Honoring Feminine Power
How many times do we as women give our power away...sometimes even when we don't realize we are doing it? How many times do we do what we think is best for others even if it is not the best thing for us? How many times do we feel ashamed of our feelings, our anger, our pain and hide it when we really need to let the poison out?
Too many times.
It is one thing to think about Feminine Power.
It is another thing entirely to embody it.
Shamelessly.
This week alone, I have come across some amazing and beautiful embodiments of Feminine Power and the sources range from Vanity Fair, a pop icon, a Wild Soul Woman and entrepreneur, and an ancient text on papyrus written in 2400 BCE.
Wild Soul Woman: I want to share Elizabeth DiAlto with you and her new book,
Untame Yourself As I said, this woman is a powerhouse of love, compassion, understanding and wisdom and it all started when she began to listen and honor her body. She experienced a relationship that fell apart, a family that did not always understand or appreciate her willingness to be herself and own her power, success and failure, and then the most amazingly blessed life she could ever imagine for herself. She embraced being Untamed and Wild and it set her free. Free to be herself, to feel at home in her own body, to express all that she is supposed to be, and to create the life she knew she wanted to live. Who wouldn't want that?!
Vanity Fair/pop icon: Whenever I see someone embracing their own feminine beauty without makeup or clothes or retouching done in a photo shoot, I love it! I have been known to do some of my own self-portrait photography work in this area before and absolutely loved the results. It can be so very empowering to see yourself in this way...and to see that you are beautiful just as you are. Pop icon, Demi Lovato recently did just such a photo shoot for Vanity Fair and I absolutely love her for that. I've also been very struck by her strong power-anthem song,Confident. Take a look at her photos, listen to her song and own all of you...your curves, your scars, your sex appeal and your confidence. It is a powerful message to not only embody but also to portray...it takes strength to do that sometimes.
Papyrus Prisse: Oh, this beautiful, ancient text! A Middle Kingdom text believed to be copied from an earlier text, the king's vizier, Ptah-hotep is an old man and wants to pass on some words to live by to his son before he passes into the next world. I was actually looking for some ancient prayers while looking through my copy of Ancient Egyptian Literature, Vol 1by Miriam Lichtheim and this portion literally jumped out from the page and caught my eye. I would love to find a copy of the actual text to translate this section myself, but I believe it is not in hieroglyphic form. But I have to share this here because I was so struck by the acknowledgement of the beauty and power of women, the need to honor her ... mind, body, and spirit ... and that all of our wisdom, power and intuition stem from our sexuality.
Here is the translation:
"When You prosper, found your house,
love your wife with ardor,
fill her belly, clothe her back,
ointment is a remedy for her body.
Gladden her heart as long as You live.
She is a fertile field, useful to her master.
Do not contend with her in a court of justice,
(and) keep her from power, restrain her.
Her eye is her storm when she gazes.
You will make her stay in your house.
If You push her back, see the tears !
Her vagina is one of her forms of action.
What she enforces, is that a canal be made for her."
How beautiful is this? How powerful is this?
We, as women are like the fertile field...we have so much to offer and so much to give if we are simply tended to tenderly. Ptah-hotep instructs his son not to keep a woman from her power or to restrain her but to do what is in his power to make her happy. These are words we can embrace and activate in our own lives for ourselves...No not allow yourself to keep you from your power, do not choose to be restrained if everything inside of you screams to be free, and do what you need to do to make YOU happy.
All of this is not to say that all men should be our servants! But, it is a far cry from the way many of us have been brought up religiously about the ultimate power belonging to men and that women are to be subservient to them and their needs.
I think there is balance to be had here. Yes, we can own our power and our confidence but we do not need to do this by parading around and flaunting our sexuality or by expressing the negative aspects of power...control, manipulation, and anger.
We can do this respectfully and it begins by loving your body ... every inch of it and by loving yourself, shamelessly.
How do you feel about the potential of your Feminine Power? Does it scare you? Do you shy away from it? Does it call to you? Do you own it?
Share your thoughts with me in the comments below...I would love to hear from you and the ways you express or suppress your Feminine Power and how that may change after reading these words.
Sending you so much love...