Saying Good-Bye and Letting Go ...

by Tabby Biddle

Over the last six months, I have been in a major "unknowing" about the next steps for a women's circle I lead here in Los Angeles, called the Goddess Collective.

The leadership of this circle was passed onto me three years ago by my good friend Christina Dunbar, who founded the group. Many of you know Christina from her one-woman show, Dirty Me Divine and as the director of She Takes the Stage.

Christina started the group as a safe place for women entrepreneurs to integrate their feminine spirituality into their businesses—to have open conversations about this and receive support to do business in a way that honored both the feminine and the masculine within themselves and their work.

This was PHASE I.

Two years later, Christina passed the Goddess Leadership baton onto me. She was ready to pursue her artist full-time, and in order to do this, she needed to make more space. After a few months of finding my footing as the new leader, I decided I wanted to collaborate with another woman leader, and I made the decision to partner with my good friend Reena Desai. It was through my partnership with Reena that the group evolved into its second era:

Women meeting at the intersection of feminine spirituality, creative expression and social change.

This was PHASE II.

Reena and I co-led the group together for a year-and-a-half. This was a fun time. I enjoyed the collaboration. The sisterhood. And what we were able to manifest with both of us in leadership. It was a thriving time for the Goddess Collective.

As life would have it, Reena eventually left to travel, to pursue her artistry full-time, and to go deeper into her devotion to the Goddess. I was back to solo leadership.

During this time, my focus became primarily on hosting Goddess Salons. These were evenings where women could come and express the wisdom and creativity coming through them through dance, movement, spoken-word, poetry, song, chant, music, art, storytelling, and more.

These evenings were held with the belief that when we reveal our deepest feminine soul expression through our artistry, we bring more feminine consciousness to the planet, and naturally shift the status quo.

In other words, our feminine artistry is a powerful force for social and political change. This was a rich time for the Collective, with many breakthroughs and much healing. It was a time of deep empowerment for the feminine voice.

This was PHASE III.

This past summer, I began to feel a tug toward a new evolution of the the group, so I decided to "take a break" from hosting Goddess Collective events for a few months. I thought that providing myself some space might be just the answer to allowing the vision of this next evolution to come forward.

So, I waited. And waited.

I carried on with my women's leadership work, teaching my classes, coaching private clients, doing public speaking, writing, being a mom, being a wife, and generally, just carrying on with life.

As I did this, I kept waiting for some clarity about the Goddess Collective to come. But it didn't.

So I let it sit, trusting that the answer would come in its time.

(And yes, at the same time, I did feel some guilt about not hosting any events with all of the amazing women of Los Angeles looking for a loving sister circle. I know the power of the sister circle, and it was painful to not be offering this.)

But, even with the guilt, I felt something bigger was trying to happen, so I continued to trust.

And then two weeks ago, I received a message in my email Inbox letting me know that it was time to renew my annual Meetup.com membership for the Goddess Collective. (Meetup is our online home base.)

I checked in — with myself and with the Goddess.

The answer was clear this time: “It’s time to let it go.”

In this clarity, I felt Kali by my side, reminding me that in order to create anew, we must destroy and let what once was - die.

This is a painful lesson for me. For all of us, I think. But I know it's a very valuable one. Right after I announced the letting go of the Goddess Collective to all of the women of the group, one of my former clients and Goddess Collective Sisters shared a piece she had just written that morning on letting go.

I found her words deeply validating. They helped me to find even more peace with letting go.

Knowing how much they helped me, I asked her if I could share them with you. She said YES. (Thank you Karen.)

It is my hope that her words will touch you in some way to help you release whatever it is that has had its season, so that you can move forward and emerge in an even greater way.

And so it is ...

Letting Go and Emergence

“To fully live is to engage in a continual pattern of release and forward motion. We let go of the old forms of manifesting in order to make way for the new ones that are asking to be birthed. These new forms do not come to us fully defined or fully seen. They come to us shrouded in mystery, with just enough showing that we are captivated and willing to leap forward into the unknown to seek out their shimmering newness. This newness drips with life and beckons us onward. Our path becomes hindered if we allow the old to attach as baggage that we drag behind. So it is with both trepidation and excitement that we cut those cords and release. We step into a yet unformed future, one that allows for a greater emergence after a time of fertile work.”

- Karen Kinney, Artist

Whether you are needing to let go of an old relationship, an old position, an old story, old belongings, or an old job no longer in alignment with who you are now, I wish for Karen's words to carry you forward.

Thank what's "old" for the lessons and value it provided for you at the time. Then let it go.

For those of you who have been a part of the Goddess Collective over the years, I thank you. It has been a deep honor to sit in circle with you. May we meet again in a new way ...

___________________

Tabby Biddle is a women’s rights advocate, writer, and leadership coach, specializing in helping women find their voice. She is the author of the bestselling book, Find Your Voice: A Woman’s Call to Action. She lives in Santa Monica, CA with her husband, son and kitty cat. Learn more at tabbybiddle.com.