Can you sense the untapped potential within you, longing to be expressed? But no matter how much you try to access it, something seems to be in the way?
Or maybe you are longing for inner peace, but your inner voice keeps telling you everything that’s wrong with your life, with others, with the world, with you. The more you listen to this inner voice, the more stressed you feel. You just want this critical voice to be quiet so you can get some peace, but it chatters endlessly.
Or perhaps you feel trapped in a whirlwind of emotions—such as bitterness, blame, overwhelm, anxiety, or inner turmoil—and your mind keeps raging at others for events that took place in the past. You want to feel happy again, but it is as if you can’t find the door that will lead you out of this dark place.
I’ve experienced all of this, and that inner voice that used to torment me from morning till night is now quiet. I want you to know that there is a way for you to heal from this. My life today is so different from how it used to be. I’ve tapped into an incredible source of feminine wisdom, an ancient healing power more magical than I could have ever imagined.
All of this happened when, on a November full moon, at the age of 51, I had a heart attack.
From that moment on, my heart became my teacher, and it led me down a path of deep healing from which I truly began to listen to my heart.
And as I went on this journey, not only did my heart heal, but I was also transformed. The magic within me was reignited, and the Wise Woman at my core was reawakened—and, my goodness, she is fierce! She is like an ancient witch, full of wild magic, ancestral wisdom, and feminine power. She was always there, this untapped potential deep within me, and although I could sense her, I could never fully connect with her. This is because I had tried to reach her with my head, and now I know she can only be reached through the heart.
It was my heart that was the doorway into everything I had previously longed for.
As I listened to its whispers, my heart took me on a shamanic journey into the medicine found in its four chambers; medicine that dances with the sacred darkness and the magical light, fully in tune with the seasons.
The Sacred Medicine of the Four Chambers of the Heart
Through shamanic journeying practice, combining my skillset as a cranial osteopath and shamanic practitioner, I discovered that the spiritual medicine within each of the heart’s chambers follows the seasons.
- In the first heart chamber, the Chamber of Healing, we let go of what no longer serves us—like trees in autumn shedding their leaves.
- The second chamber, the Chamber of Transformation, is guided by the Dark Mothers (lunar goddesses) and transforms our wounds into wisdom, just as nature transforms the old into seeds of new life in winter.
- The third chamber is the Chamber of Magic, where we receive nourishing, light-filled medicine from the Light Mothers (solar goddesses) to help us manifest our dreams, just as nature receives the sun’s light to germinate those seeds of new life in spring.
- And in the fourth chamber, the Chamber of Rebirth, we move through a regeneration, where we rise from the ashes stronger than before—like the energy of summer.
As I embraced the medicine found in each chamber, I recognized how my heart was like a wise teacher who knew my highest potential and wanted to awaken it within me. And she knew I needed the medicine from both the darkness and the light for this to happen.
Your heart wants the same for you. To help you reach that potential, your heart may send you challenges as spiritual opportunities that invite you to go deeper on your healing journey. While the outside world might see these challenges as “bad,” they may be exactly what is needed for you to become all that you are meant to be.
Trust that whatever challenge you’ve experienced in your life, whatever turmoil you’ve been going through, whichever path you’ve been on—it all has led you to a place of healing, where you can begin to listen to the whispers of your heart.
This is when your heart becomes your teacher, taking you on an incredible journey of transformation, magic, and rebirth and awakening your inner wise woman.
Who Is the Wise Woman?
The Wise Woman is the ancient feminine wisdom wired into your mitochondrial DNA, inherited through the mother line—your direct link with the Ancient Mother.
She is the one who governs your well-being, and she responds to the natural elements of earth, water, air, and fire, and to the cycles of darkness and light.
The Wise Woman knows it’s the darkness of the womb that holds the light of new life. She also knows this new life must continue to receive light to grow, which is why she is always seeking the light and letting it nourish her.
In the old days, those who embodied this ancient feminine wisdom were called the wise ones, folk healers, völvas (“staff carriers,” female shamans in the Old Norse tradition), and cunning folk.
Before Christianity took hold in Europe, these wise ones were revered for their knowledge as healers, midwives, herbalists, mystics, oracles, and seers. As Christianity gained more power, the attitude changed. Instead of being revered, they became feared. The wise ones became “witches.”
The older meaning for the word “witch” comes from the word wicce, which means “wise one” in Old English, and from the word wit, which means “wise,” and “to bind, shape, or alter.”
These wise women knew how to bind, shape, and alter reality by changing the energetic hold of the past and by weaving and spinning new energy into the future. They used healing practices, songs, sacred ceremonies, and binding spells, and journeyed into the world of Spirit.
The church saw these wise people as a threat to their authority, as the wise ones were able to communicate directly with the Divine. To silence them, the wise women were made into “evil witches.” As the witch trials swept through Europe, this ancient feminine wisdom was pushed underground, as it was no longer safe to practice. This forced women to fear their own feminine power and magic.
As this ancient feminine wisdom was pushed underground, women began to forget that it’s only by dancing with the seasons of darkness and light that life can blossom and expand.
Although women forgot, it is as if Mother Earth has been whispering to us all this time, through the medicine found in her seasons. It was this that my heart taught me, and as I embraced this sacred medicine of darkness and light, my inner wise woman awakened. And as she did, not only did my heart heal, but my life healed, too.
This ancient wisdom in your heart can heal you, too, when you begin to listen to its whispers.
Exercise to Tune into Your Heart’s Whispers
- Set aside time when you can be undisturbed and allow yourself the space you need to retreat into the silence within your mystical heart.
- Sit in a comfortable position with a pen and a journal nearby.
- Close your eyes and place a hand on your heart.
- Take a deep breath in, then breathe out, sinking into the stillness within your mystical heart.
- Take another deep breath in, and as you breathe out, tune into the light that shines in your mystical heart. This light is the loving wisdom of your heart.
- Open your eyes and pick up your pen and journal.
- Tune within yourself and complete this thought: What my heart wants me to know is …
Write down your answer and keep writing for as long as you feel the loving energy from your heart flowing through you. Your heart may give you advice on various areas of your life: your relationships, your health, your business. Trust it. Your heart is very wise, and it loves you. It is connected to all of life and will guide you to your highest good.
By regularly tuning into the loving wisdom in your heart, the wise woman within can guide you, with every heartbeat, on your journey through life.
If you want to listen to a guided shamanic journey into the sacred medicine found in the four chambers of your heart, visit cissiwilliams.com/heartjourney. This article was excerpted and adapted from Your Heart Knows How to Heal Youby Cissi Williams. Printed with permission from the publisher Inner Traditions International.
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