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I first met Kamila when my daughter and I visited her exhibition at the Escape rooms, Newport in 2019. We were both impressed, not just by the stunning character portraits captured in Kamila’s photography, but also by the diverse stories that were brought together under the simple and powerful umbrella term ‘Women of Newport’.
As a Wellness & Life Coach, one of my passions is to support and coach women to open up to their own excellence and power in order to effect positive change in their lives and in the lives of their families, communities and society. More than ever, the world needs the balance and creativity that are among the characteristics of feminine energy. Jean Houston, founder of The Human Potential Movement, reminds us that women hold the key to a new reality that has a different paradigm to that of men by ‘Valuing process over product, relationship over power, empathy over rationality, and interconnection over individuality’
While masculine and feminine lie within each of us, there is evidence of a much needed rise in feminine energy. For a long time, the masculine energy has been dominant and the result is separation and fear. Now is the time for moving into the feminine, restoring community and care, where men and women work together in total respect.
This respect for the Divine Feminine was highlighted recently in a conversation I heard between Wisdom-Keeper, Illarion Merculieff and Mythologist Michael Maede. The traditional story Michael told about ‘The woman who weaved the World’ holds such wisdom and relevance to these changing times that I thought to share it with you:
There is a place nearby where all the knowledge we need is housed if only we’d go there. That place is a cave- The Womb of the Earth. The cave is nearby but no one ever finds it these days. If you did find it, what you would see is an old woman who is weaving the most beautiful garment you have ever seen. She’s old and she’s tired and she’s down to weaving the hem. She’s going to weave it with porcupine quills and, in order to weave it, she has to flatten the quills with her teeth. She’s been doing it for so long that she’s worn her teeth to the gums but still she keeps on weaving the quills into the garment and, every once in a while, she has to stop and go to the back of the cave.
In the back of the cave there is a fire that some say is the most ancient thing on earth and, hanging over the fire is a cauldron and in the cauldron are the seeds of all the plants and all the trees and all the bushes and trees and all things that grow on the earth. Now, if the old woman doesn’t go back and stir the cauldron, all the seeds will burn and we will have no nature. So, she puts down the garment and goes to the back of the cave and, because she’s old and tired and has been working for a very long time, she moves slowly. And as she slowly goes back to stir the cauldron, the black dog gets up from where it was resting and goes over to where the beautiful garment is lying on the floor of the cave. The black dog sees a loose thread and begins to pull on the thread and it keeps pulling until it has unwoven the entire beautiful garment that the old woman’s been working on for so long. And when the old woman comes back, she stands there and she sees the beautiful garment turned into a chaotic mess on the floor.
Now, stories don’t tell us how to feel- we bring the feelings to the story. It just says she stops for a minute but we don’t know how she feels- we can just imagine it… She sits down and sees a loose thread and picks it up.. then she has a vision even more beautiful than the one before and she starts again…
That’s the end of the story and some people say ‘Damn that black dog’. But if the black dog hadn’t unravelled the garment, the old lady would have finished it to perfection. The elders say be careful what you wish for, for when something is over, perfect, done- then it’s dead. Be thankful for what unravels in your life because it creates the opening for a new vision to come in.
The big story is that, currently much of the world is unravelling and it’s up to us to find our thread and vision so that we can start weaving together to re-create the world we aspire to live in’
Herein lies our role- the role of women. The Wisdom-Keeper reminds us of the sacredness of the ‘Womb at the centre of the earth’ a place of creation and creativity. It is said that the identical fields of energy of this centre can be found in every woman’s womb.
This is a time where we women can choose. We can choose to stay in the fear and isolation that has become woven into the COVID-19 story or to shift into creativity and community that encourages us to turn challenges into opportunities. I firmly believe that, when we get together in Sisterhood, women supporting women, we can bring about great change and, collectively, create and hold that sacred space for something new and beautiful to be birthed.
As I read through the articles written by other members, I am inspired by the energy, the commitment, curiosity and courage of their words and I am excited to be taking this journey with them and the growing community of Women of Newport. We will be joining with millions of other women around the world and be encouraged by visionaries such as Jean Houston, to move forward in confidence:
‘We are at the centre of the nervous system of present history – creating a new story’
This is our time to create a story that our children and grandchildren will be proud to tell as they enjoy the fruits of cooperation, collaboration and conscious living in a world where sharing, caring and sustainability are the norm. We are all threads in this Divine tapestry. How we weave together creates our future design. We are not ignorant to the current injustices and suffering in the world and do whatever is in our power, individually and collectively, to bring about justice and change. Alongside of this, the focus of our feminine energy stays strong and steady on the creation of a new and inspiring story.
Philomena
