Wisdom. Words. Weaving.

Good morning. Our first guest post is from Virginia of Feminine Sage Wisdom.

So excited to bring Virginia into the fold.

When I draft words for the work I do, I have this moment where I start the piece with a sentence or two, glance out at my critters and garden, and then am in the zone to write with a gush of readiness. What’s your sacred space that helps you gush out your wisdom? What sings to you as the words sing to the world?

I’ve always appreciated how writing can feel like a hug, a vigilante’s breakthrough, or a weaving with the world. Even now, as I type these words, the wind’s picked up and the cedar and fir are swaying with me and every syllable. Words and stories capture our emotions, situations, and our very essence, be it on paper or in a digital format like this. And it can help us travel to places we’ve never been or worlds we’ve not yet seen.

I use writing in a few different forms: to work with my clientele, to send notes to friends, and to weave the recipes of my heart and my head. Sometimes there’s a flow of consciousness to it that can’t be described. Other times, I feel like I’m trying to tear my articulations out from a vice-like grip that’s been stuck for hours or days in my brain.

What Writing Means to Me
While acknowledging that not all cultures or communities used, or use, the written word for storytelling, I appreciate how being a scribe is a way to share stories and exchange them. Just a few days ago, I cherished sending a friend a card in the mail (not an e-card) with my black ink, with carefully selected artwork, and held it to my chest before releasing it in the mailbox at the
post.
In this digital era, the exchange of stories has shifted greatly. That being said, it’s not all bad,
even though I loathe social media, to be honest. I’m writing to you on this beautiful TKG blog, because we have it. Because someone thought of this thing called The Internet and here we are together connecting and uplifting each other.
I’ve enjoyed writing since I was young. I had the diaries, the journals, the art and the crafting of
thoughts with what I created. I never told stories in the way that one thinks of plays or poems. In
fact, I struggled with poetry lessons in school. And it wasn’t until my adulthood that I realized,
that sometimes poetry is for the reader or listener, but it’s also just the song of the poet. Whether I understand it or not.
That’s the beauty of writing: it’s the scribe’s song. Even if we don’t wholly understand it. Even if
we absolutely detest it or disagree with it. It’s their consciousness, and unconsciousness, speaking, and I find that to be such a powerful deliverer of messages and creativity.

How I Write
Speaking of consciousness, that tends to be how I write. I used to box myself in, trying to be a
perfectionist in my writing for roles or academic works. Since I’ve become a business owner,
I’ve had to let that go. It’s a different vibration, writing with one’s stream of consciousness and
having less boundaries or gatekeeping. I had that feeling when writing more technical or
perspective pieces, but now I picture a group of women at a coffee or tea shop, or working in
the gardens together, or sewing together, rather than a committee, publisher, or conference
facilitator. It’s quite the gift, to be able to write with this in mind now, imagining different consumers of the information.

For instance, in 2023, a sapphic/LGBT+ fantasy novel poured out of me while on the road to the
Midwest from the Pacific Northwest. It was not the first book I thought I’d be writing; I thought
my first book would be academic in time or inspiring and business-related. Now, come to think of it, it is that, to a degree.
The series (it’s now become a series) taught me the power of letting the muse or siren within have her fun. Let the soul fly! And I also learned, after losing sleep and waking up in the middle of the night with scenes running through my mind, that my inner muse needs rest as well. I finished two books, a total of around 275,000 words, within twelve weeks or so. To say I was in awe is an understatement. The third book is in the works now and I feel so blessed to be able to throw my hands up and say, “Universe, show me what needs to be on this page.”

Why I Write
The work that I do today, with Feminine Sage Wisdom (FSW), is such a gift. I have no words for it. To be able to work from home (which I adore) and avoid a commute, a cubicle, or dare I say, a boss, is the highlight of my last four years.
But more importantly, the women that are in my orbit or constellation are also soul-full. I am not forced to work with anyone, or on any project, unless I honest-to-goddess want to. And while I understand this is a privileged position, and acknowledge that, that’s why I long to do this works long as the Cosmos will have me do it. I want to continue to show up for women and help them tap into and use their wisdom in this world.
When I write lessons for my programs or courses, or words on my Blog or on LinkedIn, I don’t
see women as a conversion. They’re beings that deserve the absolute best. They deserve to
thrive, not just survive (which we all do from time to time). And it’s this perspective that helps me
craft my posts or write the words in, dare I say, magical form from the soul not only the head.
The head can find trouble, as does the heart. Both crave stability, which is absolutely understandable. Yet, the soul craves expansion. And we cannot expand if we stay in our comfort zones. We cannot shift or pivot, in our careers, relationships, or otherwise, if we do not say, “Yes,” to our inner compass. Who knows best.
I feel blessed in this journey now because nobody is screening my words (unless I ask for a
review and their input explicitly). Nobody is censoring my messaging. Not even myself…Initially,
I did because I was trying to fit into a business box. These days: there is no box.

Guiding Through Expression
Expression offers us the chance to expand, whether we know what we’re consciously doing or
not. Sometimes when I am tending my garden or watching the blossom on the zucchini unfold, I
recognize the blessing in the unfold itself. I believe all life holds consciousness and the Cosmos
in every atom. And in bearing witness to the process, even if it seems minute or unseen, I am
reminded to also unfold, even if minute or unseen.
On the rough days or the days when I wonder if building a business was a good idea, my pick-
me-up is expression. Even expressing angst, dare I say! And sharing authentic, rooted experiences: from the ugly cry ones to the glorious ones. And that’s how I guide. I guide like the
gardening process, or Nature’s process, come to think of it. Some moments in our life and work
are dirty, composting trials; others feel like you’re being embraced and kissed on the cheek by the sun. Between there, you’re being cleansed by the rain in all her glory. And in all of these times, there is expansion and growth.
It took me two and half years to connect my first “real” offer with my current ones, here in 2024.
And I can see the cycles that I’ve been through (and the ugly cries along the way). But in my
recording of the trials, I own and get to share and showcase new ways of being and new ways of guidance. Like the seasons.

Sustainability and The Future
I’ll wrap up this piece and the time spent with you, dear reader or listener, leaning back in my
office chair with tea in a ceramic mug. The trees are swaying again and my sheep is chomping
on her native grass hay, finally content and not yelling for pets at the moment. And, yes, she
wags her Shetland tail like a dog and has an honest-to-goddess smile.
This is the life I’ve always wanted: to learn sustainability on all levels, to grow a seasonal
garden, to hear the birds flit about before dawn, and to listen to frogs sing nearby while hearing
seals from the harbor down the hill. For the first time in my life, after forty years under this moon
and sun, I embrace what sustains me and what will sustain me. I am what one would call a
cottage core lesbian, and proudly claim that for myself, and I continue to embark on this journey
with sustainability in mind. While embracing sustainability for my body friend, sustainability for
my mind, and sustainability for my soul. I could never give up writing or storytelling; it’s too expansive. It’s too addicting, dare I say. And I
deeply appreciate how I have the opportunity to guide Old Soul, intuitive women back to their
roots and their evolution. To their future. To their seasons of change in life. To their inner
gardens and harvest.

Many moons ago, I started my career in the history field, specifically in archives and historic
preservation. Now that I look back on those days, I see that they’ve come full circle. Through
FSW, women come to me asking for guidance, and I don’t share with them a “secret” or the
“way it must be done.” I go into their library of soul, or find the diary recording their life’s evolution and journey, and we open it together. And from there, they craft their next chapter from their soul’s calling.
Despite evolution occurring throughout the ages, I feel nothing is ever lost on a soul level. Words may be lost in time as scrolls, pages, or digital files, disintegrate, but stories are woven into our very bones. And generations. In the soil and roots.

Writing is a way to find these stories and share them for the good of all. It is a way to come
together, around a fire, or at tea time. It’s a way to process all the unknowns, as well as a way to
showcase our expansion when we see what broke our hearts years before and how we’ve
healed.

Your words and wisdom are needed, beloved being. Whatever sings to your soul, or to the muse
within, honor it. Let it sustain you into your future, from your here and now. Because your gifts are unique and how you express yourself, in every moment, is cosmically time.

Now go embrace your truth and live from it.

PS – C

I asked V to add a little about self publishing – this is something I am interested in for reasons best known to myself!

V.

After “growing up” professionally in spaces where you published with a publisher, I’ll admit that I struggled with self-publishing as a modality of getting one’s wisdom out there. That being said, now that I’m a business owner, I’ve recognized that there are multiple options to doing something from the soul!

Before I put An Ancient Revival out into the world, I went back and forth about whether I’d do it myself or not. I did all the research, for an LGBTQ+ publisher and even contacted a publishing group. Yet, at the end of the day, I felt it was intuitively right to publish on my own for now. If a publisher wants to work with me down the road, then we can have a discussion and I’ll make sure our ethos line up. Yet, at this point, I wanted to see if folks would be even interested in my stories, again, because they just fell out of my heart on the road.

I ended up going through KDP (Amazon) and will be shifting my stories to IngramSpark as well because I want libraries to have access as well as local, independent bookstores in my area. And if my stories ever get banned, from certain geographies because of shifts here in the U.S., at least I’ll still have my rights to them.

Available on Amazon.

Self-publishing is an interesting dance, one that pulls together technology, patience, and in my case, a book cover design team. While I’m the typical Midwestern kid, now with Pacific Northwest roots, who does everything on their own, having support systems along the way has been immensely helpful!

Here is the link to Virginias BLOG.

So grateful to have Virginia pop in this morning! She has helped me so much in the last few years!

Leave her a comment, ask her a question! She will be in to answer!