Browsing Category

Sacred Feminine

Sacred Feminine, Stories, Wild Woman, writing

Seeking Truth

February 3, 2011

“Come with me | and you’ll be | in a world of | pure imagination” – Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley

 

butterfly dressWhen you finally open your eyes and see what you’ve actually known all along, you fall into a place that takes your breath away.  Since declaring myself a Talespinner, enchantment, magic, stories and connection have been lining up and demanding I notice them. I am becoming increasingly impatient to tell you the stories that are being whispered in my ear.

I want to tell you the story of the woman who saw her full beauty for the first time and was transformed into sparkling light.

I want to tell you the story of the dress that danced itself to pieces waiting for its owner to notice that it had gone on without her.

I want to tell you about the woman who took her shoes off while she stood under a tree and grew roots so deep that the earth moved with her when she danced.

I want to tell you about the woman who climbed out of her own mouth.

I want to tell you about the place where our dreams go to wait for us to dream them.

I want to tell you about the darkness that has taken seed and begun masquerading as a lover.

I want to weave all of these stories together and tell them to you so that we can both be wrapped in the truth that only stories can tell. But I can’t tell you all at once; I need to be patient.

My first book told the story of a woman waking up. This one will explain why she woke to find leaves in her hair.

“You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves.” – Mary Oliver

The picture above is from the portfolio of artist Su Blackwell. I’d never seen Su’s work before, but have very quickly become a huge fan!
Musings, Sacred Feminine

Listen for the Nudges

January 24, 2011

“Put your ear down close to your soul and listen hard.” – Annie Dillard

 

I remember my very first proper I-want-to-be-like-you-girl-crush.  I was about 17 and working at a living history museum.  I was demonstrating some open-hearth baking and this woman walked in, rendering me speechless.  She was in her late 20s and had the most amazing hair I had ever seen.  It was light blonde and done in beautiful thin dreadlocks woven through with purple and turquoise ribbons.  Her eyes were nearly the same shade of blue as the ribbons, and I remember the almost physical feeling of wanting to be her.  I actually followed her out of the building and watched her walk away.

I have never forgotten her.

Now I see that that reaction was a very clear nudge from my soul.  Practical, well behaved me, however, would never have dreamed of getting dreads.  A second piercing in one ear took me a week to decide on.  I put the desire for a more bohemian, connected me away with a few other nudges and got on with the process of becoming an adult – an adult with no real sense of her own style.

The best part about soul-nudges, however, is that they never really go away.  Since choosing my word for the year I have actively been paying attention to my crushes and choosing to see them for what they really are.  Girl crush, boy crush, house jealousy or style envy have all been on my radar.  I played for hours on Pinterest this weekend and it turns out that whole Sacred Feminine thing?  It goes pretty deep.  It’s been waiting for me for a long time and now it means business.

The deeper I go the more I realize that I should have been listening to my soul all along.  It turns out it knows me pretty well.

xo

P.S. What about you?  Who’s your girl crush?

sacred, Sacred Feminine

I know who I am.

October 18, 2010

“Unstiffen your supple body. Unchatter your quiet mind. Unfreeze your fiery heart.” – Celeste West

 

goddess knocker door

I have known it all along.

I’ve known it since my fingers tingled reading The Mists of Avalon for the first time.  But then I put the book away, afraid of where there was room for goddesses and magic in my good Christian life.

I’ve known it since I read my first SARK book, tucked up in bed and breathing differently for the first time. But then I put the book on my bookshelf and decided I was not an artist after all.

I have known it since my friend Carla showed me her tattoo of a woman giving birth and something about the symbol stuck with me so deeply that I can draw that image to this day.  But then I became afraid of how true she was to herself, myself by comparison small and afraid.

I have known it since I picked up a big black book and read about Women Who Run with the Wolves.  My soul responded and I heard the roar for the first time that would echo through my days forever after.  But then I experienced profound grief that made me switch off and question myself and disconnect from most people for a long, long time.

I have known it, but definitions and stereotypes made me question everything:  Woman? Witch? God? Goddess? Sacred? Feminine? Heroine? Queen? Faery? Dark? Light? Magic? Spirituality? Religion? How could I – a ‘good girl’ – find my path amongst those trees?

I have been writing and living and reading around and around it for a long time now.  Every time I got close to touching it, my fingers longingly toying with my pen, knowing that I was capable of saying more, I would retreat to the haven of familiarity and safety.

But it hasn’t given up on me, and now, as I get closer and closer to the centre, it has begun to follow me around.  Images like the one on this door knocker, words tumbling towards me from pages and blogs and meetings with remarkable people all seem to be pointing to the same place.

Sacred. Feminine. Divine. Beautiful.

Home.