The Door of Your Heart

the Door of Your Heart ~ la Porte de Votre Cœur

Ahh, there are always choices, aren’t there? When we are lucky these two doors both have good things to reveal: the question is which one is best for us, for us NOW.  And sometimes those red doors each have some kind of intensity behind them, a fire of challenge in some form. If one were better than the other, the choice would be easy, wouldn’t it? Yet experience, learning, momentum, movement, power, and perhaps even accomplishment lie behind the doors ~ never on this side. 

Sometimes we wait, uncomfortable, afraid to make a choice ~ if we hesitate long enough, energy stagnates, momentum is lost. Yet accomplishment, success, stepping up a level is beyond comfort, in the area I would perhaps call courage. 

So I recommend that you keep walking toward them, breathing deep, awake, present, heart open and held high, no rush; yet no drawing back, no resistance. You can take a metaphorical moment to consider, and for sure I suggest that this consideration be one of your heart. Let yourself FEEL. You need to breathe and relax to do this. Which has more vibrance? Which lights up? Is there one that feels more safe ~ and are you sure that is the one that will give you the most advancement?? Really?? Ask for your higher Self, your Higher Power, to guide your steps: “Prayers up; tobacco down,” as Crow Indian hiphop star SupaMan says. 

Keep in mind that Life is FOR you. Pick a door. With your hand touching it, give thanks for whatever lies behind it for it is now a part of your destiny, Then step boldly forward, “Hanta Yo, clear the way! With clear intent, I make my way, “ I sometimes sing.

Whatever is there will ask you to grow and even if it gives you trouble, it is never a mistake. Falling short of our goals often gives us more information than succeeding. So no matter what, keep your eyes and heart open, willing to learn from the process that is Life. In taking action, walking through the door, you have chosen Life, your life, your moving forward, and the next step on your own perfect pathway. 

Bless you on your sacred path.  Be there for each other, because Life is beautiful yet no one said it would be easy, especially alone. Remember that we are all doing this together.  Walking with you,  Brooke 

https://www.medicineeagle.com/

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Ahh, il y a toujours des choix, n’est-ce pas ? Lorsque nous avons de la chance, ces deux portes ont de bonnes choses à nous révéler : la question est de savoir laquelle est la meilleure pour nous, pour nous MAINTENANT.  Et parfois, ces portes rouges ont chacune une sorte d’intensité derrière elles, un feu de défi sous une forme ou une autre. Si l’une était meilleure que l’autre, le choix serait facile, n’est-ce pas ? Pourtant, l’expérience, l’apprentissage, l’élan, le mouvement, la puissance et peut-être même l’accomplissement se trouvent derrière les portes ~ jamais de ce côté. 

Parfois nous attendons, mal à l’aise, effrayés de faire un choix ~ si nous hésitons assez longtemps, l’énergie stagne, l’élan est perdu. Pourtant, l’accomplissement, le succès, l’élévation d’un niveau est au-delà du confort, dans le domaine que j’appellerais peut-être le courage. 

Je vous recommande donc de continuer à marcher vers eux, en respirant profondément, éveillé, présent, le cœur ouvert et tenu haut, sans précipitation ; mais sans recul, sans résistance. Vous pouvez prendre un moment métaphorique pour réfléchir, et je vous suggère certainement de le faire avec votre cœur. Laissez-vous SENTIR. Pour ce faire, vous devez respirer et vous détendre. Qu’est-ce qui a le plus de vibrations ? Lequel s’allume ? Y en a-t-il un qui vous semble plus sûr ~ et êtes-vous sûr que c’est celui qui vous donnera le plus d’avancement ? Vraiment ? Demandez votre Soi Supérieur, votre Puissance Supérieure, pour guider vos pas : “Prières en haut, tabac en bas”, comme le dit SupaMan, la star indienne du hiphop Crow. 

Gardez à l’esprit que la vie est POUR vous. Choisissez une porte. Avec votre main qui la touche, rendez grâce pour ce qui se cache derrière elle, car elle fait maintenant partie de votre destin. Puis avancez hardiment, “Hanta Yo, dégage le chemin ! Avec une intention claire, je fais mon chemin”, je chante parfois.

Tout ce qui est là vous demandera de grandir et même si cela vous donne du fil à retordre, ce n’est jamais une erreur. Ne pas atteindre nos objectifs nous donne souvent plus d’informations que de réussir. Alors, quoi qu’il arrive, gardez les yeux et le cœur ouverts, prêts à apprendre du processus qu’est la vie. En passant à l’action, en franchissant la porte, vous avez choisi la Vie, votre vie, votre progression et l’étape suivante de votre propre cheminement parfait. 

Soyez bénis sur votre chemin sacré.  Soyez là les uns pour les autres, car la Vie est belle et pourtant personne n’a dit que ce serait facile, surtout seul. N’oubliez pas que nous faisons tout cela ensemble.

 Marcher avec toi, Brooke 

 Traduit avec DeepL.com/Translator (version gratuite)

Choosing Love

Well folks, some of the news of rioting and hateful behavior is sobering and shocking, and yet it’s good to have a sense of what is actually happening. My hope is that for all of us it galvanizes a willingness to do everything we can on the positive side. And, of course, choosing LOVE over fear and anger is the primary work. 

It’s quite strange, to say the least, to be living the experience that our wise elders and prophecies have predicted for generations – a time when great shaking must take place to loosen the hold on the old ways and open to the new. I’ve always wondered what it would look like, and this certainly seems to be at least part of it. Those power-hungry and greedy find chaos and disciplined shut-down, perhaps even of democratic process in a vital election year, to be beneficial to their causes. 

Crisis, crucial moments, always imply a cross-roads where we get to actively choose our path into the future. Prophecy says this is a time when a new level of Love will blossom, and regeneration of all Life burgeon from there. Yet, even the most conscious and willing of us may not find ourselves at that higher level. So what we are called upon to do, from what I can see, is find the highest and clearest Love we can generate in ourselves (through bringing those radiant memories into our bodies so fully that we literally feel them) and making a practice of sending that vibration into our world – whether the person walking 6 feet across from us on our street, angry people rioting in the streets, or hungry children in refugee camps across the world. Don’t forget the animals and trees and plants and water. Add some GRATEFULNESS into the mix, and you have a winning combination. 

Step up. Take care of and be there for everyone you can in any way.  Love opens us to offer our best; Love transforms and regenerates; Love is the finest medicine. 

Remember, it’s a PRACTICE and Life depends upon it. It’s not too tough an assignment, since having Love vibrant in your body and pouring forth is one of the most wonderful feelings in the human form. I think the Great Mother planned it that way.  

I tell my students: there are only a few reasons NOT to do this practice ~ 

1. ignorance of Love’s transformative power,

2. thinking that you aren’t enlightened enough to do it, 

3. and just plain old laziness.  

a. You aren’t ignorant (although I usually spend two days in class illustrating the magic potential of Love for humans and all Life). 

b. If you have ever had a moment of feeling Love – giving or getting it – you are qualified. 

c. And it’s time to get your butt up off the inner couch and do the work we came to do. This is not some light game that is playing out here. Everyone counts and it’s a participatory sport…. 

For me, here in the quietness of our garden home, it means being incredibly grateful; getting my hands in the rich soil; giving love to seeds doing their amazing thing of becoming food plants; spreading Love across the countryside on bike rides; writing and sharing as much goodness as I can through modern technologies; and remembering that Love created everyone and lives in each of us; we just need to find and use it…. 

Wishing you very well on a day of sweet and soaking rain. It’s that natural lesson in how our constant, gentle soaking of the world with Love, will produce an irresistible flowering.  

Love is FIERCENESS too. FIERCENESS is not aggression or meanness, it’s about behavior correction and boundaries. A mother dog, when bitten on the ear by the tiny, sharp teeth of her playful pup, gives an intense snarl and “glare”. It’s a big NO without physical harm, and she means it; the message is clear!!! A couple experiences of this, and the baby gets the lesson, the boundary of good behavior.

So Fierceness is about boundaries and standing up for what you are willing to accept or not, what you love or know to be important. You are able to be fierce about things that you love. It’s the mother bear energy; you’ll stand up to a giant if they are trying to hurt your child. So it’s time to be fierce! to say an absolute and unqualified NO to those things that threaten life you care about! “No, that’s not OK ~ you don’t get to do that in my space; no, you don’t get to do that in my world.”  

For example, most grandmothers love their grandkids dearly, yet often I see them choosing, out of laziness or habit, to use drier sheets that contain intensely dangerous chemicals that threaten bees and other small life important in the chain that gives us food. If they were to connect the dots and get in touch with how much their love the little ones and want them to have a healthy life, it would be easier to take a stand about what kind of products they support with their buying power. You can say a big NO with your dollars.

Right now, we are getting an object lesson in how connected EVERYTHING in the world is. There are a whole lot of things to take a stand about…… Pollutants of every kind; untested, damaging vaccines; items and food shipped from far away; devastating 5G radiation; unkindness and hatred; greed and stinginess; the list goes on and on. “Courage” means full-hearted; full of Love. Be willing to say a heartful NO, and live it! 

And about reasons for not sharing your highest love with the world, I forgot: 

4. being stingy.  

And there’s no reason for it. Popular culture sells the idea that there is only so much love, and you better hang on to yours. THAT IS SO MUCH BS, I can hardly believe we buy it. 

You are MADE of LOVE, Creator and Mother Earth pour love into you every moment, every day. When you give it, you not only get to experience its exquisite and healing nature in your own body, you also bless the world around you. The more you pour out, the more flows in. So don’t wait for Love to come from outside; it’s an inside job. Find it in yourself; rev it up; feel it in your body; share in indiscriminate and random acts of kindness; and feel the rightness and joy of it; notice it’s healing power.  

Don’t be ignorant, lazy, stingy or sell yourself short. You were made for this time. Go bravely, my friends!! 

With special love for you all,  Brooke 

Check Patreon.com/medicineeagle to receive powerful, continuing offerings, & easily support my life and work in return, for as little as $4 a month! 

~~~~~~~~ * ♥ * ~~~~~~~~

AWAKENING LOVE IN THE WORLD,

ONE HEART AT A TIME! 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This is the time of the rising Divine Feminine, pushing up the darkness; 

          Stay strong in your intention for clearing, love, and unity!

THE MORE ALIGNED WE ARE, THE MORE POWERFUL !! 

https://www.medicineeagle.com/

           Healing / Shamanic sessions, & Teachings;

      Retreats & Earth Harmony work; 

          Books, Music, and Teaching CDs & downloads; 

          + a schedule of Brooke’s Events & Gatherings, 

ARISING EARTH & SPIRIT blog journal: 

https://brookemedicineeagle.wordpress.com

13 Women At A Time Blog Journal

https://13womenatatime.wordpress.com/

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Sacred Earth’s Call: Healing the Capitalist Wound

Although there is oddity in the speed of the recording, I think you will find this talk interesting and perhaps useful to you around our means and ways of exchange – which have implications for the basic culture and values we choose to base our lives in.  I am certainly not an economist, yet what came through in this talk takes us into a much deeper place as a basis for creating ways of offering what we have and receiving what we need. You will hear about my sense of the cultural and personal values that may make our exchanges work better for all – starting with the creation of life and moving through our recent past and current times. These things are part of the sharing: 

• capitalism based in enlightened self-interest 
• aloneness of modern experience, leading to insecurity, uncertainly, and greed 
• stepping up a level into CHOICE and awareness
• the possibility of connection, caring 
• the Arising Feminine 
• matri-focal culture 
• Gifting economies 
• education to bring out your best ways to move forward into more equitable, joyful ways of offering and receiving what we need and want
• and more……

I invite you to awaken some new thoughts about how we can all find a place of wealth and richness in our lives…. Love and Blessings,  Brooke 

August 2019: Interview with Jeni Rogers, producer and host of Sacred Earth’s Call ~ Healing the Capitalist Wound Speaker Series Replay: Click Here !!

Find more information at: www.healingthecapitalistwound.com

www.jenirogers.com

The GREAT MOTHER: Taking a Stand

Linda Apple ‘East’ Painting https://www.etsy.com/shop/appleart

My friend and colleague Jocelyn Mercado has given us another wonderful offering in the international summit:  FIERCENESS OF THE MOTHER: The Power of the Feminine to Revolutionize our World (in which men are also included as speakers). I was honored to share wisdom I carry, and wish to offer it with you, as well. 

Jocelyn’s introduction of the topic to me says it beautifully:  “In ancient times, and still today in certain indigenous and progressive / Earth-based communities, human beings place LIFE at the center. The feminine is held sacred because she is the life-bringer. She is the mysterious portal through which new souls enter the world. Today in our modern world, we are especially in need of the feminine fire – The force of creation at the center of our wombs and the center of the universe – As the key for overcoming the chronic dis-ease, war & conflict, consumerism, and rampant mistreating of women, children, minorities, all living beings, and the Earth in our modern times.

In order to access this creative force, all of us (both women and men) simply must restore the feminine ways of being and knowing. These are the truths that our ancestors held sacred for tens of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands of years. These truths are still available to us today, and in The Fierceness of the Mother global event, 20 speakers (10 men and 10 women) will gather to reveal the feminine ways of knowing through many different angles & perspectives, creating a clearer way forward for all. Each speaker will share what the Feminine means to them, and will suggest potent ways & practices that will help us to re-establish the ancient reciprocal connection with the Great Mother.

When we reconnect with the Feminine fire ~ the fierceness of the Mother ~ within ourselves, we each become an unstoppable force, empowered & ready to take action for a bright & vibrant future for the next 7 generations … and beyond.”

My video talk addressed the basic tenet from which all things blossom and follow: the primary birthing power of the Feminine womb of Love which called forth Father Light, and together in their passion, bursting forth into creativity, manifesting the world into form – all that ever was, is and shall ever be…..

My topics included: 

• the difference between fierceness and aggression 
• the time of the Arising Feminine
• the Feminine and the Medicine Wheel 
• manifesting through White Buffalo Woman’s womb
• what it means to take a stand: within and without 
• where the wisdom comes to choose our “causes” 
• where the energy arises from the do the great work we are being asked to do as a human family,  
• and more….   

May this hour talk inspire you and support your walk of beauty in the world.  Blessings, Brooke

https://www.fierceness-of-the-mother.com/

wearesacredplanet.com

TEACHINGS OF THE CIRCLE: international sharing

Brooke’s Forward to CIRCLE WISDOMS:  THE NEW FEMALE SPIRITUALITY book by Claire Jozan-Meisel published in France

Since Claire’s book was published in French, I want to make this information – on the history and wisdom of the circle – available to those who do not read French. Many Blessings, Brooke

Claire set out early and courageously to expand her horizons, geographically as well as in consciousness. As she lived in different places, she came into contact with many ways  of seeing the world and creating meaning, as well as journeying in spirit.  The circle is prominent in these ways, and I deeply appreciate Claire for holding the space of sacred circles over the years. My own native people have always understood the circle as sacred (and I am not just speaking here of a gathering of people, but of a geometric form, a feminine form.) The circle is round; all points / people on it are equidistant for the center (the altar of what is held high); each is equal; and every one expected to contribute. Because what happens to anyone in the circle affects the movement of the whole, caring and concern for others are taught by the form itself. Gifting is the natural economic form, rather than competition. Decisions are made by consensus of all, where each comes bringing their unique wisdom and personal interest to the table. Leaders are those best at helping meld a high level solution that works best for all….. When foreign invaders came to Turtle Island, they brought another form, which supported and taught different lessons – the hierarchy. In this form of lines and rows, one powerful person is at the top; close associates and privileged friends come next; those of lesser importance next in rows of expanding length; until at the bottom are a large number of people who have little importance and often very little say in what happens. A dictatorship would be one extreme example.  Our people held the sacredness of the circle through terrorism and genocide, knowing that it’s power was vital to everyone, including the conquerors. Until 1973 with the Indian Freedom of Religion Act, native ceremony (most often held in circles) was illegal and a federal offense. Keeping the wisdom of the sacred circle alive has been a monumental task. Yet as Indigenous people began to share their knowledge and ways, a whole new generation around the world picked it up and have carried it forward. 
Claire was one of those, and what she offers here is her experience of the wisdom held within circles of various traditions from around the world, and how feminine spirituality has developed in the world, much as it developed within her.  When she began offering moon circles in the Indigenous tradition I shared 25 years ago, she stepped forward in a new and powerful way. She was wise and kind enough to share her learning with others, and now she offers it in this rich and empowering book.  Feminine spirituality, with its values of caring, nurturing, good relationship, and renewing life, is vital to us as we attempt to move toward a world in harmony with itself – in a time when patriarchal values have brought us to the brink of extinction. In 1993, male spiritual elders in primary traditions around the world, handed the wands of power to the grandmothers, saying “This is your time. The time of the Feminine has come.”  And none too soon! For until we change our basic values, and the orientation of our cultures, we will not make the necessary changes, fast enough, to avoid social, economic, and ecological collapse.  The wonderful part of feminine matri-focal societies – those focused on mothers and children – is that they are based in nurturing and caring for ALL. Each person’s unique gifts are called forward to serve the community, and each person’s needs are met. Men and well as women and children thrive in an atmosphere of support, cooperation and equality. The remembrance of Mother Earth and All Our Relations as the essential ground of our being brings us back into harmony with the flowing power of Life.  And as women empower themselves to create time and space to nurture and renew through their moon lodges, they will also be able to develop their incredible sensitivity: divinatory and visionary qualities that guide their people. Wise grandmothers will be a guiding force – their dedication being to the children of all Life, once they have raised their own children.  Men and women alike must arise from the trance of competition and destruction, finding the feminine within themselves. As you may know, the American constitution was based in the way of the native American Iroquois confederacy: an executive branch guided by two powerful houses of decision and legislation. The crucial piece that was not instituted, however, was that the Senate, the most powerful ruling body, was comprised of wise grandmothers, whose dedication and wisdom enabled life to evolve in harmony. And the male leaders, capable and powerful in their masculinity, also expressed the profound feminine in their dedication to use that power to nurture, serve, and protect all the people. 
In the beginning was the Feminine – the dark womb of potential which birthed all of Life out of of nothingness. In humanity’s early days, people lived so close to the Earth and nature that honoring the Feminine, Earth Mother and women was only natural, not yet an intellectual idea. Then 10,000 years ago or so, patriarchal sun-worshiping, warlike societies overran the gentler groups. We have lived with those values since then, and they have led us into a time of planetary destruction and near ecological collapse. Something new is needed, and now the great cycles of time have again brought us into the TIME OF THE FEMININE. 
So journey with Claire in her spiritual quest to awaken this new spirituality within yourself – through spiritual principles and practical information.  You will find much richness here. She begins with the eternal movement of great cycles of time to place us in deep history; then expresses the profoundly personal level of motherhood and the potential of awakening within ourselves our amazing capacities of perception – Tibetan, Incan, E. Indian circles giving us knowledge. Then Native American, the feminine lodge of purification, awakening her to a path that felt like her own.  Following that, the healing plant kingdom – Chinese, Andean, Celtic wisdom arising to offer wholeness at many levels. Then the power of honoring our moon/menstrual time with the renewal and spiritual deepening of dedicated retreat each moon – a deeply empowering life-way directly from Indigenous America, and practiced by women around the world. Working with the circle of ancestors is shared. Then she offers more of the wheels of healing, and the rainbow path of unity for the world.  And finally, the crowning time of the wisdom woman – moon-pause lodge – and the leadership of grandmother circles in healing our world. 
You will find Claire’s offering rich and deep, with practical keys in each chapter to help you make it real for yourself. This is a wonderful book for your personally, and  also a powerful and useful manual to follow in your moon lodge – to make that a place of deepening and learning as you make these practices your own.  I commend this wise voice to you. May you deepen into the richness of your own joyful potential and natural leadership, for this beautiful Mother Earth and All Our Relations… Brooke  Medicine Eagle  Author of BUFFALO WOMAN COMES SINGING and  THE LAST GHOST DANCE  —Paris, France; October 2018  

For Pre-Order Click Here https://www.souffledor.fr/feminin-et-masculin/2576-les-sagesses-du-cercle-9782840586654.html

O.N.E. – Organization of Nature Evolutionaries

O.N.E. – Organization of Nature Evolutionaries – is a wonderful group of people “connecting the heart of nature to the heart of humans”. Their offerings are focused on helping us all find more sustainable and harmonious ways of living. 

In this interview with long-time friend and colleague, Pam Montgomery (herbalist extraordinaire!), I share the story of Sacred Ground and the wisdom of the Buffalo. It’s a remembering of the vision of wholeness and holiness brought by White Buffalo Woman, who reminded us to treat everything in the circle of life with respect and honor – expressed through the co-creative journey and sacred ecology shared by the people, the land and the herd.  

I speak about our home ranch, where we have a powerful spiritual and ecological practice, initiated by the buffalo themselves in the form of sacred hunts. It is a deep teaching about wholeness, holiness, Oneness, AND how practical and sensible it is to act in harmony with All Our Relations. And this is only one of the sacred teachings the herd has offered as we have watched them transform and revitalize the land and create new springs in their 20 years of returning here.

I share not only about what has taken place to support sustainable living and how, but also about its rich spiritual underpinnings, which can serve you in your caring for the Earth and all of Life.

Enjoy this story about Brooke’s coming Home to the land and offerings of Sacred Ground!

Click Here https://www.natureevolutionaries.com/teleseminars-1/brooke-medicine-eagle for March 17th Teleseminar Replay with Brooke Hosted by O.N.E. co-founder, Pam Montgomery

Sacred Ground
http://www.sacredgroundintl.org/

GREAT MOTHER CREATOR

Photo by Bryan Schneider from Pexels

My colleague Jocelyn asked me to work with her year-long group BREAKING OUT OF THE MATRIX, with the theme of “darkness into light”.  When most people speak of darkness, they use it in a negative way – something I like to question, since darkness is a sweet and beautiful part of our earthly life with it’s radiant moon and stars and rest. I suggested we label any negativity associated with darkness as “sludge” and celebrate the beauty of night.  And I began with a lovely meditation on the Great Mother, the deep, dark,  primary void which held the potential of EVERYTHING before anything was manifest. That Great Mother Love called the Father Light to bring creation into form; and still holds us all in her nurturing dark womb. I think you will find the 1/2 hour meditation nurturing and enlightening.  After the meditation, there is some discussion and questions.   May it serve you to take a bit of time to rest into this offering. 

For All Our Relations,  Brooke  

Brooke Medicine Eagle ~ A Re-Membering of the Sacred Darkness of the Deep Feminine

Embracing Radical Change

EMBRACING RADICAL CHANGE

SUMMIT 2018 WITH JOCELYN MERCADO

In such intense times –  socially, economically, spiritually, morally – we must have truly radical change to create the transformation that is required.  In this international summit interview, Jocelyn Mercado and I talk about such agents of change. 

The most radical thing, although it seems remarkably simple, is for us to know and EXPERIENCE our Oneness with all things. It’s not so easy; I know this myself. I have been working with White Buffalo Calf Woman’s teaching of wholeness and holiness for most of my adult life, and yet my mind, as all human minds, cannot really accept this concept and certainly has difficulty with a true experience of it, upon which to base behavior and action. 

This unified field, as science calls it, must be the baseline of our actions. It’s not just about kindness, cooperation, sharing, caring, loving, supporting – which are our highest values – but it it also about how we manifest a world that works for every one of us. 

When we understand that the qualities of the great Mother/Father energy that birthed us live within us, it creates a radical change. We begin to understand that our true nature is love, compassion, wholeness, and the ability for positive creation beyond our wildest imagination. 

My experiences at my old home ranch, Sacred Ground International, on the Crow reservation, are informing and transforming me – especially relationships and learning from the buffalo herd, whose deep intelligence is transforming the land and life around them. I tell stories from those experiences in this talk. 

I hope you can take time to listen. I’d love to receive your comments.  

Click Here to Listen to Brooke and Jocelyn

https://www.embracing-radical-change.com/

http://wearesacredplanet.com

 

The Branch

I will occasionally offer something from a guest writer, and am pleased to share the incredible power of this first one.   

In this time of the Rising Feminine, more and more women are telling their stories, stories that need to be told. Telling them breaks the painful silence; calls would-be perpetrators to think twice; and opens the opportunity for greater healing. 

I have learned to do a wonderful kind of trauma release work, and know the power of it to help do just what Tanah did – leave it behind and move forward in beauty. No longer should our lives and happiness be ruined by the negative actions of an abuser, at any level. Healing is available. 

Tell your stories – they need to be heard. Then you can tell the new and deeper story – of your own healing into the light and joy which can be found in the darkness.

 In light and beauty, Brooke    

THE BRANCH

I have done a U turn at the Pearly Gates several times in my life. Have I lived so that I can share these stories?  Perhaps I am the one I came to inspire. Nevertheless, I have begun to write them down, and have a sense they are meant to be shared. This story stands out the most.

The place, Alaska, a place I still hold as one of the most beautiful places on Earth.  I was very young and was on a college break adventure.  One night I accepted a ride home with a co-worker I barely knew.  He did not take me home, rather to remote forested area.  It was winter, very cold and the area was covered with snow and bright moonlight.

There in his car I was beaten and assaulted.  Through the haze of events there was a moment when time stood still.  Through the window I saw a branch, covered in icy crystals.  They were a bright dance of light twinkling in the moonlight.  It looked alive and so incredibly beautiful. It felt like mine, for me.  I fell into the abyss of such splendor. I felt no fear, only peace.  I was immersed in light…I was going there.  This beauty could not be taken from me.  I knew he could not let me live to tell the tale…but he did.

He dumped me, broken, bruised and disoriented.  I did tell the story. There was a trial. It was headline news.  There were threats. I had round the clock State Trooper bodyguards. He was a member of the mighty Teamsters Union. My case would be a landmark. There had never been a rape conviction before.  My case was solid, and they told me I could not lose. He was found innocent of all charges.

All these years later what do I remember most?  The branch.

Years of healing followed, searching for wisdom and the ‘why’.  I was not alone that night. The ‘branch’ moment carried me through more dark times in my life.  In retrospect, there was always a branch.  I am still here.  I still drink deeply from beauty and kindness.  They feed my soul, my body responds, my life reflects them.  I slowly let the story go, my need to understand it.  I realized it is in the past and can no longer hurt me.  I refocused my attention on not just surviving, but thriving.  I was created in love, beauty and kindness.  It cannot be taken from me.  By whatever name, I realized the branch is who I am.

I have not forgotten the trauma of what happened, it has forgotten me.

My love and blessings to all of you, all of your stories. You are my family.  I pray you health and joy.

~~~~~~ Tanah

Tanah traveled the world, eventually returning to her roots – founding a wilderness school, retreat and Buffalo Preserve, based on honor and respect for all life.

Foremothers of Women’s Spirituality

I am delighted to announce my interview

“The Ancient and Arising Feminine”

on the new 

 Foremothers of Women’s Spirituality
and Their Living Wisdom for Today 
curated and hosted by Vajra Ma.

This is an Online Resource of interviews, biographies, links and more – there is wonderful information in each interview 
so check them all at:  

www.womens-spirituality.org

Please Click Here to Listen to Brooke!

Women’s Spirituality emerged in the 1970’s and 80’s as a major component of the “second wave” of the women’s liberation movement. On this site you will meet some of the Foremothers of that emergence, many of whom are actively continuing and evolving their work today.  They are scholars, artists, activists, authors, teachers, performers and ritualists.

Many people today do not know of these pioneering women and their ongoing living wisdom. And that is why this Foremothers of Women’s Spirituality Online Resource was created.

The Resource aims to bridge that gap, the gap of knowing our history so that we can weave the generations together, restore, and inspire the ongoing resurgence of women’s collective spiritual wisdom and power.

I’m honored to be a part of it! 
Many Blessings as you learn and are inspired. Brooke 
Special Thanks to Charlene Spretnak, Charlotte Cressey and Wolfgang Nebmaier. And to Miriam Robbins Dexter and Vicki Noble for their anthologyForemothers of the Women’s Spirituality Movement: Elders and Visionaries, which inspired this Online Resource. And to the many women who gave of their time and wisdom to make this Resource possible.

The Women’s Spirituality Online Resource Center (womens-spirituality.org) is a project of the Shakti Moon Foundation (Shakti-Moon.com) a federally recognized 501(c)3 Not-for-profit Organization. Your tax deductible support for the effort to create and maintain the project and the website is greatly appreciated.
Website design by Wolfgang Nebmaier