On the morning of the introductory Webinar to an online course on “The Way of the Wild Feminine”, I drew this Tarot card for the group from the Motherpeace (Vicki Noble) deck: XX – Judgment. Healing the Earth. It felt like a blessing for our gathering, in the numinous way that synchronicities do. We wild souls, wise hearted women, are ready to celebrate our old stories and all that we have come through, done, failed to do, suffered, triumphed, gained and lost. Clearing the way to letting go, to dissolving the old roles, identities, maybe careers, perhaps relationships. Mostly letting go of any old story that told us we were not worthy, magnificent, brilliant rays of the sun and creators of the world.
The Judgment Tarot card speaks to the return of the Feminine, a time of healing and regeneration. It directs us to listen to our hearts, and judge for ourselves where the truth lies. In many indigenous and mystical traditions, the Feminine ray of light is coming back into manifestation. Or as pagans and feminists might say, this is the time of the return of the Goddess. In Gnostic teachings, the Female Aion is the great manifested thought. In this Tarot image, the sun’s rays shine the rainbow light of the core Self and the community, expanding the world of the small self. We return to the integrated, holistic world of the goddess with the healing energies of the heart and the Bodhisattva compassion and forgiveness of isis, Tara, Kuan Yin.
This suggests to me that wild mind, Grandmother-Mind, is what we have to bring to bear on the urgent needs of the world. Wild mind is an inclusive, contextual, relational, integrated and visionary intelligence which sees the Both/And realm of possibilities in long range vision, seven generations out. It is a thinking with the heart. From those awakened hearts comes our own wild genius as wisdom keepers. As one of the 13 indigenous Grandmothers said in 2014:
“We are standing in the vibration of a sacred prophecy, the prophecy which tells us that consciousness is preparing the spirit of the feminine, the spirit of the Grandmothers.”
Jung’s idea of awakening the indigenous soul, the wild soul, is kin to awakening the Grandmother Mind. This is the unforgotten wisdom that resides at the heart of our psyches. It is not only in some of us. It is within each of us. As Jean Houston puts it: We not only live in a Universe; the Universe lives in us. This is why so many of us are drawn now to the teachings of the Aboriginals, the Hawaiians, Native Americans, Africans. We resonate with their stories for deep within our own souls, our cellular memories, we remember and recall our very own wisdom roots which have been traumatized out of conscious memory.
When we connect to our Wild Feminine power, we shift the field of collective consciousness, allowing each of us to tap into a New Story.
We can reclaim these memories and their power in many ways. One of the most powerful and direct ways is through your dreaming which is a primary focus of the online course.
The night after the Webinar I dreamed there was a huge, thick, beautifully illustrated book on the coffee table. Titled “Motherworld”, it is an atlas. Maps of the world. Because it is we women who are the mythmakers, the carriers of the emerging possible, the wisdom keepers, the keepers of the flame. And it is time for us to come alive to our new stories and home to our wild, wise selves.And to tell these stories to each other.
The wild feminine is not only sustainable in all worlds, it sustains all worlds.
Let’s admit it. We women are building a motherland; each with her own plot of soil eked from a night of dreams, a day of work. We are spreading this soil in larger and larger circles, slowly, slowly. One day it will be a continuous land, a resurrected land come back from the dead. Mundo de la madre, psychic motherworld, coexisting and coequal with all other worlds. This world is being made from our lives, our cries, our laughter, our bones. It is a world worth making, a world worth living in, a world in which there is a prevailing and decent wild sanity.
Clarissa Pinkola Estes, Ph.D.
The time is now to restore the wild woman to her rightful sovereignty.
Join our online course and community beginning October 12 through the Depth Psychology Alliance.
The Way of the Wild Feminine: A 6 week online course
- ~Come alive to your new story in a journey of Nature’s Seven Directions
- ~Awaken your Inner Shaman and Wild Genius
- ~Ignite the energies of the solar Feminine and give voice to your true story
- ~Learn how chaos and complexity new science models describe your Heroine’s Journey
- Become a powerful messenger for the beautiful new story that wants to be born in you, through you, for the good of all. Awaken a new sense of power and guidance. Be renewed. Come alive again. Help to create a world “in which it will be easier to love”
Each 90-minute class will feature an interactive-style lecture and commentary, with opportunities for participants to write, share experiences, dreams, and insights. Please come prepared to interact and participate. Note: This course will be offered in a video webinar format, so participants will not be heard or seen until they request it
Course dates:
OCT 12, 19, 26, NOV 2, 9, 16 Time: 12 pm to 1:30 pm PT
Click here to REGISTER for the 6-WEEK COURSE
