One of my absolute favorite coaching tools I learned during my training with Martha Beck is metaphor.
Metaphor’s an interesting tool in that it’s not formulaic like other powerful coaching tools, e.g. Byron Katie’s “The Work” (another tool that I’ve begrudgingly come to love).
As someone who’s a quad left in Human Design, an economist by education, and a spreadsheet alchemist by profession (that’s actually the name of my old website), I love structure. So it may seem odd that I gravitate so deeply towards an intuitive tool like metaphor.
But after being coached by other coaches using metaphor and discovering just how powerful of a tool it is, I’ve come to appreciate its intuitive, imaginative nature and downright lack of logical underpinnings.
Here’s one way of using metaphor:
You drop into a scenario or problem or puzzle that’s vexing you, you identify a noun that appears in your consciousness/imagination (not in thought) that in some way describes your situation, and then you explore this noun in detail using adjectives and the like. From here, dots get connected, insights arise, and – BINGO! – you have your answer. Or something like that.
There are lots of variations of metaphor as a tool. Martha Beck’s book “Finding Your Way In A Wild New World” has a whole chapter devoted to metaphor, and I highly recommend you read it.
One variation is a journeying meditation that I use in cacao journeys and Sacred Sister Circles. While each version of the journey varies, they usually involve receiving a gift of some kind. The gift is the metaphor.
At our July Sacred Sister Full Moon Circle, I guided participants through such a journey – a journey that I guided myself through a few days prior – and it’s one that Martha calls seven league boots.
Here’s what it was like.
The Goddess’s Comb
I’m in my pink fuzzy chair, eyes closed. A small doorway-sized section of wall dissolves, and I see a medieval city in the distance. Next to me are a pair of magic boots.
I put the boots on and gingerly step out the door. My first step lands me in the center of the city. The second lands me in the country side on the outskirts of town. You see, each step I take in these magic boots is seven leagues, or about 21 miles. I keep walking and am quickly taken through farm land, then forest.
The further I walk, the more civilization fades. My surroundings are now ancient – practically untouched by man. The sky has become black as night, with Moon and Stars guiding my way through breaks in the tree canopy.
The lush forest transitions to a juniper forest, and the juniper forest transitions to a vast desert with Joshua trees and yuccas and cacti. This desert is beyond ancient – it’s primordial.
In the near distance is a bonfire. I take off my boots and walk over to it. It’s elemental and hypnotic, and I drop into a state of wordlessness and Oneness.
An ancient, weathered woman with long grey hair and kind eyes joins me. She’s familiar, but I can’t quite place why. Unlike other journeys I’ve taken, I know that she’s not my future self. She has this goddess-crone aura about her, and I feel utterly at home in her presence.
She asks me to share what’s troubling me. And so I do. I tell her about my purpose, my dharma – to help elevate the collective consciousness of humanity because I believe in my heart that it’s the only way to reverse humanity’s trajectory towards self-annihilation. I tell her I don’t know what to do, but that I’m circling women because I believe that they are the key to accomplishing this. I ask her for help.
She hands me a box, and in that box is an old, beautiful hair comb. She wraps my hands around it, clasps them in hers, and looks through – yes through – my eyes and into my soul. I see myself in this moment. I am One with her.
The old woman leaves me with her gift and the fire. As the coals dance and shape-shift, I see the symbolism behind the comb. It’s a metaphor for adorning myself with the goddess energy and Divine Love that I carry within.
Adornment…
As I ponder what this looks like, I see where I’ve kept my own radiance buried under the mistaken notion that I would more successfully accomplish my Earthly mission by being relatable to others. More normal.
But we’re at the breaking point, and humanity must wake up or it will destroy itself. I think of Christian Bale’s Batman and what he said about the power of symbols. I think of the woman who gathers sisters in circle and keeps the topics introspective but relatively tame to ensure that I don’t dive too deep and scare anyone off.
I think of how I show up with friends…and how while I enjoy their company, I don’t show them who I truly am. I show them my social self.
I think about how my Human Design type (Reflector) is meant to reflect the condition of humanity. It was what I was freaking designed to do during my time on Earth, damn it!
Sister, it’s time I wear my goddess energy…with pride.
All this came from metaphor. From a beautiful ancient comb gifted to me by an old weathered woman.
I lace up my magic boots and return the direction I came. Through the primordial desert, through the ancient forest. The sky returns to day as I step through the farmland, outskirts of the medieval city, and back into my room. As I take off the boots, the doorway returns to drywall.
And I sit down in my fuzzy pink chair to journal about what just happened.
Final thoughts
Being guided through metaphor is ideal, as a coach will ask you questions to yield details and help you make connections. But you can also do it solo, as I did.
Many of my Sacred Sister Circles and all of my cacao journeys involve journeying with metaphor. Some of these offerings are free, others are relatively low-cost. Some are in-person and others are virtual. Check out my Upcoming Events page to see what’s on the calendar.
Also, my Wayfinder coaching may involve using the variation of metaphor that I described under the heading Here’s one way of using metaphor, or it may involve journeying, dream or symbol analysis, or the living space tool. There are so many beautiful opportunities to solve puzzles and gain powerful insights using metaphor. If this intrigues you, I invite you to check out my current coaching options here.
And if you want to go the solo route, check out that book by Martha Beck I recommended earlier. Or just borrow the gist of the two options identified in this post and try it for yourself!
Sister, that is all.
