A modern story of cycles Pt 2.

You well know the power of a good narrative. Think of a gripping novel, a theatre performance or your latest Netflix marathon; story captures our attention like nothing else. If you are like me and feel that the human psyche is like a magical, deeply sophisticated puzzle to be comtemplated and solved, then you have probably questioned why. Why is story so significant?

Following on from the previous blog, stories have been told for tens of thousands of millenia. We have been around for a seriously long time and only up until relatively recently, humans existed as a part of nature. It was never earth vs humans or humans save earth, these are new and wildly disturbing narratives. It has always been us inseparable from but always loosing balance and course-correcting, within story and within nature.

Trees talked, a black crow might be a goddess and rocks held the wisdom of the ages past. Stories held the symbols of cultral order and meaning. The lore that harmonised a group of people in Place. We walked upon Place within story, within dreaming, within the imaginal, within spirit.

A deep sadness of the modern world is that most of us are disconnected from the stories of our lineage and Place. Sadness even is a shallow word; this separation pierces and rips the heart and soul and all senstive beings feel it. We have lost our magic and unique sense of purpose and direction. I believe it still exists within. Beyond the logical mind, in a neurologically integrated space that has the capacity to hold many things to be true at once; In the story codes of the mind. Some call this the Feminine psyche.

Humans, being human and having both capacity for great good and great evil, mess up extraordinarily, by going against the moral tides and taking too much or giving too little. We do this often, whether by stealing the neighbours sheep, cutting down too many trees, causing harm to others or exploiting our own body’s resources. Story offers warning, rules and pathways toward internal and external harmony and transcendance, helping us to live sustainably with the earth and each other.

As storytelling has been a core element in culture for such a long time, human biology reflects it. In response to story, the auditory cortex in our brains ignites to process sounds and the sensory cortex activates so that we can imagine details like smells, tastes, sights and movement. We are literally transported into the narrative. Story also activates the motor cortex, which primes us to simulate action and reaction. This epic neural mirroring teaches us to understand the social and spiritual learnings in story and actually helps create empathy and understanding.

Story potential.

The beauty of story is that it works you. It clicks and winds away in the unconscious parts of the mind and goes about doing it’s job of guiding you, even when you don’t know it. The real alchemy here, is that story provides an initiatory process of becoming. As you meet with story, a cascade of clockwork is triggered into motion and dormant potential is sparked and born into your experience.

You are the first most important part in this reaction because you are a deeply unique human being and what is inside you is different to what is inside another person. So, the alchemical reaction, is going to be you mixed with story equals… either something beautifully ordinary or extraordinary! Voila!

Where you are in your life journey is a facor that impacts your response to story. This is widely variable to each person and has a lot to do with personality, past experiences, trauma, the depth of our shadow-work or how we have been able to face and overcome our, stuff. What life-stage (pre-menarche, menarche, menstruating years, perimenopause, menopause or post-menopause) you are in is also going to affect how you receive story. Stories hold deep layers of meaning and as we cycle through life, new tiers of understanding reveal themselves as they become more personally relevant. Magic!

How well you are able to regulate yourself will impact how you respond to life and the stories you brush up against. Stress management and nervous system regulation all the way.

Cycles stories.

Circling back around to the previous blog and the modern story of cyles.

You have probably gathered that you have phenomenal amounts of wisdom and resource imbeded naturally into your being. You do, absolutely! Humans hold the cyclic pattern of birth, blooming, decay and death internally and this beautiful framework is moving within you as you cycle through the inner seasons of your menstrual cycle.

If you are a woman or menstruator, then you have a menstrual muse, who is always calling you into alignment with the natural tides of your body. She is the voice of your cycle, your menstruality and communicates with you about your state of being and how you can live peacefully and purposefully. Her story changes each turn of the hormonal season and you experience the alchemy of your uniqueness blended with the archetype that she holds.

In inner spring (pre-ovulation) her vibe is spring-y, in inner summer (ovulation), summer-y, inner autumn (pre-menstruum), autumnal and inner winter (menstruation), winter-y. How we experience each season, is individual to each person and evolves according to, well, all the things listed above (personality or psychic blueprint, cultural heritage, inner-work, life-stage and regulation)!

Your muse will talk to you in many ways. Feeling, dreams, or intuition or through symptoms like fatigue, period pain, hunger or somatic sensation. We are all different but the best way to start hearing her voice is by tuning into your body as she moves through the hormonal phases of your menstrual cycle.

People so often feel a seep sense of connection to the inner seasons cycle story because it wakes up a part of us that was sleeping, something that we know is important and connects us to not only to ourselves and back to the earth but to each other. We wake up our wild wisdom and we feel our own power and capacity to be a creator and change-maker, when it is so desperately needed. An old wound becomes visible but so does a way toward healing.

The modern story of the inner seasons is a re-telling of old stories gathered from many peoples. It’s an easy to use framework that holds the possiblity for profound depth and awakening but is simple and condensed enough to apply to the masses, which is perfect for our multi-cultural, rainbow, slightly soupy and diluted world. It offers a way to live sustainably with the rhythms of our own nature that also cycles with the natural world and provides a potent, initiatory process of becoming.

And so, rise of the spicy femm gospel, the modern story of cycles!