"When we are connected to the instinctual self, to the soul of the feminine which is natural and wild, then instead of looking over whatever happens to be on display, we say to ourselves, 'What am I hungry for?' Without looking at anything outwardly, we venture inward and ask, 'What do I crave? What do I desire? For what do I yearn?' And the answer usually arrives rapidly." -Clarissa Pinkola Estés, Women Who Run With the Wolves
Above: Jenny Saville
Above: Torso of a fertility goddess, Museum of Fine Arts Boston
I couldn't think of a more fitting way to celebrate my solar return than with a personal intention to explore liberation in the context of the divine feminine. I woke up on July 1st with a repetitive urge, a questioning, that sought understanding about liberation of the female body. Who does my body exist for, if not myself? Who is liberation for, if not myself? And who am I beyond the conditioning that my body must look, act, or receive others in certain ways? How do we show up for ourselves beyond the physical form and how does this affect how we show up for others? I offer this writing as recognition of the divine feminine within each of us, regardless of sexuality, gender, or other physiological expression.
First, I define liberation as the actualization of sense-of-self that recognizes freedom is a continuous and expanding mind-space, not a goal or endpoint at which point we stop questioning or seeking. Liberation is not an ultimatum; and freedom entails the relinquishing of outdated mindsets in the arrival of yourself to become your core-self or soul essence. I question how collective liberation is possible within the pockets of marginalization of our society and I do not yet have the answers beyond the individual soul journey and awakened consciousness of self. However, I believe that collective liberation will become the free expression of groups' souls and bodies to exist wholly and authentically regardless of appearance or ideology. In my last post I wrote about arrival, the continual arrival to become the place we already are. This month's intention to explore liberation of our physical vessels is paradoxically the fluid, inner expression of emotion and our utmost creative freedom.
In acknowledgment of Mother Earth as the original Creator of divine feminine energy, I would like to honor all earth elements that aid us in expanded consciousness. Each element gives us healing, encrypted in energy codes of physical matter. Water's purpose is to cleanse and give us insight to access our intuition and emotions. The Sun and Fire give us power, energy, and enlightenment. Earth offers us grounding and a deep connection to source consciousness. Air provides us with interconnectedness to all things, in breath, vision, dreaming, and in travel. What can this astrological season of water provide us with in regards to connecting to the divine feminine? First, it allows us to affirm and honor the impermanence of all things, including our self-limiting beliefs. As water's innate role is cleansing, it allows the renewal of our body. From the metaphorical ways in which the depths of our oceans are undiscovered, water offers us a portal to explore the depths and darkness of our own psyche and consciousness.
Allow this month of July to be a month of action, but not an aggressive, forceful drive of action. Within the fluidity of Cancer season, act internally, in expanded awareness of the waves of emotion, and act intentionally to release, or wash away, that which no longer serves you. Envision waves that propel you forward to your true self, your true nature. Tune in to the intuitive energy of water as the divine feminine of earth that nourishes us. The divine feminine within water is a portal of love energy and love consciousness that is fluid, its purpose based in transience, impermanence, and emotion. Seek insight and intuition that give allowance to the ebb and flow of our bodies as we become symbolic oceans and rivers within our human consciousness. Within the cells of our body, made of water, understand your purpose is authentic self-expression.
In acknowledging our purpose, we realize the path of least resistance is the path to liberation; it is accessible to us always, at all times. Know that you need nothing, you must desire nothing, in order to reach liberation. Yearn for nothing except the continual evolution of soul consciousness. Yearn for unconditional acceptance of the impermanence of your body and everything around you. Give power to water to dissolve the ego-self and the simultaneous attachment to individuality. Release the ways in which, even subtly or subconsciously you carry a desire to manipulate others' emotional states or people-please. Only then can we collectively recognize the universal oneness of our souls, wherein we become vibrant extensions of source energy.
As my gratitude to source, I recognize that this writing is not "my words" but rather the expression of universal language and knowledge through me. You and I are physical conduits for source consciousness. Allow both the earthly and ethereal energies to give rise to physical matter and the creation of our physical manifestations. Honor the physical and material world as an extension of self and unconditional love, wherein lies the magical ability to manifest and to create miracles. And last, honor this Earth as our Creator, especially our oceans, rivers, and seas, drinking in every beautiful experience that allows us to become our most authentic versions of self.
Poem above by nayyirah waheed, salt
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