warrioress rising ::

“Forget safety. Live where you fear to live. Destroy your reputation. Be notorious.” ― Rumi

You were wild once. Don't let them tame you.

isadora duncan

So writes Isadora Duncan, and with these words a dear and beautiful friend spills light over that primordial ache which is, perhaps, the deepest hunger of all humanity, second only to love:

the desire to be free.

We were created to be so. And since creation, either we fought for our freedom or we didn't, maybe because we didn't know we could, or maybe, because:

we didn't know we weren't free. 

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Choosing to be unafraid does not mean I will never feel fear. It means running headlong into it with smoldering eyes and a deep, shaky breath. It means I am unwilling to hold back because of fear, but plunging into life in spite of it. In her article Intuition is What? Karla McLaren writes,

Healthy and free-flowing fear is nothing more or less than your instincts and your intuition. When you need it to, your fear focuses you and all of your senses, it scans your environment and your stored memories, and it increases your ability to respond effectively to new or changing situations. When your fear flows nicely, you’ll feel focused, centered, capable, and agile. Thank your fear.

Your free-flowing fear brings you instincts, intuition, and focus. If you can rely upon this form of fear when you’re confused or upset, you can access the information you need to calmly figure out what’s going on; you don’t need to feel afraid to access the gifts your fear brings you. This is one of the specific things I’ve brought to the understanding of emotions, which is that each emotion comes to us in a form we haven’t learned yet to identify, because it doesn’t feel like the mood state of the emotion.

For me, being unafraid means making peace with fear, letting go of what I don't need anymore, while learning from and listening to those who hang on. Like all of our emotions, fear is a reflection or a teacher, depending on the day.

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Back in December I wrote about fear, the fear that raised me. Fear of God and man, fear of self, fear of the future. And I wrote:

It was the kind of fear that picks apart everything sacred and beautiful 
until nothing holy remains.

artist unknown.

And now, as I fill out the shape of my soul and move my flesh to an ancient cry, I welcome the rage that floods:

the rage of I will not be tamed!

the rage of I will come to life!

the rage of I will be free!

the rage of I will rise!

And I will rise; I am rising, surrounded by a tribe of warrioresses rising in (commune)ion. Within my (commune)ity of brave and beautiful souls, I nourish the blossoming warrior woman who was once a child, who is tender :: fierce and staunchly unafraid; a surprising warrioress full of, as shawnacy marie kiker says, her life voice, her own strange and woven music. 

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I raise my foot to pound the earth, beating the earth to all the rhythms of living. I feel the warmth of it, the raw edges of eternity scraping against my bones. My skin shimmers with sacred light, for I look like She, the one who is ancient and alive; I am made like Her the Holy. I reflect Her face. She fills my lungs with holy breath and says: Arise, my love, awake.

 Arise, my love.

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I am creating a tribe of warrioresses for strength and (commune)ity as we sojourn this sacred life. Please stay tuned.

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the image of the little warrioress moves me so much. 

i cannot find the creator of it.