Personal, first-person essays from Heléna Kate on spiritual growth, leadership, and relationships — written from lived experience, not just teaching.
When I think back on myself as a child, I am struck by the gentleness, openheartedness and connectedness that I possessed. I remember so many moments of feeling profound and exquisite love. As I watch the years turn in my mind, I start notice that the spontaneity of movement, the exuberant singing, the joyful embraces…
About a year after stepping more deeply into my spiritual path, a series of events shifted everything I thought I knew. They pushed me into an entirely different understanding of what it means to grow spiritually. I came to see that integrity is the most important companion on this journey—and that vulnerability is the foundation…
For me, owning and living my sexuality has been a form of healing work. It takes incredible courage for women to bring our sexuality with us everywhere we go –to work, shopping, alone behind closed doors (or not so alone…). And it is not as though we have a choice, we are being constantly evaluated…
I was a person who rolled my eyes when someone would say that they just wanted to be happy. I wanted passion, intensity, or to change the world not merely to be happy. Happiness seemed like a cop out -the easy path for those people who lack character. I stand corrected. As life pushed me,…
I was over forty years old before I realized I was beautiful—right about the time many people might believe that a woman’s beauty begins to fade. I remember sitting in grade school, awkward and shy, with a unique sense of imposed style that often got me ridiculed, imagining that someday—when I was much older—I would…
I affirm to myself, for all time and in all ways, that my direct connection to source and spirit will be sovereign and unimpeded. That no external truth, whether it be personal, familial, cultural, institutional, or any other, shall dictate the terms of this direct knowing. That all alternative perspectives worthy of such will be…
As we move through the bumps, jolts, and obstacles of life, we can use them to justify our own “rightness” or choose to see through the eyes of compassion. When seen most clearly, any person who hurts us is merely a person who is suffering himself or herself. When we choose to see others in…
It all started in childhood—as things do. I learned not to speak my truth. I learned that speaking my truth meant hurting other people—even if I was reporting the facts, even if was just saying how I felt. I also learned that speaking my truth meant that I would be hurt—rejected, criticized, and misunderstood. As…
For me, leading ceremony is not about making something happen. Yes, there are structural and energetic components to attend to, but the real work is creating a space for people to have a direct spiritual connection inside and outside themselves. It is the art of un-doing, the space holding, the emptying. We have been taught…
For a long time, I lived the belief that to create the life I wanted, I needed to work harder. This meant less sleep, long hours, and even “forgetting” to eat so that I could get the job done. There is a place for rolling up your sleeves and doing the hard work that…