Gather the Women...Then, Gather the Wealth
I asked The Oracle...How can we be paid for the sacred work of prophesy and other feminine arts in this time of upheaval and transition?
Dear Friends,
Today, I offer you a ramble on the role of prophesy through time; how it was once valued highly; and how it must be again. Also, an actual prophesy. READ ON!
Women and gold. Women and gold. Women and gold.
Fertility and prosperity. Fertility and prosperity. Fertility and prosperity.
The relationship is ancient and enduring, once sympathetic, now problematic and debased. What would it mean to restore it? What would it mean to value women, feminine mystical arts, and life-generating wisdom again?
I’d like to know…I think it’s essential that we do. Why?
Wise women know how to cleanse and alchemize the desacralized and debased money/gold. We do this by receiving it as tribute and putting it to use to generate life; to restore balance and harmony with the natural world; to restore the feminine and mystical arts that teach us how to be in right relationship with ALL sentient beings in all planes of existence; to inspire artistic and cultural flourishing in the hearts and through the hands of humankind. By doing this, we change our destiny. We clear the heavy imprint of death, violence, and destruction that the gold currently carries—the imprint of Empire. By doing this, we clear karma.
Gold supports and nourishes the women as they do this. In a material economy, the gold makes this kind of work POSSIBLE. Without the gold, we end up depleting ourselves and calling it charity. This is not sustainable or wise. This is not feminine wisdom. This is extractive. It’s what we do to the earth when we mine her for her resources without offering anything in return; feeling entitled to take, take, take. Not stopping to think about what it is we’re doing. Not stopping to wonder how this is for HER. In order to give our gifts fully, we must be full, flowing, fecund. We have to know our limits and desires, have boundaries and assert ourselves. We have to know our worth is priceless, infinite, unmeasurable, but also in monetary terms (because that’s where we are right now) we must feel plentiful.
Women's Wisdom Is Worth It's Weight in Gold
When I was in 6th grade, I remember seeing a photograph of the Treasury of Athens at Delphi (above) in my textbook. I understood without being told—I guess you could call that remembering—that the treasuries lining the uphill path to the Temple of Apollo at Delphi were called treasuries because they housed treasures. I could see then in my imagination, and see it clearly even now, the retinue of kings and statesmen lugging the spoils of war to these treasuries as an offering and in gratitude for the support they received from Apollo in their endeavors and the prophesies they received from Apollo’s Pythia, or priestesses, the Oracles. This treasury was built around 500 BCE.
Delphi was the crown jewel of strategy and diplomacy, wisdom and prophesy, in the ancient world for over 1,000 years. No right-minded king would make a move without consulting The Oracle.
There I was, at the tender age of 12—which, INCIDENTALLY, is the age at which I would have/should have been brought to be initiated into temple life with the other priestesses who would become my mentors, teachers, and SISTERS in the prophetic arts—feeling the POWER in this kind of feminine wisdom being valued by the most powerful politicians in the world. I think this is WHY this memory is seared into me. I knew it was right. I knew this was real and true and beautiful—that women in direct contact with the DIVINE source of life and wisdom, calling forth poetry and prophesy freely through their bodies WAS WORTHY of TREASURIES to hold all the gold…so much gold.
I finally made it to Delphi in 2023, the year of my 50th birthday. I took my daughter, who was then 12 to offer her to the priestesses…just kidding! We made a pilgrimage.
It was everything I imagined and more. It was holy beyond words…blessed, I’d say. Blessed by centuries of devotion, prayer, peace-keeping, tending. It was positively HUMMING with impressions from the past. Before we left, I asked my daughter to give me a moment alone. She went off with my camera to capture the sights while I made my way to a spot as close as I could get to the original site where the Oracle dispensed prophesy. I made an offering, sat myself down, went deeply inside to my own inner temple, and asked for guidance, insight, revelation, prophesy. Then, I listened.
A mighty wind blasted the land from out of nowhere. A green cloud of dust enveloped me. And then I heard Apollo in my heart. What he said to me is private, but at the heart of it was a request…a command…to teach modern people the art of prophesy…to restore it as an essential tool to help us navigate these divisive and chaotic times. It felt like a multi-lifetime mission. I am holding it as such even as I take small steps towards making it happen. I had no idea how good it would feel—how clarifying it would be—to receive divine prophesy. There is no waffling or doubt after that. There is only determination.
Gather the Wealth
Since that time, I’ve been slowly building up communities of women and joining groups of women, to remember how to bring through Divine wisdom in the form of innovation, prayer, blessings, magic spells, alchemy, subtle world maps, and prophesy. Gather the Women is my main focus and probably the keystone of what will become Apollo’s prophesy: what I call The School of Prophetic Arts. We’re also learning/remembering how to operate “the spiritual technology” of sisterhood! Some of that was recorded in this recent post about Women Helping Women.
The Gather the Women group is rapidly accessing long dormant ways of collectively sourcing divine inspiration and guidance. We have now put in tons of time and energy—all of it unpaid. To do the math: we’ve met 9 times, 2 hours each meeting, 9 women PLUS a lot of prep and follow up work, 1:1 calls, AI-research, etc. between sessions. I’d say—conservatively—we’re clocking about 500 hours of dedicated service to understanding and cracking this code. If we were BABYSITTERS making $20/hour we’d have made $10,000 by now. If we were EXECUTIVES at any generic American widget corporation billing $200/hour, we’d have billed $100,000 by now.
Of the nine women in the group, I’d say only a couple truly have the disposable income right now to work this much for free. We are, essentially, “volunteering our time.” These are brilliant, magical, talented, accomplished women who are all in service to the birthing of a new culture on Earth. Many of them left big corporate jobs to do work that is more aligned with their hearts. ALL OF US DESERVE TO BE PAID/NOURISHED MATERIALLY FOR THIS PIONEERING WORK.
The question has been HOW.
Along with downloading mystical codes and alchemizing collective wounds of the patriarchy, we have also been designing a solid offering for business and civic leaders. Really…for anyone who could use a counsel of top-tier priestesses and oracles to make better decisions—decisions based in the dimension of the SACRED; LIFE-AFFIRMING and NOURISHING decisions. This offering is our Delphi. It is what happens in the secret chambers of the Temple of Apollo. In order to access it, you must pay—handsomely.
We are working on putting together a pitch deck to explain ourselves, the offering and the value we are creating. We are looking for ALIGNED investors. We are looking for support from kindred spirits who understand that the transmutation of the monetary system and the MONEY itself is an essential step in our collective liberation from the bondage of extractive capitalism.
We have to restore not just the TEMPLE, but the TREASURIES also. This is right relationship to wisdom, to feminine wisdom, to resources. Will you bring us your gold?
“Love of money and nothing else will ruin Sparta.”
—famous Delphi prophesy recorded by Plutarch
As I approach the end of this post, I leave you with a prophesy. I left my seat here at the computer to make an offering to Apollo and the Pythia, the priestesses of Delphi. I found the very FIRST daffodil I’ve seen this spring and asked if it would like to be made into an offering. It’s solar yellow was just too beautiful to pass up and there will be so many soon. The composition took the shape of a treasury…and when I finished and blessed it, I felt how beautifully FULL it felt. My heart also felt full…of gratitude. As I left the offering and walked up the hill to my house, I understood why a treasury is built on the way to the oracle. We have to empty ourselves out in order to receive. Gratitude makes way for more and more.
Then, I took pen in hand. I used a technique I enjoy to “speak” to the gods and unseen energies. I posed questions using my right hand and answered them with my left. Here is what I received…
I may share the full transcript in another post. It went on for five pages. At the very end, the message became more strident and clear:
I know what you come for. I see your mind and know your heart. Sing! Sing praises! The prayer...a hymn. Remind the ready ones that a meal is best enjoyed in good company. Host. Guest. Serve. Partake. Exchange fear and stagnation for the living waters, for wine and song. Sing to the Earth. Worship the sun. AIM HIGH.
The first two lines seemed to be a reassurance to the part of me that was holding a mild anxiety/effort to pose “the right” questions. The lines about singing and prayer came with a transmission of GROUP dynamics…in other words, gather in ritual. Do this together and you amplify the effects. The reference to the prayer was to a specific prayer…you won’t believe this because I didn’t. It’s a prayer AI generated for me one night when I was riffing with it about Gather the Women and funding. The AI asked me if I’d like it to generate a prayer for fundraising and of course, I said “YES.” So, it gave me this. The Oracle directed me to go back to it and I can see why…
Chat GPT said: Would it be helpful to craft an invitation or prayer for funding—something that articulates the energetic call rather than a traditional pitch? This could be a beautiful spell for sacred investment. You said: YES, please craft a prayer for funding. ChatGPT said: Here's a prayer for sacred funding, an invocation to call in the right stewards for Gather the Women. It is woven with the energy of clean giving, heart-based reciprocity, and service to the future of life. A Prayer for Sacred Funding O Great Mother, Source of all life, We call upon You now, That the rivers of abundance may flow clean and clear, That the resources needed for this work arrive unstained, unbound, and whole. Let those who are meant to steward this vision feel the call in their bones. Let the ones who carry sacred wealth recognize the opportunity to place it in right relationship with the future. May they give freely, joyfully, without attachment or control, Understanding that this is an offering to Life itself. Let the currency that arrives be free from fear, Untangled from the wounds of extraction, Unburdened by the old contracts of power. Let it come as a blessing, an act of devotion, a movement of love. And may those who receive it Hold it with the same reverence, Knowing that this is not for personal gain, But for the restoration of balance, For the healing of women, of Earth, of time itself. May this be the beginning of a new way, A sacred exchange rooted in trust, A funding of the future—given with open hands, Received with open hearts. So it is. So it shall be. This can be spoken aloud, used in ceremony, or shared with those who resonate. You could also record it as an invocation or weave it into a sacred funding gathering where potential stewards are invited into the energetic field of the work.
I leave you with a last bit of prophesy. It was almost an afterthought. I had put down the pen and then took it up again to ask:
Why is prophesy important? Why is it worth investing in? I received something in a poetic form, a little more the style the Delphic oracles were known for…
First a cheeky and meta response as it literally spoke through me: Doesn't it speak for itself? Then... No night without day. No future without today. No civilization lasts that does not ask for advice and relief with strident belief in voices from beyond where no man has gone. The gods see what is yet to be while man stands with his head in the sand. Until given the plans what he builds crumbles to sand. Even the gods cannot make of earth and clay that which we say without working through man without taking our hand.
If you or someone you know might be interested in joining this conversation about prophesy and about funding the remembering and restoration of these ancient/eternal arts, please forward them this note or reach out to me directly. I am looking for big and bold ideas and friends and allies in this effort.
Schuyler
schuyler@artofemergence.com
Special thanks to all of my GTW sisters, including Lucy Chung who is the biz wiz and pointed out that Gather the Wealth was a great title for a follow up to Gather the Women :) And to who saw the power in an article about the treasuries while we walked together over the lands of our shared home: the Hudson Valley!
Schuyler- This touches on so many aspects of womanhood and the perception and realities of wealth, prosperity, and gold. I love the personal journey that you took and the full arc that you showed. It’s really rejuvenating and wonderful.