Return
to the Divine Feminine Retreat
Himalayan Institute - Honesdale, PA.
June 1 - 4, 2017
Return to the Divine Feminine Retreat was about
transformation. Before leaving for the
retreat, I had felt so strongly the energy of change for this wonderful group
of 23 (including me). I couldn’t
articulate it but change was undoubtedly in the air.
Transformation doesn’t happen overnight. It’s a process. There were a lot of messages of change
throughout the weekend. We had the
beautiful messages of transformation with symbols starting with a rainbow
followed by butterflies, deer, snakes and ending with the luna moth on the very
last night.
For our Retreat Goddesses, transformation happened in four
stages. Return to the Divine Feminine
Retreat was centered on exploring and working with Lunar Medicine. Each day we moved through each of the moon’s
phase to bring us into balance with our physical, spiritual, mental and
emotional being.
On Thursday, we set our intention for the weekend. We worked with the Greek Goddess Artemis –
the huntress…the protector. We stated
what we wanted to receive for ourselves…why we decided to attend the
retreat. Cosmically, we were under the
Waxing Moon. However, this is my
interpretation as to how the weekend unfolded.
For me, this first day is our New Moon phase. The new moon cycle is a time to set your
intentions for what you desire…for what you want to create and bring into your
life at that moment. We vocalized our
intention individually. My
intention for the weekend was to tap into deeper in my soul’s purpose. For validation that I’m listening to the
guidance provided to me by my guides and the Universe and where do I need to
focus at this moment to serve for the highest good of all. We then created a group intention meant to be
carried on after our time together. We
created Our Goddess Creed. This group
exercise was not only a great ice breaker but a chance to talk to each other
and listen to each other to recognize we all have the same wishes and dreams…we
are ONE collectively! This empowering
exercise set the motion for our time together in love and compassion for each
other. We were greeted by a rainbow at
the end of the exercise. Magical
beginning to our sisterhood!
On Friday, we participated in
activities which helped us dig deeper and closer to our truth. The activities were designed to peel another
layer of our false belief system. We
worked with the energy of the Egyptian Goddess Isis…the goddess of magic,
healing and motherhood. The tools we
used were to assist in the healing and growth process. This is our Waxing Moon phase. The waxing moon cycle is about action and
growth. It’s a time where the result
will come about by action. The waxing
moon cycle is a great time to create momentum.
The day’s activities definitely created that momentum in a safe and
loving way for the path of healing.
Sound healing through mantras and the crystal singing bowls played a key
role for this opening of change. We
started the day by moving disharmonious energies through chanting mantras to
Ganesh, the Goddesses and the Sun.
Following mantra there was a yin yoga practice with the crystal singing
bowls. The crystal singing bowls too
help clear unwanted energies on a cellular level and bring us into balance and
harmony. Our Yin Yoga class consisted of a series of long-held, receptive floor
poses for the lower part of the body—the hips, pelvis, inner thighs, lower
spine. Yin Yoga helps strengthen our connective tissues. The lower part of our body is rich in connective
tissues. The poses were held for up to five minutes. Yin Yoga paired with the crystal singing
bowls calms and balances the mind and body; reduces stress and anxiety;
increases circulation; improves flexibility; balances the internal organs; and
improves the flow of chi or prana (life force energy).
An afternoon hike
in the woods was planned to help ground and move the energy through our
physical bodies and hand it over to Mother Earth for transmutation. Being in nature always brings us peace and
joy. We had a visitation from a deer on
the hike.
After the hike, we got together for an Earth savasana –
final rest on Mother Earth. This was a
time where we brought all the morning activities together for release and
clearing. We went around the group for
circle time to share anything we felt called to share. I didn’t have words for what I was
experiencing as our time together unfolded by minute, by hour. The only way I knew how to express my
feelings was to tell them that I wish I can open my heart for them to see the
love I saw and was witnessing within this group. A fellow Goddess Sister shared with me
afterwards that when I had expressed that she had a vision of Hanuman – the Vedic
monkey deity representing devotion, loyalty, leap of faith and selfless
service. The vision of him as depicted
in the scripture, The Ramayana,
of his chest open with his love and devotion to the Divine. I didn’t even connect the dots there…I
embodied Hanuman energy at that moment. I
have been chanting the Hanuman Chalisa ( a 40-verse devotion) for EXACTLY a
year at that very moment in time. Another
magical message supporting my intention!
On Saturday, we were experiencing our Full Moon phase. The full moon cycle is the high tide of power
– where the energy is amplified, juicy and creative. It is a time to release which no longer
serves you. We again, started our day
with mantras to Ganesh, the Goddesses and the Sun to support our day of
embracing our fullness and transformation.
Our morning yoga practice was centered on the snake as a symbol for
transformation. We embraced the energies
of the Dark Goddess, Medusa and the powerful Divine Masculine, Lord Shiva. Embracing our shadow or dark self is crucial
to complete acceptance of us. As humans,
we possess both the dark and light bodies.
But often we suppress the dark side because it’s not an acceptable expression
of us in our society. However, if we
‘make friends’ with our shadow self then we can harness the energy with our
light self and be in communion instead of resistance with our whole being. Lord Shiva is the Master of Yoga and the
Transformer or Destroyer. He too is
depicted with a snake coiled around his neck three times representing the past,
present and future. In the picture
below, Victoria and I are holding an actual snake skin. Hello, Change! We’re ready!
Bring it on!
We honored the Divine Feminine energies of Mother Mary,
Lakshmi, Durga, Kali, Saraswati and Quan Yin along with the Divine Masculine
energies of Jesus and Lord Shiva in the afternoon by creating what I call the
Luna Rose. The Luna Rose is a 54 bead
mala (similar to the 54 bead rosary) with the moonstone gemstone to symbolize
moon medicine. I love all religions and
traditions of the world. I love to honor
God and Goddess energies through prayer or mantra – I’m a chanter. So to bring all prayers in one place is not
only deeply powerful but it also represents unity to me of all people
regardless of their religious background.
WE are ONE! The Luna Rose
consists of Vedic mantras to honor the Moon Goddesses and Lord Shiva along with
the Hail Mary to honor Mother Mary and Glory Be and Our Father to honor Jesus.
The Luna Rose is a beautiful practice to honor both the
Divine Feminine and Divine Masculine uniting two very important religions to me
personally - Christianity and Hinduism.
I have a DEEP divine connection to both religions. It’s my way to honor both together without
separation.
Transformation mantras and practices require movement! We concluded our evening with a fire ceremony
to release what we wish to let go of…which we are ready to say goodbye to…we
did this with dance! What better way to
release unwanted energies stuck in our body? Dance by sacred fire. Fire is the element of change, release and
transmutation. We were unleashing our
inner goddess by singing, dancing, drumming, laughing and making s’mores.
After the sacred fire ritual, my New York Soul Sister, Julie
and I went to pack up my crystal singing bowls.
As I went to pick up my last bag, a green flying thing got my
attention…I had NO idea what it was. I
took a picture of it as it stayed on the glass window until I was able to
capture the picture. Upon returning from
the retreat, we found out – thanks to Google – it is a LUNA moth! Really?
Any more magical symbols from the Universe needed to capture how
WONDERFUL and how DEEPLY nourishing the weekend retreat was. The final message
by the Universe supporting my intention this weekend.
Luna Moths represent change. Most common is an anticipation of change -
either change your life or your life will be changed – active or passive. Whichever
way you prefer but change will occur.
According
to https://exploredeeply.com/live-your-purpose/luna-moth-full-moon-spiritual-significance-of-signs-that-appear-in-our-lives - the Luna Moth may be considered one of the most spiritual
and mystical of animal totems.
To meet one is a special gift, for when she is in her
adult moth stage she only lives for approximately one week. While living
through their adult moth life they do not eat, for they have no mouth. One
might say that their purpose is to reproduce, but I say it is to Love.
They are born, they transform, they love, they die, and
then are again reborn. Their cycles are short, as are our years while we are here.
We are reminded to make the most of our moments and to live and love to the
fullest.
She is most often seen in the evenings, attracted to the
moon and to light. She speaks of our
connection to the Feminine, our inner spirit, and our trust in us.
We learn of the importance to find the balance between
light and dark, the seen and the unseen. She is a reminder that when all
is said and done, our healing and sense of love are the ultimate journey. The
releasing of our past patterning and attachments can very much feel like we are
being torn apart from the inside, a painful death of our very comfortable
caterpillar body, we were used to crawling on the ground and eating our way
through our emotions. Then on the other side of this confusing and gut
wrenching loss of self, we emerge with wet wings, no longer do we crawl, our
legs have been transformed, no longer do we munch our way through life, we fly
almost effortlessly, and sip nectar from the blossoms of flowers.
This is the ascension process of our Highest Self. You
must surrender completely and trust that some intelligence higher than self is
guiding you through this process into complete rebirth and freedom.
Luna Moth Oracle: Protection and success. Face your
inhibitions as this is a time of abundance and success, and you are greatly
protected in all activities.
Luna moths also signify rebirth and new beginnings as
they represent a continuing quest for truth and knowledge, gift of intuition,
psychic perception and heightened awareness. I suppose these things are
associated with “seeing the light”.
On our final day together – our Waning Moon phase – we called in the nurturing and loving energy of Goddess Lakshmi – the Goddess of Abundance, Love, Health, Peace and Fertility. The waning moon cycle is a time of introspection, reflection, slowing down, sitting with your emotions, being vulnerable, and doing less. We had our final gentle yoga practice together. We then had a deeply profound group exercise dividing the women in three groups they felt called to join – the Maiden, the Mother or the Crone. We asked each group to go along the property and gather what symbolized their group and to share their wisdom with the rest of us in our circle time. The wisdom bestowed on us was beyond what my heart and soul could contain. Each group showed deep reflection…showed transformation and growth…showed unity in sisterhood within each other…showed enlightenment. I was in complete awe of what was unfolding in front of my eyes.
We closed out
with circle time filled with tremendous love and soul connection. We laughed and we cried. We established sisterhood – a bond that will
last forever.
Thank you, Universe,
fo
Our united love
and gratitude for Luna, the Moon Goddesses, the Divine Masculine, yoga and
sisterhood connected us and allowed us to be in our authentic self safely for
clearing, healing and growth.
With
gratitude
Peace,
Love and Light to All
Namaste
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