when women gather Archives - alena hennessy

When We Gather

November 19, 2013November 19, 2013

Why is it that something sacred happens when we gather with a shared intention? What is that exactly? Why does creative process challenge, thrill, and fill us so much? Colors, textures, lines, patterns… this visual language: unspoken and silent, yet it speaks in volumes; gently, passionately, richly. Its up to you decide: do you want …

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Times feel uncertain and I don’t know about you

Times feel uncertain and I don’t know about you but on the daily I’m experiencing immense peace & then some fear, almost simultaneously. Everything feels excruciating fragile & beautiful. That’s why every morning this week since returning I’m doing an hour of yoga & meditation out on the land here, overlooking the mountains and morning rhododendron. Birds play, clouds move, the sun rays dance upon my forehead...It’s key for me to be ahead in my practice, an eagle eye view, so I’m not chasing peace but I’m becoming it more so everyday.
We got the raised beds filled, fruit trees coming, veggies soon to be planted.

Come join me in my new Restoring the Wings course to stay grounded, creatively alive, and healthy together. Add your email in my bio. It’s gonna include so many gems 💎 for all parts of you.

So getting my hair cut & blown out is the best the

So getting my hair cut & blown out is the best therapy for this double Leo. What to do now? Suggestions please. 😘 I’ve got a mane going on... when I blow it out myself it’s just not the same. Does anyone have any recommendations for something nourishing & natural for split ends? I sometimes use rosehip oil or castor oil.

One day you are sitting in a red dress waiting for

One day you are sitting in a red dress waiting for your retreaters to arrive— everything lined up in place and planned in delightful detail for a year—then the next day the world begins to shut down. And so begins a new reality. Yet does it feel that surprising? Could we have really gone on at that pace? I mean— reaaaally?? Do we not know in our bones the earth must heal... whether that was the intended outcome or not? The mystery was not meant to be fully understood. That’s why it likes to befriend the abyss. In a time of great shift it’s a powerful thing to say “I really don’t know... but I can always be curious.” Many of us have lost thousands of dollars but what do we gain right now? What story is being shaped? I know I’ll never take for granted the joy of having people over for dinner again. Or just to not be stuck in Indonesia worrying about how I will pay both my mortgage + rent, wondering how my dads health is, & will my 14 year old dog hold on... Slowly my adrenals are balancing. My boyfriend & I finally got to snuggle. We made forest nettles pesto with my quarantined housemate and shared stories on the carpet with candles of growing up in divorced family’s and 90’s club scenes... which somehow led to esoteric knowledge and non-dual states of consciousness. 😘 #ashevillelife
What I deeply appreciate right now besides being back in silk bamboo sheets (without worry of spider bites) is that slowing down and daily simplicity feels like the space my heart has always needed. Making meals every night together and sharing food feels like it should’ve always been this way…
Having a long walk with my dog feels like it’s almost necessary to live a normal life. How fast and how distracted were we before? We cannot forget under any circumstances to continue to live through what provides contentment for the soul. Joy can be sooo simple. Make room for joy everyday. Solo dance parties yes. Laying naked in the sun yes. Watching Project Runway with coconut whip & berries yes.
This is still beyond luxury for so many.
Hopefully this is a wake up call to us all. No one said any of this is easy. But at least be easy on yourself today.

In order for us to thrive and express our true sel

What can you still reach out & touch today? For me

What can you still reach out & touch today? For me being isolated up near Ubud is bringing about unexpected gifts. Not without challenges, I’ll go from feeling this deeply limbic peace to anxious thoughts pretty quickly. When I reflect this question keeps coming up: What truly matters to me in life? When I look towards the future, what do I see? What’s at the core of this experience, what’s the invitation here? This. What are we being invited into. For me it’s to celebrate the love inside myself, with my beautiful wise boyfriend, my dog, the earth, my family & friends. Celebrate the slowness, the simplicity ... and to listen. Listen to source energy, the nature spirits. ::: And this call from the Council of the 13 Indigenous Grandmothers ::: “As you move through these changing times... be easy on yourself and be easy on one another. You are at the beginning of something new. You are learning a new way of being. You will find that you are working less in the yang modes that you are used to.
You will stop working so hard at getting from point A to point B the way you have in the past, but instead, will spend more time experiencing yourself in the whole, and your place in it.
Instead of traveling to a goal out there, you will voyage deeper into yourself. Your mother's grandmother knew how to do this. Your ancestors from long ago knew how to do this. They knew the power of the feminine principle... and because you carry their DNA in your body, this wisdom and this way of being is within you.
Call on it. Call it up. Invite your ancestors in. As the yang based habits and the decaying institutions on our planet begin to crumble, look up. A breeze is stirring. Feel the sun on your wings." Photo by lovely @JennyMesserle

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