Robyn's Swan Blessing Story - Sacred Vow to Hide the Healer

Far From Home - Morgan Weistling

Today I share Robyn's Swan Blessing past life story of her Vow to Hide the Healer - to not let anyone know who she truly was. This fear of persecution is one of the strongest ties that binds us and stop us from stepping into spiritual and healing work again in our current lifetime. I was very touched by Robyn's courage to face this fear and was thrilled to see her rapid transformation after she released her spirit from this heavy vow. I hope that in the telling of Robyn's own story, it helps those who are also feeling this same fear to realise that this vow is ancient and does not belong with your spirit in this time of change and rise of the Sacred Feminine. I hope it helps you to feel that you are not alone and that you can come out of the shadows and into community with your sisters and brothers again.

Thank you Robyn and we are so happy to see the unveiling of your Wise Medicine here in this world again.

As I looked into the well I became a seven year old girl with long sandy brown hair in plats. All around  was forest. Beautiful majestic trees that were as high as the sky. I  was met by a lady, but could only see her curly, dark auburn red hair.  She was wearing an emerald green cloak made of raw silk. It was stunning and shiny.  I couldn't see her face through the shadow of the hood.  I felt we were mother and child. She beckoned me to follow her and seemed very excited to show me something. We were skipping and running with such excitement and freedom through the forest. 

We came to a clearing in the trees where there were some people in a circle surrounding a fire. They were pagans, all holding hands chanting blessings to the earth. I could see their shapes in white with no defining marks. The only defining vision was a giant rabbit joined in amongst the people, my mother and myself. We joined the circle and began to become one with earth and all the people. We prayed for healing of the world, for peace, for the sick, for all in need. We were healers, shamans and in an age where this belief could have you branded and killed as a witch. 

Suddenly there were screams and men attacking us with sticks, breaking up the circle and beating anyone they could catch. As we fled into the forest they grabbed my mother. They pulled us apart, our arms stretched out for one last chance of touch. I  watched as my mother was carried away screaming and kicking holding her arms out to me. I was crying out for her with no hope.  I had to hide until it was safe to emerge. As I looked up, a hand reached out for me. It was a man who had come to help. He took me to a secret place where we were allowed to be free and safe. We all lived together in harmony with nature and continued to heal. They taught me the ways of nature and how to use the powers that I possessed. 

I grew into a tall, stunning looking woman that walked tall and proud hiding my deep secrets. I  was a healer with such powers that I could heal with a single smile or glance. I had my secret kept deep within, not sharing through fear of being killed.  I healed from afar. I was living in a Scandinavian town on the edge of the forest. Nobody knew who I was, but I had respect. 

When it was time to see my binding I felt a huge rope coil around my entire body much like a snake would strangle their prey. I was bound with this rope with a giant knot in my mouth. The knot represented how I swore to never discuss my secret within. Never to let anyone know I am a healer.  Then my mother was reunited with me to show me I was safe. As she put out her arms for me, a feeling of love and peace shot through my entire body. Then my ropes were cut and they fell to the ground. The young girl was free to talk her truth. No more silence, no more fear, I too am free.

After my blessing the Swan circled above with the sun behind her. She came low enough to pick me up and carry me away.  I embraced her with gratitude for allowing me to take this journey. I felt safe with her as she flew through the perfect sky, then spiraled down and around to land in the dam paddock of my home. A home I can now appreciate and feel settled and safe in from this day forward. 

What an amazing experience. The most interesting guided meditation I have ever done. The emotion that was experienced was so intense inside my heart, but was finally put at peace through this magical healing. Having picked some cards Julia described exactly where I was in my heart. I was feeling trapped with my strong spiritual belief having to remain a secret, through fear of being persecuted, criticized and judged.  At the end of the day, my choice to be who I am truly within my heart was being ignored, leaving me untrue to myself and my life as who I am today. 

I believe more and more in past lives and at times have had some amazing things happen to convince me even more again. I have always had a yearning to be in India. It was a place where one of my many spiritual steps were taken and where I have always felt at home and allowed to embrace spirituality. I have always felt a strong connection to India through family history, past and present, but also in the heart.  In India, people show you respect for your strong belief.  Monks, nuns and Holy men are looked up to and never persecuted. My past lives as a holy being were many and I was loved and respected for who I was. This was making it hard to settle in my own home, a paradise surrounded by nature. A place that people come to enjoy and relax. But for me, no, India felt like home.  For a while now I had the feeling that my beliefs and abilities  should be kept secret, as judgements and criticisms I have had to face from opening my heart to people have felt so unfair. I am not cuckoo or going to hell, I am an amazing being with a lot to share. Life is good! 

So a couple of days pass. I start to see visions of my past again. This time, I recognize my mother. She isn't my maternal mother from this life as I originally thought, she is Judy, healer I bump into on occasion. In my Scandinavian life, Judy is my mother. Judy is also the healer that helped me on a few occasions. She turns up at the right time. A lovely lady I have always felt like I should get to know better, but has never had the chance. First thing the next morning After this visit to Melbourne my family all went to our chiropractor for our regular adjustment. We hadnt seen a single soul in town before entering the clinic. Guess who were the patients before us, Judy and her husband Jack. I hadn't seen them for over 18 months and now I feel its time to get to know them better. I think I have a new teacher. 

Thank you Julia and Tony for helping me find peace. Look forward to another magical experience with you both.  Robyn, 2013

Swan Blessing bookings 

Forest of Life - Marian's Swan Blessing Unbinding of Many Stories

'Catskin' by Arthur Rackham

As well as holding Swan Blessing ceremonies in person, I am now able to offer Swan Sessions by Skype and phone by request from the forest. In these Swan sessions we will journey together to release your spirit from the binding of past life beliefs, vows and sacred oaths to receive the gifts of your ancestral medicine.  

Swan Sessions: by Skype or phone -  one hour $120. 

Please email me to request a time to journey with Swan together. 

Swan Blessing Ceremonies in person in Sherbrooke or Kew, VIC

1.5 hours    $160

Sometimes a seeker will come to journey in Swan Blessing with Tony and I to release a binding belief or promise of the past that unlocks not only one significant past life but many. All of these lifetimes are bound together because the same belief was carried and activated in each incarnation. This happened for Marian. All she had to do was to take that first step into the Forest to meet her own Spirit to begin a shedding of many lifetimes. In our journey, Marian received rapid vision after vision of the past experiences that were needed to release her ancestral medicine. With the shedding of each life, Marian felt lighter and freer until finally she found the new words to call back into her life with joy and trust the medicine of her birthright, the medicine of Healer.

Oceans of love to you Marian, radiant healer, child of the Earth.

Forest of Life.

The beauty of walking in the forest of life. 
It’s a deep place of wisdom, of welcome and soul birds in flight. 
This is where my life was begun. 
Safe and nurtured under the sun. 
Two parents, one daughter. A life full of love.

Stolen away so young.
When, as yet, I did not discern any one.
I hear my mother’s tears.
I hear the pain she now bears.
A life gone.  A life taken.

Soldiers in the smokey haze attacking.
One field, one tree, a hill, a wooden home.
Not my own.  But here I am grown.
Children playing with sun on skin smiling, laughing. Or is it screaming.
In the darkness woman staring. 

Dusty bricks. 
Yellow stone upon stone.
Walls rising up. Soldiers inside. Me out alone.
Yet not alone. 
A child accompanies me down the dirt road.

Who is she?
If only she were my own.
She leads me to a ghost home.
So many empty buildings. What happened here?
This once rich land holds nothing but fear.

Vision of illness and sickness.
Death and dying.
They sent me away to save the living.
Angry father thinks he knows best.
She killed the mother at first breath.

Back to the woods to an Aunt out of favour.
Skilled in an art form that makes her a saviour.
She teaches the ways passed from the ancients.
Guiding and leading. Crafting my healing.
Bark and herbs for the dying and living.

A woodland temple is where I am drawn.
Seeking solace after the beloved Aunt is gone.
It is beautiful, sacred, profound.
A home amongst trees if I give up the purpose for which many women feel bound.
Willing and happy to fulfil my call. I choose to serve the women, children, sick and poor.

Priest, ceremony.  Realisation.
Deceived by men.  An innocent victim.
Held captive, held prisoner for my knowledge and more.
My wisdom, my healing, my spirit, my light.
They’ll change it, they’ll break it, they’ll make it night.

Mad with rage I scream and I holler.
I pull on my life with vicious anger.
I throw myself round till I’m no longer there.
Head bangs, body shudders, blood running through hair.
Lying cold on the floor, face pale, eyes stare.

Always a child. Almost a woman grown.
But, never a mother, never a lover.
And, never a crone.The pledge was made to be alone.
To save the secrets of the soul.

A life gone. A life taken. A healer kept hidden till this incarnation.
A walk in the forest, a walk through life.
Brings forth wisdom, healing and a soul bird in flight.
Goddess of love, of wisdom and light.
Freely to roam now full of life.

Marian, 2013

Final Swan Blessing Ceremony of Gratitude at Beltane

Tony and his drum at the spring

This week has been painful and shattering for many people and I too am feeling the shaking of my old ego in this week of eclipse. We are birthing through the stagnant ideas and beliefs of the past. We are cracking open from the bindings of the old mind. We are becoming the new humane.

Tony and I have spent time visiting the sacred spring on Mt Donna Buang and drumming our gratitude in this week of deep release between the Full and New Moon Eclipses. Our ceremony this friday at Beltane will be the last circle that we hold for many months as we have received instruction to go inward with our medicine and learn how to integrate all of the changes being felt. 

We will still be holding personal sessions in the forest but this will be our last circle and workshop for many months. It will be a circle of gratitude to the Ancestors for all that was shown to us in 2013 and for all that we are preparing to BE. If you feel to join us, there is no need for booking, there will be space for you in this Swan Blessing circle for men and women to journey with the Wild Swan to clear bindings and ties of the past from your Ancestral Medicine and quest to find new ways to express your gifts on this Earth now. We welcome you to join us in giving thanks for all that was, all that is and all that will be.   

Sacred Familiar encaustic oracle: Drumming for the Fire (our oracle is in creation and will be released soon)

Sharon's Swan Blessing - Ancestral Medicine of the Seer and Mystic

Suscipe Me Domine, John Henry Frederick Bacon (1895)

Today I share Sharon's Swan Blessing story of the release of the Vows of Chastity and Poverty taken as a nun in a past life. Sharon felt these vows very keenly in her present life particularly the Vow of Poverty. And there was also something deeper, harder for Sharon to name or understand with her conscious mind. It manifested as a deep fear of rejection, particularly by her family and also a need to hide her true self in belief that to reveal it, would lead to the dreaded outcome of being rejected and outcast, not only from family but from society itself.

As the Swan Blessing opened Sharon's gift of Sight, she saw a lifetime that began with abandonment. She saw herself as a baby being left on a doorstep by parents too young to keep her. She was taken in by a family who did not welcome her as a child of their own but as an unpaid servant. It was a childhood of hard work and of feeling unseen but deep within the child was a knowing that she was somehow meant for greater things. She was a child with a gift to See and communicate with the angelic realms. This secret gift was the only source of solace and joy in her life but when revealed became the source of ridicule, forcing her to run away from the adopted home. Like many female mystics of the past, she entered a religious order in the belief that she would not only be allowed to carry on her spirit communication but that she would be understood and honoured.

To enter the convent she had to take the heavy vows of Chastity and Poverty - vows that meant little to the young girl who was seeking a safe place to share and celebrate her medicine as Seer.  She was again relegated to the duties of servant. Over the years she gradually managed to rise up in rank in the convent but again felt the calling of her medicine, a deep knowing that she was made for deeper and stronger spiritual work and began to slowly reveal her gift of communication with spirit. In thinking that by entering a convent she would be in a place where this gift of direct revelation with spirit would be honoured and accepted she was greatly mistaken. Instead she saw herself experiencing the fate that befell many Medicine Women of the past, she saw herself suffering the greatest of betrayals when her gift was labelled as witchcraft and she was burnt at the stake.

By releasing this story that has bound and held her medicine for lifetimes, Sharon felt enormous release and sense of freedom. She was able to embrace her wisdom again with the gift of knowing that her spirit is pure, her soul is innocent and that she can share her gifts in this lifetime with fearless love.

I Sharon am a Healer. 

Dear Julia,
I just wanted to say thank you so much for yesterday's session. I had an AH-HAH moment in the car on my way home. Now it all makes perfect sense as to what has been going on in my life. 

As I looked into the well and saw that girl aged 15 with her piercing blue eyes and long blond hair, I felt a sense that I was looking at myself from centuries back. When she showed me that she was in a nun's outfit. 

She was such a tough little girl, to be abandoned by her parents when she was a baby, being rejected from her first day of life. Then to be taken in by a family where she never belonged and felt rejected once again, being a maid. Her only solace was talking to her friends the Angels. Then being ridiculed because people thought she was crazy when she told people about her gift. Her only option was to run away.  

She thought that being a nun was her only way of being able to talk to the angels again, but she was made to be an outcast, so she renounced her gift and took on the vows of poverty and chastity and joined the order. Yet she never felt that this was her vocation and when she had risen through the church and decided to once again explore her gifts, she was burnt. 

This all makes sense to me, all my life, I have tried to do everything for my family.I always feared that they would reject me if I did anything wrong, This caused me so much anxiety and I even suffered from depression. 

The vow of poverty resounded so well for me, never being able to have a stable job because I didn't think I belonged anywhere and never giving myself fully to a relationship. This is all about to change. I am reclaiming my freedom and from this day forth I will ensure I lead my life . I am so looking forward to opening myself to the spiritual realm, to explore meaningful career opportunities and to welcome abundance. 

Thank you so much.  

Blessings, Sharon

Thank you Sharon for giving me the gift of accompanying you on the journey to your medicine. Oceans of love to you beautiful Seer, Earth Healer.

Tony and I will hold our last Swan Blessing circle for 2013 at Beltane this Friday evening in a ceremony to honour and thank the Ancestors. This circle is open to both men and women and we welcome you to join us in our forest journey to open our gift of Sight with Swan. Our intention is to honour the Aboriginal ancestral spirit of Australia and to answer the call of Hiraeth - the Soul Call of our Ancestors. We will quest and journey together to seek harmonious ways for us to bring our Ancestral Medicine to this ancient land in a way that benefits all. You will find the details below.

She is walking out of the fires...Mishele's Swan Story

She is walking out of the fires. Her staff which connects her to the land below her and the skies above, reminds her of her Medicine. She wears a conch shell to remind her she is Woman. She carries her basket to collect medicine wherever she goes. She is Medicine Woman. She looks out at the world through the quartz crystal heart she swallowed... Seeing all with Love and Clarity. She holds the ancient sacred herb Desert Sage in her belly, connecting her to All that Was, All that Is and All that Will Be. She is taking Me out of hiding my Medicine. She is whispering into my heart, singing to my feet, calling my memories to awaken. Giving me strength to remember She is I and I am She. We walk into the world sharing our Medicine again. We walk into the world sharing our Medicine again. Dear Julia, After spending the weekend with you and all the sisters in the circle, I feel I Am AWAKE! How can one merely say Thank You for the gift you have given! For the Swan Blessing, the unbinding of Vows that have held me back in this life, introducing me to the Daughters Of The Well. The words Thank You cannot display the deep gratitude I feel, for Teaching me the Medicine of making my own Medicine Doll. For holding the space with so much Love, Compassion, Joy, Wisdom, and your Beautiful Voice to guide us to where we needed to go. For gathering together a circle of Medicine Women, making connections, sharing stories, releasing past life pain, and bringing us back to the present with our Medicine that we may have been hiding due to ancient fears. Julia, my way to honour You and all that you have awakened in me, is to Walk, Dance, Love, Forgive, Laugh, Be the Medicine Woman I Am and Walk that path in Truth and Beauty, sharing with All, as you have shared with All 

What an amazing weekend I had! On the misty Mt Tambourine a circle of women gathered together, and under the gentle Guidance of Julia from Sacred Familiar we journeyed deep into ourselves and our past. Through her Swan Blessings, we released and healed Vows and Bindings we made in a past life, that was stopping us from our full potential in this life. We released our Grandmothers, Mothers, Daughters. We reunited with each other again. We shared our stories in the safe circle that Julia created in a magic place called Grail Haven, sharing in the Blessed Water from the sacred well. I encourage you to look into Grail Haven, it truly is a healing experience. Julia taught us the lost art of making Spirit/Medicine Dolls! Wow!! Having already been gifted one, I knew the power of their medicine, and to make my own was and is a life changing experience! I have learnt so much of myself during this process, and will continue to do so with all the others I will create! Yes! I am addicted! I met Such beautiful women, making connections that are ancient and now present ♥ We drummed and sang (thank you Vicki for teaching us the songs, I sang all the way home on the train) We had fun at the markets, meeting the friendly locals and spreading joy with our open hearts and Dolly's (who came with us sharing their magic to the young and the old, men and women) So many magical experiences, I think I could write a whole book about this one weekend ;-) Oh and I was taken back to when I was a child born from a Gypsy mother and towns man father. I ended up living on my own, in the forest, rejected for who I was, yet still consulted by the villagers for medicine and healing (in secret of course) I bring back with me my essence of the Wild Gypsy Woman, this time, I walk proudly into the world, with my Medicine, I will speak the truth and beauty to all ~ For All ♥ Thank You so much dear Julia and to all the women in the circle Bless You ♥

Mishele, Femmina Unbound on Mt Tamborine, 2013

Violet's Link to Plant and WOmen's Mysteries - Spirit Doll Medicine

Violet - Emily's Spirit Doll

Dear Julia, 

Here is the story of my Violet Medicine Doll... 

On the weekend of the Swan Blessing Spirit Doll workshop I had only recently discovered I was pregnant. I had been keeping this delicious, mysterious secret inside. Only my husband and I knew and we were surprised at how deep and dark the knowledge felt...how wrong it would be to talk about yet. 

I had been sleeping and dreaming a lot and was just starting to get waves of nausea when I woke or during the day when my mind wandered the dreamworld. A lot of my dreams felt heavy and I was having flashes of past life traumas. I started taking walks in the morning by the river to let these feelings flow through me and away. I was drawn again and again to a patch of violets growing in the shade along my walk. Their delicate smell made me feel better, like the flowers understood the important work I was doing and gently supported the secrets within me. So I came to the workshop with these violets, knowing that the doll I made would be a Violet Medicine Doll, one who could travel the darkness of my dreams with me and remind me of the delicate beauty to be found there.
The journey the Swan Blessing took me on was surprising but perfectly synchronised with the energies I've described...

I gaze into the pool and see the face of my other self. She is tall, slim, queenly. She shifts from being black haired and young to silvery and old. Sunshine and moonlight. Masculine and feminine. She is a desert woman, Bedouin.  

She works with the plants of the desert, the ones that bloom in oases in the moonlight, and survive in cracks and crevices and caves. Slow dripping, seeping water underground. Women’s mysteries. 

She sings the song of the desert, she calls these plants into life. She tattoos the journeys and knowledge of her people onto her skin. She bathes in underground pools at night. She is strong, powerful, respected and loved. 

She binds her wisdom when white men arrive to “study” their nomadic way of life. She puts a halt to the growth cycles. She will never share the songlines, the stories. The plants will die and wither away to dust, unnoticed in their secret places. She has forseen the destruction white man will bring so she will not pass her knowledge on to her daughters. She will not burden them with the secrets.
The binding is tight around my waist, my solar plexus. I cannot be true to myself. I cannot reveal the full extent of my wisdom, or pass it on to the baby in my womb. I am withholding, withering inside. I feel sick to my stomach.The sister of the well hands me a knife to cut the binds and I hear my other self begin to sing the desert heart song again. Her wisdom is free and it flows through her, through the desert sands and winds and the moonlight, through my open centre and into my baby. I feel the unfolding of my mysterious violet baby just as the desert plants unfurl and come to life in the secret dark places.Together we will find the balance again of sunshine and moonlight, masculine and feminine, learning and intuition, spirituality and grounding. 

I place seven violets inside my doll for each chakra and a sprinkling of Uluru red earth at her heart and feet to ground us in this land, connect us to our songlines and dreaming tracks. She carries the sacred gum in her medicine pouch. This baby will know the songs of the desert and the ocean, the blinding sun and the darkness. All the polarities. 

The doll dances and sways forward. She knows where she is going and where she is from. The strength and fragility of violets drifts from her like a sweet scent that you almost can’t catch except in your memory.

I am so in awe of the power of the spirit and medicine doll and the journey they take their creators on as they are made that I have begun collecting these journeys as part of our Swan Blessing book. Perhaps there will be so many that they will make a book on their own. I am also researching the history of this ancient ancestral practice of making a doll to help ourselves or someone else heal and it is a beautiful journey of it's own. Thank you Emily for sharing such a precious experience and time in your life, oceans of love to you and your growing tribe. If anyone would like to share their doll and the story of it's making you are welcome to send it to us. 

Our next Spirit Doll workshop: Reclaiming Ancestral Medicine of the Spirit Doll will be held on Saturday 19th October. 

Rachel's Vow to Bind Her Femininity - Released with the Magdalenes

The Artists' Suffrage League

Sometimes before holding group Swan Blessing journeys I worry that there may be a chance that these large dreaming pools are not strong enough to give the journeyers all the answers they need. I worry that without one-on-one assistance as I give in personal Swan Blessing ceremonies, that they may not see as well or that vital clues may be missed. And then when I talk to the participants of these circles, I am always blown away by the clarity and strength of their journeys - journeys that are often very deep and potent. I have come to realise that Swan's medicine will work in any environment that is held as sacred space and that everyone always receives exactly what they need.

At the dreaming pool of Femmina Unbound at the Convent I was eager to hear back from the sisters journeying in such proximity to the site of the Magdalene Laundries. I had a feeling that they may have gone far deeper than ever before. Before I began the group Swan Blessing I was told by Swan to create the intention to ask them to journey to and release the strongest binding belief or promise of the past upon the Sacred Feminine. This is Rachel's story of her journey taken in the presence of the Magdalenes, a cause close to Rachel's own heart. Her's is a potent Swan story of release from the very literal bindings of the past - the beliefs that negated Womens' Wisdom and stopped access to higher education. I believe we are at a very important time when we are being asked to value education but to stop the worship of the educational hierarchies that dominate and control learning and do not honour and teach the valuable ancestral wisdom of intuition and creativity.  We must learn to value both again and understand that wisdom comes from within and cannot be found by climbing a corporate education ladder but by spending time alone, going deeper inside to truly meet yourself. Only then can we come to truly understand our own Ancestral Medicine and how it can best be applied to serve our community and Earth.

"A man appears before me as I gaze into the dark pool at my feet. I have been taken here by the Swan, to uncover what binds me, what I need to reclaim and release from my Spirit's past as part of Feminina Unbound at the Abbotsford Convent on the first day of Spring.
...
A well dressed man in the fashion of the early 19th century, he stands straight and tall, untamable curls peaking out from under his tall hat.  His eyes speak of knowledge and determination, but also betray a hint of something out of place, something deeply hidden.
I see him standing in a grand wood-lined room lecturing to a group of men - lawyers, politicians, academics, men of wealth and means.  Speaking with eloquence and passion, he is arguing for the rights of women, emploring these men to understand the importance of equal rights for all citizens as the new century is born.  They listen, expression ranging from skepticisim to downright mocking on their faces, but they are at least listening for once. 

Later as I watch he strides down a street in a well-to-do area, gas lamps being lit as evening rolls in.  He is nodding acknowledgement to the many people he passes, but he doesn't really 'see' them.  His mind is blank but for a growing sense of anticipation tinged with a slight trace of fear.  For the first time I sense a tightening in his body - from chest to hips - which grows more and more uncomfortable as he walks now.
His chest aches by the time he reaches the door to his home.  Stepping inside it's clear he is a bachelor - the house is furnished well in a strongly masculine style, clean and neat but devoid of any feminine touches.  He forces himself through a precise nightly routine quickly as I sense a strong eagerness to move upstairs.  For the first time I realise that something? someone? is waiting upstairs - this is what he's been waiting for all day.  His 'dirty little secret'?!? 

The sense of binding grows more and more uncomfortable by the moment and the fear and excitement are all consuming.  Quick steps take him up two flights of stairs until he stands before a securely locked door, his heartracing now as he pulls a heavy key from within his waistcoat and opens the solid wooden door and bounds upstairs into the attic.
Striking a match he lights the glass lamp that sits on a small table at the top of the stairs and a soft, feminine room is revealed by the soft glow. Light and beautiful, the room is a stark contrast to the rest of the house.  A hand embroidered quilt covers a bed against one wall, the scent of fresh flowers wafts up as he walks pass a dressing table covered in perfume bottles and makeup pots.  A beautifully carved armoire sits in the far corner next to an ornate full length mirror.  The only masculine piece in the room is an empty valet stand in the corner. 

In quick steps he crosses the floral rug to stand in front of the mirror and begins to undress, hanging each item carefully on the valet.  Only as he removes his starched white shirt do i see a glimpse of bandages covering his whole torso.  The bindings I could feel as he walked are literal!  My mind is filled with childhood visions as the bindings are unwound slowly to reveal the soft feminine curves of the body underneath. A pretty little girl bearing witness from her hiding spot in the corner.  She knows she must remain hidden, but all her instincts tell her to go and protect her Mother who sits sobbing in the palour once again as Father screams at her for spilling his tea..."You stupid, worthless woman!"  

The warmth of the tears running down her face is replaced by the warming heat of the fire in her grandfather's study, where she sits for hours as he discusses with her all manner of things that little girls aren't supposed to know.  Her mind being expanded and tested, her reason and logic being exercised and challenged.  

A first class education is his gift to her despite his son's protestations that "educating women is a waste of money".  But it comes with a price, as she finds only frustration as she steps into the world as a young woman, only to be ignored, overlooked and dismissed as she tries to engage high profile men in meaningful conversation over the rights of women.  But her determination is absolute and she is willing to do whatever is needed to make her stand. 

As the last bandages are wound into a neat roll and placed on the valet she can breath deeply for the first time all day and she looks at her naked body in the mirror.  She has her mother's figure - full hips, a small waist - perfect for the fashions of the day, for the high waisted full skirts that she will never wear. She slips on a luxurious silk robe and moves to the dressing table where she primps and preens in the mirror - anointing herself in the finest of scents and lotions.  Fingers fluffing her hair back into soft curls from where she tried to tame them.  Missing her long locks that her mother used to brush for her each evening before bed. 

She will never wear a beautiful gown and dance with handsome men at a ball. She will have no lover, no husband, no children. Her urges and desires are pushed down, hidden, ignored in the name of the 'greater good'.  Her only indulgence is this hidden room, the only place she can be "her".  In order to fight for the freedom of women, she has had to sacrifice her own femininity."   

Rachel, Femmina Unbound at the Convent 2013

Image chosen by Rachel

Thank you Rachel for sharing this potent Swan story of release from the belief that we could not appear to be feminine and hold our power. I know that in this sharing you have already helped those who read it. I believe that even if we do not carry these bindings personally, we carry the wound in our collective consciousness. How deeply were our own mothers and grandmothers affected? Was this passed through the lineage? It's important to feel into the blood line and clear binding beliefs that are not your own.  

I love that now in her present life, Rachel has embraced the medicine of teaching women in circle in her work through Soul Divine. Rachel is also a gifted Tarot reader and has deep ancestral bonds to the medicine gifted to her by her own ancestors. You can experience Rachel's beautiful 'soul mamma magic' at her circles: Tea by the Hearth. I can heartily recommend her as a guide and holder of sacred space for women. Love to you Rachel and thank you for bringing your medicine to the Magdalenes.  We welcome another Sacred Artisan to this world again: Teacher -  bridging the worlds and creating pathways to women's wisdom. 

** as a side note, the day after reading Rachel's Swan Story, I found this article on the Sworn Virgins of Albania. 

Femmina Unbound - Return of the Medicine WOmen travels to QLD

 

Spiral of Women's Medicine in the Magdalene Laundry

At the centre - sculptures by Lucy Pierce Photos by Kylie 'Ma Bower'

On sunday, the first day of Spring I sat in a medicine circle with sisters from all over Australia who had been called to come and assist the spirits of the women and children of the Magdalene Laundries at Abbotsford Convent here in Melbourne. It was a day I will never forget, a day when we saw right in front of our eyes, the power and healing magic of Women's Medicine.

I believe this is the new way for the Medicine Women. This new medicine way is not concerned with complicated ritual, hierarchy and authority outside of our spirit. Instead, we simply asked for permission. Permission from the Aboriginal ancestors of the land, permission from the Magdalenes themselves and permission from the Grandmothers who we were there to assist the young girls and children home. The new medicine way is actually the ancient medicine way of lovingly bringing intention, focus and simple action to what is in need of love and change. These simple and small drops of love from each of the medicine women given without ego flowed into the large blessing bowl that our gathering created. And this blessing bowl, created by the flesh of our own bodies as we sat in circle became filled with water, a pool of love stronger than any memory of history or binding beliefs.  

There were so many radiant moments on this day but I will never forget the gift of song from all my sisters and the songs that were channeled and gifted especially for this day by Lisa Mitchell and Kaggi Valentine. Lisa opened the circle with her song 'Thank You for Being Here' and I felt it created an opening of all of our hearts - a reminder that we are all innocent and tender at the heart. Kaggi brought the fire into our opened hearts as we stepped into the cold cement building of the actual Magdalene Laundry. And in this space of such previous pain, imprisonment and enforced silence a spontaneous chant began to burst forward leading to drumming and dancing, loud singing. We danced our own freedom dance for the Magdalenes, we sang for the silenced ones, we brought our fire to light that dark place. Here Kaggi began her chant received for the Magdalenes from the ancient women who came from a time way before the distorted beliefs and restrictions that bind the Sacred Feminine in our world now.

Ancient shadows of women spiraling

through the coils of time,

we are part of those women spiraling...

with the song of the land,

and the dance of the moon inside.

Chant received and sung by Kaggi Valentine 

Singing this chant, we proceeded to move down through the convent grounds, we drummed and singing out loud to honour the memory of the Magdelenes publicly to let them know that they did not belong in the shadow and to sing for them in the open sunshine. This beautiful line of singing medicine women snaked through the gardens and the weekend visitors to move through the trees and down to the Yarra River. At this ancient water source, we began our final work of the day - calling from the convent buildings and surroundings any spirits who had stayed too long, who were afraid, who had been forgotten. We called them down to the River, down to the Water, to be embraced by the Grandmothers and guided Home. 

My deepest thanks and gratitude to all of the women who joined us both in body and spirit at this collective healing. What did we do? We did our best. My heart is full to see your radiant return Wise Medicine WOmen.

For all of our sisters living in Queensland I will be opening a new Femmina Unbound dreaming circle for the return of the Medicine WOmen beside the sacred springs of Grail Haven on Mt Tamborine on Saturday 12th October.

Femmina Unbound - Return of the Medicine Women on Mt Tamborine QLD

Lisa Mitchell gifting her song

 

'Going Home' by sculptor, Pauline Clayton outside the convent gates "A tribute to the young women and children/ who have made epic journeys/ to return to home and country."

Swan Blessing Story - The Enchantress Reclaimed

Ruth St. Denis 1910

Today I share a song of a Swan Blessing story by Lucille who reflects on the journey of the Ancestral Medicine of the Sacred Enchantress. In the rise of the Divine Feminine we are hearing our bodies call and sing again. The Swan invites you to know your own true beauty, to live on this incredible earth deeply, to FEEL again. This is Lucille's story, and I honour her for sharing it with us all. May it assist you on your own journey to release past lifetimes of shame, judgement and fear. Sister Swan you are Beauty!

My soul has memories. They have grown over the years. Burnings, vivid recall. Knowings of persecution, fear, judgement and hate. Triggered by images in movies, words of others, people and their looks of scorn. The word Bitch and the word Witch, only one letter separates them. I have oscillated between empowerment, true intuition and denial, depression and self loathing. Why am I this way? Why can I feel what you feel, even when I don’t want to? Why can I sense what you are thinking, even when I don’t care to? 

My Magic is movement, the beauty of my body. The form and the soft caress of my sway. I entice, inspire and engage the senses. I hypnotise you with my hips. My way is truly feminine, my undulations without shame. We dance, we love and we birth, all from the centre of our hips, the seat of our power, the lips of love. The gateway of desire, passion, life and power. 

Once a blessing, often a curse. They way of the enchantress Witch has been a hard way, our power when suppressed and denied, turns dark. It turns ugly and seeps out, from under the door like an angry thick  fog. Black magic, Sorcery. Hate is powerful, my emotions have caused great pain, unto others but most of all unto myself. 

The way of love and light is easy. The way out of the murk, the quick sand that threatens to eat you up is swift and painless. Those who judge me I now hold a mirror to, those who hate me, I now feel compassion for. Those who don’t want to know what I truly live for, can’t see my passion, desire and need for Magic, I let them go.  Those that come to me for healing, that feel called to be released from the shame of their bodies, from deep sensual wounds that have been carried for generations, I say come. Let me hold you, let me heal you, let me see you for the beauty and goodness that you truly are. Divine, Wonderous, Damp and Sexy. Woman.  

Trust your body! You’ll know when its right, because your Pussy will tinkle with delight.  She will bubble up when the flow is perfect, when you intuition says fly. Use her wisdom everyday, in everyway. 

Let’s take our power back, let’s turn the words around. 

Now I say,
I’m Bitchin, when I’m Witchin. 

The Swan Blessing. What can I say? It was when I came home.

Thank you Lucille, beautiful woman! You can invite the enchantress into your own life through Lucille's classes 'Awaken Serpent', enjoy the many riches she has to offer through her website: www.itsladylucille.com.  And visit her brand new store Cobra Culture!