An unlikely heroine

What does it mean to rise as the feminine

It’s not surprising I have a great affinity for the moon and her cycles. Growing up in the Jewish culture, each of our traditional celebrations/holidays aligns with either a new or full moon. One of my earliest memories is walking with my mum to my grandparents on Passover, with the full moon high in the darkness above us. As a small girl I was enamoured by this glowing ball in the night sky and I guess I still am.

Today, in sync with the full moon, is the holiday of Purim. This holiday also has a strong feminine bent to it, so it feels fitting to tell the story.

Call it story, call it myth, call it lore, each ancient indigenous culture has their own. The beauty of them is that irrespective of your religion, culture or identity, stories and myths can cross it all. There is a universal aspect.

The tale of Purim is about triumphing over adversity. Something we all can relate to as humans. In this specific triumph, Esther, our heroine, had to ‘come out’. She had to reveal her true self.

Sound familiar? I know, at least through my own life experience, triumph does require an unveiling of sorts, although that very moment of revealing oneself can be scary, anxiety-inducing or simply uncomfortable.

To surmise the story of Purim in a short paragraph… In ancient Persia (current Iran) about 2300 years ago, Queen Esther saved the Jewish people from annihilation by convincing the King, her husband, that the Jewish people were allowed to fight in defence against the Prime Minister’s decree to annihilate her people. They won the battle and well, seeing I’m here to tell the tale, the Jewish people survived.

There are a few things about this story I wish to focus on for modern relevance and also for my work in empowering the feminine and women in general.

Firstly, the one who saved the day was a woman. A Queen. Esther. She also has an entire book dedicated to her, called Megillat Esther, which is read on Purim. The most joyous holiday of the Jewish calendar year is about a woman. Isn’t that cool?

As a young girl to dress up as Queen Esther on Purim was the ultimate. I guess perhaps it was my first experience of what it means to be a woman honoured for her power. I love that my lineage can see women in this way. And there is a lot for us modern women to take on board from this tale. Because Esther didn’t win by getting a seat at a boardroom table or a spot on a football field; she won through showing her true self.

To become a heroine Esther had to overcome the fear of uncovering her true identity (aka her religion) to her husband, knowing that she could lose her life for it. However, because she chose to stand up for more than herself, and for her entire people, she assured that community was saved.

To me there are two key themes in this section of the story.

How often in relationship do we hide our true identity in fear of being rejected? I can definitely put my hand up. And taking it even deeper, how often as women have we needed to hide our true identity within our modern world, covering up who we really are just to survive in an environment that doesn’t suit our hormonal makeup or innate nature? I again put my hand up. Actually, I got sick trying to do that, and only healed when I stopped.

Then there is the part of the greater cause or the greater community. As women we have to work with one another to rise, not just think of ourselves. How can we all appear beautiful and powerful together? If we all stand behind our unveiling, imagine what could happen. Think reclaiming universal rites of passage such as puberty, pregnancy, peri-menopause as potent portals and not pathology.

And, of course for me, there is the aspect of saving the Jewish community. In recent months I, and many of my friends/colleagues, knew we could keep quite, not reveal our religion/ethnic background and potentially stay under the radar of a growing barrage of hate from a certain part of the global community, but in doing so it means we leave a piece missing from the world. An important piece — our contribution. If we weren’t speaking up and sharing our stories, old false tropes and narratives of Judaism would persist because no one was countering them. I’ve had to potentially forego clients, followers, maybe even acquaintances (yes, in 2024, I actually lost people from saying I was Jewish and support a Jewish homeland). But I’ve also gained a whole lot of pride in my community and people and new friends and followers.

Secondly, the very story of Purim is very poignant for this moment in time. The time-relevant aspect of Purim is that it occurred 2,300 years ago. Yes, two millennia. And it occurred in ancient Persia which is now the country of Iran.

So it shows the history of Jewish people in the Middle East. Something that many try and contest these days. We didn’t just arrive out of the blue in 1948. It also demonstrates the anti-Semitism that has existed and swept through the Middle East for eons and the way the Jewish people have always been in battle for our existence. And we still are today.

Even writing this down now sends shivers through me as it is echoing our current reality. The story of Purim echoes the lives of every generation of Jewish people. There has always been a battle to win over adversity, some predator wishing to be rid of us. Today we have the extremist Islamic regime with a very open verbal decree of wishing to kill all Jews (and, by the way, the western democratic way of life).

I know there is a tragic war occurring in the Middle East at present. I wish it wasn’t and I wish it never had to start. Yet the point is it isn’t the first war. (Although I like many other peace lovers, do hope it’s the last.) Jewish people have fought for their right to survive in the Middle East for millennia. Kicked out of their homeland and scattered around the Middle East and the world, it has been an ongoing fight to come back home.

The Jewish People are indigenous to the land called Israel. And contrary to popular narratives, the return of this land is a perfect example of de-colonisation. Actually in a clip I watched this week, a native American woman stated it so clearly. In her words: “De-colonisation is so rare that the world doesn't even know what it looks like. Perhaps the only place where it has occurred is in Israel.”

Thirdly, as I wrote in a substack earlier in the year, I’ve decided to share these parts of myself and my lineage because they epitomise the very essence of the work I do. I’m sharing a very old ancient ethno-religion that can be traced back centuries and is essentially fashioned on a seasonal and lunar calendar with female all-stars. It’s story-based, which is the way women share history. And it’s survived, which helps a world to understand what it means to be sustainable.

Finally, I’m ending on what may seem like an odd point but to me quite relevant, particularly seeing we are talking about Queen’s. I’m astonished and horrified at the attack at the announcement of a future Queen’s battle with cancer, namely Princess Kate. From statements such as ‘she is already dead, it’s just an AI video,’ to ‘I don’t care about white privileged women,’ the attack by women on women is rising to new heights. This is what I touched on earlier about the fact as women we need to work as a community to rise. I’ve seen this too with the ‘rape as resistance’ argument against the Israeli women brutally sexually assaulted on 7 October and since as hostages in Gaza. It doesn’t matter what class Kate is or what colour, she is a woman, a mother, a wife and young. She is battling a disease that doesn’t distinguish between classes or colour. As women we rise as one or we don’t rise at all. This a message many female activists out there now need to take on board.

This full moon comes with a strong eclipse. It’s a letting go of the old to make way for the new. It’s time to let the universe work its magic; watch as if it is a light show created just for us — for our evolution, for our growth, for our souls ascent.

Full moon blessings,

With love,

Sharon

PS: I couldn’t find a photo of me dressed as Queen Esther, but this is one of my many Purim dress-ups as a young girl. Geisha girl perhaps.