It is a grand and sacred occurrence that demands deep self-nurturing from within. During this phase of life, women, and the men around them, are asked to journey into unknown inner terrain and embrace feminine energies in an unusual way. At the very least they are guided to find a balance of both masculine and feminine energies inside themselves.

On the surface, menopause is still often defined as a sort of temporary state of being based on a hormonal shift.  And in concert with its superficial design, not in deference, it is time to remember the deeper mysteries of the body as they reflect the constant flux and re-balancing of humanity and spirit, yin and yang.

Unlike its centuries-old predecessors, or even its pre-1990′s representatives, menopause no longer inspires visions of old gray crones on rickety limbs, old maids or even granny-hood and retirement. Youthful, vibrant and wise women are instead the ambassadors of this passage. In Goddess circles, there is a new term for those in this particular cycle of life: they are Queens!

Pretty much all women in any stage of menopause will tell you–whether it be pre, peri or post–this is a time of incredible growth and multidimensional change, especially if it is navigated naturally. One physical symptom can encourage a thought or an emotional response, which if given the least bit of attention can lead to moments of great inspiration and epiphany. In reverse, acknowledgement of that same creativity and connection can be traced back to an uplifting sense of physical warmth and well-being, and an aggravating hot flash, depending on the person or the moment.

Whether a conscious voyage or not, menopause will almost always call on the deepest forms of inner strength and stamina, self-worth, inherent confidence and capacity for sometimes excruciating inner expansion, even when hormone replacement therapy is the preferred method of management.

There’s only so much a false floor can hold.

Certainly an appropriate word when applied to any attempt to control menopause (as with HRT or even herbal support), management can potentially make the ride a bit smoother for a while. Yet, there is another option. Mastery, an essential practice of curiosity, self-compassion, positive outlook, intriguing emotional balancing acts and deft juggling, physical health, as well as a focus on spiritual connections, or devotion.

Truthfully, we all eventually realize there is no controlling much of anything in life, much less this wondrous cycle in spite of its many unmarked capillaries to denial. The creative power of menopause is unfathomable, and that is no exaggeration. Women may as well look upon this as a transcendent event because it will take them into the shadows of the unknown whether they are ready or not. Mastery–skill, understanding and virtuosity among other definitions–is proportionally a much more accommodating vein through which the grander energy currents can move and flow.

Unfortunately, menopause is not really seen by the outer, non-menopausal world as anything beyond some sort of middle aged, physical event or, strangely, a day marking the end of menstruation. It’s different now. Consider this: 11 years ago, out of approximately 281.5 million people, there were 32 million women in the US between the ages of 35-49. That’s over 11 percent of the total US population.

Today those same women are now between 46-60 years old, in some part of the menopausal cycle. Along with that incredibly large and influential portion of the populace, we can thank Dr. Christiane Northrop for its current state of visibility. Since the publication of “Women’s Bodies, Women’s Wisdom”  in 1994, many interesting and informative books have been published about menopause, it’s physical, emotional and even spiritual aspects. They are filled with personal stories, information about how to alleviate symptoms and the management of life during menopause.

No one yet, has written a book about truly the mastering energy of the female body during menopause. There are several key sections & chapters in a book about mastering the energy of menopause:

1. Acceptance

2. Gratitude

3. Enjoyment

4. Amusement

5. Trust

6. Self-compassion

7. Self-empowerment

8. Self-observation

Meanwhile, here are some questions to ponder in present time or for future reference:

-How do women take practical command of their own spiritual journey during menopause?

-How do they find mastery here, and then help to guide the next generation through this incredibly demanding and magical time in life?

-What if some day down the road access to herbs and supplements, not to mention pharmaceuticals, were denied to the average person?

-What if there were no more candles or bathtubs filled with sea salt, CD’s and ipods, chamomile tea?

-What if there were no more external substances and outside remedies to ingest?

-What if we were asked to find a way to communicate with the true God and Goddess of our hearts, as opposed to some fluffy ideal that makes us feel good…temporarily?

-What if, humanity was one day fully blessed with remembrance and guided toward a gateway into the deepest most inherent part of our beingness?

-Would we know the way? Would we have the courage to step through the gate, to embrace the truth of our inner sanctuary and essence?

-Would we be willing to nurture ourselves enough to find that gate and to sustain that once beyond it?

If you’d like to be part of a menopause survey and study, please join the Queen of Fire Community!

A veil of gold floats over the Earth,

Sun illuminating Moon,

Exposing light in the darkness.

Feminine: a vessel for masculine.

Tumultuous and benign,

Sea reflected in sky,

Pouring from the heavens.

Soul: house of the heart.

A chalice, the container for divine remembering,

The record keeper,

Reminding the flower to open.

Spirit: breath that flows and anchors in the bones.

Ebbing from inspiration to expiration,

Connecting again,

Through the ethers on its way home.

You: the seat of your soul.

Always in love’s embrace,

Forever illuminated on your journey back to the Sun

Listening to sounds of the sea in the sky.

I can see your kindness–your heart–even when you’re angry and enraged.

I can see your vulnerability, even when you are resistant.

When you are hard and protected, I see your softness.

I see that you are enlightened, even when you act unconsciously.

It doesn’t matter to me if you make mistakes…I always know you are brilliant and intelligent.

When you forget who you are or pretend you are someone else, I will always be there to remind you.

I know your creativity is alive within you, even when you deny the joy in your heart.

I can feel your love for everything in this Universe, even when you hold grudges.

I will forever know your desire for communion, even when you are arrogant and disconnected.

I will always be here for you, no matter what, even when you cast me aside.

For Our Souls

Yesterday I stopped building bridges; today I awakened,

Remembering there was one more.

The golden bridge from my soul to yours,

The bridge that connects us through eternity.

No one walks here,

Though we stand at different ends looking, knowing, there is nothing more to do.

Time is non-existent as we see the limitless potential of all things.

From my heart to yours, sister to brother,

I built this last, this 99th Bridge.

Remember our journey together,

Touching the rail, lighting the way for us all, forever.

For my Brother.

Then I looked for images online and found Alex Grey’s mystical Sophia image, which led me to rummaging around in my books seeking “Sacred Mirrors,” a book of Alex Grey’s mystical and yet very “worldly” images.

Ah, Sophia was there. I found her and I’ve been studying her allegories ever since.

Later I found information that proclaimed Sofia as the Mother of God and she who birthed the Universe. Some say that Sofia is the blond female figure emerging from under God’s arm in Michelangelo’s fresco on the Sistine Chapel ceiling.

Just the other day, my friend “B” answered my plea for input on the divine feminine, telling me that his Sufi studies speak to the Universe as a feminine energy. Not only a principle, she is an entity who birthed all things…and if this is so, we actually live in the womb of the Universe…our container is feminine.

Also according to “B,” and I do love to paraphrase, we embrace this principle every day as we trust that all physical things are real. Like the walls in our homes or the giant architectural structures standing tall in the world’s largest cities, we believe they will hold and they do. Holding is a feminine principle, trust is a feminine principle.

Holding anything is akin to giving it a place to rest or reside, a cave of sorts. On a physiological level, the part of our nervous system responsible for resting and attuning to the natural rhythms part of us is feminine. (For more information on stress, the nervous system as it relates to masculine & feminine principles, please see the recent blog posts on Stress as well as the last newsletter and accompanying posts about the Autonomic Nervous System).

That same day while I researched images and information about “The Sofia” (or Sophia as it is often written), I found this amazing mystical chart that shows the womb of Sofia evoking all. It’s in Latin–and I have not found the artist or origination point–or I’d give credit and interpret it further. See for yourself. What do you feel or think about this? What is evoked from within as you look at this image?

I haven’t found my own ground of being in any of this yet, so I won’t suggest you think or feel any particular leaning. Even so, when I look at the Mystical Sofia and this chart of the divine feminine, I am filled with calm and joy, ease and blessed relief that someone, someplace in this world knows how to express what I feel is true.

On the contrary recently, while attending a Baptist wedding, I felt my bones twisting, my heart racing and my jaw tensing. In the ceremony, there was a strong focus on Eve, how she grew from Adam’s rib, and how likewise the bride that day came in purity to her husband having given up her identity, all combined with the very misogynistic application of a twisted interpretation of creation.

Here are some softer, more balanced and Sofia-like ideas to contemplate:

Sofia is the Holy Spirit in the Trinity (Gnostic).

Sofia was the bride of Christ & the Mother of God (Gnostic, Cathartic).

Sophia is the revelation of god’s inward thought which evoked the form and order of our Universe (Jewish Alexandrine philosophy).

Wisdom is feminine (Proverbs 8).

The Source, The Beginning.

Magdalene.

Hidden Mother, Wisdom of Solomon, Wisdom Incarnate, She who knows the Mysteries…the Dove.

Again, I ask, what do you think…how do you feel…what is called forth from within you?

Live Recording

Divine Feminine Roundtable Discussion Questions:

1. How does the Divine Feminine manifest in your life today?

2. Why is it crucial to (integrate, awaken and embrace) the Divine Feminine, especially with the state of our world right now?

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I see it as one half of the essence of Universal law or truth. It seems as though most of the energetics in Universal law are founded in opposites, polarities, or in balancing those same principles. For example, some of these laws include:

Active & Receptive
Gender: masculine & feminine
Cause & Effect
Polarity
Relativity
Abundance & Lack
As Above, So Below
As Within, So Without

I also see that our bodies are reflections of our spiritual energies, and this is where the “As above so below” comes into play. Inside us we have an etheric-spiritual template that s neither male nor female, yet contains the beauty and mysteries of both principles of feminine and masculine, Christ & Sofia whose symbolism is both balanced and individuated, one within themselves. This template emanates from within every human being, though it is connected to the one, originating in the spiritual web. Linked to our subtle bodies, anchoring in our physical bodies, it reflects both spiritual and physical energies.

There are many ancient universal symbols that tell this same story: the six-pointed star and the yin-yang symbol are but two. The elements reflect this potential as well in fire & water, earth & sky (air), as do the directions and seasons. Humanity is a reflection of spirit, plain and simple and we are forever holding it all in balance.

Where there is a God there is a Goddess, and even though we see the external icons as separate entities, they are one inside themselves. Much like the avatars that have walked the Earth over our eternal lifespan, they are filled with both Christ and Sofia, mother and father, God & Goddess, Sun & Moon, Fire & Water, masculine and feminine. And like the Gods we humans have the same make-up.

So why is the Divine Feminine such a big idea right now, and why is it important for us all to embrace this principle?

Here are my thoughts on this matter. These are all the expressions I left unsaid the other night during the roundtable, all the things I wanted to say and didn’t, for any number of reasons:

Simply put, I feel it’s important to embrace and integrate the Divine Feminine because the feminine principle is part of our human design, and one half of the Universal Law of Unity as well. Without it, we are not only disintegrated, we cannot find oneness or autonomy on any level.

We need more receptivity to meet the masculine energy of extreme stress which will assist us in balancing ourselves and finding a place of non-resistance to what we’ve created here on planet Earth: our lives.

Receptivity: The feminine principle is receptive. As a country, even as a species, we’ve anchored ourselves in the masculine side of the yin-yang coin for thousands of years, valuing output action, outgo, overt displays, control, achievement and containers, just to name some of the human qualities the collective unconscious admires. Like in the Matrix, we are ever-ready batteries running hard until we die. As a whole, we simply don’t recharge; there is no receptivity.

Stress: And that begets stress, a masculine principle. And lack of receptivity—all those qualities just mentioned–creates stress on all levels. Environmental stress (or anything that comes from outside of ourselves) is absorbed into our beingness: we see it, we fear it, we block it, we think about it, it courses through our bodies in the form of endocrine hormones, it becomes an emotional memory, and then we own it for later use. On a physiological level, stress is the masculine part of us. Even though men can handle more of this energy, it is very damaging cycle of ill health for both women and men. We need to integrate more of the feminine principle to create balance so that we can relieve ourselves of stress.

Balance: A balance of masculine and feminine are needed to survive. Currently we are overflowing with masculine constructs and whether men or women, there seems to be a proliferation of masculine-style resolutions within our socioeconomic and now broadly blanketed, Westernized constructs. We need to bring more of the feminine principle into the mix to balance the masculine and to enhance our ability to integrate anima or animas, depending upon the person…I say person because there are many women who carry loads of masculine energy and men who are more feminine than masculine. It’s not really a gender consideration. Without balance we often find ourselves taking a stand on one side of the teeter-totter or another. These stances only exist in the realm of resistance.

Non-resistance: Fluidity, compassion, cooperation, empowerment, ease, curiosity, openness and balance–these are all states of non-resistance. Almost every solution we see in relation to global issues these days contains action, resistance, oppression, control, harsh boundaries & invisible walls, all suggesting more separation and a lot of exclusion. So many of us speak to boundary issues in the context of personal growth and empowerment, including me. Lately I’m finding a very different approach these days: it’s called ownership and it’s a lot like higher responsibility, yet more self-empowering.

A friend of mine recently said to me with great certainty and neutrality, “I don’t really have boundaries.” I’ve been exploring this idea ever since. There is a concept I learned a couple decades ago that I like to call transparency: it’s non-resistance to our life mock-up, or in other words, fully embracing what we created at the threshold of this lifetime, and what we create every day we breathe on this planet. I don’t know this for certain, yet I believe many marshal arts masters practice this in some way.

Evolution: Evolution is why we are here. It’s in our human genetics, it’s part of our souls and threads through our common spiritual energies, to grow through eternity. In order to evolve, we are given the gifts of openness and willingness, to somehow create and embrace new experiences and ultimately new ways of being.

Because our world is “stuck” in old patterns right now, so rigidly stuck that everything is crumbling down around us, we have yet to go all the way toward evolving into our next incarnation as a group of beings called humans. The masculine will either continue to tip the scales until we entrench ourselves completely, or maybe, just maybe, with lots of awareness and focus, we can meet this imbalance with feminine energy, gradually equalizing the pressure and finding stasis. Here, at rest, is the place we will actually integrate our lessons and create the new paradigm. There’s a lot of stress in this process as well, though with consciousness, discipline and conservation, it’s potentials are transmuted and alchemized for proper digestion and integration.

The Energetic Connection and its local Santa Fe partner Sacred Bodies, Sacred Rhythms, focus on the balance point of masculine & feminine; offering single sessions, classes, courses and programs, both online and in Santa Fe.

Those of us who teach, preach, write and consciously acknowledge the feminine principle in our lives on a daily basis sometimes forget that most people remain confused or resistant, uncertain and sometimes fairly uninterested!

Last week I participated in a round table discussion on the divine feminine and found the questions below sadly unanswered by all of us so-called experts. In spite of the intelligence, graciousness and warmth of the key participants, I remain astutely aware of the lack of practical applications to the feminine principles, or more importantly, the expression of those practicalities.

In fact, the discussion was sequestered to a small corner of this very deep and complex principle and fairly one sided, presenting much of the same information we’ve heard over and over. It’s a lot like forever mulling wine in a forgotten old cask. While the prose, the tones and the energies of what was presented was certainly lovely, I found myself screaming inside and pushing against the seams of those barrels trying desperately to get out of a bad batch of old, fermented vinegar juice. Dare I say, this is just a dangerous as what we sometimes refer to as the male paradigm?!

My questions for everyone, men & women, novice & old hat, are these:

1. How do we (humans in general) recognize (awaken, acknowledge) what is already within us–the inherent feminine principle–as opposed to looking outside ourselves for some sort of inconography?

2. Is there a practical and sacred way to sustain this relationship with the feminine once discovered?

3. What kinds of practices will help us most in embracing this principle within ourselves, as spirits in human form?

4. What, as women (or men) can we reflect (reflection being a feminine principle) to the world in these times that will encourage others? How is this different from the more masculine aspect of projection?

Please feel free to respond to these questions!

I’m personally looking for like-minded people who are tired of the same old fluffy spirituality. I’d love to hear from you. Don’t get swayed, don’t sell-out to the new age movement that wants to keep you stuck in some false pretense of the light, just as much as our current power structures want to keep you in the dark!

We are beings of equal dark and equal light. We are beings designed for balance between the elements of fire & water, and the universal principle of oneness is really the merging of masculine & feminine principles.

What do you think?

“Beloved, gaze in thine own heart,
the holy tree is blooming there.” W.B.Yeats

The Tree of Life

“Eyes closed, explore the places beneath your bark of worldly knowledge and unknown rhythms, buried in your heart.

Your feet root in darkness, into the mysteries of moist, saturated ground. Anchoring at Earth’s center, you are deep in womb’s hearth.

Guided along the inner rivers and streams, you flow effortlessly, sensing and observing, as above, so below.

You look up from here, a kaleidoscope of branches and diffused light overhead; reaching to cradle the stars, meeting heaven’s night.

Morning opens quietly, like tiny blue pearls of light dancing on your leaves, you feel your trunk breathe and then sigh, it softly heaves.

Whispering and windy, spirit flows in, swirling gently around your core, weaving through thousands of hidden memory rings.

Divine breath carries you deeper still, into the place where affinity rests, into your heart, the place where everything sings.

Loneliness disappears, slipping along the rivers inside, because here runs the blood and the prana, erasing all seeds of doubt.

As Within, so Without.” Graham Shelley

Tree of Life: Sacred Geometry

Qabalistic Tree of Life

Thursday, August 11th
8-9:30 pm EST
7-8:30 Central
6-7:30 Mountain
5-6:30 PST

Call-in number: 414-944-0004

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