The Feminine & Intuition By Sherrie Dillard The Earth belongs to the Mother. When we look our political, religious, and scientific institutions, it is hard to believe this. Our world has been throughout history dominated by male energy. Male energy is assertive, dynamic, outwardly directed. Cultures, societies, educational systems have been taught and learned through the male perspective. We value action taking, courage, assertion, power, and acquisition. Yang is strong, and outward. Yin is reflective and receptive. It is sometimes difficult to discern where the feminine has flourished, where you can hear her voice. Perhaps it is through the unseen. Perhaps it is through our intuition that we will awaken to the divine feminine within. I have found that in large part, men and women tend to approach intuitive work differently. In the years that I have taught intuition classes I have never had the men outnumber the women. Normally, I will have twice as many women as men. Women seem more comfortable with the intangible nature of intuitive work. In order to use intuition effectively you have to feel comfortable with hanging out and being receptive. It also doesn't help to be too goal focused. The linear approach of going from point A to B does not work. People who go into intuitive development for a specific purpose, can become quickly frustrate. We can never really control intuition. We can listen, respond, request, and flow with what is. We are taught as children to take charge and direct our course. With intuitive learning you have to be able to harness your creative energy and find balance with assertion and acceptance. The sun is said to be male, the moon female. The sun exposes what is hidden. It is direct, and powerful. The moon is dark and shadowy. It controls the ocean's tide, the ebb and flow. The moon has been associated with women, hysteria, witchcraft, and spells. We fear what we do not understand. We have suppressed our intuitive, more feeling based awareness. It is mysterious and difficult to control. We promote and are comfortable only with images of the feminine which are nurturing or sexual. We are beginning to value the feminine in the world and within ourselves more and more. Men are more nurturing with their families than they were a generation ago. People work at connecting, and communicating in partnerships and marriages, much more so than in years past. Health care is becoming more aware of the connection of mind, body and spirit, for health and healing. Still we are uncomfortable with our multidimensional natures. The intelligence of the divine feminine is for the most part still viewed as weak and nurturing or frightening and unpredictable. What is suppressed over time will eventually surface. It is the nature of the feminine to not revolt outright but to work through emotional, spiritual energy. Power in the feminine is its ability to conceive, and give birth from the formless to form. Movements are made with male energy; the impetus to move is from the feminine. The feminine holds in its womb the beauty, life force, untouched grace of the unseen. We need the feminine or we lose our connection with the divine. The battles, wars, and competitiveness in life are empty and without true creative power. When we have no vision, and life to live, our spirits will wither and die. Dominance for the sake of dominance will lead to chaos and death. In a recent class I taught, I had a group of adults collectively rewrite the story of eve. In our story Eve ate the apple and became immediately aware of her equality with Adam. She became empowered and enlightened. I had the class take the story from there. In another group I had the participants collectively tell Mother Earth's story, a first person account. We then shared the stories. What was interesting is that both of the groups related common themes. Both groups had more trust of the natural flow and cycles of nature. People lived without the need for aggression and fear. The earth they realized, is teaching us forgiveness, humility and trust. With the equality of the feminine came a reliance on the creative, nurturing intelligence of the earth. I realized as the groups talked that there is a deeply buried archetypical wisdom within our collective consciousness. It is our intuition, the feminine that can enable us to reconnect with this deep and wise part of us.

Amabel by Sherrie Dillard, M.Div., C.Ht. My mother died on August 30th, 2001. It was almost to the day a year earlier That she underwent surgery for colon cancer. Her doctor met myself, my sister, and my brother in the waiting room after the surgery. He told us that the operation had been successful. He had removed the large tumor from her colon. It was almost under his breath that he told us that the cancer had spread to her liver. He said that she had maybe a year to live. I sat on my mother's bed a few days later when the doctor told her the same news. We cried and she let me give her Reiki. I remember receiving a call from her a week before the surgery. I had had a busy morning giving readings. I work as a medical intuitive, medium and psychic. I had given two medical readings that morning to people in California. In one call, I scanned a man's body and told him that I detected colon cancer. He confirmed that was true and we talked about different paths of healing. A few hours later, my mother called and told me that in a colonoscopy they had found a large tumor. After the call I sat in silence. Why had I not been able to "see" my own mother's cancer? I was both confused by my lack of awareness, and sad that after a life of struggle and depression my mother was now seriously ill. I had for years previously asked my mother to seek out sources of healing that would be beneficial and comfortable for her. She did not accept my suggestions with ease, replying usually with uncomfortable silence. My mother's illness was difficult physically, emotionally, spiritually and mentally. She suffered greatly yet resisted suggestions and offers of help. She seemed lonely and unable to communicate or even to be aware of her needs. Even as the cancer grew and spread to other areas in her body, she hid in the safety of denial, refusing any treatment or assistance. Throughout the year I continued to see clients. I gave readings and offered help and support to others. I worked with a man during this period who also had cancer in his liver. He worked with Reiki and his guides. He worked to understand his life and seek healing from both physical and nonphysical sources. He became familiar with the world of spirit and also drew closer to his family and loved one here. He died peacefully one morning with family and friends gently singing to him. A few days after his death, one of his daughters called me and told me that her father before his death asked her to keep his upcoming appointment with me. She came in a few days later, and her father shared with her from spirit his arrival in the light, and the peace that he now felt. He also joked with her about her music selections for his memorial service that she had been working on that morning. With my own mother, except for my daily prayers I felt powerless. She Withdrew from me and sunk into what seemed an almost unreachable place. I felt I would have done anything to help her. One night she called me, in an extreme emotional state. She asked me for forgiveness, and wept. I offered her compassion. I asked her to try and allow her own pain to ease the pain of others. Knowing her devotion to children and her desire to be of service, I encouraged her to let her own pain encompass the pain and anguish of children in need. I told her that maybe in her suffering she could transmute the pain of others. She told me she could do this. She continued to decline. Gradually, as the cancer spread to her brain, she slipped into confusion and at times was very angry and distraught. I would talk to her of what I know about death. For years, I have communicated as a medium for loved ones in spirit. I told her that those in spirit often told me that there was a warmth and light beyond the physical that healed and sustained them. They told me that dying was being born into freedom and unconditional love. She told me that sometimes she would see her "dead" mother and brother at the foot of her bed. I told her that they would be holding her hand and help her into the light. She said that she felt she was being pulled in two directions. She felt like the earth was drawing her down and the sky was pulling her up. She wanted to talk about death. She wanted to talk about dying. She thanked me for listening. She was very sad the last time I saw her in a physical body. She knew she would be leaving soon. A few days later, at 4:16 in the morning the dial tone on my conference phone turned on very loudly. I knew she was saying goodbye. A peaceful death is a great blessing. I wish we could all live so that our deaths reflect a greater love. I know that this is not always possible. We usually die as we have lived. I have learned we all have our own processes. Through my mother's life and death, I have learned to be a witness, to hold Others' unfolding journey. To bless what is. I did not want my mother to suffer. I wanted her to feel the peace and love that I knew were available to her. Yet her journey was her own, a beautiful rose with so many thorns.

Uncle Earl Our spirituality is unique and individualized in its expression. We are each one of us, nourished and encouraged along our path. Just as a field of flowers, weeds and brush all find equal nourishment by the sun and rain, each one of us can be empowered with vital energy. We are created with the ability to manifest the unique expression of our soul in the physical. We are seeds of beauty and truth. It is not always obvious what is emerging from the depths of our soul. We can often be mis­lead by the packaging, and fail to see the beauty within. Our Higher Self orchestrates our lives in creating the circumstances that will bring us closer to spiritual realization. In may not always look particularly spiritual. When we fall into the trap of judging what is of spirit and what is not, we lose the ability to see God in everything. In the course of giving reading to others, in particular work as a medium, I am often pleasantly surprised as to who shows up in spirit. We often think of our guides, loved ones and teachers as lofty energies, radiating from a position a bit beyond our knowing and experience. This is not always the case. Sometimes they are quite down to earth, their spirituality very much of "this world'". Stan called a few weeks ago anxious for an appointment. He told me that he and his wife are divorcing after a twenty-two year marriage. He is facing foreclosure on his home. The company he works for is not doing well. He is looking for other work. When Stan called, he was very stressed. He tends to set high expectations on himself. He can be self critical and demanding. Stan asked me for advice on how to avert foreclosure on his home. He needed, he told me, to make a lump sum of money by the end of the month, just a few weeks away. I went into a reading and his Uncle Earl started to come through. I learned a few things this morning from Stan's Uncle Earl. Uncle Earl died a few years ago. He was much loved by his family, although he was considered a bit odd. In the reading, Uncle Earl had a wide smile and was eager to help Stan. I asked Uncle Earl what he thought might be helpful to Stan and his situation. He told me that Stan needed to sell some things from his house. It didn't seem to be exceptionally wise advice. I told Stan this. Stan told me that he planned a big yard sale this weekend. Uncle Earl went on, he was hard to interpret, his way of think­ing, his perceptions were different than what I was used to. He told me that the important thing was for Stan to just get through this month. Let the future be the future, live now. He told Stan to listen and understand the cycles of life. There was no need to force things, to push your will. Wait, he said, do what you can, back off when doors close, get by. I struggled to describe Uncle Earl to Stan. Stan interrupted me and said, he, Uncle Earl, in life had a reputation as a hustler. People didn't always understand Uncle Earl. He was oriented to the cycles of nature, of time. He got by, took advantage of a situation when he could. He laid low when he needed to. Not exactly the time of spiritual wisdom that I had expected. Uncle Earl said he loved nature. He spent many days on the shore of the Chesapeake Bay, fishing, hunting, waiting, and watching. Stan told me he always tried to learn from his Uncle. He taught by example. He didn't lose his temper, he lived with little stress and anxiety. His instincts were sharp, he did what he could. He seemed understanding of the pain Stan was experiencing with the loss of his marriage. Still, he encouraged Stan to take it all in stride. Stan would find a way, an opportunity would appear, be alert and pay attention. Uncle Earl has the kind of wisdom that we seemed to have lost. He understood a cooperation with life. His spirituality was his understanding of life lived close to the rhythm or nature. If felt like an awareness of life that sought to go with the flow. In his life Uncle Earl didn't make a lot of money. He spent most of his time hunting and fishing. Yet, his soul is wise. I appreciated his advise. ~ Sherrie Dillard