My search for ‘Sacred Feminine’ in our recognition of International Women’s Day brought me to an unexpected treasure of a website.
On a personal note, this was an extra-juicy find in that they offer Ayahuasca Retreats. In addition, their practices mirror the medicine ways that were shared with me in a smaller, more private group possibly not far from where this Temple is. Their healers are trained in the Shipibo medicine tradition of the Peruvian Amazon.
From the website TempleofthewayofLight.org ~
We are witnessing a global spiritual renaissance that is reawakening our connection to Mother Earth, and in the process, breaking the hold of modern patriarchal systems of control and the mechanistic worldview that disavows the sacred and the interconnection of all life.
The reemergence of Divine Feminine energy offers a desperately needed corrective to the qualities of fear, oppression, and greed that have come to define the dominant cultures of the planet. It is a momentous time of change and our collective destiny hangs in the balance.
As we seek balance and peace against a background of deeply disturbing and often frightening world events, many of us have become acutely aware of something vital missing in modern life. In contrast, Shamanic practices and ancient wisdom traditions from around the world have an unbroken relationship with our living Earth. In Shamanic terms, she is revered and honored as the Great Mother, Gaia, Sophia, or Pachamama.
It is well past time that we imbue the modern world with the timeless qualities associated with our sentient mother planet – love, understanding, compassion, nurturing, and empathy.
Such is the cultural and institutional bias against these qualities that they are regarded, contemptuously, as ineffectual, sentimental, and even weak. Nothing could be further from the truth.
It is believed by many scholars that it was the eruption of violence perpetrated by the newer, male-dominated cultures that obliterated the peaceful, Earth-honoring ways of Goddess worship and paved the way for the stronghold of modern patriarchal belief systems and eventually the obliteration of the Goddess from religion, religious texts, and teachings.
Yet the vehemence of the suppression of divine feminine energy in the Western world throughout our political and religious structures hints at it’s enormous power. Divine Feminine energy transcends the fear-based programming that fosters division, aggression, and narrow self-interest.
By connecting Humanity to our common inheritance and cultivating self-love as the gateway to universal love, the Divine Feminine offers a radical recalibration of values and relationships that can reshape our world.
At the Temple, we are committed to providing a balance between female and male healers during our ayahuasca retreats. The female Shipibo healers (Onanya Ainbobo) who work with guests embody love, compassion, tenderness, gentleness, and kindness. In effect, they become the living presence of the Divine Feminine and allow guests to reconnect with the healing power of maternal nurturing.
The Temple believes the work of female healers is an incredibly important part of the healing journey for guests arriving from the West, where the divine feminine is typically devalued.
Equally, the male Shipibo healers are also known for their gentleness and generosity of spirit. With many of our guests having personally experienced masculine abuses of power, their love and caring can be profoundly affecting. In short, the divine feminine transcends gender-based duality.
We are all sons and daughters of the Earth, whose greatest lesson is to live from the heart, not the head.
The Temple aims to provide a caring and compassionate environment, and sensitive attention to guests’ needs and concerns, for an overall experience centered on the power of the Divine Feminine to bring about personal and collective transformation. The healing of our planet and each other demands nothing less.