Soul-Crafting in Violent Times | by Jaclyn Lanae
Update | New Regular Feature
JACLYN & ESMEE TALKED THIS THOUGH IN EP 18
In a world where the news is dominated by fascist leaders gaslighting the public, where peaceful protesters are shot and killed, where basic human rights are under siege… stationing a spiritual revolution as the weapon most at hand may seem trite. Something akin to taking a bouquet of flowers to the front lines of a war. However, despite initial appearances, the soul-level work we do within and at home is actually one of our most powerful assets in dismantling patriarchal structures and radically transforming our shared reality.
It goes without saying, then, that Matriarchy and feminism - both as social constructs and ideologies - need grounded, empowered women. And that means women who have done the Soul Craft work of coming to deeply love ourselves; this is especially true for the women running the show. There are implicit dangers in the naive assumption that slotting women into leadership roles will inherently create a more balanced social dynamic simply because of the “innate” characteristics attributed to women: creatures wired to nurture, to prioritize the well-being of the group, to birth and create from shared and equally allocated resources.
The list of women in positions of authority and/or government who enthusiastically serve and play into the patriarchy is long. bell hooks described these types of women as “Male Identified Women.” Androcratic women. And it doesn’t take much digging to see their superficiality. Not in their clothes or makeup or cosmetic surgery, but in the way they placate men and the system in order to serve their own interests. Kristi Noem is a prime example. So is Delcy Rodriguez, the interim leader of Venezuela, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, and Sanae Takaichi, the Prime Minister of Japan. These women are not leading with feminine principles toward a more equitable and just future for all.
Matriarchs and feminists know this truth well: while turning positions of leadership over to women would certainly create profound change, it would not categorically be for the better. Of course, Mrs. Noem and the others are not representative of all women in leadership. Not all women are as unhealed as these. However, they clearly exemplify the need for Matriarchal leaders to be more than women or even feminists. They need to embody the ideology that Matriarchy and feminism are founded upon. Foundations that are very far from the dominance, extreme individualism, and competition of the patriarchal world. And that requires a spiritual approach, a healing protocol. A personal revolution that redefines value from the characteristics of a spiritual body - a soul. This is Soul Craft.
Intellect can support various perspectives, but rebuilding away from a technocratic order requires more than reason. It requires a fundamental shift in ideology. In order to dismantle patriarchy then, we must break down the habits and mindsets in which it is founded. We must be willing - even eager - to disregard money and power as the gold standard of value (pun intended). We must doggedly seek and continue to reorient toward a more spiritual perspective that gathers us around a revolutionary world view. One that espouses generosity, care, support, compassion, justice, and equality as the goal posts; the markers of great leadership, patriotism, and pillars of the society we are fiercely fighting to build. Assimilating this massive and foundational shift requires women in leadership who don’t need approval from men or patriarchal systems to validate, empower, or provide safety. In short, we need women who love themselves. Political analysis can help reshape the world, but to maintain that new shape, we also need to become more fully human, more connected to ourselves and each other.
Made somewhat jejune by social media influencers, spiritual healers, and coaches the world over - myself included - the deeper implications of prioritizing self love are actually more relevant than ever. Crafting ourselves into beings that have cultivated a profound self love is, arguably, the most transformative soul craft work in which we can engage. It makes us more capable of care, generosity, justice, and egalitarianism.
Empty people will perpetually and ravenously consume and hoard. Humans - and women in particular - who operate from a place of full-to-overflowing love of self no longer need external validation. This liberates us from placating special-interests or “powerful” individuals, and seats our leaders in the service of leadership for the good of the collective. Soul-crafted self-love insulates us from the corruptive and corrosive forces of greed and power because we’ve entirely disregarded those resources as valuable. This makes us capable of creating and sustaining systems that also disregard greed, and power-over.
Crafting a matriarchal community and world orders that are egalitarian, supportive, and appreciative of the value of its people requires healed (or at least aware, healing women) to lead. The movement needs women to love ourselves in order to be able to see ourselves as powerful - without the testament of a title or station or superiority to evidence that truth. The movement needs women who know their worth - without the substantiation of money or power over others. Without competing with other women or trashing them in traumatized repetitions of patriarchal structures. The movement needs women who don’t need dominant, patriarchal structures to corroborate their authority or worth.
To build a humane world as our ancestors did, we need new internal, personal habits and belief systems as much as new policies and communal practices. We need to become (more) healed people to create a healing world. In this Soul Craft project, Medusa Rising and I hope to unveil and retool these habits, thought patterns, and belief systems, together. Join us, would you?
Jaclyn Lanae is a coach, and author, and a seeker who has found effective tools for bringing women into their own alignment with Source and into a love of self and fosters authentic living and relationship, and standing in power.
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