The path of the feminine is one that calls out to our hearts with a sonic roar, resonant of the collective courage of our entire mother lineage, tracing back to a time before patriarchal rule.
As we are emerging from a lineage of suppressed expression, repressed visioning, and destructive disconnection to the body of life, Mother Nature herself, we are awakening to the truth of the sacredness of the feminine.
In our wounding, we have lost the connection to her wisdom of balanced power, her acceptance of the grace in cycles, her discernment of sacred knowledge, and the sagaciousness of heart-centered leadership in interdependent community.
Through our own internal wounding of the feminine, and the consequence of rejecting and abandoning her, we stepped into a deeply damaging relation to power. I have been privileged to facilitate women’s spirituality in numerous diverse women’s circles over the years, and have witnessed a deep healing awakening, which unfolds in the truthful acknowledgement of our wounded perception of the feminine. As a reflective exercise, take a moment right now, close your eyes and think about the words you would use to describe women. Perhaps journal down your impressions, beliefs, and learned definitions without editing yourself. Repeat this exercise with descriptive words about your mother.
We view the feminine as weak, irrational, overly emotional, overly sensitive, destitute. We associate her with being suppressed under the controlling thumb of a man, voiceless, without choice, nor the freedom for self-expression, helplessly powerless. We know this leads to a life of sacrificing all of herself for the sake of others’ happiness and needs, crowning in depression and deep resentment.
Perhaps we witnessed our own mothers or grandmothers living this existence, and in rebellion we decided to vow to ourselves to never be this “weak.” In that moment, with defiant determination we make this vow, without realizing who the feminine truly is. In distorted perception, we banish her, we reject her receptive nature, her profound intuitive whispers, her deep attraction to commune with Mother Nature, we repress any feelings she may have, and start to mimic the behavior of the masculine because it seems safer, more acceptable, valued, acknowledged, and it helps us to gain power in this world.
After some time, this illusion catches up with us and we realize that the power we so desperately needed for security was an illusion all along. The truth is that what we thought was power was experienced by our loved ones, colleagues, and community as controlling, aggressive, dominant, detrimental competitive behavior – all of which are rooted in fear.
So what is true feminine power? And how do we own it?
Within the body of sacred feminine wisdom teachings, is held the acknowledgement that personal power is in sacred marriage with self-responsibility. In order to wield power in a harmless, conscious, honest, just, evenhanded way, we need to embody the essence of sovereignty.
Sovereign power is embodied by self-governing behavior (self-accountability) and its liberation of personal freedom, which in turn offers us the space to follow the leadership of the heart. The wise way of the feminine is embodied in fierce, luminous love. When a woman is anchored in sovereignty, her strength is rooted in the most powerful healing source in this world: Love. I am not talking about the misguided perception of love as a fluffy feeling, blissing us out into orbit, leaving us completely detached from reality. I am talking about the formidable type of fierce love a lioness has for her cubs. The power of love alone can transform the heaviest grieving heart, the deepest wounding, the most cutting betrayal. This powerful love has boundaries, values, and stands anchored in truth, like the mighty oak tree in the storm, like the queen bee in her regenerative hive, like the flowing river through the valley and the soul expansive fragrance of the blooming wild flowers.
As women our sovereign power is held in the fabric of our innate nature. It flows through our ability to be in harmony with all that is. The sacred feminine is in conscious connection to all of sentient nature. She stands in fierce love for the conservation of this earth and actions harmonious with natural living. Her voice is assertively expressive, and her manner is personified in creative solutions.
Our power does not lie outside ourselves, attaining a false sense of security through relationships, successful careers, or adored images. As sacred feminine women, we find our anchor in leaning into the uncertainty of life’s unfathomable mysteries. We flow in the discomfort of being authentically vulnerable, knowing that this choice to be true to ourselves may upset others briefly, yet liberate us from self-resentment and disconnection. Our sovereign power resides in our choices, which are in alignment with our own truth and values.
In leading by example, we are choosing to contribute in cultivating a culture of honest, heartfelt connection instead of perpetuating a people-pleasing culture, sacrificing the self for the need to be approved of, in our need to belong.
We own our power through gracefully living the sacred knowledge of cycles and trust the spiral creation intelligence of our universe. Embracing the natural cycle of birth, death and rebirth liberates us from our deepest fears and illusions. We embrace the ancient goddess wisdom of journeying through the archetypes of maiden, mother, and wise woman/crone. In our disconnection to these insights, we have disempowered ourselves through our fear of aging and death, attaching to the shadow archetypes of this trilogy as “ It-girl,” “Superwoman” and “Know-it-all-Mother-in-Law.”
Our feminine power lays incandescently in a spiral within us, awaiting the moment in which we turn within, giving it permission to unfurl in her glorious beauty, opening to her receptive nature and its profound gifts, listening to her intuitive whispers – answering every question you will ever ask, discovering the rhythms and flow of the cycles of nature and learning how to trust the flow and mystery of life.
It is walking upon this earth as one living, breathing being bringing you the kind of peace no words can describe, expanding your consciousness through the illuminating depths of your emotional body. These are the gifts of owning your feminine power.
Eleftheria Kakambouras © 2015
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