Minding Her Own Business: Women, Spirit & Money

 

The Wheel as a Model for Sustain-Ability

 

By Sherri L. McLendon

 

Understanding the wheel of the year in relationship to sustainable business begins with the processes of nature. Placing attention on the turning of the wheel and working with those energies through ceremony, journaling, divination, meditation, astrology, or other means can increase our effectiveness in our business and life.

 

The wheel functions as a metaphor for sustainable business. In fall, the days get shorter at harvest time, reminding us to get in touch with our ability to sustain ourselves over time. In winter, the earth rests, providing a fallow time to increase fertility. In spring, as the sun returns, the earth warms to the planting of new seeds, marking a time to gather your resources and seed your intentions. In summer, the sun holds sway as the earth greens. Grow your business with activation and expansion and be prepared to bloom with realization. This recurring rotation of the turning wheel of the year provides a metaphor for growth of our business and our personal cycles of change.

 

You’re invited to use these guidelines as a way to begin to assess the current phase of your business, or to orient yourself to the way you may work with seasonal energies to inform your business planning.

 

Gathering Resources (Imbolc; February 2-3)

 

Begin to align your vision with your actions by gathering information and getting in touch with your core values. This is a great time to figure out where to start. Make a list of questions, and the people who are most likely able to provide answers. Reach out and begin gathering information. Out of alignment with your calling, you’re not certain how to make money doing what you love. Read to get ideas to help you find your direction.

 

Seeding Intention (Spring Equinox/Oestara)

 

Seed your vision in the material world from a place of your core values. Honor your money roots, and strengthen your base at the root chakra and business foundation. Your business is in the start-up phase. Now is the time to plan your work, including what you offer, and where to find the persons to whom you can be of service. Begin sharing news of your venture with others. Order your new business cards. Celebrate your first client for the work. Explore right livelihood and the role between money and spirit.

 

Growing, Activating and Expanding (Beltane/May Day)

 

Now, you have a pretty good idea how to talk about what you’re doing, and you have a couple of clients, but how do you grow your business? You’re ready to explore marketing online. Explore relationship building and second Chakra energies. Everything isn’t perfect, but you’re on your way. You’re ready to step into your power through your business, and have begun to see entrepreneurialism as part of your spiritual path.

 

Blooming with Realization (Summer Solstice)

 

You’re starting to get the hang of this expansion thing, and you’re beginning to see your expertise in a whole new light. It’s time to refine and launch your personal brand based on who you are, not what you do. Consider the role the solar plexus plays in empowerment. Your life is in alignment with your calling, but spirit asks that you step more fully into your power so you can help more people. You need to gain confidence and clarity to make this happen.

 

Harvest Sustainably (Lammas, Mabon, and Samhain; Aug. 1 – Oct. 21)

 

Begin to see and understand the ebb and flow of the rhythms of your business, and begin to plan accordingly. Experience the flow of abundance, receiving clients and resources more readily, noting the time between seeding a working relationship and seeing that tended space yield the fruit of those energies. Clearly in service through your business, clients flow abundantly to you. Consider the relationship between the heart chakra and the way money flows to you through others. Model spirit-rich leadership, and see spending and earning as mindfulness practice. Place heightened awareness on how you spend and earn.

 

Lie Fallow to Increase Fertility (Winter Solstice)

 

Clear fallow ground and nurture the inner and outer landscapes of your life. Prepare to receive. Begin to plan times of rest to replenish in order to work with your own personal internal rhythms. In planning your year, figure in the down time you need to show up fully in your business from a creative perspective. Consider the relationship of the crown chakra to this grounded place, and use your intuition or guides to clarify your vision or decide next steps. Set up a plan to “tithe” money from your business into savings. Pay attention to the way nurturing diet, exercise, and self-care enriches your business. Make time for your relationships, and look at places where you need support – then ask for what you need.

 

Sherri L. McLendon, MA, OM is a conscious business strategist, coach, and writer in Asheville, NC. She owns and operates Professional Moneta International, specializing in helping exceptional entrepreneurs with a higher calling accelerate their money-making communication strategies and deepen their mindfulness practices in business so they can help more people, grow personally and professionally, and improve their sense of value and worth. 

 

Sherri is speaking at White Horse Black Mountain Nov. 17 from 2-4 on “The Moneta Money Chakra Basics.” Cost is $10.