MysteriesofLife_1997.pdf
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Mysteries ·efLife
wi th Judith
Barr
Spiritual Midwife, Psychotherapist, Interfaith Minister, Poet, Writer, and Performing Artist
NEWS
OF THE SACRED
WORK OF THE FEMININE
Helping to restore the Feminine to her place ef honor
in our lives and in our world· . ..
ISSUE
EIGHT
THE
CYCLEOF LIFE
Many have asked me to write and record"D' teaching about the cycle if life. No matter how many times they hear
it, they want to hear it again, to let it take them to the place within that will openJor healing this time ... and this
time ... and this time.
W
e go 'round the
cycle of life again
and again, each
time walking the circle on a
deeper level. A spiral leading
us inward and downward,
into and through our own
inner labyrinths. A spiral
leading us deeper and deeper
into the mysteries of our
own soul's journey and into the mysteries of life.
C
When they re-meet an old wound, people often say,
"I thought I worked on that before." "Yes,"I say, "you
did. On a previous walk 'round the cycle, at a different
level of your being." Every time we move through the
cycle of life, we revisit the same issues at deeper and
more subtle layers of our being. For example, if a
woman worked on physical abuse five years ago, and
verbal abuse two years ago, perhaps she will work on
emotional abuse this year, energetic abuse next year,
and psychic abuse the following year.
So coming back to the same threads in our being is
not a sign of failure. It is a natural aspect of life's
cycles spiralling ever deeper toward the center. At the
same time, it can be a healer of duality ... if we allow
it to be. It can help us transform: "Here again? I
thought I worked on that! I guess I didn't do a very
good job!" ... into ... "Oh! so
I've returned to this at a
deeper, subtler level of it's
existence and mine. I know
its painful, yet I also
celebrate the return and the
opportunity it offers to clear
and heal the wound still
deeper within me."
With that said, let us take a journey together 'round
the cycle of life ...
Although there are some exceptions, I usually begin
in the North. The North. Midnight of our day. The dark
of night. Winter of our year. The time of dying. The
death of the old. Everything appears stark, barren,
frozen, and dead on the surface . . . while all the life
energy draws itself in and downward to rest and be
held within. It is a time of introspection, deep, quiet
transformation within. In the time after the dying,
there can be still, open emptiness ... the emptiness into
which something new can eventually be conceived.
The north at its deepest becomes the ready womb.
When we are aligned with the Divine in the Northwe are midwives to the dying, and to the limitless
possibilities that can follow the dying. We come to the
dying, not defenseless, but rather, undefended ... with
,jfysteries
ef Life
with Judith Barr
a commitment to serve, and a trust in the process of
dying. We attune to the dying ... helping in the naming
of what is dying, witnessing and bringing our
presence, comforting and assisting in the dying ... all
in a way that helps the dying itself, and, at the same
time, helps to create a passageway from the dying into
whatever will come next.
When we are not aligned with the Divine in the
North-the dying gets distorted into killing. We kill our
own feelings, our inspirations, our knowing; we kill
our dreams, our visions, and our hopes; we may kill
what we have manifested thus far. We send out energy
from ourselves that is killing energy. If you've heard
the phrase "if looks could kill," you
know an example of this. Sometimes we kill our relationships,
sometimes other living beings, like
ants, spiders, bees, plants. And at
the far extreme, we may kill other
human beings. All to defend
ourselves against the dying!
My prayer in the North . . . that
she will help us stay aligned with
her; that she will help us come to
her as undefended midwives, so we
can serve her and the dying that
needs to take place.
the birth, because we are tired of waiting and feel out
of control. We may go in after that which is to be born
and pull it out, instead of letting it come on its own. Or
we may hold it in, refusing to let it emerge. Perhaps we
don't like what we know needs to be born. Perhaps it is
our sorrow that needs to come to life, but we prevent
its birthing because we would rather give birth to our
joy. Perhaps it is our anger or our fear that needs to be
born, but we'd rather give birth to our playfulness. In
the East, when we are disconnected from the Divine,
we bring our willfulness to the birthing process,
distorting it beyond recognition.
My prayer in the East ... that she will help us stay
connected with her; that she will
help us come to her as undefended
midwives, open to release our
willfulness for the sake of our
deepest, most positive will . . . our
willingness to serve in the birthing
as is truly needed.
So comingback
to the same threads
in our being is not
a sign effailure.
It is a natural aspect
efljfe's cycles
spirallingever deeper
towardthe center.
We come to the East. The East.
Dawn of our day. The new light.
Spring of our year. Life energy
coming up from the depths. The time of birthing. The
birth of the new. New life peeking itself out into a new
world from the deep, dark womb and through the
frozen, hard ground.
When we are aligned with the Divine in the East, we
again serve as midwives, only this time, to -the birth.
Again we come undefended, with a commitment to
serve, and a trust in the process of birthing. We hold
a container for the birthing, attune to birther and that
which is to be born, act as witness, comforter, and
helper. We respect and honor the timing, pace,
rhythm, and movement, as it unfolds in its own
organic process.
When we are disconnected from the Divine in the
East, we change from midwives into obstetricians. We
distort the birthing, turning it into a delivery. We bring,
whether consciously or not, our distrust and fear of the
process of birthing, and of that which needs to be born.
We dishonor the natural rhythm of the birthing, forcing
our own timing and pace upon the birth. We may stop
the birth, because we don't want it now. We may hurry
We come to the South. Noontime of
our day. The sun shines brightest
and warmest from the sky straight
above us. The summer of our year.
Life has been protected and fed,
nourished into growth. Everything
in bloom, blossoms surrounding us.
Life at its fullest. The fire of life
glowing, passionate, alive.
When we are connected with the
Divine in the South, we consciously commit to use our
fullness, our fire, our heat, and our passion to serve
the Divine. We take great, purposeful care in how we
use these powerful energies.
But when we are disconnected from the Divine in
the South, we split off from consciousness of the
power of our fire and how we use it. As a result, we
hurt ourselves and others, either by how we use our
fullness, or by how we avoid using it.
It is frightening for us to come to the South. There
are two profound reasons. First, every time we come to
the South, we know, whether consciously or unconsciously, that we will meet the places in us where we
have been wounded by someone else, misusing or
abusing their fire with us. Second, every time we come
to the South, we know, albeit unconsciously, that we
will meet the places in us where we would misuse or
abuse the fire within us. We may try to avoid the
South, we may try not to move there in the first place.
We may try to go around it. But in the depths of our
(continuedon page 5)
•
Af)lsteriesefLife
3,
with Judith Barr
Previewof UpcomingEvents• • •
FALL
19 9 7
A New Opportunity at
Mysteries efLife!
FOR BOTH WOMEN AND MEN
MYSTERIESOF LIFE
FOURDAYWORKSHOP
An opportunity for men and women together to do some
of the deep healing work that the women do in the Women's
Mysteries Intensives. This will be an ideal container for men
and women as individuals, as well as for couples interested
in witnessing and supporting each other in work that
touches the depths of our beings.
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 16, 1997
THROUGH SUNDAY, OCTOBER 19, 1997
If you are interested, please call for details.
(See Women'sMysteriesIntensive, Spring 1998,
Jor more ieformation.)
CREATINGLIVINGRITUALFORTHE HOLIDAYS
AND EVERYDAY
Rituals are containers we create from the inside outTo hold us as we make leaps of faith into new phases of
our being;
To ground us in our sacredness as we accept and mature
our humanity;
To hold us as we descend further
into our own mysteries and
the mystery of lifeSo that we may create our lives
from the still-deeper inside out.
May this workshop help you, at
last - freed from imposition by forces within or without to create the holidays you most deeply desire!
SUNDAY , NOVEMBER 2, 1997-10 AM TO 6 PM
Fee: $85 - $105 (depending on your financial need)
GENERATINGOUR LIVING
FROMTHE LIFEWITHIN
Healing the Split Between
Money and Spirit
We all need money to live on this earth. We have many
diverse responses to this truth and to money itself. We
humans have split money so far apart from spirit and
especially from the Feminine Spirit ... that we have caused
great harm to ourselves and to our world.
Let us dare to look in the mirror, see with clarity and
honesty, feel to the depths of our being, and in this way
allow money to be a guide to our healing, our unifying, and
our coming Home.
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 1997-10 AM TO 10 PM
NORTH SALEM, NEW YORK
Fee: $125 - 150 (depending on your financial need)
includes three sessions and dinner
DearJudith,
ThankyouJor working with me individually, in the women's community, and at the Women's Mysteries Intensive.
Withyour guidance I've been able to gently let go Q/my need to know, in my mind, what path myjourney was taking
me and I was miraculously led, by my heart, to a universe I didn't know existed. A universe where I am seen as I am
and loved, where my needs matter and are met,· where I am sqfe, even encouraged, to have myJeelings openly. I've
spent my whole life seeking such a universe and am truly blessed to have discovered it.
Michelle Hedding
Oakland, CA
Dear Judith,
That was the most astoundingJour days [Women's Mysteries Intensive] we spent in the shelter Q/the house and
your quiet, loving spirit! I had not realized the depth Q/ my pain, nor my need to grieve. The process by which you
led us is powerful-staying with heart, not head. IJind myself more Q/tenconnecting with my breath and tears. Thank
you so muchJor all you do and are.
Fondly, Phoebe Honig
Pittefield, MA
.l{ysteries QfLife
4 ,
with Judith Barr
ONGOING
SPRING
WOMENCOMINGHOME
IN COMMUNITY
THE FOLLOWING WORKSHOP IS A
WONDERFUL OPPORTUNITY FOR
WOMEN TO TASTE THE DEPTH OF
TRANSFORMATIVE WORK OFFERED
THROUGH MYSTERIES OF LIFE!
This is a community of women, each committed to her
journey, her healing, and inhabiting of her deepest self.
From that very commitment flows a safety, support for and
giving to each other that is priceless.
1998
Fee: $100 - 125 per day (depending on your financial need)
WOMEN'SMYSTERIES
INTENSIVE
Pre-requisites: Each participant needs to be working
individually with a therapist or spiritual helper.
APRIL 29 - MAY 3 1998
CHESTER, MASSACHUSETTS
ONGOING - ONE DAY MONTHLY
NORTH SALEM, NEW YORK
Each participant needs to be at a level of development that
supports her participation in this depth of group work.
Severalwomen in the communityhave created personal intensives,
callingtogether other women to witness and support their work.
This is a profoundand vital option for you if you want and need
somethingdifferentfrom an individualsession or a group intensive.
HEALINGOUR
WOUNDEDSEXUALITY
OngoingWomensGroup
One participant says of the group ...
"THIS WORK IS AT THE VERY BEATING
HEART OF WHAT WE NEED TO HEAL!"
(For more information, see description for "Healing Our
Wounded Sexuality" introductory workshop, Fall 1997)
TUESDAY NIGHTS- 7:00- 9:30
NORTH SALEM, NEW YORK
Fee: $35 - $50 (depending on your financial need)
Pre-requisites: Same as "Women Coming Home in
Community," above.
Each woman will bring the individual concerns and issues
in her particular journey. We will use ritual to hold profound
and deep individual and group process.
We will weave together the human and the Divine, the
deep therapeutic and the grounded spiritual .. . learning,
honoring, and practicing the magic of positive intention;
discovering and healing unconscious negative intention;
moving with creative forms that emerge (such as writing,
face painting, drawing, movement, dance, prayer, visualization, meditation); doing deep personal and group process
work; experiencing silent stillness; playing; being; distinguishing form from essence; remembering what true power
is, what true power feels like, looks like, sounds like;
consciously healing our connection with the Divine within
and all around us.
Fee: Includes workshop, room, and board - $510*
$485 if registered by December 1, 1997
As thegroup will be limited to 12 to 15participants, ear{y
registrationis encouraged.
To register, send a non-refundable deposit of $200 to:
Judith Barr, c/o Mysteries of Life
PO Box 218, North Salem, New York 10560
*Ifthere are enough women registeredat the full fee, I would delight
in offeringpartial scholarshipsto womenwho long to participate
and truly can't pay the full fee. If the fee is prohibitivefor you,
please contact me to explorewhat we might work out together.
Payment plans are an option.
DearJudith,
ThankyouJor the Women'sMysteriesIntensive. Youcarefullyconstructeda sqfe containerJar ten women,ma'1)'
if whom didn't know each other, which made it sqfeJor each if us to do deep and intenselypersonal work.Being
witnessto each other'swork continuedthe learningand healingthroughthe recognitionif commonthreadsand the
sharedexperience.TheJood, the setting, the rituals and the playing allgreatly contributedto the connectednessto our own stories,to women'sstories,to theJeminineand the Divine.A month later!Jee!renewed,replenished,more
patient and with greaterperspective.Truly an awesomeexperienceto be done again and again. I am so grateful
IJoundyou . .
Andree delisser
Go/densBridge,NY
Mysteries
efLife
with Judith Barr
5
(continued.from page 2)
beings, we know that in order to inhabit the fullness of
who we are, we must visit the South again and again,
willing to meet these places ... so it will be truly safe
for us to be our full selves and for those around us to
be their full selves.
My prayer in the South ... that she will help us stay
connected to her; that she will help us come to her
again and again with our deepest longings to fully
inhabit her energies in us, and with our openness and
willingness to heal and transform the painful misuse
and abuse of her energies.
We come to the West. The evening of our day.
Twilight. The autumn of our year. The fruits of this
year's life ripen on the vine and offer themselves for
harvest. And then, life cycles back into the dying
again.
When we are aligned with the Divine in the West, we
receive the harvest. We recognize the fruits. We
account for them. We value, even treasure them.
Innately we know how to reap the fruits of the harvest;
exactly what to store for winter and how; what to enjoy
now and how to serve it. We know how much to keep
for ourselves, how much to share with others, and with
whom. We have no doubts about the rightness of each
aspect; we are clear about our discernment, not being
distracted by judgments of selfishness or withholding.
Aligned with the Divine in the West, we instinctively
relish the harvest as a moment in its own right and as
a part of deeply preparing for the winter to come.
When we are disconnected. from the Divine in the
West, we refuse the harvest. We discount the fruits,
refusing to even recognize them. Perhaps, as in the
East, we bring our willfulness to the very fruits we
have created, saying, "I don't want this fruit. I don't
want sadness as a fruit. Who made this fruit? It's not
mine!" The harvest sits on our doorstep and we slam
the door in its face, leaving it to rot. Or perhaps,
leaving it for someone to take. Then, turning away
from our own harvest, created by our own movement
through the cycle of life ... we begin to look outward
at others' harvests. We begin to want the harvest of
our friend who has created anger, or the fruits of our
neighbor who has created new life's work, or the
harvest of our partner who has created gratitude. The
more we refuse our own harvest, the more we look
outside for the harvest, the more disconnected we
become from our own cycle, our own spiral, the
harvest that is needed in our journey right now, and ...
the harvest that we are.
My prayer in the West ... that she will help us stay
aligned with her; that she will help us welcome and
hold the harvest that is ours; that she will help us heal
duality in the face of, perhaps, a difficult harvest; that
she will help us claim the harvest in and of itself, and
also so we will be prepared for the approaching winter
and the next cycle to come.
My prayer as we journey through the cycle of life ...
that Life will help us stay aligned with her. That she
will help us grow our consciousness so that we can go
into and through our journey with her and hold it at
the same time. That she will teach us to join and to live
from the wedding of Truth and Love at the deepest
levels of being.
© JudithBarr, February1997.
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''
''
l'' ORDERFORM- THE SPOKENWORDON BEHALFOF THEFEMININE''l
!
!
Pleasesendme the following. .. [all are audiocassettes exceptwhereindicated]{fee includestax, shippingand handling)
I
'
QTY
__
__
A Menstrual Journey (book) ($12.32) ......
The Callif My Blood Mysteries ($12.32) ......
$__
__
TOTAL
_
_
THE SPOKEN WORD ON BEHALF OF THE FEMININE
__
Series of the following four tapes ($45.00) .... __
__
Woman, Cometo YourSeff($12.32) .........
__
__
Healing the Feminine Betrayal if the Feminine
($12.32)
__
Fee!ing.·A Form if Prayer ($12.32) .........
__
__
Weeding Through Distortion to the Truth ..... __
($12.32)
'
l __ Series and correspondence work
!
with Judith ($132.00) ...................
__
!I
I
TOTAL .................................
L-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------.,
$__
_
_
_
_
_
_
Name_________________
_
Street._________________
_
City_________
~State ___
Phone _________________
Zip__
_
_
Please make checks payable to JUDITH BARR and send to her
c/o MYSTERIESOF LIFE, PO Box 218, North Salem, NY 10560
( 914) 669-5822
I am updating my mailing list and want to keep you informed of my
work, if you wish. Please check the appropriate box to let me know.
Thank you.
D Please add my name to your mailing list (no purchase necessary).
O Please keep my name on your mailing list.
·----------"--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------~
Mysteries <ffLife wi;,, Judith Barr
NEWS
OF THE SACRED
WORK OF THE FEMININE
Helping to restore the Feminine to her place ef honor
in our lives and in our world ...
ISSUE
EIGHT
PREVIEW OF UPCOMING EVENTS ...
SUMMER
1997
WOMEN'SSABBATH:
THE MAGICOF MENSTRUATION
Healing the Split Between Body and Spirit
Healing Workshopand Act if Service
Woman's menstruation is deep at the heart of the mystery of woman's sacredness, spirituality,
and holy power. Hidden, and distorted through the ages as curse and unclean time, this powerful,
mystical aspect of our lives as women is slowly being reclaimed.
This will be both a workshop and an act of service. The workshop itself will be a time for
women to heal and reclaim in relation to their bleeding time, a container in which to heal the
split between body and spirit, human and divine, mundane and sacred. The act of service will be the video-taping of the
workshop by Roberta Cantow, filmmaker with whom I have been consulting for a couple of years. If you feel called to heal
yourself and serve in the healing of other women as well-women of today and tomorrow alike-call for more information.
SATURDAY,AUGUST 30 - 10 AM TO 10 PM
SUNDAY, AUGUST 31 - 10 AM TO 1 PM
THURSDAY, AUGUST 28 - 7 TO 10 PM
FRIDAY, AUGUST 29 - 7 TO 10 PM
Fee: $200 for the series. $100 non-refundable deposit.
FALL
1997
HEALINGOURWOUNDEDSEXUALITY
Healing the Split Between Sexuality and Spirituality
Using my own intuition and guidance, the connection we make with each other, Women's Mysteries, the Pathwork Guide
lectures, and my years of experience as a psychotherapist and spiritual midwife ... this introductory workshop is intended to
help women heal the wounds to their sexuality that are the result of the split between the sexual and the spiritual, and the
consequent distortions and abuses this rending apart has created in our world.
SEPTEMBER 1997 - The form and timing of this workshop will depend upon the women who are called to participate.
It may be a daylong workshop on September 20, or a series of four sessions Sunday evenings, September 7, 14, 21, and 28.
Fee: $125 - $150 (depending on your financial need)
v •
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...
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JUN ~
20
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J:eriund
2312
Judith Barr
c/o Mysteries of Life
Oklahoma
PO Box 218
North Salem, NY 10560
(914) 669-5822
Judith has a practice in
North Salem,New York,
and travels with her work
wherevershe is Called.
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(cont·
on page 3)