She is cracking

She is bleeding

She is birthing 

She is grieving

 

She is howling a holy yes

She is growling a sacred no

 

She is dancing

She is laughing

She is painting

She is drenched in color

 

She is speaking her truth

She is claiming her power

She is breaking open her heart

She is knowing who she truly is

 

 

She is rising

She is rising

I just came back from my teacher training program and was blown away… as always.. by the magic that happens when you get a group of women together who are passionately devoted to their own heartfelt growth and expansion.

 

 

One of the things I love about the training is that each woman is asked to create a healing creative experience that the rest of her sisters get to participate in. Which means that the last segment of the program is like being at the most amazing workshop in the world with a long list of fabulous, genius women teachers.

 

 

The week was full of truly amazing miracles of all kinds. The studio was turned into a temple, a dance studio and a meditation hall.  We created altars and invoked the goddess of love and beauty and self care, wrote love letters to ourselves, sang love songs to each other, were healed by custom made aromatherapy, danced to our paintings and supported each others visions for how we were going to bring this creative process back into our communities. 

 

 

My teacher training is at heart a leadership training program. A program to help women step into their full feminine power. To become who they were truly meant to be and to bless the world with the gifts that they were born to express.

 

 

And one of the ways that it shows up in the training is that women in this program often end up painting big paintings. VERY big paintings. Paintings that take up a whole wall and climb up to the ceiling and beyond. My students eventually learn that they can unapologetically take up a huge amount of space in the studio. And they also begin to realize that the space they claim for themselves doesn’t diminish the other women who are part of their creative tribe but actually gives their sisters even MORE permission to go big themselves.

 

 

But in addition to the big paintings there was another motif that kept making itself felt throughout the week. One of the images that kept showing up over and over again in the paintings was some version of the dark goddess.

 

 

She showed up as the snake haired Medusa. She showed up as the witch. She showed up as the howling, grieving, bleeding mother. And she showed up as a figure cloaked in black who didn’t have a name but carried a great deal of mysterious mojo.

 

 

During the time we were on retreat, it was also the week when the first One Billion Rising event was blossoming all over the planet. I don’t think it was any coincidence that women standing up for themselves and against violent abuses of power such as rape and oppression and sex slavery was happening at the same time these powerful goddess and goddess experiences were being birthed into visual form.

 

 

There was, and still is, something magical afoot. Something that is changing and moving and coming alive in women’s hearts and minds and souls.

 

  

And I think a lot of it has to do with women reclaiming their power.

 

 

But one of the things I see and hear from the women I know is some confusion about what that really means. I think so many women have been subjected to abuses of power that they get confused, thinking thats’ what power looks like.Which makes them incredibly reluctant to engage with their power because they are afraid that it will be destructive or hurt people. In the same ways that they have been hurt.

 

  

In Chinese Astrology, it’s the year of the snake, and the snake is one face of the dark goddess. Snake energy is about going into the hidden places, unearthing the secrets and bringing what has been taboo and forbidden into light. 

 

  

 

One of the biggest taboos that women face at this moment in history is the fear of their own power. And the willingness to own that power. 

 

 

The thing about taboos and keeping things hidden is that there is tremendous energy required to keep things under wraps.

 

 

Energy that is no longer available to us for creation and movement and life. 

 

 

Which is what happens when woman keep power in the basement of their psyches. The energy that could be ours, IF we cleared away some of the ancient fears that still reside in our hearts and minds around the issue of power, could truly change the world.

 

 

But I think that before women can fully embrace power, they need to go through the process of redefining what power means to them. To begin to recognize that power doesn’t have to be destructive but can also be a healing and creative force in the world. To remember from a place deep in the ancient soul of the divine feminine, that not all power is hurtful or abusive. 

 

 

True power is simply how the life force moves through us. It is life affirming and life enhancing.

 

 

It’s a way of being as much as it is something you do. Our sense of power is something that feeds and fuels us. It’s something that is at core what allows us to bring our gifts into the world.

 

 

There are many different kinds of power that women ALREADY know and are capable of claiming, like the power of love, generosity, kindness, caring, and support.

 

 

But there are some other forms of power that women are somewhat less comfortable with, primarily because they put a woman at the center of her own world.

  

Which is exactly where we are meant to be.

  

Here’s a list of some of my favorite positive manifestations of sacred feminine power. It’s not exhaustive. And I’m sure that you can add many more of your own. But it’s a good place to start.

 

The Power to Protect

 

Women need to feel their fierceness, strength and anger. To know that they can keep themselves and their loved ones safe. That they have every right to create boundaries that will be respected, and if they can’t be respected, then it’s entirely legitimate for them to fight back, walk away or get whatever help they need to keep those boundaries secure.   

  

The Power Of Desire

 

Women need to know that it is totally valid for them to want whatever will make them happy. That their desires are valid and worthy of attention and respect. That wanting doesn’t make them selfish or shallow but actually feeds them and fuels them and allows them to craft a life of their own unique and authentic design. 

 

 

The Power Of Choice

 

 Women need to experience the deeply felt potency of being able to say a clear and firm YES to what they do want and an equally clear NO if something doesn’t work for them. No excuses. No apologies. No explanations. 

 

The Power To Act

 

Women need to know that they can take their visions and desires  and make them into something real and tangible in the world. That it’s perfectly legitimate for them to not only BE but DO in a way that is effective and produces results. To experience the joy and sense of agency that comes from taking focused action in the service of their creative desires.

 

The Power To Shine

 

Women need to claim the wildly luminous radiance of their souls. To KNOW and admit and remember deep in their bones how beautiful and amazing they are and to no longer be afraid to proclaim that beauty and that brilliance in a million different ways. To unabashedly and with total delight blaze into the world as the supernovas they were always meant to be.

 

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If you are interested in my next Wild Heart Expressive Arts Teacher Training Program that begins in May of 2013 please click here for more information.