HOW THE DESERT ARCHETYPE CAN HELP YOU ALCHEMIZE A SHAME-BASED GOAL INTO A POWERFUL VISION

New Year goals are frequently rooted in shoulds and shames. We should lose weight; we hate how we look. We should be kinder to people; we are guilty of being selfish. We should do better; people would admire us more. You get the idea.

But the ancient mystics didn't head into the desert in order to lose weight or to learn to fit in. They went in search of a sacred vision.

And so it is into the Desert that we also go, in search of a deeper and more powerful vision for 2023.

The Desert Archetype is first and foremost about shedding illusions. We are seeking the truth beneath the mirage.

Many of our New Year Intentions are based on the illusion that if we fix something about ourselves, we’ll be happy. Or, if we change ourselves to fit into a situation or relationship, we’ll feel loved. We’ll belong. But it doesn’t work that way.

So the first step in creating a powerful vision for 2023, is to let go of the mirage—the belief that if you conform to others’ desires or needs, you’ll get what you want.

Instead you are being asked to face the truth of your situation. To ask the kind of questions that you can only find answers for when you are stripped bare of limiting beliefs and self-sabotaging talk. The need for others’ applause and approval.

What is it you are truly thirsting for?

Who are you becoming?

What is the truth of your situation?

When you sit in this naked and revealed place, you touch into the particular contours of your own soul. You discover the essence of what it is that you truly need in order to survive and thrive.

In this place, when you are completely honest with yourself, masks off, armor shed, then you can begin to feel into the vision that wants to emerge, here and now.

In A Wild Soul Woman I write,

“Desert Woman works on you, stripping you of your assumptions, scattering your fantasies to the wind until your sense of reality is blown wide open as the sky. She is teaching you to discern between what is false and what is not. The mirage from the true oasis.”

The art of setting truly powerful intentions arises when you are truly blown open, ready to experience the eternal truths beneath the shallow facade.

This means getting quiet and sourcing the deep well of wisdom that lives within, before you set your goals. Only when you shed the constraints of convention or dull expectations, will your visionary powers take hold. Let go of what keeps you small. Allow the vision to emerge from this braver, truer Self.

Only then ask: What vision of my future is sufficiently powerful and compelling to draw forth my creativity and dedication?

When you have that vision, you will know it. For every cell of your parched body will experience it like cool fresh water on the tongue.

That’s how the Desert teaches us to make our New Year resolutions.

Take your time. Enter the silence and spaciousness,. And when you are ready, please share your vision below.