Opening: A Shattering Reveal
I am one of the many millions of women who had the wind knocked out of my sails last week. The release of the Epstein files brought a deep, dreaded (but sadly, all too familiar) sense of horror to our eyes. We saw, even if only a glimpse, the darkness of a system of power we have all been blindly living under.
The Epstein files have shone a light on horrors never seen before in our lifetime. We now see with open eyes the abhorrence of white male privilege and power – darker, more horrific than many of us imagined possible. Whether this ring of elites – spanning so vastly we can barely comprehend it – is ever brought to justice or not, the world has seen what has transpired. It is not the full picture, but it is enough to begin comprehending the violation, abuse, and immense human degradation in the acts of this ring of male elites. And we can’t unsee it.
The Weight Women Have Always Carried
Every woman knows the flavour and scent of misogyny: the entitlement, domineering, power-tripping behaviour of men like Epstein’s club. We have all endured the stares, the comments, the luring, the grooming, and, in some cases, the traumatic experience of being violated.
Women are ALWAYS on a level of alert that no man can ever fully understand. The world ruled by men has never been a safe place for us. Yet most of us have escaped the particular horrors of what the women lured into Epstein’s sick game endured.
My heart breaks for the women and children who were subjected to their sick, perverted, and dehumanising behaviour. Justice will be served in time. The universe demands it, even if it may not be enough for these survivors in their lifetime.
The Threshold We Now Face
The question that remains now is this: what do we do with this awareness and knowledge? As with any big news story, as the sensationalism hits, there is high emotion – rage, disgust, horror – and people speak out everywhere. Then, after a while, the media stops reporting and things die down.
But can we really turn away from this level of violation and abuse? Can we really just forget what some of the most powerful men in the world have subjected girls and women to, for decades? Can we really just go back to sleep after being woken up by such a nightmare?
This is the threshold that we all – women and men – and our society as a whole are facing. We are tired, emotionally drained, and there are so many things happening in the world right now that capture the attention of our hearts. There is so much that is hard to see. It would be easier to fall back into the slumber of ignorance and denial.
The Crumbling of the Old System
And yet, this is a moment for us to begin to rise, in a way we have been sensing for years now. As a woman, I have known that the calling for us to step up into leadership would come. I have felt deep seismic shifts happening as the old patriarchal system rumbles and the ground beneath it becomes more shaky and uneven.
The cracks have been forming for a few years, and now – as predicted by the astro gurus – things are starting to crumble. There is a desperation, for sure. The old white male club is screaming and holding on for dear life. These men are becoming more insane by the day.
The moment will come sooner rather than later when the ground will fully fall beneath them, and things will collapse. And we must be ready to step in, to lead in the ways we have been preparing for centuries – with love, with connection, with nurture, in community, with arms linked together. Women are hard-wired and primed for this time.
What We Can Do Now
So what do we do now – in response to what is happening and to prepare for the big changes that are coming?
We gather the women. We create spaces to meet meaningfully, where we can share from our hearts and hold each other with tenderness, fierceness, and joy. We create spaces where we can heal, grow, and embody our unique gifts and value, with the full support and sponsorship of each other. We harness our authentic confidence, cultivate our intuition, and open our hearts fully to life, to each other, and to ourselves.
Get your friends together in a kitchen for tea and cake. Organise an event for women, or join me in circle – either in person or online – for my new Red Thread sessions.
Whatever role you have to play in the future, please trust that whether on a world stage or in a small community, it is vital for women to connect. Let’s not go back to sleep. Let’s use this time, honour those who have been at the coal face of this systemic misuse of power, and trust that if we are alive and well at this time, we are made for this time. We have the capacity to create a different world – but we must act consciously.
Midlife Women at the Threshold
I really feel that women in midlife are a vital part of this movement. We are sitting at our own threshold. We are shedding the old stories in order to become a more empowered, strengthened, clear, and brilliant version of ourselves. This is a time that prepares us for leadership. And lead we must.
So if you’re like me and you’re in the midst of the midlife journey, then please say yes to the call. Stay in the discomfort of what is being exposed, stay the course, and link arms with the women around you.
Whether we can get closure and peace for those impacted by Epstein or not, we CAN together help prevent this from happening to our daughters.
The Power of Intuition and Self-Worth
I listened to a woman sharing on Instagram the other day about her experience of the Epstein circles. At age 17 she moved from Holland to Paris to pursue modelling as a career and entered the world of high glamour and the elite. She attended dinners with Epstein and his club and saw many women lured into their trap with promises of supermodel careers, wealthy lives, and all the glamour that comes with it.
They were invited to the parties, the holidays, and trips on private jets. She watched many women fall for it. But she knew something was not right. She knew it was too good to be true and she declined every offer that she received. She never became a victim of the Epstein ring.
Somehow, by some miracle, she was able to listen to her intuition. She knew something was dangerous, and she was spared the abuse and violation.
This is what we can do to protect our daughters and our sisters: empower each other to listen, to trust, and to respond to our intuition; to raise our self-worth and value; to know that we can create the life we desire. We don’t need to be at the mercy of a rich man full of fake promises, oversize ego, and unchecked sexual appetite. We don’t need to sell ourselves out to get what we want.
We can cultivate an unwavering sense of our own authentic selves, and the confidence to use our voice to empower, inspire, and protect ourselves and each other, so that we are never subjected to the acts of humiliation, violence, and dehumanisation that these women endured.
Building the New House
This is what we CAN do. We can continue to hope and pray for justice for the pain and trauma that those women experienced, and we can take the reins to protect future generations.
This action, I truly believe, will eventually and ultimately bring this dark, haunted house down. We will build a new home where all people can flourish. It’s going to take guts, grit, and persistence. But it is the time.
So, let’s be the women. Let’s prepare the soil, plant the seeds, and nourish them with love, nurture, and goodness. We will get to the other side of this, and it will be worth it.