I have been immersed in an enlivening deep dive of creative writing exploring the wild sacred feminine. I wrote about my kingship bonds and sacred encounters with wild animals and trees. I also rewrote myths and folktales with shapeshifting women in them. Dialoguing with these women and inviting them to impart their wisdom to me was revelatory. I intended to share pieces her on this blog. But soon I was immersed in the deep archetypal energy of shapeshifting and needed to stay in the creative work at a private, liminal level. This creative poiesis was immeasurably nourishing to me. It gave me the fortitude to feel strong and wise amid the political insanity infecting our society. It also helped me reclaim my soulful vitality after ending a long-term relationship. I am ready now to share this writing with others. I especially feel other women will find it nurturing and empowering. The complete book is titled She Shape Shifts: A Healing Woman’s Bond with the Animate World (available on Amazon).
Here is an excerpt from the introduction to the book:
She. Shape. Shifts.
For the past few years, I have contemplated these words, following their scent, tracking their path. I am a woman who is healing and I am an art therapist who helps other women heal. In the past few years, closing out the 21st century’s first quarter, I have made difficult personal changes while the women I assist as their therapist are also choosing growth. We heal, even as society is becoming alarmingly unstable and combative.
She shape shifts. These three words describe my experience and more. Outwardly, things feel uneasy and disorienting. Inwardly, endings and beginnings arise as I look realistically at my life and make necessary changes.
She shape shifts. This little sentence urges me to make brave choices. My true nature, my aliveness, calls me. Blocked energy must be freed, grief felt, and awe rewoken. Sharper vision and wild strength must be tapped. In all times, challenging or less tumultuous ones, we must live as wildly as we can, else we become lost, captured by illusions, and tamed into submission.
She shape shifts. These words have been a mantra, a spellsong, directions for how to live.
She: Feminine. Female. Woman. Girl. Wife. Daughter. Grandmother. Maiden. Mother. Crone. Goddess. Dryad. Nymph. Vixen. Doe. Mare. Hen. Cow. Sow. She-bear. Bitch. Witch. Miss. Missus. Ms. Lass. Lady. Madame. Queen. Soul-girl. Great Mother. Hag. Midwife. Village Healer. Anima. Divine Feminine. Me.
Shape: Body. Form. Formation. Matter. Figure. Configuration. Structure. Design. State. Frame. Material. Pattern. Mold. Order. Appearance. Substance.
Shifts: Moves. Flows. Ebbs. Changes. Alters. Reconfigures. Transforms. Creates. Reshapes. Fluctuates. Switches gears. Converts. Varies. Increases. Diminishes. Releases. Tightens. Opens. Closes. Softens. Melts. Hardens. Freezes. Quakes. Upheaves. Collapses. Rises. Becomes more. Lessens. Brightens. Dims. Turns directions. Rearranges. Pushes. Pulls. Nudges. Grows. Sprouts. Metamorphosizes.
She shape shifts. She has a body that changes. She grows, ages, goes through life stages. She feels time altering her body and soul. She lives, emotes, feels, senses, breathes, conceives, bleeds, swells, births, hurts, and heals. She affects what she touches. She urges others to wake up, come alive, and be fully present. She recovers from abuse and oppression. She seeks real solutions to real problems. She is impatient with unhealthy behavior. She sees through denial, illusions, and pretense. She sees how things really are, and when life is being harmed, she demands improvement. She embodies change.
I have always tended dual vocations as both a creative writer and therapist. I wrote this book to empower personal change and healing. Yet, I also wrote to honor how “she shape shifts” is an energy that belongs to all women in today’s world. My experience of women’s trauma and our capacity to courageously heal infuses my writing.
She shape shifts. She moves out of shame and into self-compassion and courage. She stops cowering and complying and stands up to defend herself. She soothes her panic and with increasing calm and real courage, she journeys deeper and deeper, into her true self…
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