If you’ve been following the winding path of my blog and videos starting this January, I’ve declared that I’m on a “stay at home” pilgrimage. I’m studying and learning about the sacred feminine. I’m going to continue with this theme until either the enormity of the task does me in (quite possible) or completely overwhelms me (more than likely!) – or until it leads me to…well, who knows? (This is truly a journey into the unknown.) I’ve invited you to come along. Thank you for being here. I hope we’ll all learn something.

Over the Threshold – Together! 

I am privileged to be accompanying eleven heroines on their journey of traveling through my online course, Your Epic Journey of Transformation. Having given up in-person workshops when the pandemic hit, this is the first time (we started this month!) I get to interact with real-life heroines as they explore and process my course (which I developed during the pandemic).

Being with them is rich. It is humbling. It is inspiring (yes, it’s on Zoom – but at least I get to interact with them!) And I am learning so much.

Of course, I’m on a journey, too! 

I tell them that the many exercises in the course are meant to provoke thought. They ask if they can adapt them more to their circumstances. Of course! Not everyone wants to consider what they want to do before they die. (The timeline exercise.) Some, having come close to death, themselves, want most to appreciate today and this very (precious) moment.

These heroines are of all ages. They span from the twenties to the seventies so of course what they want to explore differs. But, that’s the point! Each woman’s journey is her own – unique and personal.

What wants to come up in this woman will be different from what wants to come up in that woman and in that woman. We’re exploring and modifying as needed, customizing to each, as we go. That is as it should be.

I tell them to think of what comes up for them as clues, as breadcrumbs on a path they are following. I suggest they note them as they arise: this stood out for me; that seemed odd… I urge them not to try to understand, but just to pay attention, to notice, and to record. They are on a trail, collecting clues and at some point, when viewed together, they’ll see the significance of what popped out for them – or not!

My Struggle

And I am here, too - on my own path of exploration and to be honest, I’m struggling. I’ve committed to understanding more about what’s meant by the rise of the feminine and the Sacred Feminine and the Return of the Goddess…all these labels for what could be called a movement, an emerging…what? I’m not sure what to call it!

It has been very difficult to wrap my arms around this vast history of the feminine and even more difficult to write about it. I’m not a historian or an anthropologist or a mythologist! It makes sense to call it a pilgrimage, my personal journey of study and research.  

And if I take my own advice about the collection of clues, then maybe I shouldn’t worry about it making sense right now. Or at least I can not beat myself up because I’m not mapping out a clear and concise trail. Rather, right now it seems a trail through the thickets with dense underbrush which can trip me up in a second and take me down paths to nowhere.

 I tell myself: It’s OK, Susanna – you are on to this for a reason. Something has captured you – just follow your intuition.

That’s exactly what I’ve been doing.

It was Margaret Jones, the storyteller, who introduced me to Sharon Blackie, the writer, mythologist, and psychologist. Margaret is a friend who happens to be an excellent Tarot reader and who along with her colleague, Jeanne Fiorini, offers online tours of sacred sites, (which I highly recommend! The one to Petra is beyond amazing!)

I had asked Margaret what books she read and Sharon Blackie was a name she mentioned.  I had never heard of Sharon. 

Now, here is how intuition works on me. It’s a process.

• Sharon’s name stayed in my head.
• Then one day I wrote it down. (Let me be clear. I write down a lot of names – but this one wasn’t going to go away. That’s the thing about my intuition. If it has something for me, it keeps offering it up.)
• So, maybe a month or so later, on another day, I looked her name up online. I saw who she was and what she had written and…
• I purchased one of her books online: The Enchanted Life, Reclaiming the Magic and Wisdom of the Natural World.
• Maybe after a few months after receiving it, (I have a stack of books to read) I picked it up to see what I had purchased.
• Wow! I loved the book. And my intuition was still going strong and led me to...
• I looked up how I could get more of Sharon Blackie and I discovered she had a membership program that included an online course.
• I dove in deep. I signed up.
• As part of the program, I got her newsletter.
• Today, just this morning (in the midst of my struggle of trying to grasp what was going on with the Sacred Feminine) I received an email from Sharon in my inbox: The Post-Heroic Journey, an antidote to the all-conquering Hero. You can read it here. 

Breadcrumb on the Path

Her newsletter gave me a big breadcrumb, a big clue to my struggles. It couldn’t have been more timely!

And isn’t this how a journey works? You’re in the forest. The path is barely visible so you wonder if you’ve lost it. The Goddess? Maybe my struggle is telling me something. Maybe that isn’t where I should turn my focus. And then, this newsletter arrives this morning – all about the eco-heroine, a name I haven’t heard yet.

 The Eco-Heroine’s Journey

This is the path I want to follow and learn more about– from today’s newsletter:

“…we have clearly lost sight of the real ‘crucial mystery’ – which is not man and is not humankind – but rather an understanding of our place in the wider web of life on this beautiful and mysterious Earth. That is the goal of the post-heroic journey, whichever gender you might happen to identify with. It’s a goal on which our future, and the future of the planet, depends.”

And here’s the thing. I know it’s all connected. The Goddess’ role throughout history and Blackie’s eco-heroine. I think maybe they’re very related. Let me know if your intuition leads you to follow the pebbles I left for you in this post. I’ll be writing more in the next few weeks. In the meantime, happy traveling!