The Divine Feminine

2012 has been hailed as the year of the ‘end’ of life as we know it – predictions of catastrophic events have served to create fear and trembling on one level of understanding, but  those whose feet are planted firmly in the ‘real’ recognise that the end of one cycle automatically opens to another. The signs of change are all around us as climatic, economic and political instability grab the news headlines, and we are forced, in our personal lives, to reconsider novel ways of navigating our relationships, our work habits and social interactions in order to retain some sense of control. The old order is rapidly changing.

The advent of the internet has been one of the most critical agents of change in our global, national and local community and our social, working and personal lives.

Enabling interconnectedness through networking, its significance in politics, the media, commerce, education, the spread of information to the furthest out reaches of the globe has been transformational for the human community. In the personal arena is has fostered connections between people for the promotion of trade, the  gathering of interest groups, the strengthening and expansion of friendships and the blossoming of intimate relationships.

The global interconnectedness facilitated by the internet  has brought about a deeper global awareness of the need for our human family to work together in relationship with one another, and with the planet, if all seven billion of us are to survive and enjoy an abundant and fulfilled life. The information super highway of the internet has reached and informed even the most geographically isolated people, and has precipitated a desire for all to share in the abundance and quality that life can offer – provided all humans can learn to share.

With these demands arising from the groundswell, humanity is being forced to change the way the world has been structured up to now. The changes demanded of us are so precipitous and challenging, we need to know how to navigate the transition, let alone feel confident that everything is unfolding as it should be.

From the Course of Miracles comes a reminder to focus on what is real in our own lives, rather than on fears:

” Nothing unreal exists.

Nothing unreal can be threatened.

Herein lies the peace of God”

In unpacking the ‘trend’ of the change, it seems that some of the words that might describe what is being asked of us as we transit the inexorable transits all around us are: interconnectedness rather than separation, mindful conservation rather than mindless consumption, helpful co-operation rather than harmful competition, mutual support rather than self-centred independence, considered management rather than speculative risk-taking and planned resourcefulness rather than reckless expenditure.

Each quality listed above is asking us in one way or another to move into relationship – with one another, nation to nation and humanity to the planet.

 The ability to be in relationship is an endowment of the Divine Feminine.

Human beings have been very much under the influence of the Divine Masculine for the past three thousand years or more. We needed to be, because we were in the growth and development stage of human consciousness. But now is the time for us to move into our hearts and to do so we need to embrace the Divine Feminine. Let’s look at how we can do that in our personal relationships…..

St Valentine’s Day is on the horizon. This is a day when we celebrate the Divine Feminine energy of the heart. We come into the heart when we move from a position of being centred solely within the self (ego-centred) to a place where we are centred between ourselves and the other. In so doing, we come into relationship.

From this stance, we can celebrate differences, negotiate outcomes, co-operate for mutual advantage and more readily recognise our own part in disharmony, thereby defusing conflict. Instead of being the judge, critically evaluating the other from a lofty position, we become the empathiser, understanding the human-ness of ourselves and others. Relationships flourish under this perspective.

When was the last time, in the middle of an argument, you stopped in midstream to consider ‘what part am I playing in this disagreement? and what did I contribute to this situation?’ Most of us take the adversarial stance in a dispute, thinking from our own ego-centred self, ‘I am right and he/she is wrong’!

From the Divine Feminine perspective, we soften our position to allow the other to be fully present in our consciousness, even in dispute. By sharing the moment from the heart and celebrating our differences in the here and now, we allow the other to have a point of view while simultaneously upholding and empathising with our own position. In this way we come into the space between ourselves where resolution is easier. Often the outcome is laughter with a mutual sense of renewed ability to negotiate the dispute.

This is Goddess energy. It is the energy of love, peace, allowance and co-operation. And it is awakened on the planet in 2012.

Aspects of Goddess energy have been articulated powerfully in human history through mythology and inscribed in the heavens as the Asteroid Goddesses. Those that pertain to love, romance, innocence and deflecting the wounds of love include:

Aphrodite – the Lover archetype involves Venus and the Air signs especially Libra

Persephone – the Innocent Daughter archetype involving water signs especially Scorpio and Pisces

Hestia – the Spiritual Devotee archetype involving Earth signs and especially Virgo and Capricorn

Artemis Goddess of the Hunt – the feminine warrior archetype involving thMars and the Fire signs especially Aries and Sagittaruis

The Asteroid Goddesses express the many aspects of the Divine Feminine – the energy being ushered in during 2012 and to which all humans will be exposed during the next phase in the evolution of consciousness. As we learn to gracefully engage in relationships in all aspects of life, not just personal, we will experience more peace in the world and an atmosphere of pervading love that will enable us to survive as a species and enjoy communion with other life forms on the planet, for mutual life enhancement.

Click here for how to book for the Asteroid Goddess and Spirit of Woman Australian Wildflower Essences workshop to be held at Mt Nebo on 12th February from 10.00 to 4.00, co-facilitated by Charyn McLean and Annie Meredith.

Aphrodite

Snail Vine

Great relationships and partnering skills are keys to a happy, fulfilled life. When your relationships at home and at work are harmonious, you can easily and effortlessly enjoy the benefits of collaborative interaction, joy and mutual satisfaction, together creating a better world….

And yet many relationships are plagued with jealousy, resentment, blame, secrecy and lack of appreciation. Ironically each partner invariably starts out with a deep desire to love the other and to never fall into the same trap that saw parents, friends, siblings or work colleagues break up in trauma, conflict and collateral damage.

With such a high divorce rate, workplace strife and social and political clashes worldwide afflicting many hapless and vulnerable people, there is a real need for re-evaluating how we relate to others. As human beings we suffer far too deeply from relationship conflict, across the breadth of our everyday lives. And our children often bear the brunt of our suffering.

One of the most basic human needs is for deep connection with others, especially those in our intimate zone. As many of us recognize, there’s a vast gap between what we want to feel in our close relationships and how we actually feel.

The good news is that you can change how you interact in your relationships and expect a change in your relationship as a result. And, even more amazing, is that the relationship will not just repay you doubly for the change you initiate, but in a myriad of manifold ways that will ripple out into your life and that of everyone you have close contact with.

Isn’t it time you took up the challenge to make a difference in your own life???

You need to know that you are never more than 20 seconds away from turning your relationship life around and taking off in a new, positive direction.

Changes made in relationships happen in the choices and commitments you make in tiny moments of time. This means that the past is irrelevant and the only thing that matters is the choice being made right at this moment – awareness of the preciousness of the present is the gift you give to you and your partner….

The secret is that ALL human relationships have the potential to be either heaven or hell and no-one, no matter how socially well-placed, successful in a career, financially secure or politically correct, is immune to the possibility of a relationship in tatters….that is the nature of human vulnerability.

Learning how to avoid the pitfalls or to resuscitate a relationship that is in free-fall is not part of the curriculum at school, but it sure needs to be.

Keeping the flow of love and positive energy going is often a learned skill, and it doesn’t need a lifetime of ruined relationships to acquire it. There are shortcuts that will amaze you with how swiftly and easily they bring results.

It is worth your time and attention to learn these skills – the effect will flow through your life in ways you never could have imagined – in situations I have worked with connections have been healed even for couples on the brink of divorce, family members who haven’t spoken for years have renewed their bonds of affection and business partners have been able to get past their stuckness to go on and do big things together.

Join renowned relationships expert Annie Meredith for a ground-breaking weekend for singles, couples and professionals. Author of acclaimed The Essence of Woman, Annie draws on cutting-edge research into gender differences while adding decades of experience of working with thousands of people to bring you time-tested understandings and strategies for creating amazing and conscious partnering in all areas of your life.

Using Spirit of Woman Australian Wild Flower Essences as valuable tools in your journey to happy and fulfilled relationships in your life, you will come away from this weekend workshop:

• becoming more present in your relationship
• understanding how to transform conflict into a celebration of differences
• becoming fully authentic so that your relationship flourishes on what you each uniquely bring to the partnership.

However, although multi-functionality is naturally occurring facility, it gobbles up a woman’s day-to-day energy and can deplete her basic resources severely over time, especially if she has not programmed regular relaxation and recreation into her life. As an educator in Natural Medicine and a natural health practitioner working specifically with women for over thirty years I know this to be true. Energy depletion lies at the root of many recurring illnesses and triggers the onset of many chronic diseases by compromising the immune system. It also affects how we feel –  I have personally experienced the depressed spirits, low self-worth and need to withdraw that accompanies consistently low energy levels in my early child-rearing days.

That’s why, here at Spirit of Woman we welcome the notion of women looking after themselves and taking time out of their normally busy, exciting and full but often stressed lives to take in some ease, calmness and relaxation. We offer this invitation to you to attend:

Ladies Pamper Expo

Diana Plaza Hotel, 12 Annerley Rd, Woolloongabba

May 22nd, 2011

9.30 for a 10.00 start – 5.00 finish

The day offers workshops, classes, one-on-one sessions with practitioners all providing the opportunity to de-stress and reclaim your sanity!! You will be supported and nurtured along with like-minded women who share similar stories of overwhelm and exhaustion; and you will discover easy, natural strategies to come back swiftly and effortlessly to a state of balance, so that your life runs as smoothly and gracefully as oil on your pampered skin.

I will be talking about how to draw on your powerful Divine Feminine energies to take the angst out of keeping up with your daily life, to  foster a nourishing relationship with your partner and children and to find joy in your working environment that satisfies your soul.

I will also demonstrate how you can maintain emotional equilibrium using our beautiful Spirit of Woman Flower Essence healers, even though your body and hormones are driving you to go on a wild see-saw ride every month that leaves you exhausted and having to pick up the pieces of your relationships afterwards.

We will also be conducting personal 20 minute consultations that will get to the heart of why you may be feeling the way you do. Karren and Lisa are both trained in how to be there for you to hear your unique story. They will make you a personalised Spirit of Woman Flower Essence blend that will support and nourish you.

For more information on the Ladies Pamper Expo you can go to the website for details on how book for this special Brisbane event.

I’d love to see you there…………

Chakra 6 activates between the ages of 8.5 to 14 years and then every seven years starting at 19. At this age again we have the opportunity to revisit this chakra and the issues involved with it through the lens of progressive maturity.

Chakra Six continues the journey into the realms of the Higher Self and through the faculties imbued into this energy centre we begin the process of the ‘getting of wisdom’.

Located in the forehead just above the mid-point between the physical eyes, the third eye as it is commonly named, can be described as our inner eye which grants us the ability to look within to evaluate the lessons that life is teaching us.

We have moved beyond the realms of physical elements at this centre and move into the higher frequency bands where thought, as a distinct but unmeasureable entity, exists. This is the dominion of mind that has a wider definition that simply the brain – it expresses the first level of the consciousness that is part of the greater manifestation of the vital energy that surrounds and interpenetrates us. Mind has no boundaries – it cannot be confined by physical constraints. Even in prison a person’s soul can be freed through the stretching and expanding of the mind.

It is through the rigorous training of the mind that we hone the tool of intention. Intention coupled with, and driven by desire manifests our reality, so here we recognise the power of thought. The sixth chakra governs the right side of the brain, the function of which is to ‘see the big picture’. Higher intelligence is seeing the interconnections of things and appreciating the pattern and order of the larger view. Ancient wisdom made use of symbolism to understand the world around them. If a crow flew overhead as a baby was being born the baby might have been named Black Crow, have the crow as a totem, and govern and direct his life according to ‘crow’ totemic principles. The highly developed soul recognizes the signs that appear to them in everyday life as indications of the next turn in the path of life.

This chakra is related to ‘seeing’ the soul’s true path so that we can fulfill our soul’s destiny. It is the ‘navigating system’ guiding us through intuition to follow our bliss so that we fulfill our purpose here on earth.

Similarly it is here that we ‘see’ when we have strayed off the path of our true destiny through the process of insight. This allows us to learn the lessons that life has to offer so that we can make ‘corrections’ to our navigation system. By the process of reminiscence we ‘go over’ the events of the past, hopefully to learn from our experiences.

Intuition is our inbuilt guiding system. If you are wanting to access your intuitive side regarding a question about yourself ask, “Does it make my heart sing or sink?” This is the question that reveals the truth of our intuitive knowing. If we can honestly make decisions in our life based on the body-mind experience of answering this simple question, then we are following our intuition.

To get an idea of how balanced your Third Eye Chakra (Chakra Six) is, answer the questions below. There is no right or wrong, just an awareness of how well you express your Third Eye Chakra in your daily life……

CHAKRA SIX: LIGHT, CLAIRVOYANCE

Do you notice visual details in your surroundings?

Do you have vivid dreams?

Do you have psychic experiences (precognition, intuition)?

How would you rate your ability to visualize?

Do you make use of your imagination?

Do you like bright colours?

Are you on track for following your life’s purpose?

Spirit of Woman Australian Wild Flower Essences help to restore balance and clear distortions to the chakras. They do this powerfully but gently by re-attuning you to your best possible expression, assisting you to make decisions in your life that are life-affirming and healing.

For example, the Spirit of Woman Australian Wild Flower Essence Wild Iris activates a positive expression of the Third Eye Chakra by enhancing intuition, balancing between joyous spiritual expression and gracefully embracing the practical aspects of living, tapping into the mysteries of the inner self to understand and inform our earthly experience, easy expression of the feminine intelligence whether a male or female, balances hormones and grants wisdom. It is included in the Body Love blend for living, loving and honouring the feminine through a healthy acceptance and joy in the body, Blessed Birthing for engaging with the deep feminine innate wisdom of birthing, Brain Balance for balancing brain function and assisting with memory loss and brain changes as the brain ages, Clear Skin to re-establish hormonal balance, Pre-Conception, Conception and Pregnancy Support for optimal hormonal support around conception to assist fertility and facilitate pregnancy. It is also a feature essence in the blends Speak Easy Woman Worth and Wise Woman each of which helps to listen to the inner whisperings of the feminine spirit and embody the essence of what being and feeling like a woman truly is.
If you are interested in finding out more about how to optimise your potential by re-balancing your chakras come along to our exciting Spirit of Woman Practitioner Workshop series. We explore the chakras in depth and how they affect your life when they are out of balance, including the five newer chakras that have opened up recently in human beings as the consciousness of the planet shifts into a higher gear. You don’t have to be a practitioner to attend this workshop series, but you will come away with healing skills that you can practice on your family and friends. This is a powerful workshop series. To find out more click here.

Chakra Four activates between the ages of 4.5 to 6.5 years and again as with the earlier chakras, re-activates in seven-year cycles to allow us remake decisions made in our first cycle that no longer work for us. As an example, we would re-face heart issues at age 17, again at ages 24, 32, 39, 46, 53, 60, 67, 74 and so on.

Following on from the individuation phase addressed by the third chakra we now move into becoming aware of people around us and start to ‘get ‘ the notion of connection and acceptance of other’s in our world as we come into the energy of the heart.

The heart chakra is located in the central pivotal place between the three chakras of the lower self and the three charkas of the higher self. As the core of the chakra system, it is the inner spirit that unites all the other forces above and below – above the mental realms and below the worldly/practical chakras.

It relates to the element air and represents a move away from the physical world of matter to the softer, deeper touch of the spirit – we transcend our ego and begin the dance of our place within the web of life – we begin to realize we are a part of something much greater than ourselves.

Its function is to experience the soul expression of love felt deep within as a state of being that expands out to embrace everything we encounter. It is a joyous acceptance of our place among all things, and of a deep peace that comes from lack of need and harmony within the self.

The love that relates to this chakra has an enduring deep quality that is eternal and constant. This is the love that radiates throughout all of existence, the binding force which holds all the building blocks of life together.

On a physical level this energy centre relates to the heart and lungs and the circulation of blood and qi (energy) throughout the body.

It relates to the emotions of love, connectedness, compassion, tolerance, acceptance, loving-kindness,  and when it is out of balance it creates an inability to feel, greed, self-limitation and meanness.

When this centre is in balance, thinking is clear and coherent and unaffected by disturbed emotions and behaviour is at all times appropriate to the occasion. There is an awareness of others that moderates how we act out in the world.

The consciousness of the heart chakra is that of balancing the mind and body, thought and feeling aspects of our being, and our inner world with that which is outside of us. Connectedness and relationships with others is fostered by loving-kindness. In Traditional Chinese Medicine the heart is the residence for the Shen or spirit and is responsible for our ability to think with conscious awareness. Higher Conscious awareness knows that ‘All is Love’. When we operate out of the heart we live in a state of loving kindness, acceptance and tolerance of all other beings. This is the lesson we are being called upon to learn as the planet goes through the Shift of the Ages.

This is the chakra where in relationships, mature love is able to flourish, as the balance between individuality and loving another is maintained and sustained. It involves the love that endures in a state of grace, delicacy, and gentleness, as distinct from the love of Chakra Two, which is related to sexuality.

Here the profound connection between the self and others is embraced as a unifying force that benefits all. It is constant and enduring and does not falter when the chips are down. It is unconditional and does not focus on what one is receiving, but rather what one is giving. It does not control, but rather lets things be the way they are based in the profound heart wisdom that everything is unfolding perfectly as it should.

It also involves the act of Self-love. When we love ourselves we totally accept ourselves for who we are. The love of the self is not a selfish act, but one that is crucial to our health and well-being. The thymus gland is the associated gland for the heart chakra and plays a large part in the immune response of the body. Psycho-neuro-immunology is the study of how our emotional state impacts on the immunological responses in the body. Researchers have demonstrated in clinical studies that the moment we have a negative self-thought the output from the thymus gland, which delivers T-helper cells into the blood, drops dramatically, reducing significantly the capability of appropriate immune response to an outside influence.It seems that we are programmed to love ourselves into a state of health and well-being!!

It is this chakra that is being activated, on a higher level, in all of us at the moment, as Mother Earth goes through her changes. We are being called upon to have compassion for others caught up in the drama and tragedy of the geo-physical and political turmoil on the Planet. We are also being challenged to remain in a state of calm acceptance that ‘all will be well’ and to broadcast these healing energies out to the world at large, so that we don’t collectively descend into a state of panic.

What it takes, is to consciously weed out thoughts of panic and replace them with an intention to add love to the world.

To do this, imagine a ball of Light Energy about 300 mm above your head and then download it into your heart space  by imagining it pouring into your chest cavity. When your chest is filled up, just hold it there and then, using your powerful imagination, close your eyes and ‘see’ the planet in your mind’s eye, suspended in front of you. On the next out-breath, vigorously propel the energy within your heart towards the image of the planet and allow it to ‘envelope’ the globe. Do this three times and you have finished.

This is a powerful means of activating your heart chakra to assist in the pain and fear that is occurring on a planetary level in such places as Japan, Libya and other Middle Eastern countries, Christchurch and North Queensland as people struggle with the aftermath of the natural and man-made disasters that are part of the Mother Earth’s mighty Shift into a new consciousness.

Believe it…..you powerfully contribute to the world’s pain by the strength of your intention and the act of directing energy through your heart.

To get an idea of how balanced your Heart Chakra(Chakra Four) is, answer the questions below. There is no right or wrong, just an awareness of how well you express your Heart Chakra in your daily life……

CHAKRA FOUR: AIR, LOVE

How often do you feel happy?

How would you rate your ability to make friends?

Do you love yourself?

Do you feel connected with the world around you?

Do you have successful long-term relationships?

Do you feel in harmony with your present situation?

Spirit of Woman Australian Wild Flower Essences help to restore balance and clear distortions to the chakras. They do this powerfully but gently by re-attuning you to your best possible expression, assisting you to make decisions in your life that are life-affirming and healing.

Storm Lily

For example the Spirit of Woman Australian Wild Flower Essence Storm Lily activates a positive expression of the Heart Chakra by restoring calm after a shock, brings back a state of balance after trauma, cleanses toxic shock, reclaims equilibrium and settles fear in adults and children. Storm Lily is one of the essences in the blend Crisis Calm which assists in all emergencies and helps to restore calm and balance after a ‘storm’, be it physical, emotional or mental. This beautiful little Lily only flowers after a storm…it does so in response to the electrical energy in the atmosphere that accompanies stormy weather.

If you are interested in finding out more about how to optimise your potential by re-balancing your chakras come along to our Spirit of Woman Workshop series. We explore the chakras in depth and how they affect your life when they are out of balance, including the five newer chakras that have opened up recently in human beings as the consciousness of the planet shifts into a higher gear. To find out more click here.

Chakra Three activates between the ages of 2.5 to 4.5 years and then re-activates in seven year cycles to enable us to remake decisions made in our first cycle before we had developed the wisdom of maturity that is sequentially programmed into our energetic template to guide our physical, psychological and emotional growth.

In the last post, we explored the Second Chakra which is concerned with our human need for closeness, intimacy and connection and which teaches us how to alternatively merge and pull apart easily, as circumstances dictate. It helps us to manage cycles of merging and separation and enables the process of understanding our differences to appreciate our uniqueness.

Chakra Three is related to the element of Fire and this energy centre is often described as providing the ‘fire in the belly’ which transforms and transmutes, creating the energy fuel that animates and drives all human processes including metabolism, emotional mastery and psychological strength (mental).

Fire is the element that warms, transforms matter to heat, light and waste ( e.g. a log of wood is transformed to warmth, light and ash), moves and energises (e.g. activates molecules in water to bring it to the boil).  It takes fire energy to transform food into energy to be used as a day-to-day basis for the functional capacity of the organ systems of the body. In psychological terms, it relates to personal power and will, it enables emotional intelligence and appropriateness, and in our outer lives, it is the realm of action.

As food, converted to energy, is the fuel for the body, then it follows that the more efficient the conversion process, the more available quality energy is for the whole body. Moreover, the more functional this centre is, the more the person is able to discern the quality of the food intake ie. good healthy food rather than Macca’s!).

It relates to the emotions associated with a healthy self-esteem, personal power, confidence and a sense of safety in the world in which we live. The roles of the ‘victim’ and the ‘persecutor’ come in here. The victim has not been able to assert their personal power and be ‘magicians’ in their world, while the persecutor dominates and bullies others to keep themselves safe, because otherwise they feel powerless.

Good clear, coherent thinking is the result of a well functioning digestive system. When this system is impaired, thinking will be fuzzy, distorted, anxious, obsessive or deranged. A regular, good diet supports the digestive system that in turn delivers balanced and clear thinking. This chakra is the first level of the intellect – rational, logical and factual thinking.

The consciousness relating to this chakra is about having the radiant energy to impact the world beyond the self. So it is about personal power – being able to relate in the environment successfully, and to manage our own passions – not by controlling them but by shaping them and using them to direct and fuel our will. The will arises out of the choices we make , driven by desire and directed into the world. The will, our vitality, is the outward expression of the aware soul.

So Chakra Three is associated with issues of personal power. And personal power directly relates to the strength of the digestive system. The neuropeptides most active in the solar plexus region regulate digestion and absorption. The organs of digestion are located in this energetic region, including the stomach, pancreas, liver and gall bladder. Recognizing the power to accept or reject food is an infant’s first expression of personal control.

It is at this chakra (level of awareness) that we have the power to transform ourselves from one state of being into the next. For example, someone wanting to give up smoking would be assured of success by strengthening the energy of the Solar Plexus. One way to do that would be for that person to pay attention to their diet by focusing on nourishing and healthy food, eaten regularly and in a peaceful environment!

Again, to get an idea of how balanced your Solar Plexus (Chakra Three) chakra is, answer the questions below. There is no right or wrong, just an awareness of how well you express your Solar Plexus Chakra……

CHAKRA THREE: FIRE, POWER

How would you rate your sense of personal power?

How would you rate the effectiveness of your will?

How would you rate your daily energy levels?

How would you rate your metabolism?

Do you accomplish what you set out to do?

Do you feel confident?

Spirit of Woman Australian Wild Flower Essences help to restore balance and clear distortions to the chakras. They do this powerfully but gently by re-attuning you to your best possible expression, assisting you to make decisions in your life that are life-affirming and healing.

For example, Cassia helps to re-balance the Solar Plexus chakra by assisting us to move out of victim roles and to assume responsibility for our decisions. It assists in letting go of old belief systems (reprogramming old scripts) that no longer work for us. It helps us to transform our lives in ways that align with our unique soul purpose and to feel empowered to act on decisions we have made that support our best expression. Cassia is affectionately known as the ‘Resurrection Essence’ because it helps us to call back the parts of our soul that we have given away in an attempt to fit in with the people in the world around us.

If you are interested in finding out more about how to optimise your potential by re-balancing your chakras come along to our Spirit of Woman Workshop series. We explore the chakras in depth and how they affect your life when they are out of balance, including the five newer chakras that have opened up recently in human beings as the consciousness of the planet shifts into a higher gear. To find out more click here.

The subtle energy anatomy consists of both the meridians, networks of vital energy that interconnect with and supply info-energy to all parts of the body, and the chakras, subtle energy centres that feed into the meridians.

Chakras appear to be “mini brains” – nodal points of electrical and chemical activity that receive, process, and distribute information from and to the rest of the bodymind – our intelligence is not just a product of the mind, but includes ‘body intelligence’, largely accessed through intuition and feeling.

Physiologically, each chakra is the site of a neuronal plexus – a network of cells dense with neuropeptide transmitters.

Each plexus is connected to every other one, such that nourishing any one plexus enhances the effectiveness of the entire system.

Trauma or neglect can manifest as a block at one or more nodal points (chakras), degrading the performance of all. Ultimately, disease is the outcome, when blocks and energy distortions are not rebalanced or removed.

Neuronal functions of each plexus reflect the spiritual attributes traditionally associated with the corresponding chakra, via neuropeptide activity, which triggers emotion and psychological expression, as well as physical functioning.

Neuropeptides are plentiful in chakra areas and seem to link the physical, emotional, mental and spiritual aspects of our being.

It is increasingly difficult for scientists to identify the point at which any one of these aspects of our being becomes separate from the others.

There is growing evidence that the separation between science and spirituality is as misled as the notion of mind and body being separate.

Let’s take a brief look at the base chakra, commonly known as Chakra One.

The root chakra is linked to survival. It is the site of intense neuropeptide activity. Freud identified the anal stage as being the first phase of our psychological development!

Some of the emotional and psychological issues linked to this chakra are:

• Maintenance of the body,  energy loss and physical debilitation, effects of stress on the physical body;
• Ability to survive the hardships of living in the physical world;
• The need to be consciously in body, to be present and not dissociated;
• Capability to move on from the collective energy of the tribe (family).

Just to get an idea of how balanced you Base (root) chakra is, answer the questions below. There is no right or wrong, just an awareness of how well you are grounded into your Base Chakra……

CHAKRA ONE: EARTH, SURVIVAL, GROUNDING

How often do you go for a walk in the wood, park, etc?

How often do you exercise?

How is your health?

How is your financial situation?

How would you rate your diet?

Do you consider yourself well grounded (practically-minded)?

Spirit of Woman Australian Wild Flower Essences help to restore balance and clear distortions to the chakras. They do this powerfully but gently by re-attuning you to your best possible expression, assisting you to make decisions in your life that are life-affirming and healing.

For example, Dandelion helps us to focus and be ‘present’, it stops the chattering mind, helps with sleep and attunes us into our ‘body intelligence’. It works on re-balancing the Base Chakra.

If you would like to know more about your chakra health and how to optimise it, come along to our Spirit of Woman Australian Wild Flower Essence Level 1 Workshop. Click here for details.

Please comment, we value what you have to say…………

Food for the Soul

A few weeks ago I had the wonderful opportunity to enjoy the vegetarian cooking classes at Govinda’s in Elizabeth Street, in Brisbane.

Govinda’s regularly host Saturday night classes that explore a range of vegetarian experiences that inspire and nourish.   It was a wonderful evening spent in conversation with new acquaintances and sharing a love of food with Chef Ranchor as he enthusiastically combined his selection of 10 ‘Super Foods’ into a delicious meal, which we then shared.  Chef Ranchor is delightfully entertaining, but what resonated most with me was his passion to nourish not only our bodies but also our Souls.

Nourishing our bodies through exercise and healthy lifestyles has evolved into a multi-billion dollar industry and it is important for our optimal functioning. However cooking to nourish our Souls – I wonder if that is something many of us inherently understand, but are rarely aware of.

As an example:   For me vegetarian cooking is really simple – until I think about it!  The moment I attempt to put together a vegetarian meal for someone outside of my immediate family, my brain freezes.  My stress I imagine, is akin to that experienced by contestants in the elimination round of ‘Masterchef’.  Yet, I enjoy creating wonderfully delicious and nourishing meals for my family and do so with little thought.

It was whilst attending this class and watching Chef Ranchor that I realized when I cook for my family – it is a creative process that is undertaken with love.  It is my expression of love for them and it is completely instinctive!

Cooking at home evolves from a ‘feeling’.   However, cooking for others’ takes me into the ‘thinking’ realm (possibly my ego – wanting to impress!) and I no longer trust my instincts.  In essences, the less I think about ‘what to cook’, the more I simply follow my instincts, and the more attuned I am to those I am cooking for.

Chef Ranchors’ class reminded me that our creativity is not in our minds, but in our hearts – even for such simplicities as the family meal.  Creativity in cooking is not simply producing an impressive looking and tasting meal – but also knowing the key ingredients that provide the optimum nourishment and sustenance for both the body AND Soul.

In our fast-paced modern life everything is a competition or quick and easy takeaway or TV dinners.  Whilst they may be sufficient for feeding the body (and most times even that is dubious)  – I believe they don’t even come close to nourishing our inner lives.

As women we are blessed with a wonderful collection of emotions that can be harnessed to inspire us in many ways.  The more we open our hearts, accept our emotions and stay true to ourselves, the more adept we will become at instinctively understanding the nourishing needs of ourselves, others and our environment.

I believe one of our greatest challenges as women is to hold our feminine nature in the multifarious aspects of our daily lives.  Even in the kitchen, which is traditionally the female domain!  As our workshops attest to, women in all walks of life are looking to reconnect with the feminine within and to allow her a voice in the tasks we undertake in our daily lives.  Click here if you interested in finding out more about our next scheduled workshop.

I challenge you to find your inner goddess of the kitchen!  Love and nourish her and awaken to your intuition, so that nourishing those we love is a joy and not  a burdensome chore.

I invite you to inspire others by sharing your inner goddess journey.  Please leave your comments or stories here.

Until next time.  Bon apetito.

Karren

I met with some very dear, old friends recently (not ‘old and grey’ but long time friends!) and one was telling me that she had just attended the Hay House ‘I Can Do It’ weekend retreat in Sydney. Mmmmm……. I was so peeved that I had missed it as it featured my favourite speakers: Wayne Dyer, Carolyn Myss, Brian Weiss, Sonia Choquette and Gregg Braden. Truly this was a gathering of wise elders each sharing their pearls of wisdom about the New Reality coming into being.

Gregg Braden’s work has long fascinated me. Many years ago, in his first book Awakening to Zero Point, he foretold of an ‘envelope of time’ that stretches from the twelve or so years prior to 2000 to the magic 2012, a year that is grabbing many people’s attention as we fast approach it, due to media hype about the ‘end of the world’ as we know it.

Braden spoke of the special conditions that exist within this ‘envelope of time’ that both triggers and enables great changes in the consciousness of humanity. We are in this ’envelope of time’ right now, and what’s more we are witnessing rapid change and massive shifts in the consciousness of humanity.

Braden’s journeys into the remote mountain villages, monasteries, and temples of times past, coupled with his background in the hard sciences, uniquely qualify him to bring the benefit of long-lost traditions to the forefront of our lives today.

One of the phenomena that he speaks about is the relationship between intention, desire and action – I call it the Magician’s Trinity.

This ‘recipe’ for attracting what we want in life was written by the Essenes, an ancient Jewish mystical sect, into the Dead Sea Scrolls and only recently brought to light when technological advances in preserving the old papyrus scrolls allowed them to be read for the first time in two thousand years.

In the ancient texts, it was written that to attract what we want in our lives we must first clarify and set our intention, then we drive it with desire. In other words, once we have decided what we want, we use the strong emotion of desire as the rocket fuel for ensuring that the Universe conspires to give us what we want. The third and final part of this fail-safe ancient method of creating our own reality is to action it; that is, we go out and act as if it has already happened, including being grateful for it – even before it has happened.

The power of emotion is phenomenal. One of the stories Braden tells concerns the regular monitoring by geological scientists of the electro-magnetic field that surrounds the earth. Apparently, it usually registers like an ECG with a stable image of peaks and troughs generating a regular pattern throughout the year.  Scientists were amazed when the peak nearly went off the recording paper on September 11^th, 2001. The conclusion was that the human emotional response to the tragedy around the planet was so powerful over that period of time that it caused the electro-magnetic sheath around the planet to blow out massively beyond any previously recorded readings.

This is the power of e-motion (energy in motion). When we feel it and harness it, it becomes a powerful prime mover on the planet and in our own personal lives. What’s more, it happens whether the emotion is a joyous one or a fearful one, the only difference being the outcome. Imagine what would happen on the Earth if everyone chose to feel joyful and loving all of the time???? Didn’t John Lennon write a song about that?

That’s why flower essences are so timely during this ‘envelope of time’ – they help us to clear out old toxic emotions so that we have space for the feel-good ones.

What are your thoughts???

What does it mean to be woman?

The question itself seems simple enough, yet it is one to which I constantly return.  At times I am filled with gusto and bravado – ready to take on the world and fulfill my aspirations, yet at others, I fall into a heap and feel paralyzed by fear and insecurity.  I will return to this unfolding drama.  For now I wish to invite you all on a journey.

This is my first regular blog installment. In my introductory blog post, which you can read by clicking here,  I promised to share honestly and openly with you my thoughts, experiences, feelings, and processes.    It’s confronting for me, but I hope to humour you, challenge you, befriend you and share with you my processes in becoming a Wise Woman.

I speak confidently of becoming a Wise Woman, as the myriad of experiences that have interwoven themselves in my life  (and still continue to do so) are designed, I believe, to lead me to that sacred and well earned place.  Having said that, I am sure I have quite a distance to go yet!

I truly look forward to sharing this journey with you all. I would love your contributions, either when you feel a connection, or if you have a topic that interests you that you would like to have discussed.

As women, it is often difficult to share our fears achievements or disappointments (particularly around parenting) however I would like to challenge us all to take this journey.  This is a forum of NO JUDGEMENT!  In truth, I believe discussion is the first step in moving towards resolution of issues.   As with all things, it starts with the self and often ends up rippling through to the Community.

It appears to me that the question of “What it means to be a woman” is one we all ask at some point in our lives.

I grew up in a family with three sisters and no brothers. My father was the only male and often quipped about the ‘unfairness’ of existing in an all female environment.  Yet he (and my mother) both ruled with, what seemed to me at the time,  iron fists.  We were the quintessential children who ‘were seen and not heard’, particularly, in public where the appearance of  ‘a happy, harmonious and well-disciplined family unit’ was critical.

On the inside, I was far from happy.  With my ‘wings’ consistently clipped, it felt a struggle to be ‘like my sisters’ who appeared to be happy honing their ‘domestic’ skills.  I simply wanted freedom – yet I was desperately looking for who I really was………… and to be loved and accepted for that.

Consequently, I learnt to walk the tightrope between both worlds, the end result of which is:  I’m resilient and forthright, I enjoy challenges and I am driven (often to the point of self destruction).  I have finally conquered domesticity.  Which simply means that I accept it in my life and at times enjoy it!

But I’m also fearful. Of what, I ask myself?  Of my authentic self, I answer!

After a week of taking ‘Daddy’s Girl’, and a full weekend of being with friends sharing our personal lives, I am increasingly conscious of the unspoken fears that hold many women back from being their true and authentic selves.  In the words of Frances Moore Lappe “I’ve grown certain that the root of all fear is that we’ve been forced to deny who we are”.

My journey this week has awoken me to remember to be authentic to myself.  Daddy’s Girl has helped me to once again come out behind the protective curtain of “father issues” where I hide and avoid nurturing my authentic self.

Women change constantly!  Yet, somehow we continually expect that our friends, sisters, mothers, teachers, etc. will remain consistent and the same.  The Wise Woman emerges from her experiences and each one of those experiences changes her perceptions, understandings, emotions and life.

Our authentic selves need room to grow – like any beautiful flower!  As women, we must nurture each other, provide nutrients and sustenance to our fellow being-humans (human-beings) to ensure each and every one of us is provided every opportunity to reach full bloom!

For me, that is the essence of being a WOMAN!

Feel free to comment – in fact, I would love it if you did!!

It stimulates discussion and, also, your comment may be very well what someone else was thinking but was too timid to speak out!

Have a great week and please look out for my next blog post.