May 2017 - Mysterial Woman

I have long considered poetry to be one of the languages of the Mysterial Woman. It brings together the more masculine use of words, with the more feminine imaginal. The weaving together of those two ways of knowing is one of the potent elements of the language of poetry. It addresses both the spoken and not spoken – evoking that which is between the lines.

If you are able to watch or listen to the video, I invite you to soften your eyes closed and let the words come into your mind, heart and body. If reading the poem, allow it’s essence to be absorbed into your being…

Allow

By Danna Faulds

There is no controlling life.
Try corralling a lightning bolt,
containing a tornado. Dam a
stream and it will create a new
channel. Resist, and the tide
will sweep you off your feet.
Allow, and grace will carry
you to higher ground. The only
safety lies in letting it all in –
the wild and the weak; fear,
fantasies, failures and success.
When loss rips off the doors of
the heart, or sadness veils your
vision with despair, practice
becomes simply bearing the truth.
In the choice to let go of your
known way of being, the whole
world is revealed to your new eyes.

This is probably one of the prime characteristics of a Mysterial Woman – the capacity to allow what is to be what is. As Dana so beautifully wrote in this poem, to allow “simply bearing the truth”.

In 2013, just as my co-author and I had completed the first draft of our book, my husband died very tragically. My experience was as Dana describes here, “When loss rips off the doors of the heart…”. My life as I imagined it was cleaved away in front of me like a giant iceberg breaking free. In the course of a very short period of time, all the ways that I had known my life were gone.

I remember early on in this tragedy and trauma, I knew that the first thing I needed to do was not resist what was. This was partly because of my own deep work for so many years with the installing of a new operating system through The Mysterial Sequence. Sometimes I talk about this allowing as ‘not suffering the suffering‘. I wasn’t sure if I could stay present to all the suffering that there was in the situation, so to add on resisting my experience seemed very unwise.

So as Danna wrote, the practice becomes “simply bearing the truth”. What in your life have you not been able to bear? Perhaps what’s happening inside of you right now – the truth of your own sensing, feeling self and what is emerging and what suffering you’re experiencing? The longing that you have for a new way of being? Maybe some truth about the way you’re living your life that is simply no longer congruent?

Danna writes, “In the choice to let go of your known way of being”…and this cannot happen until you can see clearly what is no longer relevant or resonant or even in your life.

This ability to let go of your known way of being is what allows the whole world to be revealed to your new eyes. We have to be willing to stand in that place of not knowing. To allow in the world that wants to come towards us, and that would be more aligned with who we are if we expressed our fullest potential. Allowing that world to actually show itself to us.

We cannot get there until we stop controlling life and holding on, as though we are an isolated atom in this very unfriendly universe.

I invite you into this inquiry: what truth about who you are, and how you are currently living your life, is asking for your presence? Asking for you to bear that truth?

This is the final piece in The Mysterial Sequence series. To receive insight and support, join us here.

I’ve spent two decades uncovering and decoding The Mysterial Sequence – a developmental pathway supporting women in the unlocking of their innate potential. It has a very intentional and powerful order, which you can sample by journeying through these blogs.

The Mysterial Sequence began by cultivating The Mother archetype so that our Radiant Presence could wrap its loving arms around us as well as others. We then brought our own Hero onto the field to perform bold and Empowered Action to initiate our projects in the world. This awakened The Father, whose order, structure, and systems enable us to navigate the halls of power and access the True Authority necessary to thrive there over time. Once solid, we could free ourselves to reclaim The Maiden and release our Joyful Creativity, reconnecting with our spontaneous nature and innovative genius. And now the fifth and final gate…

The Crone Archetype

The Crone’s capacities are flavored with a particular sharpness, clarity, and strength. Since it is the first archetype to work with both Yin and Yang energies together, the Crone is a very big energy to take in. This is not an archetype to activate carelessly. The ground must be well prepared with the first four archetypes of the Mysterial Sequence. If not—and sometimes even when—The Crone can instigate some major breakdowns before breakthrough occurs.

With a healthy inner Crone, an adult woman finds her ability to unflinchingly speak truth to power. Though it may be painful to be on the receiving end, her intention is to do no harm. She is both fierce and compassionate.

She brings the capacity to be with chaos and uncertainty, to be able to perceive that best next step in the unfolding of what is trying to emerge. The Crone doesn’t need to know more. The Crone archetype lives in the meeting place of knowing and Mystery. Synchronicities and dreams are a normal and natural communication tool. The Crone enables us to become more spiritually awake and in tune with the sacredness of all existence. She is the WAY SHOWer – guide between the realms – embracing dark and light.

The Crone allows us to have an open heart and to be with heartbreak—our own suffering and the suffering of others. She brings the strength and discernment to know what must die and pass away, even if it is an idea or a business. The Crone may even catalyze a major breakdown in your life, if that is what is required to help you move forward on your journey. She helps us to recognize death as a necessary and sacred part of life, not the enemy of it.

Being completely with what is – open to the Mystery…

She uses the language of Ritual to connect the unseen with the seen. Knows the power of Silence – knows how to act from this place of a deep Stillness… partnered with the mystery waiting for all the pieces to arrive before stepping forward.

And because of that, the Crone guides us to hold a space for something new and more effective to emerge from the ashes of the old.

The Crone Wound

This potent “wise woman” archetypal force of the Feminine has often nudged its way to the surface of our culture, only to be demonized, time and time again. Women’s natural talents for counseling, healing and sourcing community wisdom were suppressed in the 11th century when university centers of higher knowledge were founded, available exclusively to men.

And once public service required university credentials, women were effectively removed from the intellectual life of the community. Inside the paradigm of that patriarchal culture, women’s embodied ways of knowing and their ability to speak truth to power were a clear threat to the hierarchy.

Christianity retained a limited connection with the feminine as Maiden and Mother, but systematically eliminated the Crone. This happened most notably during the witch burning times of the 15–17th centuries and during the Inquisition in Europe and the Puritanism of the New World. An estimated 5 million women were drowned, hung, or burned at the stake over a period of 300 years—that’s 16,667 women killed per year—often for no other reason than just being a woman. Even surviving to old age could get you branded as a witch; that’s how threatening her uniquely powerful feminine presence was to the social order.

The core limiting belief of The Crone:

“I don’t have enough knowledge, connections or influence.”

Over-identification with The Crone archetype results in the active shadow of ‘The Hag’ taking over…

Using different ways of knowing to gather information as a source of ego centered power
Delivering wisdom in a mean-spirited truth-telling way

Underdevelopment of The Crone energy leads women into the passive shadow of ‘The Denier’…

Constant self-doubt
Feeling confused and powerless
Deferring to everyone else to tell you the truth about what is going on

These painful collective memories survive in our cells. It’s why we have struggled to be able to open our arms wide to the wise woman within. Of course, it hasn’t helped that our still mostly patriarchal culture persistently encourages women to remain maidens and mothers forever. But this is not to be. The wise woman archetype is arising now, whether anyone likes it or not. This is her time, and in this activation is where you will encounter her.

Bringing The Crone into The Light

When the light of your conscious awareness burns through The Crone shadows, the healthy Crone begins to gather strength and substance in your psyche, supporting you to:

Hold seeming opposites without contradiction
Cut away what no longer serves, or allow it to dissolve.
See patterns in the chaos, piercing through confusion
Draw upon all sources of knowing whether conventional or not
Stay with the not-knowing, the Mystery, if that is what is called for

The healthy Chrone energy is a catalytic force, able to stand at the crossroads, synthesize complexity and bridge between extremely divergent people, worlds, and ideas so that something new and better can arise.

Deep in the foundation of your being, resonates the truth of The Crone’s liberating belief:

The Crone’s liberating belief

“I am an evolving source of Wisdom, Love and Power.”

This last initiation in The Mysterial Sequence brings a great synthesizing force in the psyche that is now able to guide and direct the other archetypal forces—knowing when to be still and rest, when to pulse forward into action, when to build and structure, when to break apart and innovate and when to turn up the heat and let things transform. You have an Alchemical Authenticity that makes you an agent of change simply by being yourself.

The Edge of Doubt

by Albert Huffstickler

There is always that edge of doubt.
Trust it, that’s where the new things come from.
If you can’t live with it, get out,
Because when it’s gone, you’re on Automatic,
Repeating something you’ve learned.
Let your prayer be:
Save me from that tempting certainty that
Leads me back from the Edge,
That dark edge where the first light breaks.

As always, thank you for exploring with me. I hope to have a chance to engage with you in this unfolding Mysterial movement.

This series is intended to whet your appetite – you can go deeper with the work in order to unravel from the shadow holdings of each Archetype and fully activate your potentiality in this life.

Month: May 2017

Mysterial Musing Through Poetry