We explored what we've carried from original sin concept, burning times, & harem mentality. What in human history has led us as women to play small?

Back from dinner after Sharon Riegie Maynard facilitating Healing our Roots to Free the Sacred Feminine: a discussion on what is lingering from the past in the feminine psyche, the invisible barriers that hold us back from being our full, expansive, powerful selves.

Now returning from sunny outdoor lunch here at Mercy Center. Karie Hillery is singing "Gather the Women Now," which she composed specifically for all women gathering women.

Amazing, powerful, heart-centered women gathered to be in circle for 3 days! Opened circle with song by Karie Hillery. Honored 4 directions & Indra's net of connection. Each woman added her voice to circle by introducing herself and her passions.

Started this morning at 7 with lively laughter yoga with Beth Boeck of Wisconsin.

Hello from GTW Journey into Deepening event! Most women arrived last night to share dinner & informal conversation.

Before you know what kindness really is you must lose things, feel the future dissolve in a moment like salt in a weakened broth. Shihab Nye

…what the world needs now is an infusion of the kind of wisdom women have & the form of the circle itself is an embodiment of that wisdom - J S Bolen

Smudging to Rid Negative Energy

Recently, I was asked for this info so I thought I'd post it.

Sage has been used for ages by indigenous peoples to cleanse and raise the frequency of vibration in a place or person. Also, visualizing a bubble of Divine White Light surrounding, filling, and protecting a space (or you) cleanses and protects it. Long instructions follow, but it's a simple process...

Spirits dwell on the Earth plane for only a few reasons: they want to communicate a message, they are watching over & protecting a person, they can't let go of their earthly life and want to continue it through a living person, or they want to avenge a perceived wrong. You can easily rid a place of a negative spirit by invoking the Divine and directing the spirit to the Light. You can raise the frequency of vibration in a space so that it is incompatible with the energy of the spirit and so the spirit leaves.

First, create a sacred space by invoking whatever aspect of the Divine has meaning for you: the Goddess, Holy Spirit, Christ, Angels, Archangels, The Great Spirit, Buddha, All That Is, Higher Power, Spirit Guides, etc. Affirm that only the highest and best of the Divine is present. Affirm that you know only Good can be in this place and only Good can come to you. Add whatever else you like. Ask the Divine to bless the smudge stick and give thanks.

Holding the smudge stick over something to catch ashes (I like to use a big seashell), light the fat end until it flames. Blow it out so a stream of smoke rises from it. Relight and blow out as often as needed to keep the smoke going.

First smudge yourself by moving the smoking stick around the outline of your body. Lift each foot, smudging under it too. Then, walk the perimeter of the room gently waving the stick back and forth to spread the smoke--not thickly, just a light "dosing." As you do this, ask the element(s) of the Divine you have invoked to bless and protect the space. If you like to sing or chant, this will greatly add to raising the frequency and consecrating the space for Good.

If you feel a specific spirit with negative intention is present, emphatically tell him or her aloud that he or she is not welcome in this place. Tell the spirit he will find the true peace & love he seeks by going to the Light, even if he may not believe it. Tell him to look around and "see" the Divine (the Angels, Jesus, Buddha, Goddess, etc.), welcoming him. Tell him to "find" the Divine Light (imagine the Light at the end of a tunnel that appears when we make our transition) and move into it. Direct him emphatically to go to the Light. Repeat it all several times--not welcome, go to Light, will find what he seeks in the Light. Affirm that only the Divine--Light and Good--can be present.

Move from room to room repeating the procedure, then return to where you started. Conclude with thanking the Divine for its presence, love, and aid. Extinguish the smudge stick by pressing it into the shell until all glowing embers are out.

You will feel when the negative energy has left. You may need to repeat the smudging several days in a row or once a week for awhile.

I also like to ask the Divine to bless some small white stones/pebbles at the same time I ask for the smudge stick to be blessed. The stones "anchor" the Divine energy in the place. I place them unobtrusively in the four corners of the room or the building before I conclude the ritual.

Black Panther Equinox

Let me preface this by explaining that in a visioning at the last winter solstice, I met my power animal—-the black panther. As the visioning began, we were instructed to enter the unseen realms through an opening in a tree trunk. So I did. Once there, a black panther with an owl riding on his back came strolling down a path toward me. The owl and I gazed at each other for a few moments in deep acknowledgment and then the owl flew off. The panther stayed, his golden eyes focused unflinchingly on mine. I received some knowledge, some awareness, from him, but I couldn’t name what it was. He then turned and continued along the path he had arrived on. Although somewhat frightened of him, I knew I was to follow and did. As the visioning was drawn to a close, the guide instructed us to say goodbye to our power animal and return through the same opening in the tree. As I stepped into the opening, however, the panther squeezed past my legs and leapt through it before me! It was clear he was not staying behind, but coming along into my world.

I had not attempted to meet a power animal before. I intended as soon as I got home to research the symbolism of a black panther, find photos of one on the Internet, and delve into the meaning of this gift. Well, I didn’t do any of that and, in fact, promptly forgot about the experience for some reason.

So then, three months later, arrives the morning after the recent vernal equinox. I awoke from a dream realizing I had just experienced another visit from the panther! His first since the solstice. The dream was a bit odd, as dreams can be, but bear with me. In the dream, I was a teenager with a teenage sister and brother. My family owned a gym and we were having some kind of open house. My sister and I had a huge argument in the middle of it. She yelled in front of everyone that I should just get out of the gym; she didn’t want to be around me, she didn’t like me, and she didn’t want to be my sister anymore! Each word a knife slicing deeply into my teenage heart.

Our mother, who had been in close proximity without us realizing it, heard what my sister had yelled. She informed my sister that her behavior was unacceptable and she was the one to leave the gym, not me. My mother marched her out to drive her home. Then (victim that I am) I began wondering why Mother went with my sister instead of staying to comfort me!

A flood wild of wild thoughts raced through my mind and I burst into tears. I was going to leave my family! None of them loved me. I was going to go away—they’d find just how much they missed me! I suddenly remembered that a friend was leaving for a year’s exchange program in Europe, and I decided that was the answer! I would apply and go as well. I wheeled around to run to the gym’s computer, which would have had the desired dramatic effect save for the large, born-again Christian youth group and its leaders sitting on the floor, smack in the way. Weeding my way less-than-hoped-for way through them, I learned that they had overheard the exchange with my sister. They expressed a little sympathy, but were caught up in a discussion of admiration of a church woman they knew who was so very determined that she could accomplish anything.

Once at the computer, I found that I couldn’t see through my streaming tears and realized that applying for the program was a rather rash act. So I left the gym and drove to my favorite hill to think. I climbed the hill and sat alone, surrounded by grasses and trees, sun and breeze. I shed more tears and tried to sort things out. Before long, drained by the afternoon’s hormonal torrent, I dozed off. When I eventually awoke, it was already dark, and cold. I shivered in my short sleeves and shorts. It was so dark, I realized, I wouldn’t be able to find my way back down the hill. And I began to be afraid, knowing that the hill wasn’t particularly safe at night. So, like any respectable teenager, I whipped out my cell phone and called my parents. Their relief was evident. They had been trying to find me and very worried. They assured me they would immediately drive over with flashlights, and lanterns (?), to get me.

I hung up to wait with my knees drawn up in my arms for warmth. I could see a few lights from town in the distance and focused my attention on them. All of a sudden, a large, hardly visible black panther sat down right beside me! He had approached from behind, out of the woods, so stealthily that I hadn’t been aware of him until I caught a movement out of my left eye. A wave of fear jolted through me. I was going to be eaten for sure! As the cat began sniffing in my direction, I knew he had caught the scent of my fear. I knew I had to immediately quell the fear and tried to do so by reasoning that the cat had simply sat down by me rather than attack me outright. I managed to calm down a bit. The cat just calmly looked at me and then looked ahead. For a time we sat side by side in what for me was tense silence.

Suddenly, the cat growled, and then I heard the sounds of a stray dog running up the hill toward us. The panther growled again, and the sound of the running stopped and then receded as the dog turned and ran back down the hill. I realized then that the panther had come to protect me! I looked at the cat with wonder and gratitude. He simply looked ahead. After a bit, I spotted two swinging lanterns heading up the hill accompanied by the muffled conversation of men with ill intent. (Don’t ask me how I knew this, but I did.) They, of course, hadn’t noticed us yet in the dark. The panther growled loudly in warning. The talking stopped. Then, suddenly, rising up off of his haunches, the cat screamed a piercing, horrifyingly human scream, sending me a foot in the air and the men fleeing down the hill. With ringing ears, I glanced appreciatively at the cat, meeting the ancient wisdom and care in his golden eyes.

As the panther settled, he moved even closer to me to lay down, his bulk bumping my side and throwing me a bit off balance—a grand version of a domestic cat’s nudging when she wants to be petted. It was thrilling to be touching the panther, and I was grateful for the heat of his body, but I was somewhat afraid to reach over and pet him. Yet the fear quickly yielded to a knowing of our boundaries. I clearly understood that I was not to pet him. I was simply to accept what he offered and relax in his company, warmth, and protection. His touch was enough. I was safe.