A Wild Soul Woman Module Five The Grasslands

Transcription

1 A Wild Soul Woman Module Five The Grasslands Clare Dubois: Welcome, welcome everyone. Welcome to the final of the landscapes, here we are about to step into the Grasslands, and I want to start again just by saying thank you so much, Mary, for this extraordinary gift. This astonishing journey of deepening intimacy with life through landscape that you are guiding us through. For being the guide, and she with the key to unlock so much in all of us. And thank you again to all of you who are pouring out this journey in Facebook so that we can share and hold hands. So, let s just take a really deep breath, and in whatever way you need to, just stretch your body or shake your body. Make a sound if you need to. To let go of everything other than this moment. Anything that s happened in your day thus far. Any stress that you re carrying, distraction that you re carrying, just shake your body. Shake your hands, shake your feet, shake your bottom, anything. Anything that you can do to come present here and now for yourself and for your sisters. A Wild Soul Woman ~ Grasslands 1

2 Clare: And you may want to literally stretch out your arms and spread your fingers as wide as possible and feel them touching the fingertips of the other TreeSisters all around this planet. Just feel ourselves greeting each other as we make our way to the Finders Lodge. And, as ever, just make sure you have your journal and your pen, a glass of water if you need it. An absence of potential distraction. That you re comfortable. That you have something that you can draw in close by if you feel like images work better for you than words. Whatever you need to be fully present, just give it to yourself. So, taking one more deep breath, and Mary, over to you. Mary Reynolds Thompson: Thank you Clare, and welcome, welcome everyone. I loved that image of us Clare, spreading out our fingers and touching each other, and sharing not just for ourselves, but to lift each other up. And I feel that that message of how, when we show up we begin to uplift and heal the whole is really key to the Grasslands landscape that we are going to enter this week. And it s so funny, I can feel I need to say that I feel like my whole body is tingling right now as if tiny little seeds are sparking over every little inch of it. And I think it s because I m really excited to enter the Grasslands with you all. In part because I ve struggled with this landscape so badly, and I ll share a little bit about that as we move on. A Wild Soul Woman ~ Grasslands 2

3 Mary: But this idea of sort of being held in the lap of the Mother has been a challenge for this self-willed human being that knows how to roll up her sleeves and can do it all herself. So, just this sense of touching in and feeling the real truth, which is nothing happens by our own devices alone. And as I said this is a key learning that we re going to explore today. As ever, this call follows a familiar arc. No need to explain that to you anymore. And as ever, there is the invitation to be responsible for your own care and nurture. So, that you enter this journey in a way that calls you forth, but never crushes you. Take care of yourself, and know that you are really held within a circle of love and care. In a moment we re going to enter the Grasslands via the gateway of the initiation song from the Finders Lodge. But first, why is the Grasslands the final stage of the heroine s journey? Let s take a moment to recap where we ve been. We began our journey in the desert, and this was really about the releasing, the letting go, the clearing the old away in order to make space for something new to emerge. In order that we would be unburdened enough to make this journey in the first place. And here we began to develop the skill of the mystic, the ability to see through the mirage to a deeper truth. Something essential within ourselves. From the Desert, we moved into the Forest, really embracing the mystery. Forgoing the linear patriarchal path in order to awaken to our own instinctual way of traveling this journey, in making our own path. A Wild Soul Woman ~ Grasslands 3

4 Mary: And here, developing the wisdom of the witch woman, the one who knows her own magic, her own power. And then from there into the Oceans and Rivers, where we learnt to undam/n our emotions in order to navigate the very deepest of our longings, including our sexual desires. And to acknowledge all the many forms that they come in. And allowing those different forms, and in fact, embodying them. And in the process developing our skill as shape-shifters. Then last time we were in the Mountains and here we really were beginning to see how standing true in our values gave us the ability to rise and shape and make the world. So, in other words, in the very embodied being of living our values we were having influence. We were actually changing the map of the world, we were becoming creators. Now in our final stage of the heroine s journey we re descending the mountain to enter the Grasslands, and here the Grasslands represent the classic heroine s return, where we bring back this incredible wisdom that we have garnered on our journey, and offer it to our communities. But there s a challenge here. It can deeply challenge us to integrate and seed that wild wisdom into our daily life. To become again part of community without losing ourselves. And without, most especially, losing touch with our own wildness. A Wild Soul Woman ~ Grasslands 4

5 Mary: The truth is that the Grasslands, more than any other landscape, has been domesticated. And it is here that we, re-absorbed into culture and community, have to confront the ultimate test- is that we remain wild amid all the demands of our everyday lives. That we here, bring back our medicine, and we give of it even while there may be forces unleashed in the patriarchy that want to deny the giving of those gifts. And this really is the landscape of the healer, so to really think about that. To bring back our healing medicine. But first, we re going to cross the first threshold into our deeper and sacred community by way of our beautiful poem, the Initiation Song from the Finders Lodge. Just as Clare so beautifully alluded to, really see how we are gathering from all around the world, and entering together this Finders Lodge. All ages, so many different experiences, all coming together as we move towards the Finders Lodge. Knowing that at the center of the Finders Lodge is the question that we ve been carrying throughout this entire journey. Just pick up that question again, and take a look at it. Does it need to shift or change? Each week we re really looking as we learn more, does that question still hold true for us? And it very well may, but if it doesn t, if that challenge feels as if it s changed then wonderful, change it, and put your new challenge and question at the center of our circle in the altar. And when you re ready, take your place in the circle. A Wild Soul Woman ~ Grasslands 5

6 Initiation song from the Finders Lodge Please bring strange things. Please come bringing new things. Let very old things come into your hands. Let what you do not know come into your eyes. Let desert sand harden your feet. Let the arch of your feet be the mountains. Let the paths of your fingertips be your maps and the ways you go be the lines on your palms. Let there be deep snow in your inbreathing and your outbreath be the shining of ice. May your mouth contain the shapes of strange words. May you smell food cooking you have not eaten. May the spring of a foreign river be your navel. May your soul be at home where there are no houses. Walk carefully, well loved one, walk mindfully, well loved one, walk fearlessly, well loved one. Return with us, return to us, be always coming home. ~ Ursula LeGuin A Wild Soul Woman ~ Grasslands 6

7 Mary: Outside of the Finders Lodge the Grasslands await you. Your ancient ancestor awaits you in any form, or in any way that wants to express in you now. The Grasslands takes many shapes, many expressions. What is the one that awaits you? Now we re going to step out of the Finders Lodge, and as we cross this threshold say after me I am rooting myself in community. Now, awakening your every sense, be with the ancestor that is greeting you right now. (silence for reflection) And allow your attention to move between the outside landscape and the inner one. Back and forth between the Grasslands without, and the Grasslands within. Until that distinction blurs. And just feel how the grasslands of the earth are simultaneously alive in you, and in the world. Remaining in the grasslands of your imagination, reach for your journals and jot down any thoughts, feelings or phrases that you want to capture about your experience. (silence for writing) A Wild Soul Woman ~ Grasslands 7

8 Mary: Now just take a minute and read back through what you ve written, and just write a couple of lines about what are you noticing? Is there anything that surprised you? What do you want to pay attention to here? Just write one or two lines about anything that really stood out for you. So, I want you as best you can to stay in your Grassland self. So, to be in that place that you ve just explored, and just stay there. And so that my words land in the Grasslands of your soul. So we re going to explore this Grasslands landscape even more deeply. So we know that the big, sort of core point of this whole journey is that in order to be wild, non-domesticated and authentic we need always to see the ways in which we have been tamed, trained, and tamped down. So something wants to break through, and break free in you. So what does that look like in the Grasslands of our souls? More than anything, I believe that what is wanting to break through is us. You know the full expression of who we are, right in the hearts of our communities. To be fully ourselves amid the web of relationships and responsibilities that make up life. I mean it s one thing to be a wild woman on the mountain top, but how do we own our wildness amid the very daily-ness of our lives. And amid people who often don t value our deep authenticity. A culture that actually isn t crying out, I mean it is, but it doesn t know it. So it s not calling forth that deep authenticity within us. A Wild Soul Woman ~ Grasslands 8

9 Mary: And the other really big point here is how in re-wilding our own souls are we healing the whole. Are we raising everyone, and everything up? Because I think when we look at the root of the word to heal, the word literally means to make whole. And this concept of wholeness, as we re going to see is very much a part of the Grasslands wisdom. So why is this particularly a wild soul woman s journey and in this case landscape? The Grasslands are about coming home. And when we as women come home to ourselves, we fully grok and grasp this essential fact that we are the body of the Earth. Here is actually where we see that matter, matters. That, in fact, the very gorgeous material existence of this world, and our being made quite literally of it, is not an abstraction. That we are maters as in Mothers, as in matter, is absolutely essential to our understanding of our place and our purpose. We are the Earth in human form. In woman form. Therefore, of course, we belong, of course, we belong. We cannot be accidents, we cannot be anomalies. We are the embodied expression of the Earth herself. So when we bloom, the earth blooms. When the Earth suffers, we suffer. And knowing this, there really is no greater sense of belonging. So let s go a little deeper into this. What I m really saying is we are the body of the Earth, and therefore we belong. So I believe that women actually suffer from the mind/body split in our culture more than men. And I also believe that we re more acutely aware of the Earth/body split and the Earth/soul split. A Wild Soul Woman ~ Grasslands 9

10 Mary: And why is that? Because we re creatures of blood, and flow, and hormones and chemistry. And it s our bodies that mirror the Earth s capacity to create, to give birth, whether we ve had children or not. We are the creators of life, and our bodies are highly attuned to cycles, to seasons. We know that there are times to bloom, and times to rest, and times to be nurtured. We are, in the very truest sense, the body of the earth in human form. When we are separated from this truth, we re out of rhythm, out of touch with ourselves, and therefore with the Earth s body as well. So if we care about how the Earth is treated, it has to follow, that we treat our own bodies in a nurturing and sacred way. That we care for them, feed them, tend to them, in a way that is loving and filled with awe for the wonder of their sensuality and beauty. If we aren t respecting our bodies, then we re not respecting an aspect of the body of the Earth. Now really think about that. So what can happen, and I think this is really important stuff, so I know I need to say it for myself, I need to hear myself say this: is that the shadow can creep in here. So what can happen, is that we can get caught in the caring for ourselves, in the small me place. If we don t get that we re the body of the Earth, then caring for our bodies can actually become slightly narcissistic. Which isn t a terrible thing, we have to begin in some place, and caring for ourselves is important. But I think this, when we are divorced from our bodies being the body of the Earth, we can sometimes see caring for ourselves as selfish. And it can be selfish. A Wild Soul Woman ~ Grasslands 10

11 Mary: But when we realize that we are part of the body of the Earth we can see the ways in which caring for ourselves, really listening to our bodies, feeding and loving our bodies, is a prelude to listening and loving the body of the Earth. So in a way self-care is just the beginning of a journey that can take us in to caring for this amazingly beautiful world that we live in. And when we hold self-care in that context it becomes truly a healing path. The other shadow aspect of this is that many of us that really care deeply for the Earth ignore the needs of our own bodies. We get so caught up in service that we forget to be of service for ourselves. And what can happen is several things. Is that we can become so burnt out, so stressed out, that we re no longer a magnet to anybody. We re putting our message about caring for the Earth out there, but we in no way are embodying that message. And so we wonder why people aren t listening. The other thing is that when we forget that we are an embodied expression of the Earth, we go into our heads. We begin to objectify the Earth. We begin to do what patriarchy has done to women for centuries, which is to objectify them. And so there again we start to go into our heads to solve a problem. As though the Earth was a problem to be solved instead of a living, breathing being to be healed. A Wild Soul Woman ~ Grasslands 11

12 Mary: So just notice if anything comes up there for you. Because in a very, very real way the greatest medicine that we can take from this entire journey that we ve been on, is that we are the Earth, emotionally, creatively, imaginatively, sensually, physically. Thus, when we are re-wilded, the earth is re-wilded. When we are healed, the Earth is healed. So here in the Grasslands, I think there is an invitation as wild soul women to experience a deeper sense of belonging. And that is when we allow ourselves to be the longing of the Earth. So what if our greatest sense of belonging comes from embodying the longing of the Earth? And we embody that in our women s body, in our senses, in our sensuality, in the depth of our pleasure. When we demand to be treated with love, regard, honor, care, nurture. When we treat our own bodies that way, then we re honoring the longings of the Earth. So here the invitation is to touch the Earth again, to kneel in the long grasses, to feel ourselves barefoot and in touch with our senses. To begin to replenish a deep and rich creative source in us. Here we don t just love the Earth, we feel her loving us back. And when we feel that, we own ourselves as beings of the Earth, full of healing and feeling and seeds, and medicine. A Wild Soul Woman ~ Grasslands 12

13 Mary: Another great wisdom I think of the Grasslands is that community matters. We ve talked about this a lot during our course. But if you look at the Grasslands what makes them so strong, what makes the soil so fertile, is their thick tapestry of roots that run deep. And I would say that our tapestries of connection, the deeper the better, are also what enable us to be fruitful. So as women we know that we need each other if we re going to rise, and that s the message of the prairies, of the Grasslands too. You know this concept which is so patriarchal of the lone hero, the self-made man, is simply not nature s truth. It s a lie that s found incredible support in our Western culture. But the truth is that all life arises out of contact, touch, care, collaboration. And the more we understand this the more we realize that we cannot truly blossom until we find a community that needs our gifts, and that can honor our essence. So one of the challenges of the Grasslands is that we can find ourselves coming back from our journeys with so much in our souls that we want to share. And we don t know where to share it because the culture hasn t been set up necessarily to receive our wild soul gifts. So part of our challenge in the Grasslands is to find those little niches those little nests those little pockets of places where we can seed our gifts. You know, as in Tree Sisters, in community with other like-minded women. Perhaps there s a nonprofit where you can volunteer these little places. A Wild Soul Woman ~ Grasslands 13

14 Mary: While we are also taking the long-term view, which is to work on the soil and soul of the world. To shift the consciousness of the world so that it literally becomes the kind of ground into which our gifts are welcomed, and can take root and bloom. So there s both this immediate yes, let s find as best we can the places that will receive our gifts, and yes, let s work on the larger field of consciousness, so that eventually our gifts, our children s gifts, our children s, children s gifts will be nourished and supported. And I believe that every time we show up in service of healing and authenticity we are adding to the wild soul or the wild soil of the world. Now beauty is also a key component, and I m not going to say more than this, but I think this is enough, is that beauty has been trivialized, diminished and discarded in favor of the bottom line in our culture and I think the Grasslands awakens us to the necessity to really begin to put beauty first. Because beauty isn t a by-product, it is essential. And we re learning more and more that it s actually an evolutionary necessity. You know if flowers weren t beautiful the pollinators wouldn t come. So were seeing how beauty is a key aspect of how life gets richer and thrives. The theologian Carolyn Gifford said something amazing, she said: is what we are doing, is what I am doing beautiful or not? So I think there s a real invitation in the grasslands to become aware and to keep asking that question of our self are we creating more beauty in the world? A Wild Soul Woman ~ Grasslands 14

15 Mary: So that was a lot. I ve become very passionate about the Grasslands over the last few weeks as I ve been thinking about them. So just take it in, and just feel whatever it is you re feeling, whatever your response is to what s been said, and take a moment and just empty onto the page, whatever it is that you re noticing about what you re feeling. I m going to give you just a minute to empty onto the page what it is you notice about what you re feeling about the Grasslands of yourself. (silence for journaling) So in a moment we re going to move into as ever our delicious musical meditation. Moving in the manner of the Grasslands. So, as always when the music plays you know, whether you stay still or move, stay in that Grasslands self. I m going to read a beautiful poem by a Canadian poet Di Brandt, and then the music will begin, and then it will be followed by a writing prompt. This is called Prairie Love Song: Think of me when you think of me as Prairie grass, deep, rooted, long armed, reaching through dark soil. Through the long Summer, searching for underground rain while the sky shimmers with dust along the horizon, singeing the green earth brown. A Wild Soul Woman ~ Grasslands 15

16 Prairie Love Song continued... And the spectacular throated meadow larks have trouble with their singing. Think of me as parched, think of me as flaming my white limbs, rooting in the dark Earth, deep and cool and full of longing. ~ Di Brandt Music Meditation: (Music begins) You are entering the Grasslands. (Music playing) And your very flesh shall be a great palm. Streams of animals, water, grasses. The Grasslands are an invitation to settle down, to build relationships, to come home to yourself. A place of peace and sensuality, playfulness, beauty. Your arms are open, inviting a Spring dance. Sweet, sensuous. You are returning to community after your heroic journey to the place inside of you where you know you make a difference, and belong. (Music continues) A Wild Soul Woman ~ Grasslands 16

17 Music Meditation continues I breathe as the body of the Earth. Here in the Grasslands, you rest in the lap of the great Mother. Far away from dense Forest and towering Mountain. Here is the perfect playground to explore your own body and the body of the Earth. To be in touch with your sensuality is to naturally bloom. In connecting with creation, you flower and thrive. Nothing happens alone. You are needed. You are wanted. You belong to the body of the Earth. I breathe as the body of the Earth. (Music playing) I breathe as the body of the earth. Spend time in the Grasslands of your own soul and you will know the joy of belonging. Each seed you bring is precious. Your thoughts, your feelings, your actions are greening the world. You are a spark of creation. You are here for a purpose. Your life is a gift to the world. I breathe as the body of the Earth. (Music changes tempo) I am rooting myself in community. I have my place and purpose. I am the body of the Earth. (Music finishes) A Wild Soul Woman ~ Grasslands 17

18 Mary: And now reaching for your journals. Start with the words, In the Grasslands of my soul, I. In the Grasslands of my soul, I. And just let the words come from there. (silence for journaling) So you ve been on a very personal journey, and also a collective journey into the Grasslands aspect of your soul and your life s journey. So let s just take a moment, and together, contemplate while still really staying in this Grasslands space that we have seeded here together today in the most tender and beautiful way. Let s just imagine what would be possible for women if we truly awakened to our Grassland selves. We ve heard actually a lot of wisdom on that level, but here are some other things to ponder. Imagine being able to embrace yourself, and treat yourself in the deepest and most loving way possible, knowing that your body is an expression of the glorious, sensual, beautiful Earth. That you already cared for so deeply. Imagine how you would feed, nurture, and care for yourself from this place. And what would that mean for the body of the Earth? And Imagine living in a way of knowing that you absolutely belong, are beloved, that your gifts are needed. A Wild Soul Woman ~ Grasslands 18

19 Mary: Imagine being enfolded by a community that honored who you are, and welcomed your gifts. If as women we could create this tapestry of connection, remain this deeply rooted in community, what would be possible? What would we make possible from this place? And imagine if we took a stand for beauty. Beauty as we defined it, as somebody wrote in, not by other people s standard, but really beauty that springs from our soul. And if we really put our lives to the test of: is what I am doing beautiful or not? How would that change the way we lived, worked, and dreamed? And again, just let yourself feel whatever is moving inside of you without judging it, just let it be. Give it breath. And if your body needs to move then let it move. And simply know that you are opening up to receive the new seeds that have been planted here today. So now I m going to share a portrait of the archetypal Grasslands woman. And again, nothing to do here but to listen and let the words enter you and your imagination. Grasslands woman: She is lover and life-giver. From her lush flesh wildflowers and sweet corn spring. She feeds us and heals us. Penetrated by the sun she awakens, stirs, erupts into bloom. Her body responds to touch, warmth, attention. She will not be dictated to; dances to her own rhythm. Fallow or fertile her needs and cycles are her own. To rape her body is to reap her revenge. In her greenness, she gifts us. A Wild Soul Woman ~ Grasslands 19

20 Mary: Reciprocity is her religion, enchantment her path. Beside her generous and ample body, our own earthiness is mirrored and laid bare. Songbirds nest in her, wind ruffles her tresses. Rooted in the wild soil of her own soul she sings and seeds the world alive. She is organic and orgasmic. Nature and Eros, the web and the weaver, each being to her is kin. She has traveled many lonely paths, but community always calls her back. When we come home to her we know that we belong. So next time we re actually going to be having a delicious call of integration. You know this is our final landscape but it s not our final call. And it s going to look a little different than these other calls, so it s going to help us synthesize and bring home the entire journey that we have been on. So, really hoping that you will join us there. I mean there is just such a blessing in your actually being on these calls. And I feel that very, very deeply, and I want to thank you. So let s end with the wild soul mandala, the words from the Grasslands section, and if you will say after me: I am rooting myself in community. I have my place and purpose. I am the body of the Earth. Thank you, and next week I ll meet you in the Finders Lodge. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A Wild Soul Woman ~ Grasslands 20