How to Have the Courage to Shine (Even when fear tells you to be small)

The Goddess Metis has a strong and powerful message inherent in her archetypal nature that encourages us to heal some of our self-sabotaging behaviors this week. But, before I focus in on her, I’m going to break down the storyline of the energetic umbrella over all our heads this week to reveal the invitation that was revealed in the weekly forecast.

This week’s universal energy reading begins with the energy of the goddess Mnemosyne, goddess of memory and mother of the 9 muses (of course Zeus, that ol’ horndog was the dad) in the Greek pantheon. She begins by inviting us to look to the past to discover the roots of our patterns, the things we learned and integrated that either support us or bury us in a mire of self-limiting beliefs and behaviors or supportive and positive ones. What story are you telling yourself and others about your past? Can you see your old story play out in front of you? We are memory based creatures and what we remember consciously or store beneath our waking mind rules our lives in ways many of us find baffling. But she arrives to remind us that, to make a shift, we need to tell new stories.

Skuld, the Norse goddess of the future, her seeming opposite reminds us of the relationship between these two goddesses. One passes the torch to the other, fate becoming destiny proving the continuity of our beliefs and conditioning. So the important thing to note is that we are going to repeat the past in the future if we don’t become awake to change anything.

Some things we want to keep repeating like good habits, self-care, positive thinking, and discernment in our actions and choices, but there are others that arise out of our wounded natures that are like weeds in our Field of Dreams that threaten to choke the life out of us. Often we abdicate responsibility but no one can do the work for us. If you keep repeating a pattern without healing it, your future will be another version of the same.

Metis stood out for me this week because as the first wife of Zeus, pregnant with Athena (who would become the goddess of intellect and strategy), she made her husband nervous. He became afraid to lose his power because she was becoming smarter than he, or so he perceived. Her wisdom was shining and so he convinced her to make herself small so he would no longer be threatened. Out of love for him, she agreed, became a fly and then he ate her. Oops.

So, this may have been a good way to remind the ancient Greek women to stay in line, but what about us modern people who are trying to shake off the bonds of patriarchy? Metis is an archetype for us to beware of and her wisdom heeded. Is there any time you make yourself small, diminishing your personal power because you’re afraid of reprisal? In our world of outrage and bullying are you scared to shine? Or, do you want to show your love and commitment to someone so you stay where you are lest they leave you? Tons of questions can be asked around this. It’s time to grab your courage and be full in your expression and shine in spite of your fears- whatever they are. (This is a big topic, and one we’ll address again…)

The only way we genuinely connect to the archetype of the Hindu goddess Lakshmi is to work through this. Fortune and abundance is a state of mind, a deep unerring belief in potential and possibility. The key lies with the goddess Metis this week. Wisdom is learned and integrated experience. Do you have the courage to look?

WEEKLY ORACLE CARD GUIDANCE AND LESSON