Kali Yuga and the Dark Medicine of the New Moon.
{Photo credit: Caity Flanagan}
“Go deeper, go deeper, go deeper,” she whispers to me, bringing me into the folds and depths of myself I have yet to explore.
The Feminine, Winter’s approach, and the dark New Moon are all beckoning us to plunge ourselves into the fertile darkness, quietly calling us to look at our shadows and wounds.
The world demands that we address our shadows right now.
They are being mirrored to us in full force: Standing Rock and the continued violence against Native and indigenous persons who honor and live with the Earth; the election and rise in violence and the revealing of our pain and bigotry; the bombings in Syria, and her children being wounded and killed; the blatant disregard for the sacredness of life in all its forms.
Everywhere you look we are over-saturated with the agony of the world and impact of what we have created. We are inundated with this pain; we cannot turn away.
And although there are so many days on which seeing it all, hearing it all, feeling it all is too much to bear, I promise you, loves, that there is a wisdom in all of this. Kali Yuga is upon us and, just like Nature, has the inherent wisdom to her cycles, so does Spirit, as we are plunged into the dark.
What we can find here at these depths. What it takes in us to find our ways out of the dark. The type of courage and alchemy that we must embody to be willing to go back to this place. Again and again. There is a value and weight to this work that is incomprehensible.
It creates a medicine that we can carry with us, one that gives us the greatest liberation, power, freedom, and love we have ever had.
It is in the dark that we find this medicine. It is in the dark where we know the power of our own light. It is in the dark that we discover parts of ourselves with stories they are begging to tell and wisdom that they have come to impart. It is in the dark that we learn the depths of our compassion and the power of our own hearts. It is in the dark that we discover our wholeness.
Our shadows are simply the parts of us we have cast away, that we have disowned, run away from, or left unacknowledged. They are no less a part of us than our brilliance, our hearts, our light. But when left unattended to, they grow feral and seek ways to come out and disrupt our worlds.
The shadow becomes imbalanced, angry, and looks to make itself known, usually in ways that are to our detriment and cause great discomfort. When we willingly enter into relationship with these parts of ourselves, we can learn how to skillfully work with them and offer our whole selves a type of love that we could never have known before.
As we enter into Winter, move further into Kali Yuga, and answer the call of the New Moon to journey inward, we are being called to the path of the heart. When we choose the path of courage and go tend to the deeper, darker parts of ourselves, we are meeting and gathering up the wisdom of our wholeness.
We learn the medicine of all the parts of us. And as we meet our full selves, as we call out to the pieces of us we have cast away, the sides we do not know, we expand and cultivate a deeper capacity to love.
When we willingly meet our shadow and offer it compassion, it no longer has the power to cause harm, and instead becomes another part of the whole. The concept of oneness that we are taught through plant medicine, Yoga and other spiritual practices becomes embodied wisdom, sunk deep into our bones, and permeates our whole being.
To walk the path of the heart, to answer the call of the Sacred Feminine, to do the work of being a healer, shaman, medicine woman, leader, teacher, yogi, activist, and to be a voice of the sacred in this lifetime, means finding the willingness and courage to answer this call again and again.
To walk this path is to answer the Wild Calling. It means learning how to trust in each season we find ourselves in, to feel the equal value of our shadow and our light, and to love everything in between. To hold each part of ourselves tenderly with love and compassion means that we can offer this in a true way to all other living beings.
When we know this not just in our minds, but in our whole being, the sacredness of all we are can pour out into the world through our actions and being.
So while the demand and push that asks we look into the eyes of the shadow of ourselves and world around us can feel harsh, maybe even cruel at times, there is a liberation of love on the other side that can only be reached through this work.
The taste of this elixir of freedom, the nectar of sacredness and reverence, the sweet honey of love in the highest form, is worth everything along the way.
Alchemy is the art of transmutation, the act of changing an object’s state. To me, this is the power of love. We can learn to change what we fear into what we love, not just in ourselves, but in the whole world.
And we desperately need this medicine right now.
If you’re called to walk the path, but don’t quite know how, if alchemy is ready to occur, and if you are here to learn how to walk with one foot in each world, straddling both the light and the dark, here are a few resources along the way:
Invocation ( a meditation to welcome in all parts of your self):
Start your day with a potent meditation to call in all parts of your self. The first time you do this meditation, allow it to be a free writing exercise. As you ground down and settle in whatever way is comfortable to you, begin to call out to all parts of you.
Welcome in the wise woman, the wild woman, the teacher, the mother, the lover, the one with too many needs, the insecure one, the sacred one, the weak one, the warrior one… allow the list to go on and on until you feel all parts of you are present. Make sure to call in your shadow and fear, as well as your brilliance and light. Leave a few minutes to pause and see if any other parts of you are desiring to emerge.
As you stand in front of all parts of you, look at them with awe and amazement. Bow with deep love and compassion to every single part of who you are. And make space for them to speak and offer this wisdom. All this to be an embodied experience, actually feel in your physical body when each part of you steps into the space, and feel the gratitude and love for them flowing out of you.
This meditation was taught to me by Dr. Lorin Roche as part of my training in Tantric Meditation and study of The Radiance Sutras.
Womb-clearing work (bringing light to where the shadow lives):
The womb space or sacral chakra is home to all parts of ourselves. It is where all life begins and ends. The womb is where we learn the wisdom of cycles and discover the depths of who we are. Doing work to clear the womb area gives us more access to our creativity, fire, passions, purpose, and the flow of the Feminine.
Womb-clearing work can be done by people of all genders, as we all have an energetic womb space in our second chakra. It can be done in a plant spirit healing ceremony, through working with flower and gem essences, by sacred yoni-steaming ceremonies, or in guided meditation and journeying work.
To begin engaging with womb-clearing work, set aside time each New Moon to journey inward. You can also take this time to do a yoni-steam or begin working with a new flower and gem essence. Integrate the invocation meditation, and allow your womb to speak its wisdom, to let go and shed during this time.
Flower and Gem essences (vibrational medicine and allies to help you walk the path):
Flower and Gem essences work on the subtle emotions and energetic body.
Flower essences are vibrationally infused solutions made from living, organic, wild-crafted flowers. The essences carry what is known as the energetic signature or vibration of the flower that can be transmitted to the user. This can be used to positively influence imbalances within the body or energetic field.
Flower essences help us move through cycles and phases of healing, with the same grace and intelligence as a flower’s growth and blooming each season.
Gem essences are also vibrationally infused solutions, but these are made with varying types of crystals, gem, and stones. They are intended to impart the unique energy of each stone to the user. Gem essences bring the resonance and wisdom of the stone and crystal beings into our bodies and energetic fields.
Suggested use: 2-4 drops under the tongue, as needed. Use for the course of at least one moon cycle and set intention and invitation for this healing work.
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Caity Flanagan has been in deep communication with the plant & spirit world since a young age. Her passion and connection to nature has lead her down the path of becoming an herbal practitioner, plant spirit healer, and modern day medicine woman. She speaks sutras of the heart and is in total devotion to the divine feminine, using the modalities of reiki, tantric meditation, and coaching to connect people to their own hearts and divinity. Caity is the creator of Love & Alchemy and the founder of The Wild Calling, a 9 month initiation into the sacred feminine. At the core of all she does is a profound reverence for finding the sacred in the ordinary, the power of desire, and the extraordinary alchemy of the world around us. You can find out more about Caity and her work at her personal website, Love & Alchemy, and The Wild Calling.
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