Sunday, April 12, 2015

Richmond, VA

Merry meet Friends,
Michelle here, bringing lots of love and light!

"Everything in life prepares you for answering the call - yet it seems that nothing you know fits the new challenge - for its very purpose is to bring you to a new realm.  Like the caterpillar wrapped in a chrysalis, you cannot know who you are becoming when the process begins.  It is only in hindsight, looking back from the other side of the transformation, that you finally understand." ~Andrea Judith, Waking the Global Heart

"Somewhere, something, incredible is waiting to be known." ~ Carl Sagan

"On a spiritual level we know we are called to be something for all of existence, however humble it might be.  This calling is like a vital seed.  It waits inside sometimes for decades, and it needs our engagement in order to be lived.
Hints about this calling come to us throughout life though we often ignore them.  We do not realize that these tiny signals point to something larger - a possibility that is unique to us and ours to develop. ... We must not think of these nudges as irrelevant nonsense...They ask us to feel, to engage and to commit to action on behalf of our essence. ...
It is from these depths that we can create beauty and meaning where there was none before.  When our seed longings are nudged and given encouragement...we can feel how everything inside wants to say yes."  ~ Gunilla Norris, Sheltered in the Heart

This morning in the moments before awakening, I had an incredible (at least to me) dream.  I seemed to be at a reunion of some sort with the female alumni from the Seminaries and some women from the Southeast Wise Women Conference.  We were gathered in some sort of arena and in lines, one behind the other.  We bent over from the waist as if we were honoring the woman in front of us.  In the dream this was a ritual we had done in seminary but not in reality.  Then the leaders held hands and skipped over to the arena area.  Each line did the same thing.  We were laughing and crying and free.  I felt so exhilarated and alive.  The energy was high, but it was more than that. There was something primitive and ancient among us women.  I woke up crying.  I miss that sense of unity.

Something is on the horizon.  I sense it in the atmosphere.  For those who are sensitive to the stirrings of Spirit, I know you feel it too.  For most of my life I've known that I wanted to work with women.  I wasn't always sure of the "how".  I used to think that I wanted to minister to survivors of sexual and domestic violence because I'm a survivor.  I joined Safe Harbor, an organization to aid survivors, as a volunteer.  I attended a six (6) week class and worked on many of the teams.  I have spoken at functions about my history.  I loved working with Safe Harbor and I enjoy speaking, as anyone who knows me knows.  Somehow though, it didn't seem to be exactly what I felt was my calling.  I have worked with the homeless population as well and I get the same feeling.  I have earned something valuable from all of my Human Service employment; something that will aid in my passion, I'm sure.  

What is my passion?  I feel called to the empowerment of women. All of the Human Services jobs I have held, empower women, but there are many avenues to that end.  Last week, I extended an invitation to women to join an Affirmation Circle.  It's called Michelle's W.E.B. (Women's Empowerment Brunch).  At the beginning of each month, I will send an affirmation to the women who wish to participate.  We will work on it in any way we choose. On the last Sunday of the month we will meet for a brunch and a discussion of the affirmation. No one has to live in Richmond to join; any one can join the discussion by sending in the findings via email.  The email is michelleswebcircle@gmail.com.  I feel more called , at this time, to empower myself and others in this way.  We do help one another to find our way.  I am finally not allowing fear to control me.  I'm silencing the little voice which tells me: You're not good enough, Who wants to listen to you?  What do you know?

Each time that I've done something the voice become more quiet. My oldest daughter, Zakiya, encouraged me to write this blog and to start my Facebook page.  My youngest daughter, Tiffany, and my friends Rev. Whitney and Rev. Sonya encouraged me to go forward with the W.E.B.  It's a leap of faith to do anything and I feel that some anxiety is normal.  However, in the past I have let fear paralyze me into doing nothing except have an idea.  I am trusting Spirit for the women even if it's only a few. We will empower each other!  I also have been inspired to make an item for purchase which has nothing to do with the circle.  For years, I would make a prototype of something to sell and never move forward.  Fear again.  Fear telling me it wasn't good enough. I'M DOING IT ANYWAY! , for the sheer pleasure of creating and silencing fear (false evidence appearing real) for good!  

I am excited because I feel that I am becoming the person that I was created to be in this lifetime.  My mom used to say that I wouldn't succeed until later in life because I was a Capricorn, the mountain goat trying to climb the mountain.  I held onto that until I had my chart done in the 90's and realized that I am a Sagittarius! It took me years to get over the mentality that I had to be much older before I could succeed.  I sabotaged myself with most ventures. The mind and words are very powerful, extremely.  "Thoughts are prayers, take care in what you're saying", as the song sung in Unity goes.  That's one of the reasons for the affirmation circle. Affirmations are stated in the present tense because it's the truth of the reality of you, even if it doesn't feel like it.  The circle starts May 1st and I am meditating on which affirmation we need and I am anticipating a high energy level.  

Now that I'm employed again, I can pay debts joyfully and be free of that weight.  It is good to earn and have money to do the things that can make you and others happy.  In the words of James Brown, I feel good, I knew that I would now!  So good, so good, Iv'e got you.   

Until next Sunday,
Merry part and merry meet again,
Blessed be,
Gypsi Mama Michelle

3 comments:

  1. Things are seldom sudden because as Oprah says, "God drops pebbles before he drops the brick." There is something to be said about empowering women. We are 50% of the population and yet there are still those who refuse acknowledge our worth and in many ways there is still much to be learned about us - like why is medical research and tests still run on men and applied to women; or why do women still make $.77 for every dollar a man earns despite having equal credentials or why do ailments that plague women begin with masculine pronouns, i.e. menopause, menarche, menstruation or even hysterectomy? Just saying...

    Keep moving forward and enlightening women, et al. With age comes wisdom and you have an abundance of knowledge to impart. That's another thing - we as women always second guess ourselves while our male counterparts are very self-assured, even when they are wrong!

    You're doing great work - just keep on keeping on and keep on living darling.

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  2. If we look at the spiritual, words pertaining to Spirit have the masculine contained within the feminine ie: Goddess contains God, Priestess contains Priest and She contains He and not the other way around. The masculine is within the feminine. We surround and enfold. Something to think about. I enjoy your comments as always.

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    1. I refer the Spiritual way of encapsulating the masculine within the feminine - it places women on a much higher realm than the "men-----" ailments :-)

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