31 Comments

Hello Jenna, I am only just reading this... perfect timing!

I feel as though I am stepping forth on a Greater Mission to Spread my Light and Wisdom and that the protection you mention is, ahhh, so perfect right now. I feel held and safe and supported...by the Father within me, and my a greater energy.

I also love your analogy of the peach... that is so exquisitely put. Thank you. Thank you.

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This is beautiful, Jenna, and full of food for reflection. I’m so glad I saved this to read in an early hour after the week’s classes, so I can sit with these images in the pre-dawn quiet.

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Thank you so much, Tara! ❤️ I love that a little piece of me is with you in those quiet hours.

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(Time to use your December Exercise for Expanding Perception in the Dark.)

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Oooooh! Can't wait to discuss if you found this helpful!

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founding

Jenna,

I'm late this week. I'm late because of a flood that has thrown me for reasons I have no clear reason, but this week's Archetype pull especially spoke to me--the Father energy wrapping a skin of protective care: a friend calling and insisting that I move to higher ground when I was not registering danger; this same friend giving me a helping hand when I had been in the cold, pouring rain for hours; this friend saying, "You do not need to tough this out." I had not known I was.

I do not look back on the flooding now as something that posed a threat to my life had I stayed. I look upon the week with the recognition of having been so cared for by someone watching over me because of the very fact of love.

Your image of the peach skin wrapped around the flesh and the seed is one that I will never forget. This was the energy of my friend. And because of your reflections and the timing, l can see this energy as Father energy, and it's rather profound. Thank you.

With love,

Renée

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Oh my goodness, Renee, I'm so grateful to your friend too! The way you describe it sounds exactly like the most beautiful Father energy there could be. Your friend was, indeed, the model of perfect peach skin. Thank you for allowing yourself to be held this way, and for your insightful wisdom in framing it as the Father. I feel like this could become the parable of the Father archetype. In one of the comments below, I had wished that container-hood was taught in schools. I think your story here would be ideal in such a curriculum (if such a curriculum existed). Sending you big love, and warmth, and dry ground! May the French Broad herself return to the desire for containment.

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founding

Jenna,

I've continued to reflect on this--and haven't yet read this week's Archetype / Tarot lingering still on last week's!

You handled the Father energy with such care that whereas the tendency might be to see the Father energy as male and in ways that, in fact, patronize the Father, we could see this care through the Whole. Of course, this is how archetypes are manifest--as symbols of human attributes across the whole. Still, one sees Father and "Domination Paradigm" is hard to hush enough to see the care.

It brings me back to Tara's Christmas story and Dad running upstairs to grab "One More Gift" as a way of softening the perceived end of Christmas.

Such tender, protective care watching over our existence. . . .

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Oh, I love that you brought Tara's Christmas story here. How utterly perfect! One more gift is definitely a peach skin sort of thing to do. This really moved me, thank you. ❤️

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This makes grateful, perfect sense. 💕

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founding

Tara,

Thank you. 🙏

Not sure if you'll receive notification of the comment I just made above. I recalled your "One More Gift" story, which came to mind apropos Father energy.

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Thank you for that reminder. You're right. That's an energy that "holds" Christmas for the kids, isn't it? Jenna's peach image is lingering with me, too. :-)

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It really does!

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Wow - I needed this for some foundational work - recent dreams and my own Tarot pulls have some guidance towards some Father Energy - Father Empowering - OVERpowering energy. (Killing the Father figure)

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Thank you, Jacob! I love the synchronicity here with your dreams and tarot pulls. The Father and overpowering energy is really interesting. The Father can be overpowering, but then, as in so many myths, the child overpowers the father to come into his own. I'm going to spend some time pondering that progression. Thank you for bringing that! ❤️

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Jenna I love this post! Loved your analogy with the peach. That works sooo well. The father as the container, the outer skin. I have been reflecting on my own upbringing this week as I prepare my next post. Applying it here, it feels more shadow than light. My father definitely provided the physical container, but that was it. Everything else was absent. It leaves the child, in this case me, with warped messages. Ironically, a gift is some ways because it has been the impetus for much of my spiritual and personal growth and transformation.

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Ooooh, looking forward to your next post! I'm glad I have friends like you to remind me of the value of a good attitude and finding the gift in every situation. And I can see what you mean about warped messages in a situation like you describe. It could leave one questioning what safety even feels like really. Or what partnership means. Or how to define care. All kinds of questioning must come up. Thank you so much for sharing this, Julie!

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The father as protective armor is exactly how I’ve always envisioned my Dad, the added bit about providing clarity is also very relatable.

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Oh yay, I love hearing this! ❤️ I was blessed with an amazing father too and I know that I owe so much to the way he held us. Thank you so much for sharing about your dad. It really warmed my heart.

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Jan 7Liked by Jenna Newell Hiott

any particular weigh in from your personal view when the extreme side of the... i guess you could say shadow side of the Father, when he turns not just absent, (that too) but devolves into a child, but with more of a parasitic nature, and then the mother winds up in a weird role reversal where the she is having to provide both emotional and material needs and the man is just continuing down a hell bent path of destruction? Because i see A LOT of that too, and I'm sure women are guilty of it as well, but it's concerning to me, to watch so many of our containers melting into... defeated nothingness?

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I don't know that I have any weigh in other to say that I completely agree and I see it too. I think you nailed it about the extreme end of the absent father is one who devolves into a parasitic child. It's wholly dysfunctional. The actual child can't be a child (in safety anyway) and the mother not only has to be both mother and father, but is also in the weird position of having to mother what should be her partner and container. I don't know what the solution is. I wish container-hood was taught in schools. Thank you for bringing this, Tess. I'm going think on it quite a bit. ❤️

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Jan 10Liked by Jenna Newell Hiott

It’s a tough one and very heartbreaking. Even harder to see the cause without a vicious blame game starting but I’ll see if anything comes to me too. Idk. It’s most definitely a crisis that works to destabilize society. Thank you for your response 🙏❤️🙏❤️🙏

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Jan 16Liked by Jenna Newell Hiott

Keep this dialogue going, if you can....?!

Being a dad, I feel, have felt, like making it up as I go. Like needing to re invent the part from scratch. No role model I want is out there. Just skin , no flesh....this weird current polarisation is also part of it. Like progressive and conservative are different parties, enemies. Men and women incompatible separate entities. But the fact stays, I need a big mama in me to keep the father-role functioning. Containing the form in aliveness, holds its shape through renewal. The skin has a certain toughness, but is neither hard nor soft.

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My husband was just saying the same thing...that he never had a role model or teacher and had to make up fatherhood as he went along. I agree, Bertus, this is such an important conversation and I'll do what I can to keep it going. Maybe a whole separate post on fatherhood. I'm not sure, but will certainly think on it. Thank you for bringing this! ❤️

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Jan 7Liked by Jenna Newell Hiott

Wow. I love your ways of gathering the energies of a father and mother together. The balance and beauty of finding space and needing both. What a beautiful post that led me to deeply ponder it all. Thank you! xo

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Thank you so much, Liz! ❤️

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Jan 7Liked by Jenna Newell Hiott

I’ve been reorienting my association with the divine masculine in a similar way - that it’s a container or underlying foundation that supports and gives structure to the divine feminine creativity

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Yes! I love that! The divine masculine and feminine together, not one or the other, nor one over the other. But one holding the other. That makes so much sense to me. Thank you, Kerani! ❤️

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"The Father, The Mother, and The Child are like a peach. Together, The Father and Mother create The Child, which is the seed (or stone or pit) in the center. The Mother is the meat and juice that then nourishes it; and The Father is the outer skin that holds and contains the whole." Jenna, this is so exquisitely beautiful! Thank you so much for sharing this stunning metaphor, I love it so much!

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Thank you, Camilla! 💕🤗

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deletedJan 7·edited Jan 7
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Oh man, what great questions, Anot! Truth is indeed a slippery beast. What is the line between stopping the bullshit and not causing harm (to ourselves or others) with our perceived truths? And like you've asked here, how can we really know our own truth if we can't even see ourselves clearly? Much to ponder. If you come up with any answers, please do share!

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