"Stirring Woman", she who moves energy
discovering personal archetypes
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We find the archetypes in the imaginal, the borderland between our ordinary waking consciousness and the dimension of spiritual beings.
Rather than being a fanciful notion, a thing of childhood, or creative imagination only, this is a real place, and we are designed to access it. The pineal gland, that pinecone-shaped structure in our brains that produces DMT and much more, ensures that we can exceed ordinary perceptions.
For the adventurous, plant spirit medicine will jettison you there with great force.
For the rest of us, there are gentler ways to travel: meditation, dance, drumming, chanting, fasting, prayer, art, music, and sound, to name just a few. The fact that these rather ordinary activities can nudge us into contact with a different realm of reality when used correctly seems to underscore the proposition that we are made for such experiences.
Mystics, shamans, and adepts in all esoteric traditions know this. While it might seem like a big claim that anoints the claimant to some spirituality-elevated status, nothing could be further from the truth. We’re all made this way, with the ability to perceive other levels or facets of reality beyond the density of the material world.
In my journey work, which is primarily done through inner journeys, sometimes induced by rattling, drumming, or other vibrational tools and sometimes simply through breathwork or nature connection, followed by a creative process, I have come to know a being I call Stirring Woman. I want to share her and what I’ve learned from her with you.
Of course, some archetypes belong to the collective unconscious. These are ones that everyone will recognize; many are found in the Tarot, the Magician, the High Priestess, and the Hermit, for example. Others, like the Outlaw, the Warrior, and the Healer, populate myth, folklore, and literature.
The complex nature of archetypes means that they come in many guises, have many aspects, and are presented in various visual and literary forms. Stirring Woman is undoubtedly an aspect of one of the archetypes from the collective. Perhaps she is a blend, a hybrid of sorts.
I’ve wondered about her and worked with her, desiring to understand and receive knowledge and wisdom from her.
The first thing I learned was that although she presented as an old woman she was actually timeless, a near eternal being/force. The aged face was only meant to clue me into the truth of her always-present-ness.
The next thing I learned was that she drew from several archetypes. She was part Magician, part Fate/Wheel of Fortune, and partly the initiating Emperor/Aries archetype. Her kin were the Fates or Norns and Grandmother Spider, who spin and weave reality and cut the cords of destiny.
She wasn’t any of these precisely, but rather, she was the energizing force that moves through their activities.
She is Stirring Woman. In her cauldron are all the elements, energies, paths, and possibilities that are part of the universe. These she stirs, sometimes slowly, to cause gentle flows of energy, movements of history, the evolutionary changes of ideas and ideals, and the gradual rise and fall of empires and civilizations. Other times, she stirs violently, causing whirlpools of destruction, sudden disasters, and turns of fortune, much like the Tower card in the Tarot. Sometimes her stirring causes chaos and confusion, at other times it restarts the flow and helps a new cycle begin. She is movement, the yin flow of energy that balances her yang energy of initiation.
She can also be mischievous, stirring things up in unexpected ways, carrying well-laid plans off in the currents of movement she creates, and taking you to places you never intended to go.
Stirring Woman’s great power is to move energy. Her force is one of vitality, renewal, and change. I usually encounter her in her below form, but I know that she has an above form as well. There, she moves galaxies, comets, the orbits of planets, the paths of constellations, the cycles of nature and the seasons, as well as modulating and nudging the life force to keep stagnation at bay.
Now we come to her shadow aspect, The Stagnant Hag. She is the life force-depleting experience of stuckness, stalled, and stagnating energy.
One of the most potent ways I have worked with Stirring Woman is when I need to move energy. This is where she intersects with the Magician, who has complete mastery over the four elements. If, for example, I sense that the energetic movements in a relationship with someone are either stagnating or moving in a direction that I don’t want them to, I call in Stirring Woman to help me redirect the emotional energy or start it moving in a more desirable direction. I find this works within myself as well. When I am unmotivated, too anxious, focusing on the negative aspects of a situation, or constantly ruminating on something I can’t change, I call on her to help me redirect flow, change the kind of energy present, move out the undesirable patterns and activate the flow of fresh beneficial energy within my being.
She’s also a tremendous help when things feel flat, unexciting, boring, repetitive, and mundane. This happens a lot for highly creative people and those with ADHD (and that’s usually the same person.) I’ve learned to trust her, and we’ve gotten to know each other, so when I ask her to stir things up while I know I am opening myself up to the unexpected, it is usually a positive experience.
Stirring Woman has another aspect, and that is Sweeping Woman. When I need an energetic clean sweep, when the dust and clutter in the darkest parts of my soul need to be cleared away, and when my inner vision and understanding need to be purified of illusions, I call on her.
While all of these energetic activities derive from masculine yang patterns, the archetypal feminine pattern directs and uses them with wisdom, subtlety, and nuance. She is a scalpel, not a bludgeon, helping me fine-tune the energetics within myself, my relationships, and my work and world.
It's essential to develop personal resources and connections to beings and forces outside the material world because that’s the only way to change what’s happening in your life. Otherwise, you are limited to only manipulating physical objects. While it may feel good to rearrange your living room furniture, and that may even help the practical flow of energy in the room, the flow and movement of what we sense and feel in us, between us and others and around us, needs the expertise of Stirring Woman a force that operates on a level above and beyond the purely material.
I encourage you to explore the universal archetypes residing in the collective unconscious and personal revelations of archetypal energies, patterns, and hybrid forces that you can use in your personal, inner, and spiritual development.
We have just passed through the portal of the autumn equinox, and after the briefest moment of balance, the seasonal earth energies are again in motion, as are the cosmic energies as we enter Libra Season. Stirring Woman is present in this seasonal shift. See if you can find her and communicate with her to discover what is stirring in you now in this season of the year and the present season of your life.
If you are feeling stuck, she can help you break free of the logjam of stagnant emotions and energies that are preventing the movement you desire.
Consider finding images that represent Stirring Woman and the Stagnant Hag. Create two cards and allow them to show you where and how your energy needs to be manipulated. This visual representation can help you access the imaginal world and open the door to the knowledge you need to thrive in life.
We are quickly approaching the celebration of Michaelmas. If you’re new to the celebration of Michaelmas, it falls on September 29th and roughly corresponds to the autumn equinox on the Anglo-Saxon Wheel of the Year and Mabon on the Celtic Wheel of the Year; you may want to begin your exploration with this Hedge Mystic essay from 2023 called Michaelmas, holding back the darkness.”
This brand-new guide, Michaelmas, the Holy Feast of Archangels: exploring Uriel, Gabriel, Raphael, and Michael, is available only to paid subscribers. Unique materials like these are just one way I say “thank you” to those in the Hedge Mystic Inner Circle.
This season of the year brings increasing darkness and, with it, a sense that we need protection from winter weather, colds, flu, power outages, and the like. Deep down in our ancestral memories, we feel the anxiety of the dark, cold times of hunger and danger.
The invocation of angelic protection dates back thousands of years. The study of angels and angelology draws from many religious, magical, and folk sources. The correspondences between the domains of each archangel and herbs, crystals, colors, and elements provide a fascinating mix of symbolic content.
Most of all, working with angelic beings can bring comfort, peace, and protection when the world seems darkest.
Thank you again for your continued support of Hedge Mystic, my work, and the service I offer the world.
May this harvest season be bountiful and filled with blessings, and may the angels watch over you, comforting your heart and protecting you and all those you love.
The comments section is a safe and welcoming space to share your insights and experiences.
Comments and conversation are always appreciated and enjoyed, so feel free to let your voice be heard. I read them all and try to respond to each one.
Thank you for reading Hedge Mystic and participating in this vibrant and growing community of creative, spiritual humans. You are always welcome here, appreciated, and loved.
Gorgeous post, Jan. Through reading your newsletter, I realized Stirring Woman often visits me in dreams and journeys as Cerridwen. I’m looking forward to sitting with this knowledge, following the thread to see where it leads. Thank you.
could you please explain further how you would make the cards to call in the Stirring Woman?