Soul Revitalisation Project Day 2.

I’m starting my revitalisation with three days in the glasshouse mountains with a gathering of about a hundred beautifully connected souls. Three days to connect to our heart through movement, meditation,  learning and the masculine and feminine energies.

We started with a soul warming expression of connection with song and dance,  then time for connecting and knowing in a women’s circle. Men and women together held the most beautiful circle ceremony,  welcoming in the elements and connecting with the themes of the gathering.  A big fire is lit which holds ashes from previous gatherings and a range of special fires around the country. People were nominated to tend to the fire so it stays lit until the end of the gathering.

There is a beautiful tradition here that has a man and a woman keep the energy for the 12 months between.  A man holds the masculine and a women the feminine.  The symbols used for this are an exquisitly woven basket, that has been twined with ribbons and feathers, even strands of hair from elder women. The holder of the masculine energy has a staff as their symbol. These items are carried by these two for the 12 months and they go through an incredible journey to hold that energy.

I attended some pretty intense workshops today and cleansed my soul of some of the things holding me back. The first half of the day  was spent with a group of beautiful tender women. Together we discovered, acknowledged, tended to and released our wounds from the masculine. We did a beautiful dancing meditation,  and then in circle made some mighty noise and danced for ages while we all used movement and expression to release and move ourselves forward.

My afternoon was spent with a mixed group stepping past our ego barriers to find our real self. And my night was spent in a group of four women with a group of three men waiting on us and attending to our every need.

A most beautiful moment.

In all of today, in all of the tears and the releases, the laughter and the primal screams,  by far, one of the most delightful moments was when a group of women gathered at the edge of a beautiful lake. We were releasing a big vessel which had held our wounds into the lake. We couldn’t get it to stay out, it kept drifting straight back to us. Then out of nowhere this gorgeous woman dropped her coverings and jumped naked into the lake and swam the vessel out into the depths.

The freedom and confidence with which she dove in. Her far from conventional, but stunningly luscious, body bare and open to all of  us, the sky the sun and the lake alike. These were all part of what is a woman. A real life luscious woman. Nothing to prove, no standards to address, just to be. To be her honest, stunning self. To leap fearlessly to the unknown and offer her wisdom and strength to each of us. This was a most explicit example of pure live for oneself and for each of us, her sisters.

This was a lesson for me in giving. A lesson in how much we hold back from our sisters, lovers, friends, families, just because of our own fears. Our concerns for ourselves hold us back from giving all that we want to give, all that we are capable of giving.

xx

“In mythos and fairy tales, deities and other great spirits test the hearts of humans by showing up in various forms that disguise their divinity. They show up in robes, rags, silver sashes, or with muddy feet. They show up with skin dark as old wood, or in scales made of rose petal, as a frail child, as a lime-yellow old woman, as a man who cannot speak, or as an animal who can. The great powers are testing to see if humans have yet learned to recognize the greatness of soul in all its varying forms.”
Clarissa Pinkola Estés