Women’s Circle Newsletter

awomenscircle@yahoo.com

P.O. Box 110998  Aurora, CO. 80042
720-530-2834
Reaching out each month in joy and
sisterhood to keep us connected as we circle together as women

Andrea Lord
President, Alpha Institute
Women’s Circle Facilitator
Reiki Practitioner

Rachel Lord RN, CMT, MH
Women’s Circle Facilitator
Master Herbalist

April 2010

Archetypes:  Mythical Magical Beings

We Continue our Archetype Series...  Last month we journeyed within to connect ourelves to the universal archetype essence. We looked at our knacks and individual gifts and saw how they fit into the Divine Feminine :

Now let us get acquainted with the time-honored mythical beings. We will dance with the fairies, swim with the mermaids and rise with the phoenix.

Mythical Creatures Who Lurk Beneath our Consciousness

• Every culture has myths and stories of magical creatures.
• They connect us to our immortality and our magical spirits
• The fairy tales and stories we were told when we were children are filled with these beings.
• They appear on flags, emblems and badges.
• They represent special powers for protection and good luck etc.
• They can be friendly or fearsome.
• They can teach us lessons.

Archetypal Creatures of the Water Element
Mermaids/Serpents

•  Mermaids: She greets the ships and beguiles the sailors with her feminine upper body and fishes’ tail.  She enchants and distracts them causing them to run their ships aground. Mermaids often fall in love with human men.  Unfortunately, especially with younger mermaids, they tend to forget humans cannot breathe under water. Sometimes referred to as Selkies (seals who turn into humans),  Sirens, Water Fairies or Water Nymphs.
• The Little Mermaid: A story written  by Danish Poet Hans Christian Anderson in 1837. She was willing to give up her life in the sea and her identity as a mermaid to gain a human soul and the love of a human prince.  Her statue is in the Copenhagen harbor.
• Loch Ness Monster: Lurks in the lake and seldom seen.  A fearsome monster.  Is it a dinosaur, a sea serpent, a figment of the  imagination?  Stories and “sightings” of this monster of the deep just won’t go away.

Archetypal Creatures of the Forests & the Woods
Fairies/Sprites/Unicorns

• Fairies: These beings have human feminine form with wings.  Today you might find one tattooed on a women’s shoulder. They were considered magical and  sometimes malevolent.  In folklore they have a reputation for stealing babies and  substituting changelings and  for  abducting older people.
• Unicorn has one horn-called an alicorn.  Modern versions  shows a horse with a long spiral horn on her forehead. They are often featured on New-Age calendars as symbols of beauty and purity.  Unicorns were considered fierce yet good; selfless yet solitary and always mysteriously beautiful. The  horn was coveted by kings and queens. Possession of the horn guaranteed long life and protection from poison.  A unicorn  could be captured only by unfair means. Medieval tapestries depict  unicorn hunts.  Sometimes they showed these creatures peacefully co-existing with beautiful maidens or lions

Archetypal Creatures of the Fire Element

Dragons/ Phoenix

• Dragons are powerful supernatural serpents who fly, have long tails and breathe out  fire. They have major  spiritual significance in religions and cultures around the world. They represent primal forces in nature and the universe—the fire element.  They are associated with wisdom and longevity.  They are fearsome, wise and magical.
• The Phoenix is a universal symbol of rebirth.  She is an Egyptian mythological bird with gorgeous red and gold feathers, the color of the rising sun.  She is eternally reborn from the ashes of her own funeral pyre every 500-600 years. Her song is beautiful and melodious and becomes mournful at approaching death.   Other birds and creatures are so overcome with her sadness at this time, that they themselves fall dead by her song

Archetypal Creatures of the Underground
Ogres/Trolls

• An Ogre is a large, cruel, monstrous and hideous humanoid monster who is featured in English mythology, folklore and fiction. Ogres are often depicted as feeding on human beings, and have appeared in many classic works of literature.  They  are often depicted with a large head, abundant hair and beard, a voracious appetite, and a strong body. The term is often applied in a metaphorical sense to disgusting persons who exploit, brutalize or devour their victims.
• Trolls are a race of fearsome creatures from Scandinavian mythology.  They are the Nordic equivalent of the  English ogre. They have the beguiling personality of giants, though smaller. Home to a troll is underground in caves, hills or mounds.

Archetypal Creatures of the Air Element
Angels

“In a Class by Herself”

• Angels:  Messengers of God in the Hebrew Bible, the New Testament and the Koran.  An angel is also regarded as a spiritual being found in many other religious traditions.
• Angels as middlemen/women:  Rrepresented throughout the Bible as a body of spiritual beings intermediate between God and men. They communicate divine messages in a “user-friendly” manner.
• Guardian Angel: A benevolent, friendly and personal  protector who looks after you, teaches lessons, warns of danger. New Age and even religious stores sell these beings in the form of  little lapel pins to wear for protection.
• Angels are Popular: They appear on top of Christmas trees, in jewelry, on clothing.  Hallmark has a whole series of little angel statues. If a child is “good”—whatever that means—she/he is a “Little Angel”.  It’s interesting that these are feminine forms.  Have you ever seen a male angel at Target?

Archetypal Creatures of the Night
Werewolves/Vampires  

• Werewolves are mythological or folkloric humans with the ability to shape-shift into a wolf or wolf-like creature. This happens either purposely or by being bitten or scratched by another werewolf after being placed under a curse.  Full moons are the times of the werewolf.
• Werewolves have super-human strength: They are stronger than a man or a wolf.  They can be killed with a silver bullet. They appear in horror flicks (think Jack Nicholson)  and literature.  Although usually associated with European culture, werewolves appear in Native American stories, often in the guise of other animals.
• Vampires subsist by feeding on the life essence (generally in the form of blood) of living creatures, regardless of whether they are undead or living.  According to speculation by literary historian Brian Frost, "belief in vampires and bloodsucking demons is as old as man himself", and may go back to prehistoric times.
• The term “Vampire” was not popularized until the early 18th century, after an influx of vampire superstition came into  Western Europe from areas where vampire legends were frequent, such as the Balkans, Serbia, Bulgaria, Romania.
• This increased level of vampire superstition in Europe led to mass hysteria and  in some cases resulted in corpses actually being staked and people being accused of vampirism.
• The Twilight Series by  Stephanie  Meyer   is the modern American equivalent of the current Vampire craze.  Vampire “cults” and other “vampy” versions are showing up in prime time TV shows. How interesting.  This topic used to be delegated to late night horror movies.

 Other Examples of Archetypes in Media

ARCHETYPAL ACTIVITY

ACKNOWLEDGE THE MYTHICAL BEINGS THAT ARE PART OF YOUR STORY

MAKE A PERSONAL ARCHETYPAL COLLAGE:  Get a pile of magazines and old New Age calendars and start cutting out Archetype pictures that appeal to you.  Look for comic book characters, dragons, unicorns, fairies, gnomes, vampires etc.  Pick the ones that talk to you.  Artfully glue them on a backing.  As you create your masterpiece, meditate on what these beasties represent to you and why they “pull your string”.  Enjoy the creative process.

NAMASTE

Our March Newsletter is adapted from the following resources:
www.crystalinks.com
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/

Image Resources
http://www.eons.com/groups/topic/1608211-Mermaids
http://jameswoodward.wordpress.com
http://arts-entertainment-news.blogspot.com/2010/01/werewolf-drawings-art.html
http://cybernetnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/photo-collage.jpg

COMING ARCHETYPES ATTRACTIONS:
Archetype Symbols
Specific Archetype & Goddesses and Who They Are in Different Cultures

EVENTS CALENDAR:

Circling:
The Way of the Medicine Wheel

Sunday April 11, 2010

1 pm - 4:30 pm

 $20

Connect With Other Wise Women

Join In Ceremony with Drums and Rattles!

• What is a Medicine Wheel? What does “Good Medicine” mean?
• We will explore this Native American concept and see how it fits into our lives and world view.
• We will use ceremony and group energy to discover our “Place” on the Wheel and how that can help us.
• The circle has been a natural way for women to gather since the beginning.
• BRING: A drum or rattle if you can.  If not, we have extras.

Presenters:

Andrea Lord, Women’s Circle Facilitator, Reiki Practitioner
Rachel Lord, RN, CMT, Master Herbalist

Held At:

Isis Books and Gifts
2775 South Broadway
Englewood, CO 80113

To Sign Up:

Phone:  A Women’s Circle at 720-530-2834 or Isis  at 303-321-0867
email:  awomenscircle@yahoo.com
www.awomenscircle.net

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Earth Air Water Fire  

Earth Air Water Fire  is a workshop that weaves through these four elements to examine what’s in balance and what is out of balance in our lives.  Where are the entanglements in our lives?  Is it money, taking care of our physical bodies or values that no longer hold truth?   Is there so much chatter and data flying about that there is no time to hear your own thoughts?  Do you know what you feel?  Or have these feelings/emotions been so numbed and stuffed that you can’t feel them anymore?  What has happened to intuition? We need a meaning and purpose in life to reach those ideals towards which we can aspire.  Is there passion, creativity and inspiration in your life? 

There is a place deep within each of us that seeks to understand and then to be understood; however, for this to have a reality in our lives we must first know ourselves.  In this full day workshop you will explore through cognitive, intuitive and experiential exercises to examine what is in balance and what is out of balance in your life. What about solutions and roadmaps, so you can move forward in your life? When one begins to see the “elements” and how they each weave into your life, you can then begin to create and live your own destiny.  Now that’s cool!

Sharon Hoery and Omi Preheim invite you to join us for this cutting edge workshop Earth Air Water Fire.  This workshop is a product of years of experience in education, business, psychology, astrology, numerology and metaphysical studies.

There will be Women’s Activities and Circles throughout the year.  Stay posted.
If you have stories, information and would like to share bits of your journey with us,
we want to hear from you. If you get an idea send it out to awomenscircle@yahoo.com