“Feminine leadership is when we sit in circle with uncertainty at the center and let the divine whisper to us what to do next.”
- Kathe Schaaf, author of Women, Spirituality and Transformative Leadership
When I read this quote for the first time last year, energy thrummed through me. While I had never been able to articulate it to anyone, this is how I run my business and operate in the material realm.
When the men in my life would ask me, “So, do you have a business plan?” or, “What are your goals?”, I never really had an answer. All I knew was that I appeared to be on a path that was supported by the multiverse, and that while nothing was certain, I was also unlikely to be left to free fall.
A large part of this had to do with trusting in serendipity; another large part of it had to do with the divine giving me signs as needed, if I was close to straying off the path—and me hearing and heeding the signs.
Early in my life, when I was falling in love with the man who would become my husband, I made the choice to move across the country to be with him. As I put my affairs in order and finished my university degree in preparation, I was subjected to my own misgivings and the aggressive opposition of my parents.
I had sworn once to never make a radical change, like moving across the country, for a ‘boy’. So I was already coming up against my own pre-set rules, which was uncomfortable. My parents, while supportive overall throughout my life, didn’t like the idea either. I had no job to go to, I was moving to a big city to pursue a relationship with a struggling actor—of all things—and they were going to miss me.
I was faced with daily questions about the wisdom of my decision, questions about my financial capabilities, and skepticism about whether I would succeed. One night I was particularly wracked with uncertainty about my choice. The Goddess came to me in my dreams and lifted me off a chair and placed me on the grass. When I tried to get up off the chair and sit on the grass myself, she insisted that I allow myself to be lifted and set down. The message was clear: let go and trust, allow myself to be carried in the direction I was meant to go, and everything would be ok.
The pressure from my parents didn’t ease in the following weeks, but it didn’t matter. I knew I was on the right path.
I craved an opportunity to meet the Goddess again, but didn’t for years, until I was in a shamanic workshop and did a guided meditation to find our soulscape. There she was; I could have gone to her anytime, but was always waiting for her to come back to me. We now speak regularly, and I have had profound messages and affirmations of my own spiritual evolution through my interactions with her, as well as receiving the support of other beings and locations in my soulscape.
From my perspective now, that early dream seems like a fairly radical intervention from the divine and more overt than more recent experiences. The Goddess has never, since that first time, had to visit me in my dreams to keep me on the right track. At that point, I was at a fork in the road, and to meet my evolutionary potential, I needed to make that move. Now that I’ve been on the path for some time, the messages are less obvious, but still no less present.
Two years ago, I discovered an organization called Project Exponential, which hosts “Curated Dinners” in New York City. You apply to attend a dinner, and the organizers select a group of 10 people, based on what they have in common in relation to whatever theme is assigned to the dinner. The dinners happen once per month.
The Project Exponential website resonated with me on multiple levels, referring to magic, serendipity, connection, and building community. I had to go. I made a commitment to get there in 2016.
The problem was that it is not easy to get from where I live to New York City for dinner with only four weeks’ notice. I decided to watch for my opportunities. In the meantime, I made plans with a colleague to go to Montréal for our annual research trip.
When the Project Exponential invitation came up for that month, the date was set for the last day that I would be in Montréal. I jumped at the chance to apply, was accepted, and changed my travel plans to make a quick jaunt to NYC before I headed home.
The outcome of attending the event was unexpected, but powerful. I went there thinking that I was going to expand my network beyond my local community and possibly internationally. I may have; connections were made and they may still turn into other opportunities. The focus of the event is really networking for New Yorkers, however, and I am not a New Yorker and never intend to be one.
Over the course of the evening, I heard New Yorkers talking about jobs they didn’t really love, the challenges of being single and looking for a life partner, and many of them were moving from one place to another in the city, or lived in multiple places in the world, and were not entirely settled anywhere.
I left there with the solid realization that I lived where I want to live, with the person I want to live with, and do what I am meant to do. And from that grounded place, I can do so much good in the world. My trip wasn’t about crossing international borders with my connections; it was about coming home and really seeing for the first time how priceless that is.
It’s easy to tell yourself, just as in the case of so-called coincidences, that this was a lucky decision you made. You can talk yourself out of believing in divine intervention. After all, that’s one of those woo-woo ideas that western society tells us doesn’t exist.
You can also choose to ignore countless messages for fear of taking a risk, or because you’re listening to the voices of those around you (parents, friends, colleagues who have a vested interest in keeping you exactly where you are) rather than the whisper of your divine purpose. Have you experienced or seen people you care about turn down the same opportunity over and over again, while their lives get more and more uncomfortable? They aren’t hearing or heeding the call.
Or you could decide that you and the powers of the multiverse are co-creators of your life experience, and that perhaps there are more than just your hands on the wheel. Making choices as if you were acting in partnership with your divine purpose will lead to a life of expansion and transformation. Hear the whisper, take the leap, and you’ll be amazed at how your life will change.