Canada, & Read, 1990). These women were not witches, but landowners, women with money, healers, those active in the community, or those who were simply too bright, beautiful, and gifted to be tolerated by medieval society. In other words, women with any sense of personal power were found to be dangerous and systematically stamped out of Western society (Armstrong et al., 1990). By blaming the victims as witches, we belittle this holocaust and deny its connection to the long-term oppression of women. Women have long been “known” to be sinful, and we are told to look to our fathers, husbands, and men of the church for authority. A woman with a healthy sense of internal authority and empowerment could be dangerous to the status quo! It is no wonder we have been denied positions of authority within many Western churches.

I was disconnected from the Feminine Divine, but she is my source. Up until 2500 BCE, many of the agrarian communities of Western Europe were socially organized around Goddess spirituality, and were led by women (Crawford, 2004). A number of recent feminist authors, including Crawford (2004), have stated that these societies were peaceful, egalitarian, and surprisingly complex. Though many Neolithic cities held large populations, archaeologists could find no trace of warfare for thousands of years (Crawford, 2004).

Closely mirroring the plight of women, the feminine face and principles of the Divine have been denigrated and forgotten. The Goddess and priestesses were given the negative mask of the witch and were associated with the devil (Armstrong et al., 1990). As Western society shifted from matriarchy to patriarchy, I do not believe it is a coincidence that the snake, an ancient symbol of wisdom and the feminine, was utilized in Genesis as the devil tempting a woman with knowledge, thus bringing about the exile of mankind from the heavenly garden (Kidd, 1996). With the origin of the Judeo-Christian world, the identity of woman as sinful and unholy was cemented. In recent times many men and women have begun to explore this lost feminine face of the Divine (Kidd, 1996). This journey is unique to each person. My reclamation of the feminine Divine has been instrumental in the journey that calls me to work with larger systems.

After the women’s holocaust, many women learned the forced lesson to be small, quiet, and sacrifice themselves. This is how my female lineage survived a gender-oppressive reality. It is no small task to reclaim the Feminine Divine and claim my personal spiritual power and worth. Many women are still metaphorically burned at the stake for being powerful in this culture. Living into the archetype of the priestess has been a powerful developmental journey for me. As I explore aspects of the Feminine Divine, I explore myself and the planet.

As I wrote these words, I felt my storyteller’s voice take on a new tone. As both a storyteller and participant of culture, I hold this herstory of women and my own reactions to it. The emotion of my voice tells an additional story. I refuse to be unconscious of the oppression, violence, and mystification of experience that women and all other marginalized groups face. As I identify my own determination, anger, and refusal to shrink into less than I am, I resonate with the interconnected experiences of oppression that others have faced: the loss of indigenous culture, the bigotry directed at different cultural groups and the LGBT community, the rape of environmental systems, and the economic piracy of large corporations. What began to rise up within me, as I explored the loss of the Feminine Divine, was a voice that said with certainty, “This oppression will not stand anymore. This is my work on the planet.” I claim the following intention statement for my life:

Life Intention Statement

I am Priestess Anna Cariad

Mystical dreamer

Visionary

Creatrix

Sentinel and protector

Wise elder of the circle

Loving energy incarnate

Mother to all

Through these many facets of self, I shine as a beacon to the world.

I am a global leader, teacher, and healer.

I have come forth in this lifetime as a truth speaker.

My voice and actions shake the brittle cage of oppression and violence

Until it dissolves into the flowing birth waters of harmony, understanding, and connection.

I am divine midwife in the birth of a new planetary consciousness.

I am catalyst of energy potential.

Through the divine energy of my truth,

I activate the power of my life intention.

I call forth the dynamism of my life expression

And commit myself to walking this journey.

I stand in the power, truth, and beauty of myself.

I am Priestess Anna Cariad

Anna Brooke Doherty (2005)

As Within, So without… As Above, So Below Continue reading “Reclaiming the Feminine Divine”

A letter from Vicki Noble and a Goddess crop circle!

Dear Motherpeace Friend:

Feast your eyes on this newly discovered crop circle that appeared this week
in England. Those of us involved in Goddess spirituality and the Women’s
Spirituality Movement have maintained for many years that the “divine
feminine” is making a comeback at this late date in his-story. In what we
hope is the nick of time for saving the world, She graces our imaginations
through dreams, visions, received messages, apparent displays such as
“orbs”and myriad other creative expressions–crop circles being one of them.

Artist and activist grandmother, Lydia Ruyle, sent me the link this morning
for this recent crop circle, but I myself have also seen them over the years
on visits to England’s sacred landscape around Silbury Hill and the West
Kennet Long Barrow. There are many wonderful books available and articles
written by hunters and afficionados of the crop circle phenomenon, which has
been going on for decades. Skeptics have attempted to show them as bogus,
but happily, the magical formations so far defy all efforts at debunking.

All (or most) crop circles are beautiful to look at, often symetrical and
perfectly arranged geometric shapes or flowers, aesthetically very pleasing
and impossible, by scientific standards, to create in such a short time (as
they often appear overnight, or even in a period of a few moments). They
simply defy the modern scientific understandings of reality and force us to
open to what we don’t understand and cannot name in traditional ways. What
a gift for us in this time of the “solid state reality” that maintains
nature is not sentient.

Tonight (3 am in California) the New Moon Solar Eclipse takes place at
around 10 degrees of Leo. The eclipse can only be seen in the far northern
latitudes of the Arctic Circle, but no worries–it will be felt all over the
world! Not only is it important as all eclipses are, but it falls on one of
the sacred cross-quarter days of the Goddess Calendar–Lammas or August Eve,
the festival of the first fruits (in the northern hemisphere). That this
Goddess figure has appeared in Her full splendor as a crop circle with this
precise and precipitous timing is a gift and a blessing to the world.

Native people tells us that eclipses amplify whatever we’re doing by
millions of times, so make good karma now and try not to be harmful in any
way. Say your prayers, make your wishes, do your mantras, sing your chants
before you go to bed tonight, and perhaps your dreams will bring a message
of positive healing power. Astrologers tell us that eclipses always affect
world events which unfold in the months and years following the eclipse
itself. This Solar Eclipse falls at the same degree as the Ascendant
(Rising) of the chart representing the New York Stock Exchange, so expect
some kind of roller coaster ride in the next few weeks and months.

Our ancient ancestors went to great lengths to honor, mark and celebrate
Solar and Lunar eclipses for many millennia. Some of the most beautiful
earthworks in the world, such as Stonehenge in England or New Grange in
Ireland, or even the Butte in Chaco Canyon, New Mexico, have been arranged
and modified in order to accommodate and record eclipse cycles.

May this holy time be a blessing for each of you and all of our kin. May the
world be illuminated by the light of the spirits of peace and love. May we
all be part of a transformation and healing of this beautiful planet that
involves a return of the values and energies of the sacred feminine.

Blessed Be, Vicki Noble

http://www.cropcircleconnector.com/2008/honeystreet3/honeystreet2008c.html