My greatest skill as a coach has always been as a clarifier.  Helping clients get right to the heart of what they truly want (and then how to get it) came up in my coaching time and again, and I loved when it did because it was often a time of intense growth and those amazing ‘a-ha’ moments for clients we all long for, and love to see someone have.  This clarifying also involved the asking of powerful questions, the holding of space and silence to help someone truly be able to hear their heart, and focus only on what was the truth for them in that moment.

It was no surprise to me then that my strongest Divine Feminine archetype on my Priestess path is that of the Initiator, she who comes to us as the Goddess Isis, Athena, Cerridwen and Maat.  This archetype’s frequency is purple and her symbol the sword.  Yes a sword – all designed to cut straight to the heart of the truth.

The Initiator is an empowering, strong, and Divine wayshower of truth.  And this truth and empowerment is something she relishes in through challenge.  Not just the simple, surface based fact or knowing of something, but rather the sometimes intense, unsettling, and deeply challenging path we must all walk at times when we know that we are not serving ourselves fully as the Goddesses we truly are.

The Initiator wants us to ripen into our potential, stretch, grow, catalyse, expand, and become fully aligned with our whole soul essence and truth. Not unlike the Goddess Kali or Creator Destroyer Preserver, she will come back to us over and over again in self-defeating habits and patterns that stereotype us and keep us from shining our full light until we say yes to the expansion she challenges us with.  She will not be dismissed by any pain or uncomfortability we may need to experience.  She is focused only on the desired outcome of us finding our truth, and while compassionate in nature, she is also wildly determined to ensure we meet that truth with full clarity.

I absolutely love feeling strongly aligned to the Initiator.  Alongside my more outwardly feminine connections to archetypes such as the Goddess of Love, hers is the archetype in the more ‘kick-butt’ ‘don’t tell me no lies girl!’ family that lives most within me.  Kali and the Primal Goddess I am still shaking my tail with (and loving it), but this beauty and I are connected.

Having the Initiator live strongly within me I have often known that I have a deep perception or knowing about someone that they may not know themselves, or are unconsciously keeping hidden.  I can see emotional pain that is buried very deep.  I often know when someone is lying to themselves. I can feel a bullshit story within and between words from a long way away. Now this all makes it sound as though I could be a terrible person to know and be around but I can assure you it doesn’t! It’s just something that comes in very handy when you are devoted to working with people who are on a journey of self-actualisation and personal discovery. Because the fact is that we all (including me) lie to ourselves from time to time and even often.  Our ego loves to create stories that we tell ourselves that – if we are not very very careful – we can come to believe is our truth but in fact is not at all. Stories like…

“I am fat. That is why I do not have love in my life.”
“I am not as good as her. That’s why I must let her take the lead.”
“I cannot do that well. And so I should leave it to those who can.”
“I am damaged. I have no right to help others.”
“I am shy. I cannot speak up for myself.”

Stories. Misalignments with the truth of who you really are. Of who we all are.

And so for me the Initiator can ride with me forever into the night if the reason she is so strong within me is to help others – especially women – drop the stories and ego constructs they carry as their truth – to find the real truth of who they are and what they are incredibly capable of underneath the story lies.  “I align. I challenge. I clarify.”  This is the calling of the Initiator and I hope she never leaves me nor I her as we continue to travel through life together.

Like with all Divine Feminine archetypes, the Initiator has shadow qualities as well.  I guess that’s not really surprising for a Goddess who wields a sword!  When the Initiator is in full truth flight she aligns, challenges and clarifies with no fear of backlash.  And in some instances I am more than ok to admit that I am not there yet.  There are absolutely times when I wish to say something to someone or ask them a question that I feel within my heart will help them find their truth; but it feels too delicate to touch.  It is now for me to work out is that my own fear or is it practical discernment.  And so the Initiator calls for me to seek my own truth with that.

The Initiator also has shadowy darkness in the form of bossiness, power and control and she can at times seem impersonal, cold or uncaring. I do not believe myself to be uncaring in any way, however I fully appreciate that when you are holding up a mirror to someone (or a shiny reflecting sword) and what is seen is not liked, it must absolutely feel as though the person showing that to you is not in full care of who you are.  The real truth however is that they, (and I) of course, are.  Could this possibly be where the old saying ‘The Truth Hurts’ originates from? Could it come from the cutting blade of the Initiator?  I would not be surprised if it does.

The Initiator is calling me personally right now to work on being an embodiment of power as opposed to ‘using’ power. To be fiercely feminine but not controlling or bossy, which my beloved Mother has told me I’ve had a tendency towards since I was old enough to speak!

I am not the power. I am the vessel as a Priestess through which power moves.

What a privilege that is.

Do you feel fearful of or a resonance with the truth telling Initiator?  Can you see or feel where you may be telling yourself stories that cover your truth?  Ego thoughts that hide your full self?

Call on this powerful Divine Feminine archetype to guide you home.  The truth is not out there.  It is within you.