One of the ways we can heal times in our lives when our needs were not met is to imagine talking with our younger self and asking what she might like us to do now to meet those needs. Here is an excerpt from my upcoming book, The Bio-Mystical Womb about such a conversation I had recently with my Menarchal self:
My 11 year old self tells me how she wants to celebrate her Menarche
Eyes bright with wonder that someone is listening to her heart’s desire
She asks me to set up the Red Tent amidst the wildflowers and edible weeds
We pull the screen tent out of the back of the van and the great red bag with the collection of red fabrics
Velvet, satin brocade, chiffon, varied shades from vixen red to deep burgundy wine
And her favorite, magenta
We drape the fabrics over mats that press down the knee high grasses and pin them up on the walls of the tent
Creating a billowing patchwork of red
An artists meditation on what this color can evoke
We make a circle of precious stones
Place a statue of Divine Mother I made out of clay in the center
We anoint our brows
The base of our skulls
Our hearts and wombs
With rose ointment
And go inside
We dance, sing songs, no words
Just painting the air with vowels spinning out from the womb
She asks me to spend the whole day in there
With her
The next time I bleed
And tell her stories of Innana’s great boat of Heaven
How Innana’s vulva
Could grow as large as a boat
For her to sail around on.
And how when Innana’s grandfather Enke
Stole her powers once
Her powers to see in the dark
Awaken passion in the heart of her lover with the sound of her whisper
Hear the voices of plants
Usher babies into the world
And dying friends out of it
Peacefully
Her powers to transmit healing energy with her hands, breath, and voice
To heal herself with movement and sound
Her powers to weave webs of connection that surround the whole world
And cultivate mutually nurturing relationships with all beings
Her powers to understand the influence of the sun, moon, and stars on the flow of life here on Earth
To journey to the center of the Earth to replenish and rejuvenate
Her powers to recycle emotional energy back into pure vitality
And see into the soul of any lover, friend, or family member to discover the best ways to relate
Her powers to dance between intimacy and solitude with grace
And connect with her own inner wisdom to guide her through a life of peace and ease
She wants me to tell her what powers Enke couldn’t steal
About the nameless, formless power underneath all the rest
That rises up through the Earth, showing our feet the way
And descends from the sky through the crown of our heads
Guiding our eyes to see the path forward
Our ears to hear the truth
Our mouths to speak that truth clearly
Our noses to smell out lies
Nobody can take these powers from anyone if they don’t let them
Enke had to be tricky to steal the powers he did steal
But Innana is quite tricky too.
She arrived at his house with a delicious feast and great kegs of beer
With loving hands and a laughing voice she fiested him into a drunken slumber
The she hummed a joyful tune as she gathered and stuffed all of her stolen powers
Into her vulva
Which swelled up to become the Boat of Heaven
And she sailed off down the river
When Enke awoke and discovered what had happened
He laughed at his foolishness
He sent his porters down the river after her but knew they would never be able to catch her
We sing more songs to celebrate this story
She tells me she wants to meet me in the Red Tent regularly
Hear more stories
Sing more songs
Watch this wildflower patch change through the seasons
And stuff our powers back into our vulvas
One by one
Until we too could sail off down the river
Too fast and clever for any old grandfather to catch us
Of course, my love, I tell her
That is exactly what we shall do
Sama is the founder of the Womb Centered Healing Temple and is working on her book, The Bio-Mystical Womb as well as an oracle card deck to go with it. You can pre-order your copy of the deck and access a work in progress copy of the book by contributing to the Kickstarter campaign Sama has organized to cover the costs of publishing: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/biomysticalwomb/bio-mystical-womb-oracle-card-deck?ref=project_build