Do you know that feeling when someone points out a thing so simple and sense-making that you are astounded you never saw it before?  I recently learned in that way that the word Courage (as you may know already) comes from the French word Coeur – Heart.  Coeur-age, perhaps, means bringing our heart in fully to support us when a lot is being asked of us.

We may be tempted to think of Courage as not being afraid, or being able to override fear and vulnerability to achieve something.  But what if Courage means doing that thing heartfully, being motivated by love for ourself or another.  I have found this little grain of knowledge so helpful – at times when I may have been tempted to try summoning extra strength or resolve to push through something, to ask instead what would my heart say about this, or how would it wish to help me…

In these times of change and uncertainty I wish you a warm and reassuring experience of your own Coeur-age.  May you always remember you need go no further than your own heart to find the love that is the source of all Courage.

 

The woman who inspired me about Coeur-age is Brene Brown, an American social worker who possesses that special kind of wisdom that is brilliantly simple.  She speaks of courage, vulnerability and other things, and if you want a dose of really beautiful and down-to-Earth inspiration I recommend you Google her and listen to some of her TED talks.

COMING EVENTS AT LUNA HOUSE

To register or enquire about any of the following, contact Luna House as follows:
03 332 5755 or Email:

THE ALCHEMY OF MENOPAUSE

• Come to see yourself in a whole new light through enriched self-knowledge
• Discover the true nature and purpose of Menopause in our lifelong development
• Gain new knowledge, insights and a unique model not elsewhere available
• Go far beyond medical models to explore spiritual dimensions of Menopause
• Ease any dread or struggles through the practical tools of Conscious Menstruality
• Join with other women for a fun, informative, supportive and life-changing experience

You will be amazed at what there is to know!

8 Thursday evenings, 7-9pm, commencing 20th October

Cost:  $185 whole course, or $25 per evening (negotiable)
Register By:  13th October

From time to time women on Luna House courses have expressed the wish for ongoing opportunities to deepen our knowledge and understanding of Conscious Menstruality, and be supported in putting it into practice in daily life.

It has always been my belief that such gatherings will provide the richest learning and co-creating of Conscious Menstruality in the real world.  If there is enough interest these sessions could become a regular feature.  I would see them as opportunities for women to bring questions, requests for support or further learning in particular aspects of their Menstruality, inspirations and insights to share, ideas for topics, etc.  I will provide some input, but the focus will be on shared learning.

The first evening will be for women who have already completed a course or workshop on Menstrual Cycles:

TAKING IT DEEPER: LIVING OUR MENSTRUAL CYCLES CONSCIOUSLY

WHEN:  Friday 4th November, 7-9pm, at Luna House

COST:   $20 (neg)

REGISTRATION REQUIRED by Sunday 3oth October 

Please inform me of any questions/requests for the evening on registration.
Hot Drinks provided.  You are welcome to bring nibbles to share.

 

And finally another seven-word gem from a sublime Master in the art of bringing about Change on a grand scale:

“Be the change you want to see”

                                        - Mohandas Ghandi

With love to you all
Jane Catherine
At Luna House

Dear Women

Warmest greetings to all of you – so many battered by storms throughout the land as I write this – and especially to those of you in Christchurch.  We are all affected in varying ways by the upheavals occurring in our Earth, and for those of us living here in the heart of it, the awareness that Change is upon us is inescapable.

To those who have experienced terror, loss, damage, dislocation and all manner of disruptions to what we believed our ongoing reality would be, I send my love and thoughts.  Some of these losses are unmeasurable really, and some are invisible and not even easily nameable.  For many, they will continue to be felt, perhaps even more acutely, as the weeks and months of our altered lives go on. 

I also acknowledge all who are feeling the fatigue, strange sensations and ongoing strain of the aftershocks.  This is a very major energetic event, and the effects on our own energy are profound.  As well as ripping open the ground under our feet, the earthquakes have stressed interior psychological and emotional fault lines we may not even have known were in us.  It really is a time of accelerated awareness of ourselves, our own hidden or underground aspects, the balance and imbalance in our lives, meaning systems and relationships.  The phrase no stone left unturned suddenly takes on a very real and physically felt significance.

We are shocked in the intensity of this Change – not for nothing do we speak of shock waves and aftershocks.  Because of our own tiny timeframes and structures, these shifts seem unbearably sudden, destructive and violent.  And yet we know as women, and in terms of our own Menstruality, that all life, growth and development moves in cycles of Change.  Our Mother’s cycles are so long compared to ours, but she does move in cycles, and Change is inevitable and a Law of Nature.  We know, too, that all destruction is part of a cycle of renewal; that all dis-integration opens the way for re-integration.  Now the challenge is to stay open to the Big Picture of Change as we go through the de-structive phase of it.  Planet Earth has always re-shaped and re-balanced herself by earthquakes.  The land we live on was formed by them.  Our Planet is not a still or static thing.  Her mighty Cosmic Om is sung in aeonic booms of thousands and millions of years, while our monthly and lifetime Om-shaped cycles are like tiny flickers in comparison. 

Here in Christchurch there is a mystery going on that is poignant, ineffable, utterly tear-provoking.  The whole city is covered with the most delicate and exquisite singing Beauty.  Amongst the rubble, the mess, the liquefaction, the cracks and rips, traffic jams, polluted waterways and cordons, the most unbelievable proliferation of flowers is telling us another story.  Daffodils, camellias, blossoms, magnolias, tree flowers, ground flowers of every kind are opening their sweet and gracious hearts to us.  Birds sing for the sheer delight of it, ducklings abound on the river, grass is growing riotously – everywhere an inextinguishable Spring is welling up out of the very same Earth that is groaning and slumping.  In the same moment that things come crashing down, life is renewing itself with joyous abandon.  Cycles within cycles; hope within fear; joy within sorrow;  fresh beginnings even as the old crumbles away.

Many have commented on the glorious view of the stars that was gifted to us that night.  Ejected from our beds, out from under our habitual roofs of oblivion, deprived of the artificial light with which we like to deny darkness – there in that eerie stillness and silence that followed the roar and chaos  was the Cosmos in which Earth sails, showing us our place in the scheme of things.  Reminding us, surely, to wake up to where we live and begin to take care of this delicate and ailing Planet, our Earth, our only home.

Let us be gentle with ourselves and each other as we feel the Magnitude of Change that has come, and will keep coming.  It is all around us, and within us.  For those of you who are familiar with and practicing Conscious Menstruality in your own lives, now is the time to dig keep for the courage it takes to engage with and have faith in Change.  Big Change!  Can we respond care-fully to the feelings that flare in us (our own and others’) as our world is shaken?  Can we gently expect and accept our fear – it is inevitable and blameless, and like a child’s, needs to be met with utmost love.  Can we still trust our Earth, her beauty and bounty, even as her Changes rock and frighten us?  It is not easy, and asks us to really look for the heart of what we believe in.

I know that many of you will have wise insights and perhaps messages that you might like to share with other Luna House women at this time.  If you have anything you would like to be passed on, please send it to me and I will forward it.  Please indicate whether your message is just for Christchurch women, or for our whole extended community around the country.

Rest well, dear women, in the calm times, and drink deeply of the Beauty that is present to remind us that renewal is right here within the de-struction.  This is a time of care and recovery, even while we are still in the midst of uncertainty. 

And please, wherever you live, make sure you are prepared for the unexpected.  Let your safety and wellbeing matter enough to provide the things you would need should an emergency strike where you are.  If the Planet is deciding to wake us up, we can be sure that we are all invited into the new awareness.

May each and every one of us receive some blessing, some renewal, here in this crucible of Change. 

 

Much love to you all
Jane Catherine
At Luna House