Driven as a migrating falcon, I can be blown
off course yet if I turn back it feels
wrong. Navigating by chart and chance
and passion I will know the shape
of the mountains of freedom, I will know.
—Marge Piercy, ending lines of “Perpetual Migration”
You may have been drawn to read this book because you had a sense that it would tell you something about yourself. I hope it has. I also hope that you remember the child you were, and how, with your determination, you survived the difficulties that arose. Nobody gets through childhood scot-free. No parents can protect you from bad things that happen, much less if the bad things that happen are caused by them.
If you recognize Artemis qualities in yourself, chances are that you were a courageous child who probably took some physical risks, did a lot of exploration on your own, and pretended you weren't afraid of or affected by rejection. You persevered; you were called stubborn but would not give up what you believed, although you may have learned to keep quiet about it. You hated seeing defenseless children picked on, or grownups who played favorites or were mean or lied. You may have gotten into trouble for speaking up; you may still be ashamed of yourself for not doing so. The child that you were then still lives in you as your inner child. That child may have carried you through some of the most difficult years of your life, camouflaged whatever you wanted to hide, and managed to hold her head up. You probably have not given much thought to her, unless you have been in therapy.
In therapy and in circles, where people tell the truth of their lives, painful events in childhood and the meaning of them become transformed by a heart-felt response from compassionate and reasonable others—people who say words that you wanted to hear from your parents and those important others who never said them. Words like: “That should not have happened.” Or: “They/we should have noticed.” Or: “You really did your best.” Or: “You are brave.” And underlying all these words are the words: “I'm sorry.” “You suffered, were not acknowledged.” “You matter/I love you.” These are words that acknowledge the suffering and pain that was not allowed expression and the courage it took to bear up. Now, from an adult perspective, you may be able to look back and see yourself, the situation, and the people in a different light. It is possible to lift a burden that goes back to childhood and transform it. It is possible to be a caring adult to your inner child or to someone else's. It is possible for you to forgive and not dwell on what happened that shouldn't have. It is possible that you are becoming a compassionate and wise person.
Most of the examples I give here, from Atalanta to reallife stories, are of indomitable girls and women survivors. While every woman, in the course of a lifetime, will have her share of hard times, you may be among the more fortunate or even the most fortunate. Maybe you grew up in a family that loved and supported you to be yourself; maybe you had peers who looked up to you as a leader or athlete or competitor. And maybe you took this all for granted and felt entitled. No one gets through life without suffering. But perhaps now you can realize how lucky you were and probably still are. When you realize just how fortunate you have been, it can move you deeply into gratitude. When gratitude replaces entitlement, this is soul growth.
Recognizing your shadow is humbling. It means remembering and reassessing past experiences, and owning up to hurting or diminishing other people by what you did or said, or what you thought about them. To acknowledge your own lack of compassion or thoughtlessness brings humility and the wisdom that goes with it, which is another lesson in soul growth. Maybe you can make amends to some of these people now, but most of this is inner work.
Anyone who is reading this book is privileged to be educated, literate, psychological, and likely to have an affinity for Artemis. You may have identified with Atalanta and recognize Artemis as a major archetype. You live in a time, a place, and a culture in which this archetype is free to be expressed, as never before in history. If you are drawn to the beauty and mystery of moonlit terrain, which is an aspect of Artemis Goddess of the Moon and of the moon-goddess archetypes, you know something about the liminal, where visible and invisible worlds overlap and words like archetype, angels, and ancestors are meaningful and relevant. This is why you can believe that prayer, mantras, and rituals can have an effect. You may have a sense of an invisible spiritual world when you meditate or pray that connects small self to larger Self, which you also may feel in nature when you are at home there.
Whether you are in an inner-directed phase or an outer-directed one, experiences of the sacred may evoke feelings of love and gratitude and a sense of blessedness in you. This can be a major source of activism-as-giving-back in Artemis-inspired women and men who protect and rescue children and women, who cherish and protect the wilderness, trees, and animals, who nurture the young of all living things, and who believe that men and women should have equal opportunities and responsibilities to shape decisions that matter. When these beliefs enter the mainstream in the world, a new era—as predicted and anticipated by esoteric sources—will come in, making it possible for humanity and the planet have peace and prosper.
I believe that tipping points are reached through one person at a time doing whatever it is that rings true for him or her. Each person is part of a web of consciousness and choice that reverberates and ripples in the invisible human matrix that Jung called the collective unconscious and theoretical biologists call the human morphic field. This interconnection is symbolized by Indra's net, in which each individual is a reflecting jewel at the crossing point of strands on a vast net, and a change in one subtly affects all.
I believe that each of us is also part of an evolutionary journey, a “perpetual migration” toward becoming wise, to live up to our scientific name homo sapiens from Latin sapienta, meaning wise.
I believe that we are spiritual beings on a human path and that this life we have is a soul journey. From this premise, it matters that we find purpose and meaning in our lives and that we become the women and men we were meant to be.
With the indomitable spirit of Artemis, this effort is best done with love, hope, perseverance, and optimism.