ELIXIR: Women’s Quest for Wholeness

ELIXIR: Woman’s Quest for Wholeness Introduction “ELIXIR OF Life, what can it be? Listen my friend and you shall see the Wonder of this Mystery” What is Woman? What is Quest? What is Wholeness? Before we begin our chapters of stories that illustrate particular answers to these big questions, let us explore the general or archetypal understandings that lie just below the surface of waking consciousness in us all. This exploration shimmers through the feminine lens of two women in the new millennium of the Two Thousands, (2000s) the signature of the rise of the feminine… an era of ever increasing will to co-operate, to mediate, to collaborate… to truly listen. This is the essential energy of 2, of 2ness, of 2 together, working it out. And this is the hallmark of Woman… the capacity to receive, as with open arms she listens and hears and receives the stories, the angst and the joys, and clasps it all to her heart in the embrace of the circular. The Feminine is most fundamentally expressed in a curved line. As the curve deepens it becomes a receptacle, a container, that which holds. Perhaps the ultimate symbol of this container is the Chalice, the precious vessel. And with what will she choose to fill this precious vessel? For always there is the choice. We have come to Earth School to learn in the University of FREE Will. Will you have this or that? Minute by minute, day by day, she listens and chooses. But in the curved cycle of things there comes a time when she hears a Call. And knows instinctively that she is called to answer the Call. Thus begins the Initiatory process called a Quest. In fact, all of life can be called a Quest; there is the “going apart” from that which came before, and entering into the unknown called Life on Earth. We all come with an Intention or Mission to accomplish in this life time. So we begin the life sometimes remembering quite a bit, often groping for answers. And we gradually find that they come more clearly when we are quiet, alone…when we can look within, and deeply listen. But the answers also come when we can share our insights, our musings, and have them deeply honored and received. Thus, gradually emerges the Integration, the ahas, the gift of remembering who I am and what I am on about in this lifetime. And finally comes the True Service, the offering of the gifts and talents in the world… the fulfilling of the mission. So, questing in the ordinary sense is a mini version of the big quest of life. First, there is the vague restlessness, the subtle or more overt signs that something is going to change. Then there is the clarion call that must be answered. The Call to go apart in to a new territory, the unknown. Seeking. Asking. Holding an intention. Now the seeker is faced with her fears… of possible outer threats… of inner reptiles and dragons… can I survive this unknown? This Danger? This Solitude? She watches… she waits… she meets the fears… she notices all the signs and synchronicities…. she surrenders… she accepts …she finds a Pearl of Great Price…. and bit by bit she integrates...she is SEEN. Now she is ready for the Return to the world. She is bringing her new understanding, the Arc of Wisdom that she now stands under, to the people and the creatures of this world. She is the same woman who answered the call and went apart. And she is now a new woman, walking her truth with more congruence and grace than ever before. Questing is an initiatory process. It involves leaving something behind… definitely… for good. It involves stepping across a threshold, a marker, a boundary. It involves stepping in to the new, irrevocably. It is death and rebirth, not to be undertaken lightly. And yet many of us have heard the Call and answered it not really having a conscious clue…just knowing we “had to go”. And this is for the best. If we actually knew what was coming, all the implications, all the changes, we’d be “scared to death” and never take the first steps. So we “step off the cliff” like the Tarot Fool, trusting in a Greater Something that we will be led, guided, held, supported, and somehow make it through. What is this Greater Something? We can call it our Spirit. But for women who are relational, who want to relate to, perhaps the more accessible something is our Soul. This being-ness that watches over, nudges through women’s gift of intuition, and can be related to as a Friend, the Great Friend who is in a state or condition of Wholeness. And wants this personality self, this physical body, this emotional expression, this mental acuity to join the Soul Self fully in wholeness. Together as One. Or, in a different vernacular, our Soul wants our personality to fully re-member that it is whole and lives in wholeness. What is that? The old “middle English” word “hal” is the root of three words: whole, health and holy. By weaving these three beautiful words together we can begin to feel into the implications. To be whole is to be healthy is to be holy. How delightful is that? When I am healthy physically, emotionally, mentally, spiritually- in the Whole of my four body system- then I am “in the sacred”, I am holy and my whole self. But what does it mean to be healthy in each quadrant of my four-body system? What does it mean to fully honor the physical temple with nourishing foods and beverages, with plenty of physical exercise outdoors in the sunlight and fresh air? And what does it mean to balance the emotional body with play and laughter, tears of joy and sadness, smiles and frowns, stomping anger and wows of ecstasy? And what does it mean to stimulate the mind with healthy inquiry, feeding in heaps of positive and encouraging diet while passing by the dribble of negativity that masquerades as “news” or “gossip”? And what does it mean to attend to our spiritual health in prayer and meditation, visualization and quiet time, in nature or an enclosed sacred space? Living in a state of Wholeness is sometimes called the Walk in Balance. We balance attention and presence with each of our four aspects equally, neglecting none but not over preoccupied with any one. Living in wholeness, healthfulness, holiness feels like living in heaven on earth. As the saying goes, “We are the ones we have been waiting for.” Perhaps in our ever increasing understanding of the ways of wholeness we are the harbingers of the new Heaven on Earth. For us, the Quest is to fill the Chalice with the Elixir of Wholeness. All of life, every day, every moment is the Quest. And sometimes we are called to go apart for a focused period of Questing. In the succeeding chapters you will explore the Quest of the Elixir of Wholeness with us through its acronym: Exit, Look, Inside, eXamine, Integrate, Return. You will read our stories of exciting, challenging circumstances; of being fueled by knowingness, an intention; of deep inner and outer explorations facing the fears; of examining ourselves, naked in the mirror of truth; of the healing process of witnessing and being witnessed to, gently integrating and finally culminating in our life’s work. It is our hope and prayer that you will see yourself in some of these stories. That they may inspire you to keep on keeping on when the going gets tough, and fill you with the determination for the Quest, to fill your Chalice with the Elixir of Wholeness. “When you exit the norm and look inside to examine your Her-story, you will integrate the Mystery of you and return with the Elixir of Wholeness.”