Exercising Freedom as an Act of Resistance

Don’t know if you all have been keeping tabs on the protests in Egypt. This Wednesday, January 25, marked the one year start of the revolution that overthrew the country's president and his corrupt regime. Last year, the protesters marched with the slogan, “Down with, down with, Hosni Mubarek.” This week, they repeated a similar cadence but voiced a different demand, “Down with, down with military governance.”  Hundreds of thousands of marchers descended on Tahrir Square, in Cairo, a surprising majority women, who, just weeks before, had been beaten, violated and shamed by the current government’s army. They were back in an unprecedented display, demanding their voices be heard.  The women of the Middle East are my present metaphor for freedom beyond the physical, beyond what can be desecrated and even destroyed. When I watch the Egyptian people, I recognize their North Stars as "freedom", I see them Chart their Courses through their acts of protest and I acknowledge their Arrivals—all in spite of the atrocities they experience, for there is a more enduring Inner Constellation lighting the way. 

Joan of Arc (January’s Freedom Series Heroine) accessed this Inner Constellation as did all individuals highlighted in the Freedom Series posts. How might we be inspired this week to access a state of inner freedom in spite of outside limitations? Sometimes to protest, as the people of the Middle East so bravely do, is the equivalent of carrying a torch of hope. I think of the sonnet by Emma Lazarus (1849-1887), engraved on the Statue of Liberty:

"Liberty" by uploathe at DeviantArt.com

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,

With conquering limbs astride from land to land;

Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand

A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame

Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name

Mother of Exiles....
"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she

With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,

I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

Exercising Freedom by Following One's Inner Compass

AAAARRRRGGGG! It's been almost two weeks since writing a blog article! I apologize, never has it been so long. A loved one had fairly extensive surgery, and I was focused on his comfort. Good news is--tapping came to the rescue once again. My charge is doing fantastic and he attributes his quick recovery to the meridian tapping :) OK, so I bit off a huge bite in my last article, saying the month of January would address "freedom" as a North Star. We discussed my favorite seeker of freedom, Joan of Arc, last article, and this week we celebrated Martin Luther King, Jr. So, I was thinking, why not highlight these two stellar examples of freedom exercised at its finest.

To me, one definition of living free means to follow one's inner voice. Joan did this par excellent, even when her internal compass went against the authority of her age--the Church. MLK is another such person recently honored for his persistent voice of freedom in the face of social injustice. His internal compass of equal rights for all was perhaps best expressed in his "I have a Dream," speech. Both Joan and MLK maintained their personal visions even when they were not yet reality. For MLK equal rights would be another twenty years in coming after his death, and interestingly, for Joan, the same span of years would pass after her burning before her people were free from English occupation.

For both MLK and Joan, living free was first perfected on the inside. If you were to live free and follow your inner compass what would life look like? My wish for myself and others is inner freedom regardless of circumstances and the exercising of our dreams until they become reality. In the closing words of MLK, "Free at last, free at last, thank God, Almighty, we are free at last!"

Happy Birthday Joan of Arc!

Yesterday, January 6, was Joan of Arc's birthday. She was born exactly 600 years ago in the year 1412. As I slacked on the blog post (sorry yesterday was crazy), the country of France wildly celebrated Joan's birthday anniversary. If you're up for a bit of a history lesson, check out my Joan of Arc website where you can take a journey through images of France and get a feel for her accomplishments. If you wish to read an engaging first-person account of Joan from a mystic's perspective, check out my ebook on Amazon or my website devoted to my Joan writings. This exceptional girl has been a strong influence in my personal and professional Inner Constellation work and here's why:

1) Joan valued personal freedom above all else ('freedom' was her North Star)
2) She identified anything encroaching upon this basic human right and overcame it (i.e. foreign invaders entering her country)

I decided to highlight Joan in this month's Freedom Series and as January unfolds, explore her North Star--that of freedom. Here are some questions I'll be considering, great ones for the new year, 2012:

1) What does it mean to be free both in actuality and symbolically?
2) How do we identify and knock down obstacles to complete freedom?
3) What does it mean to be strongly rooted in the North Star of freedom in spite of opposition?
4) In what ways is Joan's North Star continuing to shine around the globe, especially in places like the Middle East and countries continuing to fight for this most basic of human rights?

Whew, that should keep me busy! I would love to hear your thoughts, especially if you were born, like Joan, in a country fighting to keep the North Star of freedom shining.