Growing up, letting go, and the harvest

I’ve been thinking about Demeter, Goddess Of The Harvest.

Remember her? She plants the seeds, gently pressing each one into the soil, whispering encouragement and life into new planets. When the harvest comes, Demeter brings the wine and the bread. We lift a cup in celebration for the work well done.

She is a familiar figure within the story of Peresphone, as the mother with a bad case of empty nest. When her daughter, Persephone, descends to the underworld, Demeter goes mad with mourning. She stops doing the work assigned as Goddess of harvest.  Instead, she devotes herself to searching, calling out for her kid. Nothing grows, the people start to worry. It gets so bad that, eventually, Zeus sends Hermes with an order to Hades to release her.

Now the old stories says that Persephone is abducted… but what if she actually just ran off to marry the man she loved. And her mother refused to let her grow up. This version of the story shifts the focus for us Witchpreneurs.

We should still take the time to celebrate what we have grown. To notice how our lives, our businesses, our healing work has changed from season to season. But also, to see what it is we have refused to allow to grow.

Demeter, in refusing to let Persephone change from a girl to a woman, created a lot of problems for the people she was meant to serve. Hunger ruled the land and the people were angry sad, and I suppose… hangry! Not good.

As you begin your harvest review, I encourage you to look at what you’ve refused to let go of, refused to let change. Perhaps there is a part of your business that once worked beautifully, but not anymore. A program that you suddenly can’t fill despite doing all the things, or a message that no longer feels quite true. Or maybe you are being called to teach something you haven’t before and it’s scaring the shit out of you.

And underneath your clinging to what was, is a belief that maybe you can’t, shouldn’t, or aren’t ready for what is new.

I know, because I’m here with you, in my Demeter robes, again. When I first changed my masculine driven business from “Kickass Biz Coaching” to the “Art of Feminine Business” I was terrified that I had just crashed the whole bus. That no one would ever hire me again and I would have to get a job serving coffee at a diner.

But a funny thing happened instead. I got to give up doing the stuff that wasn’t fun, and bring more spirituality into my work. It freed me from keeping my Divine Feminine “in check” and allowed me to flow forward with my confidence and clarity.  Now I don’t know it all. Yet,  I do know that this is a place, a way of being that is worth fighting for. It feels so much better.  Like taking off an ill – fitting bra at the end of the day.

Sometimes, you can do the work yourself. And sometimes you need a little help to discover the belief or code running in the background, keeping you from seeing clearly. So, on this hot early fall day, I’m putting something cool together to help you do just that. Keep your eyes open. It’s coming soon.