Chickee - Conversations with the Goddess

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More and more of us are experiencing the Lady in our midst, as Clarissa Pinkola Estes attests in her new book, Untie the Strong Woman: Blessed Mother's Immaculate Love for the Wild Soul. Many of you BH women will remember Estes as the author of Women Who Run with the Wolves, a long-standing NY Times bestseller.

In this excerpt from her book, Estes speaks to those who seek her advice about their personal experiences of the Lady:

"The old-fashioned words [for experiences of the Lady] are appearances and apparitions. But I offer to you and advise you to call them by simpler words. They are visits, as from a great and beloved sister-mother, who comes because of long-standing love and familiarity with you. She comes through the door without knocking in order to deliver some sweet or strong dulces or carnes, sweet bread or meaty nourishments, to you….

"Our Lady grows her strongest roses in the earthy ground where she is most needed -- amongst horns honking, ambulances careening, children crying out alternatively in joy and in pain, all the people groaning and dancing and making love, the complete trochimochi, every which way, of humanity whose singings, sounds, works and actions are part of the exact basis for the harmonious cacophony -- the music of the cosmos.

"You ask, since your visits from her were not calm or decorous like those at Fatima or Lourdes…are your experiences somehow wrong?

"No. No, my hearts, they are not wrong. They are completely righteous. I assure you most definitively that the Beloved One comes in complete calmness to some. … in my experience, more often, she appears in times that are not calm and in clouds of dust that are not particularly picturesque. She comes skidding to a sudden stop in dark cars on even darker gravel roads. She stands in the midst of broken glass at curbs. She walks in every street, stands at every street corner, even those where it seems that, as my grandmother Querida used to say, 'Maybe even God Herself ought be cautious'

"To be a contemplative and follower of Holy Mother, I believe, for you she will appear in myriad ways. She will appear to you as much in the midst of noise, upheaval and times when we feel the sky is falling as when there is peace all around, at least in one's own little universe -- for she is often most present whenever there is most need for order, strength, endurance, a new idea, fierceness, hope and vitality.

"Now, you write that all around you seems often in complete mayhem, and this causes you great sadness. I would agree completely. Our own sorrows seem heavy enough, even when lifted by certain long-term joys. But watching others hurt is the breaker of most any heart. Yet, She is clearly with you, for the kinds of lives we have led would lead many to become thick with cynicism and biting -- and yet, we are still here with our hearts still unruined.

"This is a very good sign.

"Too, I would like to say to you that there is great power in the broken heart. Unlike many aspects of psyche that might close or hide when hurt, the heart broken open stays open.

"Though painful for certain, the heart broken open can be a blessing beyond compare. It not only allows you to see others, it allows you to constantly see her."


Chickee Atalla, author of Conversations with the Goddess: Encounter at Petra, Place of Power
www.conversationswiththegoddess.net
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As we grow older our society gives us mixed messages like:

" You're entering the golden years (meaning: so be happy)."

"You're too old for that (meaning: so don't be foolish)."

"Dress appropriately for your age (meaning: wear gray or black)."

"When I'm an old woman, I shall wear purple (meaning: defy the dress code for old ladies)."

But here's one message I really like:

"You are never too old to have a miracle happen in your life." ~~Marcia Wieder

On a community site devoted to women, I''m calling attention to the words of a male poet. Why? I think Rainer Maria Rilke had a laser level of intuition and close observation that I usually associate with women's innate abilities. I also feel that his verse below sums up so beautifully the vision which the community of BraveHeart Women holds for itself.

You must give birth to your images
for they are the future waiting to be born
Fear not the strangeness that you feel
The future must enter you long before it happens.
Just wait for the birth, for the hour of the new clarity.
~~ Rainer Maria Rilke


Chickee Atalla, author of Conversations with the Goddess: Encounter at Petra, Place of Power
Conversations with the Goddess
Facebook Conversations
GoddessSpeaks on Twitter
www.conversationswiththegoddess.net

Like a mountain whirlwind punishing the oak trees, love shattered my heart. ~~Sappho, c. 610-535 B.C.E.



Chickee Atalla, author
Conversations with the Goddess
Facebook Conversations
GoddessSpeaks on Twitter

It's not what you call me, but what I answer to [that matters]. ~ African proverb

(Italics inserted by me).

What do you answer to?

Chickee Atalla, author
Conversations with the Goddess
Facebook Conversations
GoddessSpeaks on Twitter

Minoan priestess at an altar, fresco painting c. 1500-2000 BC


This thought for the day received a high rate of response on my Facebook page (titled "Conversations with the Goddess"), so I decided to share it as a BHW post:


"Today, I would describe a priestess as a woman who lives in two worlds at once, who perceives life on earth against a backdrop of a vast, timeless, reality." ~Jalaja Bonheim

The image below is a modern artist's imaginative rendering of what a priestess looked like in the past, while the priestess in the Minoan fresco is an image from actual daily life in ancient Crete:




Does your BraveHeart inner priestess resonate to Bonheim's definition?


Chickee Atalla, author
Conversations with the Goddess
Facebook Conversations
GoddessSpeaks on Twitter

“I’ve learned not to put a question mark where God has placed a period, and to never put a period where God has placed a comma.”
~author unknown


Chickee Atalla, author
Conversations with the Goddess
Facebook Conversations
GoddessSpeaks on Twitter

Woman is a beam of the divine Light
She is not the being whom sensual desire takes as its object.
She is Creator, it should be said.
She is not a Creature. ~~Rumi


Chickee Atalla, author
Conversations with the Goddess
Facebook Conversations
GoddessSpeaks on Twitter

New Wings monotype / collage 23 X 31



I thought I heard my name
I was entangled in a false sustainability
I was so accustomed to it that it felt like home to me
I was impassioned but my wings were clipped
by my own self imposed limitations
I thought I was flying but I was really swimming in place

I thought I heard my name
I kept swimming because the landscape of work,
accomplishment, and perseverance were familiar to me
I was making myself love what I no longer loved,
the effort was exhausting
Someone said "The antidote to exhaustion is wholeheartedness."

I thought I heard my name
The door to my heart home was flung wide open and
standing there with new wings to offer me was the
Beloved of my Soul calling my name and saying
"What took you so long? I have been calling you for ages."
"Here, you might need these."

~~Denise Kester


This painting and its accompanying poem were created by a friend, artist Denise Kester, whom I first met at the Jean Houston Mystery School. Denise also teaches art workshops at her studio in Ashland, Oregon. Her website is www.drawingonthedream.com.

Chickee Atalla, author
Conversations with the Goddess
Facebook Conversations
GoddessSpeaks on Twitter

A woman is the full circle. Within her is the power to create, nurture, and transform. A woman knows that nothing can come to fruition without light. Let us call upon woman's voice and woman's heart to guide us in this age of planetary transformation. ~Diane Mariechild


Chickee Atalla, author
Conversations with the Goddess
Facebook Conversations
GoddessSpeaks on Twitter

What would a thirteenth century Persian mystic have to say to Brave Heart women? Well, a lot actually. As a woman I felt the impact of Rumi's words when I first read his poem below:


You suppose you are the trouble
But you are the cure
You suppose that you are the lock on the door
But you are the key that opens it
It's too bad that you want to be someone else
You don't see your own face, your own beauty
Yet, no face is more beautiful than yours.


I offer below my comments on this poem.


You suppose you are the trouble

Starting with the curse pronounced by God on Eve and all womankind after Eve ate the forbiddenapple, we’ve been invited to suppose we are the trouble. Just by being born in a female body, we inherited this primal blame. And we have taken on the mantle of self-blame for so many things that go wrong.

But you are the cure

Now we’re becoming conscious of such mind traps, we’re breaking free from the caged bird phenomenon as we recognize negative limiting beliefs about ourselves.

You suppose that you are the lock on the door

We not only learned self-blame, thus becoming problematic to ourselves, but we also learned to argue for our limitations, rather than for our particular strengths as women.


But you are the key that opens it

We see that we are the key to our own locks. We're undoing old beliefs about ourselves, opening the door to our own potential and power. And we see ourselves as the ones who are the key to opening the cage for others, not just for ourselves.

It's too bad that you want to be someone else

Not so long ago we adopted masculine values because we saw that as the way to move within the larger world, the workplace, and raise our self-worth. Our own powers as women didn’t seem sufficient for moving effectively within that sphere. We didn’t realize there’s an oxytocin highway to wellbeing and prosperity that better suits our feminine nature!

You don't see your own face, your own beauty

Rumi is talking about our original face, the true nature of our being that we brought with us into the world when we were born. For Rumi “your own beauty” means your own uniqueness.

Yet, no face is more beautiful than yours.

We’re now seeing ourselves as beautiful faces, those who bring vision into the world through our authenticity, passion, purpose, and inspired action.

Come to think of it, this whole poem expresses the elevated perception of ourselves that our BraveHeart RISE conference fosters!


Note: The unusual image I chose to accompany this post suggests to me our original face being born from the ocean of Being. What does it suggest to you?

©2011 by Chickee Atalla, author
Conversations with the Goddess
Facebook Conversations
GoddessSpeaks on Twitter

"The Eskimo has fifty-two names for snow because it is important to them. There ought to be as many for love." ~~Margaret Atwood.

What names do you create for love? I just created one, right on the spot: "ahmar." Maybe my name for love will make its way into Webster's dictionary sometime?

After all, other less musical words for love are in the dictionary!

©2011 by Chickee Atalla, author of
Conversations with the Goddess: Encounter at Petra, Place of Power

Conversations with the Goddess
Facebook Conversations
GoddessSpeaks on Twitter

"We give thanks to be alive right NOW.

When we see our situation with evolutionary eyes we discover that the pattern of 13.7 billion years of evolution is a deep design of creation within ourselves, guided by a Cosmic Prime Directive: Create More Intelligent Life.

We discover recurring patterns in the process: Problems are evolutionary drivers. Crises preceed transformation. Nature takes jumps through greater synergy between parts.


Those patterns are evident right now. It is time for collective transformation. It is time for greater synergy between each of us and the greater whole.

In this moment, we are embodying our multi-billion year birth narrative pattern toward higher consciousness, greater freedom and more complex order. We are learning from nature's pattern of selecting for what cooperates best.

Then let us therefore dedicate this July 4th 2011 to learning from and following nature's fabulous design. This is the evolutionary way to "cross the gap" from Here - with breakdowns that can destroy life to There - breakthroughs that can evolve life.

As founders in the United States created the Declaration of Independence in 1776, let us, as peoples of Earth, now envision and commit to creating a global Declaration of Interdependence.

Let us envision celebrating such a Declaration on Dec. 22, 2012 as part of a planetary Birth Day - a day inaugurating a new era in human evolution.

I invite you to join me in activating this vision for a global multi-media event featuring heads of state and citizens from every country, broadcasting in as many languages and cultures as possible. They will all unify in signing this Declaration to mark a new era.

Let us also at that time dedicate the first Planetary Peace Room to be as sophisticated as our war rooms: to scan for, map, connect, and communicate what is working in the world. Let every people and community have their own Peace Room locally, to connect globally.

Through these acts, let us celebrate together human genius, creativity, compassion, and innovation. Let us fulfill our deepest heart's desire to give our unique gifts for the good of the whole family of Earth life and beyond.

Let us commit our life, our fortunes and our sacred honor to build on the greatness of our forebearers to BE THAT KIND OF LEADERSHP NOW."

Barbara Marx Hubbard


Chickee Atalla, author
Conversations with the Goddess
Facebook Conversations
GoddessSpeaks on Twitter

"For most people, compassion is just a word with a definition instead of a feeling with a deep inherent meaning. The kind of compassion that I'm talking about is a spiritual feeling, a vibration, a connection to all that there is. Compassion is a feeling that can only exist when you are present to the whole of your life, to the joy and the difficulties, the wins and the losses, the tough, hard truths.

You must be present to all that you've gone through, both the good times and the bad, the love and the fear, the joy and the misery. You must be present to those times when you were treated like a queen or a
king, when you were honored or someone looked at you with loving eyes. And you must remember the times when you were treated like crap, the times when you were teased, left out, rejected and hurt.

It is only when you are present to all that you been through that a deep compassion develops inside of you -- a well of kindness, gentleness, warmth and understanding -- that allows you the freedom to
stop picking on yourself, to stop abusing yourself, to stop limiting yourself and instead to become a compassionate warrior of love for the little girl, the little boy, the self that has been through so so much
on its journey to become an emotionally whole, happy and loving human being.

This is the self that only came here to love and be loved and found out that life is more than that, the self that discovered that challenges are something we all go through, that imperfections are something we all have, and that heartache and loss are just part of life's journey.

When your heart is fully present to the 7,000 times you were disappointed, hurt, betrayed, abandoned, scared, lost, confused, stuck, helpless, and powerless, your internal abuser -- your
self-violator -- will cease to have to war against itself and yourcompassionate self can pick up the child that you are with a warm, loving embrace and treat them as they deserve to be treated -- with kindness, gentleness, self-respect and love. This is your God-given right!" ~~Debbie Ford

©2011 by Chickee Atalla, author
Conversations with the Goddess
Facebook Conversations
GoddessSpeaks on Twitter

Most of us want to lead a happy life. I know I do, which is why I write blog posts intended to be uplifting. But life sometimes forces us to make a Big Detour – if not a descent. Such has been my experience with my husband’s recent and serious illness.

Like Persephone wandering among the flowers of the fields of life, we may find ourselves suddenly seized against our will and dragged into the underworld. Illness is not just an affliction of the body to be cured with the right medications. Both the sick person and family go through a dark night of the soul. Our simple precepts for cultivating a positive outlook on life don’t seem applicable in this foreign terrain. Yet cross it we must.

In Virginia Woolf’s essay, “On Being Ill,” she says:
“Considering how common illness is, how tremendous the spiritual change that it brings, how astonishing, when the lights of health go down, the undiscovered countries that are then disclosed, what wastes and deserts of the soul a slight attack of influenza brings to view, what precipices in lawns sprinkled with bright flowers a little rise in temperature reveals, what ancient and obdurate oaks are uprooted in us by the act of sickness…it is strange indeed that illness has not taken its place with love and battle and jealousy among the prime themes of literature.”

©2011 by Chickee Atalla, author
Conversations with the Goddess
Facebook Conversations
GoddessSpeaks on Twitter

Gloria Vanderbilt inherited a fortune. Her last name is famous because her ancestor Cornelius Vanderbilt was an entrepreneur who amassed wealth in America's nineteenth century shipping and railroad industry.

Among all the treasures in Gloria's life guess what she said is The Best:

"...that is the best -- to laugh with someone because you both think the same things are funny."


Chickee

©2011 by Chickee Atalla, author
Conversations with the Goddess
Facebook Conversations
GoddessSpeaks on Twitter