Writing
Reclaiming Grace https://womenofspiritandfaith.org/
…Perhaps what most needs to be released in the energy of this lunar eclipse are all the stories written in our bones that keep us small. Some of these are family of origin stories; some of these are stories of ancestral trauma so cruel that it is tattooed on our souls. Such stories can keep us frozen in fear and riddled with self-doubt.
Across the arc of the twenty-five years that I have been gathering with women, I have seen so many wonderful women struggle to know their own worth, to acknowledge the miracle of their own incredible gifts. Too many times I have watched my brilliant, wise, funny friend collapse into a sadness so deep that it renders her mute and isolated. I have witnessed a thousand different ways that women deny themselves the gift of grace.
If the feminine is going to rise up and be what the world needs right now, it requires each of us individually to do the rising. We each need to lean into self-love so hard that we remember what we came here to do. And we need to trust that voice of our inner wisdom to tell us how to do it. ..
In the Eye of the Storm https://womenofspiritandfaith.org/
…I am watching the people in my world emerge from the isolation and trauma of our long dance with COVID. They are eating in our local restaurants and shopping along our sunny streets. They are reconnecting with old friends and taking picture of their kids all dressed up for winter formal and celebrating milestones once again. They are smiling and laughing with genuine joy. There is a feeling of relief that is palpable, a collective exhale.
And there is also a haunting awareness that we are resting in the eye of this most recent storm waiting for the next shoes to fall. So much has happened that we are still integrating, so many losses that we are still grieving, so many lessons that we find ourselves still resisting. We seem determined not to notice that there is so much more wreckage yet to come. For the past two years, COVID has been simultaneously a very real problem and a huge distraction from even bigger and more potentially destructive problems. Climate change. Social injustice. Climate change. Systemic racism. Climate change. The collapse of democracy. Climate change. Hatred and divisiveness. We know those dragons are out there; we can hear them breathing in the night.
My firstborn turned 33 this weekend, and I took time to reflect back on my journey with him from a happy infant to a busy toddler to an ocean-loving teen and now a successful hard-working professional who still loves to surf at sunrise. I allowed myself to revisit the breathtaking vulnerability of being a first time mother to such a fragile small human. I observed how it was much easier 33 years ago to ignore the damage we were doing to our Earth and the dangers it would pose for the world in which my babies – and their babies- would live. My parental fears from 33 years ago seem rather quaint in the glare of the fiery breath of today’s dragons….
Winter Solstice 2021: Being the Light https://womenofspiritandfaith.org/
…As we approach the Mid-Winter Solstice in the Northern Hemisphere, we invite you to reflect upon the eternal dance between the Light and the Dark. In this liminal space, we have the opportunity to join a long lineage of ancestors who have celebrated at this same exact time each year. We can learn from the wisdom of the past, a time when humans understood more clearly our tiny part in the cosmic web of life, and the necessity of honoring the Earth and all life.
Such ancient traditions feel even more important at this challenging moment in human history. We live in a world of uncertainty and confusion at a time when voices of negativity and conflict can sometimes seem to be drowning out the messages of light and love and hope; when hatred and division seem to be dominating our political and social agendas. Ugly truths keep coming to the surface; secrets continue to be revealed. Things are falling apart so much faster than we ever imagined, and yet no big solutions appear no matter how desperately we scan the horizon.
We are the ones who have chosen to be here for this time of chaos and disorder and dis-ease — and we are the ones who promised to carry the wisdom of the Divine Feminine and bring Her healing medicine. We are the ones who promised to always stay focused on the frequencies of Light and Love….
She is Hidden in Plain Sight https://womenofspiritandfaith.org/
…Several of us have recently returned from a two week Mary Magdalene pilgrimage in the south of France. Our first week was spent exploring what is known as Pays Cathar (Cathar Country) where in the mid-1200’s the Holy Army of the Roman Catholic Church hunted down and burned at the stake every man, woman and child who refused to recant their Cathar faith. Cathar spirituality was based on an early form of gnostic Christianity probably carried to France by Mary Magdalene, Lazarus and Martha shortly after the crucifixion which focused on the power of love.
When our hearts could take no more of the tragic stories of these gentle people, we soothed ourselves at beautiful Pagan sites nestled in nature and with visits to mysterious Black Madonnas usually kept in the basement crypts of various cathedrals and basilicas. We followed the path of many thousands of pilgrims to pray in the grotto on the side of Mount St. Baume where Mary Magdalene spent the final 30 years of her life in prayer and meditation.
While we are still integrating the powerful experiences from that sacred journey, we are beginning to glimpse one of the big learnings: No matter what horrific actions the patriarchy has taken to silence the feminine – especially the spiritual wisdom of the feminine – She has persisted in ways that are both simple and brilliant. The Divine Feminine has brought her healing medicine across all of human history – from the Chair of Isis where women have come for millennia to pray for fertility; to the rich troubadour tradition whose songs were encoded with secret spiritual messages; to the enduring Provencal Tradition that dictates the region’s wheat will not be harvested until after Magdalene’s Feast Day of July 22. Even our Air France flight served Madeleine cookies as an inflight snack as we flew out of Marseille, the same shell shape often associated with Mary Magdalene in art across the centuries. She is hidden in plain sight everywhere in southern France …. and we suspect you can find her hidden somewhere near you if you have eyes to see and ears to hear….
Saying YES to a New Kind of Collaboration (with Kay Lindahl) https://www.theinterfaithobserver.org/
…Feeling vulnerable and adrift among so many big questions, the two of us recently discovered a potential lifeline in this bit of wisdom posted on social media: “The answer to ‘how’ is YES.”
As we sat with those words and opened to allow the layers of meaning to sink in, we could feel the potential of a new way of being growing from that yes. And we glimpsed that much of the dysfunction of our current world grows from a pattern of leadership and decision-making that is deeply rooted in a culture of no.
For centuries, most of our world has been organized around a ‘dominator’ model of leadership. A handful of people at the top of an organizational chart control the bulk of the power and resources. It seems inevitable that those leaders become territorial about their power. When that happens, the organization (or government or university or corporation) can become driven primarily by a sense of pervasive fear. A culture of scarcity develops, and there seems never enough to go around.
Outsiders cannot be trusted. Innovation is blocked. People who show up with new ideas, resources, or creativity are viewed with suspicion. Are they trying to take over? There is no transparency or permeability. Secrets must be kept closely guarded among the ‘insiders,’ meaning that partnerships with ‘outsiders’ feel vulnerable and dangerous. In dictatorial structures the whole dynamic results in a narrow funnel through which ideas, energy, and creativity must flow. A dysfunctional organization actually deflects grace when a default to no gets built in, and the result is ineffectiveness and stagnation…
The Divine Feminine Emerging, Embodied and Emboldened (with Kay Lindahl) https://interfaith-observer.squarespace.com/
…While all of this sudden attention on women, leadership, and feminine spirituality is exciting, it is important to pause a moment and listen deeply for the heartbeat of the Divine Feminine guiding, informing, and inspiring this complex global movement. The Divine Feminine is indeed rising, despite all the jagged history which repressed Her and despite the reality that women have been offered little legitimate space in which to practice feminine ways of being and doing. She rises in individual women and in the thousands of organizations they have created around the world. She rises as women struggle to bring a different style of leadership – and a new matrix of assumptions and values – to the institutions, initiatives, and corporations which shape our culture. And many believe She rises now on behalf of this troubled planet…
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Encountering Mary Magdalene (with Kay Lindahl) https://www.theinterfaithobserver.org/
…Adjacent to the sacred cave on St. Baume is a monastery founded in 415 CE by John Cassian. A life-size tableau depicts the crucifixion, with Mary Magdalene on her knees in prayer at the feet of Jesus on the center cross. We sat in silent witness of this scene, sharing her deep grief at this horrible loss, this violent death of her Beloved Rabboni (or teacher).
But we also wept for what we know now, that Magdalene did not yet know: that this was only the beginning of a series of profound losses for women and for humanity. The powerful teachings that Jesus shared with her about love and finding the light within would not be carried forward by the male disciples; the church that would emerge would be focused more on fear than love even 2000 years later; and she and other female disciples would not be allowed to teach or preach or lead in that patriarchal religion for many centuries to come…
Poetry
© Kathe Schaaf | All Rights Reserved.
From “Some Things I know to be True” 2005
We must understand this: There will be conversations.
There will be many conversations.
There will be resonant conversations,
fully wired with joy and recognition,
and there will be challenging conversations.
There will be times when fear jumps into the electrical flow
and shorts out the entire system for a moment.
I know this to be true: It is all about the conversation.
From “A Power Such as the World Has Never Known” 2006
We are being called forth
to lead the Earth back to Herself
as we find our way back to our Selves.
As we remember who we are
without fear and without looking in any mirrors …
to know we are worthy
to rise up
to lead.
We must discover this new land
on a solo journey with no maps.
From “Me and You and Mom” 2007
To be a woman and a mother
and a daughter
covers a vast territory
of love and longing,of self and other,
of my skin and your skin,
and a fragile, fragile space
where the boundaries blend.
It requires vast courage
to live in the ambivalence
of that borderless land.
The dragons do know this
and they smile in their sleep
as they dream of smoke and fire.
From ‘Yes’ 2022 https://womenofspiritandfaith.org/yes/
We have been remembering the truth
of what is sacred
of what was sacred
long before men erased all traces of the feminine
from their sacred books and stone temples.
Before they buried the true teachings
deep in the desert sand
and made a false idol of fear
and crafted a vengeful god named Father.
We remember the Great Mother
and She remembers us.
And the sheer persistence of their attacks upon Her
have signaled us that they do indeed know Her true power;
that they do indeed know what it means
that so many of us have left their temples
to return to the Earth for our sacred communion.
We too have persisted.
She too has persisted.
Our stillness and our silence in this birthing chamber
do not mean we have given up.
Oh my. That would be silly and we are anything but silly.
We have turned inward
to recover our deepest sacred wisdom
to connect with ancient truths
and with one another,
to commit ourselves to love and joy and gratitude.
Together we hold space for the birth of a New Earth.
We each carry a thread
of the magic
and the strength
and the faith
that will be required.
This is precisely the moment
and we are the women who said yes.
Random Nuggets from The Divine Feminine Blog
“To the women of my world, I want to say that you are incredible. You are compassionate, intuitive, wise, creative, hard working and strong. Now more than ever, the world needs these gifts from you. Now more than ever, you need to rely upon those qualities to guide you each day in every interaction. Now more than ever, you need to believe in your own power. Do not be frozen in the face of these challenging times. Now more than ever, you need to tap into the energy of hope. You need to use that energy to fuel your action. You need to ground yourself in the deepest faith that we are together in our love for this Earth and her family.”
I have traveled through many stages in my spiritual journey, starting with a childhood of Sunday school, catechism and confirmation in a Wisconsin Synod Lutheran church. As a young adult I was first an agnostic (rejecting the old dogma) and then a seeker and then a New Age explorer. My husband and I raised our children in a Christian church community, where they were almost daily participants in the dynamic youth ministry program. As our kids moved on to college and young adult lives, we both felt free to walk away from the dogma of that church, clarified for us just before the 2008 elections when the pastor reminded us that the Bible was clear about how we should vote on California’s gay marriage initiative. For the past 20 years of my life I have been awakened to the Divine Feminine in Her many forms: Celtic wisdom, Christian mystics, Mary Magdalene and Black Madonnas, indigenous spirituality, Eastern goddesses, feminine archetypes, inclusive language, an evolving Earth-based women’s spirituality. Women of Spirit and Faith has given me the gift of being enfolded in a large community of women from many diverse spiritual perspectives who are re-membering their natural spiritual authority and growing their authentic spiritual leadership. We hunger for a feminine lexicon for the Divine — She, Her, Mother – and a circular pattern of participation to balance the many centuries of patriarchal language and structures.
At a panel at the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women in 2010, I heard a global activist say “It is not enough that we have earned a place at the table. Now we need to change the shape of the table.” Such profound wisdom … experienced as I sat in a large auditorium with all the chairs bolted to the floor in straight rows focused on the ‘experts’ on the stage. I was surrounded by grassroots women leaders from all parts of the world who have pioneered creative programs to address the basic human needs of women and children, and if we had somehow managed to actually “change the shape of the table”, all of those women would have been sitting in small circles; the panels would have been followed by an opportunity to dialogue with one another in those circles; every voice would have been heard; inspiring wisdom would have been exchanged; best practices would have been shared; new relationship would have been birthed; and every woman in the room would have been validated as a leader.
Such is the power of circle.
Staring into the face of these kinds of big changes often has the effect of paralyzing me. Partly, I become frozen with fear. I really don’t want the rhythm of my life to change. I don’t want hard things to happen to me or the people I love. I fear the loss of so much that is familiar and the loss of control. And my paralysis grows more intense because I can’t imagine any action I could possibly take that would bring healing and stability to this world quickly enough – big enough- to make a difference.
This is where my longing steps in to guide me back to center. Like a compass pointing stubbornly toward true north, longing builds in my heart and pulls me into sacred action. My own visions and dreams rise up to inform and inspire me; the powerful magnetic forces of love and hope help me to remember the bigger truths of who I am and why I am here. I do not have all the answers and I do not need them. I just need to focus on what I can do today to follow the call of my own deep longing. I can rise each day to greet the sun, to thank Creator and to offer myself in service. I can ask Divine Mother “How may I serve you today?” and I can listen deeply for the reply. I can remember that everyone I meet is a Divine and sacred being. I can trust in the huge matrix of Divine love that encircles this planet. I can join forces with others who share my passions so that my little action is magnified. I long to believe and I believe in the truth of my longing.
This whole gathering came together using a new model of women’s spiritual leadership: collaborative, with shared leadership, deep listening, diversity, circle processes and a sacred center. The voice of every woman was heard; deep, authentic conversations were anchored in the safety of small circles. Women walked on the Earth in silence, listening to quiet inner voices. A living mandala, art made from nature was co-created. Truths were spoken and hearts were open. The resulting experience was – and often is – fluid and organic, loving and nurturing, informative and evocative, unexpected and powerful.
As the day ended, the loving energy of the day was palpable. One women wrote, “I needed this to reboot my Spirit drive — grateful.” As these remarkable women drifted back to their complicated lives — juggling families, careers, illness, financial challenges, PhD programs, aging parents, life transitions – they were different. That difference matters.
I am reminded of an old Russian proverb shared by a friend years ago: If you ask a bear to dance, you have to be willing to dance until the bear is ready to sit down. I see humanity growing a bit weary and discouraged as we are required to endure yet another round of our dance with an old bear named Patriarchy in our quest for planetary transformation. The bear clings frantically to old patterns and ways of doing things, holding on tightly to the familiar and fighting back fiercely as new paradigms emerge.
At the same time, I am amazed at how quickly transformation is happening. I know so many people working in creative ways to build a world of compassion, cooperation and sustainability; their bright lights connect to create powerful new constellations of hope. I see how the Divine is guiding and nurturing this amazing hive of evolving humanity and am awed every day to witness miracles both large and small. On a deeply personal level, I experience more love and enjoy more profoundly authentic relationships. My intuition is growing stronger and my faith in the Divine Feminine keeps me sane and grounded as I embrace the paradox of these times.
My son will graduate in a few days from Berkeley with a degree in Environmental Science. He called me two years ago and asked me to offer him hope. Everything he was learning seemed to indicate it was too late — too late to stop the chain-reaction of environmental changes that would result in devastation for humanity. He needed a reason to believe change was possible. First I told him to let himself feel his pain – those feelings are valuable and real. And I told him that I did not believe science could offer the solutions he was seeking. I believed that the answers would be found when the women remembered how to do magic. His response was priceless: “That works for me.”
This is what gives me hope: women who combine their spiritual leadership, wisdom and compassion with their radical skill sets and offer it all in sacred service of the Earth and humanity. With such women in the picture, I begin to see a blueprint for Reclaiming the Heart of our Humanity
When women come together in sacred circle, they create islands of knowing in this vast sea of mystery. Each woman carries a fractal of sacred wisdom and when we bring them together, we begin to glimpse pieces of holy ground large enough for us to stand on together to do the big work. It is the spiritual work that women are being called to do now.
Nothing is more important.