The Single Biggest Challenge that Women Face Today

Psychic Splitting – The Single Biggest Challenge for Women

Sometimes, a tree can be so damaged by some environmental influence or natural catastrophe that it splits down its center.

A split  tree can sometimes be repaired - and the same holds for our psyches.
A split tree can sometimes be repaired – and the same holds for our psyches. Photo courtesy Chris, from the Gardeningblog.net.

Many women today are like this tree.

A dear friend of mine – let’s call her Jess – had a wonderful affair with an exciting man some years ago. He brought out her sensual, playful, pleasure-loving aspect – her inner Hathor (one of the core power archetypes that each of us has).

She felt free to be laughing and playful with his masculine strength encircling her.

When the man left her, she was devastated. She also went through some financially scary times, as her company downsized and she found herself without a job. Although she had a bequest tiding her over, she was in a very uncomfortable, scary situation.

What she did was to call – almost exclusively – on her inner Emperor (the strongest of her masculine archetypes) in moving forward.

All this makes enormously good sense. In essence, she became her own man.

Many of us adopt this strategy.

Hiding in Our “Emperor-Clothing” – Our Psychic Survival Strategy

When we are stressed, when we are fearful about our survival, we become our own man. We put on masculine “armor” and masculine ways-of-thinking.

Mother Henna writes about her experience of seeing her "pain body" as separate from her "light body."
Mother Henna writes about her experience of seeing her “pain body” as separate from her “light body.”

We may even, as my friend Jess did, take a job that has us dominantly in a masculine role. In Jess’s case, the kind of job that she sought – and the one that she finally took – was an Emperor-style job. It was all about facts and figures, projects and timelines, deliverables and task completions.

For Jess, as for many of us, being an Emperor is being in our “safe” mode.

Many of us remember the childhood fairy tale about the Emperor who was deceived (by his own ego, along with some willing tricksters) into believing that he was fully clothed, when in fact he was naked.

We do something similar, but different.

Instead of going about wearing nothing at all, we clothe ourselves in our Emperor-role. We don this to such an extent that we almost believe that this is who and what we are.

We banish the feminine aspects of ourselves to a deep, dark closet, from whence they are not allowed to emerge.

We think that we are protecting ourselves.

Instead, we create an internal “psychic split” that can be profoundly self-destructive.

The Psychic Split Is the Most Devastating Thing That Women Do to Themselves

I did this psychic split myself, beginning when I was about twelve years old.

{More story will follow.}

Healing Our Split Psyches

Chris, who writes the the Gardening Blog from which the first picture used in this post was taken, describes how to repair the split within a tree. Essentially, he forced the two split parts to join together.

… [after] severe pruning to reduce the weight load of the branch… I temporarily tied the branch up with twine. [Then,] I got out my power drill and bored a hole through the tree at the site of the split. Then I … found some large brass bolts, these were perfect. I put a large bolt through the hole and secured it.

I then drilled another hole a few inches above the split and put a longer bolt through there, … and I used a wrench to tighten nuts on both.

So what do we do to heal the psychic split in ourselves?

Obviously, we can’t just bore a hole in our psyches and use a couple of brass bolts and nuts to force our “feminine selves” and “masculine selves” back together.

But let’s look at Chris’s three steps.

  • Lighten the load. Way too often, we make huge demands on ourselves; on our time, our energy, our resources. Our first step in healing is to lighten the load as much as possible; at home, at work, at outside commitments, and even in our expectations of ourselves. Healing is hard work. It will require our own time and energy.
  • Make a temporary fix.
  • Force the two “selves” to come together.

Kabbalistic Wisdom for Healing Our Inner Psychic Wounds

It might be no surprise to realize that for millenia, both men and women have been dealing with this issue.

In fact, the Kabbalah teaches us that on our personal evolution, we go through three major journeys. In the first of these, we encounter and develop each of our six core power archetypes. Each of these is very strong; each wants to have the “deciding voice” in governing our lives.

How do we handle this?

Nike, the Winged Goddess of Victory.
Nike, the Winged Goddess of Victory.

We invoke (cultivate, and develop) a sort of “super-archetype” – the Winged Goddess.

{more on the Winged Goddess to follow}

 

 

 

 

The Chariot (Major Arcana Card VII) refers not just to victory, but to uniting opposing forces.
The Chariot (Major Arcana Card VII) refers not just to victory, but to uniting opposing forces.

http://fullmoontarot.blogspot.com/2011/04/card-of-week-chariot.html

Belly Dance – A Physical Pathway to Promote Inner Healing

Oriental dance (aka belly dance) is a valuable means by which we women can encourage our own inner healing.

{more on dance as a healing and integration pathway to follow}

There are just three physical practices devoted to mind/body healing and integration: yoga (literally meaning “union”), T’ai Ch’i Chuan, and Oriental dance. And while T’ai Ch’i is a wonderful art, it is fundamentally a martial art – appealing to those who are oriented towards Mars, the god of war.

For a more feminine orientation, we need a more feminine art. This is the role of Oriental dance, or belly dance, for many women today.


Alay'nya - author of "Unveiling: The Inner Journey"
Alay’nya – author of Unveiling: The Inner Journey

Very best wishes as you use Oriental dance (belly dance) to heal and integrate all aspects of who you are!

Yours in dance –

Alay’nya
Author of Unveiling: The Inner Journey
You are the Jewel in the Heart of the Lotus. Become the Jewel!

Founder and Artistic Director, The Alay’nya Studio
Bellydance a courtesan would envy!

Check out Alay’nya’s YouTube Channel
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P.S. What can you read that will help you understand yourself more?

Julie Marie Rahm, America’s Mindset Mechanic

Check out Julie Marie Rahm!

Julie Marie Rahm, America’s Mindset Mechanic and author of Handle Everything: Eight Tools You Need to Live Well and Prosper and also Military Kids Speak (great for parents, teachers, and coaches of military kids) uses a great technique that can help you clear energy blockages, ranging from those from this life through the influence of your ancestral karma. Connect with Julie at info (at) americasmindsetmechanic (dot) com to learn more about how she can help you.

Books by Julie Marie Rahm, America’s Mindset Mechanic

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Julie Marie Rahm, aka America’s Mindset Mechanic on Unveiling: The Inner Journey

What does Julie Rahm, America’s Mindset Mechanic and author of Handle Everything: Eight Tools You Need to Live Well and Prosper have to say about Unveiling: The Inner Journey?

Julie writes:

Alay’nya takes readers on an adventure of the body, mind, and spirit from the inside out, strengthening each independently from the other and aligning all three in support of each other. And then, the adventure continues as readers learn how to create the physical environment that supports and reflects the body, mind and spirit, from personal style to the home and office. Each chapter finishes with Personal Pathworking exercises. When readers choose to stop and do the exercises, opportunities for instant positive changes result.

Read this and more reviews of Unveiling: The Inner Journey.

 

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Related Posts: Emotional Healing Through Belly Dance

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