Reiki from the Farm™
Reiki from the Farm™
Honoring the Divine Feminine: Celtic Ceremonies and Yule Traditions with Karen Caig
The ancient ceremonies of our ancestors carry a powerful resonance, weaving us back to the rhythms of nature and the embrace of the Divine Feminine.
In this inspiring episode of Reiki from the Farm™, Pam Allen-LeBlanc and Karen Caig explore the sacred traditions of Yule and other Celtic ceremonies, uncovering how these rituals connect us to cycles of renewal, intuition, and the light within.
We’ll delve into the rich symbolism of the Divine Feminine in Celtic spirituality and offer practical ways to honor these traditions in your modern life. Through reflective questions and a guided meditation, you’ll learn how to reconnect with ancestral wisdom and align with the nurturing, transformative energies of the season. Bring a journal and prepare to light your inner fire!
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Pam Allen-LeBlanc is a scientist, businesswoman, and Licensed Reiki Master Teacher (LRMT) with the International Center for Reiki Training.
Get in Touch with Pam:
Email: pam@reikfromthefarm.com
Sign up for the Reiki from the Farm Newsletter & learn about upcoming Reiki Shares: http://eepurl.com/dFm-19
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Karen Caig has been an LRMT with the International Center for Reiki Training since 2020. Passionate about helping others find relief from stress and pain, she continues to be guided on her own healing path by Reiki. Karen's mission is to train at least one Reiki Master for every family, promoting deep healing and making the world a better place.
Get in Touch with Karen Caig:
Website: www.Reiki-Institute.com
A special thanks goes out to Music from Pixabay for the intro music and to Nate Miller for the meditation music.
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Hi and welcome to the Reiki from the Farm podcast brought to you by me, Pam Allen LeBlanc from Hidden Brook Farm. I am a scientist, a businesswoman, and a licensed Reiki master teacher with the International Center for Reiki Training. Each week in this podcast you'll be entertained as you learn about a wide variety of relevant Reiki topics, helping you become a more knowledgeable and effective Reiki practitioner. We caution you though, this podcast may also dramatically improve your life, and we are so happy that you're here. On this week's podcast, I am talking with my friend and fellow licensed Reiki master teacher, Karen Kaig, about Yule and just how we can honor the divine feminine through some of the traditional Celtic ceremonies and Yule traditions. Welcome, Karen.
Karen:Thank you. Thank you for having me again.
Pamela:It is always a delight to have you, my dear. And I was thinking that Yule and the Solstice were together and we're going to talk about this, but they're actually not the same thing and they come from the same place. Or from a different place. I'm really excited to dive into, to this with you. Before we go too far, I just wanted to let the listeners know that I've got some fabulous Reiki classes coming up. January 25th and 26th is a weekend level one and two. Reiki Level 1 and 2 class, and that's followed by a Reiki Masterclass that is actually being taught a Friday evening, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday evening, just to work around people's work schedules. I'm trying that this year to see if that's helpful to people. I have a Karuna Reiki Masterclass January 27th to 30th, which is all evenings, and that's mornings in Australia and Asia. So if you would like to join us for that, we'd love to have you join us. We also have an Animal Reiki Level 1 and 2 class February 8th and 9th, a weekend class, and that's followed by an Animal Reiki Masterclass February 10th to 13th, which is a weekend, a long weekend President's Day, and it's a long weekend here for many of us in Canada as well, so a three day class over a long weekend in February, and it's just here, there's not an awful lot to do weekends, long weekends in February, so it'll be a lovely way to stay. It's calm up there. It's cold. It's already cold. We're, we've got snow and freezing rain today. So it's cold. We also have Animal Communication for Reiki Practitioners, a Level 1 and 2 Introductory Workshop, February 15 16. A Level 3 Professional Practitioner Workshop, February 17th, online. And actually, maybe that's the long weekend. I'm not sure. And then that's followed by an animal communi Oh, that's, it's February 17th is evenings, and then it's followed by, for the first time ever, an animal communication master teacher class over three evenings, February 18th to 20th. I would love to have you join us. This is the only time at the moment that I do have the Animal Communication Masterclass. Sorry the Level 3 Professional Practitioner Workshop is on the long weekend. And the Animal Communication Master Teacher class is over three evenings, the 18th to 20th. At the moment, I won't be teaching Animal Communication again although I will have a Level 3 class in September. in April in a, an Asian friendly time zone, but I won't be teaching that course again until the following November. So if you do want to catch animal communication hopefully you can join us. And for those of you who are interested in healthcare Reiki, please send me an email. If you'd like to be invited to the pilot class, which is either going to be in February or April. And also or April? Not in March, April, yeah. Okay. April, I'm away for the whole month of March. First time that I'm doing that, Karen. I'm going away for a whole month. I've never done that before in my life. I've never taken, I've only ever taken two weeks in a row a couple times, it's going to be very interesting. We're heading to Portugal. And then, but with Healthcare Reiki at the end of April and beginning of May, for sure, and you can register for that class. I'll put a link in the podcast. We will, Tracy Sullivan and I will be teaching Healthcare Reiki in person, just ahead of the COVID 19 pandemic. Northeast Reiki Retreat in Silver Bay, New York, and it may be the only time we can get together and teach it in person, I'm not sure but we'd love to have you join us for that, and the Northeast Reiki Retreat is definitely worthwhile, so a lot of stuff there, sorry for taking all that time. And so that's what I have going on. Karen, what do you have coming up?
Karen:I have January, something I'm really excited about is I have a coaching program that I'm starting. You can find information about that just on my website, www. Reiki Institute. com. There's a banner explaining about that. Many people have asked me for coaching, life transformation coaching. So I'm starting that. And I also have Reiki 1 and 2 to start the new year on January 4th. And then Master on, in the middle of the week, which is unusual Reiki Master on a Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, January 7th, 8th, and 9th. And then in February, I have Animal Reiki classes. On the 8th and the 9th, and then Animal Master on the 21st, 22nd, and 23rd. That's what I got going on.
Pamela:I love it. And you made me think when you said January 4th or January 2nd, I have a, an online Reiki share, and we're going to be looking at our goals for the year. That's a good
Karen:idea.
Pamela:Yeah. If anybody, Happy New Year. As long as you get the newsletter, just sign up for the newsletter, and you'll get the invitations to the Reiki share each month. So it sounds like we've got all kinds of stuff. I'm so excited about your coaching program. Tell me a little bit more about that.
Karen:It's actually, it's been a really creative time and since we're talking about the divine feminine, I'm going to talk about that a little bit, but it's just been flowing through people have been asking me for some sort of a coaching program and it just all came through and it's actually three separate programs, but the my coaching program is called doorway doorway coaching, because in life you have so many, sometimes you have to shut doors. Sometimes you have to choose which door to go through. And sometimes you need some courage to step through the doors open, but you just haven't stepped through it. So it's group coaching and it's working through the process that I went through to completely turn my life into something completely different and move to another continent and to change my life, it's for people who are in transition, like divorce, empty nest. Retirement. You've been taking care of your parents and they died. It's those times in our lives where we don't, it's okay, what next now? What do I do now? Who am I even? I don't even know. It's those points in your life where you start over. So that's what the program's for.
Pamela:I love that. And you, for as long as I've known you, you've been called to work with especially women in transition. Yeah. Who are transitioning into.
Karen:Which is why I love to talk about the divine feminine, because that's that energy.
Pamela:Yeah something I wanted you to talk about the Divine Feminine today, just the way this podcast came about is, we were talking and I knew that you said, Wow, this is going to be the first yule that I don't spend with my son. And you and I've talked on a podcast before, about the fact that you do follow the Divine Feminine and Goddess Wisdom. And a lot of things are coming through in my sessions these days. all around the Divine Feminine, Karen. And and then you also said something else that really stuck with me, and that was that I'm here in a new place, I have to create new ceremonies. To connect with a place and I thought this is just so it just all gelled together for me. Can you just tell me a little bit about tell me about Yule. What is Yule? What is this? Yeah, and because Yeah, because I said to you, is it like solstice? And you said, no, one's more feminine, one's more masculine. Tell me about Yule. Oh, yeah.
Karen:So I follow a wheel of the year, which and the more I get to know about different indigenous cultures, it seems like worldwide, we've always been connected to the earth and to the sun. This is how we live. We are a part of the earth. That's animal Reiki, right? And it's just following the cycles. And I was saying that this is my first Yule away from my family, and that's That said, but for you, for me, it has always been about welcoming the sun because living in the northern hemisphere and coming from, so my ancestors are from Scotland, Ireland, Norway. That those peoples, the return of the sun was a big deal, it's well, where you live, it's a big deal. I live where, you
Pamela:know,
Karen:it's dark
Pamela:at 430 at night.
Karen:What Yule is about is about and it's connected to the Divine Feminine in that. It's that winter time and the Divine Feminine is about the contraction. And then the masculine, the divine masculine is about expansion. So time passing it's, it is, it's it's breathing, it's like we're in and we're out. And so it's a connection to that. But Yule, what we would do for Yule is we get up. And we would go to, okay, we lived in Arkansas find a mountain, the closest mountain, which we don't have, like the, I live in the Andes now, so I'm not talking about 9, 000 feet, but, little mountains in Arkansas, go to a high point, and wait for the sun. So you're standing there, we would do, take our, like a little offering, in a sense, So when my son was little, it's just we're just going to go greet the sun, we've got like warm tea and infused with Reiki intention or, pumpkin bread or whatever, we've got, we would go to the mountain and we would sit there shivering in the cold, dark. Waiting for the stupid sun to come up. And it was just the first time my daughter my soon to be daughter in law went with me, she goes she said, it's really cold. What are we doing here? What are we supposed to be doing? And I said let's reflect on the darkness. I said, what this represents is that there are dark times in your life where you feel cold, you feel alone, you're scared there's never going to be light again. And the sun always returns. I said the message that we're celebrating here, the spiritual message, is that the light always returns. And in that darkness, Shivering here in the dark, in that darkness, that's the time to rest, reflect, and so we talked about usually what we do is choose a word for the next year, like what is, what's going to be your word for the year, so that's setting intention and then when the sun comes, I can remember my future daughter in law, the last time she was like, Oh, I'm like, yeah, That's the warmth. So the sun represents it is like a masculine. It's the divine masculine. It's the warmth. It's the expansion. It's that energy. And the feminine more is that, to me, the more powerful. This is the less obvious, but the more powerful. It's the feminine. It goes
Pamela:along with women being the creators and being more powerful. I was, I said something recently to my children. I said when your father and I made you or, we were going and my son just stopped me for a minute. He goes, Mom, let's be clear here. You made us. Dad was just having some fun. And that might be a little didn't do the work. You made us. And so So there is that creative power within women that you're speaking of. And we all carry
Karen:both that, the that external, there are times in our lives where we have to be, I don't know why I keep doing this phallic thing, we have to be the man and then, exactly, but the, of it, but there are, the real work is that spiraling, creative, mysterious, that's why, to me, the, God doesn't really have gender for me, but when I think of the divine, I think of it as feminine more. I think, get stuff done, but like the winter time, we think it's oh, it's cold and there were no leaves on the trees and everything's dead and all that, but it's not. So another part of Yule for me is like there, everything is below earth that, everything's resting, resting, and so I try to live my life in that. that cycle, the equinoxes are a time of balance between the dark and the light.
Pamela:They are. And yeah. And so tell us the difference though between Yule, what you celebrate, because a lot of people listening probably celebrate Great Christmas or some other something else. What's the difference between Yule and the equinox? So the
Karen:Yule it depends on where you are in the world, but the solstices you have. There where you swing way out, you've got the yule, the winter solstice, you have long long night, short day. And then the summer solstice, you have long long days, short nights. And then we have the balance in between. Equinox. Yeah, the equinoxes are equal. Okay, what's the difference between the winter solstice and Yule? It's pretty much the same thing. Okay. But Yule has become, that's how the church brought the pagans into, in that area of the world, the Celtic regions, brought them into the church with They were already celebrating the return of the light. Turn of the sun. Look how easy that is. Turn of the sun, SUN and the re, and and the birth of SON, the birth of the SUN and the birth of the SON. So that was really easy to bring together. Jesus says, bring her of light, bring her of, and we still have the yue tied and deck the holes with bows of Holly I like why? Yeah, why? Because that is a Celtic tradition, right? Huh. Yeah, the holly is, it's evergreen. Now, and then the Christmas tree, that's the Germanic. Sure. Traditions but they're symbols of everlasting life. And so that, that coincides because every time somebody says Jesus is the reason for this season no, this season was first. Yeah. Jesus was born in June. Yeah. But, and it doesn't matter. I think it's just, it's what's in your heart. And what it means, I think as long as it has some meaning, not just Oh my gosh, we've got to buy some presents and wrap them up. And, I think that's what's lost in so many families is that it's some kind of a tradition or my daughter in law saying, What are we doing here? What does this mean? Yeah. Why are we standing on this mountain in the dark? Do I really want to be with this boy? No. But that's what you need to ask. Why am I doing this? Why am I putting up a Christmas tree? And I think it's fine if you're putting it up for Christmas. You're like, okay, because this evergreen tree represents everlasting life. And so does Jesus. But it needs to be, with some sort of meaning.
Pamela:And that just leads us to something else that you said, which was, I'm in a new place now. I need to need new rituals, new ceremonies. Tell me about the ceremonies of the Divine Feminine, because Divine Feminine Energy, we were just talking before the podcast, Divine Feminine Energy is coming in for so many Reiki practitioners right now. Tell me about some of the ceremonies you did follow, and just why ceremony is important. Ceremony is
Karen:important because it makes you stop and connect with something bigger than yourself, simply and to tune into those parts of yourself that you need to sustain you, to sustain your life, to sustain your sanity through, through life. And I have always struggled with balance between masculine and feminine, and I think a lot of us do. And then now. Not to be controversial, because I'm not trying to be controversial, but the more that we're starting to look at gender what's male, what's female, what's this, there's so many, with the LBGTQ communities, and I think everybody's starting to question, what does it mean, masculine, feminine, does it matter what body parts, is that what makes me a woman, feel like a woman, what is it makes, what is feminine, what is masculine, and because we contain both of these, and, Yeah, and I think about it with Reiki. I think one of the questions you asked me before is what kind of rituals can we do or what can we do to bring balance between the divine masculine and divine feminine? And I thought, it's in the Gassho. Bringing two hands together. Bringing two hands together. Because I tell my students, when I first learned, okay, this is a. This is a Japanese Reiki technique, Gassho. And I thought, Oh, this is what I do. It's like praying to get ready to do my, my my session. But it's more, it's so much more than that. That's why I said think about what does it mean to bring two hands together? You're bringing your left hand, left usually associated with the feminine, right with the masculine, and you're bringing those to the center. And that's,
Pamela:For me, the energy that I've always spoken with that I call God, and I call the energy God now that I've healed religious trauma. I did call it goddess for quite a while and could only connect with the feminine aspect because I did have some religious trauma to heal. But the energy that I call God is so interesting because it's neither masculine nor feminine. or feminine, but it also is both masculine and feminine, if that makes any sense. It contains both, but it's like it's beyond beyond gender. And I know that even here in my province recently there were people that were getting all twisted up about, transgender and gender fluidity. And I don't know, I just feel maybe folks are just more evolved and because we know that the Brothers and Sisters of the Light, William talks about the Brothers and Sisters of the Light, how they exist beyond gender and they took genders to come into form in order to work with us, but their normal existence in the higher levels of existence and some part of their consciousness is still there. is beyond gender. So I, one of the things I've noticed is that the guy that I work with a lot of the time is Jesus and he is perfectly balanced and is masculine and feminine. And one of my horses, Big Buddy, is perfectly balanced and is masculine and feminine. And it occurs to me that I, I believe enlightenment has something to do with achieving that. Beautiful balance.
Karen:Yeah. Yeah. And I think that's what, at least with the way I have been practicing and with Reiki, that has really helped heal a lot of religious trauma, a lot of trauma as childhood trauma, like trying to be my dad's best friend. Best Boy, or you know that, I think that Reiki helps take that cultural pressure and it might even be like, it doesn't matter like what gender you think you are, what, you're born as, all of those. Reiki helps strip that down. It has to do with being your authentic self. And then you can seek that balance between masculine and feminine. And then practicing these solar holidays, helps me realize that both are important. Yes. I think they're important.
Pamela:And I've heard you say that use the word balance that, it, that the ceremonies bring you, allow you to reflect, allow you to connect, bring balance into your life. So what are your thoughts, and just explain that statement and maybe where you're going to go with it. You said, I need new ceremonies because I'm living. in a new place. Because
Karen:it's also, it's because we're part of the Earth. So living, yeah, I never finished that thought. Living in a particular area where you to physically survive you have to get in the rhythm of okay, this is it's important that we know when is the sun coming back. When do we, and then yeah, A lot of the pagan holidays are burning fires, like the Yule log is important. That's my son has my Yule log, but we don't burn the log. Traditionally, what you would do is you would burn the log and then save part of the fire. The ember part of the charcoal, if you will, to start the next year's fire. So it's like a continuation. It's almost like an act of hope. I know there's going to be a next year. We just put candles on our Yule log and decorated it. Rather, yeah oh, my gosh, how old is he? 26. So he's had that the same oak log for 26 years. It's the little things of looking together for. for the evergreens to decorate with. And, that's a reflective act. Sometimes looking for mistletoe. We don't have mistletoe here. I live on the equator. Mistletoe is sacred to the Druids. It's a parasitic plant. I have holly. I have a holly bush. And with the holly berries and all that. And so as you're gathering these things, usually when you're gathering them, it's that's the only thing you can that's alive. You're looking around and you're like, yeah, everything else is nope, we're shutting down. This is too cold, and all the trees are like, I've done this, but you've got those holly things out there and the. And on the B, I'm going to
Pamela:say a new wuss.
Karen:Exactly. But that's what seems so magical, I'm sure about the mistletoe, because it's a parasitic plant and it only grows on oak trees. And it, the oak was sacred, it's so strong and everything, and even when the oak dies, then here's that little green thing, wow, that's pretty powerful. But anyway, it all has to do with Reminding you of life, I think, all rituals remind you of life and hope, I think and, but I said I needed new rituals because it's not cold here, the days are 12 hours, the nights are 12 hours, it doesn't matter year round, I live on the equator, so those, so my traditions don't, I thought, oh, So I had put myself in another place where I was led to another place and I'm like this Celtic stuff is not working. This is not, it's not the same. It's not. Yeah. So I'm
Pamela:sure.
Karen:So I need new traditions that I'm still working on. And I'm learning from an indigenous Shona and I, because they were the indigenous people. They were like, so what do y'all do? He told me that they're their solstices are masculine and all of the equinoxes are when they plant. That the equinoxes, when things are in balance, that it's feminine. And they plant. So that in itself that's just you need food, you got to plant it, right? That ritual is not, just something you do to remind yourself like, Oh, yeah, we have food. They have to plant it and they harvest it. A lot of the people survive not by going to the store. It's what they are able to grow.
Pamela:I grew up in, and that's where ours come from. That is. And I grew up in a farm family Karen, and this might surprise, this is surprising when I think about it, My father just one generation, they would plant certain things, crops based on the moon cycle, and they would breed animals based on the lunar cycle, like this is, or wean a baby based on the phase of the moon. And,
Karen:so that's part of it too. So you've got the. You have the most pagans will, they notice this phase of the moon. We plant by it because things that grow above ground, they grow best when you plant them in the waxing of the moon, when it's getting stronger and the things like radishes, potatoes, those sort of things, they grow better if you plant them. in the waning of the moon in that part. And then there's certain, yeah, it can get complicated, but it's all about just being connected to the place where we live. That's really all it is. And those rituals are a time to stop whatever you're doing, which I think they're even more important now than, because I live in a third world country, we move much slower here. And I'm like, huh, it's weird. It's weird not living in that time.
Pamela:Go.
Karen:American go to work, you gotta go, oh my god, it's Christmas, we gotta buy presents, so oh my, first we have Thanksgiving, okay, get a turkey, it's to get out of that culture and come here, I'm like, okay, I've spent a year and a half of decompressing, really, of huh, okay, so this is how people live. Wow, all right. It's what I was trying to connect to in North America through these ancient traditions. At first I started reading about it. It's oh, is this what ancient Celts did? Ah, it was that kind of asserting. And yeah, like you clinging to the goddess, because of religious trauma. And, so you start doing here's the thing too, you start doing a ritual. Sometimes when you say fake it till you make it, sometimes when you just make yourself do it, you're like, okay, all right. It's. It's Halloween. It's Samhain. We got to connect with the ancestors. It's time. And so you just do it and then you get the connection, but you're doing it out of habit. So sometimes, and that's what a ritual is, it's a habit that you do for a purpose, but sometimes we forget, what was the purpose? Why are we doing this? Oh yeah,
Pamela:ancestors are
Karen:important.
Pamela:I do love the holidays for so many reasons. One is that you do slow down. And the other, I love that connection with family. I love getting together with, we usually go to my mom and dad's house on the farm. And this year my mother in law is going to join us, which I'm thrilled about. It's her first year on her own for Christmas without my father in law. And so That's feminine energy. We pull things together. Okay. And, yeah, it's What are some of the other Celtic ceremonies? I just
Karen:mentioned Samhain. You did? That's my new year, Samhain. So the year for me begins on October 31st, around there. And that is, but that's based on the vegetation God, the death of the vegetation God that is reborn on Yule. It's reborn, with the sun. And so I celebrate that by acknowledging before you move into the new year for me, I celebrate the new year, everybody does. But for me, spiritually, the new year is connecting with my ancestors. on Halloween. Yeah. Connecting with my ancestors, remembering where I come from, asking for guidance on where, okay. And what do I do? I have pictures. Usually I'll make some tea or have a little bit of food and I meditate and sometimes I'll do automatic writing because I get messages best that way sometimes. And and then I ask silly things like, Okay, y'all. I'm talking to my dad, I'm talking to my mom, my grandparents, all the way back. Ancestors, I don't know who you are, but I know you're here. I'll ask him really practical things sometimes should I take my social security early next year? What do you think? He told me, yeah. I'm like, okay. I can't believe I just said that on a podcast. What a nut. But those are the things I want to know. Okay, y'all are hanging up here in the second heaven. I know. What can y'all see that I can't see? You got any advice? And I know that they're ego based still. So I'm, I'll take everything with a little bit of a grain of salt but okay. Living in a foreign country by myself, it's even more important to connect with my ancestors. Cause I know that they're here. Yeah, sure they can with you. And so that's my that's a Celtic holiday. Saun is how it's pronounced. Usually in, it looks like Sam Hane, but it's Saun. And then ELL is the next big one. So there are eight of'em. There are four, like there are two solstice, two equinoxes, and then midway between each one there's a major holiday and Halloween's one. And then the next one is. Yul, and then the next one I'll celebrate around February 1st, 2nd in bulk. So I've celebrated, okay, everything I died, and so I'm going to go into the depths of the underworld, connecting with my ancestors. That's Halloween. Then we're moving back toward the light. Yul is like the promise of here's the light. Yeah, okay, February 1st, 2nd. It's it's called the quickening. in bulk is like the quickening. It's it's coming, but in this time between Halloween and February 1st and 2nd, this is my time for like creative. I'm not really I'm resting. I'm wanting to spend time with family or, okay, I don't have family here, so I have a second family. I'm going to be giving out food, doing things, creating, writing more, because this is like this part still of the year, even though I'm living on the equator. And then it comes back and then you have the equinox. Around March 21st, when Uesugi Sensei received Reiki, and then yeah, and then, and that's Easter, Ostara, as a Germanic holiday, but and then that's the tradition, that's why we have Easter there, because we're celebrating rebirth. of the world of everything. That's, I used to wonder like, why is a bunny bringing eggs, that is a little. But they're both fertility they're fertility symbols. They're
Pamela:pagan. Yeah. Yeah.
Karen:Yeah. But that was perfect with Jesus because he was reborn too, and then the next big one is Beltane, which is a big fertility f The ancient Kelsey used to go out and have sex in the fields to ensure fertility of the crops. That's mayday that one way. That's mayday. And then in Germany, that's when the women dress up like witches. Oh, really up in the hearts mountains. It's called Val in Germany, but it's Beltane in the Celtic tradition. And but that's when. It's in full swing. And it's about to, you want to make sure that your crops are really going to grow. June 21st. That's where you have, Oh, that's the summer solstice where that's the peak. That's in the northern hemisphere. That's peak of the long days,
Pamela:the heat of the
Karen:summer. I always
Pamela:think of that as such an extroverted time and the winter as being. Winter
Karen:is more like,
Pamela:Are you there, son? Are you there, son? I, as an introvert, I enjoy the quieter winter.
Karen:I'm an extrovert, but I need it.
Pamela:Yeah, we all do. We all need that time to, to rejuvenate. And for me, it's the winter and the quieter times are very creative and I love being creative. And the summer is more extroverted. And when it is time to be extroverted, I am. I enjoy that too.
Karen:Yeah.
Pamela:Yeah.
Karen:So it's just about living in rhythm with nature, with each other, with and yeah, that's the balance between the divine feminine and the, and and sun is usually masculine God, and then the earth is the feminine, Receptive goddess. And
Pamela:then we've got the after the summer solstice well, so Oh and then the and
Karen:then you have Lita which are is a August 1st 2nd. It's a kind of like the first harvest and then you have The second Equinox, Mabon September 21st is like the big harvest, which coincides with the harvest moon and all that, and it's getting ready to die down, so that death, that's what Halloween's all about.
Pamela:There's the death
Karen:of everything and then wait, here it comes again. Yeah.
Pamela:And I love that there's like kind of eight cycles and that they're really equidistant. And then in
Karen:between then, you've got the cycles of the moon. Yes. So I'm always aware also of when the moon's full, when it's a new moon, what's, so it's maybe it's just finding your place in the world and connecting to it. But you have to be aware of what's going on outside of all of your drama. Huh the sun's still going. The moon's still here.
Pamela:Yeah, I guess we're all right. It's interesting though that, and it's something I never thought of with you being at the Equinox. I never thought of the fact that there, there aren't the seasons as much. There aren't. No,
Karen:no. We have a rainy season and a dry season.
Pamela:Yeah. And I just, I grew up so much in Canada with the cycles. They're very prominent here.
Karen:But that's why you have different mythology. And that's what I meant. And when I say mythology, I don't mean stuff that's not true. The stories that sustain us, they are true. They're the stories that, that help us understand how to live in the world where we are. And so people who live in tropical climates have the same, they have different rhythms,
Pamela:different stories, have
Karen:different mythology and different rituals. And that's what I meant. I need to connect to this place. I felt the energy when I came here and I thought, this is where I'm supposed to be, but now I want to connect more deeply.
Pamela:To the earth. Because I'm
Karen:bringing things that don't fit.
Pamela:And you know something, I think I was talking with Jay and we've recorded, we'll record a a podcast on crystals and just the fact that our bodies are made of the earth. There's something that I say quite a bit and it originated with Colleen Benally. Our bodies are made of the earth to give our spirit life and breath and maybe it originated from somewhere else for her but I think about that and when I think about that from a scientific standpoint I think our bodies really are made of the earth because we eat food that started as a seed and it absorbs the minerals. Minerals and nutrients of the earth to turn into a carrot and a potato and the things that then nourish our bodies and if you think of it we started as a seed and our mothers ate food from the earth or animals that ate food from the earth and that's what nourished us and grew us from a tiny seed and then continued. We are the earth. And so you're actually now the earth that grows your food, your sustenance is is just in a different place. And there's something that, Colleen and I have discussed and that whenever I go to a new place that I do, and that is connecting with the groundwater,
Karen:wherever
Pamela:you are. So even when I travel in order to really orient myself to a time zone, to a land, I'll just imagine roots growing out from the bottoms of my feet and going all the way through the, topsoil and the subsoil into the groundwater and all the way to the bedrock. But if you think about it, we're almost all made primarily of water. And so by connecting with the water at any given place then we can connect with that earth. But I can see the importance of connecting with where you are now.
Karen:And part of their rituals for every, they do all the solstices and equinoxes and they always do a ritual bath also. It's like a cleansing and with each one I said so it's not, it's just every one. The women go separately from the men and they go to, because they're springs. So it's water coming
Pamela:up from the
Karen:earth.
Pamela:Earth and that is the groundwater.
Karen:Yeah, it's the groundwater and they're, they literally bathe in it. Also. Yeah, it's cold too. I didn't strip off in front of my driver, but but then he was like taking it and it was like, like putting it on my, it was like, it was, but it's, it connects you. I also think about the water I'm drinking like when I, cause I buy bottled water here, but I buy Ecuadorian and I'm like, where does this come from? It comes from near the volcano Cotopaxi. I don't know if you've heard of it, but it's because I know my body, this body that, that I'm talking from at this moment is not the body I came here with a year and a half ago. I eat the same, I eat a carrot from the United States. It's not the same as a carrot from here because there, I've gotten the carrot, the food here still has nutrients in it, and we've destroyed our soil up there. So yeah, anyway, it's just it's connecting with the water. And it is just that acknowledgement that I am part of this. Maybe that's all it is. Maybe it's just this longing to be part of something.
Pamela:I love that, Karen. That's. And remind
Karen:you like, yeah, you're part of everything. Girl, what are you talking about? You're alone here in Ecuador. You're part of, you're part of all of this.
Pamela:And we can be separate, be somewhere else. And it doesn't change the fact that we are part of all of it. Does it?
Karen:Yeah.
Pamela:It
Karen:just helps. So ritual is probably to remind you of a larger perspective because it's so easy to be caught up in all the drama. I know you were going to say something about the divine feminine in 2025.
Pamela:Yeah, I noticed in my sessions and a lot of people have noticed that there's that the Divine Feminine is coming in. It's coming in with meditations and experiences I've never seen before that are really profound, that are healing the ancestral lineage, that are connecting us more deeply and firmly with the Divine Feminine. In fact, you and I are talking about potentially creating some sort of a workshops, workshop around that, or a course. And what are you noticing?
Karen:I was thinking, yeah, okay, we talked about it in the Reiki Business Summit about how it really is time for collaboration, cooperation, you get farther with that than you do with competition, and that's the divine feminine energy. But one thing I've been noticing also, and I thought, oh, yeah, that's divine feminine energy too, is, so I'm living here in South America, and we have, we've had terrible, horrible drought. So I'm living here in South There's been flooding all over the, I'm looking and I'm thinking this is also, there's a destructive divine feminine I'm thinking of like Kalima or that, that mother energy, like when that comes home and the house is totally destroyed because the kids are running amok and just being, just these, There's that mama who comes in Oh, no, she's coming in with a switch, get over here and then stop that and hug your brother. But the wars that are going on. What I'm feeling is a little bit of this kind of a divine mother energy also like, Now this is enough, that, that look that all mothers have that. When I teach Yoshiho, I'm like sending Reiki with your eyes. Cause I usually have women in my classes. Like it's like that look you give your kids, you're just sending the energy with your eyes. Like my sister's a school teacher and my husband says he's scared of her. That's also part of the divine feminine energy. I have that beautiful. like Mother Mary, that's, there's that beautiful nurturing part, but there's also Kalima, because things sometimes have to be destroyed before they can be created anew. And I can feel, I feel Mama Earth doing a little bit of that, shaking things up like that. This is, I almost feel like this is enough, for having sex.
Pamela:That makes me think of, I, I have a friend who says, Oh no, you didn't. Oh no, you didn't. I know you didn't. So when she says
Karen:that, I'm like but seriously, that's part of the divine, Feminine as well, I think there's a meme or something I saw on social media like the world will be saved, when a group of grandmothers gets together. It's okay, that's enough.
Pamela:That's actually part of a lot of indigenous culture, where there is that honoring and respecting of the grandmothers and the listening to the grandmothers and
Karen:I think that's what's coming. I think that, but it's total chaos right now. There's no arguing that, but I think that's part of the, part of that destructive, the destruction, everything has to collapse before rises anew. And I think
Pamela:we're just in the collapse.
Karen:Yeah,
Pamela:I think in some, yeah, of some aspects for sure. And I think even from an astrological standpoint, they talk about the fact that the patriarchal society, like it just, it isn't working for people. This is the collapse. This is what it looks like.
Karen:Yeah.
Pamela:Yeah. And so there are aspects of it that just have to go. And yeah. And it's
Karen:okay. I have hope. I don't even feel, I don't feel like I'm being doomsday at all. It's just a necessary, it's something. It's a necessary death so that we can move forward. I love that. It's not gonna be pretty though, but that's all right. But because we have Reiki to,
Pamela:to sustain us. Yeah. And it might feel messy, but like you said, to get to something else, sometimes it's a little messy.
Karen:It is. It's always messy. Birth is a messy process.
Pamela:Painful,
Karen:nasty. Even birthing that book, it was painful. And every birth is, but that's what I'm saying, is that it's part of the process. And that's part of the feminine energy. But you know what, we always come through it always thing gets burst.
Pamela:I love that. thank you for having me, Pam. I'm excited
Karen:about this meditation. I think it will be a good note to end on, to bring people into The Divine Feminine, and a good thing to do at the end of the year.
To celebrate Yule, I would like to lead all of you through a beautiful guided meditation that Pam and I have prepared for you. So I'd like for you, first of all, just to take some deep breaths in, in through your nose, out through your mouth, feel your body beginning to relax, feel the cool air as it enters, And feel the warmth as it leaves your body, and just imagine roots extending from your spine or your feet, extending deep, deep down into the earth. These roots connect you to the steady, ancient wisdom of the land, the cycles of the seasons, and the spirits of your ancestors who once celebrated these sacred ceremonies. As your roots anchor you, feel the earth's rhythm beneath you, a pulse that matches your own heartbeat. Now bring your awareness to the crown of your head. See a soft golden light descending, flowing through your body and filling you with warmth and peace. Preparing you for this sacred Yule journey. Visualize yourself walking through a snowy forest under a twilight sky. The crisp air carries the scents of pine and cedar up ahead. You see a glowing circle of light surrounded by evergreen boughs, holly, and mistletoe. This is a Yule fire, burning brightly in celebration of the returning light. As you step closer, feel the warmth of the fire welcoming you. Around the circle, You see symbols of the season, candles, wreaths, and gifts left by others honoring the divine, feminine, and the cycles of life. This sacred space is both ancient and timeless, connecting you to generations of Yule celebrations. Place your hands over your heart, inviting Reiki energy to flow into your body. As the Reiki energy moves through you, feel the presence of the Divine Feminine, She who nurtures, creates, and transforms. She is present in the glow of the Yule Fire, in the evergreen that symbolizes eternal life. And in the darkness that nurtures the seeds of the new, as you stand by the fire, sense her energy surrounding you like a warm embrace. What does she whisper to you? Listen deeply and allow her wisdom to fill your heart. Repeat to yourself silently, I honor the divine feminine within me, the cycles of nature, and the wisdom of my ancestors. I carry their light forward into the world. Now reflect on what you are ready to release as the year turns, what old habits, fears, or patterns no longer serve you. Visualize placing these into the Yule Fire. See the flames transforming them into sparks of light, freeing you and returning their energy to the universe. Feel lighter, freer, and more open as you stand before the fire, your heart illuminated with peace and clarity. Near the fire, you see a small patch of soil, soft and ready for planting. Imagine holding a seed in your hands. This seed represents your intentions for the new year, a hope, a dream, or a quality you wish to nurture. Infuse the seed with Reiki energy, visualizing it glowing with light and potential. Plant the seed in the earth, knowing it will be nourished by the cycles of nature, the returning light. and your own loving energy. Take a moment now to reflect on the symbols of Yule that surround you. The evergreen boughs representing resilience and eternal life. The holly and mistletoe, symbols of protection and harmony. The candles and fire celebrating the light's return and the illumination within. Feel gratitude for these symbols. and the connection they offer to your ancestors. and the Divine Feminine. Begin to bring your awareness back to the present moment. Feel the warmth of the Yule Fire still glowing within you, a light you carry into the days ahead. Wiggle your fingers and toes, allowing your body to reawaken. When you're ready, Open your eyes. Take a moment to thank yourself for this time of reflection and connection. Know that the energy of Yule, the Divine Feminine, and your ancestors walk with you into the light of the new year.
Pamela:Karen, thank you so much for being here today. I really appreciate it, and this perspective, and I'm excited about your coaching business, and I just want to say a profound thank you to all the listeners. I hope you have a beautiful Yule, a wonderful holiday season. And I look forward to reconnecting with you at the Reiki Share on January 2nd or the podcast. It'll be going out as the podcast on January 4th. Thank you for being the beautiful light you are in the world. Thank you. Namaste.