01/25/2025
6 Practices to Begin Healing the Disempowered Feminine
We all have patterns or issues that continue to surface despite our best efforts to transform them.
They are often most noticeable during times of stress, transition, or when we want to step out in new directions. When they arise, it can stir up a lot of self-blame, anxiety, and frustration, all of which keep us in a tight knot of tension and contraction.
It is important to know that these places are difficult to shift because they usually exist in a matrix that is much larger than our individual self, such as our family, our culture, the collective unconscious, and often our soul patterns.
As we, as women collectively, inhabit our power and leadership in groundbreaking, new ways, one matrix we frequently encounter is the energetic complex of the Disempowered Feminine.
The Disempowered Feminine holds the frozen energy of generations of women silenced, banished or destroyed for daring to own their power, wisdom and light. She holds the cultural and institutional limits that forbid women from holding property or positions of authority. She holds the trauma of the burning times when as many as a million women were tortured and burned at the stake for being healers or wise women.
You may personally experience her when you can’t speak up and use your voice, or doubt yourself and your ability. She’s there when you give your power away, or you feel stuck and can’t take positive action on your behalf. She is present when you feel unworthy, can’t see your strengths or believe you don’t measure up. She is held in your body and your emotional field.
Recently I came face to face again with a recurring issue that has been challenging for me to change. I experienced familiar feelings of self-blame and powerlessness.
This time however, as I sat with my emotions and observed them with compassion, something new arose. I became aware that my issue is rooted in my mother line, in the generations of women who came before me. I tuned into my maternal matrix, and sensed how each woman was impacted by the familial, cultural and spiritual forces of her time. Each one did the best she was able, with the hand she was dealt.
My heart opened, and the knot in my stomach began to relax. I understood my struggle as part of a much bigger pattern, extending back in time for centuries. Soft tears of appreciation flowed. I felt my maternal ancestors circling me, lovingly cheering me on to take steps they were not able to.
Even as we have more options and freedoms available to us than ever before, many of us find that as we step into our fullness, we are also called to heal collective stuck and frozen places on behalf of womankind. One of the ways we do this is to recognize and dismantle structures of the Disempowered Feminine when we find her in ourselves.
As long as there are women living without personal freedom or power in our world, She will continue to be a potent collective presence affecting many of us personally.
We are here in part to bring Her healing and wholeness. We do this woman by woman, as we each claim our personal power and express our full nature as Sacred. When we support each other, the power of our individual work is magnified as it penetrates the collective.
So how do we heal Her?
We have found the following six practices to be a powerful place to begin:
~First recognize that the roots of this issue go beyond you personally
~Use your breath and gentle movement to open to emotions and release tension in your body
~Let go of self-judgments
~Know that you are part of a larger movement to discover and embody your power as a woman in new ways
~You do not have to do it alone. Find a supportive mentor, friend, or women’s circle
~Above all, be gentle with yourself!
Those of us on a conscious journey of healing do so for our selves and the collective. Each time we meet the Disempowered Feminine within us with tender presence and inner wisdom, we release another layer. This brings greater freedom to our selves, and to the generations that came before us and to those yet to come.
This work is our Sacred service to humanity, and an important contribution to bringing peace and healing to our world.
( ✍️ Rebelle Society )
Art : Susan Seddon Boulet
