Feminine Power, Alchemy, and the Voice
The White Spring, Glastonbury, England
Alchemy is the process of changing something from one state into another.
It is a process of transformation.
In my work, we are shifting from one way of seeing, thinking, feeling, or being in the world into another.
We don't think our way through this process. We have to actually go in to the body and begin up stuck, calcified habits, tension, and patterns (most of the time we aren't even aware of this stuff at the level of the mind!) and dissolve them through body-based somatic processes.
And the process of alchemy requires heat.
You can't change state without heat. You can't make a cake without an oven. You can mix water, eggs, and flour, but it won't become a cake until you apply heat.
Feminine Alchemy is the same.
It requires walking into the fire and emerging out the other side.
It requires the skill of traversing our inner realms and going right into the heat of what's there: the tender bits, the shadowy bits, the pain, the darkness, and liberating them. Not to fix them or make them go away, but to love them back into wholeness.
The magical Isle of Avalon
Over the summer I went on retreat to Glastonbury where the mythic Isle of Avalon lies. Centuries of mystical feminine wisdom imbues those lands and the waters that bubble up in the Red and White springs from beneath the Tor.
When I found out there was going to be a vocal coach as part of the retreat, I thought, meeehhhh, that sounds a bit frilly and woo. But I was looking forward to the rest of the retreat so I figured I would just float through that part.
WRONG. Haha.
Sweet summer child that I was, I did not realize how alchemical the process of using your voice actually is.
Even though I have been through a nearly 20 year journey, beginning with thyroid cancer at age 26, with my throat chakra and my expression, it somehow didn't occur to me that a vocal coach could bring up so much in the body.
Yeah, I know, lol me.
Having to tone, sing, and use my voice in front of all those people created a LOT of heat & was verrrry alchemical ;)
It ended up being one of the most powerful parts of the retreat.
There is just something so potent about the voice.
It's a sound vibration that can create movement within the body from its reverberation.
It can get things OUT of the body if used as a form of release.
And it has the power to shift and move the world around us.
Our words are such a powerful tool to impact the world and the people around us.
And yet, so many women are afraid to use their voices. To speak up, to say no, to ask for what they want.
The White Spring in Glastonbury bubbles up from beneath the Tor within a dark, candlelit, vaulted temple. It truly feels otherworldly to enter this mystical, cool cavern and step into the freezing cold water.
You can feel the feminine energies in this space. Even though it seems like a watery spring in a dark candlelit cavern would be very soft and yin - it is by no means a gentle feminine energy. It's rather more intensely powerful, even warrioress- like.
At the time I visited, I was actually grappling with power. What does it mean to harness feminine power? How do we exercise power in a way that is creative and generative vs destructive? Is power really for me?
In fact, I had been (and still am, to some extent) struggling with the challenge of wielding feminine power. It often felt like a burden, like I do not want this responsibility.
Somehow it felt like it was choosing me and not the other way around, and I wasn't sure I wanted to be in that relationship!
So it was very fitting to step into this powerful feminine energy field, to be baptized in it, to receive a direct transmission of energetic codes from that place.
I didn't expect to submerge my whole body in the White Spring, but as we stood there in knee deep freezing water, the retreat facilitator said, "I suggest you go all the way, so your head and entire body is under the water."
Even though everything in my body was screaming out that this was too uncomfortable, and I don't think I can do it, I can't stand one more minute standing in this ice bath, much less put my whole head underneath, I went to the deep pool and got in.
When in Rome, right? :D
And as my head went under and I felt the icy darkness close around me, and my body going into high activation, I heard a voice:
Did you think it was going to be easy?
There was no other wisdom, but I knew what it meant.
Doing the work that needs to be done on this planet at this time is a warrior's path.
I truly believe many of us came here at this catalyzing time to do the alchemical work needed to dissolve the pain, trauma, and patterns of generations, and to anchor in new paradigms.
We do this work IN OUR OWN BODIES. It is both excruciatingly personal, and necessarily collective, at the same time.
No one can walk into that metaphorical icy spring for you, you must do it yourself. And we also must come into community in a new way, to find solace and support, and to amplify the impact of the inner journey.
Coming into our full expression and powerfully using our voices is a crucial step.
The potency of what can shift, both within, and out in the world, as a result of using your voice cannot be underestimated!
Truly, this is where so much of your power lies.
If you know deep down that this is a step in your personal journey, then you need to come to my workshop on Sunday - Finding Your Voice: An Embodied Empowerment of Expression and Voice.
We are going to have an alchemical experience, including:
Discovering your true voice and expression beneath the masks and layers of programming & habit
Learn to bring the resonance of your body to your voice and expression
Tap into the power that comes from speaking your deepest truths, desires, and creative impulses
Feel a deep sense of trust in your expression
Bring your voice and expression through the body vs just from the head/throat
Just $55 and there will be NO REPLAYS due to copyright considerations! There's a link below to get in on this magic.
