In the wake of yesterday's post, I figure while I'm feeling courageous, I'll keep pressing forward. I drafted most of this essay by hand a few weeks ago, but didn't manage to get any further with it.
Glancing through my old list of Goddess words, I see that there are two "categories" of words that I have been putting off tackling, perhaps because they hit me close to home, and are potentially uncomfortable. At least for me. Here is one word from one of the categories.
"The Queen" is one of three or four words that are rather "aristocratic" in nature, and therefore pretty un-PC in this "No Kings" era. I mean, the fact is that I'm not averse to some notions of "royalty" if the figure is female and "New Age"! I think of the Goddess as sort of an updated "Queen of Heaven", a leader with all the qualities I resonate with -- love, wisdom, compassion, protectiveness, "power"-sharing, beauty, sense of community, inclusion...this is a "horizontal" definition of royalty, literally "big tent", circular. It's not an old paradigm model of entitlement with one person at the top -- no palaces or moated castles, or wearing five gowns a day. No "off with their heads" (of course!) or dictatorship.
For years, I called myself the "Queen of the New Paradigm" and I confess that I still feel a zing or sparkle around that. If I were to take this seriously, I might wear a uniform of sorts (clothing that was of a certain color or style) and a glittery tiara -- but I wouldn't care if the little crown was formed of actual jewels or glass. I'd probably live in the same tiny kind of room I have almost always lived in, and because this role would be about "enlightened leadership" and not "power over", the queenly role would likely be passed along to another person in a matter of months or years. Each community would create a process whereby interested women and men would have the opportunity to experience evolved leadership, and then, themselves, pass the power along.
I know that my ability to even appreciate this dated construct or think within it is the result of my own heritage's handful of long-ago English "aristocrats". I understand that this slant or way of presenting leadership might not resonate with many people. But in the end, I don't think the issue is "no kings" or "no queens" -- kings or queens may well make it into the new paradigm, but only if they are wise, kind, generous, harmony-and peace-loving, and willing to share their power. It is a new kind of leadership that we are sensing our way into, as we speak. Our hearts can feel the path. It's a leadership with the potential to make us smile with genuine warmth, no matter what role we play.
