Shakti Woman: Feeling Our Fire, Healing Our World

Snakes have always been known to respond to the magnetic field of the earth and its erratic changes.

But shamans around the world see with direct, penetrating sight and learn things through direct, tactile experience.

I know for myself, in my body-mind, about the signs and omens. They speak to me and I listen. We dialogue. I am relieved not to be alone in the universe.

early people were able to merge with the world of animal spirits and dream helpers, no doubt calling on them through what we would now label vision quest or initiation rites.

One of the joyous reclaimings that accompanies our re-membering is that we get over the insidious fear of the Death Goddess and realize she is only the other face of the Mother.

Arnold Mindell’s concept of the dreambody

Pregnancy and the birthing of children took a central place in the religious observances. The whole community might sing and chant when a woman gave birth or when someone needed healing or when it was that time when all the women bled together. In the course of these religious celebrations and ceremonies

Ancient images of women giving birth have been replaced by the specter of a male doctor “delivering” the woman of her child, and C-section has become a norm in birthing practices in this country.

One of the main observations made about the ancient archaeological figures of women is how sexual they are, pointing us to a way of expression that was both sacred and actively sexual at once.