I managed the Cairo side of the course, working with the students, keeping records of attendance, correspondence with the school, anything that needed to be done on this end.

The group offers monthly meeting for women interested in alternative therapies and  self-awareness.

Formerly the Women’s Centre for Health and Well-being (1996-2007). The Centre now offers a sacred space for both men and women.  I teach my own classes and workshops as well as hosting workshops for other instructors in related fields.  The instructors are both from Egypt and abroad.

I do lectures and run workshops in Aromatherapy, Al-chemia Remedies (Egyptian Flower and Sacred Sites Remedies), Universal Dancer, Sacred Dance, Spiritual Astrology, Natural Beauty, Mayan Calendar and Reiki both in Egypt and abroad.

International event bringing public awareness to local water issues through the medium of dance.

Global Water Dances is a world event planned for June 25, 2011. On this day, a 24 hour series of dances around the globe will be danced, centered around water issues. Beginning in the Western Pacific Rim, and encircling the globe, the series of dances will also be broadcast online.

Global Water Dances is a model of how to use participatory art-making to raise consciousness about environmental problems and how to bring people together to work on solving these problems. Participants and viewers of Global Water Dances will learn about the critical role of humans in protecting water supplies.

Flow, the medium of dance/movement, can connect community, just as water connects people. Communities grew up and were often defined by the water nearby. Through Global Water Dances we want to connect the local to the global community to safeguard that all humans have access to clean drinking water, so that the water flowing through us is sustaining and not harming us. Taking responsibility for, valuing and protecting water, can shift people easily into other ways of caring for the planet.

The original piece we will perform here in Cairo is entitled Nun (pronounced ‘noon’). Nun is the primordial waters in the ancient Egyptian creation story. The Dance came to me fully formed as a vision, a moving Mandala, a drop of water. This happened in February during our revolution here in Egypt, a very creative time.

As a teacher of sacred dance I work with energy or the inner world more than being an ‘environmentalist’ or working with the external world, therefore I was not really clear at first what my role in this event was. Then on March 30^th Dr. Emoto (Messages of Water) called for a global prayer to heal the radioactive waters around Japan. I then understood the significance of this Dance, Nun. It is about healing water on the energetic/quantum level, the new pollutant we are facing. The Dance was the prayer that I did on March 30^th for the waters of Japan. And now each time I do the Dance I do it with the intention of healing the waters on this planet.

I work with water a lot as a Homeopath and the creator of the Egyptian Flower Remedies. Water has the unique ability to shift its matrix, which is why it is used as the medium for energetic substance. Because of this quality it is possible to shift the matrix of the water using vibration, intention, prayer or movement. In this Dance we use intention, love and primordial wave movement to shift and recalibrate the matrix of the water to its pure primordial state, full of potential.

I believe that doing this Dance as a community on June 25^th will add even more healing power to the intention. And given the events in Japan it is clear that we need to add energetic ‘cleaning’ to our long list of water issues. I look forward to doing this dance with our community as well as sharing it with other is the future.

In this Dance we have the opportunity to bring together movement, healing, love, joy and the potential for everything as we come together, with a sense of community, for a common goal, the healing of the earth’s waters. As this is a global event please join from wherever you are in the world on June 25^th. There are many groups in many countries; it’s easy to get involved. Go to:  http://www.globalwaterdances.org/

Leslie Zehr (Choreographer/Event Organizer-Egypt): Leslie began performing in theatre production at the age of six with the encouragement of her mother who is an actress and director. Through her childhood and teen years she studied tap, jazz, ballet, voice and was also a competitive ice skater. She continued performing on stage until the age of 21 at which time her attention then turned towards health and healing. She attended Virginia Polytechnic Institute where she studied Biochemistry and Psychology. In 1986 Leslie left western culture and immigrated to Egypt where she has resided ever since. Her main work is with The Universal Dancer which incorporates Sacred Dance and esoteric wisdom which she teaches both in Egypt and abroad. Leslie is the author of The Alchemy of Dance: Sacred Dance as a Path to the Universal Dancer. Through the Dance she teaches esoteric wisdom as well as empowering women by reconnecting them to the Divine Feminine within. Leslie is a story teller though the medium of Dance. The Dances are both healing and transformational. She retells the archetypal stories using music, primordial energies, sacred geometry, wave motion and vibration. Taking us back through time to the essence of our being, initiating and unlocking the esoteric knowledge buried deep within our psyche. If you would like to join the event in Egypt contact Leslie at leslie@UniversalDancer.com.

All of this is not surprising in light of recent events. On Tuesday the 15^th a friend, Mai, posted on Facebook an article about the solar eruption on February 13^th. This spurred a discussion on the sun and the fact that we are moving into the period of highest solar activity in recorded history. I am talking even about the information from indigenous people and ancient sources. The ancients were excellent astronomers so there is a lot of very interesting and accurate information available. So this is REALLY big.

One explanation for this increase solar activity relates to the galactic centre and the Mayan calendar. The Mayan people explain that the calendar was sent via a wave from the galactic center, from an ‘intelligence’ that resides there. Well we know that there is a black hole in the center of our galaxy. Depending on how much you know about black holes, or want to know about black holes it seems that light cannot escape, there is probably a parallel universe on the other side and time may be warped or disappear there. Some would also say that this ‘intelligence’ that resides in the black hole (or emanates from it) is God or the Divine. Clearly there is too much to be said about it and in fact what does anyone really ‘know’.

We do know from science that there IS a pulse or wave emanating from the center of the galaxy. We also know that the frequency of that wave has increased. In 1998 our solar system moved to its closest point to the galactic center. We were bombarded with particles the earths magnetic fields began changing. In 1999 we moved into the Galactic Underworld on the Mayan calendar. According to the Mayan calendar time line time increased 20 fold with each new underworld. The increased frequency of the wave is what produces this increase in ‘time’. I think if we look back over the past 12 years or so we can agree, from personal experience that this is true.

The wave that emanates seems to be increasing our own personal frequency as well, which is what is causing the evolution of consciousness. This pervasive energy field is called the ‘Psi-Bank’. We know that different frequencies cause interactions with diffent levels of our consciousness. We also know that the earth its self emanates the same waves as our brains. We are in resonance with the earth and the galaxy far more than we consciously realize (for information on these waves see Dr. Carl Calleman or Barbara Hand Clow’s work).

The increase in solar activity seems to also be a direct response to the increased frequency of the waves from the galactic center. As we now move into the Universal underworld the frequency will increase again 20 fold. Meaning that what happened in a 20 year period of time before 1999, then took 360 days in the Galactic Underworld and will now take only 20 days in the Universal Underworld. I think many people are already seeing and feeling that increase as the events of the day increase in magnitude.

It makes sense that if the increased frequency is effecting, the earth, and our brains then of course it will affect the sun. And the sun being huge and at the center of our solar system is quite easy to monitor. If we are evolving then the sun is evolving as well. There is SO much fascinating ‘scientific’ information out there. I wish they would teach that in school rather that what they are teaching. (It is interesting to note that a solar flare last about 13 days. 13 days is one Trecena in the Mayan calendar. Trecenas are the number frequencies 1-13, one of the two alternating cycles that make up the Tzolkin).

The sun has always been a symbol of the Self. It is the ruling ‘planet’ of the astrological sign Leo. I don’t think in the past we have paid much attention to the sun. We have been so much in our heads. Not even noticing that the sun is mirroring what we seem to be most focused on, the Self, sometimes known as the ego. The sun was just there, it causes day and night, eclipses once in a while everyone just took it for granted.  In recent times interest in nature has made a revival. The recent earth changes have MADE themselves known is very dramatic ways, tsunamis, earthquakes and volcanoes. It seems to take a lot to get out attention. Now the sun whose evolution reflects our own evolution is ready to be heard.

About five years ago I began to notice the effects of the sun, the solar flares, on our emotions and also wireless technology. The realization came as an epiphany. One day I was getting phone calls one right after the other. ‘What is going on? I am deep in anger. What is happening?!’ Because I work as a therapist/counselor and also as an astrologer people tend to call me when things are not making sense. I don’t need to go and look for data it comes to me. I take note of what comes to me and try to make sense of it.

At the same time that everyone was calling with the same question I was noticing that the network (cell phones) was not working. Dropped calls, not getting through…I happened to be walking in the street when I got the last call. I then noticed that a sandstorm was building. All of the sudden I said to the person on the phone ‘I wonder if there is a solar flare’. Some of my most profound insights come when I am explaining something, which I know nothing about, to someone else.

Sure enough. We both went to the internet and did some research and found that there had been a huge solar flare. Now we knew what it felt like. We began to monitor these ‘feelings’ and observations with data from spaceweather and NASA. I also started reading more about what science was saying about solar flares. I found that it did interfere with wireless technology and even navigational equipment on airplanes! That seemed kind of important to me. Why are they flying planes during solar flares? I only hope they know what they are doing.

Then about three years ago I had the most profound experience that I have had up to this point in my life. I had gone to Maadi, a suburb of Cairo, to give a talk. I gave the talk and was leaving to drive home. I started to feel a bit ill, like I was having a sugar low although I had eaten lunch previous to the talk. I got in my car and started home. It was rush hour, the traffic was really bad. I got about halfway home and felt like I was going to pass out. It had been getting progressively worse but now my vision was being affected. I had a bit of a headache but that was not the worst of it. It was similar to a migraine but very different at the same time. I felt as if the top of my head was opening up and I was somehow going out!

I realized I wasn’t going to make it home but what could I do. I was going to call my son to come and get me, which is when I realized my vision was off.  There was no way to pull over and even if I did call him he would never be able to get to me. Stopping was not an option so I had to keep going. My car is a stick shift and because I was in bumper to bumper traffic I was not going very fast. I decided I would just keep going. If I passed out the car would just roll into the car ahead of me and stop. Tapping someone from behind is not as big an issue here as is it would be somewhere else. I kept going.

Somehow I made it home. I really don’t know how because it continued to get worse. The next challenge was getting up the steps but by then I thought if I passed out at least it would be right in front of my door. By now I just wanted to get inside and lay down.

I made it up the steps, in the house and laid down on the couch. That really didn’t make me feel better; I sat, I leaned. Nothing was helping. My kids had friends at home. One of them passed by the room I was in and asked what was wrong with me. He was terrified, so was I. He asked if I wanted to go to the hospital. I said ‘no’. What would I tell them, my head is opening up? Anytime I sought medical intervention, especially in a hospital, I have regretted it. Better to die at home on the couch than being prodded and poked in a hospital.

I survived the evening. Things got better when I realized and reminded myself that I just needed to get through it. That is my mantra when I am in turbulence on an airplane ‘you have to go through it to get to the other side’. I went to bed.

When I work up the next morning I had a headache, a familiar headache. Later that day we had a huge sandstorm. One of my migraine ‘commiseraters’ called and we compared notes. No great surprise. I am very Mercurial ‘a human barometer’ I always feel the weather changing but this was so far beyond anything I had ever experienced before. The migraine I understood, the rest was new. For what ever reason the rest of that year I had similar ‘head opening’ experiences, which I have never had since then.

Needless to say I am familiar with the ‘solar flare experience’. But I feel there is more to it than that. There is obviously a whole range of possible experiences. Someone told me that the ‘head opening’ experience is downloading information. She had a similar experience around the same time. Perhaps. And this may lend support for the idea that the higher frequencies are causing our brains to change and that they in fact hold information.

This last flare on Sunday brought the oh-so-familiar anger. It was so extreme that I was asking the people around me what they felt was happening to me. I felt my anger rising. I know that feeling. And I know that always, when we ‘think’ we have worked through something the universe comes to test us. I was being tested. I would react and then think to myself ‘what should I do? Respond?’ the answer was always ‘no’. I felt at peace with that and then bam! Someone else would hit me with some comment! I would ask myself the same question. The answer again was ‘no don’t respond’.

Well, this went on all day! In the evening I was chatting with my daughter telling her that this was getting extreme and although I felt the correct answer was not to react the universe was NOT leaving me alone, I was still being tested. So that was clearly not the correct answer. I needed to look for a new option. It was late, I decided to go to bed and respond the next day, which is always a good strategy. Create space for a NEW option to arise.

On top of the aggravation from human being my computer had decided that it also wanted to antagonize me. I have to admit that it is usually a reaction to my mood. If I am upset my computer freezes. But again this was extreme. Every 20 minutes I had to reboot! This went on all day Sunday and Monday.

I slept and awoke with the conclusion that the universe was compelling me to be truthful even if I would throw myself into the fire. Thoughts were fighting to get out of my head. My computer still didn’t feel the need participate in this dilemma. I had to reboot three times before I could actually use it. In the mean time I had taken copious notes on how I would, most clearly and with the least provocation, express my thoughts, that clearly no one understood. I had about seven pages of hand written notes! I was going to be understood this time.

When I finally got into Facebook I found Mai’s post about the solar flare. It all made sense. And at that point I could release all my obligations ‘to BE understood’. Those people couldn’t help provoking me; they were reacting to the sun as well. My computer continued freezing until Wednesday morning when it absolutely refused to go on and crashed. Luckily I managed to recover everything and now it is working as if nothing ever happened.

But in the process the universe had conspired to make me focus and write about something I should have done a long time ago. I have deciphered my seven pages of notes, almost. My handwriting is so bad I can’t even read it. But at least now I have it all written on my computer and I can take my time without anger or stress to mold it into a piece that will hopefully be clear and illuminating. Even if the universe had to kick me in the butt to get me write it! Coming soon…

Sacred Circle of Sound Meditation and Mayan Calendar Talk

On Wednesday, February 23^rd at 7:00pm we will be having another Sacred Circle of Sound Meditation and Talk on the Mayan Calendar at The Centre.

The purpose of this gathering is twofold to come together as friends and share an intention for the best possible outcome for Egypt in these times of change and to discuss the Mayan Calendar and it’s relevance to these times.

Huge steps have been taken already but we want to continue to hold the energy and set the intention for the highest possible good or best possible out come. This is not a political gathering in anyway it is meant for friends to come together for healing, emotional support, and to realign our selves with Divine unfolding.

February 11^th was the first day of the Universal Underworld on the Mayan Calendar; perfect synchronicity with the events that unfolded in Egypt on that day. Many people have asked for more information on this and it’s relevance to the events unfolding in Egypt. In the Universal Underworld we learn how to live in timelessness, with no limiting thoughts, anything IS possible. The 1^stphase in any underworld is sowing. We are now sowing the seeds of the Universal Underworld, the new consciousness. 

At the gathering we will be playing the crystal bowls donated to Egypt by the Circle of Sound organization as well as setting an intention for of Harmony, Acceptance, Unity, Joy and Compassion for all, then a silent group meditation. There will then be a short break before the talk. Those who are only interested in the meditation part of the evening may leave during the break.

If anyone would like to use the Al-chemia remedies they will be available. Please bring a clean container to the gathering to take the remedy home with you. You will use the remedy at home in your own sacred space.

The format will be:

-We will begin by observing a minute of silence for all those who have died on all sides.

-Then form the circle with bowls and players and everyone, sitting around the circle.

-Clarify the intentions of Harmony, Acceptance, Unity, Joy and Compassion among all beings of the planet.

-Play the bowls for approximately fifteen minutes.

-Reaffirm our intentions of Harmony, Acceptance, Unity, Joy and Compassion among all beings of the planet.

-Observe a twenty minute silent meditation.

After the meditation we will take a short break. Those that wish to stay for the talk may do so.

-A presentation and informal talk on the Mayan Calendar and it relevance to these times.

-Dispense remedies to anyone who would like to use them.

I sit here just having witnessed a miracle. The Egyptian Evolution. I prefer ‘evolution’ to ‘revolution’ because we have never been here before. Revolution is defined as a turn or coming back to something. We are not coming back to anything this is a shift in consciousness. We have made a leap not a turn.

And as the universe is perfect and divine the 11^th of February 2011 was the beginning of the Universal Underworld on the Mayan calendar. I had forgotten all about it. I got distracted being IN the process.

In the Universal Underworld we learn how to live in timelessness, with no limiting thoughts, anything IS possible. I believe we had the winter intensive course in that lesson in that over the past 18 days! The 1^stphase in any underworld is sowing.  We will sow the seeds of the Universal Underworld, the new consciousness. 

Even though the events took place in Egypt the sowing was not limited to Egypt. Thanks to the Aquarian world-wide-web the seeds of cosmic consciousness were planted in the minds of everyone on earth. This was reflected in Obama’s speech (as well as other world leaders) when he thanked the people of Egypt for presenting a model of non-violence.

The 1^st Day (there is a day and a night in each phase) lasts only 20 days, until the 3^rd of March. The 1^st Night begins on the 3^rd of March. It is the time when we assimilate this new consciousness. It will also last for 20 of our calendar days. And it goes on, changing every 20 days. I won’t go on with each phase as all this information is available on http://www.calleman.com or http://www.mayanmajix.com .

The Universal Underworld is also the time when we will integrate both sides of the brain. We will use both the left and right hemispheres of the brain equally (Indigo children have always done this). And when there is no hemispheric (neither cerebral nor planetary) dominance there will be no polar (masculine/feminine, yin/yang) dominance either. We will need this integration in order deal with timelessness and the present time acceleration.

In relation to the concept of time acceleration, in this new underworld what use to take 360 days in the Galactic Underworld (the period from January 5^th, 1999 until now) will now take only 20 days in the Universal Underworld. Hang on to your hats boys and girls we are in the fast lane now!

It is interesting to note that the Long Count on the Mayan calendar began in 3115BC and will end 28^th of October 2011. The event that marked the beginning of the Long Count is the uniting of Upper and Lower Egypt. So it is only fitting that Egypt unite in a more personal, humanitarian, way as we move into the last cycle and approach the end of the Long Count, on the first day of the Universal Underworld.(see Dr. Calleman’s book The Mayan Calendar and the Transformation of Consciousness). I have tears in my eyes just writing this. The universe is truly in Divine order and we are witnessing that before our very eyes.

I have to say that due to my upbringing I had a lot of resistance to the idea of the army taking control. When I heard that was what was going to happen I asked my son ‘and that’s a good thing?’ He said ‘yes! They won’t shoot their own people!’ I was not so convinced of that but I kept my thoughts to myself trying not to add negativity to the situation. Seems he was right. And when I saw the footage of the people in Tahrir Square last night, everyone celebrating together, people climbing all over the tanks, soldiers carrying and kissing babies on the head, I was really moved.

Then today it hit me that the army, in theory, in their purest form, actually represents an aspect of the Divine Masculine, the protector. And IF that is the role they play, not of being an aggressor or repressor, but protecting Om el Donya then wow! We are witnessing ‘national alchemy’, the sacred marriage! And from what I have seen in the past three weeks, anything IS possible! Perhaps we need to leave our minds open to a new definition of ‘army’; and everything we ‘thought’ we knew.

As the Hopi people say ‘We are the ones we are waiting for’.

 What an experience. I always knew that I would know the moment Mubarak stepped down. I don’t have a TV or radio. I didn’t need one. I was typing and all of the sudden I heard a guy running through the streets yelling ‘Allahu akbar’ (God is Greatest). Then it got louder, more people chimed in ‘Allahu akbar’, then people cheering, horns honking. I went out on the balcony to see people on the street, yelling and waving flags. It was already dark out. I could see the lights of the screens from their cell phones as everyone called their friends and loved ones to share the news. You could feel the joy, the relief. Something lifted, lightened. It has been a tense time these last 18 days. The pressure has been building since the 25^th of January. What a beautiful moment. The streets sounded like they do after a football match but the feeling was different.

The energy has been a bit heavy since last night when Mubarak gave a speech saying he would NOT step down. When it was announced that he would give a speech everyone thought he would step down. There had been more demonstrations arranged for this Friday after prayers, just like there have been for the past two weeks. Everyone thought he would step down avoiding that. He didn’t. People were shocked and disturbed. You could feel the heaviness and disappointment. His speech backfired. People were not intimidated. All it did was strengthen their resolve. More people turned out in Tahrir Square than ever before. My son went to the demonstration for awhile and then left saying there were so many people he couldn’t breathe.

 Wow! Amazing! Miraculous! Words cannot describe what I feel at this moment. We have witnessed something…unbelievable. That people just through sheer perseverance and resolve, without violence, without a leader, a collective mind moving towards a goal with only a sense of community and solidarity, that they could accomplish so much. Truly amazing!

 Illumination. The truth came out and everyone showed their best and worse faces. The word ‘transparency’ keeps coming up for me. I think we have become too connected, information is too accessible, to think we can hide anything in the shadows anymore. People will need to be accountable for their actions.

 There is still a long road ahead. This is only the beginning. But it is one huge step in our evolution. We now hold in our consciousness the knowing that it is possible for great change to occur with out violence and through collective effort. I ask that people continue to hold the intention for the best possible outcome as we continue this journey.

I wrote this ‘poem’ for Egypt (Om el Donya, Mother of the World). It came more as a guided visualization or intention than a ‘poem’. I saw myself (and other women who wish to participate) creating a sacred space for rebirth, holding this powerful energy of creation and emerging for Egypt deep within my womb. These are the words that came:

Om el Donya

 The cycle continues beyond space and time,

throughout all eternity.

Death and Re-birth.

Just as you (re)birthed me and allowed me to emerge fully realized,

I hold the space, not only in my heart but deep within my womb, for you to gestate.

I do not know what, or who, you will be,

but I love you unconditionally, unwaveringly, eternally.

I sit in anticipation.

I feel you move, and kick, and know, that you are alive,

forming and reforming, until that day when you must undergo the most powerful of transitions,

to die from one world into another so that you may live and breathe for all to see.

Leslie Zehr, Feb 2011

 We had a beautiful meditation. Very powerful. We honored the dead, played the crystal bowls, set an intention for Harmony, Acceptance, Unity, Joy and Compassion for all and meditated together in silence for 20 minutes. it was very healing and centering.

To feel the energy of everyone collectively experiencing an intense and amazing moment in time is truly a gift. People are tired but not giving up. There is tremendous stamina and resolve in individuals for what is happening and has been happening since the 25^th of January. Talk about holding energy and focus…wow! This is truly a new wave in consciousness. There is grief about the people that have been lost. But the feeling of overwhelming courage is something to be admired. Although some people are angry or frustrated that is not the feeling that comes across, empowerment, commitment and determination for a new Egypt is what is felt.

 The room was full and it made me happy that people want change on all levels. Many of the people had been out in Tahrir Square everyday, vigilance. But they still made time to join us and work for our cause, change on the subtle level.

 People from all over the world responded to me that they would be joining us in spirit. Their presence was felt and appreciated by the whole group. The feeling of global solidarity and community is lovely.

 Everyone shared stories of joy, tragedy and hardship, a sacred space to decompress. We all felt healing, something that is greatly needed. I am truly honored to have been able to participate is such a profound experience. The idea to gather came in a moment of inspiration, not as a thought, so I knew it needed to happen. I have little to say because it truly needed to be felt.

 I hope to continue to have these gatherings. No matter what the outcome of the next few days we all need to hold the intention for the highest possible good. Clearly from all that has happened thus far anything IS possible. Miracles are happening right in front of us.

This is an excerpt from a larger work on this subject. It relates to yesterdays post which is why I am posting it here.

The Heroines Journey

We are all very familiar with the Hero’s Journey. It is written about in all mythology, in the Iliad, the story of Horus…Joseph Campbell even wrote a book about it The Hero with a Thousand Faces. As women living in these times we too take the hero’s journey. We go out in the world and ‘make’ something of ourselves.

 But there is another journey often neglected or spoken about in a negative way and that is the Heroines Journey. Sylvia Brinton Perera, a psychotherapist, calls it the Descent to the Goddess. It is in the mythology and our consciousness but doesn’t get much notice. When masculine/eternal/manifested values took the focus we left this other journey by the wayside to decay. Even as women our focus became the hero’s journey and we forgot our own path. Women are the tenders of the underworld the unconscious/unmanifested. We got distracted and now no one is tending the underworld or the subtle realm.

 This is a very dangerous situation. When we tended the underworld we knew how to navigate it, for our selves and others. We knew what was in there and what to watch out for. Now no one is tending this realm, we have forgotten how to navigate it and it has left us all very vulnerable and fearful.

 Over time this journey even began to take on negative names such as depression. Depression became a fearful thing, something we want to avoid at any cost, even if it means taking medication. There are some forms of depression that are pathological and dangerous. But perhaps if we understood this journey better we would be able to differentiate between the pathological and the spiritual. Instead we made it all ‘bad’. In the end ‘what we resist persists’. The more we try to hold down this dragon the stronger it will emerge. Better to find our courage and face it.

 The concept gained a small revival in spirituality with the idea of ‘the dark night of the soul’; but that is usually a fleeting experience, one that we need to somehow endure. I contend that like the shaman we need to embrace the journey to the underworld and learn how to navigate it in order to remove the fear. Fear in general comes from the unconscious mind which is why it is so potent. Fear is the perfect example of what is in the underworld that we need to conquer. Rage is another. We need to stop being afraid of the unknown, unseen, because until we do we will always be vulnerable. I personally feel that one of the reasons there is so much fear is because no one is tending the underworld.

 The story of Innana/Ishtar is one example of this descent in mythology. Innana descends to visit her dark sister in the underworld. She is dressed in symbols of her ‘power’. One by one as she goes through the gates of the underworld she is humbled, stripped of her power, piece by piece until finally she stands naked and disempowered. Before she embarks on this journey she tells her handmaiden that if she does not return in three days and three nights that the handmaiden should go to the gods to ask for help for her return. When Innana does not return her handmaiden first goes to one of the most powerful gods who tells her that Innana should have know better than to go to the underworld. The handmaiden then goes to Innana’s father who also refuses saying that Innana is always acting out.

 Finally the handmaiden goes to the god of the primordial waters who sends two helpers to the underworld to retrieve Innana’s body and resurrect her. They go to the underworld to appease Innana’s dark sister who is suffering. They appease her with compassion, reflection and healing. As a gift for their healing they are given Innana’s body. They resuscitate her. As she ascends moving back through the gates one by one she reclaims her power, but this time with great wisdom and ‘empowerment’.

 That is a VERY simplified version of a very beautiful story filled with wisdom. It is work reading in it’s entirety to extract all the important details. There are two important points that I would like to make here. One is that although Innana knows she must make the journey alone she leaves instructions with her handmaiden to help her return if she is unable. We need other women to help us back, whether we are men or women taking the journey. Women are the midwives to help us re-birth, because of our knowledge of this process and birthing.

 The second point which I didn’t go into deeply in my explanation but needs to be looked at is how she is allowed to return. The helpers ease the pain and transform the goddess of the underworld through compassion, reflection and healing. When the dark goddess is healed Innana is allowed to return. In other words the outer state reflects the inner state and transformation needs to take place in both places. As women regain their navigational skills all will benefit.

 Just as women embark on the Hero’s journey men often make this descent to the underworld. But I think it is more difficult for men. Women still have the skills, the ability to navigate the darkness. We have not yet completely lost our intuition. Women have a monthly death/rebirth cycle that could be seen as a mild version of this greater journey. Experiencing the death and release of what could have been (a child) before we begin a new cycle. In ancient times this was something that brought women together a time of bonding. Women were not banished outside the tribe because it was disgusting. It was a time of healing for women, a time to bond in a moment when they were taking the journey. They were in a state of consciousness that was overly sensitive and very receptive, a time to be with other women (see Anita Diamant, The Red Tent). As women regain their navigational skills all will benefit.

 When men and women stop battling with each other, between the sexes, and begin to move to co-creation we will see the importance of this cooperation. We will see why it is so important for each of the sexes to embrace their divine aspects. Navigating the darkness is one of the aspects of the Divine Feminine. We need to reclaim it so that all of humanity can benefit.

 I had a very prophetic dream several years ago that I only understood recently, during one of our gatherings. When I had the understanding I knew that the illumination was correct because it brought tears to my eyes as I was telling the story.

 In the dream I am with my animus (who I spent a lot of time with in those days). We are running out of what looks like a 7 Eleven or On the Run. As we are exiting the store I can see something that looks like thick black smoke progressively filling the store. It is not smoke, the store is not on fire, it is the ‘darkness’ moving in.

 We run out of the store to our car which is parked in front. The car is a sports car I had when I was about 18, a brown Triumph Spitfire (haven’t yet understood why it was THIS car, but it was very clear). Quickly we jump into our car. He gets in the drivers side I get in the passengers side (no he didn’t open the car door for me; we were in a bit of a hurry).

 Once inside I put my arm around his shoulders and embrace him. He grabs the steering wheel with both hands. In almost slow motion I take out a gold key (very large), put it in the ignition and turn it. The car starts. He begins driving. In the mean time the ‘darkness’ is now not only filling the store but it is all around us. It is becoming difficult to see. I KNOW that I must continue to embrace him, support him to keep him calm and centered. As long as I am holding him I am empowering him. He KNOWS that he must focus and follow my instructions because it is the only way out of the ‘darkness’. I am the one who can navigate the darkness with out being able to see. There is mutual respect for our roles. He can stay focused on what he is doing because I am guiding and supporting him. There is no conflict between us we move as one, respecting and acknowledging each others ‘power’, co-creating our destiny. (It is interesting to note that in many carvings in the ancient temples in Egypt you have exactly this scene of the queen embracing and empowering the king).

 At the time I had the dream I felt it was a beautiful dream of having a powerful intimate experience with my animus. At the gathering when I told the story and tears came to my eyes I realized the profundity of the dream. I had never told it aloud before. All the women in the room felt the power of the dream as I told it. Because it was not just an intimate experience, it WAS the coming together of the Divine Masculine and Divine Feminine in their empowered states. I had glimpsed behind the curtain and witnessed co-creation, the sacred marriage. The dream showed me the immense importance of the period of time we are moving into. Somehow telling it aloud I was able to transmit it to the women in the room. I had this dream in 2002 but didn’t fully understand then. It was merely a seed that was planted in me who’s time to come to fruition is now.

 After I finished writing this entry I pulled a goddess card. What did I get? The Tower of course! Confirmation. ‘I have faith. All is not lost if I am committed to my spiritual beliefs, even in times of great pain’ (Wells, Affirmations for the Everyday Goddess).

*Please note that when I use masculine/feminine I am speaking about polarities such as yin/yang not gender roles which change from culture to culture.

 Copyright ©2011 by Leslie Zehr