Linda

I had a dream recently... The dream involved me going to a restaurant and wanting to buy this bright turquoise Adirondack chair. The chair was not technically for sale; it was just part of the restaurant’s décor. This was unlike me. To see and claim something I desired and then make moves on the spot to actually get that thing. When I was speaking to the bartender about the chair, he made a remark about my clothing, which was all black. “How long have you been in this dark phase?” he asked playfully, motioning to my outfit with a wave of his hand. “It’s not a phase, I just like black,” I answered, feeling a little miffed and defensive. Then [...]

The Dance Between Internal and External Freedom This is something that has been gestating within me for the last two years, since the Qoya intensive where I wrote a three-card story about connecting with my ancestors, particularly my feminine lineage. What came forward is how I saw them. The women in my family. My female ancestors. I saw them as victims. Victims of their circumstances. They were women who lacked the freedom and the agency to make the choices that I have been privileged and blessed enough to make in my own life. Where to live. Who to marry. Whether to have children. What to do for work. Of course, in many ways, this is true. I DO have significantly [...]

A New Moon Blessing for the women who lead us home. The return of the feminine is the return of moisture. The world of logos grows arid when it lacks the life-giving waters of eros to lend it vitality. This sense of dryness, a certain lack of suppleness and flexibility and depth is often an indicator that we have been living in the land of logos for too long. The masculine world of logic where everything makes good, reasonable sense, and yet fails to move us. too much airnot enough earth too much firenot enough water too much mindnot enough body too much spiritnot enough soul We fly up and out. Away from the earth, away from our bodies, away [...]

I was flipping through The Way of Woman by Helen Luke looking for something completely different, when this quote jumped out at me: “…to reveal ourselves, our thoughts and feelings to someone who does not understand our basic values is not only pointless – it exposes us to invasion by superficial attitudes and literally corrupts or steals away our energy, dissipating it, or imprisoning it, so that we have nothing left to give to the true relationship.” – Helen Luke I found myself whispering that inner “yes!” that happens when we discover something that resonates as truth within us. I like to call this phenomenon Barking Up the Wrong Tree.  By that, I mean continuously approaching people that you know [...]

How Pleasing Is Stifling Your Creativity “…The woman who is virgin, one-in-herself, does what she does – not because of any desire to please, not to be liked, or to be approved, even by herself; not to gain power over another, to catch his interest or love, but because what she does is true.” – Esther Harding from Woman’s Mysteries Sometimes things take time to fully land. Like a rose, they require time to open and reveal their deeper layers. I had such an experience recently; I suddenly realized that my self-expression doesn’t need to please anyone. The monumental part was seeing how, like the quote above, it doesn’t even need to please me. Long ago I had bought into [...]

Why do so many intelligent, heart-centered women lack confidence?  Confidence and Competence... My business mentor shared this article a few weeks back and since then I have told COUNTLESS people about it. A major part of the journey to embodying our inner Wise and Wild Woman is finding our voice, AND embodying the confidence to share that voice with the world. That voice might be your unique creative expression (the theme of this month’s Soul Tending Letter, sign up here to receive it in your inbox), or showing up in your sacred work in a way that bucks societal trends and expectations, or it might simply be speaking your truth to those near and dear to you. Confidence is important. [...]