The Lady of Contentment Surveys Her Land

The Arrival of Ease

The Lady of Contentment Surveys Her Land - from the 55 Flavors of the Feminine Oracle and Practice Deck

Just a few hours ago I finished facilitating a 6-day residential retreat in Portugal. There is not really an adequate way to describe what teaching such an intense and focused event feels like, except to say that now, after everyone has departed, I’m feeling a mix of giddy scatteredness, utter exhaustion and quiet fulfilment.

Satisfaction is not an emotion I typically associate with the end of retreat teaching. Traditionally I am more focused on refining the material for the next event and debriefing what could have been done differently.

But alas, this time my post-workshop state is much more relaxed and - dare I say - content. An odd sensation for this usually rather intense Austrian!

So, while I was searching around in the crevices of my somewhat frazzled mind for the possible reasons for this unusual mood, it occurred to me that it might be because of the past few years.

I never quite knew how much I cherished teaching in-person events until they suddenly disappeared. Now, every event feels fresh, exciting and full of possibility. I am genuinely happy to be with actual people in actual rooms. I treat every event like an adventure and a gift.

But more importantly, what to my focused Austrian mind felt like a relaxing of drive, is actually the arrival of ease.

I’ve taught so much and for so long that I have arrived in a place of not having to push so hard to facilitate. I’ve learned how to manage my energy and my expectations of myself. I prepare better. Thanks to Steve, there are actual outlines, prepared up front (and mostly upended quickly once I start) which allow me to be more creative in the moment.

It is an unexpected feeling and with that I am spending the rest of my day immensely grateful and happy for this gift of ease.

Posted above is my favorite card of the deck, which I especially created for this retreat. Below you will find the Oracle description I wrote to accompany her.

The Lady of Contentment Surveys Her Land

There comes a moment in any woman's life where she realizes that there are choices to be made. Things will have gone wrong, there will have been losses, betrayal and grief. 

Out of these experiences she can choose to be bitter and withdrawn, or she can focus on what is good and right. 

The Lady of Contentment is an invitation to choose goodness, regardless of where you are on your path. You can look out over the landscape of your existence and see the beauty, the learning and the joy, or you can turn inwards and contract over those losses. 

Look at her body and feel how relaxed softness allows her to be appreciated, how each line on her face tells a story, how she is adorned as an expression of who she truly is - an offering of beauty for herself and those who see her. 

She is the place of inner and outer contentment, neither contracted and withdrawn nor overly in your face or demanding attention. Hers is the message of the middle path, not out of convention, cowardice or resignation, but out of the knowledge that she is walking the razor's edge of opposing forces, with a relaxed open heart.