Awaken Your Divine Feminine Creative Fire

The Divine Feminine Fire by Teri Degler

The Divine Feminine Fire by Teri Degler

Today's Creative Soul Spotlight is on Teri Degler, author and co-author of ten non-fiction books including The Divine Feminine Fire; Creativity and Your Yearning to Express Your Self.

Teri will be my guest in the Creative Soul Circle this month (September 2011) where she will be available to answer all your questions. The Circle is a women-only support group and social site that is free to join.

An Interview with Teri Degler

Web: teridegler.com,
Blog: blog.teridegler.com
Fan Page:  Facebook

What fears did you break through to write this book?

The biggest fear was that – in spite of having had nine other books published -- I couldn’t do it. I simply would not be able to pull it off. And then – as I tell the story in the book – I completely collapsed in fear when the arrangement I had with my former publisher fell apart. I realize now that part of the reason I had so much trouble with this was that, in my mind, having I had a major publisher for the book validated it and validated me in some way. I didn’t have the inner faith in my self or in the book that I needed.

Do you have any advice for women struggling with fear?

In The Divine Feminine Fire I talk about the battle between divine love and fear and the fact that love is always capable of conquering fear. This love is the active power of the divine. St. Hildegard von Bingen called this fiery power Caritas or Sophia. The ancient yogis called it Shakti – the cosmic divine feminine. But the important thing for those of us who struggle with fear is that this inner power is accessible! It is embodied in each one of us. We simply have to tune into it – through prayer, meditation, creativity exercises like the ones that are in the book – and allow it to flow through us. Like any spiritual practice this requires practice!

(Unfortunately, trying to summarize this makes it all sound a bit glib! Fear is part of the “unenlightened” human condition; it is something we face continually and meet on different levels as we grow and progress. This is certainly true for me at any rate!)

How does it feel when you’re ‘in the flow’ of creation?

Although I imagine this experience is different for everyone, it is no coincidence that we use the word “flow” when we refer to these types of experiences! There really is a sense of something – call it a force, an energy, whatever you will – flowing through you. For me, when I am really writing at the deepest level, the world around me fades away and nothing exists but images conjured up by what I’m writing. It feels like I am floating in time and space. It is also very blissful. For me this is connecting to the divine feminine – the creatrix of the universe and the creative force within each one of us. But there is also a lot of work with writing – for me that’s when my inner divine masculine comes into play – a constructive critical side that edits, rewrites, and rearranges so the work is as clear as it can possibly be.

(I want to make it clear at some point that I believe the Divine – God, the Absolute, the Great Spirit, whatever you want to call it – is beyond gender. It is neither masculine nor feminine. However, I also believe the Divine exists in terms of an inner divine masculine and divine feminine and that the Divine expresses itself in this kind of polarity throughout the universe. Indeed we experience life itself in terms of polarity – male/female; light/dark; yin/yang; positive/negative electrical charges, and on and on…)

When you were younger what did you want to be when you grew up?

Nobody has ever asked me that before! I wanted to be a singer because my older half-sister had a wonderful voice and I idolized her. But after being demoralized by music teachers who told me I couldn’t carry a tune in a bucket I gave up. Fortunately, I also love to draw and was quite good at it so I turned my sights to becoming an artist. A year of being an art major in university convinced me this wasn’t the right path for me. Now I realize that it was the yearning to express myself that was the important thing. According to interpretations of the age-old yogic texts, this deep-seated longing can be thought of as the voice of Shakti – the cosmic divine feminine – propelling us along the path of spiritual transformation…

How has writing The Divine Feminine Fire transformed your life?

Exactly in the way I describe in the answer above. The ancient yogis described Shakti as what today we could call an evolutionary force – we can also think of it as a sort of spiritual transformative “energy”. And there is only one spiritual transformative energy; it doesn’t matter whether we call it kundalini-shakti, jeng chi, dumo fire, or Holy Spirit – it is the fire of the spirit within that transforms us and brings us closer to the Divine. Writing a book about ancient women mystics and seemingly ordinary, everyday women today who are experiencing this transformative power in their lives gave me a chance to really focus on that very same force and to really feel and experience it in my own life.

Teri Degler

Teri Degler

How can we, as women best contribute to this crucial time in human history and can you share some real life examples from your own life?

We simply need to express this force in our lives – whether it is in our creative expression, the creative thinking we bring to solving either our own problems or the world’s, or the hands-on work we do to make the world a better place. Mahadevi – a medieval yogini – described it as being filled with the “precious juice of grace”. Once filled with this grace she then poured it back into the world in the form of her writing and in the efforts she made to ease the suffering she saw around her.

In the book I talk about four steps involved in expressing this force. First, be able to recognize this power. This is why I describe the divine feminine from the Hindu, Christian, and Jewish traditions in the book – so we can know her and know how she works in our lives. Second, we need to practice sitting with/simply being with this power – we need to be comfortable with holding this power in our bodies. Third, we need to listen to what she is telling us – really hear the guidance that is being given to us. Then we can come to the last step, which is allowing this precious juice of grace to flow upwards, outwards, and onto the world which needs it so badly.

There are examples in the book of women who did this. Anya, for instance, came up with an extremely creative and exciting way to start a big environmental movement in her home town. And right now one of the other women whose earlier story I told in the book is in India working passionately with the Global Peace Initiative of Women to create an international, interfaith centre aimed at helping to bring the values and wisdom of the feminine into contemporary spirituality and society.

What is the most important message you would like to convey through your book?

This is directly linked to your question above. This transformative spiritual force – that is embodied within us! – is transforming us and we can use that power to transform the world. And I absolutely believe it is our responsibility as human beings – and especially as empowered women! – to do just that.

Who or what do you find yourself returning to over and over again to inspire your Divine Feminine creativity?

Personally I really love to keep reading the age-old yogic and Tantric texts that describe the transformative power of the divine feminine. But I get much of my day to day inspiration from the women I’ve met and continue to meet who are doing incredibly inspiring work in the world. I tell one these women’s stories in each issue of my newsletter: http://www.teridegler.com/newsletter.html. I’m also posting their pictures, a bit about why they are inspiring, and their websites on my new Face Book community page, and I’m in the process of starting an “Inspiring Women Inspiring Women” page on my website. So everyone can check them out and get inspired!

What is the most difficult part of following your creative passions?

Fear. It seems I have to keep coming back to this and facing new levels of self-doubt every time I face a new challenge.

What advice can you offer to women who are seeking to reignite their Divine Feminine fire?

The four steps above. Learn to recognize the divine feminine. Become ever more comfortable holding this great power in your body. Listen to what it is telling you. Express it. (And, remember, you can’t express it if you don’t create a certain amount of time and space in your life for doing so!)

When you look back on all the research, writing and interviewing you did for The Divine Feminine Fire, what one thing stands out the most, as if it’s been burned into your memory for all time?

That this divine feminine force is real – that the active power of divine love is real – that the “light within” is real – and that they are all the same thing!

What is your next project going to be about, can you give us a hint?

I am thinking about writing a book about the spiritual journey I’ve been on – it has had painful, heartbreaking moments and many really whacky, funny moments too… I would be very nervous if this were going to be a book about “me” – but I think it could be me as a writer being a sort of “lens” on the spiritual journey from the late 1960s on – and a way of sharing the absolutely amazing people I’ve met, things I’ve seen, and experiences I’ve been blessed – and, admittedly, sometimes tortured! – to have had. But there are about ten other books I’d like to write too!!

About Teri

Teri Degler

Teri Degler

Award-winning writer Teri Degler is the author/co-author of ten books including The Fiery Muse: Creativity and the Spiritual Quest (Random House of Canada). A long-time student of yoga philosophy and mystical experience, Teri has taught workshops in the United States and Canada and made numerous media appearances. Her freelance writing has appeared in Family Circle, More Magazine, Today’s Parent, The Toronto Star and many other publications. Her latest book, The Divine Feminine Fire: Creativity and Your Yearning to Express Your Self, recently became a #10 Amazon.ca Bestseller in two spiritual categories. See www.teridegler.com

Express Your Divine Feminine Creative Fire: An Interview with Author, Teri Degler

The Divine Feminine Fire by Teri Degler Today's Creative Soul Spotlight is on Teri Degler, author/co-author of ten non-fiction books, including The Fiery Muse: Creativity and the Spiritual Quest and the topic of our interview today – The Divine Feminine Fire; Creativity and Your Yearning to Express Your Self. I've had the pleasure of getting acquainted with Teri through numerous emails discussing this interview and it's truly been a delight, but I really just LOVED her book and am adding it to my Resource List for the Divine Feminine eClass I teach. It's personal, it's intuitive, it's helpful and it's even got Creativity Exercises included at the end of each chapter, and in fact I fell so in love with Teri's book and made so many notes in it and copied so many quotations from it, that I just couldn't bear to part with the review copy I was sent! (I'm sure you'll understand why after reading this interview.)

An Interview with Teri Degler

Web: teridegler.com Blog: blog.teridegler.com Facebook Fan Page

What fears did you have to break through to write this book?

The biggest fear was that – in spite of having had nine other books published -- I couldn’t do it. I simply would not be able to pull it off. And then – as I tell the story in the book – I completely collapsed in fear when the arrangement I had with my former publisher fell apart. I realize now that part of the reason I had so much trouble with this was that, in my mind, having I had a major publisher for the book validated it and validated me in some way. I didn’t have the inner faith in my self or in the book that I needed.

Do you have any advice for women struggling with fear?

In The Divine Feminine Fire I talk about the battle between divine love and fear and the fact that love is always capable of conquering fear. This love is the active power of the divine. St. Hildegard von Bingen called this fiery power Caritas or Sophia. The ancient yogis called it Shakti – the cosmic divine feminine. But the important thing for those of us who struggle with fear is that this inner power is accessible! It is embodied in each one of us. We simply have to tune into it – through prayer, meditation, creativity exercises like the ones that are in the book – and allow it to flow through us. Like any spiritual practice this requires practice!

(Unfortunately, trying to summarize this makes it all sound a bit glib! Fear is part of the “unenlightened” human condition; it is something we face continually and meet on different levels as we grow and progress. This is certainly true for me at any rate!)

How does it feel when you’re ‘in the flow’ of creation?

Although I imagine this experience is different for everyone, it is no coincidence that we use the word “flow” when we refer to these types of experiences! There really is a sense of something – call it a force, an energy, whatever you will – flowing through you. For me, when I am really writing at the deepest level, the world around me fades away and nothing exists but images conjured up by what I’m writing. It feels like I am floating in time and space. It is also very blissful. For me this is connecting to the divine feminine – the creatrix of the universe and the creative force within each one of us. But there is also a lot of work with writing – for me that’s when my inner divine masculine comes into play – a constructive critical side that edits, rewrites, and rearranges so the work is as clear as it can possibly be.

(I want to make it clear at some point that I believe the Divine – God, the Absolute, the Great Spirit, whatever you want to call it – is beyond gender. It is neither masculine nor feminine. However, I also believe the Divine exists in terms of an inner divine masculine and divine feminine and that the Divine expresses itself in this kind of polarity throughout the universe. Indeed we experience life itself in terms of polarity – male/female; light/dark; yin/yang; positive/negative electrical charges, and on and on…)

When you were younger what did you want to be when you grew up?

Nobody has ever asked me that before! I wanted to be a singer because my older half-sister had a wonderful voice and I idolized her. But after being demoralized by music teachers who told me I couldn’t carry a tune in a bucket I gave up. Fortunately, I also love to draw and was quite good at it so I turned my sights to becoming an artist. A year of being an art major in university convinced me this wasn’t the right path for me. Now I realize that it was the yearning to express myself that was the important thing. According to interpretations of the age-old yogic texts, this deep-seated longing can be thought of as the voice of Shakti – the cosmic divine feminine – propelling us along the path of spiritual transformation…

How has writing The Divine Feminine Fire transformed your life?

Exactly in the way I describe in the answer above. The ancient yogis described Shakti as what today we could call an evolutionary force – we can also think of it as a sort of spiritual transformative “energy”. And there is only one spiritual transformative energy; it doesn’t matter whether we call it kundalini-shakti, jeng chi, dumo fire, or Holy Spirit – it is the fire of the spirit within that transforms us and brings us closer to the Divine. Writing a book about ancient women mystics and seemingly ordinary, everyday women today who are experiencing this transformative power in their lives gave me a chance to really focus on that very same force and to really feel and experience it in my own life.

Teri Degler

How can we, as women best contribute to this crucial time in human history and can you share some real life examples from your own life?

We simply need to express this force in our lives – whether it is in our creative expression, the creative thinking we bring to solving either our own problems or the world’s, or the hands-on work we do to make the world a better place. Mahadevi – a medieval yogini – described it as being filled with the “precious juice of grace”. Once filled with this grace she then poured it back into the world in the form of her writing and in the efforts she made to ease the suffering she saw around her.

In the book I talk about four steps involved in expressing this force. First, be able to recognize this power. This is why I describe the divine feminine from the Hindu, Christian, and Jewish traditions in the book – so we can know her and know how she works in our lives. Second, we need to practice sitting with/simply being with this power – we need to be comfortable with holding this power in our bodies. Third, we need to listen to what she is telling us – really hear the guidance that is being given to us. Then we can come to the last step, which is allowing this precious juice of grace to flow upwards, outwards, and onto the world which needs it so badly.

There are examples in the book of women who did this. Anya, for instance, came up with an extremely creative and exciting way to start a big environmental movement in her home town. And right now one of the other women whose earlier story I told in the book is in India working passionately with the Global Peace Initiative of Women to create an international, interfaith centre aimed at helping to bring the values and wisdom of the feminine into contemporary spirituality and society.

What is the most important message you would like to convey through your book?

This is directly linked to your question above. This transformative spiritual force – that is embodied within us! – is transforming us and we can use that power to transform the world. And I absolutely believe it is our responsibility as human beings – and especially as empowered women! – to do just that.

Who or what do you find yourself returning to over and over again to inspire your Divine Feminine creativity?

Personally I really love to keep reading the age-old yogic and Tantric texts that describe the transformative power of the divine feminine. But I get much of my day to day inspiration from the women I’ve met and continue to meet who are doing incredibly inspiring work in the world. I tell one these women’s stories in each issue of my newsletter: http://www.teridegler.com/newsletter.html. I’m also posting their pictures, a bit about why they are inspiring, and their websites on my new Face Book community page, and I’m in the process of starting an “Inspiring Women Inspiring Women” page on my website. So everyone can check them out and get inspired!

What is the most difficult part of following your creative passions?

Fear. It seems I have to keep coming back to this and facing new levels of self-doubt every time I face a new challenge.

What advice can you offer to women who are seeking to reignite their Divine Feminine fire?

The four steps above. Learn to recognize the divine feminine. Become ever more comfortable holding this great power in your body. Listen to what it is telling you. Express it. (And, remember, you can’t express it if you don’t create a certain amount of time and space in your life for doing so!)

When you look back on all the research, writing and interviewing you did for The Divine Feminine Fire, what one thing stands out the most, as if it’s been burned into your memory for all time?

That this divine feminine force is real – that the active power of divine love is real – that the “light within” is real – and that they are all the same thing!

What is your next project going to be about, can you give us a hint?

I am thinking about writing a book about the spiritual journey I’ve been on – it has had painful, heartbreaking moments and many really whacky, funny moments too… I would be very nervous if this were going to be a book about “me” – but I think it could be me as a writer being a sort of “lens” on the spiritual journey from the late 1960s on – and a way of sharing the absolutely amazing people I’ve met, things I’ve seen, and experiences I’ve been blessed – and, admittedly, sometimes tortured! – to have had. But there are about ten other books I’d like to write too!!

Teri Degler

About Teri

Award-winning writer Teri Degler is the author/co-author of ten books including The Fiery Muse: Creativity and the Spiritual Quest (Random House of Canada). A long-time student of yoga philosophy and mystical experience, Teri has taught workshops in the United States and Canada and made numerous media appearances. Her freelance writing has appeared in Family Circle, More Magazine, Today’s Parent, The Toronto Star and many other publications. Her latest book, The Divine Feminine Fire: Creativity and Your Yearning to Express Your Self, recently became a #10 Amazon.ca Bestseller in two spiritual categories. See www.teridegler.com

Creative Soul Blog Giveaway: Teri will be giving away two articles she's written: Hildegaard: Yogini in Nun's Clothing and Sophia/Shakti to one lucky winner who comments on this interview by telling us what kind of divinely inspired creative fires you hope to stir up in 2011. Enter your comments below to win.

Kundalini Balancing & Rising

My name is Annie. I am New Zealand born and bred although I make my home in the largest island in the world, Australia. I have always been able to converse with spirits, having an imaginary friend, George at the age of two until my first day at school and the list goes on. I have run with the wolves during my adolescence, every night in dreams to learn the Lone White Wolf nature. I am a true quintessential Aquarian, very eccentric in nature and very spiritual in my beliefs. This has carried me through numerous traumatic times in my childhood and adulthood to bring me to the state of grace I now find myself in. For many years I was upon a journey within myself to develop my inner gifts of writing (to unleash my unconscious), healing with crystals, the energy and chakra therapies, reading for myself and others and feeling the spirit at work on all levels. I escaped to a nearby place called the Lost World, on the edge of a rain forest to literally lose myself in nature. I spent two wonderful years communing with nature spirits, listening to the trees and holding fire circles with many spirit exchanges and animal ones also. It was here I met my soul mate and upon a new child entering the earthly sphere we departed to the local township for stability and a new beginning as a family.

It was at this point everything turned as I could never have foreseen. With the collapse of the relationship due to the inability to connect with his soul in town and with a newborn baby in my life, I was utilizing my tarot cards, medicine cards and healing energies to get through the darkest depression of my life to date and the daily grind my life had become. I had a dream a few days before divine intervention stepped in that showed me my soul mate had actually murdered me and my child many times over in past life times and I was to rectify this in this lifetime. I battled on.

Three more days went past before divine intervention stepped in through a car accident that my children and I were involved in yet the car miraculously turned at the last moment for my door to take the full impact. The children were remarkably unhurt and apparently I (with a broken neck and severe injuries) was conversing with them the whole time to help them remain calm until medical emergency services arrived on the scene. I must make mention at this point, that the accident occurred at one of my favorite places to visit, Cedar Creek where we had picnicked at the falls many a time and had personally named it “the witches haven”.

I was placed in an induced coma, to give my body a chance to heal itself which lasted almost seven days. Seven being my favorite number, I find this in itself very prophetic. In this coma I was made aware of a glowing white man with white lights for eyes who yelled at me and told me constantly, “Get back there, it’s not your time!” When he was finally done yelling at me, I had many telepathic conversations with this man, he listened to me share my pain and trauma and calmed down enough to show me dreamlike sequences to show me why I must come back.

Upon waking from the coma, the glowing white man continued to haunt me when visitors departed and no one was around. I continually attempted to escape which showed the doctors immediately that I had no nerve damage and was not going to suffer any paralysis. I had a neurophysiologist converse with me about my escaping habits and I shared with him the glowing man and my fear that he is still here. He smiled at me and told me to research him when I got out of hospital, because that man has saved your life. They moved me to the brain injury ward where I could no longer escape although within two weeks I was allowed to go home.

I had no memory of the past two years or anything traumatic from my life before. I began getting to know my beautiful children again, with a total amazement at the young child I now had. It was his acknowledgment of me and his genuine trusting and loving nature that brought me back quick smart to reclaim my life in a whole new world. My 16 year old daughter, at the time, filled me in on pieces I just couldn’t understand due to the amnesia and I was consistently telling everyone I wanted a snake which no one would take seriously. I had two broken vertebrae in my neck which took 3 months to heal, 12 smashed ribs that took 6 weeks to heal, a hole in my lung and liver that took a week to heal with no pain to speak of.

Archangel Metatron

This journey has been totally unbelievable, even from my own perspective and that is because I don’t feel quite human. I am in a human experience, Yes although I know there is a spirit one also and that is the one I have needed to trust to recover so remarkably. Having trusted the spirit and the glowing man with great thanks for my life now, everything that man showed me has come to fruition with the greatest good for us all. I no longer hide my emotions and battle with society’s expectations of us to conform. There is now a knowing that life just is and the spirit just is! I no longer feel any need to explain it or justify it to others. I just let it be. What will be, really will be. We all come to our own place of knowing when we are ready and open and willing enough.

Please don’t get me wrong, in the past 18 months I have had all sorts of things thrown my way that I would normally have seen as very traumatic and would have had a need to fight for my rights although they have all come through my children and their respective fathers, whereby I can see the whole picture now and have been able to fight for my children's rights, standing beside them as a support network of unconditional love and protection that stands apart on its own because I just trust in the unseen. I have had both fathers of my sons attempt to use this brain injury as the basis to claim custody of my children with disastrous results on their behalf. I have a legal knowledge now that astounds me, having filled out my own affidavits, prepared my own defense and I just trust in the universal justice system rather than the human created one with wondrous results for my children.

As I slowly get a handle on the knowledge I now have and how I wish to bring it out into the world to help others on their path to enlightenment, I have reintegrated back into working part time in a retail store as part of my connecting to adults again and providing an outlet for me, which I call my ‘free time’. Who would ever think that working would be a freedom, but to me it is and a way to find my way back into the sphere of humanity to prepare myself for the future I know I have in store for I was shown.

I was only just saying all this to my 18 year old daughter earlier this year and feeling like I have completely healed now. She smiled and told me she had acquired a snake for me for my birthday, “Go have a look Mum.” I fell in love with her and brought her home. My daughter trusted in my spirit calling and listened, because I have always listened and trusted in her. My snake is finally here and she is telling me wisely, now is the time to get ready to shed this healing skin and embark on the next phase of my life. I had three names in my mind when she came, although she flicked her tongue at me when I said, “Kundalini” so Kundalini it is. For she has helped me balance out the Kundalini serpent within that is ready to rise. No longer am I using my sexual energy for any exploits with humans, it’s all there for me to utilize to release the passion I hold inside for helping humanity realize we are all healers, we are all wise women. We are all spirit beings, light beings and we all work as one for the highest good of all.

On another note, and I know you readers are inquisitive to know who this glowing white man was. I researched him. I have never been a religious person although I went on a ‘bible’ hunt at my local library. After reading every bible there is I still hadn’t a clue. Then a girlfriend gave me an Angel Bible as a gift. As she gave it to me, she asked me to open to any page and see if that’s the man you saw. I prayed to the glowing one and opened the book, to the White Angel, Archangel Metatron, even the picture was strikingly similar minus the long white beard, but he had a shiny bald head. I got light sparkly twinkles and from this day forward when I am with someone that is caught up in the human experience, I see these white sparkly lights surround the person. The person most often stops what they are saying and admits that in their mind they have all these lights flashing. I smile and know it’s my archangel doing his work, freeing up my mind and theirs to be able to change their whole perspective from that point on in the conversation and it works!

I meditate with him often, he is always present around the Full and New Moons and is ever present in my daily life and always will be from this day forward. I feel it was his work in bringing Kathy into my life at this very auspicious time of the Spring Equinox, 2010. I have been working towards manifesting this very story to be told and preparing my book to be published in the very near future which was part of my ‘coma dream’ also. The time is here and I pray that you all can take something from this interesting experience to gain insight into your own earthly transition at this time.

Sparkly Blessings All with Love & Light ~ Annie

Annie's Facebook Page: facebook.com/annieoakley72