RETRIEVING YOUR WINGS   

(spoiler alert: do not read if you plan to see the movie, Maleficent)

In the movie, Maleficent, starring Angelina Jolie, a beautiful fairy loses her wings.

The purpose of this blog is not to tell the story of the movie but if you have not seen the movie, and do not want this blog to be a spoiler, stop reading now, go see the movie and return to the blog after you have done this.

So WARNING: this will be an ending spoiler if you read any further.

Maleficent loses her wings by the actions of the “unhealed woundedness” in a close friend. That is, a very close friend, perhaps one who was a true love, cut off her wings so he could get some outer achievement. (The evil king told this young man that whoever brought a sign that Maleficent was dead would be the successor to his throne; the King was threatened by Maleficent because he could not destroy her kingdom because of the massive love and support she had built in her kingdom through love and compassion).

Maleficent’s wings enabled her to become a wondrous leader in her own land of Harmony and peace. However, there was one thing that Maleficent did not do that led to her wings being cut off. She did not set outer boundaries; she trusted too easily and this complete trust without some connection to her own safety and inner knowing led to her wings being cut off by  this unconscious man who did love her but his need for outer achievement displaced his love for her.

 He mistakenly believed that this outer achievement would heal his own woundedness. His woundedness, like most humans, was a belief that he was “less than” and if he just achieved some outer power or success that he would magically be whole, well and free.

The destructive act he took actually led to his death in the end.

The point of this blog is to teach that most of us have lost our wings. Our wings represent some essential gift that we have that will take us far and wide; a gift that will enable us to fulfill our own life’s purpose. And, we are most vulnerable to those seeking outer power when we are using our gift. We need to use it and we need to set boundaries around ourselves and our gifts.

However, the really wonderful part about our journey to retrieve our wings is this:  Our wings, our true gifts are not the essential part of who we are: they are simply gifts.   As we seek to retrieve them, we can begin to embody the essence of who we are and we realize that we are more than our wings, more than our gifts.

Maleficent’s journey, after she lost her wings, took a terrible turn for a while. She became enraged and in her rage, she did terrible things. She cast a horrible spell on the daughter of the man who took her wings. Thus, Maleficent was trying to harm the vulnerability in a precious child just as she was harmed by being vulnerable. However, because her heart was still slightly open, she was able to see herself in this young princess and thereby she did all she could to revoke the curse. She was not completely successful. However, in the process of being present to the child’s vulnerability and preciousness, she learned to love this child completely. It was this process of returning to love and then being open to loving this child that the curse was finally undone and the child is what helped her re-gain her wings.

What does this mean for all of us in our  journey back to Wholeness.

First, Maleficent allowed her heart to open to the child despite her own grief over losing her gift. Our journey in life contains many bumps, bruises, losses and tragedies. If we completely close our heart as the King did, we will die without fulfilling our own purpose:  TO USE OUR WINGS( OUR GIFTS) TO AID US IN BRINGING GOOD TO THE WORLD AS ONLY EACH ONE OF CAN: UNIQUELY.

So, despite the pain we carry, if we open our heart, we once again will retrieve the gifts we lost. When re-united with these gifts, we will be able to fulfill our Divine Purpose as only each one can. The significance of the child opening Maleficent’s heart is this:  we must open to our own preciousness, our own vulnerability and in this very opening, we become whole, well and free as the Divine ordained that we be.