It's been a long time since I've done a post tracking my Lioness journey, but that means I've simply been too busy to post. It's interesting how, when I take a break for a while, all the threads I've been collecting start to weave together into something that I was not expecting.
I've been taking a class on the Chakra system at a local metaphysics bookstore. In conjuction, I've been reading a book on the Subtle Energy Body -- of which the Charka system is one method of perception/awareness. While the class isn't particularly good in terms of education, it is good in that it's got me thinking of everything else I've learned about the human energy system over the years. I particularly love Caroline Myss' interpretation of looking at the development of society and the Self through the chakras and what each chakra is ready to handle.
The root chakra is the connection to tribe and clan and religion -- the fundamentals of cultural life. For people and cultures living within this chakra, life is about survival of the tribe or the clan or the religion -- not the family per se, and certainly not the individual. This is the most primal way of being, the most grounded in raw survival. Those societies which carry grudges against another group for generations, centuries even, because one person did something to another one ages ago and they are STILL fighting over it -- they live right here. When my husband was in Bosnea on deployment, he encountered a man who was raging against another man because that other man's great-great-grandfather had stolen a house from his family, and they were still fighting over that house. Needless to say, my Western husband literally could not connect to this idea -- he was not raised in a society that lives in the root chakra. Likewise, that man could not fathom in the least the idea that where he came from is less important than where he might go. I think that a great deal of the world's societies are still right here, grounded in the root chakra, living from these ideals and ideas and archetypes. This is also the level of being and society which moves the slowest, because EVERYBODY in that tribe is connected. Uploading a new idea means dissemminating that idea to a lot of people. Can you think of any societies around today which you would describe as a first chakra one?
The second chakra is our connection to family, creativity and fertility. This is where family starts to become more important than tribe, and that idea is obviously very threatening to the tribe. Why? Because something else might be more important, which means tribe might be the thing which is sacrificed! Tribe doesn't like that. But for societies living here, the Family is the all important thing. Disgraced or dishonored family members are killed or kill themselves to preserve the family sanctity. The individual members are not individuals, they are members of the family, and must always act with the Family in mind. The energy of this society moves a little faster than in the first chakra one, since it only has to connect to the family it ties together rather than the entire society. Can you think of any societies around today which you would describe as a second chakra one?
Getting to the third chakra, this is the center of personal power and self-esteem -- where the individual starts to emerge. As with Tribe not liking Family, again Family is not particularly keen on the emergence of the I. It is the I which decides that the life they have to lead is more important that the life the Family wants or expects. To second chakra societies, this is a horrible crime. This is where the charge of 'selfishness' becomes a crime. By and large, Western culture has been a third chakra society for several hundred years. We value individual freedom to choose the path we individually wish to take in our life. The Cowboy and the Pioneer and the Entrepreneur are archetypes that we look up to and laud. We look ahead, not behind. For societies in this energy center, it's not where you came from but where YOU are going that is important. These ideals to first chakra societies are ... horrendous. Terrifying. Threatening in the extreme. Second chakra societies at least somewhat understand it, but they don't like it. It's in this third chakra where energy can start to move very quickly.
What's a fourth chakra society look like? Well, the fourth chakra is the heart chakra, It's the one that enables us to connect to others, to love unconditionally. I think this is where we are trying to go. We've gone through our extreme materialism phase, a child trying something on saying "does this have meaning? Do I like this?". I see the rapid growth of the consciousness movement, a revitalization of a non-dogmatic spirituality, all as expressions of our societal growth. It'll take some time, probably another century or so, to get there, but we're on the path.
The danger comes in not recognizing the vast gulf that now exists in this world between the awareness levels of the societies which are now interacting on a daily basis. This is not a judgement call, simply a recognition of the reality. The bare bones emergence of a 3rd chakra society was beginning with Rome, but it faltered, and was wiped out by 1st chakra societies. It took more than 1000 years to recover from that. Fortunately, we're not exactly Rome in terms of being isolated, but nevertheless the barbarians are at the gate. Will we fall into another Dark Age?
Now we finally start getting into why the Lioness is needed now more than ever before. I belief at this moment that it is this feminine principle which is the only one who help bridge that gap. I've said elsewhere that I view the true power of the Feminine as being the foster energy of creation, civilization, society. She is the networker, the caretaker, the one who builds the strong bonds which make community a reality. The image that I have in my mind is that of a woman who can love earnestly her fellow humans enough to reach out to them from her heart center has the capacity to instantly change the energy of those she connects with.
When I say 'she' or 'feminine' here, don't get literal. Men have an inner woman, just as women have an inner man. The famous analyst Carl Jung even named this the Anima in men and the Animus in women. For me, I'm learning that I have a less than ideal image of own inner Animus, and that is a reflection of my image of myself as a woman. I grew up in the 70s and 80s, absorbing a great deal of the resentments and hostility of the changing cultural norms. This is what I'm trying to work through within myself, to find the Lioness, the sacred Feminine buried deep within. How can I hope to help bridge any gaps if I'm still so terribly at odds within myself?
-- Lioness (in training)
Note: I edited this post rather severely shortly after it was initially published.
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