Mirabai Starr – Live the Sacred Blessings of the Women Mystics and Goddesses

In mystical Judaism, the Sabbath is a living being, Shekinah, and when we light the candles at sunset she comes flowing in and “re-souls” us. She imbues us with the tender power of the feminine and invites us to fully inhabit the holy present.

Cultivating a Sabbath practice is a medicine that mainstream society has lost. In this session, we reclaim the subversive, transformational potency of sacred rest, renewing our intention to lay down our burdens, refresh our thirsty souls, and take a break from the woes of the world. We become curious about and open to What Is.

In this module, you’ll:

• Become intimate with Shekinah, the “Indwelling Feminine Presence,” as an ally that reconnects you with the Sacred
• Draw inspiration from the story of Chanah of Ludmir, a 19th century Chasidic master who defied the patriarchy to become an exemplar of a living Sabbath practice
• Adapt the Jewish Sabbath (Shabbat) to fit the shape of your own life
• Make a commitment — a day a week, an hour a day, or a couple days a month — to fast from electronic devices, put aside the to-do list, and reconnect with the Earth and your own sensuality
• Design a ritual to welcome the Sabbath
• Identify the compulsions that drive you and the burdens you bear, and offer them to the Divine Feminine to be transmuted

Every spiritual tradition offers some version of contemplative practice as a touchstone for an awakened and heart-centered life. The masculine model has conditioned us to engage meditation as another weapon with which to beat ourselves into submission.

The way of the feminine is to take refuge in the stillness and explore the silence with curiosity and tenderness, befriending the holy dark. In this way, ideas about the nature of reality fall away and give rise to a lived experience of the unity of all things.

In this module, you’ll:

• Meet Teresa of Avila, the 16th-century Spanish mystic whose radiance shines across the threshold of time to illuminate our own path through these treacherous times
• Connect with the Hindu goddess Durga, embodiment of the Divine Mother, and allow her fierce and tender energy to lead you to your own reservoir of courage and quiet
• Recognize that meditation is about being present and bearing witness to our own experience — not believing everything we think
• Make a commitment to sit in silence and stillness on a regular basis
• Consider joining a meditation group or attending a meditation retreatto support your practice
• Learn what it means to be a contemplative, and apply those values to your daily life
• Experience the infusion of the sacred into the ordinary when you commit to a contemplative path

There is something imprinted on the human soul that recognizes the language of romantic love as a reflection of spiritual union — with the power to actually evoke awakening.

These wisdom teachings usually involve the mystical paradox of annihilation — lover dissolves into Beloved and only love remains. Separation from our divine source turns out to be an illusion, and we discover that not only were we connected to the Beloved all along, but we are that which we have been desiring.

In this module, you’ll:

• Listen to the legend of Bhakti poet-saint Mirabai, whose unmitigated devotion to Krishna, god of love, emboldened her to defy the patriarchy
• Connect with the passion of the Hindu Goddess Radha and rekindle your soul’s yearning for union with the Beloved
• Explore classic versions of the lover/Beloved archetype from Jewish, Christian, Hindu, and Sufi wisdom traditions
• Learn to integrate your spiritual passion with your life — allow sublime love to permeate what you do and who you are
• Understand the difference between “becoming nothing” and “being unworthy”
• Embrace the fire and allow it to transfigure you

It praises the beauty of the created world and throws our small selves into the holy fire so that nothing remains to separate us from our Creator. Or from each other. Or from the radiant web connecting All That Is.

In this module, you will embrace your dying and become who you truly are: a boundless being made entirely of Love.

In this module, you’ll:

• Immerse yourself in the luscious poetry of the Sky-Clad mystic Lalla, to cultivate a direct and naked encounter with the Sacred
• Respectfully offer whatever stands in the way of your soul’s liberation to Kali, the unconditionally loving Dark Mother of the Hindu tradition
• Explore the universal teaching that guides us to die before we die
• Engage the power of our personal losses as the alchemical substance available for radical transformation
• Experience the increased capacity of the broken heart to experience, hold, and share love

To walk as a feminine mystic is to recognize that our lives are interpenetrated with the lives of all sentient beings, and that the One we love shines from every nexus in that web of inter-being.

Whenever we tend to a single strand we are participating in the care of the whole. When we turn our face from the suffering of any being and walk away, we are exiling ourselves from our Beloved. Once we have tasted the glory of our oneness we can never again fall for the illusion of our separation.

In this module, you’ll:

• Find inspiration in the history of the Beguines, a group of laywomen who lived outside the confines of hierarchy and rules in communities of prayer and service
• Embody the energy of Tara, Tibetan bodhisattva of compassion grounded in reverence for the essential unity of all beings
• Identify the burning issues in your heart aligned with the needs of the planet and all who dwell here
• Develop the ability to access and contain the suffering in the world
• Cultivate mindfulness skills to sit with what is and not be overwhelmed
• Build your courage to speak truth to power
• Learn techniques to energize your body and soften your heart so to be of service joyfully — without burning out
• Recognize that you are enough and have enough, exactly as you are

The way of the feminine is about reclaiming the holiness of passion, blessing the burning of yearning, and saying yes to the wild, untamed, unrestrained dance of life.

It’s about honoring and celebrating the body. And not just the limited ideals of the body imposed upon us by men. The feminine honors every shape and size and hue of the physical form.

The Divine Feminine is a prism who throws her radiant reflections in all directions. She is desirable and her desires are worthy. Her desires are holy. To desire her is to be blessed.

In this module, you’ll:

• Create a relationship with Mary Magdalene as a beloved ancestor to guide you in living into your sacred sensuality
• Freely worship Aphrodite, Olympian goddess of beauty and pleasure
• Regardless of your stage in life, focus your attention on sexuality as a gift: the incarnation of spirit into your particular body
• Engage your relationship with the other as a portal to divine union
• Reclaim holy longing
• Soften your preconceptions about what an ideal body looks like and adore the body you have

In almost every religious tradition, the patriarchy places greater importance on scriptural study and ritual observance than raising children. Childrearing is an arduous path, a hero’s journey that leads us on harrowing adventures… but parents are rarely acknowledged for the enormity of the task.

Even those who don’t have their own children are, in some way, parenting the world. This is a sacred task… and you’re not alone. In your effort to be a source of nurturing to others, you can draw on the primordial power of the Divine Mother.

In this module, you’ll:

• Learn why medieval English mystic Julian of Norwich concluded that God must be a mother
• Drop into the sacred field of mystery, expressed as the Madonna in all Her forms
• Experiment with transforming the conditioned image of the (white) Father God to the Divine as mother, sister, and lover
• Allow yourself to feel and metabolize the disappointments of parenting
• Identify the ways you mother the world
• Accept your children as your teachers

Rather than relating to a world of duality — perpetrator or victim, sacred or profane, physical or metaphysical — the feminine welcomes everyone to the table. Like the Great Mother, the feminine mystic doesn’t view creation as a damaged object in need of repair… but rather as a beloved child in need of care.

In this module, you’ll:

• Develop a relationship with Hildegard of Bingen as the quintessential nature mystic
• Meet the Mesoamerican Earth goddess Ixchel, who weaves the world into being
• Attune to your purpose as a fierce protector of the Earth
• Discover what’s yours to give and BE in these times of impending environmental catastrophe
• Draw on the healing and holding energy of Mother Earth to strengthen your particular prophetic offering

When you allow yourself to be a conduit for creative energy, you can become a channel for grace. A miraculous event unfolds when you throw the lead of your personal story into the flames of creativity — it alchemizes into gold.

In this module, you’ll:

• Discover haiku master Chiyo-Ni, contemporary of Basho, whose poetry almost disappeared after her death
• Forge a bond with Saraswati, Hindu goddess of creativity — who’s available to you as a sacred guide across the creative arts
• Practice making yourself available to the flow of Shakti… the life force
• Reclaim your connection to creativity and experience the joy
• Commit to a creative project and share the result

Every wisdom tradition on the planet emphasizes that compassion is the quintessence of the Holy. The Arabic word rahim, found in the opening lines of the Qur’an and repeated many times a day in the salat (daily prayers), means compassion.

Rahim is also the word for womb. Forgiveness is the face of the Divine Feminine. Each time we allow mercy to enter the shattered spaces of our hearts, we participate in the divine nature. To forgive ourselves is to forge a contract with the Divine Mother: I will mirror you in my own soul. Yet this is not so much a decision as an allowing. It is grace.

In this module, you’ll:

• Bear witness to the story of Etty Hillesum, who experienced a profound awakening of the heart in the midst of the horror of the Holocaust
• Take refuge in the merciful embrace of Quan Yin, She Who Hears the Cries of the World
• Experiment with opening your heart to those who have caused you pain
• Gather world leaders you know to be perpetrating harm into your prayers
• Do an inventory of people you have hurt and make active amends
• Accept your own humanity as sacred, rather than as evidence of your unworthiness

Few of us are inclined to step willingly into the landscape of death and dying, but this is holy ground and great awakening awaits those who cultivate intimacy with such sacred spaces.

It takes effort and courage to break through the veil that Western society has spun around death. We are conditioned to see dying as a failure rather than as a pilgrimage. Both being with the dying and mourning our dead are individual journeys and there are no rules to follow, no laws you can break.

Our grief is directly connected to our love and we must resist being shamed into relinquishing it. When we bear loving witness to each other’s profound losses, we help each other lift and carry the great weight of remembering, bringing our loved ones back from the private shadows of our own heart into the generous light of community.

In this module, you’ll:

• Contemplate the poetry of the 9th-century Sufi mystic, Rabia, master of ego annihilation
• Find your own reflection in the myth of Demeter, Earth goddess, and her beloved daughter Persephone, abducted by the god of the underworld
• Set your intention to hold a space of loving presence at the bedside of a dying friend or relative the next time the opportunity arises
• Design a memorial service template that reflects your personal values
• Record your wishes for your own death and what is to be done after you die

Make your soul a sanctuary, not a battlefield. There is nothing to be purified or perfected, only honored and engaged. These are perilous times. Your generosity of spirit is urgently needed.

In this module, you’ll:

• Consider Buddhism’s Bodhisattva and Refuge vows through the lens of the feminine
• Reframe the notion of “mitzvah” in Jewish wisdom as an invitation rather than a commandment
• Make a plan to either join or convene a feminine wisdom community
• Practice addressing yourself as a beloved child rather than an adversary
• Imagine a place of loving safety you can return to anytime you feel discouraged or depleted