Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Chit-chat Wednesday and Drinking the Well

I've been involved in pursuing spiritual adventures for quite a long time. I've walked on fire with Stuart Wilde's Warrior Wisdom course. I trekked the Ashram path in India and stood next to faith healers in Manila. I've sweated in sweat lodges, spent countless hours in churches and danced Sufi, and around cauldrons. I've seen many impossible things. I follow a very electic and unusual path at times when it comes to spirituality. My father describes it as 'going down strange fox-holes' I put my interest in varying faiths down to my early upbringing in Papua New Guinea where there was a lot of magic practised by the locals. Reports of people being raised from the death, telepathy and spiritual healing were all common.

This weekend I went bush with a group of women to pursue Secret Women's Business at a retreat in NSW. It was a glorious weekend as I had been feeling very burnt out caring for my daughter, writing books and domestic artistry. My battery was running low. I wasn't happy with my stress levels and was finding it difficult to breathe properly at times.

I feel very different now. As the facilitator of the weekend, Suzanne, said, "The Wise Woman drinks from the well first." This is similar to the instructions on aeroplanes when the oxygen mask drops and mothers are advised to take the oxygen first before sharing it with their children.


I made new friends and reconnected with old. We sat in circle and shared of ourselves honestly. We broke away old conditionings and found a freedom in that ancient practice. Some of it was straight from scenes I might have mocked in my earlier books. Passing a crystal wand and discussing menstrual cycles with a total stranger is easy to be cynical about, until you find yourself in circle doing just that.


We revealed ourselves on multiple levels and found a new inner wisdom. It was a time I shall always treasure. I won't go into more details as Secret Women's Business should remain Secret Women's Business. But we have so much to learn from the traditional owners of this land. And from now on, I vow to sip from the well first.

9 comments:

  1. I tend to line the whole family up and drink last (as many mums do) sigh and can very much relate. Sounds like a blissful weekend.

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  2. Oh, Josephine. Amazing. I wish we all took the time for ourselves. You are, as always, an inspiration. Thank you for sharing. <3 Michelle T.

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  3. TP that sounds so wonderful! HOw brave you are. ANd you're right of course the world is busting with things unseen and not yet understood. I love that you have shared this with us. Thank YOu! BTW i am very very fond of Stuart Wilde's writings! jxx
    PS i'm glad to hear you are feeling better. x

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  4. You are a divine inspiration Josephine! Thanks for sharing your beautiful self.
    Nathalie. x

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  5. that's a lovely analogy, drinking from the well first. makes sense too. we need to nourish and nurture ourselves in order to nurture our families effectively. glad you had an uplifting time. jx

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  6. I like the "sip from the well first" better than the airplane analogy. It seems less child-dependent. There are other relationships in which we have to take care of ourself first.
    p.s. Thank you so much for your honest and heartfelt comment on my blog. It meant a lot to me that you shared it. It really did.
    xoxo

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  7. I love the idea of a secret women's meet up.. luck you and the landscape also looks inspiring. Carla

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  8. That sounds like such a lovely time. And now I am also intrigued of learning more about the magic practiced by people of Papua New Guinea.

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  9. Again...sounds intriguing...very much so! Anything to help one's well being. I'm already back in the UK and feeling my brain go foggy with confusion and chaos... I have to keep visualising empty relaxing thai beaches!! :) xxx

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