The post WITCHES prefer to be Naked appeared first on FaeTerra.

The post No more BOXES appeared first on FaeTerra.

A VOW to the GODDESS:

I, Aurora Rae FaeTerra, have been touched with the magick that you bring.
You have brought me many moments of joy and celebration.

Now comes the time for me to create that magic for others.

In the name of your 10,000 names…
Primal Earth Mother as well as Diana, Inanna, Lilith, Sehkmet, Hera, and mother SHAKTI. In the name of my blood line, every woman who has lived under one GOD, but knew that they are GOD. And all my fore-mothers who fought against the patriarchy.

I Aurora FaeTerra, vow on this day, November 18^th, to share the magick that has been so generously given to me. I promise to be a Keeper of Magick for every person you guide me to meet.

I will follow my belly. And just like the Priestesses of the Goddess before me, I promise to keep the lessons YOU instilled in me ~ Alive.

I promise to faithfully serve. And I name myself “FAETERRA” ~ Magick on Earth.

www.FaeTerra.com

The post I am a KEEPER OF THE MAGICK appeared first on FaeTerra.

Traditions around the world use labyrinths~ and every one uses the SAME number of rings = 7.

My spirit mama told me it takes 7 years to complete a cycle of life. In fact, scientists say that in 7 years ~ our cells have completely renewed themselves! We truly become a new person.

And! When it comes to the transition from maiden to mother, each ring of the labyrinth tells story of our initiation, our decent, our resurrection and our rebirth.

~~~~ We call this the Map! ~~~~~

#1

The first ring of the labyrinth is our initiation cycle ~

 For you, this could have been  the moment you got pregnant. Or maybe it was the moment you went into labor. Honestly, I think the first ring of my labyrinth began when I married my husband Adam.

#2

The second ring represents your descent~

It’s Inanna’s journey into the underworld. The unknown. She must loose herself so she can find herself again… but she’ll be different.

#3

The third ring represents creation~

It’s where new life begins. it’s usually the third year that mother understands what it means to be a mother. And she starts to sink into her new role. It’s also when many of the trials in the first two years subside, and the mother can come more Into herself.

#4

The fourth ring represents completion and a stability ~

In this cycle you may feel more secure in yourself and in your environment. Something that you were working on in the last three cycles, has come to a stable place.

#5

The fifth ring represents resurrection~

You have rebirthed yourself – and you are emerging from the labyrinth with a new personality, a new point of view and a new strength.

#6

The sixth ring represents the rising~

You now feel like you can teach the journey to others.

#7

The seventh ring represents the exit~

Just like the 7 chakras, or the 7 days of the week…

It takes 7 cycles, and possibly 7 years, to fully anchor the mother self.

For many, these rings represent years of life. For others… it has a different meaning to their soul.

~~~~

When we use myth to understand the human experience~ we need to compare the symbols – from various cultures and traditions.

When we do this the patterns repeat themselves. Those patterns are our map for life.

Pam England calls the labyrinth, “the Laborynth.”

And she explains it as the cycles within the birth journey itself.

Each ring is marked with contractions, and the spiral journey represents the turns the baby makes as it moves through the birth canal.

The labyrinth represents every life journey, because patterns mirror each other.

The labyrinth can represent the labor itself~~

 the years following birth~~

the end of one stage of life and into another ~~

and our entire life journey from birth to death.

Understanding the Life Map, can help us as we transition from one stage of life to another.

And!!! with every ring of the labyrinth there are many turns within it! There will be ups and downs in every stage.

We all need to understand that life is not linear.

And it’s definitely not a fairy tale

(unless that fairy tale is following the hero’s journey model.)

Life is a wild journey. A hero’s journey. For the purpose of our soul’s growth.

The post The Labyrinth and the transition from Maiden to Mother appeared first on FaeTerra.

After childbirth you loose yourself

The women’s mysteries would say, “The blood is now milk.”
And the new mother enters a special sort of limbo.

Everything is about the baby.
Self care can feel non-existent & the trial of being a new parent~
may take some to their wits end.

(Thank goodness for those milky love hormones!
I truly, have never been so tired.)

But It’s said “9 months in ~ 9 months out.”
And at the end of this 18 month period (approx), we have been initiated.

Our soul has made space to be able to take care of another human being.

~~~

Next~ comes the return of the BLOOD.

For many moms~ the journey of the milk is more comfortable than the return of their menstrual cycle.

In the women’s mysteries, the menstrual flow is called
“the time when women come back to themselves.”

And, although it is hard to loose ourselves in “the milk phase“~
giving all of ourselves to our child ~ can feel easier than the self inquiry work ~ that the return of the blood now requires.

Our PMS symptoms will remind us where we are out of balance, and that we need to take our space.

….

After a year of normal cycles~

We emerge ~ as our solidified mother self.

The “she” we will be ~ for the next stage of our life.

~~~~

The path to becoming a mother has a rhythm. Much like the hero’s journey.

There is the initiation, the decent, and the re-emergence.

Which happens many times over!

Each cycle breaks us open to cleanse, and then rebuild a new layer of ourself.

Life, when looked at from the perspective of the soul, is a spiral.
And its purpose is growth.

~~~~

Art by Brett Manning

The post MILK & BLOOD: How Our Hormonal Changes Effect Motherhood appeared first on FaeTerra.

☥* Blood Rites *☥

HER daughter walked
toward the Red Tent
to learn the wisdom of women.

She had just started her first MOON.

Blood dripped into her undergarments,
caught by a piece of fabric her mother stitched together for her.

She had no idea what this blood meant,
except that coming to Tent meant something special…

SHE was greeted at the door, and an elder marked her third eye.

“WELCOME MY DAUGHTER! 🌙
The time has come for you to learn the power that lives in your belly.
YOU are connected to the moon & to the stars.
You are the Earth and linked to every woman in this circle.”

Around the girl are women in all phases of life.
Maidens, Mothers, and Crones.

Women about to have sex for the first time.
Women ready to conceive their first child.
Mothers with many children.
Elders who no longer bleed, and who are ready to share their wisdom.
~~~~

The ☥* Blood Rites * ☥ mark the phases of woman’s life journey.
When women go through Rites of Passage it is often associated with the Blood.

Menarche, First SEX, and Giving Birth–→
for example, all involve the shedding of some blood.

In conscious cultures, these are times of celebration~
Though! They are also times of great change.

In order to move from child to adolescence with menarche,
or to move from maiden to mother when we give birth,
Aspects of the old self dies, so SHE may transform into something new.

~~~~ 🌙
Today, in the Red Tent, the girl will be initiated into her adolescence. She must understand that in order to become a woman,
she has to give up the naivety of being a child…

The elders in the tent wrap her wrists with a red thread,
and explain to her that her moon time is more than just blood!

Within her, lives the stories of her ancestors and her potential for future children.
Her womb is linked to every woman’s womb.
Her experiences mirror all women’s experiences.
And each woman is living out an archetypal myth.

Now that she has had her menstruation, she will learn that her work in the world is both in the seen, and the unseen.

Because with each moon time she will feel the collective pain,
and she will be asked shed that which does not serve her.

This happens within herself, in her own darkness, moving it into the light.

She holds a GREAT POWER! And a responsibility to respect her body as a temple space.

🌙
The women adorn the girl with Henna and jewels depicting symbols of spiritual potency.

Henna and tattoo have been used by tribal cultures to celebrate our Blood Rites for a very long time ~
whether it be Menarche, or loosing one’s virginity (which has often been linked with marriage), or giving Birth.

Henna is painted on women to infuse them with “the mark of GOD.” This protects them from spirits during vulnerable life shifts, and it reminds her that she is sacred.

~~~ ☥
The women CHEER as they celebrate this girl, who is now a WOMAN!

She will be invited to the Red Tent every New Moon.

A time when women go inward and celebrate themselves.
A time when we link our moon blood to the darkness in the sky, and also to each other.

Together in circle, we will share stories of each other’s
First Blood, First Sex, Marriage, and Births.
We will celebrate women in menopause as they step into Elder.

We will learn the Women’s Mysteries and “the Things We Don’t Talk About.”

Together, we will disconnect from a patriarchal society,
and remember that WE ARE THE GODDESS.

The post ☥* Blood Rites *☥ appeared first on FaeTerra.

When I got pregnant, I expected that I would have someone to guide me into my next phase of life.

Maybe my mother ~ or my best friends who had children of their own… but no.

And I thought, that since I had traveled the country, helping women set up Red Tents in their neighborhood- that by the time I got pregnant I’d have a large support system.

But that didn’t happen either.
Instead I felt very alone.

I tried to find my security in hiring a birth team…
but as I was interviewing midwives and doulas- I witnessed a lot of judgment, criticism, fear, & “rights and wrongs”~ for birth, for motherhood, for parenting…

All of which seemed to stem from their own traumas…
And a need to control life…
when life is wildly uncontrollable.
~~~

Women’s disconnection from their bodies & nature has increasingly gotten worse in our modern times.

And I decided, that if I was going to learn about motherhood I’d have to refer back to the old world.

I needed to learn about Traditional Birth Care practices.

What did midwives do before modern medicine?
When more women died, and there needed to be more psychological & spiritual care.

How did different cultures support the maiden to mother transition?

What did they do that’s the same?
What did they do that’s different? ….

When I speak about “traditional birth care,”
I’m speaking about care that is rooted in the natural world and the spiritual worlds.

This type of care includes rituals that help us psychologically transition from one life phase to the next.
There is a great initiation that occurs in birth, that involves shamanic support.
And it is essential to celebrate and honor the new mother’s rite of passage~

A rite of passage that is NOT dependent on HOW she gave birth.
What matters is that she DID.
~~~

Here comes my ideas for “The Red Thread” project…

Which in my mind is a continuation of “Our Red Tent” project.
Which helped women learn their maiden mysteries, sex, blood rites and shadow work…
our interconnection as women, the power of our wombs, and our sovereignty.

Now that I’m in the mother phase of life, I’ve been writing down the stages of a woman’s hero’s journey- from marriage to conception, to birth and the years postpartum.

I am studying everything I can~ about what ancient cultures did to nourish the new mother, and to prepare her for her new role.

….
Layla B hosted an incredible postpartum birth summit recently: https://www.laylab.co.uk/sps2

Which interviewed postpartum birth workers around the world ~ to share their ancient traditions. From Guatemala, to India, to Morrocco, to Egypt, to Thailand…
from Native American to African American to Anglo Saxon.
~~~

The RED THREAD reminds us that all women are connected.
We are connected to our past~ as we birth our future.

I myself am 8 months pregnant…
And I’m somewhere between who I was and who I am becoming.
So, this Red Thread project is just coming into form.

It will continue to evolve itself… And I’ll write about my journey.

I hope to create workshops and services that share my personal findings with other women…
Because I do not believe that we are supposed to evolve alone.

P.S. I made this “Blood Rites” logo. Do you like it? 🙂
I’ll speak more about the BLOOD RITES in birth later

The post The Red Thread: Rites of Passage Project appeared first on FaeTerra.

… 🌙

We live at a time on this planet where we are not who we were, and we are not yet who we are becoming.

In this limbo- We must be strong 💪 and claim our own rites of passage.

Our mothers cannot pass down the information we need to move into our next life phase.

We have to create this healthy mother archetype~ for ourselves.

And she will not be suppressed, but she will be whole.

She will see herself as a part of something much greater than herself!… and she will end a world of patriarchy…

The feminine on this planet is not weak.
She is wise.
She weaves the past, the present and the future to create who we are becoming.

The post Rites of Passage into the Mother Phase of Life appeared first on FaeTerra.

I want to say thank you to the simple women, who never ~
ask too many questions.
Always do what they are told.
Try to fit in.
Speak when they are spoken to.

Thank you! for never challenging motherhood.
Or your husband Or your workplace.

Thank you for being so pleasant~ xoo …

It doesn’t bother you ~
that the world continuously puts you into boxes.
That you are rarely appreciated.
That you are often projected upon
& that you are used as a tool.

Men have taken over every institution, and you try to join in.

You don’t feel the other women SCREAMING.
Because of the destruction of nature,
the dismantling of our communities,
the desecration of women’s spiritual practices,
the war on our bodies…

… Sister, I wish I more like you….
But I’m afraid that’s impossible.

I always hear them screaming!
I watch the imbalances.
I spend every waking moment triggered
and challenged by a world that does not make sense to me.

I’m a walking time bomb,
blowing up the realities of people trying to conform.

I’m sorry I’m not safe. But I’m REAL.

The post I want to say Thank You to the Simple Women appeared first on FaeTerra.

I’m sitting in front of my birth altar contemplating the RED THREAD.

You know… the red thread that permeates all life.
The thread that connects us….

Red, like our womb walls that house our soul’s spiral.

This red thread reminds us that life is a labyrinth~
of past and future…

we are healing our ancestors and raising new children.
We are the above and the so below.

~~~~🌙

Feeling all of this,

I am tracing my “birth labyrinth cloth” with an actual red thread.
(Picture below).

This labyrinth reminds me that my birth may not be straight forward…

My labor journey may be short or very long…

& I have no idea what I will encounter!

But preparing myself for the unknown seems to be a part of this rite of passage.

To find peace in my lack of control,

I remind myself that the birth journey is connected to far more than I can understand!

How my baby wants to be born,
and what I am clearing from my womb for my grandmothers…

Is up to the mystery.

~~~~🌙

Of course I can prepare myself to open my womb!

I can undulate my hips and feel my baby.
I can tone with voice… and cycle energy with my breath.

Truly,
I am so grateful that I have spent the last decade immersed in the blood mysteries, investigating the sexual arts, in service to my shadow work, and unabashedly unraveling myself in circle.

All of this will help!

~~~
But the only thing I can really do to help myself psychologically, is to surrender to all that comes.

And trust.
….

I trust that everything happens for a reason,
because I know that everything is connected.

I may not fully understand these connections…

Or why painful or beautiful things need to happen~

But I remember…
Just because I cannot understand what is invisible,
does not mean that it is not real! And very important.

Much of what we experience in life,
is to heal things that live in the unseen.

~~~🌙

Women are the keepers of the mysteries of life.
We are the ones tracking the moon with our womb.

And the moon waxes and wanes from light to dark, from the known to the unknown.

It’s the understanding that life is balanced by this light and dark, that helps humans find meaning on Earth.

It shows us that our experiences are a part of a much larger puzzle.

We are purging the past, and we are creating the future.

Every hard hit, brings us to the next turn on our labyrinth.

We are each, simply a part of the thread~ in this grand web.

The post The Red Thread appeared first on FaeTerra.