I watch a lot of TV.
It’s a quintessential Piscean escape tactic, but it’s also fodder for my imagination.
I was watching a show one day, and a character mentioned this term “sword mother”.
I sat up like a prairie dog and was like “say what”?!
The term held such power but also carried a sense of nurture and care.
After I sat with it, I understood what sword mothers are, what they do, and who they are for me.
Let’s talk about sword mothers by first defining, wield.
To wield is to use a tool/weapon skillfully and mindfully.
It’s one thing to wave a sword around and wreak havoc, it’s another thing to employ strength, precision, and intention.
We can wield lots of things.
We wield our intellect and our emotions, our circumstances, our art, our words, and our relationships, to name a few.
Anything we have that affects others can be wielded or flung about to wreak havoc.
For example, are you using your position in a relationship to create love and support, or to get attention and replay woundedness?
Are you using your intellect to invent helpful things, solve problems, make the world a better place, or not?
Are you being skillful and mindful, or not?
OK, now sword mothers.
A sword mother takes a novice and teaches her to wield.
She instills a respect for the tool itself.
Maybe the tool is an actual weapon, like a sword or a bow and arrow.
Or maybe it’s something like physical beauty, money, wit, a position in a relationship, a life circumstance, charisma, charm, education, or entree. Basically, anything that gives you fair advantage.
She helps you build the strength to wield it responsibly, with control and awareness.
Then she shows you when to wield it.
And when not to.
She teaches you technique, maneuvers, and savvy.
A sword mother shows you what to do when you have fair advantage.
But she doesn’t help you take advantage; The Warrior sword mother always fights fair.
So, a sword mother is a trainer.
And where does this training occur?
In the “barracks”, ground as sacred and necessary to The Warrior as the battlefield.
Battlefield and barracks both require courage. Facing a sword mother can be just as foreboding as facing a saboteur.
The difference is, the sword mother pushes you toward you potential, expanding your capacity, agility, and strength.
So, who and what are making your life hard right now?
Instead of whining about it and crying “victim”, what if you accepted the training?
What if you stepped up and looked this sword mother in the eye, and said “come at me, bro”?
Because they’re all waiting to teach and train you.
Every pain in the ass, inconvenience, flop, failure, and frustration is a sword mother who thinks you have what it takes to grow.
Will you welcome them in, up for the challenge?
Will you bow at the door of their dojo, honored that they have selected you, amazing you, for training?
It’s guaranteed growth if you do.
Here’s one of the many things I’ve written about the Sword Mothers.
Fill the space
with Sword Mothers.
Go to the grove,
sit in their silk tents with prayer flags fluttering
and rub salve into this wound.
Sleep, and eat gruel
until you’re strong enough
to train with the Sword Mothers again.
Feel them defeat you,
their swords nicking, just enough to hurt, ribs, your heart, your neck.
Let them show you where you’re weak,
why you keep losing this battle.
Then sit
and listen to their stories
of glory and defeat
while the orange of the fire
lights their faces
and gleams against their teeth.
Go back to the Barracks.
Heal, rest, train, and listen.
Get strong,
And try again.
love and sword mothers,
xo
kv
