Last week I had the pleasure of speaking with Schuyler Brown, a poet, student of tantric Buddhism, feminist scholar, mandala artist, and spiritual guide. In this wide-ranging discussion we covered a variety of topics such as menopause, the archetypal roles of women, the need for a new way to share authority and power, and ways of working with the powerful feelings that arise in the course of daily living.
Art and Poetry by Schuyler
The Knowing Place
A Healing Poem for Women
Inspired by Emily Dickinson
(excerpt)
Here is a secret, sisters…
Your pain is the gateway.
Stop numbing it, for it is the source.
It is a lucky woman
who is sent searching inside herself
for this forgotten treasure.
No doctor, no teacher, no sage
can tell a woman where to find it.
She must venture in on her own
because all else outside has failed.
The motivation can be severe:
heartbreak, grief, despair, pain.
Something about which others will say,
"Oh, I'm so sorry!" and "That's just awful!"
But, they don't understand
that what she's been given
in that lost love, that last goodbye, that diagnosis,
is a key--
the key to a world of knowing once again
what she needs and how she wants to be cared for.
It's the key to healing
and the alchemy that transforms suffering
into pure light.
Because The Knowing Place
composts even the gravest doubts.
It transforms this food into tolerance,
resilience, forbearance and acceptance.
It transforms her from what others want her to be
into what she has always known she is.
This is why a woman retreats when she is in pain...
not to hide, not to unburden the world,
but to seek that place of solace and beauty inside
where she knows how to heal and hold it all.
Beyond Form (The Cosmic Mother)
(excerpt)
I am the queen, the bees,
and the hive itself
buzzing with aliveness,
radiating nectar,
honey dripping like jewels…
A giantess, a temple for the hard work
of purification.
I contain it all:
the ecstatic expression of this world
and its pain;
hell realms, angelic realms.
My body is Sacred World
holding the whole,
holding up the sky,
supported by infinite beings
beyond time,
below and beneath time,
a river of experience flowing
through the caves of our hearts.
I am in the place of no coming and no going.
Everything arising and dissolving;
empty and full,
no attachment, no aversion,
also not indifferent.
An expression of sacred movement;
the movement of what needs to happen.
No more no less.
This could and will go on forever.
Just then a song…
Salve, Regina, Mater misericordiæ…
It rises up through the atmosphere
through space and time
to enter all of my halls of pain.
The channels where I burn
are soothed by this sweet voice;
strong and certain.
Sincere.
Now I understand this is what makes infinity bearable:
prayer, song, gratitude, love.
The singers are generous
sending this offering up through the central channel
of the world.
It is a prayer for mercy.
It helps. It soothes.
It is granted.
Mary Magdalene (excerpted)
Bring your wounds.
Tell me what hurts.
Sit, bathe, repose.
Pray.
I can get to work.
I can set you straight.
Just ask, you must know.
I will place my hands
gently, lightly
never fast, but slow.
The Mediterranean bore you here.
You swam in her waters all your life.
Now, you are far from home.
But, the Star of Venus
is still on the horizon.
A reminder that all of Earth
is one home.
If you would like to stay connected to Schuyler:
Instagram: @schuylerbrown
WEBSITE: https://www.artofemergence.com/
If you would like more of Psyche’s Lamp:
Beautiful poetry
Fascinating interview.
I loved the path of healing from the shadows and the pain to the light to the universal love.
Beautiful ❤️