The first time I went to see a psychic was after a very public bankruptcy of the Internet company of which I was the CEO and co-founder. I had imagined her being an old woman, sitting hunched over a crystal ball, with velvety curtains from the 1930s in a smoke and crystal-filled apartment. Instead, a woman about 10 years older than I wearing faded jeans opened the door, and invited me into her nicely designed modern home. We sat down on the sofa in her living room, and I became increasingly suspicious. "This woman, who looks so 'normal', can't be psychic," I told myself. Yet somehow, I didn't leave.
What I didn't understand then was that my judgments about her were
just projections of my fears, not only about her abilities but
essentially about mine. Ten years later, after tons of work on
myself which has boiled down to the fact that I now dare to stand
up for who I am, I'm finally coming 'out', calling myself a witch,
or more accurately, a witch in training. I've recently signed up for a clairvoyant program, which essentially is a school of and for psychics.
I'm purposefully using the word witch, because it's time for house
cleaning, and for reclaiming a word that represents women's power
and wisdom. For hundreds of years, women have been persecuted and
shunned for their wisdom, and their intuitive and healing
abilities, and the word 'witch' has been used as a way of
diminishing and slandering women's powers. It's time we set the
record straight.
And the world is ready for it. Our seemingly endless thirst for
magic is growing by the minute. The biggest blockbuster movies are
called Avatar, Harry Potter, Twilight, Matrix, and The Lord of the
Rings -- all about characters with supernatural abilities and alternate
worlds. The bulging bookshelves at Barnes & Noble can't seem to
print enough books within the Fantasy and Science Fiction
genres. This is of course not a coincidence.
We live in a world where some of the new findings within Quantum
Physics sound wickedly similar to many of the realities described
by fantasy and sci-fi authors. And this is not only a cultural
movement. It's also a burgeoning industry, which already rakes in
billions of dollars. And the more right-brained our society
becomes, where our visual and emotional capacities are being viewed
as relevant and useful, the higher up we move on Maslow's hierarchy
of needs. In other words, the more aware we become of ourselves and
the world around us, the more people are going to tune into their
so called 'supernatural' abilities. I bet that in 20 years, they
are probably not even going to be seen as supernatural, just useful. And above
all, there will be a return to the time when women were valued for
their intuitive wisdom. Let's start right now!
Coming back to the psychic I met back in 2000. At her living room
-table, besides telling me about the HUGE changes I would undergo,
she told me gently, but firmly, that I would have continued
struggles in my life until I dared to trust my intuition. She
turned out to be right on both accounts. It's been a long journey
of daring to listen more to my inner guidance than my fear-filled
intellect, or following useless external advice. I've back-pedaled
countless times, yet I've now finally reached a point, where I let
my intuition guide me. And it tells me to keep tapping into my
"witch-powers," while also claiming the right to be a business
woman and entrepreneur who enjoys reading the Economist. I claim
the right to be both, and it's my hope by writing this that more
women (and men) do the same!
By Lotta Alsén
Lotta Alsén empowers women entrepreneurs, leaders and change-makers. She's runs a coaching program called The Heroine's Journey a unique program combining personal and leadership development through the chakra system. Participants will leave with the powers to make more money, build and grow their company. Lotta has a MSc in International Economics, and has started and led several companies. She's also a business and success coach, and has created a coaching and entrepreneurship program for The European Union, CORE, which she now licenses. Read more at www.quickenings.com
