You’re my tribe.
This is a conversation I’ve needed to have with myself for quite a while, now. So, I’m gonna have it here, and share it with you all, too. You’re my tribe.
I’m going to out myself… in service to helping me know, and hopefully any of you out there who are in the same place, that I am indeed part of a remarkable tribe of visionaries.
Sometimes, it is easy to think everyone else has it together, everyone else is completely comfortable in their work, no one else hears that inner critical voice…
The fact is, I’ve had an incessant voice in my head that has driven me somewhat bat crazy with its insistence that the stuff I write and teach about is ‘out there’, a bit ‘too much’, ‘too sexual’, too crazy, over the top, not important, too esoteric, not what people are willing to pay for, that people won’t ‘get it’ … you get the picture.
women’s ways of knowing
the mystery and the unseen world
ways of the heart
the sensual, erotic nature of life
raw and wild creativity…
are out there, a bit wacko, not all that important…
WOAH. Doesn’t that look odd?
Just hearing myself say these things aloud, on paper, on this computer screen remind me of how powerful our inner critics are, how desperately they want to keep us safe, tied to the tribe, one like everyone else.
And…we no longer have the luxury of listening to this voice.
Isn’t it just flat-out crazy?
how our inner-critics keep on pushing that old boulder up the hill, no matter how much feedback we get that we are doing our work in the world?
How many times I have heard in the past month from people who are writing about the feminine, God, spirituality, love, kindness, women’s rage, the plight of life here on earth, and who’ve also expressed fear about speaking out, fear that friends will think what they are saying, writing and sharing is weird and out there.
Right now, so much of what fills our airwaves still reflects the old paradigm. It still mirrors old ways of being, ways that denigrated the feminine, saw only the logical and reasonable as valuable, and so on.
What we share from our hearts, what we teach to our clients, what we write on our blogs, the ways we do business, are all creating a new world, a new way of being with each other. This IS the new paradigm.
The idea that what we are saying, writing and teaching is weird to the old way makes sense. It IS Weird, different, new to the old way. And, isn’t that perfect? It means this IS a new way.
An Enlightening Force
I believe in the erotic and I believe in it as an enlightening force within our lives as women. I have become clearer about the distinctions between the erotic and other apparently similar forces. We tend to think of the erotic as an easy, tantalizing sexual arousal. I speak of the erotic as the deepest life force, a force which moves us toward living in a fundamental way. And when I say living I mean it as that force which moves us toward what will accomplish real positive change. ~Audre Lorde
Think of the Suffragettes and their amazing work to bring the vote to women in our country. They worked for decades, facing all sorts of backlash from so many. What gave them such incredible determination to work toward this goal for so long?
I wonder if it was this enlightening force that Lorde wrote of…
The thing is, we’ve reached a tipping point. I can feel it. There are so many of us doing this work to bring women’s wisdom forward to serve life.
What if?
What if we just realize that the voice inside doesn’t really want us to stay quiet… it just wants to be listened to, heard, loved? What if it wants to know that we are surrounded by those that understand us, those that love us, those that will stand by us as we do our visionary work in the world?
What if we make sure we tell others we support their work, champion and advocate for them, send them a little love note every now and then, remind them they are not alone…
It’s both an inside job – realizing our wholeness within, and also an outside job – finding the people in our lives who truly honor and support our work in the world… our tribe.
Heal within:
Slip your inner critic a love note… tell it that you now know and realize you are not alone…you are part of a glorious band of creative lovers of life telling a bold new story of a new way of life on earth…
Reach out to others:
We are not alone. We are not individual bodies, swimming alone upstream against an immovable force. We’re all together… a glorious tribe of erotic visionaries with an eye for beauty and a deep vast love for the sacredness of life…and we are held by life itself, life that at its core is love.
And, you…
If you see yourself as one of this tribe of erotic visionaries, a woman who feels this ‘enlightening force’ in your life and is working to accomplish real positive change in service to life, please share this in the comments!
Please let me know, let us all know, so we can see just how big and luscious this tribe is!
yes! love to you and this juicy tribe women. xo
Isn’t it funny what posts catch our eye when we visit the Facebooks and the Twitters?
Julie, I am so in. I am so here. I need more of it. I think we all do. Your photos on Instagram help feed my erotic visionary. Whatever you do, don’t stop!
Ay yay yay Julie. It’s going to take lots of love notes to calm the critic.
I’m so part of this tribe! 🙂
Last week at my site was devoted to sensual evolution, too. Wonderful interviews with others from this tribe.
Thank you SO MUCH for being you in the world and helping all of us feel more brave to be *us*, too!
Yes! I’m in – all in, even as I notice my body stiffen slightly at the word “erotic”. It’s part of an old story that I am shifting both in my life and on the page. Julie, you continue to inspire me and I am incredibly grateful to know you, to read your words, and to witness your work in the world. Here’s to the luscious tribe!
I am sooo in!!! you inspire me in all aspects as i discover that i am not alone…i have a tribe <3
oh, yeahhhhhhhhhhhhhh.
woman’s (man’s) body is simply erotic, always was.
we just keep catching up to the fact of the body electric.
glad for it,
glad for you,
glad for me,
glad for the world…
peace!
Unequivocally fabulous. Hallelujah.
I so relate to this, Julie. Guess that means I’m part of the tribe. I, too, am feeling that tipping point … rippling out among the many small circles of women I follow here, on Twitter and Instagram. I absolutely LOVE “erotic visionaries”. Thank you for shining a bright beacon, attracting us to the fold.
Without a doubt, I’m in.
Erotic…yes, sensual in all the ways…since we’re human and not only spirit…it’s the joyful part of being human…shame to waste that non!
I’ve been writing about pleasure, as a way of life, for years now. It seems to me to be the only way I’d like life to be.
So, so IN.
Hello Julie, and fellow tribeswomen.
Hey Julie,
Wondeful piece….love it! Great name and creative use of the word “erotic”. And I am furiously writing notes to my inner critic. Sometimes it is so loud I can’t think. Then I come up your blog and Ba–zinga! I have been given another magnificient tool to help me calm it when it gets nervous.
I am looking for my tribe here on the southeast coast….harder to find…
Miss you and all the west coast tribal gals.
xo,
Alice
I trust I am part of this evergrowing, everevolving,sensual earthy real passionate woo here goes ,………eroTIC womanhood. there I said it I Said It. This has been a difficult area of my life to unravel – especially as a professional massage therapist and all the sexual/sensual/erotica around this profession. and there was a check in me too when I read the word erotic, but I am experiencing more and more inner freedom – well most days! and I bow in honour to my tribe.
Now this is a group I’m happy to pledge to, also finding myself in such great company – erotic visionaries – who’d have thunk it!
Yes, yes, yes, ecstatically yes. I am bookmarking this to come back to again and again! I so struggle with this. Writing a book on celebrating your moon time really brought all these voices out for me. But women are so drawn to it, so grateful for it. The same with my blog. And my painting. And teching….It is the compulsion to do it, which means I keep doing my work, not my courage! Thank goodness for the power of this urge which is birthing itself through us all. It is so exciting to be a part of it.
http://www.thehappywomb.com/
I really really wanted to just enlarge the below and SHOUT them out (Ha! I’m so going to share it!):
Heal within:
Slip your inner critic a love note… tell it that you now know and realize you are not alone…you are part of a glorious band of creative lovers of life telling a bold new story of a new way of life on earth…
Reach out to others:
We are not alone. We are not individual bodies, swimming alone upstream against an immovable force. We’re all together… a glorious tribe of erotic visionaries with an eye for beauty and a deep vast love for the sacredness of life…and we are held by life itself, life that at its core is love.
Thank you for sharing this amazing juiciness of thought and wisdom at it’s inner core without holding back, Julie! Love you! I think we should give you a new nickname… the Block Breaker! 🙂
Wow. Your inner critic sounds awfully familiar.
And to my inner critic I’m saying: look, we really aren’t alone. In what we’re doing or in the fears that it’s too weird, especially for people to pay money for.
We’re only too weird if we compare our shimmering plumage to the dowdiness we were shown we ‘should be’.
Mmm…ruffling my shimmering feathers, enjoying being in this body that lets me merge the spiritual and physical pleasures.
I am in…one courageous step at a time. Thank you for the invitation and the release I feel deep in my hidden place. May I be able to shine it brightly.
For sure, count me in and cudos for risking and
sharing. For me this journey is all about coming into
our true selves. Stopping the noise, stepping
away and BEing.
Sunlit summer kisses
Yes. Yes. Without doubt. Yes.
Yes, yes! Beautiful mirror you are, Julie! Very appreciated!
Julie,
If your inner critic is burbling and/or shouting in your ear, you must be on the right path!!! Thank you for everything that you write and advocate. Also, I LOVE Audre Lord’s definition of erotic. If we are fully alive, how can we be anything but erotic? The old paradigm is dying and women and men of the future will thank visionaries like yourself for having the guts and the heart to point to what is becoming…
Love,
Judith
you know what I think! or rather FEEL.
Count me in.
what an honour to be part of this big, glorious, luscious tribe…thank you for such an honest and inspiring post..x
“women’s ways of knowing
the mystery and the unseen world
ways of the heart
the sensual, erotic nature of life
raw and wild creativity…” ~ Julie Daley
I expected the next line to be something like:
“fuels a radiant life”
Or, “will save the world for women AND men”
Especially after reading, “How deprived we are when we believe sensuality is only about sex,” in day 2 of the (virtual) Molokai retreat. I nodded my head and nearly stood up and cheered. Becoming embodied, listening to my body, savoring all my senses and reveling in physical sensations like kinesthetic awareness, space and intuition transforms my life.
But felt pinched when instead: “are out there, a bit wacko, not all that important…” were the actual words.
But then I understood as I read on about the inner critic. Still, sexuality, sensuality, eroticism are as necessary for our bodies as our need to quench hunger and thirst.
I loved the Audrey Lorde quote!!
And I too I keep running into people share these beliefs and want to change the world so they become our new normal. Who honor and value the feminine. And our erotic power. Who believe it heals. And leads to better, more brilliant lives for women AND men.
I definitely include myself as part of the tribe and am happy to find more of you.
I look forward to exploring your blogs/websites and hope you will come visit mine.
A year after your posting, I’ve just discovered this branch of the tribe and you, Julie, today as I was searching for a Rumi quote (I found the one I wanted and posted it on my Space for Grace page on FB today, thank you!). I love what you’re creating/vibrating/transmitting/being and am wholeheartedly and joyfully part of this tribe of wild awakening women! Thank you!