You can try as hard as you can to limit yourself, but you will never wholly succeed. You are the divine daughter of a gentle expanding Universe that is cradling you every step of the way. The cosmos grounded for just a moment in time before the next metamorphosis. A breathing expression of light.
You can strive and scheme all you like, but no matter how much you force or resist, Life will never give up on finding ways for you to thrive. You are part of Life and Life always finds a way. Your time here is a fleeting moment. Don’t spend your days resisting that which you are. Or comparing it to others. Surrender and let Life move you. Allow all that is inside you and bursting to come out.
RISE SISTER RISE
If you truly knew that you were boundless and anything
was possible, what would you allow to happen?
UNTANGLE YOURSELF
‘I don’t consider myself a traditional person,
but a Universal person. Instead of abiding by
rigid rules, I want to be free in my heart.’
GRANDMOTHER FLORDEMAYO
As we go through life the things that we haven’t been able to release tangle us up. Things we have taken on as a sense of duty. Things we have learned to be good at, but are not part of our true nature. The things that were once aligned to who we were, but are no longer aligned to who we are today. So we refrain from making a clean cut, binding ourselves to it for as long as possible, choosing not to choose instead.
As the years press on, the cords of the things we once clung to begin winding their way around our feet. Tripping us up time and time again, holding us down when we attempt to rise. Until one day we finally realize that until we untangle ourselves we will never be truly free. And that thing you are clinging to will never be free either if it continues to cling to you.
RISE SISTER RISE
What is tangling you up? What have you been afraid
to let go of? What is holding you back from rising?
THE UNCLAIMED SHADOW
True light and luminance are only possible once we have slept with our shadow. Just like the mighty oak cannot rise tall without first laying down an intricate root system deep into the Earth, we cannot truly rise if we haven’t first looked at our underworld. Shadow work is not a onetime deal. We must tend to our garden on a regular basis, plucking out weeds before they take the nourishment that we need to grow.
Your shadow is your ticket home. If you ignore or banish Her, She will control you from within. If you listen to what She has to say, to what made Her this way, to what She was once denied She will tell you all that you need to set Her and you free.
The brightest of people I know are as bright as they are for they have embraced all shades of their human nature. The shadow is not something that we can use spirituality to rid ourselves from once and for all.
Our shadow possesses the exact thing that we most despise in others. For example, your shadow part may be afraid of sharing your voice. It may act out by not being able to be happy for people who are sharing theirs. You may even find yourself being annoyed and frustrated at people who are sharing theirs inauthentically. You can hide this part of you, or you can see it as an invitation. To admit that you are afraid. And to go about finding the courage to share it.
RISE SISTER RISE
What part of your shadow are you pretending does not exist?
How is this stopping you from stepping into your power?
WE HAVE A LOT TO BE ANGRY ABOUT
‘A wise woman wishes to be no one’s enemy;
a wise woman refuses to be anyone’s victim.’
MAYA ANGELOU
It’s OK to be angry. Actually, it’s more than OK. It’s healthy. And holy.
We have a lot to be angry about. The state of the Earth. Being contained by a system that tried to extinguish the wild feminine spirit. The abuse of human rights that is happening across the world right now. Living in a society where women are taught to be ashamed of their bodies, if they don’t fit into a certain shape, age, or size. Living in a society where the thing that happens to every woman every month of her life is made into something that should be taken care of but not seen. Unequal pay. The persecution of the witches and the propaganda that went with it. The persecution that still goes on today.
For too long women have been forced to contain their rage, keeping it all packaged up inside. But as the end of patriarchy draws ever closer, for many of us that box has flung open. And many empathic women are feeling the repercussions. Experiencing eras of repressed anger, resentment, rage, truth, and grief running through their systems. While it may feel uncomfortable, it is necessary for us to feel. For when we allow ourselves actually to feel the anger it makes way for something truly magical to happen – the anger has an opportunity to be transmuted into something useful: passion.
As with the most extreme of human emotions, there is a thin line between them. Anger and passion are made of the same stock. Both require us to give in to them wholly. Passion is not possible without anger being given the chance to roam free.
Passion is anger transmuted into positive action. Anger transmuted into passion makes creations happen. Instead of staying in anger (what you are against), find a way to transmute it into passion (what you are for). If you hold back your anger you will be holding back your passion. The world needs more passionate people. For passionate people are change-makers. I am not suggesting that we all go off on angry rants to anyone who will listen. Rather, I am saying embrace what angers you and express that anger in a way that is healthy, so that energy can be transmuted into something worth being passionate about. Passion has the potential to change things.
Let your passion be the drive to
change things in your world.
Transmute the anger of what you are against into passion to create what you are for.
RISE SISTER RISE
What angers you most?
How can you transform that anger into passion?
(What you are against to what you are for?)
DIVINE MOTHER DURGA MA
Thank you for helping me feel all of the feelings
that I am not used to feeling
as uncomfortable as they may be.
Thank you for reminding me to offer them up to the
light rather than banishing them to the shadows.
And that sometimes it is necessary to cut things back
so that come spring they can bloom and rise.
And so it is. And so it is. And so it is.
CHANNELING YOUR INNER KALI
I first started getting in touch with my inner Kali back in 2010. As I approached my Saturn returns, my life started getting harder to hold together. I’d done exactly what a good girl is supposed to – study hard, go to uni, work hard, climb the ladder, find a relationship, blah, blah. And yet it all felt like nothing. As 2012 approached I could feel that at any moment it could all come crumbling down. The harder I tried to hold it all together, the more difficult it got.
I could feel a certain wildness start to encroach. This manifested in a lot of midweek drinking with my friend Amy Firth alongside me. It was pretty honest fun, but there was this reckless part of us that yearned for destruction. Like there was this ancient grief or rage that had not been given a voice and was causing us to act out.
One night when staggering through the streets of Fitzrovia, we gave this feeling a voice. I told Amy about an ancient Irish tradition called ‘keening,’ where it was customary for women to wail their emotions loudly. So we decided to give it a go in an effort to express all of the intense feelings we were feeling.
We started just by yelling a variety of reckless things and swear words out loud.
Amythenbeltedout,‘I’MAWWWHHHHHOOOOOOOOORRRRRRREE!!!!!!!!!’ as loud as humanly possible for as long as humanly possible. Once finished, we both looked at each other and fell to the ground laughing uncontrollably.
I then said, ‘OK. My turn.’ Taking a great deep breath I belted the same thing out.
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‘I’M A WWWHHHHHOOOOOOOOORRRRRRREE!!!!!!!!!’
We both exploded into laughter again impressed and a little scared at the fierceness that the other contained.
This soon became our walking home ritual and indeed the best part of our night.
Years on, both Amy and I are healers by profession. We now joke that what we were really expressing while stumbling down those streets is:
‘I’M A HHHHEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAALLLLLLEEEERRRRR!’
Sometimes the craziness is just feelings that for so long have been bursting to come out.
RISE SISTER RISE
Give it a go. Think about all of the pent-up emotion
that has been pushed down in you. Write it all down
and let it out with some good old Celtic wailing.
Better yet, invite a friend over and do it together.
CONTROL FREAK TENDENCIES
When we are trying to control things we are resisting the flow of life. Relying on our own strength. Trying to hold things in place for fear of what will happen if we loosen our grip. Believing that if we are not there to hold it together something bad will happen.
Beneath every control freak is a fear of letting go, a
fear of not being supported, held, and looked after.
It is impossible to trust and control at the same time. It is impossible to play and be controlling at the same time. It is impossible to leap courageously and be a control freak at the same time.
You are supported beyond what you could possibly fathom. The only thing in the way of allowing yourself to feel this support is the belief that you are not. Can you find the courage and faith to leap? She is waiting to catch you.
RISE SISTER RISE
What in your life are you trying to control?
What is behind your controlling tendencies?
DARK MOTHER KALI MA
Thank you for rocking me and my foundations
when my soul cried for a way out.
Thank you for stubbornly burning down the tower
when I did not choose to leave on my own.
Thank you for continuing to rip away all of the layers of
protection so I had no choice but stand naked as I am.
Thank you for sending in wave after wave so that I know
with conviction I can ride whatever comes my way.
Thank you for serving up those who did not see
me so that I was forced to truly see myself.
Thank you for recruiting the haters so that I
could learn to cherish and love myself.
Thank you for sending those who would never understand
me so that I was forced to know and trust myself.
Thank you for delivering ones who overlook me so
I could discover how much I have to share.
Thank you for continuing to catch me off guard so I can see
all of the ways I attempt to protect myself from life.
Thank you for loving so ferociously no matter
how much I screamed and kicked.
ALL OF YOUR FEELINGS ARE HOLY
Give all of your feelings an outlet. Let them be here. They exist to be felt. Don’t hold them in. Feelings held and buried are toxic. Every now and then we need to let our inner banshee reign.
Frustration expressed in the right way has the chance to be transformed into Kali-style power. Channel your inner Joan of Arc. Groan and stamp. Thrust your body and burn it all down. The rage or shame or whatever you feel is not sinful, it is actually quite holy, if you channel it right. Mourn for the loss. Express your disgust, at what happened or what should have happened or what could have happened; do whatever you need to do to let it all out. For us to be truly unbound and free, holding it in is no longer an option, release it we must.
I have a particular song that I put on whenever I feel frustration begin to build: ‘Chandelier’ by Sia. I scream and yell and sway and kick. And somewhere in that three minutes and 36 seconds, my frustration clears the way for something sacred to rise in its place.
The same can be done with a good old honest vent with someone who is able to hold the space for you without judgment. Take today for example. I was triggered by an email. My husband Craig came home sick from work and hopped on the couch next to me. Sensing my frustration, he asked me if I needed to vent about anything. Did I…
He held the space for what turned into a half-hour monologue. Before long the frustration turned into rage, which turned into shame. A little bit later the shame transformed into compassion. Soon after that the compassion turned into understanding. Understanding turned into insight, insight turned into inspiration, and inspiration turned into passion. Two hours later five new chapters of this book had been written.
Had I not allowed the Shakti to move freely, had I kept the shame in the shadows in an attempt to be a ‘good girl,’ had I kept silent, pushing the uncomfortable feelings down, I’d likely have sat at my desk all day feeling stuck, because the feelings and energy in my body would have been stuck. But now, I go to bed feeling free, supported, held, and grateful that I got to express myself so freely and it could be transformed into something productive.
Let all of your feelings have an outlet. Everything you feel is holy.
PRACTICE: TRANSMUTE YOUR FEELINGS
The only way to transmute your feelings is actually to
FEEL them. If we do not allow ourselves to acknowledge
and feel them they will keep us bound. But feelings
are not the things that are trapping us, rather they are
actually the energetic gate that can set us free. It is
through feeling our feelings without losing ourselves to
them that true healing and breakthroughs can occur.
1. Sitting in a chair or lying in bed, begin to breathe in
really deeply while connecting with the earth that is
holding you. Continuing to breathe really deeply, with
your feeling eye start to scan your body from head to
toe, allowing yourself to be drawn to a particular area.
2. Breathing in and out, notice what that area feels like.
Without trying to understand it or do anything with it just
allow whatever is there to be there wholly. Breathing in
and out deeply, be curious and allow this feeling to be both
emotionally and physically here. Notice how it feels.
3. How long has it been here? Is it yours or someone else’s?
How does it feel in your body? What color is it? What
shape is it? How old is it? Is it new or ancient? Is it from
this life or another? What is it protecting? What does it
want you to know? What triggered this feeling in you?
4. Breathing in and out deeply, allow your breath to transmute
whatever is ready to be transmuted. Allowing it all to be
here. Knowing there is nothing that you need to do, except
allowing it all to be here because it is here. Your feelings and
your body know how to heal themselves. Allow whatever
is ready to fall away to fall away with your breath. Once the
feeling has been transmuted continue scanning your body
for other trapped emotions. Breathing deeply and allowing
your emotional and physical bodies to do what they do best.
HOW DO YOUR SUBTLE BODIES MOST LIKE TO MOVE?
Naturally sporty, I was the kid who did pretty much every single sporting activity under the sun. From netball to dancing, tee ball to trampolining. I wanted to experience them all. Always outside climbing trees and learning the latest dance from music clips and Broadway musicals. However, ever since awakening, the physical body became the part of me that I put last.
Even when I was still a teenager, I would go to kinesiologists and healers who would want to work on the body but I was way more interested in the spiritual insights we could uncover. I remember seeing my
body as a thing that was in the way, stopping me from experiencing everything that I was in such a rush to explore. As my journey and career progressed, I would much rather spend time learning and developing my emotional, mental, and spiritual bodies than my physical one. Looking back, I see how I was trying to be superhuman in a way. Bypassing the normality that comes with being on Earth and instead choosing to hang out in my emotional, mental, and spiritual bodies.
Even my addiction to coffee was an attempt to resist my humanness. Pushing my physical body to extreme productivity levels beyond what my body would naturally allow but my mental body demanded. It felt like I was always in a rush, like there was so much I needed to do while I was here that I needed to just get on with it. Knowing that my body was not reacting well at all to the coffee was not enough for me to ditch it. However, when I discovered that it was affecting my intuitive sensitivities and ability to manifest (because my energy was always so forward, and not in a state of receiving) I was able to wean myself off it in no time.
I believe that many old souls have a hard time being in a human suit. We get frustrated, and feel trapped and uncomfortable. We at times try to bypass the laws of Earth but in doing so we not only miss out on experiencing some of the pleasures that this planet has to offer, we are also not able to fully ground our energy, which is so necessary if we are going to have an impact here, no matter what we want to create. Physical movement is crucial for this. But instead of forcing yourself to go to the gym, consult your mental, emotional, and spiritual subtle bodies as well.
Our subtle bodies include but are not limited to our physical, emotional, mental and spiritual bodies. If we don’t allow our thoughts, emotions, and traumas both current and past to be expressed in some way they build up and stay stuck. Stagnant. Blocked. For example, past-life memories are stored in the emotional body. In order for us to feel free and balanced, it’s good to check into each of our subtle bodies and ask them how they most yearn to move in order to transmute any stuck energy.
Rise Sister Rise Page 14