ANSWERING YOUR CALLING
She Can Take The Heat ©2010
ANSWERING YOUR CALLING
Every single one of us has a calling.
Answering that calling is real medicine…while not answering often leads to illness and sorrow. Or even to the worse kind of illness: irrelevance…invisibility…listlessness…restlessness….despair…
Now you and I know that just because we begin to listen and answer we will not be instantly whole and completely well! Poets, artists and musicians are evidence that following the call, however illuminating to the soul, does not mean miracle healing. No. But, there is a very palpable experience of healing for those of us who answer. As Martha Graham in a letter to Agnes De Mille says so well:
“There is a vitality, a life force, a quickening that is translated through you into action…”
I know you know that feeling. Whether you have had the experience recently or it was a very long time ago. She goes on to say:
“There is only one of you in all time, this expression is unique, and if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium; and be lost.”
And right now I am wondering what is YOUR unique expression?
I’m wondering, what do you hear when I aks about your Calling?
Because I am trying to find words for something that is imprinted on our very soul. Something imprinted like Instructions To Do in this life.
Note to self: ANSWER the CALL.
Something that is uniquely yours to fulfill on, experience, or express.
Something that is akin to destiny – yours.
And I mean, yours uniquely. Unique in that it belongs to you and your soul. Sometimes it may be in collaboration with others…and let us hope so, because to fulfill on a calling alone isn’t all it is cracked up to be… The way I’m thinking, when any one of us answers the calling of our unique destiny, healing is made available to the world. And when a whole group of people answer their calling, change happens at the quantum levels! I venture to think, and indeed I do believe, that the entire world would be transformed by this one single solution: to answer your call. Your true call, that which Creator instilled in your DNA, in your mitochondria, when you, when I, when each of us was knit together in our mothers’ wombs.
Now, I aint saying your calling has to be something huge and monumentally life changing! Some are called to Big Things, and some are called to the Little Things without which the big things could not be. When we think of a garden we often see what grows there, but it is the tiny particles of dirt all together that make a sunflower or a squash possible.
This is my call out about the callings for those who desire to have peace, goodness and possibility. Who secretly or not so secretly want to be a part of the transformation of the world. Where there is enough food. Clean water. Warm shelter. Education. And love. Plenty of love.
This is A Call to Action. A call to listen more profoundly to the words your heart has been trying to speak. What is being whispered within YOU? Just think how different it would be if you listened fully, and the one next to you and next to her…and him…if everyone….listened fully. This whole life would be different!
This I tell you true, if you answer your call, your life will be transformed from the inside out. If we want transformation in our lives, we can answer the call and let it lead the work, for it surely will.
Now, I am not going to lie to you. Just answering a calling is not a be all end all solution. However, in hard times such as these,when so much is falling away there is no greater way to soothe the aching heart and mind than to connect with one’s life purpose. To remember a greater cause to which you have chosen to be a part. Or in the words of the Cosmic Cowgirls, Remember your own Legend. And if you don’t remember, make one up.
I believe in Legend. Legend being a combo of fact and fiction…with glitter added (we do like to add glitter round here). Really, to be Legendary is to choose to be an alchemist of sorts – to take what there was (our past) what there is (our present) and to invent what is possible (our future). The fiction part has to do with designing a conversation, a way of being that you CHOOSE about who you are and where you been. To DESIGN your life as if it is a personal legend instead of a something simply happening to you. In the words of my own mother, Caron McCloud
We have arrived at our truths
by forgetting the parts we didn’t like
making up the parts that were missing
and holding on for dear life
to the little we came upon that we could trust.
So dear one:
What is your story? Your legend? Your calling?
As an artist and teacher, I do not judge the knitter’s socks as less significant than the revolutionary. A revolutionary needs socks and hats to keep them warm while they storm the castle! Calling is not about levels of importance. The way I trust it, Creator is an organized being, and will certainly have handed out callings according to an entire puzzle wherein all the pieces make up a cohesive big picture! So, if it doesn’t have to look huge, (but it can!)…tell me today: What is your story? Your legend? Your calling?
We’re here in the time of Spring (HALLALEJAH). A time when that which we have been gestating, pondering and prodding along is beginning to reveal a bit of bright possibility. When we attune ourselves with the seasons, drawing upon the very particles in the air to support us in moving forward! Your calling as a personal seed that you were born with. Your listening is the soil in which the seed can take root and send up a sprout. Your attention is the water. Listen and Attend to that seed and watch your life be the blooming.
Please dear one, don’t let the seed not germinate. Don’t let that seed sit there in the dark. Seeds have a long shelf life but, why wait till a whole nother Spring to see your calling sprout? Are you Ready? I am. Will you share one sentence of a heart whisper? An idea? A chapter in your story, your legend? Will you dear one, answer your calling as it calls today? Just one tiny itty bitty yes can move mountains.
With Spring spreading steadily in my valley, I am joyfully signing this with pink petals – see them blowing in the bright air as they do past the open door of Electric Rose Gallery. As I look out – the whole world is filled with falling petals, evidence that Spring is in the air. A time of renewal of course, of new ideas sprouting – and – listening to our callings.
May you bloom.
I see you, blooming. And my…
but you are lovely.
Shiloh Sophia 
And this weekend, if you want to work with me on following your Calling – you can Join me at the 6 month mentorship Journey, Leading A Legendary Life in Healdsburg, California…
Hey could I reference some of the insight from this blog if I link back to you?
yes, of course, thank you!!!
Hey could I reference some of the insight from this blog if I link back to you?
yes, of course, thank you!!!
I am an empath and I can provide psychic comfort, when invited.
If I were free of marital abuse, I could practice more.
Dear Shiloh,
My purpose is to walk this life as a strong and gentle woman providing love and support to family, friends and others that my path intersects with. I bring people together through work, cooking, volunteering, laughing and smiling.
Judy
Hi Shiloh….well my goal purpose and intention is to walk talk and live the divine …..through all that I do …writing….art …tap dancing…music…and totally loving my wonderful beautiful friend ….my husband …Life should be about joy even if you are in the middle of a problem ….There are lessons that come to us ….I know that I have let go of the small picture { just this immediate reality ] and walk hand in hand with the divine… WOW every minute is amazing and a miracle in itself …Thank you for the wild beauty you dance in this world…..love and light and giggles Lizzie
Dear Shiloh Sophia,
My calling is to ‘come out’ as a peacebuilder/healer of conflict and write down my story on why and how, in the form of a fairy tale/superhero story. (mostly for myself, to build trust in this deep desire)
I just started a business called http://www.peacemapping.com, but in my personal/social context I find it challenging to state that I secretly have developed myself as peacebuilder as my biggest passion, combined with intuitive art. It invokes the big question if I have done enough to “qualify”.
This feels like leaving a letter/note in a wall in Jerusalem with a secret wish. It’s great to have a place to send this cry from my soul to.
Thanks for providing this opportunity!!!!
love, Susanne
Dear Shiloh Sophia, Quite some time ago, I went to Bella Donna in Berkely to hear Kali Rose Halvorson sing and to learn Orisha chants with Carolyn Brandy. I saw your art there and manuals for creativity classes which I was strongly attracted to but I felt were beyond my ability to grasp. Now here you come again, forwarded to me by an artistic ritual woman friend and drummer/dancer! I am attracted to your courses and am a time where money is scarce in my personal world but I feel rich, inspired by what you have written and offered here. Your Goddess of the red thread thing and words about answering the call…..so to the point for me. I know who I am at times, feel it calling, but there is muck and fear and holding back……which has been a way of life for me for too long. Bless you for the articulation of that, the inspiration of your expressive work and challenge.
Sincerely, Shirley McClure of Half Moon Bay
Wow, that was a beautiful email. And the responses people have written on this site, equally beautiful. I can’t wait to meet you Shiloh. I am at a point right now in my life where I feel like I have the opportunity to take a giant leap towards my calling. I currently do adolescent HIV/STI prevention work. While I believe very much in the work that I do, I have always wanted to create my own thing, rather than fulfill someone else’s thing. I have always wanted to combine eastern and western approaches to health and healing, and now, more than ever, I really want to work with young people to help them learn skills for awareness, to know their authentic selves, and to walk with beauty in the world. I have been presented with this amazing opportuntiy to go back to grad school, all expenses covered, to study adolescent neurodevelopment and how this influences health. Although it is very western, I think that I could use this opportunity to gain credibility in this field and to somehow show how important it is to adolecent development that our society teaches youth these awareness skills. As I am faced with this choice of going back to school, I also am faced with leaving my beloved in California while I venture off to Baltimore for 2+ years to make this happen. All this to say that I feel this calling, and I hope that this is the path that I need to take to get there because I feel like I am walking away from my beloved, my garden and home, and the land that I love so dearly (at least for a few years) to make it happen. That is pulling at my heart strings a whole lot. And if I don’t go, I will probably always wonder, what if….
Thank you for these words to remind me that the path is what it is all about. To listen when the heart calls out. That there are people all along the way who hold out their own candles to help light the paths for others….
“A Woman’s Journey to God”
– Joan Borysenko
“You are at my side, dear friends, and God is everywhere. Yet ultimately we are alone, making our way home by the candle of the heart. The light is steady and sure but extends only far enough to see the next step. That there are steps beyond is a matter of faith. That we have the faith to endure and walk our own journey — even when we think that we are lost — is a gift of grace, and of friendship. Many times our light seems to go out. But another light, one held by a stranger or a friend, a book or a song, a blackbird or a wildflower, comes close enough so that we can see our path by its light. And in time we realize that the light we have borrowed was always also our own.”
I am in the midst of listening to the whisper telling me that I am called to be a healer, a wise woman, a storyteller. It has taken illness to find the time to stop and listen enough to take the persistent whisper seriously. I am in the process of becoming a Reiki master as well as returning to various other healing modalities that I ran away from in fear of my wisdom and skill when I didn’t understand myself as well as I am learning to now.
Sulwyn – it is certainly a journey isn’t it, for a woman who is to be a cantadora or curandera or both! I am sorry to hear of your illness, but amazing how it can also be medicine. It is always the challenge to BALANCE things when one is in service to others. I think understanding oneself is key – and also the celebration that comes from knowing what is within, or at least glimpsing it, is powerful! I am glad to be alongside your journey…
Blessings,
Shiloh
Hello Dearest Shiloh!
I know my calling is all about Balance! To share balance and bliss and to help others get there! As a former dancer, continuing artist, interior designer, feng shui and color expert I have a wide range of tools and experiences in my tool kit!
I was lucky enough to attend your workshop with Marc Allen last year and it has been amazing. Thank you for all you are and do!
Rock on Sister Girl!
Tamara Stone
To bring joy and love to others in any way.
FRAN, THAT SOUNDS WONDERFUL! YES to build a house and garden – my prayers be with you on your journey. FOR WHAT YOU NEED: Resilience! YES! Courage! Stick to itedness! Whatever you do just keep that VISION focused!
Blessings,
Shiloh
Hello inspiration Sister,
My calling is to publish a book on crafting creative chakras, AND to find some land to build a natural house, shrines and Goddess garden. I’ve got the inspiration, it’s the resilience I need, all prayers gratefully received!
With love
hi Shiloh!
I just returned from Africa where I volunteered for 6 months rescuing children that had been raped. It was a life changing experience. I is without a doubt, impossible to walk away from this type of service. It no longer “calls” me; it is now shouting and shaking me with urgency. I have proven that I’m able to effect positive change and that is life giving/supporting . . . for me too.
When I go inward and ask Spirit to reveal what gift my life should be about, what is my true calling, I consistently come up with~ I wish to have a profoundly positive impact on millions. There! I said it! I am braced . . . I know the power of declaring your “calling” out loud or in writing!
I plan to return to Africa this summer. Although dates and specific details remain undetermined, I do plan to go independently again, raise funds to support my expenses for approximately 6 months. I am currently leaning toward an organization in Kenya that works closely with the Maasai tribe. My job would be rescuing and empowering women that had either been brutally abused and/or had the FGM (Female Genital Mutilation) or were attempting to escape it.
My work is no longer my own . . . it belongs to something so much bigger, I am simply trying to follow divine guidance and answer the call. I suspect another way of heeding my call would be to write and publish my photographs.
I’m on it, Sista Shilo!!!
hello dear Patty Tough Angel
It is SO GOOD TO see this post – to see you here – to know what you did – where you are and what you are about. Isn’t it profound how we can be called to the worst of situations, and find PEACE wihtin it, find a sense of JOY even amidst horror? To hear from you is a gift to my night and I want to say on behalf of all the Cosmic Cowgirl sisters, how THRILLED I AM that you are on the planet, that you heard and answered the call and that you ARE DOING IT – thank you thank you thank you. I think it is time for a conversation voice to voice about go forwards with your projects….reading Alice Walker’s Possessing the Secret of Joy was for sure one of my own wake up calls –
love
shiloh
Today my calling has been calling, almost demanding with a voice much more like a scream than a gentle nudge. It feels trapped in my chest insistent upon escape, yet when I open my mind or my mouth to answer the question there is nothing, except this deep certainty that I am not fulfilling my intended purpose. I used to truly believe I was destined to impact the world…
CANDACE! your comment made my heart jump with sorrow, hope, love, and of course, compassionate understanding. A scream can be a powerful launch – in fact when I had my WAKE UP it was FOR SURE a scream -painful at the time, but needed for the unleashing of the power only that kind of primal experience could yield… that deep certainty of which you SPEAK is part of answering the call – the KNOWING that you are destined to impact the world. Some folks, never ever feel they have a part, you DO feel you have a destiny of impact and the pain of not being a place to ANSWER that impact is part of what CAUSES the scream-you know this stuff already – I want to know what I can say that will activate, unlock, make available the INTENDED PURPOSE conversation at an all new level.
CANDACE
what do you want? what do you really want? what do you care about seeing changed in the world? what makes you mad about what is happening here? what are you happiest doing?
Ah yes I can take the heat. I am a woman who knows that depth of having so little money and almost no guarantees except for the Spirit of Love that has surrounded me throughout my whole life…and that has carried me through it all.
Coach Helene – thank you so much for writing – yes you can take the heat – – – I get you on the no guarantees – I feel it with you – and yes the SPIRIT of LOVE and hope surrounds us…
May you choose outrageous actions that challenge who you are and encourage who you are becoming.
May you take one step, however small, toward that which you have always longed for.
Now is the “right time.”
May you recognize the unique and powerful contribution that you bring to the people whose lives you touch.
May you be as wonderful as you really are, and do things because you want to, not just because you should.
May you celebrate your creativity and believe that you are an
artist with a unique vision that no one else has.
Shiloh:
You are life to me. Thank you for your timely questions. It seems that I go dead in order to survive and your emails always bring me back to life.
I do not know what my specific purpose is – I just know that I am meant for more than this.
Thank you for keeping me connected to my heart!
Peace be with you.
Annette – I am so glad this post was able to connect to your heart – yes it is UTMOST of challenge to survive and I am right there with you, doing what I CAN DO to make life work and continue to reach out into the future and create.
What is it you WANT to create? What do you love doing? Of course you are meant for more than “this” – of course there is something very powerful and specific that is just for you…
don’t stop searching for it….
Hi Shiloh:
Glamour Puss here. Last year was a year of getting ready for transition. Right now I am at the start of the transition and ready to begin answering my calling. My passion is women’s history; the matriarchs in our society(ies), past and present. From priestesses (The Druids) to Prime Ministers (Golda Meir) to Secretary of State (Hilary Clinton) to President (Michelle Bachelet: current president of Chile.) The strengths of women. The Power of Female.
As with many things in life, your message was very timely. Although I have not been active in Cosmic Cowgirls up to now, this is the time for me to become more involved and answer my calling.
Catharine
HIYA Glamour Puss – I love to hear that – WOMEN’ HISTORY – really? oh this sound so totally FABOO! So what FORM does it take? In what way will this passion be expressed…what are your ideas for ANSWERING this call?
FYI Cosmic Cowgirls isn’t going anywhere – what that means is that you can come in and out and do what is best for you and your timing and we will still just BE HERE when you are READY!
My calling is to finish the series of children’s books that I have started. I lived in Peshawar Pakistan, dressed like the nomadic refugees and photographed and wrote the childrens folk tales and tales of war. My series will be of tales from displaced children of war. You can see 12 pages of 45 here. All the art that is not the children’s is from my photographs, some turned into oils and sketches by artist Lynn Capell and the book graphically designed by my (tattoo artist) son. The children’s art is there in all its sweet glory. The series is my life’s and heart’s work and passion. The business’s I am creating I hope to get going enough so that i have a royalty stream to have the luxury to complete the books. So, you can go to http://www.janparkerlisi.com and click on books and see what I am going to do and to finish! Blessings and well wishing appreciated. I have taken your course, not this valentines day but last, and loved it and when I move back to Calistoga this summer i will be back for more wonderful courses. YOU are so inspirational!
Love what you do ……….
jAN! what you have done and what you do is INCREDIBLE! I went to your site – WOWOWOW- but I don’t have the program to open the book – maybe another day when I have not been at work as long as today….that series sound really and truly inspiring –
Calistoga this summer- then we shall soon meet…
love
shiloh
Hi Shiloh, Good to be connected with you once again. My calling is to express love and the joy of living. I’m currently expressing that through Mindset Mastery coaching and teaching. http://www.beccapronchick.com Please visit and let me know your impressions of my new web site and new coaching programs and yoga/meditation retreats.
With lots of love & blessings, Becca
Becca – wow it is a gorgeous site – good to see what you are working on!! And I like the combination of the manifestation work and yoga on the same site, because certainly we NEED to have mind body and spirit working all together…..what I want to know is, what is YOUR specific passion? There is the work I do, and then there is WHAT I AM PERSONALLY in love with – are they the same for you?
My calling is to finish the series of children’s books that I have started. I lived in Peshawar Pakistan, dressed like the nomadic refugees and photographed and wrote the childrens folk tales and tales of war. My series will be of tales from displaced children of war. You can see 12 pages of 45 here. All the art that is not the children’s is from my photographs, some turned into oils and sketches by artist Lynn Capell and the book graphically designed by my (tattoo artist) son. The children’s art is there in all its sweet glory. The series is my life’s and heart’s work and passion. The business’s I am creating I hope to get going enough so that i have a royalty stream to have the luxury to complete the books. So, you can go to http://www.janparkerlisi.com and click on books and see what I am going to do and to finish! Blessings and well wishing appreciated. I have taken your course, not this valentines day but last, and loved it and when I move back to Calistoga this summer i will be back for more wonderful courses. YOU are so inspirational!
Love what you do ……….
jAN! what you have done and what you do is INCREDIBLE! I went to your site – WOWOWOW- but I don’t have the program to open the book – maybe another day when I have not been at work as long as today….that series sound really and truly inspiring –
Calistoga this summer- then we shall soon meet…
love
shiloh
thank you for this post…it came for me at just the right time. blessings on your beautiful soul!
Stacy – I am so glad it came at the right time. Time can be like that – something just CLICKS. The last number on the combination just goes into place and chaching! I hope this called to your calling….