Feminine Mojo

The Power of 'the Word'

With the passing of each day, it seems more and more vital (and a deep practice) not to get caught up in the mass-hallucination of what's gone horribly wrong (and it's a compelling case!) and the collective fear, anxiety, and 'ancestral dread'.

Needless to say, there's a whole lot of 'ancestral dread' floating around, murking things up!

The alternative available is to cultivate and revere a vision of what's possible, what's beautiful, what's abundant and Earth-friendly -- and where that's been the case in our deep history and ancestral memory.

The idea is, that when activate that deep memory (analeptic memory), we remember how we can be in balance and right-relationship with all that is.

That's why working with archetypes, myth-stories, and symbols is so powerful, for example - because as we work with them, they stimulate our analeptic, ancestral-cellular (and some would add Soul) memory.

We begin to remember valuable insights and wisdom.

From ancient wisdom traditions and contemporary 'at the horizon edge' science, we know that matter follows energy, be it the energy of our beliefs, thoughts, words, or actions.

'Word' is that which vibrates - literally what we think, speak, and feel, predominantly.

In this way, our 'word' is magical, acting like 'strange attractors' around which matter organizes itself.

Wherever we allow our thought and energy to focus, or to languish in the mire, we'll very likely see that reflected in some way in our experience, or our perception of it.

As in martial arts traditions, we strengthen whatever we focus on and give our energy to. Energy flows where attention goes.

As I've meandered (and sometimes blazed ala Speedy Gonzales) along my journey, owning that 'power of Word' has been tall practice.

Sometimes I've gotten my butt kicked, and sometimes I've landed in that blissful "Oh wow, so this is what it's about!" Usually, I've been somewhere in between, practicing, practicing.

In a shamanic training, one of my teachers reminded us that if we don't begin each day with an intentional choice of what energies and Spirit helpers we want to call in and align with, we'll find ourselves calibrating to the predominant thought-stream of the masses.

And she asked, "And what do you think they're thinking - what do you think the primary energy is focused on?" I'd guess that 'ancestral dread' thing!

Mother Theresa of Calcutta, not long before her death, also emphasized the 'deep practice' of minding one's word, energy, and focus. When asked if she'd attend an anti-war rally, she said, "No, but when you hold a pro-peace rally I'll be there."

It's a powerful choice, to see what is and to choose to orient towards that which is beautiful, joyful, well, harmonious, loving, in right-relationship, and benefiting all beings.

And don't forget the spirit of playfulness and joy - the Trickster and Wild Woman can be divine allies in times such as these, showing us how to combine playfulness with revelation and wise action.

We can cultivate our energy focus, intention, and word-power in our morning and evening rituals, and in small ways throughout the day.

While seemingly humble, this paying attention and choosing differently is a powerful contribution and service. And it's a little something to play with in our co-creative adventure with Life.

Blessings on your Way!

Love,

Jamie

Image Credits: Eddie Van W's Water Reflections (Creative Commons - thanks Eddie!); Clytie, by Frederic Lord Leighton (1845-86); the 'source' at Mt. Shasta.

Grace, Presence & Creative Idea-Power

Most everyone I know these days would gladly welcome more Grace, and more creative ideas and inspiration, as we go through each day.

Like a garden, Grace, presence, and creative ideas and inspiration can be invited, cultivated, experienced, and received.

As so many wisdom teachings say, they're already here, all around us, and we just need to align with those streams and open to receive and perceive them.

And you know it too, don't you: These qualities make a huge difference in the quality of our lives, work, and thinking.

Of course, the challenge is that we're busy or fretful or downright worried or anxious a lot of the times. It's easy to be preoccupied and think that things like Grace, presence, and creative ideas or inspiration are luxuries.

We know it -- they're necessities.

I know that I can really, really easily tell whether I'm relaxed and allowing Grace and creative inspiration to flow, or whether I'm gunking up the works with worry and 'working the problem'. There's a B-I-G difference!

I've just posted a Mojo SeaZine newsletter at Ivy Sea Online -- it includes links to a couple of articles, including one on "The Rise of the Grace-Full Business", and a 'Powerful, Creative Ideas' portal for more grace-full inspiration.

And if you're a heart-and-purpose-centered solopreneur, small-business owner, or change agent, I've got a special invitation to share with you.

Blessings,

Jamie

Image Credit: Sunlight Invocation, by Frederic Lord Leighton

Wise Women & Mid-Life (Re)Blooming

Many of us have experienced, or are experiencing, a sort of radical rebirth, a reincarnation within this incarnation.

We're living in uber-transformative times, so perhaps it comes as no surprise that transformation around us happens through transformation within us, even as circumstances seem to conspire to nudge us into that change.

For generations of women before us -- our mothers, grandmothers, great-grandmothers and before -- societal constrictions made such radical transformations difficult, if not impossible.

Even with these restrictions, there were many remarkable women who were transformed, and whose wisdom, words, and actions inspired transformation in others.

It's always inspiring to me, having experienced such a wild transformation -- that Inanna-Persephone death and rebirth -- during the decade of my 40s, to see examples of other mid-life 're-bloomers': women, and men, who truly came into new purpose and life-work at mid-life.

This morning, two wonderful and inspiring wise-women come to inspire: Hildegard of Bingen and Florence Scovel Shinn.

Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179) was a Benedictine Abbess, a mystic who was called "Sybil of the Rhine" for her power of vision and prophecy.  While she  had experienced visions from the time she was a small girl, she lived in a time when such things were as likely to be attributed to the 'devil' as to Divine inspiration.

She was 42 years old when she had a vision that instructed her to begin writing about the visions and guidance she was receiving. Still hesitant, she resisted the guidance initially, until she received encouragement from several supporters in the Church and finally began to give expression to the visions.

Hildegard's descriptions of her visionary experiences are very similar to other descriptions of activated Shakti -- the powerful, creative Feminine (for more about this listen in to my Feminine Mojo Show with Teri Degler on "the Divine Feminine Fire", and other shows on the Feminine as well).

Having experienced "the Divine Light" through her senses -- the wisdom and feeling of her body -- Hildegard poured forth the creative energy of Shakti, the Divine Feminine, in music, art, wisdom, healing and herbal wisdom, and prophecy. Shakti-fed brilliance, coming into full expression starting in her 40s.

Florence Scovel Shinn (1871-1940) lived more than half of her life during a time when women weren't even allowed to vote. She was an actress, artist, and illustrator whose life took a radical turn after her divorce at age 41.

During her 40s, rebirthing herself following the devastating 'surprise' of her divorce, Scovel Shinn left behind her former life as an artist and cultivated a metaphysical wisdom. She self-published her first book at age 54.

She became a wisdom teacher for what would later become known as 'New Thought', and her teachings influenced many of the Unity, Religious Science, and other New Thought teachers who would become well-known after her death.

If we had more information about her experience, we might see the trail of Shakti creative-fire as the source of her rebirth and creative expression, too.

Unity Minister Ernest Wilson, quoted in The Writings of Florence Scovel Shinn, wrote, "She never prepared for a lecture...and she depended on freewill offerings at the classes and in counseling sessions in (her) Fifth Avenue apartment. She lived, you might say, by 'invisible means of support.'"

She published many more books, which are still in distribution and still inspiring thousands.

These are just a few of the women -- and men like Carl Jung -- who were recreated, ripened, and rebirthed through the experiences of mid-life transformation. They speak to us, inspire us, and guide us as we move through similar transformations and rebirths now.

With Joy & Gratitude,

Jamie

Enter and cultivate your inner Garden of the Feminine with The Academy of the Divine Feminine.

Image Credits: Zhulong (pig-dragon) from Neolithic China was related to the ouroboros - symbols of death, rebirth, and ever-flowing Life energy, or Shakti. Florence Scovel Shinn and Hildegard von Bingen from public domain image archives.