The Vital Goddess – Details, episodes & analysis

I know you know what I mean.
That hamster wheel of doom just keeps on spinning and keeps us running.

What if you could stop that thing?

• Reconnect with yourself
• Reset
• Recharge
• Rejuvenate
• Come into that state where you feel calm and in your femme flow

You can.

And I have a simple formula for you to do just that.

What women need, desperately need, is a solid pattern disrupt.

The world around you may be going off the rails, but you don't have to.

What's the remedy?
Your inner Venus.

When you dial into your Venusian essence, you stop the madness and find your zone.

The Goddess Zone.

Let's dive in!


Download your Venus Avatar Meditation:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1JRV2zzAO8NkbsQ6HaKGhLiDm54OM7zlS/view?usp=sharing

I have a vulnerable share.

Are you ready?

My very first Jade Egg sat in the drawer for months. Not days. Not weeks. We’re talkin’ months.

Like so many women, when I first heard about the Taoist Jade Egg practice, I was intrigued.

I’m a pretty holistic gal, so the promise of healing my pelvic floor issues (which were pretty bad) naturally, really appealed to me. 

I’m also kinda witchy, to be honest.

I’ve always been drawn to ancient mystical practices of all kinds. 

Venus in Scorpio conjunct Neptune over here:)

So working with crystals in this sacredly sensual way seemed so cool. 

The fact that the courtesans and wives of the Emperor's court in ancient China were into it? 

Even cooler.

Making love to crystals to heal my pelvic floor?

Sounded sexy and fun to me!

I was so down!

I waited with anticipation for my very first Jade Egg to arrive and when it did, much to my surprise, I froze!

In this episode I tell the full story.
Which I think many women will find relatable.

Let's dive in!

Dive Deeper:

Watch the Open House Vid for The Vital Goddess Mastermind:
https://shakticore.com/vital-goddess-mastermind

Book a Virtual Coffee Date With Dianne

Join the Vital Goddess Mastermind:

https://shakticore.com/join-vital-goddess-mastermind

Happy Solstice!

The Solstice portals are always a powerful time for me.
A time for reflection and celebration.
A time to release and re-align.

This Solstice was super special for me as I had the privilege of guiding a group of amazing women in my community through a sensual breathwork journey.

It was such a beautiful reminder of just how potent sisterhood can be.

Maybe it feels so extra sweet to me because I didn't always feel safe in community with other women.

I've heard from so many women who have felt similarly.
I feel it's one of the most toxic aliments to come out of the patriarchy.

But it doesn't have to be that way.

If the sisterhood wound is a such a common affliction.

What's the remedy?

Women joining together to celebrate the radiance, power and magic of their unique expression of the sacred feminine.

Let's dive in!


Sign up for The Venusian Summer Series:
https://shakticore.com/venusian-summer

Your feminine essence is multi-faceted. It's kaleidoscopic.

There is no one way or right way to be 'in your feminine." What I've found to be true is that the only way to discover, awaken, have sustainable access to and embody your own unique sacred feminine/Shakti essence is through feminine spiritual practice. 

Feminine energy is passionate life force creative energy and it wants a place to play.
It wants to move through us.

Some women have a predominately masculine essence and they might feel totally fine and fulfilled with masculine spiritual practices.

But there are many women who want more.

The masculine in all of us finds spiritual bliss by becoming the witness/observer of life.
The feminine  finds spiritual bliss in opening and becoming the sacred vessel life moves through.

Feminine spiritual practice is based in questions like:

• How does sensual pleasure want to move through me?
•  How does light/radiance/beauty want to move through me? 
• How does passion and the full spectrum of emotion want to more through me? 
• How does yearning and desire want to move through me?
• How does love want to move through me? 
• How do I open and become the vessel for all of it? 
• How does life want to dance through me?

The master key to experiencing all of it  first hand is through our breath.

Here I riff on:

• My new free membership: Shakti Core Breathwork Journeys
• Why breath is the master key to embodying our sacred feminine
• What's missing for many women in masculine spiritual practice
• How the masculine in all of us craves emptiness
• How the feminine in all of us craves fullness
• How sensual pleasure is a portal into our sacred feminine
• Breath and opening to receive
• Developing emotional intimacy and intelligence
• Riding the waves of the breath
• Creating a spacious container for your essence to thrive
• The Heart/Womb connection & love fueled by erotic power

Some links for you:

• Check out my previous episode on Goddess Yoga/Reviving Feminine Spiritual Practice here
• Join Shakti Core Breathwork Journeys here

What is feminine energy and how do we tap into it and embody it? 

Feminine energy is  life force creative energy that's in every human. It contains the rich deep wise wilderness of our rawest emotions and the swirling nuances of our passion and ecstasy in the same breath.

It contains the codes of our soul's deepest yearnings. The sacred content we need to fully live, create and express. 

And it's been violently suppressed for thousands of years.

The word feminine can trigger a lot of folks. I get that. Through the lens of patriarchy it becomes weak, dangerous, disempowering, toxic even. 

The sacred feminine has not been fully expressed since the rise of dominator-style systems of patriarchy thousands of years ago. Full spectrum feminine has not been seen on this planet for ages.  And its suppression was and is heavy handed. 

There’s a lot of trauma to unpack and a lot conditioning to unravel so it’s no wonder that it’s such a confusing and at times triggering topic.

To reclaim the feminine is a bold path. There’s much healing to be done. And some are ready to do it. 

Our world is rapidly shifting and at the heart of this shift is the rise of the sacred feminine. 

Parts that have been lost are calling out for reclamation and embodiment.

It’s so important to understand that the expression of your sacred feminine essence is as unique your fingerprint. There is no one “right way” to be feminine. 

However there are spiritual practices that will help you connect to your authentic expression of this sacred energy. 

And embody it. 

And have sustainable access to it.

That’s what this episode is all about.

I riff on:

• The feminine energy/libido connection
• Yin orgasm; our oceanic source of energy
• How feminism liberated the masculine in women
• Women who want more
• Feminine spiritual practice
• Riding the waves of emotion
• Inner emotional intimacy and alchemy
• Emotional lock down and low libido
• Cultivating a pleasure mindset/busting the myths about our sensuality
• The passion of the "dark" feminine
• Micro-dosing pleasure
• Sensual breathwork
• Sensual movement
• The Jade Egg/Yoni Egg practice

Some links for you:

• Book your free Pleasure Queen Activation Session here.
• I've got all the details of the Second Spring Queen Program laid out for you in a PDF manual. Download it here
• Join me in my new free membership Shakti Core Breathwork Journeys here
• Check out my Spotify library here
• Access my free Jade Egg for beginners course here

Low libido is an epidemic and although lots of folks entering midlife report lack of libido as a chief complaint, there are many people, (record numbers actually) in their 20s and 30s with the same complaint. 

The fist thing I want to say about low libido is this: don’t attribute it to your age. While your body may be going through a transition, that’s all it needs to be; a transition. It’s not “the beginning of the end.” The third chapter of your life can be the most sensually rich and sexiest chapter of your life. To give you a very personal example: my real sex life began at 40 and 19 years later, at 59,  it just keeps on getting better. Prior to menopause, my libido was super low and erratic. I’ve learned a lot since then:)

The second thing I want to say is this:  chronic low libido is  a wake up call. The stresses of our modern high-tech lifestyle are hard on the nervous system and over time chronic stress depletes our mojo regardless of age.

While it’s natural, healthy and necessary to have periodic dips in libido, when we experience chronic low libido, our body is talking to us. By design we are meant to feel juicy, alive, creative, radiant available for pleasure much of the time. But the realities of stressful lifestyle, unprocessed emotions, stored trauma, digital overload and cultural narratives that shame our sensuality and sexuality can block the flow of our natural turn on. Is it any wonder why low libido is a chief complaint?

The third thing I want to say is this: we don’t need to boost our libido. The word boost indicates a temporary fix, like a double espresso or an energy drink. or any substance (herbal, pharmaceutical or otherwise) that “jacks us up” and creates an artificial surge of energy. We’ve had enough of that. And it’s not working.

What most women I know are craving is authentic, natural, sustainable passion. They want to feel sexy and good in their skin and they want that feeling to come from within; their own, authentic sexual essence. For this we don’t need to boost our libido we need to nourish, rejuvenate and cultivate our libido. 

Our libido is the foundation of our health and happiness. To cultivate it we need to switch the focus from temporary hit to practices that promote long-lasting sexual vitality. This of course includes good nutrition, quality supplements (tonics/not boosts), exercise and time in nature. It also includes adopting a mindset and lifestyle of pleasure and practices that rejuvenate and cultivate our natural store of sexual energy from the inside out.

The Taoist Jade Egg practice has much to offer here.

Let’s dive in!

In this episode I riff on:

• Why libido is so much more than “sex drive”
• The low libido deficit that’s affecting all ages
• The midlife invitation into a deeper dance of soul expression
• How libido aka sexual energy can be cultivated and stored
• The Taoist perspective and the 3 treasures
• Libido, desire and spiritual path; the feminine perspective
• Why so many women are giving from an empty cup and how to change it
• How our sexual energy fuels our spiritual path
• Cultivating a pleasure lifestyle and how it builds sexual energy
• The Jade Egg Practice and energy cultivation
• Pelvic lockdown
• Vaginal Reflexology and the Taoist Healing Sounds: getting at the root cause and restoring vibrancy

Some links for you:

Book your free Pleasure Queen Activation Session here.
I've got all the details of the Second Spring Queen Program laid out for you in a PDF manual.  Download it here

If you’ve ever felt like you’re being put out to pasture, this one’s for you. 

Ageism is toxic and it can stop a woman in her tracks just when she’s getting started. In this episode I dive into why I believe that sensual pleasure is the ultimate antidote to ageism.

Fear mongering around growing older, especially for women, is rampant. It’s really easy to buy into it and it’s really easy to internalize it. And I think that’s where it becomes the most toxic.

Our bodies are always listening  and responding to our thoughts and the messages that come at us through society.  If we have a narrative of ageism running in our brain it’s absolutely going to impact our physical health, our mental health, our radiance, our beauty, our libido, our creativity; everything. 

Ageism is a form of shame and it blocks our chi, our life force energy. As we head into the third chapter of lives we get hard with with it.

Many women who  come to my work say things like: “ WTF…I feel like I’m being put out to pasture but I inside I know that there’s  got to be more.” That knowing is the feminine speaking. The part in everywoman who knows there’s more. And there is, so much more. And we have a lot more agency to claim that more than we’re led to believe.

It’s no secret that ageism sells. There are many businesses that profit massively on women being terrified of aging. 

But it doesn’t have to go that way. When we turn towards our sensual pleasure we take back our power. 
Pleasure is  truly the ultimate antidote.

Here I riff on:

• The toxic narrative of ageism and how it impacts us
• Ageism and shame
• How ageism turns us into cash cows
• Defying the lie and claiming pleasure
• How pleasure connects us to our embodied feminine wisdom
• Emotional intelligence and body wisdom
• Pleasure and our inner compass
• Yoni wisdom and seeing through the bull shit
• The truth and wisdom of midlife rage
• Desire as a guide
• Two recent examples of how ageism was coming at me and my Yoni steered me in right direction

Some links for you:

• Book your free Pleasure Queen Activation Session here.
• I've got all the details of the Second Spring Queen Program laid out for you in a PDF manual.  Download it here

Are you finding it challenging to make your pleasure a priority? I hear you!
And it makes sense.

My short answer for why we face so much resistance to exploring our sensuality is this:
5,000 years of patriarchy.

The sacred feminine, our sensuality and natural erotic nature have been on the chopping blocks for generation upon generation. We carry our own trauma, blocks, and baggage and our ancestors' stuff too.

Thankfully, things are shifting. The full spectrum feminine is truly rising. It may have not been safe for our mothers, grandmothers and great grandmothers etc to live their true essence, go for their pleasure and live in alignment with their desires, but we can.
 
 Our generation has the opportunity (and the tools) to turn this mess around. 
And we have a lot of cosmic support too. (See the Venusian Revolution episode.)

But we have some important decisions to make first.

In this episode I take you back in time to when I was going through menopause and how that experience kicked me onto the pleasure path.
What began as a massive meltdown, ended up being a deep initiation into the sacred feminine mysteries. 

Any journey worth its salt begins with decision and commitment.
Here I'll share some important decisions I had to make to step onto (and stay on) the path.

I riff on:

• How my menopause journey initiated me into the sacred feminine mysteries
• Why I call menopause The Passion Portal
• What’s missing in most clinical approaches to pelvic issues and menopause
• The decision to make the sacred feminine and pleasure a priority
• The decision that I’m a sensual being and pleasure is essential
• The decision that pleasure is my responsibility (this was a big one)!
• The decision to make space for the feminine and pleasure in my life

Some links for you:

• Book your free Pleasure Queen Activation Session here.
• I've got all the details of the Second Spring Queen Program laid out for you in a PDF manual.  Download it here

Shame is a heavy vibration that can sabotage our vitality and pleasure and block us from living our best lives. I feel it's the number one thing that stands between us and full embodiment of our sensuality and the self love/body love that is a natural byproduct of that.

The hammer of shame has been used as a control program for thousands of years and it's come down hard on women's sexuality, sensuality and body image. When we add ageism to the equation it becomes even more toxic.

The experience of shame is a high activation of the nervous system.  The response to an experience that causes shame puts us into state of numbness or shut down. This can greatly impact our pleasure, passion and our physical and mental health. Shame can be the result of  our own experiences and passed down for generations. Regardless of its source, shame can be stored in the body for years, even a lifetime unless we release and integrate it. 

Shame stored in the body can show up in many ways. One of the ways I often see it in my work (and I've also witnessed it in myself) is something I call "functional freeze"; a state of selective freeze where we can function in the world, but are cut off from the full aliveness that's available when we inhabit our sexual and sensual selves.

Here I riff on:

• The control program of shame and the feminine
• How shame dims our light
• Where shame hangs out; a nervous system perspective and the Polyvagal Theory 
• How shame affects our ability to inhabit our "pleasure zone"
• How shame blocks our motivation for sensual practice
• Taking the shame out of shame; naming the elephant in the room
• Shame and isolation
• My favorite practices to release shame
• Restoring the sacred as the ultimate antidote to shame
• Cultivating an attitude of reverence, honor and worship 
• Reclaiming the ancient feminine spiritual arts and practices
• The role of pleasure & how to micro-dose it
• The role of conscious breath
• TRE (Trauma Release Exercises)
• The role of sensual movement/pelvic movement and shame & trauma release
• The role of sound; primal sounding and Sexual Reflexology and the Taoist Healing Sounds
• The role of the Jade/Yoni Egg practice
• Yoni de-armoring and the Crystal Yoni Wand Practice 

Some links for you:

• Learn more about TRE here
• View a map of the nervous system through the lens of the Polyvagal Theory here
• Book your free Pleasure Queen Activation Session here.
• I've got all the details of the Second Spring Queen Program laid out for you in a PDF manual.  Download it here

We are living in very exciting times. A new way of being human on the planet is emerging. For over 5,000 years an extreme over polarization into the masculine principle has dominated all of our systems including our spiritual institutions.

What's been revered, worshipped and held sacred has been almost exclusively dictated through a masculine lens. This has led to a massive imbalance and a degradation of all things feminine. We see this in most major world religions and in most forms of yoga and meditation.

But things are shifting. And reviving the sacred feminine arts is at the core of this quantum shift.
The feminine in all of us is on the rise.
And right on time.

In this episode we explore:

• What is masculine spiritual practice?
• What the masculine in all of us craves
• What is feminine spiritual practice?
• What the feminine in all of us craves
• The three key inquiries of sacred feminine practice
• The role of embodied pleasure
• The role of embodied beauty
• The role of embodied love
• How the masculine finds spiritual bliss and nourishment
• How the feminine finds spiritual bliss and nourishment
• How this dynamic shows up in my marriage and our daily spiritual practices
• Masculine breathwork vs Feminine/sensual breathwork
• How most modern spiritual practices were created through the masculine lens at the expense of the feminine

Some links for you:

• Book your free Pleasure Queen Activation Session here.
• I've got all the details of the Second Spring Queen Program laid out for you in a PDF manual.  Download it here