Awaken the Spiritual Woman

Awaken the Spiritual Woman

Through Sacred Prayer & Ceremony

By Kellyna Kaleolani Campbell

Smashwords Edition

Copyright 2011 Kellyna Campbell

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Table of Contents

Dedication & Credits

Poems

A Blessing for Mothers

Dear Beloved Daughter

For the Reader

Section One

Mother-Daughter Relationships

Chapter One

Honoring Mother-Daughter Relationships

Chapter Two

Entering the Womb of Darkness

Chapter Three

Daughters and Young Women—the Strength to be Different

Chapter Four

Mothers—the Compassion and Courage to Know Yourself

Section Two

Prayers, Ceremonies, & Rites of Passage

Chapter Five

Setting Up Your Prayer Circles

Chapter Six

Prayer Circles and Ceremonies

Chapter Seven

Prayers and Ceremonies for Young Women

Chapter Eight

Prayers and Ceremonies for Adult Women

Chapter Nine

Other Ceremonies for Your Family

Section Three

Portals for Healing

Chapter Ten-An Invitation to Heal

Appendix

A. Energy Clearing Visualization

B. Breathing Visualization

C. Releasing Visualization

Index

About the Author

Dedication

To My Mother,

Thank you for pushing me to grow into the woman I have become. I love you with all my heart and feel deep gratitude to you as my mother, confidant, and friend.

Credits

I am most grateful to all the beautiful women who have inspired me to write this book as an avenue for women to heal and evolve. Thank you to Jay Robinson for your talent, encouragement, and generosity with the cover design and to Susan Dobson for your editing hand.

A Blessing for Mothers

Upon entering this world

I move from the comfort of your womb.

Suckling your breast I am nourished.

Your essence is my food.

I am nurtured by your touch,

The hands that reach out to the world.

I am cared for by the purity of your heart

And the compassion found in woman.

As I grow up

You guide me with your wisdom

And pick me up when I fall down.

As a mother, this is your calling.

We depend on each other

As we discover how to dance.

Certain things we agree upon

Others are there for our learning.

And then one day I push you away

As I discover who I am.

Do not tell me what to do

But let me find my own way.

I discover a path that works for me

And you watch me the best you can

Only this time when I fall down

I learn to pick myself up.

And I continue on

And find someone who nourishes me

As you always have.

Someone who shares his worldly vision

While encouraging me to grow.

And then one day I feel lonely

As I reflect back upon my life

And only wish we had more time to dance

And realize much of who I am

Is only because of you.

Thank you mom for picking me up

For sharing your insights

For challenging me to grow

And for giving me the gift of life.

Dear Beloved Daughter

I hear you calling

But I don’t know what to do.

I see you struggle

And I don’t know how to help.

I feel you yearn for life’s experience

So I hold you in my heart

Envisioning you with clear thoughts

And trust you to find your way.

For your fear is my fear

And your pain is within me

Your sadness touches my sadness

Those hidden places of my soul.

Bring me within you

Breaking the walls of separation

And feel my inner essence

So that you can know yours.

As I speak my truth

You learn to speak yours.

As I live with great joy

You know this place within.

As I live my dreams,

You feel comfort in yours.

As I live with an open heart

You know safety in yours.

As I tear down the walls of deception

And shatter the illusions

I become a living example

The dawning of a new day.

I release you with acceptance

And know the divine perfection of us,

As I watch you become the teacher

For the children yet to come.

For The Reader

Several themes in this book may need explaining, beginning with the title of the book, Awaken the Spiritual Woman; through Sacred Prayer & Ceremony. We are at a threshold on this planet with such great need for prayer and guidance. We are often required, in our lives, to go beyond this life experience and remember the women who came before us, our connection to the earth, and the wisdom of our bones. It is the childlike freedom of unconditional love that allows us the opportunity to heal the deeper wounds. I use this phrase throughout the book, as a reminder of what we are here for. Each of us is being called forward as women to show the way to a more positive future. We need to create a world filled with love, peace, and joy as we enter a time that demands us to change, creating a new paradigm.

The Old vs. the New Paradigm

Each of us faces a choice of how we’d like to live. We can identify with one side or the other in a fight of opposites, or we can move easily in a creative, organic, nurturing flow. That’s the choice between the old, patriarchal paradigm of duality consciousness —win or lose, fight or flight, top or bottom, slave or master—and the new paradigm of unity consciousness—walking in peace, harmony and beauty. The chaos that we feel on the planet right now is being caused by this process of choice about which reality to attune to. Do we want to be a part of creating heaven on earth or part of Armageddon, the destructive clash of opposing forces? We face this choice individually. And we face this choice as a species, as humans are called upon to resonate at a higher frequency, leaving our past patterns behind, shifting into a new place in the collective consciousness.

Most of us are searching on our journey through life, whether our search is a spiritual quest or a quest for power, money, fame, and fortune. Perhaps we’re hunting for the perfect partner; perhaps we’re seeking inner peace. We might be trying to grasp something that is right before us or go far beyond the limits of the self we know now.

What if the only search that’s ever needed is a deeper intimacy with oneself? Each of us comes upon a point in our lives when we ask ourselves, What am I doing here? We realize that all the searching for external satisfaction only leaves us feeling empty. Many of us look to the government, the church, doctors, or teachers to give us answers. People have been searching for so long externally that they have given their power away to outside authorities. The time has come to leave our quest for answers outside of ourselves and turn our gaze inward.

Let us envision a unity consciousness future of androgyny—a balance of our male and female sides into a perfectly balanced whole. As we shift our perception away from seeing each other as male and female, recognizing each person as unique in their own right, we are no longer supporting a duality consciousness. This requires an awakening of the sacred feminine, since we’ve been out of balance for centuries. Our entire species is making a huge shift of consciousness, moving away from old patriarchal models into a more balanced whole. This new paradigm brings forth the loving, nurturing, intuitive nature of humankind. As we awaken this place within ourselves—while maintaining our strength and determination—we have all the necessary tools for making this shift in the culture as a whole. It is for this that the sacred feminine needs to be nurtured and brought forward at this time.

To access our truest self, we must unfold the layers of truth within, peeling away each layer till we eventually reach the precious jewels that reside within the core of human experience. As each of us heals ourselves, we are doing the greatest service we can for humankind. The more we heal ourselves by releasing the wounds and attachments of the past, the clearer we become, creating a sacred home of inner peace and harmony as a Spiritual Woman. This lovely inner space draws our outer selves irresistibly into a space of deep intimacy. We change the world one person at a time by being a living example of peace and harmony.

The Name of God

Throughout the book, I use the word ‘God’ to reference the Creator. This choice is not intended to limit the concept of the Creator to a Judeo-Christian one but rather to suggest a much broader concept. I see God as the Creator of all that is. God is in the stars, the oceans of the world, the forests, the animals, all the spirits of nature, and within each of us. The ultimate God-realization is to know that there is no separation between us and God, as all is One. The ultimate self-realization is to know that God is within us and we have the power to create or destroy our lives in any manner that we choose. I use the word ‘God.’ You can use whatever word feels most comfortable to you.

Prayer Circles

Prayer Circles are the opportunity to bring two or more people together in connection with God. The very nature of prayer circles creates a sacred space and shifts our consciousness to bring the sacred into our everyday lives. This gives mothers, daughters, and all women, an opportunity to create a sacred space and allow the necessary healing to occur. We need to hold a flame of light as well as acknowledge God in our circles, to open up a loving space in a prayerful manner. Without doing this, we tend to forget the sacred and blame one another for our differences rather than find a way to heal the wounds.

How to Use This Book

Prayer and ceremony have been used for thousands of years by people of all ages and ethnicity. Prayer was originally understood as a step in the development of religion but at that time, it failed to recognize the personal attributes of prayer. Ceremony has been used throughout time as recognition of something of importance: a birth, a wedding, a rites of passage. Both prayer and ceremony can be life-changing and many people have experienced miraculous changes through the power of prayer and/or ceremony. Much of the level of success of the prayer is dependent upon the sincerity and consistency of the person or prayer group, who is praying.

We live in a time of great challenge. Many people are losing their homes, jobs, and all sense of security. People feel lost, worried and uncertain about what the future holds. It is the perfect time to turn our focus inside and call out to God. Prayer and ceremony are great resources that have always been available to us.

This book is an active prayer guideline for talking to God while integrating these prayer s and ceremonies into your daily life. It offers a way to work through the challenges that keep us from knowing God on a deeper level, and therefore yourself. It helps us to move through our own resistance, so that we can find inner calm and know God within our own being. Allow yourself to Awaken the Spiritual Woman and become the observer of all that is happening in your world.

This book offers women a different approach to our daily concerns. Look within and discover the keys that will open the doorway to your liberation. Prayer works. Ceremony works. Gathering women in prayer circles with a common intention is a powerful means of uniting our resources to create positive change on this planet. We all need to step forward at this time. Let us utilize the power of prayer and ceremony and become a part of a new world. It begins with you. If you can commit thirty days to your concern, and work through the guidelines in this book, you will experience significant changes in your life.

You can turn to any of the prayers, blessings, ceremonies, or active participation exercises for immediate assistance and inspiration, when your time is limited. The blessings are encouraging and inspirational words while the prayers are a call to God. Use the ceremonies and prayer circles in a group situation and the visualizations and active observations either alone or in a group.

If you can work through this book, step by step, it will have a significant impact on your life. If you are not ready for some of it, just skip it and use the parts that resonate to you. If you are only looking for the prayers and blessings, and are not interested in the rest of it, then just use that portion of the book. Each prayer and blessing stands alone and can be used accordingly. If you skip some of the guidelines, I hope that you will be inspired to get back to them at some point, as they are all very helpful in discovering your true nature and worth.

You, the Reader

As a woman, you may be a mother. You are certainly a daughter. You may be an adult woman or a teenager, and you may be reading this book to rekindle your relationship with your mother, daughter, sister, friend, lover, or any combination thereof. At times, in this book, I will be speaking to mothers and daughters together; at times I will be speaking to mothers only or daughters only. Some of the book is directed toward teenagers and some of it toward adult women. I see all women as universally either mothers, daughters or both to each other and to this planet at large. As women, we all need to step forward and help each other to become the spiritual woman that God intended us to be.

As you read, if you find that a part of the book is not speaking to you, simply skip over it, if you like. On the other hand, you may want to read those parts anyway, to gain deeper insight into the many roles that women play in our society and in our families. For example, if you are a teenage girl, you may want to read what seems to be addressed to adult women or to mothers just to prepare yourself for the possibility of being in that role yourself some day.

The more we understand each other as women and appreciate the complex roles we play in our families and our societies, the more we will be able to support each other in rising to be the best we can be. At the very root of honoring our relationships is understanding. May we look into each other’s hearts and souls and see there...ourselves.

Section One-Mother-Daughter Relationships

We come into this world through our mother. She adorns us with her love and kindness, caresses our bodies with her touch, and nurtures us with her essence. She is the vessel that carries us as she births us into this world. We are here as women of the earth to remember the wisdom of our bones, our connection to the earth, and the women who came before us, who have created an opening for women to come together and step forward at this time.

Everyone yearns to have the perfect love. We can find this through our relationship with our mother, as this relationship sets the stage for who we are as women of the earth and keepers of the future of this planet.

We grow apart from our mothers in our desire for individuality, temporarily forgetting those who have walked this earth before us. Maybe it is time to change our perception and create a new way, a different path that honors womankind as we grow up together with our mothers, through "the yearning to know ourselves and create a positive future together.

As daughters grow in years, we seek to find ourselves and know our own expression in the world. Oftentimes, we push our mothers away with such force that we spend a great portion of our adult years hoping to mend this relationship. We yearn to share the perfect mother-daughter relationship of endearing friendship, unconditional understanding, and deep love. It is a picture that seems unreachable to most daughters. But what if it were a sure possibility that is just around the corner? Would you be willing to take the journey to awaken this relationship? Imagine that distant time and place is within your reach and is available to all women who are willing to go into the womb of darkness to rekindle this relationship.

As women we intuitively know that making peace with our mothers is of utmost importance to creating a world of grace where people will remember to love one another and live in peace. The mother-daughter relationship is the primary source of wisdom for a positive future. As we honor each other and look into the hidden places in our soul, we bring to light our true innate wisdom, so we can show the way for our children, men, friends, and future generations.

Chapter One-Honoring Mother-Daughter Relationships

"To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; to leave the world a better place; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded." Most often accredited to —Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882), American poet. Written by Bessie Stanley in 1905, American Poet

As women, we need to heal. We can begin by coming together as mothers and daughters in one-to-one sessions, the first stage of prayer circles. These dyadic circles create an intimacy that allows us to feel safe. At the same time, they create an opening that allows women to open their hearts to each other and find comfort in larger prayer circles, as a safe place for our healing.

Let us gather and support one another in our dreams. It is time for us to move this planet into a place of peace. We can begin by initiating these dyadic circles and progressing naturally to the larger ones. One of the purposes of this book is to offer visualizations and prayers, beginning with dyadic circles and moving on to larger circles, that will enable mothers, daughters, and women of all ages to come together, with strong intention, for healing. As we form circles around the planet, we open our hearts, bond with one another, and share our love as well as our healing. We need each other and can change our future, one by one, as we embrace the journey inside our souls.

As women or mentors, we need to realize that we do not own our children. Although the children come through us and we mentor them along their path, their lives are not ours, and we need to guide them in a gentle, loving manner, becoming a positive example of how we can shape the future generations. We need to learn to trust the divine synchronistic flow of the Universe and allow things to unfold. Our children are so disillusioned with this world we have created; many of them have lost hope. We need to nurture them and allow their dreams to grow, hold them dear to our hearts, and at the same time allow them the freedom they need to find their way.

Each of us can resolve our own dysfunctions and not create an image of perfection as the Holy Mother. If we continue to influence or control our children, we will have few or no creative offspring to develop our future. Either the child will conform to a socio-economic system that does not honor true individuality, or the child will rebel and find a way to escape. Some of those who rebel will find their own way and make it on their own, while others get lost in the struggle and find often-harmful ways to ease the pain. There are a few exceptional children who are strong enough to find their own way in spite of the limitations of our modern social system, but they are very rare.

Shedding the Image of Holy Icon

As women, we take on different behavior patterns that lock us into a particular image. When mothers hold on to an image, it does not help their daughters to know themselves. The Holy Mother creates the illusion that she is perfect. She is not able to share her faults and will not discuss her childhood challenges and mishaps with her children. She has a fear that by sharing her promiscuity, drug, or alcohol usage, her daughter will think it is okay for her to do the same thing. She is afraid of being honest, as she fears her daughter will expect her to condone the same behavior.

Who created the concept that a mother is supposed to be perfect? How is it that we want to hold ourselves up on a pedestal and not be able to share our intimate experiences with our daughters?

If we keep ourselves on a pedestal as untouchable, we are hurting our daughters and ourselves. Oftentimes, a daughter will experience the same sexual initiation that her mother experienced by carrying the energy and thought forms (embodied patterns of thinking) of the women who came before her, whether or not it is conscious, into her intimate relationships. If we can share openly with our daughters about our sexual initiation, we will help to reveal the patterns and learn from the experience rather than keep it in hiding. When something is hidden, it cannot be healed.

Let us break this pattern of the Holy Icon, the untouchable mother image, and bring her down to eye level. We are in a time of great awakening and need to change the nature of all our relationships. We can begin this by sharing openly with our daughters and in turn hoping that they feel comfortable sharing with us. Let us begin by exposing the family secrets while breaking the taboo of the unreachable mother image and see her, instead, as a wise woman who is here to share her life experiences with us. As we bring these family secrets to light, we expose the darkness and help to see each other as equals.

Family Secrets

Family secrets create a bond of illusion. We want to keep the family bond, as we are tribal by nature and do not want to destroy the very thing that appears to keep us together. The strength of the family foundation makes it impenetrable from the outside. But if the strength is based upon a faulty foundation, it will eventually crumble. Therefore, it is of utmost importance to reveal the family secrets.

Sometimes we know about the secret, other times not. Certain things are not discussed in the family, but we often know there is a certain thing that is not being discussed. So, either way, we carry this secret with us. Eventually, this entrapment will find a way to come to the surface, as it is our nature to want to reveal ourselves and bring the soul forward.

People often feel caught between remaining a part of the inner circle and bringing the issue forward to be healed at the risk of being thrown out of the tribe. The length of time the secret has been repressed and the depth of its origin determines the amount of healing that is needed to resolve it. For most people, it seems too big a task and we make the decision to keep the secret hidden and find other means to cope. Most often, this results in finding a way to escape.

Inappropriate sexual behavior is a common family secret. As such a strong violation, it brings an incredible opportunity to tap into the reservoir of dark emotions. By allowing this behavior to go unnoticed, a family keeps the force of darkness suppressed, thus creating a bounty of residual emotion. The opposing force it takes to suppress the presence of guilt, denial, and fear can create a distortion in one’s psyche that triggers outbursts of rage and anger.

Hiding a traumatic experience can affect our relationships with our parents and mentors. It is very common to hide molestation among children. We might fear what a father will do. We are afraid of what the neighbors may think. There are various different reasons such as these that go through a mother’s head. For the child, keeping the experience, hidden confirms disbelief in the primary caregivers and in God. How these situations are handled sets the tone for the child’s future relationships. If left unexposed, they can become scars that incite the child to seek revenge.

Mothers usually have a very good intuition about their children and often suspect when something is wrong. How a mother chooses to deal with these situations also leaves a residue for the child, as well as for herself. Even if she has no cognitive awareness of the violation, she may feel the negative effects of it through her bond with her daughter. She can also feel betrayal of herself for not being there to protect her daughter. If she is unable to deal with this in a healthy manner, she will bury the experience and continually have it reinforce her belief that she is an inadequate mother for not taking care of her child. She will uphold this belief subconsciously until she is able to bring it out into the light.

When a secret exists within the family, it creates separation. Let’s say that a mother decides to hide her knowledge of the incidents from her spouse and keep them a secret between the mother and daughter. This creates separation in the family and keeps the secrets alive. This separation creates a faulty foundation for insecurities to breed. When a daughter believes that she must keep a secret from her father, she forms the belief that you cannot confide in men, thus setting the stage for her lack of intimacy with men. For the mother, it creates separation in her relationships with both her husband and daughter, as there will always be this hidden secret.

We need to learn how to feel comfortable in sharing our painful experiences with our family. This will create a strong bond of intimacy and much healthier relationships for everyone. As women, we need to feel strength in all life experiences. Each of us is doing the best job we can in any given moment.

It is essential to forgive ourselves so we can live in peace. We cannot continue to protect the patriarch or the perpetrator and expect to create a conscious and peaceful world. A mother needs to find her own truth and have the opportunity to deal with feelings of inadequacy or judgment, allowing her healing to unfold. By keeping things hidden or buried, she is giving power to the darkness, which in turn makes it more difficult to find her own way and for her daughter to find hers. It also creates a huge void in their relationship with God.

We must remember the divine perfection of all things.