There is a deeper connection here with the framework of The Living Attributes Codex. A women’s circle can be understood as a living expression of the same principle that sits at the heart of the Codex: that wholeness is not created by one quality, one archetype or one individual standing alone. Wholeness emerges through the conscious relationship between many different qualities, energies and expressions.
The Golden Seal of the Codex brings together a constellation of Attributes and Archetypes, each representing a different aspect of human potential and experience. No single Attribute exists in isolation. Each has its own quality, purpose and expression, yet each also exists in relationship to the others. The intention is not for one quality to dominate all the others, but for the whole configuration to find its natural balance and harmony.
In this way, our individual collection of archetypes can be seen as an inner circle of its own.
Within each of us are different archetypal expressions. There are parts of us that lead, parts that teach, parts that create, parts that nurture, parts that heal and parts that seek transformation. At different times in our lives, one archetype may come forward while another recedes. Sometimes these aspects of ourselves are in harmony, and at other times they may compete for attention, creating an internal tension that affects how we think, feel, relate and act.
The work of the Codex is therefore not about eliminating any particular part of ourselves. It is about learning to recognise these different aspects, understand their purpose and bring them into conscious relationship with one another. The movement is towards integration rather than domination.
The same principle can be observed within a women’s circle.
Each woman arrives as a whole constellation of experiences, qualities, histories, strengths, vulnerabilities and archetypal expressions. No two women bring exactly the same configuration. Yet when we gather, these individual constellations become part of a larger collective constellation.
The circle itself then becomes a living Golden Seal.
Its integrity depends upon the relationship between its individual parts.
This does not mean that everyone must think alike, behave alike or experience the gathering in the same way. Harmony is not sameness. In fact, the beauty of a circle is found in the diversity of what each woman brings. The question is whether those differences can exist within a field of mutual respect, openness and conscious relationship.
This is where unresolved conflict becomes significant.
Just as an unresolved or over-dominant archetypal energy can influence the balance of an individual’s inner system, unresolved relational tension can influence the balance of the collective circle. The issue is not that conflict exists. Conflict can reveal something that needs attention, just as an uncomfortable or challenging Attribute can reveal something within us that is asking to be understood.
The concern arises when that tension is allowed to remain unconscious or to become the organising force within the whole.
The Living Attributes Codex teaches us to look at what is present, rather than rejecting what is uncomfortable.
In the same way, the integrity of a women’s circle does not require us to pretend that difficulties do not exist. It asks us to become conscious of what we are bringing into the vessel and to consider whether it is supporting or disrupting the balance of the whole.
This is why the practice of entering through the heart is so important.
The heart becomes the point of relationship between the individual and the collective. It allows us to remain connected to our own truth while also recognising that we are part of something larger. Through the heart, we can hold difference without immediately turning difference into separation. We can maintain boundaries without closing ourselves to the humanity of another woman. We can acknowledge hurt without allowing hurt to define the entire field.
In the Codex, the Attributes and Archetypes are not simply a collection of separate concepts. They form a living system. Their meaning becomes more apparent through their relationship with one another.
A women’s circle works in much the same way.
The women are not simply sitting beside one another. They are participating in the creation of a collective field. Every interaction contributes something to that field. Every act of generosity, listening, respect and compassion strengthens it.
Conversely, defensiveness, exclusion, unresolved hostility or the need to control the experience can place strain upon it.
This gives us another way of understanding the responsibility of belonging to a circle. We are not responsible for controlling the experience of every other woman, nor are we responsible for making everyone comfortable. We are responsible for becoming conscious of what we contribute.
The question becomes less about, “What is this circle giving me?” and more about, “What am I contributing to the integrity of this circle?”
This is a question that belongs equally to our inner work.
When we work with the Living Attributes, we are continually asking how the different aspects of ourselves are relating to one another. When we participate in a women’s circle, we’re given the opportunity to practise that same principle relationally.
The inner vessel and the outer vessel mirror one another.
What we learn about balance within ourselves informs how we participate within a collective. What we experience within a collective can, in turn, reveal something about our own inner patterns.
This is the deeper purpose of the Sacred Mirroring Spiral.
We are continually moving between the inner and the outer, the individual and the collective, the personal and the relational. What is reflected within one may illuminate something within the other?
A women’s circle can therefore become more than a place for conversation, support or personal sharing. It can become a living practice of conscious relationship. It offers us an opportunity to experience what happens when individual women, each carrying her own unique constellation of Attributes and Archetypes, consciously enter a shared vessel and participate in its ongoing creation.
The sacred vessel is never static. Like the Living Attributes themselves, it is continually seeking balance, coherence and harmony.
And this is perhaps one of the most important understandings we can bring to circle: we do not simply arrive at a sacred vessel that someone else has created for us.
We create it together. We tend to it together.
And through the integrity of how we each choose to enter, we continually determine what kind of vessel we are capable of creating together.
Heart to Heart, Elizabeth
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