For the past couple of posts, I’ve been talking about masculine and feminine energy. As a woman in business who works with other women in business, that’s a relevant conversation. Even before bringing in systems like Human Design, where I am a Manifestor. That’s a topic for another time, though, since only 9% of the population can relate to that approach.
It’s been over 6 months since one of my favourite businesses closed down. Although the co-founders went on to build their own personal brands. Today I want to celebrate what Femme taught me. It’s coming off the back of an Instagram exchange in response to a recent episode of the Jaclyn Shaw Show.
The exchange was about how her family lives in two different countries over the course of the year. In it she shared the idea of different energies that rise from different places, and how she just follows them. I have had going to Japan (for how long, TBC) at the top of my manifestation list for ages.
It’s a soul pull with little rhyme or reason, except a good energy in my astrocartography. And the person I named as the dream business lunch companion in my recent interview with Authority Mag lives there. And so does my big celebrity crush and every musician I listen to. But those are not big enough reasons to go halfway across the world somewhere you don’t speak the language, that has a fraught relationship with foreigners, and where you have one acquaintance. I can see why people think it’s completely irrational and wild.
Jaclyn may seem the obvious example of this kind of living in flow, but Robyn is just as wild. Her new business (copywriting for personal brands, and hosting The Brand Is You) may look less “woo”. Still, they both inspire me to look at life from the perspective of energetic alignment.
Robyn is just as good at this receptive energy, but she brought a more obvious fire that balanced Femme.
Feminine flow requires self-responsibility
Both, however, show what radical self-responsibility for where your mind is limiting you looks like. The greatest example of that was how Femme came to an end. We can rationalise everything that feels safe even if the body isn’t in it. I know that well, given how long it took me to get out of my toxic marriage.
Becoming more embodied is something that I’m incredibly passionate about, because it has been life changing for me. It was the fastest way to go from a completely unfulfilled anxious mess, to somewhat healthy and balanced. I still sometimes forget to breathe unless I bring my attention to it consciously, but at least I am aware. Back in February I talked about how I struggle with Pisces energy because of the conditioning from my family. Pisces is my North Node, the lesson I have to learn in this lifetime. To be fair, astrology isn’t even needed to guess that I could stand to be more flowy.
The problem with self-worth in high achievers
I’m working on being less high-achieving and career-oriented. My mother had to get breast cancer before she took a sick day and if she could have gotten away with not doing it she would’ve. I was raised to find my worth in doing rather than being, even though I was raised in a religion that said our worth was in being made in the image of God. I have big visions for the impact of my business, but I’m undoing the pattern of working myself into burnout to realise them.
What attracted me to Femme was that, at a time when I was taking my first steps in self-empowerment after traditional Catholicism, they were promoting a way of life for women that was based on wealth, power, and pleasure. Three things that I was never even allowed to dream of. It’s easy to preach that when you are making the kind of money they were making, which is a bit of a pet peeve of mine with coaches in the online spaces (most of those I rave about don’t disclose their incomes), but their energy didn’t put me off and their closing the business down reinforced that they were the right role models for me.
Putting yourself first
They bowed out of the brand at its high point because it didn’t feel aligned anymore, and took a gamble on their solo projects being able to replace the income they were making with that specific offering to keep up their existing lifestyle. My chest is contracting as I type this and it’s not even my business. To the mind, it makes no sense. It was excellent money, doing work they clearly loved. They just had the foresight to call it quits before it got to the point where they didn’t love it anymore, and actively resented the people they were working with.
It’s a level of integrity that is inspirational to me, when people use money as their main driver for everything. I was inspired to go back through the podcast archives, and found some old favourites that feel more relevant now than they did at the time.
Here they are if you want to share their energy and re-wild this summer. Perfect to queue up this Leo season.
A 3-part Masterclass:
