I was shocked, yet not, to read this in a Time magazine article:
‘Today, women account for almost 80% of the autoimmune disease cases. They are at a higher risk of suffering from chronic pain, insomnia, fibromyalgia, long covid, irritable bowel syndrome, and migraines, and are twice as likely as men to die after a heart attack. Women experience depression, anxiety, and PTSD at twice the rate of men, and face a ninefold higher prevalence of anorexia, the deadliest mental health disorder.’
The Reason Why
The virtues that are ‘valued’ as the ‘ideal’ woman, for she is rewarded for going completely against a woman’s innate way of being. These “virtues” of women have been defined externally, shaped by expectations that serve the power dynamics of the false patriarchy.
Here are some examples of the ‘virtues’ that are rewarded and expected. Let’s commit to changing this asap:
☹️ Self-Sacrifice is glorified. Women are expected to be endlessly giving to their children, partners, parents, workplaces, and communities.
Extreme selflessness. ‘To do it all’ without complaint.
☹️People-Pleasing: from a young age, girls are taught to be nice, not assertive. Agreeable, not opinionated. Polite, even when uncomfortable or disrespected. Women are rewarded for downplaying their needs, being low-maintenance.
☹️ Being a Superwoman: best mom, wife, colleague, friend, sister, grandma, daughter… that is exhausting.
☹️ Emotional Caretakers of Everyone: in families, she’s the glue. In relationships, she smooths over conflict. She’s expected to be emotionally intelligent, yet not ‘too emotional’.
☹️ All the above requires suppression of your voice and anger so as not to rock the boat, so others don’t feel uncomfortable, and so on…
The price women are paying for embodying the ‘virtues’ of a woman, defined by the false patriarchy:
- Disease and sickness: for being out of alignment with their natural divine feminine essence
- Loss of self: many women don’t know what they want/desire
- Burnout and resentment: from doing everything for everyone
- Silencing and shrinking: just to stay likable or keep the peace
- Internalized misogyny: where women judge themselves and other women for not fitting the mold
And this is why the plant medicine and Great Spirit asked me to work with women to help them reconnect back into the seat of their power: their womb. Womb cosmology existed before this false patriarchy, and it’s time to come back to it, to remember, to reclaim our divine feminine gifts, essence, powers, and health.
Guidance to continue doing your spiritual, healing work so that you can:
- Choose YOU first, not last
- Do what lights you up
- Confidently speak your truth. The truth hurts sometimes, and that is ok.
- Be you, all of you
- Have full permission to be more disappointing
- Truly believe you are worthy, all guilt-free.
We carry this deep programming in our bones from many lifetimes, but also from our ancestral lineage.
It goes back a long way. So if you have an unsettling diagnosis, need support, guidance, and healing, consider joining the Divine Feminine Reclamation 1:1 mentorship program or the Plant Medicine Retreat in Taos, December 6-7.
Here’s to the deep healing and transformation!
Image from The Priestess of Light Oracle deck by Sandra Anne Taylor and Kimberly Webber