Wisdom from the Circle for October 2015

The Theme That Has Emerged this Month:  Trepidation and Affirmation

Happy October!  I put off writing this month's post because circle did not happen in the traditional way.  Our monthly circle was cancelled.  But circles happen in other ways, through conversations and whisperings that gather over the course of the month.  This was surely the case, awaiting this month's powerful Super Moon which revealed the hidden wisdom and light, the subtle feminine territory of emotion and vulnerability.

I've named the post "trepidation and affirmation" because this is what we find as we listen to ourselves tell our old stories of fear, grief, longing and stuckness, allow ourselves to feel them, and then dare to rewrite them as stories of empowerment, progress and bravery.

I greatly surprised myself as I, it seems, did just that.  I had just returned from a weekend at the college my son had chosen as his first choice.  He is applying to college right now.  Seeing him there so clearly, interacting with students and faculty with ease,  I knew I had touched the leading edge of an event wave which would soon sweep him out of my day to day life for good.  

As I was processing privately with my husband after the trip, I was inconsolable for about an hour, and this is not at all like me.  I have been one to celebrate each step of our son's growing independence with pride and with joy.  An eternal futurist, never had I felt a longing for a previous stage or to linger on the present one.  But this was different.  Why? 

A phone call with one of my circle sisters brought it to light.  This was not another stage in an ongoing process, but a signal of an upcoming "final act."  What comes after a final act?  The gap and a leap to a new stage.  Trepidation!  

She and I were both facing such transitions, wrestling with stories about ourselves that are becoming too small, too tired, too closely tied to particular circumstances and roles that were imminently winding to a close.  What happens, we wondered,  when we remove the particular circumstances and roles in which we've expressed ourselves all these years? 
  
I've been a stay-at-home mom, but now I can be a nurturer on a grander scale.  My friend has been a co-founder of a business partnership, but now is founding her independent passion and voice. The fact is that when we as women in particular serve with and for others, we tend to dilute ourselves.  We do this willingly and with love, but I can't help but wonder what mountains we will move as we reconstitute this energy in its full-strength form and choose how to consciously direct it next. 
  
The full moon sheds light on our emotional lives.  I know I am not losing my son.  But even if I were, I'm entering a new stage, one that promises different adventures, patterns, relationships and rewards. The trepidation comes as we venture beyond the familiar, fearing that we are not the same person inside without our roles and circumstances, fearing we might lose something precious.   The affirmation comes when we discover that we not only are always the same person inside, but that the love and the light we've created in the world isn't ever diminished.  It comes with us.  As a bonus we get to know ourselves in greater depth and with more conscious reverence than ever before.     

How about you? 
What are your stories of trepidation and affirmation? 

You can learn more about Laurie and her upcoming book, Enough!  How to Liberate Yourself and Remake the World with Just One Word at www.weareenough.com

Don't have a circle and want to either find one near you or start one?  I recommend

http://www.gatherthewomen.org/

 

Wisdom from the Circle for September, 2015

The Theme That Has Emerged this Month: EXPANSION

Background:  This is the first in a new once-a-month blog. Those of you who know me personally know I have been a member of a women’s sacred circle for many years. This series, entitled “Wisdom from the Circle” will be my reflections from each month’s circle. Inevitably each month a theme or pattern organically emerges, one I believe is a reflection of some larger planetary shift, similar to that documented by astrology. What is moving here, though, emerges through women – wise women, women who are intuitively attuned to the earth and themselves, and consciously focused on spiritual service and awakening. It is my deepest desire that once it is understood what power, wisdom and satiating sustenance is available when women gather in this way, that many more women - and men - will feel drawn to circles to experience this magic and mystery for themselves first hand.

My local circle has largely stayed steady with a core group of five women who have been there from the beginning, with beloved sister souls finding us at the right time for their journeys. We currently are seven and sometimes eight (one who has moved to another state but visits when she can). We represent a range of ages from the 30’s to the 60’s. Each of us is grounded in work that serves to heal, uplift, support and inspire our fellow human beings. We have among us a homeopath, three yoga teachers, two psychotherapists, business owners, writers, poets, bloggers, a spiritual center owner, a corporate HR manager, a professionally trained singer, mothers, stepmothers, wives, caregivers of aging and dying parents, nature lovers, pagans, witches, wives, entrepreneurs and artists. Among our talents are calling the directions, sensing energies, composing songs, holding space for the sacred to emerge, chakra clearing, divination, Akashic record reading, crystal bowl playing, channeling, cooking, the making of flower essences, among many other things. We believe in beauty, divine guidance, magic, intention, divine timing, letting go, visions, knowings, inner wisdom, compassionate non-judgment and the supreme power of love. We know the joy of true sisterhood and the comfort of trust and trustworthiness. We know the preciousness and intimacy of having our sisters celebrate, grieve and sit with us as witness to our brightest and darkest moments. We know that in some ways we know one another best. We are truly blessed. And our intention is to be of service to humanity, all living beings and our beloved planet in whatever way we can.

The theme that emerged this month was EXPANSION. We are noticing a time of shift in the energies – the opening of possibility without the former density of resistance and push and pull, finding the courage to at last step beyond old patterns that have held us back consciously or unconsciously for a long time. It is as if transformation has traveled from our heads where it has been bogged down in too much thinking, moving down into our hearts where there is less resistance and more flow, and thus we are able to experience a more graceful and sometimes instantaneous change taking place in our bodies and lives. For some in our group it is a time of triumphant fruition, birthing something new whether it is a business or our more divine or healthy selves. For others it is a time of holding space for change to happen in ourselves or others – children soon to leave the nest, a new grandchild on the way, a physical move or profound spiritual journey to a mysterious location. We’re more powerfully claiming our status as teachers, writers, business women, healers and guides of substance and merit. We are starting to see the signs of progress in our long-traveled journeys. Our commitment to sit in circle is coming to some kind of beautiful fruition and easy grace. We can, it seems, sense without words, know without speaking. Soul-driven projects we’ve created are becoming concrete or we are becoming somehow lighter, not as burdened by the past belief that we’re not enough. There is a feeling of taking a deep breath before a leap, or of coming on stage and being in that space of silence before the applause comes. We can feel that something good is coming, an event wave is touching our collective lives, but we don’t yet know the details. And it’s perfectly okay to not know. We feel lighter and different, but struggle to find the words to describe it. Others notice that we are glowing differently, more softly and assuredly. We’ve let go… and find that we have expanded.

How about you?  Has EXPANSION come up for you this month?  Share your story  on my Facebook page. or connect with me at www.weareenough.com or Twitter: @theenoughmessage

Don't have a circle and want to either find one near you or start one?  I recommend

http://www.gatherthewomen.org/