Dear friends,
Here we are near the end of the year. In a few weeks I’ll be taking a much needed break to nourish and replenish my being. I realise I haven’t yet delivered up my offering of a course on healing through the Sacred Feminine. The reality is I’m tired.
For many of us it’s been a big year on top of several big years since covid became a global disruptor. And many of us are feeling the exhaustion that comes from the constant stress of uncertain times in a changing world. Many of us are also facing into the time of year when the stress of family festivities, social pressure, financial challenges etc pile up on top of already frazzled lives as we seem to speed up endlessly in the rat-race culture of the West.
As a psychotherapist I hold space for increasingly frazzled and fragmented clients struggling with the ailments that come with living in a culture that denies our humanness and human needs, along with fears of climate change, an ongoing pandemic and sociopolitical change. All this affects us mentally, emotionally, physically, biologically and spiritually. I’m not writing this intending to scare you. I write to reflect the nature of our times in the hope that those of us worrying that their malaise is a sign of something personally wrong will wake up and understand our culture is wounded and we are simply experiencing the inevitable signs of that wounding.
I also write to encourage all of us to work on our personal and collective wounds. The Sacred Feminine holds the key to our nurturance, safety, welcome, belonging and curiosity. She honours our needs for safety, satisfaction, belonging and connection. When we work with this archetype we learn how to truly care for ourselves, and our compassion balances in reciprocity between ourselves and others.
This is what we need to halt the toxic overgrowth of the Wounded Masculine, who only sees rampant growth at any cost, disconnected from the needs of being an embodied human, as the answer to life. As you can see, I’m still passionate about caring for our internal and archetypal relationship with the Sacred Feminine and still intent on finally getting my course to you as soon as I can – once I’ve cared for my human needs for rest, replenishment and recovery.
Two books have been my companions recently, arguing in their own ways for radical change in our cultural beliefs and norms. We do that by finding compassion for, and working with, our internal complexes (autonomous negative patterns). The first book is the wide ranging The Myth of Normal: Trauma, illness and healing in a toxic culture by Dr Gabor Mate with Daniel Mate. They say it thoroughly and well – it’s not you, it’s not personal, it’s our toxic culture and it can be changed.
The other is Rest is Resistance: A Manifesto, by African American author Tricia Hersey, drawing on the experience of her slave ancestors and the capitalist strategy of dehumanising that have left us all tired, wired and living on a seriously troubled planet. Hersey’s radical challenge is to rest – and discover what it means to be really human, really alive. Both these writers are naming the effects of cumulative and generational trauma and how we go about healing that.
I’ll continue to write here with my offerings on this beautiful internal work we can do for ourselves and for humanity and all the other creatures and life forms on the earth. Your personal work on yourself is a radical, compassionate and empowering act. I invite you, challenge you, encourage you, and applaud you to find your way off the rat-wheel and towards deep humanity.
And yes, I’m walking my talk as best I can:
- listening to my needs
- responding compassionately
- keeping life SIMPLE
This is the easiest model I know for healing and finding peace and contentment in life. Three simple steps that when practiced can change your life. Will you join me?
– With you on the journey, Violet
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