I had one of those beautiful experiences over the weekend where my heart danced in acknowledgement that all of those moments where I’d faithfully, yet seemingly blindly, been following a golden thread, had landed me in a place full of opportunity that resonated deeply with me.
My ‘thread’ concerned Sustainability and the Sacred Feminine. When I set off on my journey across the Atlantic in March 2013, I had a goal… to live my natural rhythm in harmony with nature. I knew it meant ‘living naturally’, but wasn’t quite sure what that would look like for me.
A chain of synchronicities led me to explore…
- our wilderness origins, shamanism, native cultures and communities – their harmony with the land, natural cycles and effortless interweaving of the mystical and physical
- the growing reclamation of the feminine mystery of creation and our relationship with ourselves and our bodies
Deep in my cells I got that we humans ARE nature, intertwined and part of it, not separate from it.
What exists outside of us exists within us and our ‘out of balance’ planet mirrors our state as a human race. A heart-breaking discovery I made on my travels was how native cultures exposed to the influences of the West demonstrated such imbalance so severely.
Disconnection and separation
Navajo Nation had an epidemic of obesity and when I eagerly asked a few people about their connection with nature, I was met with blank looks or statements that this was a thing of the past.
Deep in the Canyons, I witnessed communities still living traditionally, whilst many more on the higher grounds were working in commercial settings, perhaps out of necessity, embracing Western culture and moving further away from their ancestral ways.
In the Hopi Lands, clans were dying out fast and gone were many of the ceremonies and structures, including rites of passage, that held communities together and helped them to thrive. Whilst rain dances were aplenty, few other traditions still existed on the desert plains.
They farmed and harvested less, increasingly bringing less vital food into their diets and signs of a sedentary and/or addiction-fuelled lifestyle for many were obvious.
The Hopi are a Matrilinial Society, which once blossomed and sustained itself in the harshest of environments. But now, there was a numbness. There was desolation.
It was as if the soul had been ripped from this tribe, knowing of, but no longer embodying its spiritual connection with the land. Many had moved away to create a better life, whilst those who remained clung proudly to their heritage, yet at the same time disconnected from it as they adapted to living in the new terrain.
For me, the Western influence represents a focus on materialism and separation for survival. It goes hand in hand with a dominance of expression of, and reverence for masculine qualities in society, such as doing, analysing, rationalising, controlling, striving, achieving, aggression and logic, with a simultaneous subordination of feminine qualities such as love, understanding, receptivity, compassion, intuitive insight, creativity, forgiveness and healing.
We have been living predominantly in our heads, disconnected from our hearts and bodies, shut off from their intuitive wisdom and what truly lights us up.
This imbalance and separation from source has led to a drain on our natural resources and an increase in disease, within ourselves and in our environment. I know this all too well as I went from being a high achiever who loved to live full-out, to suffering with chronic fatigue, depression, anxiety, anorexia and cancer.
I was controlling and competitive, with a compulsive need to work everything out before moving forward, terrified of making a mistake. I was also desperately struggling with my sense of worth and self-esteem.
Reconnection and remembrance
My transformation came through re-connecting with my feminine essence and natural source of creativity, renewal and vitality. A shift from separation to oneness.
Whilst my discovery about the Native tribes in North-East Arizona was a shock, I have encountered so many other experiences over the last 20 months where I could see that people across the Globe were waking up to the realisation that we are an integral part of nature and knowing that self-responsibility and honouring ourselves – spiritually, physically, emotionally – as well as each other and the environment, is vital to a thriving World.
A higher vision
The solution, for me, is about more than restoring balance. It’s about moving towards a higher vision of a sustainable, thriving World and re-organising to align with and realise that vision.
What got me excited over the weekend was a conversation with a wise woman, new to our community, whose knowledge, drive and commitment towards a World View of Eco Living and Sustainability, including the need to nurture the Sacred Feminine, were infectious.
The Sacred Feminine is our primary life force on the planet. It is our connection with the source. We need to cultivate the essence of the Sacred Feminine – love, compassion, understanding, receptivity, intuitive wisdom and creativity – within all of us to bring our bodies, our lives and our World into alignment with our highest vision. This incorporates:
- re-connecting with our own body, living ‘within’ it, listening to and responding to its needs and wisdom
- embracing and living our uniqueness as a creative expression of the Divine
- living harmoniously with nature, aligned with our natural cycles and rhythms
- cultivating reverence and respect for all of life – people, animals and the planet.
This is not at the expense of the masculine – this energy has helped us to make huge advances in our World. We all have masculine and feminine energies and to thrive we must master the dance between the two within us, drawing on both energies to live our full potential.
Living my natural rhythm in harmony with nature
On July 1 2013, having continued to follow my golden thread, I arrived in Uvita in Costa Rica. I fell in love – with a man and the place – and I stayed. My first 10 months here gave me the chance to slow down and immerse myself in pristine, wild nature.
I began to harmonise with it. My sleep cycles synched more with my environment, I bathed in the light of the sun and the moon and enjoyed living simply and naturally eating fresh, local food.
As I meditated in my garden, observing the natural cycles of growth and decay and the changing moods of the weather, seeing the beauty in all of it, I became more aware of and comfortable with my cycles and rhythms – recognising the ebbing and flowing, honouring the needs of my body, mind and soul and being more authentic in my self-expression.
As the constriction of my controlling ways and need to be continually busy melted, I expanded, softened and felt more free.
My creativity flourished, my well-being improved and I was more present and peaceful. I had resurrected my Sacred Feminine and she began to dance with my Divine Masculine.
The dance was awkward at first – as it was difficult to embrace those masculine qualities I blamed for my disease. But as I continue to value and make peace with the whole of myself, the dance becomes more graceful.
This was what living my natural rhythm in harmony with nature meant for me. It’s now a cornerstone of my work through ecstatic dance, energy healing and bodywork.
At a time when the masculine principle has been dominant in our society for so long, we must reclaim and express our sacred feminine to ensure sustainability individually and collectively.
Seeing my golden thread
Just over a year on, magically and unplanned, I have ended up living in a Sustainable Community and Eco Village, one in its infancy where some things are aligned with the World View of Eco Living And Sustainability, whilst others need to be developed.
My wise friend ignited my passion for being part of its development and a wider movement… Even cooler, she’d also run a tribal dance group for women for 12 years, a kindred spirit in more ways than one! I’m looking forward to many more conversations…
