The Map of womanhood teaches about each life stage/threshold on the human life cycle. These are natural rites of passage that the human family go through in their lives, as they journey along the medicine wheel, through the many changes that occur in their bodies. They can also be times of spiritual awakening and leaps in consciousness and healing if understood and marked with celebration and ceremony.
The Life cycle of a woman, I call the map of Womanhood.
The power that is present, as we women pass across these thresholds, can take us deeper into our inner genius, divine essence and deep truth. This is a spiral path, a circle, from birth to death, the red path of woman, the life cycle of a woman. Many native cultures use the medicine wheel to illustrate the life cycle. To understand the life cycle teachings we must first understand the teachings of the Medicine Wheel.
During my shamanic training I learnt about the medicine wheel and how ancient cultures all over the world use this beautiful teaching to show how all of life is a circle, a sacred hoop. The medicine wheel teaches that there are 7 directions, above below, North, East , South and west and within, which is the centre. Different cultures and traditions have different variations on the teachings that each direction holds, but the spirit is the same. It teaches the circle of life, the cycles of the universe and how we fit into them.
The circle represents the: Earth, Sun, Moon, Cycle of life, Seasons, Four directions, Four sacred colours, Four human races and the Interconnectedness of all people and all things
The circle represents the never-ending cycle of life. Movement around the circle is usually in a clockwise motion in keeping with the rotation path of the earth.
For thousands of years native cultures have used the understandings and gifts from Mother Earth and the natural world to teach lessons. These cultural tools help to pass on important teachings…. Many of their teachings are based on the Medicine Wheel.
So we can see how the medicine wheel teaches all of life, within that is the life cycle of the human being, within that is the Map of Womanhood. As we journey through this map we are also journeying through the life cycle, growing and learning along the way, understanding more about ourselves, and connecting more to our life’s purpose that the Creator gave to us before we were born . The life cycle teachings focus on development for each stage. They speak to the healthy development and traditional milestones of that stage and focus on the role a person has in each stage. The seven stages of life focus on the spiritual journey of a person and highlight their awareness in fulfilling their life’s purpose at each stage. During each stage, development takes place in the body, mind, emotions, and spirit.
The continuous stages of the life cycle are the toddler, child, youth, young adult, parent, grandparent, and Elder and death.
The map of womanhood contains nine natural rites of passage, and these continuous stages I call : Birth, Girl-Woman, First blood, Woman-Becoming, Blossoming Woman, Deepening Woman, Elder, Spiritual Elder and Death.
Message from the indigenous grandmothers:
The map of womanhood is a holographic 3d spiral that brings us back to ourselves by helping us to see the bigger picture of our lives, so we can see through the veils of separation into the connectedness of all life.
It brings women the deep understanding of the path through to the truth of their own true nature, finding ourselves by giving ourselves the picture of our own journey travelling this road.
The road is ancient, well-travelled and holds much knowledge about which way you must go, which path you seek and which way the river of your own life is taking you. Walk this ancient red path with beauty and grace as the spirits walk beside you, the grandmothers walk beside you, urging you on to complete your Earthwalk with the beauty of the path of woman. Have strength, honour and compassion for the right and wrong turns that we take to get there. Honouring the cycle and finding your way back to the path/flow in every moment.
It becomes a map as you become more conscious on this journey, letting go of the past, but bringing the vibrant and rich threads of your medicine with you so you can find your way forward consciously. The golden thread of light that wove its way through your past thresholds becomes a light to help you find your way through the future thresholds you have yet to walk. You can become conscious on your path.
We take our time step by step, dancing this spiral of time, creating the map we must follow into the future, by uncovering the healing of the past. Recovering the past, healing the future. Step by step on the well-worn road. Placing an offering at every threshold with reverence for this sacred quest, that takes beyond the ordinary into the extraordinary beauty of our own life.
We are beauty, we are sacred, we are holy, we are ancient
When your path is well worn, honoured and revered as holy, you express your divinity and can give this to our daughters.
Blankets and stones, patterns and stars. We come together in the middle for our final dance. The ancient ones, the grandmothers are with us, dancing, pounding the vibration of the cosmos with their bare feet.
Spiralling into the centre we come home with strength and wisdom. The map of womanhood becomes a spiritual practise.
We have two offerings that take you on a journey around the map..
Healing the Maiden – Restoring Elderhood / Sacred Woman Sacred world training
sacredwomansacredworld.org 