I tend to reflect on life from time to time. Building The Body Deli brand with my business partner Margaret Skarin and all of the dedicated people that contribute endless hours to make sure everything runs like a symphony is no small task. Building a brand is such a great mirror for your own personal journey. It really asks of you these questions – what do you want to create, what do you want to stand for and what kind of message do you want to communicate to the world..

I have been so blessed to have embarked on my own inner journey long before Body Deli was even a blip on my radar. I suppose it all starts with family and the support of friends along the way. Everyone becomes a teacher in life no matter how at times painful the lessons seem to be. I believe that the all important journey to know thy self is the most important and rewarding trip anyone can ever take. The best part, this cosmic vacation never ends we constantly evolve, grow and reshape our opinions, beliefs and attitudes toward ourselves and the world around us. It gives me great pleasure to bring all kinds of people that have had profound relevance in my life journey to contribute to this blog..

One of them is a very special person I am thrilled to have as a regular contributor to our blog, her name is Beverly Glover. I have known Beverly all my life, she is the mother to my best friend. I have watched her over the years grow and achieve great things in her life. Her wisdom and perspective are priceless. Beverly is a powerful astrologer, who is also a clinical psychologist and champion for the Divine Feminine. It has always been my philosophy that true authentic beauty emerges from within.

I hope that Beverly’s perspective is as uplifting and enlightening for you as it has been for me. Plus, Beverly was one of the very first people to believe in our vision of Body Deli and has been a fan of our products for years. With Beverly’s inner guidance and our fresh living skin food on the outside, living a beautiful life has never been so much fun! Now I would like to introduce you to Beverly…
I have a vivid memory from my childhood. When I was about five years old I remember standing next to a shrub in front of our house, looking at the vast blue sky with white puffy clouds. I was trying to imagine God, a white bearded and stern fatherly type, sitting somewhere up there on a free floating throne looking down at my every move. Then I contemplated how it was for God before he created the world. Was he floating in blue skies with puffy clouds, or darkness? Was he lonely? Did he have a family floating up there with him? My questions were never answered. I was just as mystified about my role as a female in this giant world with an invisible God, as I was about my place in this large family with an absent father.

Having been born the sixth of eight children, my security came from my grandmother, my mother and my oldest sister, Barbara. Struggle and sacrifice appeared to be the plight for these three strong women in my life. Grandma had been married four times which was almost unheard of in the early 1900’s. She was hard working, short tempered and the rock of our family in my early childhood. The men in her life were weak in character and predatory by nature. She taught us five girls to be tolerant and yet guarded of men.

Throughout my adult life, I continued to search for something to complete myself. After the birth of my first son at the young age of 18, I began to read with a hunger for understanding my existence and my purpose for being. I came across a book on eastern religion written by Lobsang Rampa. Although some of the information about reincarnation and karma made sense to me, I noticed that there was a theme of spiritual entitlement for men which excluded women. Nevertheless, this was the beginning of my spiritual journey and the foundation of my search for meaning in life as a woman. .

Mom and Barbara were the pillars in my universe and with them at my side I knew I could accomplish anything. Mom was a proficient writer and Barbara was by now a well known and published astrological counselor. Barbara was my sister, my teacher, my best friend and spiritual guide. She always seemed to have answers to life’s challenges and dilemmas.

After several marriages and the birth of three more sons, my concept of being a woman in today’s world began to change. I struggled through college, taking a more traditional route then my sister Barbara, but always turning to her for spiritual guidance. She too had lived through multiple marriages, gave birth to five children, and worked endlessly in her role as the Divine Mother and astrological counselor. I learned astrological interpretation, card reading and other modalities of spiritual guidance from Barbara.

At age 34, I was again a single parent and now had four sons. I eventually realized that it was unlikely I would be rescued by a man. I began my master’s program in Social Work while working full time as a social worker. My two youngest sons were still at home and my older sons were embarking on their own journeys. My goal was to become a counselor, to help empower other women.

Nine years after I graduated with my M.S.W., I passed the California Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) examinations. Sadly my dear sister Barbara Shere, Sacred Mother and spiritual teacher to many, passed away at the young age of 59, just two months before I reached my lifetime goal. I was approaching my 50th birthday and so much of who I had become was because of Barbara.

My grandmother, mother and older sister were living examples of the Divine Feminine and Sacred Mother. My task and life purpose is to integrate the gifts and qualities of the Divine Feminine within. The focus of my practice is to empower women in their relationships and assist them in finding purpose, meaning and fulfillment in their lives.

Every woman has a unique path and has the ability to transcend the false self that the world defines for her. Beauty is emanated from within and when we are awakened to our divine nature, our lives become balanced and meaningful. It is time for us to usher in the age of the Divine Feminine, which will bring balance and healing to our Mother Earth.

THE DIVINE FEMININE
What is the divine feminine? Look it up on Google and you will get 164,000 results and varying perspectives. It’s meaning has deep roots in history, religion, psychology, mythology and much more.

The patriarchal world view has dominated Western Culture for the last seven thousand years. Religions attribute our very existence to a male God who was angry, jealous and vengeful. Mary, mother of God’s only begotten son who carried the message of love, faith and forgiveness, has been the most highly visible of the feminine in traditional religion along with a few other popular female saints, for the last two thousand years. She is to many, the symbol of the spiritual mother and people of many faiths embrace her. She has been solely responsible for keeping the sacred feminine alive since the birth of Christ. The shamanic religion is considered the oldest of all religions and reveres the mother, along with the father. She is the earth, the Great Mother.

Jung’s definition of spiritual growth within the individual relates to the development and integration of the male and female components of the human psyche. Jung teaches that an individual can only attain wholeness by balancing and integrating these components within. Ancient mythology references the beautiful Goddess, Venus the brightest, most illuminating star in the heavens. She is the Morning Star, the Evening Star and the Star of the Sea. To our distant ancestors she epitomized the joys of grace and beauty.

Over the eons of time the suppression of women and the qualities of the Divine Feminine have created a mass energetic collective of pain and suffering which has taken on a life of its own. As women, when we choose to allow our thoughts and emotions to be activated by experiences that trigger our pain, we are accessing the unconscious pain and suffering of the collective female pain body. We must learn to live in the stillness of the present moment and avoid feeding our minds with stories of the past or the unmanifested future that keep our pain body alive.

The focus of my work is about awakening the divine feminine within each of us…So often beauty is something perceived as outside of ourselves when in fact, true beauty radiates from the inside out. The Divine Feminine has no gender. What we feed our mind fuels our emotions. What fuels our emotions, propels us to take action. Repetitive action instills habits and habits develop our character. Our egos often become attached and identified with the personality of our character which can cause us to lose our inner purpose as individuals and live in a state of perpetual unconsciousness. By suppressing the ‘Goddess’ within ourselves we have allowed a state of disequilibrium as individuals as well as a human collective which has left our planet in a state of unconsciousness and disarray.

As the Divine Feminine awakens in each of us, we will begin to embody a unified wholeness in our consciousness and our actions. The Sacred Feminine is capable of greatly assisting in the fulfillment of our existence as individuals and helping to heal and achieve balance, unity and consciousness on our Mother Earth.

Bev’s – FRESH ASTROLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES

The first exact opposition of Uranus representing rapid and progressive change and Saturn the ‘Father’ or authority representing structure and resistance, will be exact on Tuesday November 4th, a major aspect lasting through 2010. We can feel personal and global tensions build as we look forward to an uncertain future.

Any rigid foundations that do not have the flexibility to adapt to this change will not withstand the powerful influence of Uranus which demands a transformation from serving the ‘few’ to serving the majority. At the same time, Saturn will be overseeing this change and provide the structure and hard work necessary in building a new foundation.

On a personal level, individuals will feel both the need to break free and yet be responsible in the process.
On a global level, there will be little tolerance for holding onto past structures that have not served the masses but change will be slow and arduous as resistant Saturn continues his ‘Patriarchal’ influence.

On a Spiritual level this transformation will usher in the Age of the Divine Feminine. This age will emphasize less personal gain and identification with the ego and more cooperation and alignment with our spiritual work and healing of humanity and the planet as a whole.
Beverly Glover is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) in the state of California and Oregon. She was also trained in astrology by her Nationally known sister and Astrologer, Barbara Shere. Beverly is able to integrate her skills in astrology with her formal education and clinical practice. She currently has a private practice in Eugene, Oregon. She may be reached for personal astrological readings and/or counseling at 541 595-0456 or bevglo@aol.com

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