Welcome, dear ones! I’m so grateful you’re here! Your presence, curiosity, and the beautiful community we’re creating together mean the world to me. Together, we really are ushering in the more relational way. If you’re new, you can learn more about Spirit Connections on the About Page, and if you’d like to journey more closely with us, you can subscribe below. 💖💖💖
Welcome back to the Spiral, a deer-inspired model of community where we place a vulnerable need at the center and gather the herd to tend it.
We began by naming a community—be it family, lineage, or your own inner world—and its specific “Heart-Need.” You are also welcome to follow along as we tend the need of Empowerment for our Spirit Connections community. For us, empowerment isn’t “power-over”; it is the capacity to engage with life without overriding ourselves.
We already met the inner ring of direct tenders: The Companion and The Healer; and the second ring of supporters: The Procurer and The Genius. This week we settle into the third ring of protectors: The Guardian and The Sovereign.
If you’re just jumping in, here’s where this series began:
In the third ring, we meet the archetypal forces of The Guardian and The Sovereign. These are the Protectors, the ones who ensure the coherence of the whole structure.
There is a reason we don’t start the spiral here. In dominator culture or patriarchal models, leadership is almost always placed at the top of the pyramid, or centered and prioritized above all else. But in the Spiral model, leadership is not the point. We do not gather for the sake of the Sovereign or to obey the rules of the Guardian. Instead, they both watch over the spiral so that the vulnerable need at the center can exist in safety.
While the inner ring tends the need and the second ring gathers the resources, the Protectors ensure the space around the need remains sacred. They guard the boundaries and hold the long-term vision, ensuring the community doesn’t lose its “sense of self” to external pressures. This is the ring where the hope of the spiral truly lives; for only when a space is fully protected can it finally begin to imagine a future.
The Guardian is the archetype of thresholds and structure. This role protects the integrity of the community, ensuring that the “inside” of the spiral stays true to itself and isn’t overwhelmed by what belongs on the “outside.”
In the spiral, one of the Guardian’s jobs is to stop the leakage of energy that occurs when we are constantly on the lookout. When our edges are protected, we finally have the capacity to choose instead of merely react. This isn’t about creating a rigid wall. Instead, it is a healthy, relational boundary that says: “Right now, this belongs here, and that does not.”
The Guardian protects the integrity of the spiral so it can do its work without being drained or interrupted. Pause and ask: What is currently protecting the integrity of your community?
For example:
If the need is an overwhelmed child: The Guardian is the firm “No” to an extra playdate. It protects the child’s nervous system, keeping them in a space where choice is possible rather than falling into pure reaction.
If the need is tension in a partnership: The Guardian is the agreement to not discuss heavy topics after 9 PM. It protects the integrity of the container, acknowledging that fatigue might remove the power of choice and replace it with the compulsion to defend or attack.
If the need is in the land: The Guardian is the fence that keeps out the grazers or the legal protection that prevents development. It ensures the land’s purpose isn’t hijacked by external pressures.
For the everyday: Sometimes the Guardian is the friend who steps in to advocate, and sometimes it’s a ritual…closing a door, cleansing a space, or unplugging the router. It is any act that builds containment around the Yes and No.
Where the Guardian manages the border, the Sovereign holds the vision. The Sovereign is like the True North for the spiral; the archetype that reminds the community who they are and why they are here. The Sovereign ensures that while we are busy tending the need, we don’t lose sight of the “Big Picture.”
This archetype leads by modeling Internal Authority: the radical act of standing in one’s truth so clearly that the rest of the spiral remembers exactly what the realm stands for. The Sovereign refuses to let the community’s identity be defined by external circumstances or temporary storms.
Pause and ask yourself: Who or what is holding the vision of the community?
For example:
If the need is an overwhelmed child: The Sovereign is the parental clarity that remembers who this child is at their core, refusing to let their identity be defined by a “tantrum” or a “bad grade.”
If the need is tension in a partnership: The Sovereign is the shared “Us”…the higher vision of the relationship that remembers the “Sacred Union” even when the individuals are struggling.
If the need is in the land: The Sovereign is the Old Growth tree or the Spirit of the Place, asserting its right to exist in its own ancient majesty. Its mere presence dictates the identity of the forest.
For the inner world: Sometimes the Sovereign is the quiet, internal voice that says: “I am the one who decides how my life is shaped.” It is the shift from acting out of obligation to acting from true sovereignty.
Below are questions to help us engage with the third ring. You might bring these to your community, sit in meditation, or pull cards as I have done for our Spirit Connections collective.
The Guardian asks the Spiral:
How can I best support our sense of safety?
For our Spirit Connections community: Two of Pentacles/Gems
The Guardian looks at the Two of Gems—that endless juggling act—and identifies it as a safety issue. When we override our capacity to keep all the balls in the air, our nervous system enters a state of high alert. The Guardian’s practical move here is The Great Pause. It helps us get clarity on which coins we can put down for now, declaring that we will not value the movement of the “coins” over the stability of the “hands” holding them.
The Spiral asks the Guardian:
Where have we been leaking integrity?
For our Spirit Connections community: The Devil
The Devil represents the “invisible leash”…those automatic compulsions, "shoulds," and survival habits that take the wheel before we even realize it. For our need for Empowerment, the Guardian doesn't try to "fix" or shame these habits; instead, it performs the practical act of interrupting our loops. The Guardian’s move here is to help us simply name the leash. When we feel that familiar, frantic tug—the urge to over-explain, to say yes when we mean no, or to override our exhaustion—the Guardian steps in and allows us to say: “We see the leash. This is a habit, not a requirement.” By naming the compulsion in real-time, the Guardian breaks the spell of the "automatic" and restores our power of choice. It builds a boundary not against the world, but around our integrity, ensuring that when we step forward, we are doing so as conscious agents rather than reactive ones.
The Sovereign asks the spiral:
What is the highest expression of this community’s identity?
For our Spirit Connections community: The Moon
The Moon tells us our highest identity isn’t “productive worker” or “reliable helper.” It is “Wild, Enchanted Soul.” The Sovereign protects this identity by ending our habit of apologizing for the conditions we need to function. We often feel "too much" because we are trying to navigate by the harsh sun of other people's expectations. The Sovereign reminds us: Our realm is the deep forest. Just as certain plants only bloom at night, our brilliance requires the Moonlight of a slower pace and intuitive depth. Empowerment means we stop trying to force ourselves into the daylight of normalcy and start trusting the instincts that come alive in the dark.
The Spiral asks the Sovereign:
Where might we be leaking power?
For our Spirit Connections community: The Hermit
We leak power when we prioritize external sources of wisdom. Maybe it’s waiting for a professional, a book, or a teacher to tell us we’ve done enough. This is the leak of external validation. The Sovereign corrects this by reminding us that the Hermit’s path of introspection is a non-negotiable prerequisite, not a luxury.
Practically, we must “hermit” first to find our own signal before we bring it back to the herd. Our power returns the moment we stop looking “out there” for a permission slip that can only be signed “in here.” The Sovereign reminds us: Community is a gathering of authorities, not a collection of followers. We aren’t here to tell each other what to do; we are here to witness one another standing in our own truth..
It has been profound to witness the way this community is beginning to stand its ground. I see the Guardians among you already practicing the “Great Pause”, choosing to set down the coins you’ve been juggling to favor the stability of your own hands. I also hear the voice of the Sovereign rising in your reflections, as you reclaim your moonlight and stop waiting for outside permission to trust your own depth. Together, we are building a realm where sensitivity is seen as the brilliance it actually is.
Next week, we move to the final ring of our spiral: The Artist and The Maven. We will explore how we integrate this work into the long-term story of our lives and how we stay connected to the larger web.
May you trust the boundaries that act as the sanctuary for your heart-need. May you find the quiet courage to “hermit” until your own signal is clear enough to follow. And may you remember that while the herd gathers to support you, the authority to name your truth belongs only to you.
You are protected. You are sovereign. You are becoming.
With so much love,
Jenna 💖
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