The Rose Window

When you don’t ‘fit in’, you belong everywhere 

Beyond the realms of conformity, realms of discovery await.

Every archetypal fairytale transformation begins when we leave home - whether it’s Bilbo leaving Hobbiton in search of the One Ring or Snow White being cast out of the palace into the woods. Old identities and costumes are discarded - frogs turn into princes, Cinders trades her rags for a ball gown. In any good ramble, the wandering self is honed by perilous risks and moments of sanctuary, encounters with both benign and malign beings and amazing scenery along the way. ‘Fitting in’ is definitely not where the real action happens. It’s found in the liminal, magical spaces of woods, mountaintops, rocky pathways and unknown territory, which mirror the wilder aspects of ourselves.

Images: clifftop walk from Rottingdean to Brighton
 

The April New Moon sits in Aries, the leader of the Astrological New Year, accompanied by a stellium of seven planets in the constellation of the ram. The rising sap of spring surges with the energy of new beginnings and blossoming hopes, encouraging bold moves and initiatives. Developing leadership does not have to mean following proscribed career routes or clickbait funnels to 'become an influencer’ - it’s a deepening path of self-awareness, growth and contribution.

Leadership = Difference

“They’re a bit ‘different,’” was one of those politely perjorative put-downs that circulated in English society when I was young, designed to ensure everyone stayed in their boxes. Years later, when I was first invited to lead singing sessions in hospitals, I realised my role was to bring something ‘different’ into the clinical environment. After years of being ‘a bit different,’ my lonership crystallised into increasingly public-facing leadership, throughout which solitude has remained a continued source of strength, sanctuary, creativity and contemplation. Taking time and space to know and grow ourselves enables us to own and develop our own unique contribution to the world.

Leadership = Circles of Connection

Growing up in the 80s, alpha female leadership was signified by power dressing - everything was BIG: jewellery, perms, nails, heels and shoulder pads. There’s nothing wrong with any of that - Crystal and Alexis rocked woman power in Dynasty, and it’s great to see Joan Collins still rocking it at 92. But leadership is not always alpha, and you don’t need vast amounts of money, fame, vanity metrics or bling to rock it.

Whole movements have started in introspection - drop a solitary prince who has left the comforts of the palace to contemplate the nature of suffering under a Bodhi Tree, and the world changes. Other leaders - think Sappho, Jesus, Rumi - forged their work within an intimate circle, only going viral after their lifetimes. Leadership can begin in a circle of one, incubate within a small community and expand outwards in concentric circles to belong everywhere.

Leadership = Being ‘Difficult’

Rebellion is a vital part of leadership, and rebels rarely conform to socially palatable standards of ‘niceness.’ I recently read the amazing story of Elżbieta Zawacka k/a Agent Zo (1909-2009), who not only continually risked her life couriering vital funds and information across Europe during World War II, but also secured equal recognition for women working in military roles. Described as ‘a difficult woman’ by her UK male allies, she was the only woman to be trained as a paratrooper and to serve as an emissary to a Polish Army commander. Surviving Nazi and Soviet occupation, she documented women’s vital role in the Polish Home Army, Europe’s largest resistance movement. Reflecting on her tenacious character, her friends commented fondly, ‘revolution is not made by angels.’ (p 291 Agent Zo - Clare Mullery)

Leadership = Having a Voice

On my voyage, I had one main guiding light - the power of voice, which, as Raffi Joe Wartanian adeptly voices above, is a traveller within us. The written, sung and signed voice enables us to journey into new realms, where we are transformed by that which we encounter as different, whilst also contributing our own unique difference. It’s a form of creative osmosis. Whether we are singing a song, reading a book or encountering each other in conversation, our minds, hearts and souls venture out on the wild wings of our travelling voices, creating resonant ripples of change within and without.

Your voice can travel anywhere…. where will you go next?

What would represent a risk or a departure from well-worn routes and routines?

What dreams, causes, projects or passions call for your leadership?

What next decision, conversation or action would make a difference?

What secret act of creative rebellion is stirring within?

A new path awaits….