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My Thoughts on,
"Sekhmet Rising…The Relentlessness of Women’s Genius"
a book by Louise LeBrun and 17 Amazing Women!

by Amy McNaughton

When I started off reading this book late last summer, I would have never thought that it would become the driving force for me to unleash my own divine potential. I began looking at my life a little differently with the passing over of my eldest sister, Anne, back in January 2001. No longer having my sister in my life to talk to and hug was a major loss to me. However, having her in my life gave me so much. As I sit here with tears streaking my face, I realize now that it took her passing for me to realize that she was somehow giving me something that I didn’t know how to do for myself: live my life!

I admired Anne with all of my heart and soul and every breath that I took. As a child, I looked up at her and marveled at her magnificence and so wanted to grow up to be like her. With her no longer there to model myself after, who was I to become?

Anne and I shared something that I didn’t share with my other siblings. They’re all great, mind you, in a different way but maybe it’s because Anne was the oldest and I was the youngest. There were almost 19 years between us but that was the only thing that was between us that was remotely negative. I think back now and realize that I thought Anne was everything and that I was very small beside her. Although this is not how she wanted me to feel, this is how I chose to feel. She was simply that grand in my vision. Had I ever told her that, she would have been mortified! Anne was all about making people feel good and laughing. There was not an ounce of ill intention in her body.

What I know now is that although I viewed Anne as this incredible person, she was also a reflection of all that I was capable of becoming and more. My journey to this realization stared in July 2006.

I called my client (one of the co-authors of Sekhmet Rising) and booked an appointment to see her. She is a CODE Model Coach™. Although I had no idea what that was, I felt compelled to find out and…she also said that she was about to receive her copies of the book that contained her story. My appointment with her was really great although when I left I really didn’t think that anything had changed. Ha, ha, ha! That’s what I thought but little did I know things were about to change.

I remember waking up the next morning full of energy and just feeling fantastic so I called her and told her. I couldn’t explain the positive energy that was pulsing through my veins but it was great.

I had purchased The Sekhmet Rising book from Celine (one of the 17 authors in the book). This book is the story of 17 incredible women who chose to share their stories with the world…and with me.

When I started reading the book, I really didn’t know what to expect. I knew what Celine had told me about it; that it was about women sharing their stories but to what extent, I didn’t know. My soul purpose for buying the book was to support my client on something that seemed really big in her life.

As I started to read the first story, I found that this was not a simple read. It’s not that it was difficult to read, it’s just that I found myself looking at my own life and comparing it to another woman’s story. I’d start reading a paragraph and I’d stop. Again, not because it was difficult to read but because this wasn’t fiction. This was someone’s life and it was real. I needed to feel what they must have felt and sometimes I’d cry and sometimes I’d laugh. But never once did I just sit down and read a story without stopping till I was done. This was a book about reflections of ones life. And so it started for me.

I had read only 5 stories by mid August when some serious things were going on in my life. I’d run around all day saying, “It’s all good!” and indeed it was. I had envisioned going to a book signing of the Sekhmet Rising book when I was on vacation in Quebec and was totally excited about the mere thought of it. I called Celine to give her an update on how exciting my life had been since our meeting and what an impact the book was having on me. In the next breath she came out and asked, “Would you like to come to the book signing with me?” As I write this, my eyes well up with tears. The thought of meeting some of these women was simply overwhelming for me. “To be in their presence.” I now realize that I was feeling the exact same way that I felt about Anne and these were women that I had never even met. When she told me that Louise LeBrun would be there, I near cried. As I sit here 8 months after meeting these women, the tears are still there and they are still very real.

I’ve since had the opportunity to become part of an incredible community and a WEL-Systems® Facilitator. I think of some of the stories and the women and, in particular, Carole MacInnis. When I read her story, there was something there that impacted me in a huge way and I honestly feel that her story is what helped me to see my own future as a self-employed business woman. No matter what happened or how hard things may have been, she had her vision and absolutely no one was going to stop her for getting there. Thus, the relentlessness of women’s genius. When I read Carole’s story, I envisioned Anne. With strength like that, she had to be tall and able to be seen from afar. Then I met Carole, who I don’t believe is even 5 feet tall. What I learned at that moment was, that it’s not the size of the woman that makes her grand, it’s her presence as a human being. And Carole is very present indeed.

I was fortunate enough to meet five of the authors that day and it was huge for me, each and every one of them incredible in their own way.

I remember meeting with Louise LeBrun who was so incredible to me. It was very interesting to me because she really did remind me of my sister Anne. How could it be that there were so many women making me think of Anne? Were there really that many incredible women in the world that had such a presence? The answer that I know now is, “Yes.” And what I’ve also come to realize is, that I’m one of them! The tears come yet again and it is indeed, “all good.”

I sometimes wonder if it weren’t for this book and these incredible women, if I would have ever found the “Person Within?”

This has been one of the most powerful books that I have ever read. Never once did a book cause me to look at my own life and consider all of the possibilities, which I had denied myself. Selling myself short for so many years but now I’ve stepped into something so incredible, that I myself am still a little shocked by it all.

What I’ve stepped into is…”My Self.” I am indeed incredible and I sit here and the tears streak my face again. Never once in my life did I ever think of myself as incredible or for that matter ever amounting to something or someone to be proud of.

Well in Anne’s words, which still makes me smile…”I’m all that and a bag of chips.”

Here’s to my sister, Anne, for leaving me so that I could consider my own life and not hers; and here’s to all the incredible WEL-Systems Women, some whom I have met and many which I have not. I thank you all.

Huge Hugs to all who have chosen to step up and out and be seen for our own true brilliance.

Amy

Amy McNaughton - Registered Nutritional Consulting Practitioner, Registered Sports Nutrition Advisor, Reiki Master and WEL-Systems® Facilitator - is a Health and Wellness Coach living in the Halifax (Nova Scotia) area. Passionate about her life and yours, Amy engages with family, friends and clients for the same end: to free themselves of self-imposed limitations and discover how to reclaim a meaningful life. A writer and an artist, Amy's compassion and her desire to create are the driving forces in her own life and in her work with others. For more information, you can contact her directly at her web site at www.thepowerlieswithin.com

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