Circles and Cycles of Rest and Renewal
Written & Illustrated by Roslyne Sophia Breillat
Rest, restoration, regeneration are not words frequently spoken, revered or accepted within our linear fast-paced patriarchal society, and yet these words describe so sweetly and tenderly and necessarily and beautifully and powerfully, some of the many natural cyclic phases of the sacred feminine of woman and the sacred feminine of our dear Earth Mother.
How often is a woman lovingly encouraged to rest when she is too strung-out, too busy, too exhausted and too overtired or overwhelmed? When she is menstruating, has just given birth, or is entering the wise portal of her menopausal journey? When she has endless lists to write, and complicated schedules and timetables to adhere to, and important commitments and appointments to keep? How often is she encouraged to stop, to let go, to surrender, to rest, after strenuous exercise, or after shopping, or after a busy day, or after making love?
How often is she lovingly encouraged to pause for a while, to simply pause and breathe and be, to feel the gentle breeze and warm sunshine on her skin, the rich earth between her fingers, to simply sit quietly in wonderment with the natural beauty of Mother Earth’s splendour? To surrender to her innately natural lunar rhythms? To simply stop overachieving for a while, to simply stop being Superwoman for awhile? To simply be woman? To simply be the stillness and depth of her wise wombheart, and the ancient mystery of her feminine essence, to simply rest within her sacredness for a while? To simply do nothing and to simply be nothing?
This is so very difficult for so many women, who have long been dictated to worship the contemporary male God of busy-ness, this God who will not stop, rest and be, this God who forces her to keep going, at all costs, this God who forces her to unknowingly worship him, yet who does not know how to worship her. And so she keeps on going and going and going, running and running and running, chasing and pursuing, doing and doing, not knowing when or where or how to stop, to pause, to rest, to be, not knowing how to be the sweet beauty and pleasure and delicious sensuality of her divine mystery. For our contemporary patriarchal civilisation has taken her, and taken her beneficent Earth, from these peace-filled, stillness-filled, wonder-filled female cyclic phases of rest and regeneration, these phases that bring rich depth and deep richness into her beingness, into her being, into her female soul, these phases that so beautifully reconnect her with her wholeness and her holiness.
And so she jogs and she runs and she power walks, in her slinky shiny flouro designer label activewear, one hand clutching her mobile phone, the other clutching the handle of her child’s designer label pram, strenuously forcing her belly to tighten and flatten at all costs. For what? For whom? Whatever happened to simply strolling, to roaming, to wandering, to being? For pausing, for looking, for seeing? What will it be like upon this Earth for our dear children when there is no more land left, no more ground left, no more space left for their natural need for roaming and strolling and wandering? For exploring wild verdant bush lands and for chasing dancing butterflies? For splashing in tadpole ponds and climbing trees?
What does being bounced and jerked and bobbed around in an enormous pram while its mother talks to someone else on her mobile phone do for this tiny newborn being, so recently emerged from the ancient mystery of the womb? So simply and joyously being? What kind of children are we breeding? What new generations are we bringing to this beautiful Earth? Who will lovingly teach these children how to rest and restore and be, how to follow their natural cycles and the natural cycles of the Earth?
Beautiful woman, become vibrantly active when it is the cycle, the weather, the season, the reason, to be active. Dance and play and move with the bountiful joy of life, and with the sensual flow of the feminine essence.
And beautiful woman, become still and slow and quiet when it is the cycle, the weather, the season, the reason to sink deeply into the restful, regenerative and restorative power of your womb wisdom, and her mysterious cyclic feminine knowing of when to move, work and actively engage in the outer world, and when to softly, sweetly close your eyes and gently rest from the outer world for a while.
Blessed be...