Cycles & Iterations

Image by Anhelina Oaulenko from Unsplash

“If we surrendered to Earth’s intelligence, we could rise up rooted like trees.” Rilke

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This profound journey toward healing, the one we are all traversing, is meant to reclaim the essence of Shakti in each of us. Shakti, the divine feminine energy that underlies all life. The world as a whole, our communities, and we as individuals have been in a state of disharmony as long as the Divine Feminine has not been on equal footing with the Divine Masculine, and so, the return to harmony is a cyclic process for all beings.

Approximately every seven years I have embarked on a reiteration of my life. This time frame is not deliberate; it simply happens on its own. And, each time, I have used the moon’s cycles to weather changes in my life. The Divine Feminine has guided my life as I tap into my inner strength and potential. As I release fears, insecurities, and false selves, She has been present at every turn. One needs a container to dissolve and regenerate, to step out onto the path not knowing where it leads. She, Shakti, the Mother of Peace, has been my companion and my foundation as I expand into my truest self.

The moon’s phase cycle moves through gestation, building, fulfillment, and releasing, exactly mirroring the progression of our lives. In 1979, during the moon’s progressed crescent phase, a time of moving forward, I created a new foundation for my life when my husband and I bought our first home, bringing my sons from my first marriage together with our infant son, all living as a family in this new house. In 1986, in the moon’s progressed gibbous phase, a time of growth, we moved to another state, a new home, and added to our family by hosting foreign exchange students. In 1993, during the moon’s progressed disseminating phase, a time to distribute what one has gathered up to now, yoga and my community at my UU church became the focus of my life as I taught workshops in my congregation. In 2000, at the progressed last quarter & balsamic phases, a time of great transformation, I took Yoga Teacher Training at Kripalu-a wildly new path for me! In 2007, while the progressed moon was in its new phase, a time of incarnation, a long-standing difference with a family member finally reached a resolution, and the daily energy drain was replaced with kindness and love. In 2014, in the moon’s progressed first quarter phase, a time of action, I was immersed in grandmothering two of my grandkids, and traveled to my heart’s home, Scotland, with one of them. In 2021, while the moon was in its progressed full phase, a time of fulfillment, I published my first essay,¹ and the writing life took over all my spare time.

The Earth, and all those who live upon her experience cycles and reiterations, and when those cycles create the experience of harmony, whether we are aware of that at the time or not, we can know that the Divine Feminine is at work, using Shakti to enliven our purpose together with the Divine Masculine’s action to accomplish. The cycle of night and day, the cycles of lymph, blood, menstruation, and digestion in our bodies, the cycles of the seasons, the tides, and plants’ growth- Everything moves in cycles, in the Divine Feminine’s time, and I have always trusted that my new life would unfold precisely as it was intended.

When life brings experiences, when we are called upon to take on new responsibilities, or life seems chaotic or lacks meaning, if we can allow a sense of spaciousness to exist around these events and our feelings about them, and look for the growth potential in them, we can rest our worrying mind and breathe in the gift of new life.

I’d love to hear about your reiterations in the comments!

¹Essay published in Awakening the Divine Feminine: 18 Stories of Healing, Inspiration, and Empowerment, ed. By Laura Jean Cornell