About 10 years ago, I went on a Vision Quest.  One of my visions included women in long dark robes and head drapes moving around in a stone portico.  When I recounted the image to my Quest teacher, I referred to the figures as “nuns”.  My teacher suggested they might have been priestesses.

The shift from my traditional Western interpretation to one that is more inclusive was an important one for me.  It caused me to begin thinking, “What is a priestess?”

I still wonder about that.  I have a lot of images of Priestesses, mostly from readings such as The Mists of Avalon, tarot interpretations, etc.  Images of divination and magical powers, flowing robes, and living separately from the world are the primary images I held of Priestesses.

Over the years, I have amended those images.  Primarily, I believe Priestesses hold a lot of wisdom and knowledge, some of which they share and some which they hold within for a more appropriate time.  Their wisdom is their power.  And their wisdom comes from going within and exploring the Mystery of life.

I think that Priestess has much in common with Magician and Sorceress and Shaman in that she listens deeply to her intuition and her spiritual guides in order to better understand the truth.  She creates and teaches with intention.  She helps to focus intention and shift perspective, which – to me – is what magic is really all about.

While “ministering” is usually saved for ordained clergy, I believe that we all minister to others.  And I think Priestesses minister to many.

I had a recent experience at the spring 2010 Womenspirit retreat  in a Healing Circle that was guided by Lisa Michaels. It was a powerful experience for me: I was recovering from a recent hospitalization so I was one of the women in the center receiving healing energy. Lisa, with her loving, shining energy and confidence, led the ritual, calling in many spirit healers. There were other women encircling us, guiding and holding energy. The women were all exquisitely beautiful in the soft glow of candles as they acted as conduits and conductors of healing. I wrote this poem after that experience.

We gathered together,
those needing to receive healing
and those needing to give.

I sat in the center
With five other sisters,
open and receptive,
supported by
sisters, silk, and sacred water.

Energy channelers
formed a powerful ring around us –
one for each of the central six,
flowing among us.

The protective ones
created the outer circle,
holding energy
standing firm
creating a shield.

Priestess in the center,
guiding, calling in
Mother Mary, Roses, the Healing Hathors,
Isis, Quan Yin, Tara, others.
Encouraging everyone
to open and receive,
to let go of grief with sound from
our deepest depths.
Ageless wailing,
Distressing and evocative.

I was nourished,
opened then emptied,
rocked like a baby
and filled up again:
by gratitude
by the vision of
candlelit women
~~ maidens, mothers, crones ~~
who showed up.

Who sat or stood
with strength, grace, and beauty
Healers
Priestesses
Holy women
Giving the selfless gifts
of their time and energy and essence
in support of their sisters.

And the greatest gift of all
(this is the way Spirit works)
is that in blessing us six
they, too, received blessings.

We were all lifted up
By a wondrous web
of connection and sharing.

I struggle with thinking of myself as a Priestess.  It seems such a high aspiration, and I am, well, just me.  Yet I do know that I hold special and sacred abilities, and it doesn’t serve anyone for me to have inappropriate modesty about my role in this world.

So I am going to spend some time learning more about Priestessing… and how to serve my community and this world in doing that.  It will be focused intention, which is a powerful force!

Kate is a multi-media artist, writer, and teacher who is grateful for the opportunities she has to co-create with Spirit and others. You can learn more about her business at www.TheCre8tiveFlow.com and read more of her writings at www.Kate-Stockman.blogspot.com.

Thanks Kate for submitting this beautiful article. If you are called to activate the priest/ess within, there is still time to join one of the upcoming fall Priest/ess Training’s. Home Study Course with Lisa Michaels begins Sept 8, Atlanta Circle with Lisa Michaels Full Weekend Format Begins Sept 11/12, North Georgia Circle One Day Format with Bonnie Salamon and Susan Kersey begins late September. As always we love your comments and insights.

Many blessings, Lisa

Expansion Up & Out Requires Deep & Stable Roots

Anytime you want to be more, have more, or do more, in order to expand up and out in your personal or professional life, you have to develop a deeper stronger and more stable root system. Just like a tree, you are an organic living system comprised of the elemental forces of creation (Earth, Water, Air, Fire, and Spirit).

Each of the elements impact your organic living system and your ability to expand and bring into form any of your dreams and desires. The more consciously you know how to draw on, access, and work with the elements the more effectively you can strengthen your “inner root system” in order to expand and create.

Strengthening your “inner root system” requires something different with each element. With…

Earth you need to deepen your ability to create structure and form for your expansion and creations. They can only be as solid as your capacity to effectively hold and manage them in the physical earthly realm.

Water requires you to enhance your skill at magnetizing your desires by increasing your emotional maturity and learning to run clear, clean, emotional current.

Air calls for you to learn new mental and technological skills and create a more expansive and compelling vision to help you focus your intentions and actions for better results.

Fire asks you to align your actions, life force energy, and passion to fuel your dreams and desires that are for the highest good of everyone concerned and the planet.

Spirit urges you to express your essence more fully and to explore the creative outlets you feel called to bring into form in your personal and professional life.

Learning more about the elements and the ways they ignite your inner gifts and activate your personal power helps you strengthen your inner root system to expand into all you can be.

At Natural Rhythms our mission is to help you do just that. Assisting you to develop and stabilize your inner capacities what we work toward daily. We have two new classes beginning June 16 & 17 that can help you.

For those of you who want to expand your business our Natural Business Success 4 module teleseminar course begins June 16. And if you want to develop the foundational powers of the elements our NR100 Home Study course begins June 17. If you have time for both they very powerfully work hand in hand to reinforce and develop your capacity to work in alignment with the forces of creation.

There are also two more free events this week Expand Your Essential Creative Potential Webinar Sunday June 6 and on June 9 a free teleseminar on Natural Business Success.

Please contact me if you have any questions about either of these potent ways to strengthen your root system and skills.

Many blessings and much natural success, LIsa

]]> http://naturalrhythms.org/2.0/spirit/get-growing/feed/ 2 http://naturalrhythms.org/2.0/spirit/a-compass-and-a-guide/ http://naturalrhythms.org/2.0/spirit/a-compass-and-a-guide/#comments Tue, 13 Apr 2010 14:28:22 +0000 Lisa Michaels http://naturalrhythms.org/2.0/?p=2421

L to R Leslie Clayton, Judy Keating, Cherie Lyon, Paula York, Jeff Craft, Susan Kersey, Bonnie Salamon, Lynette McCormack, Dr. Tammy Huber-Wilkens, Lisa Michaels

When someone is out in the forest with no compass or map, every direction looks almost the same.  Which way do I walk?  Where do I call for guidance? Is it safer to rest or keep walking?

While many of us have clarity about certain areas of our life, it is not uncommon to have specific situations arise where we feel a little lost or stuck.  And there can be times when we feel no clear sense of direction at all.

The Natural Rhythms coaching sessions provide you with the vision and tools to better understand how you found yourself in your current situation, and more importantly how to clear a pathway to begin confidently moving in a clear direction with clear goals in mind.  The Life Purpose Session helps you better understand how you interact with the world and the energies that naturally expression through you.

The Energy Clearing sessions help remove obstacles so you can see more clearly and confidently flow with life. And the Creation sessions empower you to open to your own innate wisdom and personal power so you can bring your authentic passions and visions into reality.

I cannot say enough positive things about how profoundly the Natural Rhythms work has impacted my personal healing, my clarity of vision, as well as my ability to better understand and accept both myself and the people around me. Stepping out of the forest and into the light of my deeper Spiritual Essence has brought me a freedom, confidence and joy which is difficult to put into words. I am so excited to be able to share these tools with others!  What a great gift!
By NR Creation Coach Jeff Craft

It seems like today’s corporate world is full of more transition and change than ever before. And even when we truly desire a change and long to create something new in our lives and in our work we often feel some kind of inner resistance that makes our next steps seem unclear or even impossible. The power to create the lives we are meant to live, begins within each one of us. In Creation Coaching sessions I am honored to hold a container to help my clients to deeply listen themselves into awareness of inner resistance, outdated patterns or mental models that are holding them back. Awareness opens up the choice to release, to shift and to let go, enabling them to choose to step into creating new possibilities for themselves.
By NR Creation Coach Lynette McCormack

I am one of nine recently certified as a Natural Rhythms™ Creation Coach. Accessing the individuated teachings of Earth, Air, Water, Fire and Spirit is a continuous vocation of mine, and thus an ongoing process.

Each of the elements has opened doors inside me some of which were rusted shut, some had the handle soldered off, others open and shut like a back screen door on a windy day.  Thru these incredible gateways to the core of creation, I have gotten to know myself in all my glory and all my shadow.

The beauty of creation is it is what it is and you are what and where you are right here right now. When you access your own inner nature thru the master teachers of creation, you can release, you can remove blocks, and you can decide how you want to re-create your life thru your own divine power.

If you yearn for a place where you can explore your truth want tools and space to see what your  nature and your unique connection to the elements can  do to bring your life into divine alignment, I invite you to work with one of our Creation Coaches. The sessions offered can make an immediate difference for anyone.  If you are curious follow your own  intuitive call  …  contact a Natural Rhythms Creation Coach™ and see where it leads you.
By NR Creation Coach Judy Keating

Between the Sun and the Rainbow …

Lay the road on which I traveled home, Sunday afternoon March 28, from the 6-day intensive Natural Rhythms 300 training, and Natural Rhythms Creation Coaching training.  The depth of feeling about this experience was defying words, and so I just relished in the feelings, allowed the emotions to flow, thought about all the options now opening to me, and was excited to return home to take the first steps on my new path.

Up ahead the sky was darkening, and suddenly, all the Elements began to do an “as within, so without” dance. Rain began to sprinkle, then became a downpour, and out of nowhere, hail pelted my windshield.  All the while, the sun continued to shimmer in my rearview mirror.

Suddenly, a rainbow appeared ahead, faint at first, then becoming stronger and more vibrant.  It seemed to traverse a sunrise to sunset expanse.  Next, a second rainbow appeared, this one closer to me, going all the way to the ground, with individual raindrops visible within the colors.

Then, it happened.  The rainbow laid itself down on the ground directly in front of my car.  As I approached to meet it, it seemed not to move.  I was driving over the rainbow.  The prisms of color remained suspended, a phenomenon that cannot actually happen, so it is said. But, when you are evoking the Elemental Forces of Creation, what was once not possible comes swiftly into focus, and provides the stepping stones for journeys of unimagined depth, joy, and beauty.
By NR Creation Coach Bonnie Salamon

The Natural Rhythms creative coaching training gave me an additional tool that will enhance my clients experience to the elements in their private sessions.  Thank you Lisa for your lens that bring a richness to aligning with natures magic.
By NR Creation Coach Cherie Lyon

Find out more about Creation Coaching

Two weeks ago, I entered the doorway of the beautiful Goddess Temple of Orange County, California. I heard about the temple the week before from a lovely woman, Vajra Ma, sitting next to me on the last day at the Woman of Wisdom Conference in Seattle.

She had also presented at the conference and as we discussed our love of dance and where we were traveling to next we discovered we would both be in Southern California. She told me about the Goddess Temple and her presentation about the Natural Spiritual Authority of Woman. I was thrilled when I realized I could be there.

As I toured the temple, the thing that impacted me the most was the beauty everywhere. There were lovely Goddess meditation rooms, luscious places to sit, and visual representations of the Goddess all around. The temple is a sensual feast for the eyes and soul.

The temple was not only exquisite, it was also well organized and professionally well run.  It is supported by local volunteer temple priestesses who assist with events and temple duties. They have a weekly Sunday service and many other special dances and events.

The temple founder and centerholder, Ava, manages the temple with grace, clarity, and purpose. I was able to spend a few moments talking with her afterwords. One of the things she shared was that she had three different marketing companies take a look at the feasibility of a temple like this being supported in the area and all of them came back with no the area couldn’t support it. However, after their first year they had to move to a larger location, and now after four need more space again.

Clearly the Goddess needs room to spread out, grow, expand, and flourish.

Vajra Ma’s talk was filled with insight, wisdom, and reminders of the innate power woman holds in her creational womb center. She and her  husband Wolfgang founded the Southern Oregon Temple of the Goddess in Grants Pass, (southern) Oregon in spring 2007. It is inspired by and modeled in many ways after Ava’s GTOC.

I came away from the evening so excited and uplifted to see what these amazing women have created. It forms a powerful model for any city.

If you go to the Los Angeles area, you owe it to yourself to take the time to visit this lovely place, The Goddess Temple of Orange County. They have a wonderful list of Other Temples on their website if you are traveling and want to see what else might be in the area.

Last night, as I began writing this blog on the Goddess Temple I opened Iris Stewart’s fabulous book Sacred Woman Sacred Dance right to this paragraph…

“Dances of Goddess energy can be done by anyone of any faith. These dances are not “religious,” as we know the word. They are a method of getting in touch with the flow of grace; they are a movement meditation and opportunity to share in community.”

The Goddess Temple of Orange County embodies this flow of grace and is an inspirational model and a feast for the heart & soul.

Description from TED talks…In this passionate talk, Eve Ensler declares that there is a girl cell in us all — a cell that we have all been taught to suppress. She tells heartfelt stories of girls around the world who have overcome shocking adversity and violence to reveal the astonishing strength of being a girl.

Eve Ensler created the ground-breaking Vagina Monologues, whose success propelled her to found V-Day — a movement to end violence against women and girls everywhere.

Direct Link http://www.ted.com/talks/eve_ensler_embrace_your_inner_girl.html

There was one line in the blog that as I tossed and turned kept surfacing in my mind…Dance is a primary form of worship of the Goddess. I realized as twilight dawned that a part of me, even after 11 years of being a high priestess and facilitating over 30 priest/ess circles, was still afraid of publicly making such a statement.

At each new level of development as I have made my way through the years of being a priestess I have had to clear old fears and internal patterns. Cellular memory runs deep. I have found the years of persecution as patriarchy took over the Goddess temples and imprint of the burning times were layered in my consciousness. And they have gotten released and healed one layer at a time.

Even after so much inner clearing work I found another layer of fear residing around my love of the Divine Feminine, the Goddess. For me she isn’t a replacement for the Divine Masculine or God, I love and appreciate the masculine tremendously. But the Goddess, the Divine Feminine essence, nourishes me as a women differently than the masculine does. She feeds my soul in so many important ways.

Through connecting with her I have found deeper value in my own presence as a woman. I have come to appreciate the feminine force in creation and the ways it shows up in the women and men around me. My body is enlivened as I dance to honor her Divine essence. My inner wisdom and knowing strengthened as I drink from the deep well of the Goddess within.

Today I clear another old layer as I share this with you. If you find this speaks to you take a look at the video blog below I have posted about the Dancing Priestess process starting in two formats in 2010. And soon, I will be blogging about my recent experience in a beautiful Goddess Temple in Southern California.

And whether you are a man or a woman may the essence of the Divine Feminine, the Goddess, bless you and enrich your life with her precious grace.

Illustration by Prescott Hill

For the first time ever there will be a process starting that will help you increase your body’s ability to bring spirit into matter and your consciousness to more fully connect to the Divine. In the Practical Dancing Priestess process you will activate the inner priestess (or charge her more fully) and connect to the sacredness of dance to increase your capacity to channel Divine Essence into your life.

This creates powerful authentic movement to unify the desires and dreams of your spirit in order to manifest them into physical form. Find out more by watching the presentation below…

“We come spinning out of nothingness, scattering stars…the stars form a circle, and in the center we dance.” Rumi, 13th century

Your inner priestess forms the part of your consciousness that directly connects you with the Divine. When activated and practically applied to any area of life or creative pursuit, the priestess within helps you bring Spirit into the physical world. The priestess archetype deepens your ability to fully run the energy of the Divine through the temple of your body and dance in step to the sacred rhythms of nature.

After ten years of facilitating over 30 priest/ess circles, introducing conscious dance in workshop after workshop, presenting a Dance of Creation Convergence last year, and all of this on top of over 20 years of teaching hundreds of young dancers and training dance teachers, I feel it is time for the Dancing Practical Priestess™ Process.

My personal experience with activating the priestess archetype within deepened my ability to fully run the energy of the Divine through my body. Until I did that, I was only able to reach a certain level of connection while dancing; despite years of spiritual development and other metaphysical study (all of which was important in other ways).

The priestess within me has gradually remembered and reconnected to the dancer within, and together they are able to powerfully channel Divine Essence into the physical realm. Additionally, through this type of dance, I find a richer level of guiding insight and energetic movement in my life.

I have found that a Dancing Priestess honors the rhythmic cycles and seasons of nature, and of life. She learns from, and works with, the natural timings of the earth, sun, moon, and stars and dances in step to these sacred rhythms.  She observes, values, and expresses through her movements he relationships between earth and sky, nature, and humanity.

In families and communities, a priestess brings awareness to the way change effects life by creating time and space to honor life passages. She creates dances and ceremonies that recognize the transitions of birth, puberty, a new job, the loss of a job, marriage, divorce, menopause, elderhood, and death.

A priestess may counsel, support, and lead others in a sacred dance during times of crises, transition, healing, and creation. She may assist through by dancing, prayers, meditation, deep listening, or simply being present and bringing awareness and attentive witnessing to a situation.

A dancing priestess brings the sacred into form by connecting to Divine energy in her creative pursuits including dance, art, writing, music, theatre, ceremonies, rituals, and celebrations. She uplifts the community by finding ways to ecstatically dance herself and help others find ways to move.

Deeply connected to her spirituality from the inside out and able to apply it to her daily life, a dancing practical priestess may also be a member of any religion or have connection to none. She may connect to the Divine in nature just as well as in any home, church, synagogue, or temple. As a dancing priestess, she brings the Divine essence through her own body temple and expresses the sacred through her movements.

If you feel drawn to activate your inner dancing practical priestess and powerfully strengthen your connection to the Divine, please plan to join me in either the 5 weekend format or for those who prefer a condensed process (great for travelers), the 5 day intensive format. Sorry guys but these first two are for women only as they are based on feminine movement styles.

Location will be in the Atlanta area. The exact location will be determined once I have a sense of the number of dancers attending.

Download more DancingPriestessInfo here and to register go to http://naturalrhythms.org/2.0/events/.

Download a free web brochure on the Practical Priestess Process.

The body is often referred to as a holy vessel or a temple. Understanding and aligning with Spirit within your body temple can provide you with a clear and direct inner path to the Divine. Hidden among the layers of skin, muscle, blood, and bone resides the creational glue of the universe.

Comprised of the fundamental forces – Earth, Water, Air, Fire, and Spirit – your body provides you with a portal to the core essence of creation. The rich matter that make up your cells flow in harmony with the universe when you honor the forces of the Divine within and dance in time to the rhythmic pulse of cosmos.

Just as an outer world temple becomes enlivened by the prayers of the people within its walls, the Divine within responds to your devotion, reverence, and activation. By dancing your body as you pray to the sacred musical pulse found in the rhythm of the sun, moon, and stars, as well as, your beating heart; you enliven the forces of creation that live inside your body temple.

With rhythmic movement you activate: 1) your earthen physical container. 2) your watery emotional energy. 3) your mental air realm. 4) your fiery life force. 5) your spiritual soul essence expression. When these elements in your body move to the tempo of music, you literally dance your prayers into being.

Without movement and the fiery energy it creates, the physical body temple becomes stagnant and lacks life force. Dance provides an exceptional tool for igniting life force, generating energy,  and activating your prayers.

When you use Fire’s main activity (movement), it teaches you to move your energy, move your body, move your life forward, and move out of situations that don’t serve you. When a level of social change occurs, dance and music generally can be found at the forefront of that change.

In some cultures, people have felt fear around certain types of dance because they perceived them as too radical, different, or promiscuous. For instance, this happened when the dances preformed to waltz, jazz, and rock and roll music were first introduced.

In some cultures, the regulation of dance has been used as a means to control. When people’s  movement  is very limited, their ways of thinking, their life force, power, and ability to  connect to the Divine directly becomes restricted.

If you want to free your thinking, increase your creativity, free a block in your life, or fully enliven your prayers, you literally need to move in new ways. Finding new movements shifts your energy. For this reason, dance has been used to free overly-tight constraints around the physical body, or the way people perceive the world, and bring in new levels of perception.

Dancing your body temple gives you a powerful tool for moving deep issues and energies. Dancing to strongly percussive music with little or no words serves this purpose very effectively. Shamans use the ancient tools of ritual drumming and dance for connecting to the Divine, transforming energy, spiritual journeying, and achieving trance states.

Riding the rhythmic musical wave while dancing moves you into a trance state allowing access to inner realms and awareness not found in your ordinary reality. Dance can be used for increasing personal expression, opening to creative insight, connecting to the Divine within, and accessing deep levels of soul transformation.

From the beating of your own heart drum to the rising and setting of the sun, nature’s elemental forces of creation provide the rhythmic pulse for your sacred dance of life. Dancing your prayers into being and enlivening your life force as you honor the Divine within, forms an entry point for the forces of creation to assist you in bringing grace into every area of your life.

Both the sun and the moon have great points for stepping in. The sun makes points in a solar yearly cycle while the lunar cycle creates a conscious entrance point each month on the new moon. The problem is most of us have forgotten to listen to the celestial music Mother Nature plays so that we can dance in harmony with her rhythms.

If you forgot to listen to the music during the tango you would never be effective or be filled with the feeling of grace. There is something magical that happens when you step in time to the music and coordinate your steps with grace and harmony. When you are in rhythm, an amazing feeling begins to flow inside which uplifts, centers, balances, and energizes you.

The same holds true as you align with the celestial music in the dance of your life more grace enters. You become better able to handle the times when the emotional waters of life may be rough because you learn how to realign yourself and get back in sync with the flow.

In any type of dance, you learn how to do this because you practice. No matter how the previous “phrase or cycle” went you start again. You assess how well you did, evaluate what you can adjust next time then re-center, realign, and start on count one again; practicing over and over until the flow is smooth and grace filled.

When you discover how to hold the creational dance of your life in the same way, you are less frustrated with the outcome of any particular situation. You simply know that you need to evaluate your movements and energy and realign with the music and begin again.

If a dancer gives up their practice in frustration and never goes back to it they miss the magical feeling of grace that enters when the bumpy places are finally smoothed out. They will end up repeating the same inner block throughout life until they learn to move through that energy.

So, if you have tried setting intentions and focusing on creation but feel like you haven’t gotten to your goals or dreams yet; it is time to realign and get back in step. Grace comes from getting in the magical flow of the music and the dance, not from sitting on the side lines waiting. You actually have to be practicing the movements to find the flow.

On January 14, 2010 the celestial music of the moon will be creating a powerful entry point to step into the dance with the first new moon of the decade. If you are ready to practice more or it’s your first time to move consciously onto the creational dance floor of your life you want to begin your preparations now for that amazing time.

Because this is a grounded earthy new moon in a very structured sign, the more you design and consciously form your plan the better.

Start by:
~ Visualizing the next decade.
~ Allow yourself to dream big (not just focus on what you think you can create) imagine the magic of grace is on your side, would your dreams be more expanded?
~ Write down your ideas and plans.

If you feel you need more support for your creational dance you can join me on January 10 for the Capricorn New Moon Preparation Webinar or contact me for a private creation coaching session.

http://naturalrhythms.org/2.0/events/

Many blessings on your dance, Lisa