wisdom

Wild & Wise: Sacred Feminine Meditations. {book review}

{Wild & Wise}

 

“Take a deep breath in, and exhale fully, inviting relaxation into every cell of your body. Feel yourself held and supported, knowing that this journey is safe and that you are supported by the sisterhood of women who have walked this path ahead of you.”

Support. Sisterhood. Safety. Three things we could all use more of.

I’ll admit, that as a woman, I have fallen far from my sister circle at times. Between raising three kids, working two jobs, dealing with the daily grind and trying to make it through what can seem like an endless onslaught of outside stimuli, I have neglected to nourish my feminine self and that of the women around me.

In this world of never-ending responsibilities, it can be difficult to put self-care and sisterhood as top priorities. Even more so than self-care, setting aside time for meaningful interactions with the women in our lives often falls to the bottom of the list. But why?

We’ve migrated so far from the natural cycles and traditional support systems in our lives, it’s become increasingly hard to navigate our way back into the sacred space of the Feminine.

Fortunately, within my extended circle resides a wealth of wise women and healers, celebrating sisterhood and sharing their body of knowledge with a world begging for relief. One of these is Amy Bammel Wilding, founder of Red Tent: Louisville. Through her women’s circles, Amy has created a safe and empowering space for us, and drawing on her experiences in this space, she recently birthed her book, Wild & Wise: Sacred Feminine Meditations for Women’s Circles & Personal Awakening.

 

Simply put, this book could not have been better timed. So many of us are reeling now and feeling the deleterious effects of the centuries-long domination of men over women. The steady regression from our innate and immeasurably powerful feminine essence has taken its toll, but we are now participating in a seismic shift. This shift is carrying us into a new epoch in which women are heralded, honored and united by the eons of knowledge we possess.

But even this long-awaited transition is not without its own discomfort, making self-care an imperative. Through meditations and deep reflection exercises, Wild & Wise offers a means to help us navigate our way through the cultural influences we’ve been subjected to and back toward our innate feminine wisdom in a healing and empowering way. Most importantly, it provides the road map that allows us to embark on this journey together, reuniting the powerful sisterhood that has too often been shuttered and shunned.

“The practice of cultivating a relationship with our Wise Woman Within is not something many of us are taught, but it is indeed one of the most powerfully nurturing acts of self-care we can offer ourselves. When we travel the web of time to commune with our past and future selves, we open to the immense and timeless matrix of Sacred Feminine healing.” 

Through a series of guided meditations, Wild & Wise takes the reader on a journey into and through the cultural influences that have shaped, and often misshaped, our relationships with ourselves as women. From learning to say no, exploring our apologetic habits, learning to listen to and love our bodies and choosing to unlearn the programming we have been subjected to by our societies, the exercises Amy walks the readers through offer a way to begin to understand and return to our true power.

Through breath-work, detailed guided imagery, and reflection exercises, Wild & Wise presents a series of meditations that are interwoven with ancient storytelling, creating essential lessons for growth. Even the organization is intuitive and empowering.

The meditations are organized into three sections: The Sacred Feminine, Your Inner Goddess, and The Wheel of The Year, allowing them to be used individually, in groups, or in the sequence they are presented. Deep at the heart of this transformative work lies the simple understanding that these exercises apply to the myriad and ever fluid aspects of our own nature, cycles, and capacity for growth. And the growth is not limited to self-care as we routinely think of it.

This book offers an illuminated path that is meant to reconnect us with that deep intuitive knowing we all possess, but are so often taught to repress.

I’ve long believed that foundation of the path into the next era, lies deep within our own feminine wisdom, just waiting to be shared and experienced on a global level. Seeds and roots and shoots long buried, just waiting to be brought back into the light of day through mutual support, to make whole, sound and well our broken world. Lo and behold, Wild & Wise taps into those roots.

From the moment I picked up this book, I knew I was holding a powerful gift in my hands.

When I explored the meditation on serendipity, I found just one of the many passages that begged to be dog-eared, as a reminder of how powerful it can be when we open ourselves up to the vibrations of the Sacred Feminine.

“The book that you open — sometimes even to a specific passage on a random page — that says the words you most need to hear? It’s no coincidence that the book found you when it did.”

As I read these words, I could do nothing more than rest in the knowledge that serendipity was at work in my life. The Universe, in this one simple passage, was reminding me of its responsiveness to my own powerful energy, courtesy of a powerful sister from afar. Through her book, Amy reminded me that my own sacred wisdom calls me to incorporate active awareness in my efforts. Every day.

As women in this modern age, we are constantly torn between meeting all the demands placed upon us and doing the internal work that refuels and sustains us. The short exercises in this compilation are individually compelling, and the sum of this work is just as powerful as each of its parts.

If you, like so many of us, are searching for the time, the place, the space to return to your natural knowing and inherent feminine strength, let this be a first step. We are all in this together, after all, and together we are stronger than we might remember. With a little self-care and sisterhood, we can unearth our divinity and bring our blessings back into the light.

“This is an ember from your Wild and Wise Feminine Fire, my sister. This ember will never die, and will always be here to inspire and guide you. Shift your attention to the ember if you are ever feeling disconnected from your wild and wise Sacred Feminine spirit, and know that with just by saying ‘yes’ to feeding this ember, you can make your fire beautiful and radiant once again.”

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SR Atchley

SR Atchley

A writer, artist & dreamer, Shanna has been potentiating talent since childhood. She is moved by nature, the arts, and academia, along with the vast mysteries of our inner and outer worlds. Shanna has a BSN, and has spent the majority of her career caring for others. It is possible to share your dreams & talents with Shanna by emailing her, or connecting via Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. If all else fails, she’ll likely find you in a dream, in which case, please feel free to introduce yourself.
SR Atchley
SR Atchley