What does a woman in her power look like?

She is a rare creature indeed.

We women are neither taught, nor encouraged to stand in our power in our culture. Or if we do, then it is to stand in a masculine defintion of power – high grades, high powered job, high earning, physical strength…

I know what she doesn’t look like, I experience that often enough – self-doubt, burn out, apologising all the time, self sabotage, negative self talk, playing small. And I see this in so many women around me.

It seems my path to be fortunate enough to talk regularly to women who stand in their power. Whether by email or phone, I am in regular contact with wise women. And for that I am truly blessed, and grateful that my “work” nourishes me so much on every level.

Some of the women whom I have been lucky enough to connect with over the past year are

• Ina May Gaskin (midwife and best selling author)
• Lynn Andrews (best selling author and shaman)
• Susun Weed (wise woman herbalist and author)
• Pam England (midwife and best selling author of Birthing from Within)
• Jane Hardwicke Collings (shamanic midwife and celebrant of women’s mysteries)
• Glennie Kindred (artist and author)
• Mara Friedman (artist)
• Lori at Tiny Buddha (writer)
• Amanda at Kind over Matter (writer and designer)
• ALisa Starkweather (founder of the Red Tent Temple Movement)

And a few whom I have studied under thanks to the wonder of the internet

• Leonie Dawson (founder of the Goddess Circle)
• Shiloh Sophia McCloud (artist)
• Flora Bowley (artist – Bloom True)

As one who only semi-inhabits her power, but is on the path to fully standing in it, it is a gift and an education of depth beyond words to see how these women who embody mastery and mystery are in the world. What they look like, what they sound like, how they act and speak. And it occurred to me that despite their working in different fields, coming from different backgrounds, being of different ages and callings, there were certain factors that united them.

Inanna – sculpture by Phillipa Bowers, available from Starchild.co.uk

A woman in her own power:

• Glows, she vibrates light and energy
• Seems bigger, brighter than most other beings
• Honours her creative urges
• Knows her limits and her boundaries and defines them clearly but lovingly.
• Knows her yes and her no, and uses them both the same, with love, without guilt
• Sets her priorities according to her heart and not others expectations
• Balances giving and receiving
• Gives of herself and her knowledge generously
• Knows how to recharge her energy
• Lives a full life – full of friends, love, celebration, beauty, joy and magnificence
• Walks the earth with glory in her heart, drinking in the beauty and magic of it all
• Knows the dark places, has ventured there and come out with a deeper knowing and appreciation for all of life
• Is always open to new ideas and gifts from the universe
• Follows her intuition
• Owns what she knows and is humble about what she doesn’t
• Speaks in a clear, unhurried way – knowing that she has space and time to unfold and is under no pressure – unless she is full of enthusiasm – when she just bubbles over
• Knows she makes mistakes and does not feel the need to hide them, but rather shares them with love as lessons
• Serves those she loves with a full heart.
• Opens herself fully to abundance
• Is youthful in her energy and enthusiasm, yet wise and old in heart and head
• Makes no apology for her own existence.
• Knows her own value, and celebrates that with others.
• Her work is prolific, expressive, deep, life changing, soulful