WISE BLOOD
Once a month I would like to hang a sign in my energy field that says: Gone to Underworld, Back Soon. I am a highly sensitive person who has developed many coping skills (and personas--thanks Nikki!) to navigate the intensities I experience in the world. Like many other sensitives, I have to cut the tags out of my clothes and regularly find quiet seclusion and nature to center myself. Before I learned how to work with my gifts, I saw them as defects. I would return from grocery shopping shivering from all the unconscious pain and trauma I intuited from other people as we brushed by one another in the supermarket aisles. Now that I've learned some psychic protection skills, I can choose when to tune in to others and how I can tune out. But beyond the coping skills there is something deeper that is coming to my awareness.
Those people who know me well already know this about me: about once a month I travel to the underworld. I don't really have a choice about it. I must go to the depths, drop into my well of wisdom, lift up the other side of the carpet and face whatever needs to be faced in that realm of the universe to which I belong. If I do not take time to slow down and honor this inward journey during this enchanted time of extreme sensitivity, I get short of temper, I cut off connections in my relationships, I self sabotage. Now I am learning that this is time for seeing behind the veil and it is a gift; I simply must slow down to honor it.
In ancient times women left the city and their work to sit together, bleed together, and share their knowing wisdom. The men took over their work (and learned a new appreciation for all the women did). When the Goddess reigned, women were thought to be more in tune with the spirit world behind the veils of everyday life during their menstruation. They were considered the prophetesses, the priestesses, the oracles, the voices of true wisdom before patriarchy decided women could not be spiritual leaders. Women knew how to keep the community in balance with creation. When they returned to the city, everyone was blessed, rested, and renewed.
(These are some stark gender roles of which I am aware and I want to note that in ancient times the hermaphrodite was honored as a supreme being because they had achieved the sacred balance of the masculine and feminine. I also have read and intuit that those who attended women and identified more with a feminine role also joined them in the exodus from the city. I would highly recommend reading, The Red Tent and visiting DeAnna L'am's website to learn more about how to honor feminine ways of being.)
The oldest and most respected role of sacred women was that of the oracle. An oracle co-creates with divinity and births new life through her womb and her words. Centuries of patriarchal and hierarchical powers have demonized, silenced and subverted sacred women and feminine ways of knowing. But the tide has turned. Now is the time for sacred women to rise and take their rightful, equal place in the universe.
Our current modern daily life lacks the time, space, and structure to slow down and listen to our inner wisdom. I believe that we are awakening and remembering the ancient ways and soon returning to a balanced way of life that honors the cycles of women and creation.
Maybe it begins with a moon-strike where women refuse to work on the full moon and we build from there. This month I decided to tie a red string around my wrist to remind myself that when I bleed this is sacred time. What ideas do you have? I'd love to hear them in the comments below.
Here is an intimate meditation I am sharing this week, from my own "Red Tent" as I sat and rested in my home:
Wisdom was the topic of the lectionary readings this week as well. As I was preparing for the sermon I preached this morning I learned that the tradition of Wisdom Teachings found in the scriptures are rooted in Egypt and the Ancient Near East. Wisdom is about finding right harmony and right relationships with those around us and this divine creation in which we live. Read the sermon here or listen to the original inspiration for the sermon that I received in my meditation below. (Reflection on the lectionary texts: Psalm 112, Hebrews 13:1-8, 15-16, Luke 14:1, 7-14).
WEEKLY ORACLE READING
I'm so grateful for the mystic cat deck that Nikki-the-Know-It-All gifted me last week! (Isn't her boyfriend so amazing with his third eye?!) I've been studying archetypes for at least ten years now and I'm just loving the discovery of how these universal human patterns are contained in the ancient Tarot.
So the spread that Nikki presented last week is awesome for personal readings. But the cats have told me that they would like to forecast the spiritual weather for the week on my oracle blog. So I've settled on a three card spread, one card for MON-TUE, another for WED-THUR, and the final card for the weekend. So here's your cat-forecast for the week:
Seven of Sky + Nine of Earth + Six of Earth
Mon-Tue: Seven of Sky reversed
You may be unaware of the trickster in your midst. Maybe it is within you and it has been self sabotaging. Take some time to ponder if the trickster energy is serving your highest good and the highest good of all beings or not. Make sure you are conscious of the way it is working in your life. Sometimes it is necessary to veil the truth, other times it is not. If you have been deceitful and it has brought harm to others, it is time to make amends.
WED-THURS: Nine of earth
There is a wealth of material abundance you possess. Open to the awareness of all your material wealth, even if it seems small in comparison to others, it may be large compared to most of the world. Start seeing yourself as one who has a wealth of security and abundance. Rest assured that you have enough and that abundance is now flowing to you.
Weekend: Six of Earth
Give of your abundance to others. We receive in order to give so that all may be in perfect balance. Our possessions are not signs of our higher worth; all beings are worthy of dignity and abundance. Lift others up to share in what you currently possess so that all may be well.
YOGA POSE OF THE WEEK: TREE POSE / VRKASANA
The trees know how to draw energy from the earth and they remind us upright creatures how to do the same. It is a pretty amazing thing to be a mammal that does not crawl, belly down, towards the earth. Tree pose reminds us of the dignity and gift of our upright nature, connected to the earth and the stars. Begin by grounding down into one leg, lifting the toes, engaging the knee cap, the glutes, the muscles at the base of the spine, and the core. As you engage these muscles imagine that you are drawing up earth energy into your body. You may affirm that you are a Gaian, a creature of the earth. Visualize your lower body as steady as a trunk of a tree as you open the hip of your other leg. Come to your edge as you open this hip and place the other foot in a kickstand on the ground, on your shin or on your thigh (just avoid the knee). Then draw that energy up the spine to your heart center. Imagine the expansiveness of the upper body which remains soft and open. You may keep your thumbs at your heart or if you feel steady, lift your arms above you and expand the energy even farther. The lower body is grounded, the upper body is open and expansive. Play with finding the balance between these two energies as you experience the stability of rootedness and the openness of creative expression. (Then do the other side!)
SONG OF THE WEEK
I am choosing the Weatherman song in honor of my mystic cats who want to guide us through the energetic weather and because this song is about a bird being able to fly through the depths and heights of storms. Enjoy the video below or the studio version here <3
The light in me salutes the light in you, namaste, namaste.
Have a great week!
<3 Jessica