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Shamanic dismemberment as a tool for healing is open to debate. It is a very masculine method of healing: it is the 'tear you down in order to rebuild you' technique of regaining balance and health. As soon as the war God came in and replaced Goddess, she was not only humiliated and banished, she was also torn apart - fragmented. Fear-based patriarchs so enjoyed destroying things only to put them back together again, that they chopped up and dissected the collective feminine soul too. The trouble was that their physical and spiritual misogyny was not implemented to put back together the wounded, bleeding feminine spirit - it was designed to annihalate it. One of the most crucial gifts that shamanisim can offer women today is sacred space for them to re-member their souls. One starting point for women coming together in shamanic circle is to understand that they are embarking on a spiritual practice that is, by definition, a feminine one. All spiritual practice is a feminine process - it cannot be successful unless a person journeys within, to the invisible. This inner place is the unseen, receptive aspect of Goddess - this place is a powerhouse and a gateway to all spiritual experience at the highest level. Shamanism today has a major role to play in bringing back Goddess to the collective, fragmented, feminine psyche. Shamanism also has the potential to help women realize that their souls have been demonized and marginalized as a result of thousands of years of patriarchal attack. An all-woman shamanic circle is one of the few places where women can reclaim their lost power and begin to honour their gifts as shamans. There is a gap, though, in the way that shamanism is presented today: there is so much rhetoric about what women need to do to reclaim their feminine divinity and power, but little about how to do it. It is so easy to dish out advice and tell women that they must 'stand in their power' in their relationships with men - but 'how' are they to do this? Iis Sally, for example, adequately equipped to hold onto her power in her marriage just because a shamanic teacher has told her not to take any nonsense from her husband? If this teacher has not gone beyond theory and given her practical tools for her to hold onto her power, as soon as she is with her husband, she will probably crumble - at some point. There is much practical information, as well as inner work, that needs to be given to women - without solid tools, women will continue to be dis-membered and remain so, (sadly, much knowledge is either consciously, or unsconsciously withheld from them). Women are so much more 'educated' today about all the ways in which they give their power away. Information, clearly, is not enough - if it were, we would not have the quanity of women struggling not to lose their power in their relationships with men. My book will be out in a few weeks: 'The Power in Softness - A Guide to Personal Safety and Empowerment for Women'. Look out for it. Also look out for my on-line Flower Soldier course. Please do get in touch if you have any questions. CF
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