When I design a strategic plan, develop staff training, pencil out projected costs to create healthy profit I have just as much witchy hoo-ha running through my veins as when I am mixing up potions, calling circles and playing at mythology mash ups. I don’t just “decant the moon” when it’s socially acceptable, nor do I turn down my gifts because hell, people, business needs more soulfire and heartbeat.
Many years ago I realized that my body was so attuned to the moon cycles that without dates or calendars I was awake during the witching hour of the full moon for 3 to 4 days every month. This was not because I tried to DO anything; it was a result of living in nature and living by my own natural rhythms and cycles. This is tough in our culture – the land of 10,000 daily planners, where even calls with your best friends need to be scheduled weeks in advance. Not to mention the light pollution, screen time, and global economy that says it’s all happening all the time so don’t miss out.
The really trippy thing that I realized when my body was doing her natural thang was that the messages I was receiving and sharing around the full moons were parallel to and aligned with those that would come out from the astrologers and psychics followed by some in my circles. Now that part, it kinda threw me. The same way it unsettled me to realize that when I worked with people I could read their energetic lineage and see some of their histories; the way I dream walk as well as psychic dream and how I feel like a whole body dowsing rod when it comes to people following their soul path and purpose.
In my own journey, I haven’t chased spiritual gifts. To be honest, they seemed sort of besides the point. Unless I could walk on water, which was eventually replaced by the desire to ride a broom, it wasn’t my jam. What drew me was the vision and promise of living a life fully awake; of consciousness realized. Of participating in community rituals that align with nature and life’s mysteries, of becoming something together that we could only just catch glimpses of. This still compels. And the spiritual gift that matters the most to me? The power of living life with an undefended heart, the strength of active integrity and the peace of following my path no matter what.
The same capacities that I have developed in my path as a reluctant priestess, or midwife, or yes, even a witch are those I bring to business. What I have learned from traveling terrains of consciousness and mythology has honed my ability to see patterns, trends and cycles. Cultivating intimacy with the mystery is what makes me graceful in the face of tremendous uncertainty. My personal recovery has had more impact on my leadership than any training, retreat, mentorship or coaching work I have done. Bar none, your own presence, reflection, self mastery and ability to hone in on creative impulses as well as effectively deal with risks and failures are the foundation of truly inspirational leadership.
It bums me out to talk to people on the spiritual path who promptly tell me why the business of their life (their work, money, family, etc) is separate and distinct from their development. I think it’s a shame. As a culture we are spending obscene amounts of money and time on Ted talks, apps for meditation, all the latest Brene Brown books, etc and yet still missing the point. You have to actually practice this shit for it to work. And the mat? it’s everywhere in your entire life. It IS your life.
My Grandpa was an incredible visionary, and a successful “self and Grandma made” entrepreneur. He wanted me to go into business because he saw that I had the same stuff as him. In fact, he was disappointed because he felt like I was throwing away my talent by working in the nonprofit world. He raised me up on a diet of civic engagement, what I’d call Lincoln era Republicanism and gardening which he did every day including when he had tumors on his brain. He told me once decades ago “good business is good for community; healthy communities are good for business”. It’s a gardener’s perspective, to get that we are part of a larger ecosystem, and the parts impact the whole.
If we want to see things change, we need to act like it. Put on your big person panties, or whatever it is that makes you feel at least pretty or bad ass, and then take the risks. Just like the rest of us. And yes, you do risk, you fail, you lose, you wonder, and sometimes you even fall into a pit of despair. When you persist, though, you end up living a life that feels like the quality of your dreams. You no longer can tell the difference between your work and everything else, and you don’t care because it’s all part of your Self expressed, your contribution to life itself. Instead of looking at a quote over desk about legacy being planting tomorrows orchards, you are out working on the trees you’ve planted.
Maybe stop chasing your gifts and your purpose, and really show up where it’s all happening- right here, right now. Bring your wicked magic to work and stop pretending. Or start pretending that you are living an epic myth or improv, and notice what happens to “the show”. Work is love made visible; what can we do each day to live into this idea?
Artist: Abacus Corvus, abacuscorvus.com.
decanting the moon 