five things that nourish you.
HEALING THE MOTHER LINE
Until we are able to nurture and mother ourselves we won’t be able to receive the nurturing and mothering that we have been longing for ourselves. The more we look to other people, or the world around us, to fill us up, the longer we will feel undernourished, parched, and like we are running on empty. Are you mothering yourself?
As our planet, our great Mother Earth is starving and crying out for help, so too are we. We all need mothering. And so many of us (your mother included probably) have been starving for it. The planet as a whole when in balance has the capacity to nourish and nurture our every need. As each of us honors our feminine by nourishing and nurturing ourselves, we are able to do the same for others. However, if we stay here in a victim/blame mentality about all the ways our mother didn’t mother us or meet our standards of mothering we will never receive the nourishment that we so deeply crave.
If you didn’t receive the nurturing you needed from your mother, chances are she didn’t receive it from hers, and on and on it goes. Instead of listing all of the ways that she did not meet your needs, choose to meet your own. To treat yourself with the same compassion, love, devotion, and attention that you longed/long for. And while you do it, send some of it to your mother. Because if you need it, perhaps she does too.
The mother–daughter relationship has got to be the most complex of them all. Most women do all they can to resist the fate of ‘ending up like their mothers.’ But for most, the path is inevitable. We must stop blaming the woman who birthed us and instead celebrate that they did. No matter how brilliant or flawed, compassionate or cold, smothering or neglectful, it’s important for us to acknowledge that they were doing the best they could with the tools they had, the times and conditions they were living in, and the mothering that they received themselves.
If we are to heal Mother Earth, we must start with healing the relationship with our own mothers. To acknowledge her sacrifices, to recognize her journey and to open our minds to the possibility that there was a reason that we chose her to birth us into this world.
RISE SISTER RISE
What sacrifices did your mother make for you?
What are you most grateful for about your mother?
What important lessons did she teach you?
What did you yearn for growing up that your
mother was not able to give you?
Why was she not able to give this to you?
How can you give this to yourself?
What do you yearn for from your mother now?
How can you give this to yourself now?
What does your mother yearn for?
If your mother was your child, what would you
want to give her, teach her or say to her?
What strengths does your mother have that you can call upon?
What pattern, way of being, beliefs, or method of survival did/
does your mother have that you choose not to carry forward?
What are you carrying that is not even yours?
What do you need to do to break this chain?
How can you mother yourself?
BREAKING THE CHAIN
Under the title ‘The Strength of My Ancestors,’ list all of the patterns, beliefs, traits, and ways of being from your lineage/family line that you choose to be strengthened by. Under the title ‘Breaking the Chain,’ list all the patterns, beliefs, traits and ways of being that you choose to release because they are no longer necessary or yours to carry.
THE STRENGTH
OF MY ANCESTORS BREAKING THE CHAIN
THE IMPORTANCE OF RITUAL
‘We do not believe in the Goddess – we connect with
Her; through the moon, the stars, the ocean, the Earth,
through trees, animals, through other human beings,
through ourselves. She is here. She is within us all.’
STARHAWK
You do not need to be religious, new aged or witchy to partake in a ritual or ceremony. All you need to be is open to being transformed by it.
A ritual can be as simple as writing down what you are ready to let go of and burning it in the presence of a full moon. It can be whispering your heart’s deepest prayer into a crystal or putting on a music track and dancing to your prayers.
I do a simple ritual every day before I sit down to write.
I start by lighting (fire) some natural incense (earth) in my cauldron (a fireproof bowl), while saying the following prayer from A Course In Miracles (a spiritual text focusing on love, inner peace and forgiveness) invoking whatever spirits, Goddesses, or guides I am working with to write through me on that day. Then I open the door to allow fresh air to fill the room (air) and fill my antique Mother Mary Holy Water chalice with a little bit of water I have from the Chalice Well (water).
Through ritual and ceremony we are in effect taking a moment to recognize and invoke the sacredness of Life. To take the time to mark a transition that has happened, is happening or that we would like to call in. I like using the four elements (earth, air, water, and fire), but you can use one or none.
When we gather in a meaningful open way, our heart and soul can feel it and are nourished in ways unknown to our mind. It is in the sacred space opened in ritual and ceremony that our remembering is deepened and we have the potential to connect with the soul of all things. We allow ourselves to be held by the force that weaves our lives. What happens can be felt but not seen. It cannot be measured except in the stretching of the heart. Each time we enter into a ritual or ceremony, we are connecting with all the people who have ever come together in that sacred way. In the West, ritual and ceremonies have been fading out of our lives but I believe they are making an important comeback.
Before getting married, I made the request to my closest friends that instead of having the classic hen party with splitting headaches and penis straws, I’d much prefer a handful of us come together in ritual (don’t worry, we did the champagne thing too).
The first was in Glastonbury, England as I described earlier. The second was two days before my wedding in Sydney with my friends Jaqui, Amy, Sheila, and Robyn; my mum, and my Nanna Peg.
We had a ball of wool that we passed around the circle, symbolizing the weaving of love, support and wisdom as the seven of us gathered. Passing the ball of wool around the circle, each woman shared stories from their family lineage about marriage.
Jaqui spoke of how her grandfather never stopped adoring her grandmother; even in their old age they would still have G&Ts on the balcony every Friday at 5 p.m. and when looking at each other had that sparkle in their eyes.
Amy spoke of the courage of her nan who, after knowing her husband for only three months, decided to trust her heart, leave Scotland, and board a boat to Australia – a strange and exotic land on the other side of the world.
Sheila spoke of the importance of respect, being flexible, that you can break the cycle, and the importance of not always needing to be right.
Mum spoke of the strength I could draw from so many couples that while enduring so much still found the resolve to stay together through the ups and the downs.
Robyn spoke of the importance of lightness, how to see the funny side of things, and the thin line between extreme emotions such as anger and hysterical laughter – and that at those moments, always choose laughter.
Nanna sat there as the true matriarch, the Crone of the circle. We each listened with open hearts as she did her best to condense almost a century of living into a moment. Whispering stories of famine, war, strong women and men. As she spoke of my mother being born a light filled her face and my own mother visibly softened and started giggling like a little girl, revealing a part of her that I had never ever seen. Nanna had us all in tears. Flitting from story to story stopping occasionally to apologize for speaking for too long. Each of us encouraging her to go on, go on, please go on.
The separation between us faded as we held the wool that had
woven our hearts together. In sharing stories and ourselves we all grow richer.
When Nanna finished, she looked at me directly and said, ‘Becky, you come from a lineage of very resilient men and women. May you feel their strengths in your bones. And may you also feel their faults, of which there were many, because it was their good that allowed them to get through all that too. I hope that your life is much easier than theirs but may you always draw strength from their resolve.’
I felt her words with all of my heart and in that moment understood how I had learned to be such an endurance runner through life. I thanked my ancestors and decided that I didn’t need to keep enduring like they had, but that I could draw on their strength as and when I needed it.
Two days later on my wedding day as I walked up the aisle with these six incredible women by my side, I not only felt them with me but I felt the strength of the men and women who had come before them. As I stepped over the threshold into marriage, it was all the richer as I was armed with their stories, wisdom, strength, and light that I could draw on in challenging times.
All of this from one short hour of my life in the form of ritual.
RISE SISTER RISE
How can you incorporate ritual into your current life?
Sign up to the Rise Sister Rise Sisterhood to receive rituals
and mediations every month www.risesisterrise.com
JOURNEYING TO SACRED PLACES
So many of us are being called back home. To sacred lands that our souls once walked in different shapes and forms. Sent forth to pick up ancient memories and seeds of light planted there. The Earth holds secrets of times past. Do not be surprised if you are led. I see spontaneous pilgrimages in your future.
The veil of silence has been lifted. Her whispers are becoming easier to hear. We must listen with our hands, hear with our hearts and see with our ears, as the veil between the worlds becomes thinner by the hour.
I believe that rocks, trees and crystals store ancient wisdom from long-forgotten times. Times where we knew much more about surviving in harmony with this planet than we do now. Ancient wisdom from getting it right and ancient wisdom from getting it wrong. Crystals from lost periods of history such as Lemuria are rising up through the Earth’s crust all over the planet. As if right on cue for these urgent awakening times.
RISE SISTER RISE:
What part of the world are you being called to journey to?
THE SUPPRESSION OF THE FEMALE VOICE
Just a few hundred years ago I would have been burned at the stake or drowned for the work that I do now. And certainly for writing this book.
So many of us have a deep-seeded memory of these dark times. Memories of persecution for sharing your voice and truth. Ages where it was not safe for us to honor our feminine power, opinion, and capacity to heal.
I’ve seen it time and time again with my clients and students. Women and men with a knowing that there is something that they long to share – whether that be through writing, speaking, working in the healing arts or just stepping up in their current life – coupled with an unshakable and irrational fear to do so. If you relate to this fear of rising up into the work that you came here to do, I want you to know that there has never been a safer time in history for you to do this work. This is the time we have been incarnating for.
You stand on the shoulders of so many.
Feel their strength. Feel their gall.
It’s time to call back your wisdom, to call back your voice. To embody your power and share your unique light with the world. Don’t dim to fit in. Don’t wait until you feel safe before you show the world who you truly are. Do it now. We are waiting for you. As you rise up it makes it easier for your sisters to find you. Those who are just like you. Those who are looking for you too. Across the planet many women are still persecuted for speaking out or expressing their beliefs or desires, but much has changed. It is time now to come out of hiding. If you can’t find the courage to do it for you, do it for those who do not have a voice.
This is the time that we have been training for. It’s time to draw strength from those lifetimes where your voice may have been silenced and life drawn short. It is safe to step out from the sidelines and let your luminance radiate in full. It’s time to release and relinquish all ancient vows of silence taken by you or others. Come out from the sidelines. Be seen. Be heard.
#RISESISTERRISE MANTRA
It is safe for me to release and relinquish all ancient vows
of silence. It’s safe for me to open the front and back of
my heart. It’s safe for me to rise up and do the highest
and boldest version of the work that is calling me.
RISE SISTER RISE
How are you silencing yourself in your current life?
Is there a part of you that is keeping your brightness dimmed?
What is it that you are afraid of?
Are you ready to release any fears you have
around freely sharing your voice?
THE MYSTIC ALWAYS RISES
As she let her soul sing, She let go of lifetimes of silenced
truth missiles cemented in the deepest caverns of her soul.
A voice snubbed out for centuries, for saying too much,
for standing up too much, for being too much.
Her Shakti and wisdom restrained for centuries, but not anymore.
She could not be locked away, muted,
restrained or contained any longer.
Not now. Not ever again.
As she let her spirit move her, She danced right through the flames.
Resentment, anger, and rememberings stomped out with
every blazing convulsion, sway, and kick.
The movement created space for their tears, which flowed deeper than
all of the lakes they were submerged in through all of the ages.
Soothing and healing the burnings that once enveloped her bodies.
All of their bodies. All of our bodies.
Never forgetting, but still rising.
Just as She planned to, just as We planned to.
Sensing Her in the distance, one by one her sisters joined in,
knowing this dance by heart.
Standing taller from all those who came before and
those who chose to come again.
Who had lived the story of Her fall.
now returned to watch Her rise.
Rise Sister Rise.
FINDING MARY
‘I am the first and the last. I am the honoured one and the scorned one.
I am the whore and the holy one. I am the wife and the virgin.
I am the mother and the daughter.’
THE THUNDER, PERFECT MIND
There was something in me that knew there were secrets hiding within names. Words that seemed to be a bunch of letters that could actually be treasures waiting to be discovered. Like an explorer in the 1900s I’ve been known to inquire into and unveil the meaning of names, for each of my clients and, of course, myself.
I discovered that one of the Hebrew meanings for Rebecca is ‘bound’ or ‘to bind.’ It was not until 18 months ago that I truly understood what that meant. The unraveling of this word has resulted in this book. I had always questioned how women were portrayed in the Bible. While most would roll their eyes when it was time to learn about Jesus from the nuns in religious education classes, I experienced feelings of interest and uneasiness. There was something deep in my heart that believed and another part that could not digest what I was being told. So I went on my own Christ journey. Reading lost scriptures, gnostic texts, and channeled material. Discovering Christ energy for myself, the presence of Mother God, the story of Avalon and the Priestesses of Isis, drawing my own theories around the connections with the ancient world of Lemuria (Mu) – the motherland.
I was relaying my journey to my friend Hollie Holden after she had just gotten back from a Holy Land Cruise. Fascinated by her pilgrimage I told her that I felt there was
something hidden in the name Mary. Hollie then shared with me that one of the lesser-known meanings of ‘Mary’ is ‘female Rabi’ (meaning female scholar or teacher, Priestess).
I believe that Mother Mary was a virgin in the ancient sense. A woman one-in-herself. Powerful. A teacher. An initiate of the Essene and Isis mystic schools. An embodiment of Shakti. A Priestess. A sacred vessel and keeper of the grail (the grail is within you).
I believe that Mary Magdalene was not just one woman, rather many High Priestesses (‘Mary’ meaning female teacher, ‘Magdalene’ meaning high tower).
There is so much hidden wisdom, messages, coincidences, and memories waiting for us to unlock at this time. Like the fact that ‘Isis’ is the name of the Egyptian Goddess and the fundamentalist militant group, highlighting the great polarity of our world in current time. The truth is unveiling before us as our consciousness lifts. Just yesterday I made a little discovery of my own. I’ve had this antique French Divine Mother holy water statue on the wall in my office. I fill it with water from the Chalice Well Springs, as a ritual to invoke the Divine Mother as I work. I’ve had it for years but yesterday, as I poured in the sacred water, I saw something that I had not been able to see before. A very small pyramid at the center of the cross. Another Mother Mary statue I have has a crescent moon on it – the symbol the Priestesses of Avalon are thought to have tattooed on their foreheads.
History is dismantling and making way for Hers. It’s time that we disassemble the stories that we have been told about women throughout history, that we stop taking what we are taught as gospel and endeavor to discover our own truths.
RISE SISTER RISE
Are there any hidden secrets in the meaning of your name?
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