The Inner Goddess Makeover, by Tanishka … “a map for empowering he feminine within”
This month the Goddesses gathered in circle to talk about our Earth Mumma experience, which Tanishka refers to as Demeter, our ” Inner Earth Empress. ”
Its interesting how we each connect with different Goddess archetypes and why we resonate with the morals to those stories. I think its fair to say that we are all learning to better understand how our energy flow is influenced by our own thoughts and feelings about certain experiences. Tanishkas Goddess Makeover and our gatherings are proving to be a valuable tool and a great support in our own seasonal and transitional changes.
According to Greek mythology Demeter (Goddess of Harvest, Fertility and Agriculture) had a close and loving connection with her daughter Persephone. Demeter tended to the earth and taught her daughter all about the changing seasons and how to nurture those around her. At 15 yrs old, Persephone wanted to do what most teenagers want to do, spend less time with her Mother and more time exploring. One day, she wandered away from her friends and found herself in a little bit of trouble. She picked a narcissus flower, which opened up the earth for Hades (God of the Underworld).
Hades was the brother of Zeus (God of Sky and Thunder) and Zeus was the Father of Persephone, who had promised his daughter to his brother. Hades took Persephone back to the Underworld, claiming her as his wife. Demeter wild with rage by this act of betrayal, retreated into a state of dark despair, wandering the countryside for months looking for her daughter.
Crops began to die and famine would soon follow if Demeter refused to tend her duties. So Zeus bargained with his brother to return Persephone to her Mother because the survival of land, people and Gods themselves was threatened.
Although Hades agreed to release her, he offered Persephone a pomegranate seed before she left him, which stopped her from ever wanting to return back to her Mother permanently. So, she returned to her Mother only in Springtime, spending 6 months together when the flowers bloomed, which reflected her Mothers happiness. Then returning back to her husband as “Queen of the Underworld” when the first chills of Autumn came.
(artwork by Korinna Universe)
This chapter on our inner Earth Empress resonated strongly with me because its about how we transition from Maiden, Mother to Wise Woman and how we learn to accept the polarities of ourselves and life through our own seasonal changes. The moral of this story being, how we learn to embrace our child’s need to individuate from us and our need to release them so they can follow their own destiny. Our lesson as Mothers, to accept the experience of loss as being part of our ability to birth, create and nurture.
Do you hold onto your growing child and resist letting go … if so, why ?
Do you celebrate this transition and let go with ease … if so, why ?
Although many grown up children are choosing to live with their parents longer, for a variety of different reasons. Its inevitable as parents to eventually experience the “empty nest syndrome,” when our child chooses to leave the comfort and familiarity of our warm embrace. However, I feel its important to also note that a nest isn’t always empty because the child has left home. Sometimes the parent leaves the young child abandoned and other times the parent kicks the grown child out of the nest. And unfortunately some parents are confronted with the horror of loosing their child in death.
Regardless of how the nest becomes empty, we each experience the same sense of loss. Our feelings of grief will vary greatly, depending upon our own individual situation, circumstance, experience and beliefs, which influences the level of attachment and dependency we have with our child and how we then experience the loss. There is no right or wrong way to be a Mother because each Mother, child and experience is unique. As human beings we are beautiful complex creatures with so many contradictions. So, our relationships are just as wonderfully complex and are equally more challenging to understand.
(artwork by RavenMaddArtwork)
There is so much in this chapter that I could share with you because the topic and content resonates on so many levels for so many reasons. Our inner Earth Empress connects with our own personal experience and transitions from Maiden, Mother to Wise Woman, which impacts upon our experience of both Mother and Daughter. Demeter offers insight into our relationship with self, others, Nature and Universe. Our Earth Mumma experience is connected strongly to our heart center, which is also our connection to the Source of creation, which has a huge impact on our energy flow.
The heart chakra is the energy center that moves LOVE through our lives. It is responsible for how freely love flows in and out of our heart space. When our hearts are OPEN and energy is flowing freely, we create safe, warm, loving and supportive environments. And we give love, kindness and compassion to others and ourselves. A BLOCKED heart chakra is experienced when we are not flowing with our emotions. When our hearts are hurting we repress uncomfortable emotions and shut down the flow of energy. We withdraw, feel disconnected and lonely. We lack empathy and the ability to forgive others and ourselves. When our heart chakra is UNBALANCED we are co-dependent, looking outward for acceptance or fulfillment. We experience feelings of jealousy and we judge others harshly.
Tanishka talks about the rise of the Dark Mother, who often emerges when a significant event triggers her (divorce, death, rejection, failure). A very interesting concept that I resonate strongly with having been confronted with her presence more than once. She is the shadow aspects of our nurturing self, who surfaces when we dont feel valued, respected or needed. The Dark Mother retreats inwards to focus on her own inner needs. A natural gestation period of depression that prepares her for the transition from Mother to Wise Woman. In this state of being we can feel angry, resentful and bitter, which can result in passive aggressive behaviour towards those we believe are responsible for our pain and discomfort.
We can see why this aspect of ourselves has been pushed aside, hidden and considered to be socially unacceptable. We can also appreciate how those dark moods and symptoms of depression can be misunderstood. Hence why teachings such as this are so very important to validate the experience of Motherhood in its entirety. Because the more love, understanding and support we offer each other during these natural seasonal and transitional changes, the more empowered we will be as women, which will have a positive impact upon ALL of our relationships.
So … HOW do we balance our heart chakra ?
With intentions to OPEN up our hearts, to give and receive love and to heal our hurts. By flowing with our emotions and observing our thoughts. Being honest about how we truly feel because its part of the healing process.
Repressed or suppressed emotions stay in our bodies and become toxic. They distort our thinking, feed our fears, keep us stuck in our suffering, increase our risk of illness and can create dis-ease. When it comes to our emotions, it doesn’t matter if we say it, write it, talk about it, walk with it, reflect over it or create with it … What matters most is that we EXPRESS it
Accepting what is and letting go of what was allows LOVE to flow freely
Maintaining good energy flow and balance in our chakras is just as important to our health and well being, as following a nutritional diet and daily exercise. And the more I look into and learn about my own chakras, the more I can see how my choices are impacted by these energy centers.
I pose the question …
What do YOU do when you suffer from persistent headaches ?
We either choose to seek out a quick fix and take a panadol (OR) we make the necessary lifestyle changes that reduces the occurrence of headaches in the first place. By drinking more water, reducing caffeine, sugar and alcohol intake. Changing our diet. Reducing stress. Meditating. Improving sleep, etc.
Maintaining our energy flow is all about our choices
We can either continue to experience blocked and unbalanced energy flow (OR) we can seek out Reiki Masters to help balance our centers for us (OR) we can empower ourselves by looking inwards, digging deeper and identifying the thought, emotion or belief that blocks the energy flow.
Mindful interaction ❤
Tracey Marie Fletcher's Breaking the Habitz Blog 