Glossary
Modalities
Spiritual Counseling and Empowerment Coaching
Sometimes we need to talk about where our spiritual path is taking us and how to manage our lives during times of such radical change. At times we may feel alone on the path and need a mentor or guide to support and assist us in finding our way without imposing some outside belief system or system of diagnosing, prescribing, and fixing. In this Divine Feminine container, you are guided to your direct knowing or gnosis. This direct knowing can take many forms and we may need help accessing it and learning to trust it. Sometimes the information coming to us is overwhelming or conflicting with what we were programmed to believe about ourselves and the world. We weren’t meant to do this alone and we aren’t alone. It’s easy to forget this and much easier to remember together.
Energy work
Energy Work can mean many things and takes many forms. In this approach, the presenting issue whether it is physical, emotional/mental, or spiritual is addressed through working somatically with the human energy field using intuitive methods and guidance. During the session, the client is assisted in clearing their energetic field, maintaining it, and holding healthy boundaries. The ultimate goal is to assist in the alignment with the highest self and spiritual embodiment process. Energetic releases and spontaneous healing may occur during these sessions. These clearings are the normal part of soul integration and alignment and are facilitated greatly by this type of ongoing energetic maintenance.
Family Constellations
Family Constellations is ancestral work, soul work. When we draw strength from our lineage we are resourced and relieved from carrying the heavy fate of our ancestors forward. There are so many splits in the family relational web, the web of humanity. We are healing those splits when we do ancestral work. This multigenerational systemic trauma and lack of nurturing shows up as disease, addiction, mental illness, and dysfunctional relationship patterns. These patterns have been passed down for so long that they have become the issues we see in our culture today such as internalized systemic racism, sexism, homophobia, multigenerational trauma, addiction, abuse, and violence.
The origins of this work are in Zulu culture as a way of working through issues in the human relational system of the tribe and ancestral lineages. Bert Hellinger, a German psychotherapist, brought it to Germany, and later it was brought to the US.
Constellations work is multidimensional and phenomenological work. It is an experience of consciousness. In this case, consciousness is a “knowing field” in which we drop in and access unconscious material that has been previously blocked or hidden. It is highly experiential which makes it difficult to explain in words or to fully understand through concepts and words alone. It can be used to address any issue or repeating pattern causing suffering.
Internal Systems Constellations
We can work with your system internally with Constellations and we consult the “knowing field” in the same way we do in Family Constellation work. We can constellate any system and approach any issue by looking at what parts of self and/or issue, pattern, illness, etc., are in need of further integration. In this work, everything belongs and illness or “dis-ease” shows up because it is bringing us a message about what is hidden or unseen until you address it internally, somatically, and intuitively. This modality is a natural progression from the “parts of self” integration work done in psychotherapy to integrate wounded and shadow aspects that unconsciously sabotage our sense of worth and freedom.
Shamanic Breathwork
Assisted breathwork sessions are offered for the purpose of embodiment and integration. The breathwork practice used in both individual and group breathwork sessions is similar to the practice used in Holotropic Breathwork, and Rebirthing. Supported by a curated playlist of music, the practice creates an energizing altered state. In these altered states of consciousness, much like plant medicine journeys, we can more easily surrender to healing states that are difficult to attain in normal consciousness where our defenses can unconsciously take over. The facilitator holds sacred space for the “breather” to experience an integrative journey that can be anything from an energetic/embodied experience to a transpersonal journey. People often experience new insight and awareness accompanied by a feeling of renewal, presence, connectedness, and embodiment following a breathwork session.
Soul Alchemy
Soul integration or soul alchemy is about aligning your whole being, the entirety of your soul with your path in this lifetime, and moving forward as a cohesive being to fulfill your true purpose. As souls, many of us have been stuck in patterns for generations, cycling for lifetimes and preventing us from being fully embodied. I think of these soul fragments as parts of us that have been strewn out over multiple dimensions through trauma and wounding. For some of us, these soul fragments are returning. Retrieving these disconnected or lost parts brings us more fully into our truth, aliveness, and soul purpose. Spiritual embodiment is about embodying our soul, divinity, and highest aspects of self.
Language
Cauldron Circle
We are using the term “cauldron circle” however you may hear people refer to these types of magical circles as moon circles, coven circles, goddess circles, or simply women’s circles. The cauldron is symbolic of the womb where women hold their power of creation. This womb space is held for sacred ceremonies, teaching, healing, and providing nurturing and protection for the circle community. Circles may choose to meet according to the cycles of the sun and moon following the lunar cycle and the Wheel of the Year. The concept of circle goes back to indigenous earth-based spiritual traditions where there was no spiritual hierarchy and all were considered equal in the tribe. These are also Divine Feminine values that foster direct access to the Divine rather than going through the spiritual leadership as we see in patriarchal religious institutions. Shamans and spiritual teachers were called to serve the community and were honored by the community who in turn took care of them.
Cohort
A group of people who choose to share an experience together over time for the purposes of study, research, skill-building, etc. They are similar to one another in some way such as a group of classmates.
Divine Feminine & Divine Masculine
The terms Divine Feminine, Divine Masculine, Sacred Feminine, & Sacred Masculine are used to describe the highest most spiritual aspects of each gender polarity. Although we use gender terms, these terms do not indicate gender but energy and traits associated with each side of this continuum of human manifestation. The rise of the Divine Feminine in our culture is a movement toward creating balance in our culture where we have become driven by the masculine to the point it has become toxic and threatening to our survival on this planet. The violence that continues to exist after thousands of years of patriarchal dominance is a sign that we must focus our efforts on embodying our Divine Feminine and the more evolved Sacred Masculine counterpart that supports the feminine values and principles rather than destroys human life which manifests through the female body. This directly relates to our relationship to the planet, like the female body, which births new life as the earth creates sustainable resources and food sources to support life on earth.
Here are a couple of resources that explain these terms in more depth:
Divine Balance, When Masculine Aligns with Feminine
Gnosis
Gnosis is a person’s direct knowledge or experience of the Divine. This is the path of the mystic who seeks to know the Divine through a variety of practices or achieved spontaneously without looking for the experience at all.
Internal Social Justice Work
This term refers to the deep personal awareness and shadow work around the unconscious bias and racism we carry as people living in western culture. Western culture has colonized indigenous cultures to acquire land, and resources and has enslaved people to acquire more wealth. Our culture in the United States and our Euro-centric culture is based on imperialism, systemic oppression, and racism therefore, we must look within to see where we have internalized these beliefs no matter how subtle.
Matriarchy
A matriarchal culture is where the system of power dynamic is a “power with” collaborative, cooperative approach that considered the best interest of the whole culture instead of one’s own personal gain. It is a social structure around power. A matrilineal culture is where one’s personal wealth and property are passed through the mother’s lineage however this does not necessarily mean women have more power in the culture.
Morphic Field and Morphic Resonance
Birds of a feather flock together. I’m sure you have heard this saying and there is science behind it. Rupert Sheldrake’s Morphic Resonance theory explains why birds fly together in formation and schools of fish swim together. It explains why we have an unseen collective memory in each species that enables us to communicate telepathically. This goes for humans, plants, crystals, and all animal species. We talk about “fieldwork” when we do Constellations work or multidimensional work. We work beyond time and space where we are integrating separate parts of self that exist on different timelines or working on an ancestral or family system that impacts our current state of being.
Overculture
We use the term overculture interchangeably with the term patriarchy as the predominant culture. The term is used by Clarissa Pinkola Estes, PhD, the Jungian analyst and famous author of the book Women Who Run with the Wolves >
We talk about the “overculture” having a set of values and norms that have been limiting, wounding, and inflicted violence against life and the human soul. This term covers a vast array of beliefs about what is right, good, and acceptable in our culture. They are societal norms that we may have come to accept because it is how we are programmed by society to believe. These beliefs are not necessarily aligned with our personal beliefs and values and can create suffering in our spiritual, emotional, mental, and/or physical well-being.
“Power with” vs. “Power over”
We use the term “power with” to distinguish from the predominant culture or overculture being a “power over” patriarchal culture that is hierarchical and colonizing of other cultures to acquire their land or resources taking them by force and often violence. This has become so ingrained in our culture because it has been in place for approximately 5000 years. Starhawk talks about this in her book Truth or Dare where she makes the distinction between patriarchal and matriarchal cultures. This is a Divine Feminine relational approach that is not focused on acquiring material gain because there is plenty for everyone and no need for hoarding or protecting one’s wealth by taking over, dominating, and controlling others.
Priestess
A priestess is a devotee of the Divine Mother Goddess and in tune with the cycles of nature. She may identify as a witch, healer, medicine woman, shaman, or mystic. She performs sacred ceremonies in the community, for herself, or her circle. Part of the priestess’s journey is to make herself a clear channel and vessel for the Divine by practicing self-care and engaging in regular devotional practices keeping her connected to the Divinity within and around her. There are also male priests who follow this path of the Goddess.
Sabbat
A Sabbat is a holy day in Celtic mysticism celebrating the Wheel of the Year, the cycles of life, death, and rebirth. These cycles are reflected in nature, in this case, the sun, which directs the seasonal changes throughout the year.
Spiritual Embodiment
Spiritual embodiment is the practice of experiencing your divinity through the body or something else that is considered manifest in the physical world. The idea of ascension or leaving the body to become one with the divine applies here except we are embodying ourselves more fully and thus bringing our divinity inside our bodies to uplift the collective into a higher state of consciousness and awareness. This is different than transcendence which means to transcend the physical. Both are very legitimate practices and sometimes we do “leave” our bodies when we journey or go into another realm in our meditation or healing practices in order to come back with more of our soul’s essence embodied.
Victim/Perpetrator/Rescuer Triangle
The victim, perpetrator, rescuer triangle is a dynamic set up by a “power over” culture of dominance, submission, and caretaking that disempowers and enables rather than assists the one we are trying to help. It’s also called the “drama triangle” a concept developed by Stephen Karpman, MD over 40 years ago. This is so relevant as we explore the more subtle ways we fall into these roles in our psyches and play these roles in our relationships. The idea, in our current language, is that as soon as we give our power away by playing the role of victim, we have started the drama triangle and will attract those who perpetrate us further, attempt to rescue, or both. Instead of empowering us and encouraging us to rise up out of the victim stance that may be truly legitimate victimization, deception, or outright abuse, they keep us stuck in remaining a victim. This is when the victim starts to use this energy to manipulate others, often unconsciously, as the only means available to regain some sense of power. Once this occurs, we are engaging in the drama of perpetuating this role and staying stuck in the energy of the victim. The victim is a common shadow archetype in our culture, particularly among women. It is extremely tricky to navigate this dynamic with anyone in a marginalized group sustaining ongoing victimization by cultural systemic oppression and abuse, both overt and covert.
Wheel of the Year
The Wheel of the Year in Celtic mysticism is comprised of 8 Sabbats or holy days and festivals to honor the Earth’s journey around the sun. The sun is furthest from the Earth at Winter Solstice and closest to the Earth at Summer Solstice in the northern hemisphere. The Spring/Vernal Equinox also known as Ostara and Fall/Autumnal Equinox also known as Mabon, are the days when the light and dark are in equal balance. In the seasonal wheel, these Equinoxes are powerful days of balance before we shift into more light or more darkness. The 4 cross-quarter days in between the Solstices and Equinoxes are important seasonal festival Sabbats. These are Imbolc or Candlemas, Beltane or May Day, Lammas or Lughnasadh, and Samhain or Hallowmas.
Witch
A witch is someone who creates change through focused intention, ritual, spellwork, and the practice of alchemy and magick. A witch may have areas of specialty where she uses her powers to work with energy by focusing her intentions on the desired outcome such as healing, manifesting, etc. She may work with the elements and nature through the use of stones & crystals, herbs, and plant medicines, divination, ritual spellwork, or other modalities of magickal practice. She may express herself through writing, the creative arts, or other forms of self-expression where she receives or channels the Divine in order to bring enlightenment.
Wicca is a religion that practices witchcraft but not all people who identify as witches practice the Wiccan religion. Witch is a much broader term than that and dates back to the witch trials and burnings that took hundreds of thousands of lives during the overtaking of the Celts by the Roman Catholic church. While there are “dark” or malevolent witches out there, the widespread belief that witches are to be feared and evil is a gross distortion rooted in patriarchal dominance by the Christian church. The vast majority of those identifying as witches are powerful healers here to evolve humanity as light workers returning as leaders and teachers in this lifetime.