Women we are cyclical, it is natural for us to go through processes of growth and processes of shedding, in turn we go through processes (cycles) of birthing and processes (cycles) of dying, our identities die, our values die, our thought patterns die, this is how we transform, and transforming is natural for us, we are cyclical beings, we can see ourselves mirrored by Nature, and some of us would even say we are Nature. When we are not creating, we may be in a death process – nothing to be feared and everything to be honoured. In our death cycle we die off old parts of ourselves, old patterns, old situations, old relationships, old hurts, old ways of thinking, old ways of perceiving – this death cycle is our time of discernment, discerning what we no longer want to give life to, what we no longer will offer our focus to, what we no longer offer our life force to. In Western Culture the concept of death is not often presented to us, taught to us or even discussed as a natural process of life and creation itself, somehow culturally we have been raised to focus on life, on growth, on creation, missing the power that is death within creation, all life on Earth goes through a process of death, new growth grows from death, death is what fertilises the land, it creates fertile ground for new growth, there cannot be life without death, death is the end of a certain form, but never the absolute end as everything on Earth transforms. When a tree dies and breaks down, it breaks down into soil, into Earth again, it goes back to where it came from and when I say back, it is not that it go backwards, undoes time or undoes what was created, it keeps progressing and changing and so the ‘going back’ is full circle, full cycle of death to life and life to death, and all the experiences, growths, blooms, shedding, pruning within that cycle. Just like us, we come from Earth and go back into Earth, we create, we shed, we die, we grow, we re-birth, we offer, we receive, our form continuously transformed, as the tree transforms Earth to seed to seedling to shoot to tree to wood to soil to Earth.

When we recognise that in every moment we walk side by side with death, we learn to appreciate life, feeling in our being that our experience will end helps us appreciate more of each moment, helps us appreciate life itself, so death is not terrible, yes our human hearts naturally grieve a sense of loss, and many of us in Western Culture fear not only our own death, but the death of our loved ones, and so perhaps it serves our collective wellbeing to become more familiar with the naturalness of death, the continuous presence of death, to become more aware of the fertility that death offers to this life, perhaps we will appreciate each present moment and each step along our journey, each moment shared with loved ones knowing that everything is constantly changing and transforming, knowing that we never know when the last moment of experiencing ourselves or our loved ones on this Earth will be, so really making the most of being present with ourselves and each other, making the most of being present with life itself.

These cycles of non physical death, of Spiritual death, or energetic and emotional fertiliser for our paths may be better understood as cycles of rest in Western Culture, and specifically in contexts where the main focus of life is on the physical and linear timelines, when we recognise that we need or are experiencing a cycle of rest and allow ourselves to surrender into what our body, mind, hearts or Spirits are calling forth, when they most need rest, we can trust these periods and honour them for the potent fertiliser that they can add to our overall experience of life, to our wholistic experience of woman and man. We can use this time to discern what is in our hearts, what our Spirit wants us to know, we can trust these cycles and tell ourselves nothing is wrong with us. There is no denying we are in a big collective shift at the moment, we are transforming how we experience ourselves and therefore how we experience each other on this Earth, if we have been busy working, doing and constantly creating without any cycles of death, of shedding, naturally we will reach a period of absolutely needing to rest, the weight of constant doing or constant growing, without the pruning, shedding, or dying off, accumulates a weight that is not sustainable for a nourishing, rich, holistic life, it accumulates a weight that eventually at some point we feel and simply cannot carry on any further until we shed some of the excess weight. This can often take a big emotional event to trigger our realisation of the burden of weight we have been carrying, some of us may experience this as needed rest, some of us may experience it as feeling lost, some of us may even feel it as depression – depression being suppressed creative energy, and yet it is not possible for us to create when we are weighed down by old growth, we are not able to create when we feel a sense of powerlessness – so the root of these moments in our lives is to really meet ourselves, to discern what needs to go just as much as discerning what we want to come, what needs to go is necessary to make room for what is to come, they like life and death, run hand in hand.

It is imperative that we honour these cycles of death within ourselves, and a great way to do this is by following the seasons, so during Winter we allow ourselves to not only rest more but also to go inward, we take time for ourselves and our process of introspection, because Western Culture is only just starting to open to the awareness of holistic health and our cyclical nature, especially for women, we may not have honoured or even been aware of the need for introspection this Winter, and if that is the case, a quick check in on how we feel can help us discern what is most needed for our wellbeing as we enter a new cycle of Spring. How do our bodies feel, how do our hearts feel, can we feel an aliveness of our Spirit? Are we feeling nourished by life, is there inspiration for our creations, are we able to offer ourselves and our gifts to others, are we feeling a sense (even just subtle or gentle in these early days of Spring) of coming alive, of opening, of new shoots and buds appearing within our beings and how we experience ourselves in this world? Or are we feeling depleted, unsure, lost, cranky, easily irritated?

If we are feeling the freshness, aliveness, newness amazing we are aligning with the natural energy of Spring, if we’re not we may need to listen to our Spirits, to our bodies, we may need to pause from the business of life and take more time for ourselves, for our wellbeing, a helpful suggestion is to allow 10 – 15 minutes of sitting in silence in the morning, focusing only on our breath to bring us into Presence, observing the natural world without mental chatter. To silence the mental chatter we give our minds something to do, we direct them to focus on our breath, this stops the mental stories and chatter. Silent sittings open us into Presence, they allow us to feel ourselves, to receive guidance from our Spirits, to rest our hearts, our minds and our bodies, each sitting is different, the medicine is within moments of Presence, of silence from mental chatter or stories. Starting our mornings with a silent sitting is beneficial, even if we may have woken from a 10 hour sleep, our energy is different when we meditate compared to when we are sleeping, when we meditate we bridge our subconscious and conscious worlds, altering our consciousness (awareness), it can be likened to plugging the toaster into the electricity power point before using the toaster.

Cycles of introspection, of rest, allow us to rest our bodies while we discern what is True for us, while we sift and sort through our minds, our hearts, connect with our Spirit to help guide us through the sifting and sorting process, so we can allow all that is too heavy to carry forth to die off, so we can release all that is not serving our Highest Good, all that is blocking us from fulfillment and our joy of creativity that is inspired from our hearts, from our Spirits, trusting that what we love to create will bare its own fruit, releasing the old way of having to tend to other people’s gardens, other people’s ways in order to provide our own fruits, trusting in this new way of allowing ourselves to create what we feel inspired to create through love and passion, through what feels right for us, what feels right to offer to others, and in turn allowing ourselves to receive from what others are offering too, honouring the natural lore of reciprocity, what we offer is naturally returned, so as we offer love to the world, love shall too be received, as we offer healing to the world, healing shall too be received, as we offer ourselves authentically in all ways that feel True for us, support of our authenticity shall too be received.

So as we enter into Spring here in the Southern Hemisphere, I feel it imperative to remind us of the potency of death, of the fertility that death offers, so for any of us who may not have allowed ourselves the time and space to go into our death cycle over Winter, and may feel the need to either rest some more, or feel over burdened and heavy, I remind you that it is safe to die off what you no longer wish to carry forth, I encourage you to trust in this Earth supporting you in all ways that your heart desires to be supported so that you can let go of all that is no longer serving your Highest Good, so we can collectively move forth with a lightness of Spirit and a fierceness of whole woman honouring her natural cycles and seasons, honouring her discernment of what lives and what dies within her, so that she (and we) may witness the beauty of her crafted inner garden reflected in this external world.

This is a New Earth, and we are the New Earth Womben, creatresses of beauty, magic, love, strength, power and grace, whole women, honouring our cycles and those of Nature, we are connected, we are seen, we are celebrated and every part of our beings are worthiness.

If you feel you could benefit from support in transforming your inner world, and therefore your outer world, I offer a 5 Week Guided Transformation Package, to open you to perceive yourself through the eyes of Spirit, to meet your Soul and see how you have been shaping yourself, as well as transform and attract what is most in your heart to experience in this moment. We create the container together, I offer the framework for you to experience yourself and transform within – my biggest transformations have occurred in shared space with other women, reflecting me to myself, so I may see myself clearly, and this has blessed me to discover my own gift of seeing others through the eyes of Spirit, which inspires me to offer to those who feel the call.

Read more here, or e-mail me childoftheearthmadeoflove@mail.com with your available time/day options and we go from there!

All my love, Sarah