SEEING IN THE DARK: FINDING OUR WILD MEDICINE ~ PART I

 

For all the devastation of these dark times -the attacks on women, children, the elderly, immigrants, the land, on the truth, international relationships, – T-rump’s essential role as the cruel Fool has catalyzed a fierce awakening. He has woken us up. If Hillary had won, we would be tempted to apathy – without suffering, without feeling. Now, we are engaged, we are concerned, our hearts are broken on a continual basis with the daily news of more devastation. Still, we rise. From the depths of our wild, wise selves we are seeing in the dark and bringing our wild medicine to the surface. We are turning what was shameful – our caring hearts, our feminine power – into brave and effective actions, together. Millions of women around the world marched for life in January wearing pink pussy hats. In this widespread show of humor, of flamboyance, of strength, of pride, women reclaimed a “dirty” word that has been used to degrade, insult and shame women long before T-rump used it in his crude boast about sexual assault.

Monday, March 27th 2017 was a new moon in the fire sign of Aries. This marks the beginning of the New Year in the zodiac, the strongest new moon of the year. Aries energizes leadership, fires up new ideas, ignites action for charting a new course. Venus, sacred to the Goddess of love and beauty in many traditions, is retrograde, gone to the underworld to reclaim – like Inanna – shadow parts of herself which have been repressed and ignored. For women this is often our exiled feminine power.

This feminine power is buried within all of us. “The one who knows”, as Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estes calls her, is breaking through frozen ground like spring grass and blossom as we saw in women’s marches and brave actions around the world.

Our deepest sources of creativity and understanding lie out of sight in darkness, in the unconscious. We must learn how to perceive “through the eyes of soul as well as through the eyes of the ego.” This dual way of seeing, being, and acting, Dr. Estes explains, is the most direct way to reclaim the gifts and the “healing apothecary” set into each soul at birth. We must learn to see in the dark to mine the raw gems of mystery, dreams, sudden knowings, and the shadows of power as individuals and as society.

Many of the dreams I am hearing, and experiencing myself, take place in group settings – conferences, classes, circles. The purpose generally seems to be some kind of learning, some kind of education. The root of the word educare is to bring forth, to transform. We are carriers and midwives of the new myth. It is a collective dream. Of many ways to dream this dream onward, to strengthen the New Story, I find sharing our dreams, writing and telling story, and encouraging each other to step into the light with what we know, what we see, of “What is To Come” is most powerful. In the following dream, we women in a hostile environment wash off the shame of patriarchal projections, and find our way to the beauty and joy of community as we reclaim our wild souls, our wisest selves.

Dream #1: Surfing with Flamingos

There are many of us women staying in a hostel. I step into the rustic tin walled shower and find it clogged with black, inky water from the women who have showered before me. I am quite indignant at the poor maintenance of this place. As I shower the water washes black ink off of me as well. Eventually the water runs clear and drains. I see out the window a view of the ocean and go down to the beach for a swim. In the water to my left, a flock of flamingos is surfing a wave to shore, grouped in the curl of the wave.

The dream of a “hostel” where the women must wash off black dye seems to speak to the dark projections of the hostile Masculine which have shamed us and shut us off from the beauty and power of our wild natures. When we wash off these projections and rinse off our shame, we are free to come into the light. Called by the wild wisdom of nature and the vast ocean’s creativity and mystery, we find our way to the ocean where the flamingos are surfing. They are a joyful community, a flamboyance of feminine energy and magic, surfing the large waves of change.

Here are some gifts from Flamingo medicine which come from several of her unique features

~Balance: ~With her long legs, wades in deep water while remaining grounded.

~ Just as Flamingo wades into the muddy waters and stands at the edges of the shoreline to locate and taste shrimp, we find the real nourishment and aliveness for us stands at the shoreline of our souls. These are the thresholds of our most dramatic and challenging changes.

~The upper part of the beak is hooked sharply, almost as if broken. This movable part scoops up mud, forcing it through a comb-like structure (lamellae), retaining what is edible. This distinct ability to eat upside down, filtering food from the mud and silt, speaks to the need for us to learn how to filter our soul lessons and soul nourishment from the emotional waters.

~Radiant, vibrant, graceful, beautiful, elegant, flamingos are a fine example of feminine beauty and magic. Be bold, be brave, show your colors.

~Associated with the Phoenix, flamingos are a sign of rebirth, of resurrection. You can rise again from devastation, your fall from grace. As a guidance totem and heart healer: Discern what is poisonous or not useful in your life and what can heal your wounds.

~They are shapeshifters, masters of illusion as they stand on one leg, or tuck their heads, and can bend over backwards.

~The flamingo’s tongue is unusually large and fleshy for a bird, acting as a powerful pump to pull water backwards and expel through filters. The tongue gives us speech. Communication is a gift of Flamingo. Use your voice!

~This is a 30 million year old species within the crane family, pointing to our ancient power as creators, as artists of life. In spite of the overuse of flamingos as decorative, tacky lawn ornaments, they have power and medicine in two areas vital to us as women:

The creative process.

Coyote medicine.

Exposes illusions, or makes them

A shapeshifter

A Trickster

~Because of her pink color, associated with the heart chakra, Flamingo reminds us what you put into your heart influences your colors. Flamingo is a visionary and draws its power from water, from our emotional life and from the collective unconscious.

 

O mother of the sea

Lend me a wave that is strong and true

To carry me from this Age which binds me.

 

I do not need a ship, mother,

But make it a buoyant swell

To bear me up and float me on the sea’s dreaming

Then beach me on some lighter shore…

                                                      Sharon Blackie, “Peregrina”

 

 

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