The Courage of Becoming

Image Credit: Young Man Meditating In Bedroom With Books Floating by Scopio from NounProject.com

Is it time to dare something new?

Read on for…

• mythical musings on rebirthing yourself: clues found in the story of Inanna, Queen of Heaven, and in the Venus Rose
• the inspiration & encouragement you were looking for to dare something new or become someone new
• deep Qs to kick you in the butt and right into living your truth

{Every other Friday, my newsletter subscribers receive a personal love letter from yours truly, affectionately titled the Friday Mythical Mera Missive. Sometime later, some of the time, (some of) it goes live here—for love is best shared, and yet some love letters are writ to stay secret…}

Darling,

Who are you becoming right now? Who are you rebirthing yourself into, dusk by dusk and dawn by dawn? (Told you we were going to get cozy with the heat turning up thanks to those rocket engines revving up for launch!)

In the myth of Inanna, the Sumerian Queen of Heaven, she descends to the underworld, where she dies at the hands of her sister Ereshkigal—who is her shadow self, who fully expresses her rage and grief and fierceness, and everything not light and neat and pretty. It is through the grace and magic of feeling and honouring everything, all that is there in the darkness, of meeting it in acceptance and love and compassion, seeing it in its truth and fullness, that Inanna is revived. So she rises again into her brilliance, more radiant than before, and more powerful—for now she is whole, and owning all of herself, both shadow and light.

We are right now at that time of Inanna’s death and rebirth. Why? Well, brief jaunt into astrology forthcoming—brief, I promise; other people have much more wisdom to share here. Just to draw the frame for the pulsing heart of this love letter…

As you may remember from your very first welcome missive, Inanna is Aphrodite is Venus (and many others). Astronomically, we’ve just had Venus’ star point in Leo: Venus, the planet, is in retrograde, and just reached her lowest point in her kiss of death, from which she rises again as the morning star in the dawn sky. When observed from our vantage point, over a span of eight years (or 13 of her orbits), Venus’ ever-rising and -dipping travels—like the wave, for she is the Star of the Sea—trace a beautiful mandala of five petals. The Venus rose.

(Sometimes, darling, you just doing your thing, nothing special to see here, can be incredibly beautiful to someone looking at it with the outside perspective. You know, like the way you’re being a mum, or following your dream, or helping your friend…)

So this is the time of the apex of the circle, the time of life after death, of new birth. And anything new you dare, anything new you become—it’s scary. It means being naked and vulnerable with glaring brightness blinding you. You may be a bit helpless, and all you can do is wail with the shock of it. Then again, it also didn’t come on super suddenly. You’ve been sitting there a while, stewing in the dark. Knowing something big and new is coming, until it’s time.

What is it time for, for you? (I love Mary Oliver’s gorgeous quote, and don’t think you can ever ask yourself this question too often: What is it you plan to do with your [one] wild and precious life?)

Does it feel true, completely true to you, darling, the way you spend your energy, moments, minutes, lifetime? Are you living for you, no matter who approves, being all you came to be? Are you living true to your dreams—even if those have changed? Is it your true dream, the one of this you you are now, or are now becoming?

For me, with the imminent release of Bond and Song, it’s time to really step into allowing myself to be seen as an author. Cue the terrified wailing! As you likely know, this is my debut novel, and as you may know, for the longest time—since childhood, in fact—a large part of my identity was actress. I crossed an ocean riding on the wings of that identity and pursuit. I started a life with two suitcases and zero dollars in the name of that dream.

Can an actress write a novel and remain an actress? Of course. Can an actress shed her identity word by written word, until she realises and can admit to herself that at least for now, author has become more true to her expression? I did. Bond and Song rose around themes that speak to my core, and in speaking into the core of them with my word weaving, I rose around them rebirthed—trembling, thrilled, and triumphant.

So, nice to meet you. I’m Mera Akiana, word weaver, author of Bond and Song. Who are you? 😃

And, darling, you know what I discovered these last few months, on top of that whole scariness?

Well… I’ll tell you next Wednesday, with one week to go till release—don’t want to bury you in a novel here when you’ve got an actual novel all about the courage of becoming waiting for you!

May you sing your soul’s song and may your heart bloom in love,

Your Word Weaver,

Mera Akiana

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