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Don’t confuse the teacher with the lesson, the ritual with the ecstasy, the transmitter of the symbol with the symbol itself. The Tradition is linked to our encounter with the forces of life and not with the people who bring this about.
Pity those who seek for shepherds, instead of longing for freedom! An encounter with the superior energy is open to anyone but remains far from those who shift responsibility onto others. Our time on this earth is sacred, and we should celebrate every moment.
We women, when we’re searching for a meaning to our lives or for the path of knowledge, always identify with one of four classic archetypes. The Virgin (and I’m not speaking here of a sexual virgin) is the one whose search springs from her complete independence, and everything she learns is the fruit of her ability to face challenges alone. The Martyr finds her way to self-knowledge through pain, surrender, and suffering. The Saint finds her true reason for living in unconditional love and in her ability to give without asking anything in return. Finally, the Witch justifies her existence by
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the best way to know who we are is often to find out how others see us.
Music isn’t just something that comforts or distracts us, it goes beyond that—it’s an ideology. You can judge people by the kind of music they listen to.
“Everything moves, and everything moves to a rhythm. And everything that moves to a rhythm creates a sound.
Our ancestors noticed the same thing when they tried to escape from the cold into caves: things moved and made noise. The first human beings may have been frightened by this at first, but that fear was soon replaced by a sense of awe: they understood that this was the way in which some Superior Being was communicating with them.
when I dance, I’m a free woman, or, rather, a free spirit who can travel through the universe, contemplate the present, divine the future, and be transformed into pure energy.
when mouths close, it’s because there’s something important to be said.
“All we have to do is understand that we’re all here for a reason and to commit ourselves to that. Then we can laugh at our sufferings, large and small, and walk fearlessly, aware that each step has meaning. We can let ourselves be guided by the light emanating from the Vertex.”
Dance to the point of exhaustion, as if you were a mountaineer climbing a hill, a sacred mountain. Dance until you are so out of breath that your organism is forced to obtain oxygen some other way, and it is that, in the end, that will cause you to lose your identity and your relationship with space and time. Dance only to the sound of percussion; repeat the process every day; know that, at a certain moment, your eyes will, quite naturally, close, and you will begin to see a light that comes from within, a light that answers your questions and develops your hidden powers.”
loneliness gets stronger when we try to face it down but gets weaker when we simply ignore it.”
each of us contains our ancestors and all the generations to come. When we free ourselves, we are freeing all humanity.
The more my body moved, the more brightly the light in my heart shone, and the more I learned—perhaps on my own, perhaps from the ghosts of the past.
During any dance to which we surrender with joy, the brain loses its controlling power, and the heart takes up the reins of the body. Only at that moment does the Vertex appear. As long as we believe in it, of course.
Each of us contains something within us which is unknown, but which, when it surfaces, is capable of producing miracles. “We all work for some reason: to feed our children, to earn money to support ourselves, to justify our life, to get a little bit of power. However, there are always tedious stages in that process, and the secret lies in transforming those stages into an encounter with ourselves or with something higher.
The day is made up of twenty-four hours and an infinite number of moments. We need to be aware of each of those moments and to make the most of them regardless of whether we’re busy doing something or merely contemplating life. If we slow down, everything lasts much longer. Of course, that means that washing the dishes might last longer, as might totting up the debits and credits on a balance sheet or checking promissory notes, but why not use that time to think about pleasant things and to feel glad simply to be alive?”
We all have an unknown ability, which will probably remain unknown forever. And yet that ability can become our ally. Since it’s impossible to measure that ability or give it an economic value, it’s never taken seriously, but I’m speaking here to other human beings and I’m sure you understand what I mean, at least in theory.
Customers and employees live in the same world: reality is nothing but a series of electrical stimuli to the brain. What we think we ‘see’ is a pulse of energy to a completely dark part of the brain. However, if we get on the same wavelength as other people, we can try to change that reality. In some way that I don’t understand joy is infectious, as is enthusiasm and love. Or indeed sadness, depression, or hatred—things that can be picked up ‘intuitively’ by customers and other employees. In order to improve performance, we have to create mechanisms that keep these positive stimuli alive.”
“What is a teacher? I’ll tell you: it isn’t someone who teaches something, but someone who inspires the student to give of her best in order to discover what she already knows.”
“Elegance isn’t a superficial thing, it’s the way mankind has found to honor life and work.
when all superfluous things have been discarded, we discover simplicity and concentration.
all great painters understand: in order to forget the rules, you must know them and respect them.
full of internal and external wounds that drove me to want to heal people on the physical plane and to help them find their path on the spiritual plane.
“Your wounds will help you, my dear,”
She’d suffered enough to be able to use her scars to her advantage,
I could see her light shining more intensely. I only achieve this state of perception when I’m close to someone very like myself.
when the body sets the soul free, the soul either rises up to heaven or descends into hell, depending on the person’s state of mind. In both cases, it learns what it needs to learn: to destroy or to heal.
she was following the classic path of the witch, who, through her individual persona, seeks contact with the upper and lower world but always ends up destroying her own life—she serves others, gives out energy, but receives nothing in return.
The important thing is to allow fate to intervene in our lives and to decide what is best for everyone.
“When I die, bury me standing, because I’ve spent all my life on my knees!”
nothing is suffering, that everything is a way of praising Creation.”
the world isn’t full of ghosts and curses as grown-ups have taught us. It’s full of love, regardless of how that love is manifested, a love that forgives our mistakes and redeems our sins.
Poverty might bring unhappiness, but money won’t necessarily bring happiness.
what I want is joy. Joy is like sex—it begins and ends. I want pleasure. I want to be contented, but happiness? I no longer fall into that trap.
it doesn’t surprise me in the least that more and more people are becoming interested in pagan traditions. Why? Because God the Father is associated with the rigor and discipline of worship, whereas the Mother Goddess shows the importance of love above and beyond all the usual prohibitions and taboos. The phenomenon is hardly a new one. Whenever a religion tightens its rules, a significant number of people break away and go in search of more freedom in their search for spiritual contact.
“If theater is ritual, then dance is too. Moreover, it’s a very ancient way of getting close to a partner. It’s as if the threads connecting us to the rest of the world were washed clean of preconceptions and fears. When you dance, you can enjoy the luxury of being you.” I started listening to her with more respect. “Afterward, we go back to being who we were before—frightened people trying to be more important than we actually believe we are.”
Try to feel good about yourself even when you feel like the least worthy of creatures. Reject all those negative thoughts and let the Mother take possession of your body and soul; surrender yourself to dance or to silence or to ordinary, everyday activities—like taking your son to school, preparing supper, making sure the house is tidy. Everything is worship if your mind is focused on the present moment. Don’t try to convince anyone of anything. When you don’t know something, ask or go away and find out. But when you do act, be like the silent, flowing river and open yourself to a greater
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There are women who say: I’m not going to do the washing up, let the men do it. Fine, let the men do it if they want to, but that has nothing to do with equality. There’s nothing wrong with doing simple things, although if I were to publish an article tomorrow saying everything I think, I’d be accused of working against the feminist cause. Nonsense! As if washing up or wearing a bra or having someone open or close a door could be humiliating to me as a woman. The fact is, I love it when a man opens the door for me. According to etiquette this means, “She needs me to do this because she’s
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groups are very important because they force us to progress. If you’re alone, all you can do is laugh at yourself, but if you’re with others, you’ll laugh and then immediately act. Groups challenge us. Groups allow us to choose our affinities. Groups create a collective energy, and ecstasy comes more easily because everyone infects everyone else. Groups can also destroy us, of course, but that’s part of life and the human condition—living with other people. And anyone who’s failed to develop an instinct for survival has understood nothing of what the Mother is saying.
according to one of the most respected psychoanalysts in history, the Swiss analyst Carl Gustav Jung, we all drank from the same spring. It’s called the “soul of the world.” However much we try to be independent individuals, a part of our memory is the same. We all seek the ideal of beauty, dance, divinity, and music.
Don’t let yourself be weighed down by what other people think, because in a few years, in a few decades, or in a few centuries, that way of thinking will have changed. Live now what others will only live in the future.
Living as a human being and as a divinity. Moving from tension into relaxation. From relaxation into trance. From trance into a more intense contact with other people. From that contact back into tension and so on, like the serpent swallowing its own tail. It was no easy matter, mainly because it requires unconditional love, which does not fear suffering, rejection, loss. Whoever drinks this water once can never quench her thirst at other springs.
“I’m speaking to a woman who can hear me, in a world in which all the men have gone deaf.” I thought he meant me, but the woman he was referring to was the forest itself.
‘How do I follow this tradition you spoke of?’ I asked. ‘As I said, through symbols,’ he replied. ‘Start doing what you want to do, and everything else will be revealed to you. Believe that God is the Mother and looks after her children and never lets anything bad happen to them. I did that and I survived. I discovered that there were other people who did the same but who are considered to be mad, irresponsible, superstitious. Since time immemorial, they’ve sought their inspiration in nature. We build pyramids, but we also develop symbols.’
‘Please, God, my Mother, don’t give up until I’ve taken on the shape that you wish for me. Do this by whatever means you think best, for as long as you like, but never ever throw me on the scrap heap of souls.’”
when we dare to see things differently, life opens up to our eyes.
“I too get scared, but it’s at such moments that I discover a wisdom that is beyond me, and I go forward.”
In order for us to liberate the energy of our strength, our weakness must first have a chance to reveal itself. In order for us to understand the powers we carry within us and the secrets that have already been revealed, it was first necessary to allow the surface—expectations, fears, appearances—to be burned away.
“Stay just as you are. Don’t try to concentrate or follow my steps or understand what I’m saying. Relax and feel good. That is sometimes all we can hope for from life.”
