The Heroine's Journey

**cross-posted to the CAYA blog**


The Sisters of Fierceness are developing our own Wheel of the Year. We live geographically disparately and what is one person’s season might not be the same for another person. Where I’m at in Seattle, for example, we have the wet and dark season, and summer! As The Sisters of Fierceness are a group dedicated to personal development, it seemed appropriate that maybe instead of a seasonal year, we have a traveling year as we venture forth through life’s adventures.

To that end, we are developing the following Sabbats:

• Call To Adventure (Early February)
• Refusal & Acceptance (Spring Equinox of Discernment)
• Gathering of Allies/Joy of Trusted Friendship (Early May)
• The Golden Road (Summer Solstice - Celebrating The Journey)
• Leap and Let Go (Early August)
• Challenge & Opportunity (Fall Equinox)
• Acquiring the Elixir (descent & subsequent transformation, Late October)
• Rebirth & Renewal (Winter Solstice)

Part of my commitment this year is to provide a series of articles as we develop our sabbats. Today, we’re playing a little catchup and covering both The Call To Adventure as well as the upcoming Rite of Discernment, Refusal and Acceptance. The names are still somewhat in flux as we explore for the first time what each of these events are about. Bear with us as we explore our possibilities in joy with open hearts!

In early February we celebrated The Call to Adventure. In the still quiet of the February darkness, the seeds in the heart of the Earth, baby lambs, and Spring itself hears The Call — come unfurl and see what awaits in the big wide world! In fairy tales, all genders start each story hearing some Call to Adventure. And we, every day, face the world anew. Some of our adventures are big life-changing adventures, some adventures are mundane like going to the grocery store to pick up some salad greens (but check out what Jack got from a simple produce run!). What is calling you? What secret things are unfurling in your heart, starting to reach for the emerging daylight?

At the March Equinox we will be celebrating The Rite of Discernment, Refusal and Acceptance. Just because you hear a Call, doesn’t mean you have to answer it. In some fairy tales, this is built in — the rejection of the call… but the call comes again, and again, until it is accepted. Discerning whether this is a Call you want to follow is an important piece of the journey. Sometimes you need to say “no” to one call in order to answer another. Sometimes it seems like there is no choice in the matter and you’re thrown into the deep end to see if you sink or swim. In these cases, the discernment, refusal, and acceptance is less about the journey itself, but your attitude towards it. Are you working within your new found adventure with grace and making the best of what you can control within the larger picture? Or are you going into it resisting and kicking and screaming? Sometimes it’s appropriate to kick and scream! Your discernment of Right Action is critical.

We hope some of you can join us on our explorations as we follow this Journey through the year/s! We are looking forward to seeing how it develops and evolves!