Greetings beloveds,
I hope you all enjoyed the video on Madame Pele. She is a powerful force that exemplifies the cycle of being. Through the many rounds of life and death Madame Pele is the fire of life which cannot be put out. I discussed earlier how Madame Pele’s stories might be applied to how we relate to ourselves. Now let’s expand this lens to women’s relationships, particularly between sisters.
Madame Pele as shared in my last post did not exactly get along well with everyone. She did what she wanted. This included seducing her sister’s husband. I shared this Madame Pele’s tale in my last post, but you can read more about her at Giselle Roeder’s page. Now, as can be expected her sister was not happy with her and Pele’s own father decided it’s time for Pele to set off on her own. Betrayal, lack of trust, revenge, pain, ego, persecution, and judgement have all been experiences that happen within the Divine Feminine. Madame Pele’s provides us with a look at the feminine’s collective shadow. Not just through her actions but that of those around her and how they react to what she does. This is not the fairy tale of the innocent main character who is treated poorly by others. Instead of creating a situation where we know that we are supposed to feel sorry for Madame Pele, we find ourselves feeling for the sister. Those feelings of commiseration do not last for long as her sister Namakoahakai seeks revenge. We find ourselves able to relate to both sisters initial plight.
We have all experienced that moment where to get what we desire we will have to do something unacceptable. Run a stop sign, not return phone calls, cheat on a test, spend money meant for bills, lie, steal, repress our emotions, or settle for less. You may be thinking, “oh but there’s nothing unacceptable about not returning a phone call,” while for someone else that is a sign of great disrespect. What is the norm or acceptable is determined by the larger body of society which plays at a similar institutional level as that of Divine Archetypes. From small to large acts, Madame Pele is the determination to get what she wants to fulfill her needs, even if this breaks a taboo. Her sister, Namakoahakai, is the feminine that will not just take things lying down. They are the same person in different spaces at different times. Madame Pele is the fire of spirit, creation, and transformation. Those same adjectives can be used to describe water, the element ruled by Namakoahakai. These elements, sisters, and aspects of the Divine Feminine may have the same outcomes but the means through which they achieve it differ. That is the power of the Divine. To be all things possible from light to dark.
When we have conflict or harmony with the other, we are experiencing conflict and harmony within ourselves. Through empathy and prior experience, we know more acutely what another might be experiencing in different circumstances. Yet, we still might do something that we know would hurt another. Why we do what we do is always more complex than what is seen on the surface. Collective archetypes, including that of Madame Pele and her family, hold the energy of roles played out on a macro scale. Exaggerating these lived experiences so that we see on the grand scale the drama of our lives played out externally for us. Through these stories we can externally interact with difficult emotions and physical states. Then we can take what we see in these stories and apply them to ourselves and others.
This happened for me the other day. Someone said something which I found to be confusing and uncalled for. Taking that split second to read over the comment again I could apply from this work how the statement could have caused an immediate rejection of the statement. Or perhaps that someone else had done something similar to this person which made them take the new stance that they held against the statement. I could feel their response in all these different ways. I stood my ground as Namakoahakai and Madame Pele did because I knew what I wanted to convey. I clarified my points in a gracious friendly way, while also remaining true to what I had wanted to express. My desire to speak and be heard were clear and I was going to meet my needs, even if it ruffled feathers. Madame Pele is the fire that burns through the restraints of the world around us which limit our truth through the need to “follow the rules”.
Be that fire. Speak that truth. Do what you want. Have compassion but take no shit.
-Rose
Kamilah Rose | The Bliss Institute 