Sitting in our seat of Feminine wisdom • Part II

Photo courtesy of Ebyän Zanini - Dress: @spiritumtulum

Sitting in our Seat of Feminine Wisdom • Part II: The temple of Self Love
Reading Time: ~5 mins
By Guest Muse, Mystic Writer Ebyän Zanini

All that we do we must do from a place of Love for something. That something may vary or be a woven tapestry of many directions. I am, specifically here, going to speak on the importance of Self-Love in the revolution of our times, particularly important for women.
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As Nina Simons once so beautifully spoke, “One of the current challenges of the Feminine is knowing when to draw the line between sacrifice and martyrdom. Historically women have been socialized to serve as mothers and wives. From this conditioning arose the belief that self worth is directly related to how many people they nurture. It’s true that leadership is about uplifting others but it should not be at the expense of personal well-being.”

Self-care, another form of Self-Love is a deep part of the work needed. Self-care often requires our active attention and space making, especially for those whose lives are filled with deep responsibility for others, whether as mothers, or business owners, or self-employed artists. Because we are living in a capitalist society built from a distorted patriarchal paradigm, we have indoctrinated to value or worth based on what we do and produce and how much accolades we receive from that doing and producing. This is in direct contrast from the true soulful value of placing value on ourselves simply by being who we are.

Self-care practices and ritual to me mean carving out time and space
that helps us truly be who we are.
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For some, that may look like a bath. For others, that may look like journaling and honoring the cyclical nature of our bodies mirrored by the celestial bodies.

“You were not just born to produce or labor. You were born to exist. To heal and grow and laugh. To have space to dream and to connect.” - From Rest is Resistance: A Manifesto by Tricia Hersey.

What if it is enough to sit by the river naked and feed each other berries as often as we can? What if it is enough to learn to love the body we were born in? What if it is enough to grieve our broken hearts in this moment or to learn to express the Soul of ourselves through song, through dance, through word, and through listening to the silence?

Photo courtesy of Ebyän Zanini

Self-care is not selfish. Though, we do have to keep in our awareness that the path does not end there. Our self-care is in service to the greater good and is not mean to be transformed into a narcissistic way of being where we forget our responsibility to the collective. Rather, it is a pathway, a portal, a temple and altar at which we come again and again knowing that by saying “I love you” to ourselves through our attentions, we are more capable of Loving this world into a more soulful place. I deeply believe that the historically oppressed populations of our world, women and people of color, are leading the way Home now. Reminding us all how to be closer to our hearts and the Earth.

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I hope you remember the treasure that you are.

A treasure beyond your circumstances. Regardless of money, or title, followers or fame. You are a product of the miracle of Life, worthy of laughter and birdsong. Worthy of rest and genuine friendship.

We need you. Take the time that you need but please never forget how deeply needed your specific melodic tone is to the world’s song. There are no accidents. No mistakes. You have all that it takes to pave a way of life that you are proud of and like alchemical lighthouses, the pain that you are turning into poetry, will lead those around you to shores of refuge.

This post is continued from In the Temple of the Wild, Part I • Read it here