Sophia's Children

The Two 'Power Words' You Use All the Time

Words are magic, for better and worse.

Knowing that, there are a lot of ways we can elevate our communication, and really notice (and have!) a positive effect.

We can elevate our internal communication -- our all-powerful 'self talk' -- and we can elevate our communication with others.

Just through our words, we can make someone else's day, and make 'the impossible' possible in our lives.

Let's take a look at a really powerful example.

What two words do you use often without realizing their power?

Find out what the two words are & feel the difference in several examples -- read the full article (and more) in the latest edition of The Wake-Up Juice newsletter.

Lots of love,

Jamie

'Normal' is not a Virtue

One of my favorite movie lines -- and admittedly, I have a few -- is uttered by 'Aunt Frances' (Stockard Channing) in the movie Practical Magic.

Aunt Frances says,

"My dear girl, when are you going to understand that being normal isn't a virtue. It rather denotes a lack of courage."

Over the years, I've come to wonder whether the whole 'normal' thing actually just causes an enormous amount of suffering and mayhem.

The pursuit of 'normal' is like this quicksandy mudhole. (Been there. Done that. Feels awful.)

I mean really, what IS normal? Who gets to decide?

Even more importantly, what do we sacrifice on the Altar of Normal?

Because I guarantee you that something gets sacrificed, and it's usually something pretty valuable.

I'd go so far as to say that 'normal' is actually an amazing lie. It doesn't exist, which is why the pursuit of 'normal' is an exercise in futility, suffering, and diminishment.

Seriously, I've explored the terrain of 'trying to be normal', whatever the !@#% that means.

What it seems to end up meaning is 'not standing out'. Fitting in. Toning down. Shutting up. Not shining.

That means that the 'sacrificial lamb' on the Altar of Normal is everything that is unique and edgy about us.

WE get sacrificed on the Altar of Normal.

The unique tapestry of our perspectives, shaped by our experiences over the course of our lives, is the Pearl of Great Price that we sell cheap in pursuit of 'normal'.

Changing what we worship...

In a 2005 commencement speech at Kenyon College, and right before his own death, the writer David Foster Wallace said this:

"You get to consciously decide what has meaning and what doesn't. You get to decide what to worship."

It's true: We do get to choose.

And we can choose to shift our allegiance away from the soul-sucking, Light-dimming, gift-wasting Cult of Normal.

We're not 'normal', none of us.

And if 'fitting in to Normal' requires us to sell ourselves out -- our own Faustian bargain -- then maybe it'd be better not to 'fit in' to that particular thing, yes?

We're each completely unique, like snow flakes, and what makes us unique is our gift to the world.

Figuring out what that is, and sharing it in the world, does take a bit of courage, but it also gives a lot of joy (that's one of the clues!).

What's more, this is as true for a unique business or group as it is for an individual.

Frederick Buechner wrote that, Our true vocation is where our deep joy meets the world's great need.

It's a Pearl of Great Price -- our uniqueness and that 'great joy' -- that both brings us alive and in some vital way meets the world's great need.

Love,

Jamie

Bug-Tranced & Spiral-Eyed Meanderings

Yes, that's right. Bug trance and spiral eyes.

I had a bug wander through this weekend -- maybe it was some mold spores I breathed in while wet-vac'ing the rainwater out of the basement on Saturday night, or maybe it was that chicken caesar I had for dinner.

Whether mold spores, food poisoning, or something altogether else, I found myself feeling like I was in a bug-trance with spiral eyes, meandering through the day with zippo-zero attention span.

Really, it was more a matter of having no energy to focus my attention on much of anything, aside from napping - a rarity for me -- and multiple episodes of Bones.

But amazing things wander up out of the subconscious when our bodies are too pooped to entertain our mind's usual chatter-fest: ideas, insights, answers to those questions we muse about.

I ended up with a couple of pages worth of journal entries, writing ideas, and a few "Oh, that's the root of that issue" insights for energy clearing.

I also browsed through musings I jotted down in 2005 when I was in France for an amazing graduate intensive on the Black Madonna, Magdalene, and Sacred Feminine traditions led by Oneida Wisdomkeeper, Apela Colorado, and Author and Mystic, Andrew Harvey.

In Paris, the messages of a collection of tapestries spoke to me. In Vezelay, Sophia blasted me open. And in Barcelona, the Black Madonna told me we need to free her from the prison of Patriarchy. Yeah. It was quite a trip, and one that has continued to unfold in and for me.

Now, I sense a new energy coming through the Black Madonna (the Great Goddess by any of her names, Sophia, Isis, etc.) -- an energy related to what we need (and have access to) to surf these wildly accelerating, transformational times.

The Dark Goddess has long been feared -- think of the usual reaction to Kali, holding her skulls with blood dripping from her teeth. But it's really about wholeness, and a whole repertoire of Wisdom and magic with which we can co-create consciously and heartfully with the energies of Life.

It's mind-blowing, really (and that's really more of what that image of Kali is about). More on that, coming soon.

It's amazing how much comes up in Slack Time, in those spiral-eyed bug trances.

Love,

Jamie

Image Credits:

My fave 'spiral eyes' (TeamPixie U.K.); the Black Madonna of Montserrat.

It's Gaia, not Guya!

I was recently having a delightful conversation with my friend, Jodi Flesberg Lilly. We were sharing a few observations and anecdotes about how interesting and annoying it is that several older white males have taken center stage in the dialogue about the Sacred Feminine and related topics. Or rather, they've got the podium and platform, again.

As we spoke, Jodi suddenly and hilariously blurted out, "It's GAIA, not GUYa!" That about sums it up!

In one case, a prominent former-Catholic theologian has gotten much press (and airwave) talking about the 'return' of the Sacred Feminine. In another case, a prominent business consultant peddles his new expertise on 'intuition' and other traits associated with the Feminine archetype, while a group of other fella-consultants peddle a "Feminine' model of approaching business challenges. In other cases, the fellas lead the charge about embracing the Feminine and indigenous wisdom to save the planet.

In all of these cases, the fellas in question spent several decades gaining tenure and 'success' (defined the old-fashioned Patriarchal way) right in the inner-sanctum of the Patriarchal and very Feminine-repressive system. And now, with their elder years suddenly upon them, they're tuning in yet again to 'what's hot' -- the return of the Feminine.

I should say that, in most of these cases, I have great respect for the work of the specific men in question. In the few instances where I question the motives and sincerity, with good reason, I at least am supportive of the general topics.

However, I also admit that it grates my last dangling nerve, and not just because these are men who long created, supported, helped sustain, and benefited from the Patriarchal system that has done so much harm (while, yes, helping to make strides in technology and healthcare). I look warily and with more than a bit of irritation at it for reasons other than the fact that I sense questionable motives in a few of the cases.

The reason I find it most annoying is that these are men. Yep, there, I said it. They're men claiming to have expertise in the Feminine. Now, a very few men may have a little bit more reason to make that claim -- I've studied with and been inspired by several, including the fabulous and passionate Andrew Harvey. But these are not the fellows I'm speaking about in this post.

In fact, these are fellas claiming to support the Feminine, making use of their Patriarchy-opened pathways to get the press and the platform, and talking about and intellectualizing about that which is sensory, experiential, intuitive, and Nature-connected. That which a woman KNOWS, even one who has forgotten in her full immersion in the Masculine way of our culture. And that which many women have long labored at preserving, passing along, cultivating, during times when it was dangerous to do so, and during times when to do so marginalized you in a culture where being marginalized was being nothing.

So while these men are talking about their expertise in the Sacred Feminine, and the Ways of the Feminine, and gladly taking the podiums and the airwaves to demonstrate their expertise, they are displaying Masculine and Patriarchal patterns and biases, not Feminine ones. They're forgetting that it's Gaia, not GUYa!

The Sacred Masculine, in these cases, would not hoard the platform and the podium and the airwaves, and would not use its passion for the Sacred Feminine return, however genuine, for its own spotlight or to fuel its own self-importance. Those embodying the Sacred Masculine would, in the way of the Sacred Masculine, step aside once the podium and spotlight and airwaves had been garnered, and allow those who know the Feminine best to finally have the stage.

I welcome the support of beautiful, Feminine-honoring men, but I don't welcome yet another form of Patriarchal co-opting and appropriating, no matter what the 'facade' of it.  I eagerly await the return of the Sacred Masculine, which will not be fully possible until the Sacred Feminine is truly embraced and able to reflect in all of Her glory

Hoping you are all very, very well, and cultivating the spark and seed of the Sacred Feminine within you so that it may reflect the Way to others.

Love,
Jamie