Sacred Rage
art by Jenny Hahn
It’s summertime and things are heating up in all the ways. Personally, I’ve had a lot of anger surfacing recently, and I’m curious…
What makes your blood boil, dear one?
When was the last time you got hot under the collar?
And what do you do when you start seeing red?
These euphemisms for anger reveal that this hot emotion brings the fire. And fire is an element of change. An alchemizing agent for powerful transformation.
Like fire, anger can both harm and heal. Anger can be a powerful tool for life-affirming change.
Like many of us, I spent the majority of my life thinking of anger as a “bad” emotion. Dangerous even. Just turn on the news or a popular movie, and you’ll see all kinds of evidence that anger leads to violence, abuse, even murder.
As I find my own anger rising, I am trying to cultivate a new relationship with this fire inside. I am learning to relate to my rage as sacred. Here are five things I am holding onto to remember that my anger is holy:
5 Reasons Your Anger Is Holy
1.Anger is one expression of our LIFE FORCE.
Anger is a red energy that moves through our whole being, lights us up from head to toe, and asks us to engage with life. It is an activating force that turns us on and motivates us to speak, take action, make a move. Anger is life moving through us out into the world.
2. Anger is a natural tactic of SURVIVAL.
Anger is a primitive response to threat or danger. Anger activates our fight response, focuses our attention, and prioritizes our physical safety. It seeks to preserve our life. Anger is a normal and healthy response to abuse, violation, and oppression.
3. Anger is a bid for INTIMACY.
Anger is a recognition of our connection with those around us. It is our natural response to a breach in right-relationship and our body’s way of seeking repair. We are motivated by our anger to engage with the one who has wronged us as a way to ask for a better expression of our relatedness. Our anger communicates to another person, “You impact me. And I care about your impact. Let’s find a way to do this differently.”
4. Anger clarifies our VALUES.
We get angry because we care. Because we believe something or someone should be honored, valued, and protected. Anger reveals that the situation we are in is not in harmony with our values. It is a clarifying force that burns through the bullshit.
5. Anger is an engine of HOPE.
Anger looks at the way things are and sees clearly that things can and should be different. Anger is the fire behind social justice movements, fueled by the sacred rage of people refusing to settle for the way things are and daring to stand up for change. Anger casts a vision for a better future and gives us the energy to work towards making that future a reality.
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These 5 reasons have been helpful for me in cultivating a new relationship to my anger. And I hope they serve to remind you that your anger is not only a normal and healthy expression of your humanity, but that it also has the potential to be a powerful agent for good for yourself and our world.
So the next time you find yourself heated up by anger, I invite you to get curious.
Can you move towards your anger with compassionate curiosity and investigate the wisdom it might be revealing to you? What is your anger communicating? What is the desire, the value, the need underneath the rage?
Notice how anger feels in your body. Allow yourself to become aware of your physical sensations and how this red energy moves in you.
Can you treat your anger like fire? With a healthy respect for this primal and powerful force?
Anger simply is one expression of our human wholeness. And in that sense it is sacred because our humanity is divine. Through our intention, awareness, and compassion, our anger also has the holy potential to be harnessed for the sake of Life.
With honor for the fire of life in you.
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Tending to our sacred fire is an important aspect of the work I do as a 1:1 Soul Companion. Click to learn more.
What to read more? Check out these related posts:
Hello, dear one. I’m Stephanie.
As a Soul Companion, educator, and sacred space holder, I am passionate about deepening our connection to the earth, our bodies, and the divine mystery that dances in all that is.
Let’s journey together into the sacred wild!
