Breathe Love & Magic

The Witch Wound continues to exist today. It resides in the collective unconscious and shows up even in our modern, more accepting culture. The suppression of the divine feminine is still strong, but it is changing. You can be a part of this shift, when you choose to heal this wound. How To Recognize Signs of the Witch Wound Because of this wound, many women keep themselves small, unwilling to stand out or be seen. It can appear as perfectionism, fear of starting something new, or an unwillingness to speak your truth among others manifestations. In this fan favorite episode, you’ll learn about the origin of the word “witch.” I trace it back through history and explain how this continues to be an undercurrent running through many women’s lives. For some people, this exists only on the unconscious level which was true for me until last year. You’ll hear about a few of my past lives filled with trauma due to being a witch, an herbalist, and more where I was persecuted and more. And I’ve only recently become aware of these past live traumas. The good news is now that I know, I can do the healing work. Then I’ll share six, simple methods to start your healing process and become free of the unspoken restrictions and possible trauma. These methods have helped me tremendously. You deserve to shine, be seen, and heard. It’s time to step up, remember and claim your power, and live to your full potential, at whatever level you desire. Be the strong, empowered magical being you are meant to be! There’s no better time than Halloween to get started. Read the original blog post here. The post Can You Heal The Witch Wound? appeared first on Intuitive Edge.

On a girl trip 45 minutes from home, the car starts shaking and the check engine light flashes. What can we do? We took practical and woo woo action including Reiki energy. Here’s what happened and how things worked out. A Fun Getaway to Newburyport My cousin Rebecca and I went to college together, and made friends with Michelle. The three of us had been friends for a long time. Rebecca asked if I wanted to go north of Boston to visit Michelle, and I said, “Sure, sounds like a fun getaway.” We had a happy reunion and some lunch, and then Rebecca really wanted to go to the beach in Newburyport. If you’ve ever been there, it’s such a beautiful place, and the town is so New England, adorable. The temperature was only in the 50s, but the three of us climbed over the dunes and plopped down our sand chairs. We had on our winter coats on and I put my feet in the sand. For 90 minutes we enjoyed the sunshine, even though it was cold and windy. Then the sun went behind the dunes, I was in the shade, and we all felt cold and done. Check Engine Light on Sunday Night We left there, went to the town center, and wandered through the little shops. Then headed back to the car to make our dinner reservation. Rebecca turns on the engine and the car starts shaking. Not a lot, but certainly not normal. And boop, the check engine light goes on. Here we are in a car with the check engine light on, 45 minutes from Michelle’s house on a Sunday night. Nervous and not sure what to do, we decided to go to the restaurant. There we’d chat about the situation over dinner and figure it out. What a plan. First, the Practical Stuff Rebecca called her husband, who asked her some good questions. I called mine. He doesn’t work as a mechanic, but he’s done a lot of mechanical stuff and works on his own vehicles. He said it could be the spark plugs or the engine misfiring misfiring. Then Rebecca remembered her neighbor is a mechanic. He answered the phone and told us, like my husband, that a check engine light does not mean your car is going to blow up. Phew! His advice was to drive back to Michelle’s, and as long as the car wasn’t overheating and we had enough oil and gas. A mechanic could put the computer on it in the morning if we could find one. Angels, Prayers, and Reiki Energy to the Rescue Before we left, I was the first one at the restaurant door, and a thought came to me. What if I call in our angels? Not just my angels, but everybody’s, because we needed all the help we could get. Next, Rebecca showed up and asked, “Do you think we should pray?” None of us are religious, but at a time like this, yeah, prayer works for me. Then Michelle arrived at the door ready to go with her fingers crossed on both hands as her contribution. We laughed. Out in the cold by the car, I had another thought. I’m going to do Reiki on the engine. I drew the Reiki symbol for clearance right on the hood. I know people who swear by Reiki and say you can fix appliances with it. A car is just a big appliance, right? At that point I was ready to try anything, because I didn’t want to be stranded on a Sunday night in the cold waiting for a tow truck. What Is Reiki Energy? If you’re wondering what Reiki Energy is, here’s the quick version. It’s a Japanese energy practice that started by Mikao Usui in the early 1900s. The idea is that there’s a universal life force energy all around us, and a Reiki practitioner allows the energy flow through their hands to a person, or a pet, or a plant, or, yes equipment, like a car. The session is quite relaxing and it’s even offered in some hospitals for this reason. Reiki does balance the body’s energy and promote healing. As a practitioner, you are attuned by a Reiki Master Teacher so can share the energy with other from just a few inches above them, or even long distance. So…Did Reiki Energy Really Repair the Car? We got in, Rebecca turned the key, and the car seemed fine. The check engine light was still on, but that has to be manually reset. We made it all the way to Michelle’s, 45 minutes with no problems at all. Wow. That was a miracle. The next morning, Rebecca and I drove the two hours back to Connecticut, and the car did not shake once. No triple A, no weirdness, no need to freak out. So was it the Reiki energy? The angels? The prayers? The finger crossing? Or maybe everything altogether? I don’t know. I will confess I’ve done Reiki on other items that weren’t working like my computer printer and my washing machine.  Crazy as this seems, so far, it’s always worked. I told my friend Marla this story and I discovered she had her own story about Reiki energy and a car! She had a  car that wouldn’t start until she tried Reiki energy on it. It worked for her too. She told me not to discount the idea that Reiki could work this way! Why Not Rely on the Woo Woo Too? You definitely want to call a mechanic, or whoever can help in your situation. Take the practical obvious steps first. But why not also ask for help from spirit? What if you reached out to your spirit guides, your angels, or your loved ones who have passed on and say, “Hey, I need some help over here?” There is nothing wrong with that – they want to help us. But you have to remember to ask. To me, this is just as practical as the earthly stuff. Why not put everything practical, earthly, and spiritual, heavenly, all on board? Can I promise this will fix your car? No, but it certainly won’t hurt. FAQs What is reiki energy? Reiki energy is a universal life force that practitioners channel through their hands. The practice began in Japan in the early 1900s with Mikao Usui and is used for relaxation and balance. It can be done with hands on, a few inches above, or from a distance, and some people send it to pets, plants, and appliances. Can you really do Reiki on objects like cars or appliances? Plenty of people swear by it. Reiki has been known to work on a variety of appliances when they have small issues. Whether it works is hard to say, and there’s no promise it will work for you. However, sending reiki energy to something that’s not working costs nothing. How do you know when to call an expert or try the woo woo approach? You don’t have to pick one. Call the expert whenever there’s a practical step to take, and ask for spiritual help at the same time. For example, a car breakdown can include calls to a mechanic and requests to angels and prayers. Practical action is always appropriate, and spirit is a welcome addition. Your Turn Have you ever asked for help from the other side for something completely ordinary, like a broken car or a printer that won’t work? What happened? I’d love to hear your story, so leave it in the comments. I’ll be sure to read every one. This might even make a fun follow up episode. Until next time, be sure to breathe love and magic whenever you can. The post Did Reiki Really Repair Our Car? A Girl Trip Story appeared first on Intuitive Edge.

Soul mates are souls you choose to have a close and important relationship with before you’re born. A soul mate might be a romantic partner, a close friend or a family member, and you likely have several. Some soul mate relationships last a lifetime. Others run their course, and a few end and then find their way back together later. This post will help you sort out which path you’re on and how to make peace with your choice. A Soul Mate Story & Past Life Reading Have you ever had a soul mate connection and wondered if it was meant to last forever? One of my clients wanted a past life reading focused on her relationship with her husband. They were living apart, but she had a strong desire to restart their relationship and move back into their home with him. I saw many past lives with her and her husband. What struck me was they were both men in those lives, fighting side by side. They were swashbuckling pirates in the Caribbean, fought in the ancient Roman army, and battled in the Crusades. In other words, they were used to fighting together life after life. Funny thing is, my client said they loved to watch movies with sword fights. That cracked me up. The problem was they fought like crazy with each other. Nothing physical, but terrible screaming matches that sucked the life force out of her. They slept in separate rooms, and she had taken to loading her bed with books and clothes so there was only room for her. This was a protective action. Yet, she still loved him and wanted to reconcile. In this lifetime, her soul contract with him was different. She came to this incarnation to learn how to let go of her need to fight. Her husband would never break things off with her. She did all the breaking up. I explained that it was up to her to choose not to fight, and that’s the reason she was here now. She struggled with this idea and wasn’t sure she was ready to let go. That was her challenge and her choice to make. Learn more about having a past life reading What Is a Soul Mate? If you believe in reincarnation, then you believe you will have more than one life on earth. In between lives, maybe you go to heaven or some other plane of existence. While there you are learning in spirit, and after a while you decide you want to try earth school again. Okay, you might forget how hard things are here, right? A soul mate is a soul you choose to for an important relationship. They might be your romantic partner, but it’s not limited to love. It could also be a close friend or a family member. Before you come back, you create a life plan that includes not only the lessons you want to learn but also who you want to learn those lessons with. This is where the soul contract comes in. A soul contract is a spiritual agreement you make with another soul before you are born. You can read more in my post on soul contract meaning. Do Soul Mates Last a Lifetime? Some contracts are lifelong, but not all of them. Your parents will always be your parents, good or bad. Your lovers and friends might come and go. Not all soul mate relationships are for life. Sometimes a soul enters your life for a few months to be a catalyst and encourage you to take a specific direction, then moves on. That is perfectly normal and all planned out ahead of time. And, remember that not every relationship is a soul mate or has a soul contract. What If You Want to End the Relationship? What if you believe someone came into your life for a reason, but you no longer want to keep that relationship going? You may have grown apart and no longer share the same point of view. This happens all the time. It doesn’t mean you have failed. It could mean you have completed your contract. No matter how meaningful your soul mate connection once was, not all relationships last a lifetime, and that is to be expected. How to Decide If a Lesson Is Complete Start by noticing patterns. If you’ve had a few relationships with the exact same problem repeating, that’s a sign you’re trying to learn something you haven’t quite got yet. Then look for the lesson itself. Ask yourself: What did I learn about myself or improve through this person? If we never met, what would I not know? Did I learn something or teach something or both? Is there anything I’m grateful for? Should I Stay or Go? If the lesson is to stay and work through the problems, you might be learning patience, compassion, communication, forgiveness or how to make it through a rough patch. If you’re wanting to leave, you might be learning to stand up for yourself, set strong boundaries, and build self-esteem and inner authority. A few questions can help you tell the difference: Do you feel smaller around this person than you once did? Is guilt keeping you here, or do you feel you can work this out if you stay? Do you have a rift that you have tried to clear but nothing seems to work? Does the relationship seem unhealthy and not right for you anymore? On the flip side, these signs could indicate you’ve completed the contract: You stop repeating the same arguments You’ve drifted apart You feel a surprising sense of calm clarity about things coming to a close You feel so done you can’t talk yourself out of leaving. Completion can feel like relief or exhaustion. Either way, you know. Now, if your safety is at risk, keeping yourself secure is essential, and you might want to reach out for professional help. A Quick Word on Twin Flames Every person I know who thought they had a twin flame relationship experienced deep passion and, more often, an extremely difficult relationship. I’m not sure I agree that a painful relationship was meant to be. Of course, that certainly is a choice you can make. Can You Appreciate a Soul Mate and Still Walk Away? Yes, absolutely. Not all relationships end badly. Sometimes people split up amicably. You both realize it’s over, because it was good for a while, but now it no longer serves either of you. Your partner might not agree. However, this doesn’t have to be a mutual decision. If you’ve done the reflecting and you know it’s over for you, you don’t need their agreement. Sometimes one soul feels complete before another, and you cannot make anyone else complete their lessons, nor are you responsible for what they choose. So, is it okay to walk away? I would say yes. If you’ve been living through a relationship upheaval, give yourself permission to release any guilt. Not all relationships are meant to last, and it’s possible you’re just done. Sometimes walking away is the end. And sometimes it turns out to be an intermission. I’ve had both, and I couldn’t always tell which one I was in at the time. Broken Soul Mate Friendships Can Be Revived I have three long-term close friendships that have survived deep rifts. With each one, I had a very strong connection, but there came a time when we stopped speaking. Each experience was heartbreaking for me. These women have been essential support in my life, and even more so on my spiritual path. We’ve explored our spiritual sides together through books, conversation and plenty of adventures, and each has guided me in her own way. I’m not great at letting go, but that is what was required at some point with each person. There was no indication that we would be friends again. Then something happened with each of them that brought us back together. Sometimes she reached out, and sometimes I did. I can’t say which friendships will come back and which won’t. What I can say is that letting go didn’t close the door on any of them. Successful Romantic Reunions Are Rare It takes a special couple to come back together and create a happy, successful relationship if they’ve spent a good deal of time on the rocks. But I have seen it happen. My husband’s friend Walter and his wife Colleen dated in high school but split after graduation. Ten years later, they reunited and married, and they’ve been happy ever since. I do offer a word of caution about getting back together. Most of the time it requires that both people are willing to look at their own behavior and commit to making changes. If you are the only one willing to change, success is not nearly as likely. If you are both in agreement, it’s worth a shot. It takes real work to accomplish a turnaround. Make Peace If You’re Ready to Leave If you feel ready to end a soul mate relationship and contract, a good way to start is to offer the person an energetic thank-you. This is a sign of appreciation and can shift how you feel about the whole situation. You might express your gratitude out loud, but only to yourself, not to them. You could write a thank-you note and never mail it. Or you could think about your appreciation for the lessons while washing dishes. Any menial task will do. Thank the person for what you learned, even the hard parts, and for whatever you shared with them in return. Your spiritual appreciation doesn’t undo your decision to end the contract. Instead, it lets you keep the lesson and release the weight. Deciding to Stay If you decide to stay and work on things, that’s a solid choice too, made with your eyes open. Your soul made these plans with love and, I suspect, a good sense of humor. Knowing that you agreed to come together to learn lessons might make it a bit easier to smooth things over and continue as soul mates. What you do with the contract is up to you. Trust yourself, because you have more inner wisdom than you probably give yourself credit for. Soul Mate FAQs What is the difference between a soul mate and a soul contract? A soul mate is the person, and a soul contract is the agreement. A soul mate is a soul you choose to have a close and important relationship with. A soul contract is a spiritual agreement you make with another soul before you are born. Not every soul contract is with a soul mate. Do soul mates stay together forever? Not always. Some soul mate relationships last a lifetime, while others end once the lesson is learned. Parents remain parents, but lovers and friends

Does your home support your lifestyle? It does when it reflects who you really are and has space for how you want to live. For a lifestyle house check it against the eight areas of life: romance, finance, health, environment, career, fun and leisure, spirituality, and family and friends. You might not need a move or a makeover. Sometimes a single corner with a candle, a journal, and a place to meditate is enough to shift how your home feels. I explored this fascinating concept with realtor and author Kim Costa. She created the Wheel House Method – an approach that goes beyond where to put the sofa. It asks whether your house fits the life you’re living now. Your Home Is a Spiritual Container People talk a lot about feng shui and furniture placement. But Kim talks about setting up your home from a different angle, and I loved it. Her belief is that “your home should represent your soul and who you really are.” Picture someone walking through your door and saying, “Oh, I can feel her here.” They relax, because the space tells them who you are before you say a word. Your home also has a second job, which is to replenish your energy. Many people have an outside persona, especially if you work in a corporate setting. Maybe you’re also enjoy yoga, volunteer for charity, or live a spiritual life nobody at the office knows about. Home is where all of that shows up. It’s where you rest, refuel your soul, and head back out to do good things. When the Dream Home Isn’t Your Dream Kim built what most people in her area would call a dream home. It was a horse farm with four-board fencing, a wraparound porch, a red barn, a pool, a zip line, and an entertaining pavilion. Totally gorgeous, and all wrong for her personality. She’s an extrovert, an intuitive empath, and her property was too remote. Work was an hour and a half away the kids’ school was a 45 minutes drive on a good day. She told me it felt like running a resort, and she lived in her car. On top of that, she was working as an accountant when she’s really a creative person. Definitely not her lifestyle house. Her intuition had been trying to tell her and she says she really should have listened. The universe found a way to get her attention, and it was dramatic. While riding a horse, she fell off and broke back. It was during her recovery that this all became clear. She entered a contest Oprah was running and won! The show wanted to come film at her home, but she wouldn’t let them. It wasn’t her lifestyle house and didn’t reflect the real Kim. You’ll hear more about that in the episode. What stayed with me was a point she made about whispers. Kim says you don’t have to go through the drama she did to wake up and thankfully, most of us get gentler signals. Discover the Eight Areas of Life The  is practical. Kim adapted the wheel of life for the Wheel House Method, with eight areas that fit your living environment. If you want a lifestyle house, check these out: Romance Finance Health Environment Career Fun and leisure Spirituality Family and friends Romance often comes first because big home changes often follow big life changes, like getting married or divorced. When I met my husband, I was living in a dream condo across the street from the beach. I loved everything about it, but  there simply wasn’t space for him. In this case, my romance area need went up, and my fun and leisure spoke took a slight hit, because I could no longer walk out my door and onto the beach. That’s the whole idea. You go around the wheel and ask which areas your home support your needs, and which ones get shortchanged when life changed. Here are some questions to ask: Do you have a place to work? Did the move affect your finances? Can you relax, and can you move your body? Do the people you love have room in your space? It took me a while to settle in after that move and discover what would work best for me. My office ended up in the third bedroom, yet, it didn’t start out that way. Intuition as a House-Hunting Tool Kim has a great perspective on using intuition for house-hunting as a realtor. Clients usually arrive knowing their budget and how many bedrooms they need. Beyond the checklist, she tells them to trust the moment when they walk in and think, “I feel like this is good.” She also encourages people to experience the personality of a town the way they’d feel a house. She lives in the middle of three towns, one polished and bougie, one relaxed with horse farms, and one artsy and bohemian. Her intuition told her not to pick one. She thrives on variety, so she lives in the middle and visits all three. I have my own house-hunting story. I dated 30 men to meet the man I married, and then we looked at 30 houses. A coincidence? The one we bought had a nameplate on it with the last name Moran, the same as my best friend’s. I took this as a sign. Even though the house turned out to be under contract, I put in a backup bid. A month later, the call came that the deal feel through and we got it! Clutter, Creativity, and Preferences Kim and I are both creatives who need our projects out where we can see them. For me, if something is put away, it ceases to exist. She’s the same way. If she puts her project away, the project dies. Her advice is to know how your brain works and set up your space to maximize who you are. If you’re creative, you want shelves where projects can live out in the open, and a table for working. If you’re a left-brain person, you probably want a tidy desk and lots of storage with everything in its place. If you share a home, this matters even more. Kim says a creative person needs at least one room where their stuff stays exactly where they left it, with no one tidying it up. Once you rearrange a creative project mid-flow, it’s hard to find your way back to where you were. Pivot Instead of Reinvent Reinvention is a word I hear constantly from women in midlife. Kim sees it as a spiritual practice, a return to who you were meant to be before you started doing everything for everybody else. I’ll admit that reinvention sounds exhausting to me. I have to be a caterpillar, then in a chrysalis, then shed that to spread my wings? I’m tired just thinking about it. Pivoting feels softer, more feminine, and a lot less pressure. You keep everything you’ve learned and just tweak your direction. Kim loved that idea. The same goes for your home. You don’t have to start from scratch to have your very own lifestyle house, and you certainly don’t have to move. Don’t Move – Start With a Corner Try this – pick a corner of one room and give it a specific purpose. Here are some examples: A meditation seat with a candle and your journal A creative corner in an unused part of the kitchen A small altar on your coffee table (I have a Goddess altar on my coffee table) A room painted in the color you look best in or that gives you a good feeling Kim wrote a book abut this method called Live in Your Wheel House, An Empowering Guide to Stay, Go or Reno. Staying is a perfectly good choice. If most things are working, she says, don’t change everything. Where Do You Start? Kim’s advice was simple and I love that. Start by asking yourself what are you doing that you like and don’t like? Then walk through your home and notice how you feel. Are you frustrated? Joyful when you pull into the driveway? Lonely? Take time to simply reflect. That’s the whole first step. Kim has a free workbook for you, the Lifestyle Lift Assessment. It takes about ten minutes to walk through your home, and you can focus on one of the eight areas, like spirituality, as you go. It’s a nice way to find the spot for your candle or altar. Frequently Asked Questions Does your home really affect your lifestyle house? Yes. Your home can either support the way you want to live or work against it. A space that fits your personality, routines, and priorities helps you rest and refuel. A place that doesn’t leave you feeling frustrated, lonely, or resentful, even if it’s beautiful. What are the eight areas of the Wheelhouse Method? The eight areas are romance, finance, health, environment, career, fun and leisure, spirituality, and family and friends. You look at each one and ask whether your home supports it. Big life changes often shift these areas, so it helps to check them again after any major shift or milestone. How do I know if my home isn’t right for me? Pay attention to how you feel walking through it. Frustration, loneliness, resentment, or discomfort are signals worth noticing. Ask yourself which areas of life the space doesn’t support, such as a place to work, rest, create, or connect, and whether a small change could help before you consider moving. Do I have to move or renovate to make my home support my lifestyle? No. Often a small shift is enough, like setting up a meditation corner, repurposing a room, or repainting in a color you love. Moving is only one option – you can stay, go, or renovate. If most things are working, you may only need to adjust one area. How can I use intuition when buying a home? Notice how you feel the moment you walk in, and pay attention to the personality of the neighborhood or town. Trust a strong “this feels right” or “this feels off.” Then weigh that feeling alongside your budget, location, and must-haves so your head and your intuition are working together. Take This Home With You Walk the wheel of life: romance, finance, health, environment, career, fun and leisure, spirituality, and family and friends. See which ones your home supports. Those whispers of discomfort, loneliness, or resentment are messages worth listening to. Pivoting beats reinventing, because you keep everything you’ve learned and simply adjust your direction. A single corner is a fine place to begin. A candle, a journal, and a cozy seat count. Stay, go, or reno are all valid answers. BIO – Kim Costa Kim Costa is the author of Live in Your Wheel House, creator of The Wheel House Method, and a Top 5% Realtor serving the l

About 2,600 years ago, God’s female counterpart was stricken from official religious life in ancient Israel and buried deep. But she has a name, and it’s been found on ancient shards of pottery. Here’s who she was, how she disappeared, and how she kept showing up, in the Bible and in my own life. What Is the Divine Feminine? Feminine energy is collaborative, warm, nurturing, and compassionate. It’s about being in the flow, moving with life’s natural rhythms, and creativity. Also included is trusting your intuition, that innate and divine gift everyone has. Plus, there’s receptivity, which means being open to receive love, learning to relax, and just be. The need to always be active and doing is a more masculine trait. However, the divine feminine is not tied to gender. Regardless of sex, we all have both divine masculine and divine feminine energy within us. Asherah, the Goddess Removed from the Bible Asherah was a prominent mother goddess in the Canaanite religion, associated with fertility, motherhood, and sacred groves. In ancient texts from the 13th century BCE, she was depicted as the partner of the high god, known as El. But in the smaller kingdom of Israel, they wanted to focus on just one god, so she was erased from the ancient biblical texts and lost to us. However, archaeologists found writing on pottery in ancient Israel and Judah, from the 8th and 7th centuries BCE, that invokes “Yahweh and his Asherah.” That suggests some Israelites believed Yahweh had a divine feminine counterpart. If you grew up with any Abrahamic religious teaching, there’s a good chance nobody ever mentioned her name. When I found this out, I was outraged. I thought, “They changed the Bible and took out the goddess.! How could they!” How the Divine Feminine Got Lost Asherah worship was removed during King Josiah’s reforms about 2,600 years ago. Scholars point to three overlapping forces: 1) A push to worship Yahweh alone as the one God 2) Political control gained by closing local shrines 3) A patriarchal shift that left less room for feminine divine imagery. That’s the official story. But the feminine was never fully gone. They could never erase her, even if they took her out of the religious texts. Some traditions survived underground or were transformed into something more acceptable to the religious culture of the time. For example, the Shekinah, a feminine noun in Hebrew, came to stand for the divine spirit within us. The Divine Feminine Kept Showing Up Next, the divine feminine reappears later in history as Sophia, which is actually the Greek word for wisdom. Maybe the goddess was no longer welcome in a religious context, but wisdom still was1 In the book of Proverbs, Wisdom speaks in her own voice, as a woman, and says she was with God before creation. In the Greek book, The Wisdom of Solomon, from the 1st century BCE, Sophia guides and protects Israel and is connected with creation, salvation, and divine knowledge. Later in Gnostic Christianity, a branch the church later rejected, she is a central figure in a story of a broken world and its redemption. Now here’s a really big spot where Sophia shines. In Constantinople, now Istanbul, a great church was named Hagia Sophia, meaning Holy Wisdom. It was dedicated to Christ as the Wisdom of God. But keep this in mind, one of the most famous buildings in the world took its name from wisdom herself. They didn’t fully bury the divine feminine. Wisdom has a human face, too. The Old Testament has two wise women in Samuel, who advised and negotiated. One of them talks a general out of destroying her city. That’s very wise. Today, I introduce myself as a wise woman, and it turns out we’ve been recognized for our wisdom for eons. You can find this language in England from the middle ages into the 1800s, and also in Germany and Scandinavia. Mary Magdalene and Mother Mary Other women bring the feminine forward in early Christianity. Mary Magdalene shows up as a disciple, a witness to the resurrection, and a spiritual seeker and knower. Some ancient documents, like the Nag Hammadi texts found in Egypt in 1945, suggest that she and Jesus were life partners and that the other apostles were upset because he showed himself to her first. Christianity gave Mother Mary an enormous spiritual role but focused only on virginity, purity, and motherhood. We know women are much more than that. The idea that she remained a virgin her whole life wasn’t initially in the text. It showed up that way over time. The Come Back of Divine Feminine Today In the early 1990s, I saw a segment on 60 Minutes about the rise of Goddess groups, and I fell head over heels for the idea. I started one in my living room in Connecticut. We met once a month to explore a spiritual path that included the sacred feminine in a way I hadn’t experienced growing up. One ritual came to me intuitively. We stood in a circle, one woman held a bowl, and another poured water into it, a way to practice receiving. It went around until every woman had poured and received. Looking back, something much bigger than my little gathering was happening. Women were rediscovering something largely absent from mainstream religious culture. It had been building for decades, from the push for the vote, to the equality movement of the 1960s. Today, think of how many people follow the moon cycles with ceremonies for the full and new moon. That’s divine feminine energy too. The feminine was never really completely banished. She was buried, and eventually women felt a calling and dug her up. The Divine Feminine Taught Me About Love For many years, I worked in the corporate world, where I had to operate in a more masculine mode. This was decisive, competitive, firm, productive, strategic, and willing to push things forward. Those qualities served me well. But when I wanted to attract a loving romantic partner, Discovering how I couldn’t use that same energy for dating and get the results I hoped for, changed everything. I needed to reclaim a part of myself that had been hidden on the road to success in business. Instead of demanding a relationship, I learned how to invite a man into my world.iscovering how to make requests in a way a man could hear, appreciate, and want to respond to. I learned to soften my energy without losing my strength. I dated 30 men in 15 months to find the man I’ve been happily married to for over 20 years. And the truth is, I’m still refining those lessons. I shared this novel approach with my clients as a dating coach for over 20 years. That’s where the divine feminine became real for me. Feminine energy is far from passive, powerless, or submissive. It can influence without force, invite and inspire instead of chase, and receive as well as give. It’s helpful to know when to push or receive, when to speak or listen, when to make something happen or make room for it. This is a very different kind of power from the one I relied on in my corporate days. Divine Feminine on the Rise I had this thought as I was pulling this podcast episode together. Maybe the goddess has been here all along. Rather than her rising, maybe we’ve reclaimed our freedom and right to recognize and work with her. Women today can trust their intuition, connect with feminine wisdom, and celebrate the divine feminine without asking anyone’s permission. Many of us come to it through a spiritual path rather than a religious one. Feminine energy is strong. It’s inviting and magnetic, warm and alluring, receptive and enjoyable. There’s pleasure in it. Her names were taken away, but her qualities could never be erased, because humanity needs both the masculine and the feminine. How Can You Practice Receiving? Notice a moment when you’re pushing, and ask yourself whether it would work better if you learned to receive instead. Opening to receive might create flow or solutions you need. Maybe you get a compliment that makes you smile, an offer of help, or an idea that shows up out of nowhere. Let it in. See what happens. FAQs Who was Asherah? Asherah was a Canaanite mother goddess associated with fertility, motherhood, and sacred groves. Ancient texts from around the 13th century BCE name her as the partner of the high god El, and inscriptions from ancient Israel and Judah mention “Yahweh and his Asherah.” Scholars debate how to read that phrase. Why was Asherah removed from Israelite religion? Under King Josiah’s reforms about 2,600 years ago, worship of Asherah was removed from official religion. Scholars point to three overlapping forces: a push to worship Yahweh alone, political control gained by closing local shrines, and a patriarchal shift that left less room for feminine divine imagery. What’s the difference between Asherah and Sophia? Asherah was worshipped as a goddess tied to fertility, motherhood, trees, and the land, part of everyday religion in ancient Israel. Sophia, the Greek word for wisdom, is about why the world feels broken and how it can be healed. One is rooted in earth and body, the other reaches toward the divine. Did the divine feminine really disappear? No. The divine feminine survived in other forms after Asherah was removed from official worship. She showed up as the Shekinah, as Wisdom in Proverbs, and as Sophia in early Christianity. Her name was taken away, but her qualities, including intuition, compassion, and receptivity, were never erased. So Where Is She Now? Asherah, God’s female counterpart, was removed from the official Israelite religion about 2,600 years ago. Scholars point to three forces: a push for monotheism, political control, and a shift toward patriarchy. She lived on as the Shekinah, as Wisdom in Proverbs, and as Sophia in early Christianity. What part of the divine feminine survived? Wisdom, intuition, the sacredness of the body, our connection with nature, our power to create, compassion, receptivity, women’s spiritual authority, and direct experience of the divine. The feminine was never gone. Women today are free to