Posts Tagged ‘integration’

My last couple of weeks have been intensely devoted to balancing my inner masculine; this comes as I’m writing a book that addresses the collective change we are all experiencing, the Great Re-Balancing of the feminine and masculine principles within and in the Whole.  I wouldn’t be an expert in these matters if I weren’t observing and recording the process I am undergoing myself!

Over the last years of coaxing my inner feminine closer to balance and having great success, it became obvious that the masculine within me needed some attention, too.  Not because I necessarily knew what the masculine was…I don’t see too many positive role models of balanced, authentic masculine energy in popular culture, so I earnestly began that dialogue to know.  Just what IS masculine energy?    

Well, I thought the Sacred Feminine and Great Mother were a mystery!  When I first intentionally connected to Great Father and the Divine Masculine, it was such a shock I couldn’t talk about it.  I experienced the energy as very powerful, very present, very linear and direct.  Like a pointed finger rather than a cupped hand, although not because there were any fingers pointing at me!  It was the quality of the energy that was so amazingly different than my experience of the feminine.  It was powerfully singular, as opposed to the feminine which feels to me to be powerfully whole-oriented, or connective.

I have been getting to know Him over these last couple of years, slowly.  I am finding I need to approach Great Father and the Divine Masculine with some caution, probably because of my own internal programming and unease around the masculine due to my role models.  In my case, the masculine energy I saw and interacted with as I grew to adulthood did not protect me, and in some cases actively harmed me.  My inner masculine grew to be alternately aggressive or emasculated depending on the situation. 

But what I am finding about Great Father and the Divine Masculine is that there is a balance in there of being solid, confident, clear, protective and taking care of business without being overly aggressive, or bagging out by being a disempowered masculine.   It is an energy that is completely awe-inspiring, and to stand in the presence of it is nothing short of miraculous.

Two weeks ago I was writing in my studio as I do every work day from 9-5 or so, when I was instructed to pause by my professional team (my professional team is a group of higher consciousness intelligences that assist me in my work).  I paused, then was told to open up a new document in order to write a letter.  I asked who I would be writing to, and was told, “Your father”. 

My earthly father is a person I have lots of complicated feelings about, so hearing this instruction was not easy.  However, I was told I would be writing a “Soul Letter” (Soul Letters are something I was taught to do by my angelic helpers several years ago…for more info, subscribe to my e-zine on my website, www.liciaberry.com ; the September e-zine issue will be instructions on how to write Soul Letters).  One benefit of writing a Soul Letter is that it is not delivered in the physical world to the recipient, but at a soul level.  This helped.    

It was cathartic; the point of a Soul Letter is to say all of the things you can’t say to that person in physical life because they would react poorly to it or not hear it.  Some things need to be expressed, and writing them in a Soul Letter is a great way to do it.  I cried and felt genuine appreciation as well as anger with my father for the man he was and is.  It opened me up, cleared some things out of the way.  My afternoon was spent continuing with my writing in the book about what I had discovered.  I had no idea then how taking this action freed me to experience authentic masculine energy in a magical experience that was to unfold that afternoon.

When I walked out of the studio a little before 5pm, I found that my car was having trouble.  It would start, but then peter out, as if there was something wrong with the fuel line.  I tried re-starting it several times, looking at my dashboard for indicators lights, turning off the air-conditioning and listening.  Still, it would turn over but not sustain running the car.  Hmmmm.

I felt strangely calm for being stranded in a marginal part of town with the only car in my family’s possession several miles from home or any friends’ help.  I called Peter to tell him the situation; he listened, told me to try the things I had already tried, then sat confounded about what to do.  I noticed that I was agitated with him for a moment as he seemed to be paralyzed.  But I was still very calm.  He got off the phone to collect his thoughts and called me back.  I found out later that he was collecting up his desire to help and protect me and weighing it against the fact that he was so far from me that he was powerless to do much of anything.  I found out something else, too.

He told me later that night that, in his earnest desire and knowing that it was his role to show up for me as the masculine partner in my life, he did the only thing he could.  He asked Great Father and the Divine Masculine for help….to extend beyond his own hands and to activate the Great Father energy in anyone I interacted with so that I would be taken care of.

And that’s exactly what happened.  You just read my experience in the previous entry.

Later, as I processed this extraordinary experience, I realized that by following the suggestion to write that letter to my biological father I had made a choice to shift.  Feeling and expressing the feelings about how my father did not show up for me as well as the ways he did, therefore initiating a sea change inside, I had cleared a space.  I had opened myself to experience authentic, balanced masculine energy.   And it had rushed in, in spades!  What a delight!

I called the road service, where a man named Troy answered the phone.  His first question to me was, “Are you in a safe place?”  It stopped me in my tracks as I felt a wave of appreciation for his question; he then proceeded to take excellent care of me as he called the tow service while I held the line, then let me know exactly when they would arrive.  I thanked him and waited. I called Peter back to let him know the progress.  He had been in touch with the Honda dealership; they were expecting me and would have a rental car ready for me.  I passed the next 45-50 minutes noticing that I felt completely supported and not worried about my being stranded or that my afternoon plans were shot.  It was a feeling I’ve had before of being held by larger hands, a sense that a larger plan is being played out and that I would be okay.

The tow driver showed up in a fancy flat bed truck.  He was an articulate, bright eyed and friendly Latino man who worked carefully with me to make sure that the car got up on the flat bed without scratching the bike rack hanging low on the rear of the car.  He conversed with me as he drove me to the Honda Dealership; I learned about his growing up in the south and told him stories of the snow drifts in our recent home of Colorado.  When he dropped me off, without being asked, he took care to park the car carefully with the bike rack pointed into a place where it would not be seen or stolen.  He then waited as I spoke with the service people to say goodbye and shake my hand.

Then I met Brian, the service man who took care of me while my car was being processed.  He quietly listened as I described the issues,  called the rental car company to say I was ready for my rental, then took the trouble to walk out to my lovingly parked car with me as I retrieved my computer bag.  We made small talk while I waited for the rental car folks to arrive.  His complete willingness to take care of me was a third example of this masculine principle. 

The rental car company sent an older fellow to come pick up from the Honda dealership; he came in to find me then escorted me back to the rental, opening the door for me. There was opera music on the radio; this sparked a conversation about arts and culture.  When we arrived at the rental car lot, he introduced me to a young man behind the counter named Jay, who promptly took complete care of me, staying well past the six o’clock closing time to make sure I had all the things I needed.  At no time did I feel rushed or that he was annoyed.  He was taking care of me because it was the right thing to do.

I had no less than 5 men in one short 90 minute period exhibit to me what one principle of masculine energy is meant to look like, on the very same day that I was guided to examine my father’s role modeling of imbalanced masculine energy.  I arrived home grateful, in wonder about my experience, and full of appreciation for the balanced masculine, with a knowing of my next step.  Taking care of what is meant to be taken care of.    

Taking care of what is meant to be taken care of is not solely a masculine principle.  Feminine energy also takes care of what needs to be taken care of, but it expresses differently.  I think of what I learned as the parent taking care of my babies; quiet nurturing, keeping them clean and safe, making sure they got enough sleep, holding, feeding, loving…the kinds of “taking care” that are maybe less noticeable, somehow more fundamental. 

Peter delighted as I related my experiences with these 5 men when I got home; he remarked repeatedly how calm and happy I seemed given the situation.  I told him that I had felt the strange sensation of being taken care of by some larger hands.  It was then that he shared with me his experience when I called him with car trouble earlier that day…of being so far away and feeling powerless to help.  His solution helped to set the stage for me to experience balanced masculine energy. 

(Tune in Friday 8/27/10 for the rest of the story!)

Soul Surrender, collage by Licia Berry 2007 (click on image for larger view)

“Listen, listen, listen to my heart song…

Listen, listen, listen to my heart song…

I will never forget you, I will never forsake you…

I will never forget you, I will never forsake you…”

-round sung in sacred women’s circles, composer unknown

Sometimes we get so busy in our lives, moving in the direction we want to go, creating and doing, and sometimes things are going pretty well.  We are going along…

And then we get the spiritual 2 by 4 upside the head.

What happened?  The circumstances change…a job loss, a relationship crisis, an illness, or some other startling attention getter.  I thought I was doing good things.  I thought things were fine.  I thought things were the way I thought they were…

I have experience with this one.  Moving in a direction, thinking I am in alignment with myself…but what is really happening is that I am being driven by some part of myself that thinks it knows what’s best for me, and that part of myself is operating out of alignment with the LARGER me.  I will call that larger me “Soul” for the purposes of this exploration.

I know for a fact that we can create a life out of alignment with our soul; I have seen others do it, and I have almost done it.  Well, I guess there are degrees…I have seen some folks who seem to be creating WAY out of the ballpark of soul intention, and I have observed myself trying to create within a certain range of my soul’s intention, but not being spot on. 

Apparently, in my case, it is important to be spot on.

When I get the spiritual 2X4, I’m inclined to sit still and listen.  When I have had this situation in the past, it has been a most fortuitous course correction for me.  To my credit, I don’t get knocked down, dust myself off and hop up to continue whatever I was doing.  I do change course.  As long as I am listening.

Listening seems to be a feminine trait…and by feminine, I mean Sacred Feminine.  Doing and forging forward are things that feel masculine to me, or left brain.  To sit and be still, and listen…I only found my ability to do this when I remembered my right brain, or feminine self. 

The last time this happened for me personally was when I broke my right (masculine) ankle…it served to gain my attention in ways that other smaller attention getters had not.  You can bet that I made a promise with myself that I would catch these course corrections served up on a silver platter when they were more subtle messages.  No more broken bones for me, thank you.  I pay attention much more closely now to those whispers, those animals that stray across my path, the words a friend says in passing…I have my nose to the wind, almost all the time.  But we all have our blind spots, so it is important to set aside time to sit still and listen.

What does it feel like to listen, to be still and know?  It feels like coming home.  It feels like the return into the arms of the most wonderful, loving parent.  It feels like being in the lap of goodness, or with the most trusted friend.  I experience my soul/spirit as so knowing and wise and loving, it is hard to believe I would ever NOT want to listen.

But I know…We get caught up in our ideas of what we want to do, or are driven by fear or attachment or some other egoic construct to behave in ways that take us further and further away from that pure intent that our soul has for us.  And the kind and beneficent universe reminds us where our balance lies, and we are given the opportunity once again to be still and know.

Soul Surrender, collage by Licia Berry, 2008

“Love is an attempt at penetrating another being, but it can only succeed if the surrender is mutual”. - Octavio Paz

I’ve been known as an independent and willful person since I was very young; one of the most pervasive images I have been given of my own toddlerhood is of me sticking my chin out and saying “I want to do it myself”.  These days we call that a “spirited child”, and know better than to think of these qualities as “bad”, or that the child is trying to be a trouble maker.

That stick-to-it-iveness has gotten me through some tough times, and so I am thankful that it has been a part of my being.  It was a way to prop myself up when there wasn’t anyone on the outside holding me up.

Over the years, though, I noticed that there were times that called for a softer touch, a more melting center.  When I began to consciously look at my own spirit nature, it seemed that there was something larger within that was asking me to surrender.

Surrender?  Not me.

When I heard the word surrender, I thought of waving the white flag.  I thought of giving up.  I thought of being wrong and “I have failed in my efforts”.  But this is not what my Spirit thinks.

Surrender, according to my conversations with my wise inner voice, is the act of allowing myself to become one with the greater Whole, or Love.  It is laying down arms, letting go my need to be separate, merging once again with the larger flow of life.

This has felt like a safe way to conceptualize surrender to me.  I don’t trust others enough (most of the time) to surrender myself to them or their agenda, but I DO trust Spirit enough to surrender IN it.  Sometimes Spirit will ask me to surrender, and I will go kicking and screaming down the lane, but when I stop and realize it is only Love that wants to claim me, I stop fighting and it is such a relief.

But it is a choice!  I know from hard won experience that I can choose to stay closed off in my little box because it feels safer to me.  Sometimes I have been right to do that because conditions outside my little environment were NOT safe.  But other times, I have missed out on some good stuff because I was so busy defending myself or hanging on to an old way of being that no longer served me.

So the Octavio Paz quote above has special meaning to me.  Love cannot penetrate me, nor can I wake up to the fact that Love is actually the core of what I am, unless I am willing to open and soften and let it be.

Who knows what is going on in the larger collective?  Lots of folks claim to, but I tend to think that we each have a slice of the pie, rather than the whole pie….a peek at the global story through our own filters rather than a completely objective viewpoint.  My subjective experience is valid for me, but not necessarily the truth for everyone!

My subjective experience has been telling me that there has been some extraordinary energy moving through the collective these last few days.  What I’m hearing as I report in from my corner of reality is that many are feeling this larger wave of energy, but some experience it as very difficult and others very lovely.

Thursday is when I started to feel that rise begin…it feels to me like being in the ocean, out beyond where the waves break.  You can feel that a wave is coming because you get lifted off the bottom of the sea, and your body bobs up to the top of the lump that begins a wave, then you are dropped down and toes make contact again with sand.  The wave continues onward towards the shore, where it crests and crashes down, becoming one with the larger body of the ocean again.

Thursday some extraordinary things happened in my life.  My beloved husband confronted an oooolllllddddd habit passed down to him by his ancestry and brought it into consciousness, breaking the pattern and freeing himself (and us, his family).  When it happened, there was a palpable feeling of something having changed.  Our whole family felt it.  A few hours later, a professional opportunity came his way, literally dropped in his lap, which has invited more good feelings in our family. 

Then, Friday some folks looked at our house in Colorado, the one that’s been on the market for 1.5 years, and promptly feel it love with it and made an offer.  We signed the contract yesterday, the day identified by astrologers in the know as a profoundly lucky day of 2010 due to Jupiter and the sun being in alignment.

The current energy wave is intense, don’t get me wrong.  It’s not all sunshine and daisies; the recent earthquakes would indicate that there are folks who are in great distress as a result of the energy movement.  And I have been hearing that some folks are having difficulty navigating the current energy.  They feel anxious, pregnant, full, like they are ready to explode.  Sometimes it feels just plain bad, and we want to hide under a rock until it’s over.

I do believe that what is within is also without, and vice versa, so to me it makes sense that we would see manifestations in the physical as well as emotional worlds of the internal or invisible universal energy waves that wash through us.  I don’t think this is going to change; my sources tell me that these kinds of experiences are going to continue, and that the intensity will lessen a bit as we cycle through, until we get to the next wave. 

Are we being cleansed?  Are we being shown where we are putting energy that doesn’t serve us?  Are we getting the opportunity to trim out the deadwood and let go into a life that we are truly meant to live?  And why is it easy for some and not for others?  Is the difference that sometimes we cooperate with the flow of the energy and other times we cling to the rocks, refusing to let go into that larger life?  What keeps us attached to those habits and beliefs that threaten to take us under, even those that we love? 

My sweet husband has had direct information for 3 years (via myself and my invisible helpers) that his unconsciousness was causing a major energy drain on himself and our family, creating havoc and despair, putting him crossways to his own soul.  But he wasn’t ready to hear it until Thursday, and when he let it go, the energy wave that was building already bobbed him (and our family) up to the top of the wave, instead of holding us down at the bottom.  The relief and feeling of rightness is unmistakable.

So now we are coming through this wave…the full moon today feels like an apex to me, and perhaps things will smooth out a bit for awhile to allow the next wave to build. This will allow us time to integrate the changes that have been made during this last part of the cycle; the deadwood having been trimmed (don’t go trying to pick it up and stick it back on the trees!), we will hopefully find our ground and center in a new way.

first published on 12-4-06 on www.liciaberry.com

I had an interaction last night that was such a blessing to me; I went to a cookie exchange party here in the valley and got into a conversation with a woman that was simultaneously sad and affirming for me, causing me to get even clearer on what I want for myself and this beautiful world.

This woman solicited me to help reform our local Goddess Group (an informal group of local women who  enjoy getting together for ceremony, play, and being with each other) into something more “serious”.  She is a proponent of one of the “new age” spiritual philosophies and she would like to see the group become much more like this philosophy.  I asked her what she meant by “serious”; I am all for intentionally working with the global energies (such as the full moon) and expanding love into the universe from a grateful and intentional heart, but I am not interested in getting “heavy” or dogmatic, if that’s what is meant by “serious”.  I told her that I have found that lightness and play and humor and love are a more effective tool towards feeling our divine connection and therefore shifting the vibration of the planet.  She then seemed to be triggered by what I said, and went into her philosophy that she has learned, which is that if we are not taking things “seriously”, we are allowing our ego to dominate us.  She said, “If we don’t negate our ego, we will never grow“.       

WOW.  Such a clear picture did I get from this comment!  A picture of sadness, self hatred, judgment of self and others, self-flagellation.  It was shocking and so very sad at the same time.  I got a picture of how many of us try to pretend some part of ourselves is not really there, and over time, how we forget our wholeness.  I got a picture of the earth, and millions of people, who in their misguided attempts to “be spiritual” try to kill off parts of themselves that they were born with, that are necessary in order to be alive.  I heard a voice saying “This is how wars start.”  I got images of people of different cultures over time saying “….I negate you…..you do not exist….your beliefs are wrong….I negate you.”  I got a clear understanding that if we are making war on ourselves by negating a part of ourselves, of course we are going to make war on others, whether in physical combat or in arguments over “what is more spiritual”.  To try to negate a part of oneself is like cutting off your own limb.  It was an all encompassing vision that has stayed with me since last night.

I took all of this to the aspects of All Creation that I know as angelic and this is what they had to say this beautiful morning:

“Sweet One, your instinct is correct from our standpoint.  You have children and you have seen with your own experience how if you ignore a needy child they just get louder, they up the ante, they will not be negated.  Over time, if they are repeatedly ignored, they will give up their fight to their birthright of being seen, heard and acknowledged, but they have closed away a part of themselves in the process.  This is what occurs when an individual tries to shut off a part of themselves….that aspect of their divinity gets louder, it wants to be heard, until over time a door shuts inside and the person forgets they have that part.  But the beauty and the challenge is that the part they have tried so hard to negate is now unconsciously “driving the train” of their life. 

It is not possible for you to be in the earth plane, in a physical body, without an ego.  The ego is a necessary part of your Being and the beautiful design of being in physical form.  You can no more negate your ego than you can negate your existence.  It is not possible to be in physical form without an ego.  You see, in the grand design, the ego is the information gatherer; the ego processes the data of life in the physical plane, then gives that information to the rest of your infinitely vast being.  You ego is a valuable part of the multi-leveled and fabulous individuated consciousness of Prime Source that you represent. 

It is human invention that a person must “kill the ego” in order to be spiritual, just as it is human invention to judge something as right or wrong.  There is no angelic presence that will tell a human being to negate the ego, as it is our very essence to be unconditionally loving (Prime Source is unconditionally loving, too).  In addition, it is an illusion to think that you CAN negate the ego.  As you witnessed in the one who brought this to you, her ego ran rampant in her extreme desire to negate it.  What part of herself is making war on herself, her grand Spirit?  We think not.  This situation makes us chuckle a bit. 

It may be worth your time to have compassion for one who would wish a part of themselves dead; only one who is in quite a bit of pain would wish such a thing.  We have a question; how is one who holds themselves to such a rigid standard able to grow?

We advocate an appropriate partnership between the ego and the vastness of who you are.  We of course see that the desire to negate the ego is a backlash to the many on the earth plane who allow their ego to be the ONLY part of themselves making the decisions, regardless of the input of their Soul, Spirit and their Source (and of course their angelic helpers!)  However, one extreme swing of the pendulum in opposition is just as imbalanced as the other.  It is our suggestion that humans choose to come into balance, to choose right relationship between their ego and the largeness that they truly are.  We see that attempting to negate a part of oneself is not life affirming, to you or to the Whole.   

Any aspect of yourself that you attempt to destroy, hide, suppress, or negate will come back to be acknowledged in larger ways, and primarily unconsciously, because you have not been loving enough to yourself to acknowledge that aspect consciously; so it will make itself known in ways you don’t notice.  The analogy of a needy child is appropriate here again; if the child cannot get what it needs from the appropriate source, it will seek what it needs elsewhere, and sometimes in ways that are not life affirming.  It will find a way to be heard, or die.

You are magnificent, multi-faceted Beings; do you truly believe that your Source would have made you the way you are, only to have you reject certain parts as unworthy?  Would your loving Source have intentionally created “flawed” beings?  Do you mistrust the wisdom of Prime Source so much? 

Our suggestion is that you love all aspects of yourselves unconditionally, as we and Prime Source love you.  You are so very dear and precious to us, and it is our great honor to know you, an extension of ourselves.  Thank you for this opportunity to speak to this.  We love you, dearest.”

originally published on www.liciaberry.com 5-22-07

Self Love and Self Worth

My personal healing process of late seems to be taking me to the old wound of being unloving towards myself and feeling unworthy.  I am asked with some frequency (although not as much anymore) if we ever overcome these old wounds; well, the answer is yes and no.  From an evolutionary standpoint, each time we face an issue and do a bit of healing on it, it gets a bit better, and we move on until we hit it again on our spiral walk. At that point, we have yet another opportunity to do some more healing on it, and the process continues.  Yes, there are some things that I have released to the point I never think about them or see them in my life; they seem not to exist anymore.  And I do believe that something can be healed (whether it is physical, emotional, mental or spiritual, it is still all energy) in an instant if all the right factors are lined up.

However, old and deep “wounds” such as feeling unloved or unworthy are more challenging.  I do revisit them on occasion, and each time I get closer to my core pain.  It is an act of self love and courage to go into that pain.  It is an act of self mastery to choose to heal it and not be pulled into its heavy gravitational field!

Another point of view is the one I tap into daily-the aspects of ALL Creation that I know as angelic.  What they say is that all of this forgetting our bliss and then remembering it is like a grand game of hide and seek, and at a spiritual level, it is considered FUN.  That even though our ego may be in pain, at another sphere of our being, we are laughing our butts off.  I think it is a grand punch line that when we merge back into non-physical, the first thing we do is laugh at how we thought we were supposed to suffer while living as a human!  Imagine, all that time spent being unhappy, thinking we aren’t perfect just the way we are….when all we came here to do was to enjoy the journey!

So, as I observe my feelings of unworthiness, acknowledge them and bless them, then choose to release them through intention and the angels help, I must remember that the forgetting of my wonderful-ness is part of the game, and not judge myself for those feelings.  Instead, I can choose to see it as another opportunity to rush into the arms of remembrance and feel its joyous relief.

Years ago I went through a deep and despairing walk with unworthiness and was given a beautiful book called On Wings of Light by Ronna Herman as a gift; inside was inscribed a personal message from Archangel Michael.  (Ronna Herman has channeled Archangel Michael for years; I was introduced to her by my dear friend Shanna MacLean at Circle of Light.  Ronna wrote me this note in 2001 just before 9/11 and I simultaneously “came out” as a shamana and wisewoman. )  When I thanked Ronna for the message, she replied:

“Hello, Dear Heart, so glad the message was meaningful for you.  I believe as you read the book and the messages more and more will become clear for you.  You have undoubtedly had many lifetimes as shaman/wise woman and spiritual leader – what is important now is that you live each day the best way you know how and your path will unfold the way that is best for all.  Start with yourself – learning self-love and self worth and then project that to others and help them see the best in themselves.   It all starts from within and radiates outward – one kind deed and loving thought at a time.

If anyone had told me ten years ago that I would be doing what I am doing and having the wonderful experiences that fill my life every day, I would have told them they were crazy.

Just Be the beautiful person you are and the rest will happen naturally.

Love and angel blessings, Ronna Herman”

And that has been the case; since I received this message in 2001, so much water has moved under (and over) the bridge, and self love has been the key to carrying me forward in grace.  Daily I choose to love myself unconditionally and to know and experience myself as worthy of unconditional love!  May you, too.

I’m not a scholar on Christian holy days; I observe spiritual traditions that make sense to me, that have personal meaning to me.  Until yesterday, Epiphany flew by unnoticed. 

The 12^th day of Christmas, Epiphany is the oldest of the Christmas festivals and originally the most important.  It is the day traditionally celebrated in Christian culture as the day the Magi arrived to behold the Christ child.

“The word epiphany comes from the Greek noun epiphaneia, which means “shining forth,” “manifestation,” or “revelation.”  In the ancient Greco-Roman world, an epiphany referred to the appearance of one of the gods to mortals.  Since Hellenistic kings and Roman emperors were considered by many to be gods, the word epiphany was also used as a term for divine majesty.”  (source: http://www.stpaulskingsville.org/epiphany.htm)

Yesterday was a day in which it felt like many veils were lifted between my eyes and the larger spiritual container I live in.  I had so many revelations, and indeed, one very important “manifestation”, that I once again feel affirmed in my belief that there is a larger energy that holds us all, and that if we align with it, magic can happen.

I sat in the morning for my inner guidance time, which I typically create several times per day (and always at night before bed so that I can bring my consciousness to anything pertinent while my body sleeps).  This is my time to be still, listen and feel my connection to the Whole and a larger perspective on my life. My usual pathway of access opened up, and I felt the familiar alignment click into place.  As I awaited the presence of higher consciousness in my mind, I felt a new (yet very old and familiar), somewhat different presence move in from the left of center, supplanting my usual interface with the Divine.

“Who is here?” I asked.  A vast, deep silence, a feeling of gravity, immense power in my belly and sweetness in my heart was the response.  I sat quietly straining to hear with my inner ears, but I couldn’t quite make out the name.  I asked, “Are you here to aid me in my highest good?”  Yes, I was told, and I felt a rush of goodwill pouring through me.  “Are you accountable to the light?”  I asked.  I heard, No, I am accountable to the dark. 

This is when I started squirming; my early Christian preschool indoctrination formed my young, developing mind into a good versus evil bent, and I struggle to this day with unconsciously perceiving light as good and dark as bad, even though I know consciously that this is not true. 

My resonance lies with the yin/yang symbol, in which the darkness and the light are simply two halves of existence that balance one another, and are therefore necessary for the Whole.  It is our small, human minds that place judgments on qualities of energy such as light and dark, calling them names and putting them in little boxes so that we can feel more in control. 

I have also studied the Goddess traditions extensively, and know that darkness, a symbol for the womb, for the void, for the night, for the face of the new moon, has been vilified ever since patriarchy reared its adolescent grab for power on the planet.  I know from hard won experience that anything we demonize warrants a closer look to see what we are projecting onto it.

I heard this Being that had entered my holy space speak that it was accountable to the dark, and took a breath.  “Who are you?” I asked again.

I am the Dark Mother, She answered.

I sat quietly, stunned at the simplicity and precision of this revelation.  I then proceeded to ask several clarifying questions, the first of which were asked to make sure I was safe to be interacting with this powerful yet benevolent energy, and the latter of which resulted from my increasing feelings of bliss and excitement.  Many moments later, I was in tears as accepted Her, and felt myself in the arms of my truest Mother.

Over the course of the day as I opened further to this awareness, my epiphanies ranged from seeing how the Dark Mother had been in my life, (very clearly had I eyes to see Her) for several years, to feelings of being Home.  The work I had begun in 2005 to embody the Divine Feminine was inspired by Her.  Images of the Black Madonna, which I’d written an extensive article about in 2007, flashed through my mind.  The many essays and radio shows and personal experiences of the Sacred Feminine that I’d processed and offered to the world as a road map fell into place. 

As a woman who resonates deeply (as well as recognizes within myself) the Sacred Feminine energies, I have spent time getting to know the several faces of the Goddess.  I remember in 1999 that Mary the Mother was the first face of the feminine I began to interact with as an adult.  She was safe, a clean symbol of goodness and light, and a good start for a woman fearful of her own feminine energy.

As a child, Isis was a frequent companion, but over the years I lost my sense of her.  She came roaring back into my life in 2001, when I got the tap on my shoulder to come out of hiding as a healer, and opened my energy work practice in downtown Asheville NC. 

Then other faces of the Goddess began to emerge in my consciousness.  Astarte, Diana, Hecate, Demeter, Kali, Innana, Brigid, Tara, Cerridwen, Persephone, Sedna, Lilith, Mary Magdalene, Amaterasu, GrandMother Moon, Spider Woman and more.  As each of these treasured and varied Faces of Her visited me, I interacted with their archetype and integrated them into my own awareness, making those aspects within me conscious.  It has been a remarkable journey of awakening. 

However, my names for Her never included the Dark Mother, perhaps because of my subconscious association of dark with evil. 

I had heard of the Dark Mother as a name for the fierce Goddess Kali, She who oversees death and rebirth, and so I had approached the Kali archetype with a large perimeter and a considerable dose of respect. 

I knew the acknowledgement and appreciation of the darkness that comes with shamanic practice, in which the journeying through the various inner worlds must be discerningly and powerfully navigated. 

I had experienced the darkness of entering initiations, and coming through into the light, being reborn. 

And I had experienced the darkness that came with fully exploring the archetypes of some of the previously mentioned faces of the Divine Feminine….darkness in the sense of exploring in unfathomable places in my psyche, such as deep, winding caves and caverns, traversed along with my sister Innana, and at the bottom of the sea, along with my underwater kin, Sedna.  Darkness in the sense of moving through what cannot be seen with the eyes, but must be felt and experienced through the inner worlds, where great treasure is yielded for those who have the courage to undertake the journey.

How magical that on this day of January 6^th, 2010, which I have just now learned is called Epiphany in the Christian tradition, that I would be visited by my own “magi”, or sage, in the manifestation of the Dark Mother, bestowing gifts upon Her child.  Thank you, All That Is.

In my inner guidance time this morning, I asked what to write about-my question comes in the form of “what to offer humanity today”.  I was interested that the guidance came in very clearly to write about the fear for our survival, and the suggestion to heal that fear.

The fear for survival is one that is a collective as well as individual fear that we are being faced with.  It is so deep under the surface of our daily walk that we don’t know it is there.  But the fear of ceasing to exist ranks up there as one of the greatest there are.

Naming this fear alternately seems so basic and yet such a revolutionary act.  We have so many other issues we are looking at; gay marriage, religious tolerance, racial affirmation, women’s rights, children’s protection, world peace.   I certainly have spent time and energy on all of these worthy pursuits!  But they all become a moot point if humanity no longer exists. 

What could be more basic, more primal, than our relationship with our Home?  The ground we walk on, the physical matter from which we came, is so under our noses that we cannot see it.  We take for granted what is the most beneficent force in our daily physical lives.

My sense is that it is important to name this fear.  I find that naming something within me is the first step towards healing it.  Otherwise, it has power over me because it is unconsciously driving me.  Naming a fear calls it to the surface of my attention, and allows me to look it in the eye, size it up, and deal with it.

The next step in healing after naming what is happening is to accept that this is going on.  I am surprised how often we will deny that something is wounded inside of us, and amazed by the expert coping mechanisms we will develop in order to continue to deny it.  It is only possible to change if we accept that there is indeed an issue first. 

The next important step is to make a choice about whether we want this issue to be an unconscious driver in our lives anymore.  This is a pivotal moment.  Once I can see something and name it, then accept it is an issue within me, I have the power to do something to change the situation or to let it lie.  I find that making the choice to change is a powerful decision that moves worlds, both within and without me, that support the change.

We are threatened like we never have been before…of course, there have always been threats to our survival, whether it was the herd of buffalo we stalked trampling us, or the famine, or the bomb…but now it is the very ground we walk on that is compromised. 

We cannot underestimate the intensity of the fear that we are all carrying, whether we are conscious of it or not.  Under the surface of our thoughts, under the skin of every decision we make, there is the question as to whether or not we will survive.  We make some very poor and short sighted decisions because of this fear.

If humanity wants to be around for more than another 100 years, then each of us as kernels of the collective must make decisions that ensure our survival.  Naming, accepting, and then choosing to change the issues that prevent us from having a balanced relationship with Home is the way to heal.  The earth will go on without us, that is for sure.  But if we want a world for our descendants, we have to get right with Home.  There is no escape.

In cultivating respect for our partner in physical existence, the Earth, we must heal ourselves and ensure a future for our species.  In healing our own fear for our survival, we can begin to create this ideal relationship with Home.