 With this video, our hidden spirituality series comes full circle to its origin point. While the original conception of the series happened many years ago while watching Airbender, it was in December of 2019 that I went to three movies and came out with scripts for each one that ultimately became the foundation of this series. The first was Frozen 2, which of course was our very first episode. And the second was Star Wars 9, which we published on May the 4th to very mixed perspectives. And yeah, I don't really blame you on that. And the third movie was the 2019 remake of Little Women, showing that hidden spirituality can be found literally everywhere. And this one may very well have been the most mystical story out of the three. Don't believe me? Check this out. In the original book Chapter 28 we find this line. Joe rescued his babies and marched up and down with one on each arm as if already initiated into the mysteries of baby tending while Laurie laughed till the tears ran down his cheeks. Let's have a slow motion replay in case you didn't catch that. As if already initiated into the mysteries of baby tending. I'm sorry, it doesn't matter what century you're in. If you're using the language initiated into the mysteries of anything you know more than you're letting on about. And it was around this realization that the truth began to be revealed around the nature of this story, demonstrating that it's so much deeper than almost anyone truly knows. And for those of you who are still in the dark, allow me to illuminate you for a moment. The language initiated into the mysteries stems from the ancient Greek and Egyptian mystery schools where initiates would literally be initiated into the sacred mystery schools of life, often through purification rituals, sacred ceremonies, plant medicine, or the revelation of sacred knowledge. And it was considered a most pious and holy activity. As initiates of the mysteries would go on then to become beacons of truth, love, and light in the world, helping others to attain higher levels of consciousness just as they did. Of course, as it's used in this particular passage, it's speaking to the sacred wisdom and knowledge that comes with raising a child, which in and of itself is a mystery to be initiated into, most definitely, the mysteries of life, right? Now, little women was first written in 1868, so this really is saying something. And it has served as a powerful beacon of truth for women everywhere in realizing that there are so many paths we can take, and we are not isolated to fulfilling the stereotypical roles that often accompany our genders. And as a man myself, a patchman that is, I personally found the story to teach quite a lot about the nature of the divine feminine and helped me to connect deeper with the gender divide that is often found within society. Plus, being how I was raised, a patch guy filled with stuffing and all, there's not a lot of watery elements inside of this stitching. But literally, every time I see this scene of Beth getting her piano at Christmas in the 1994 adaption, I can't help but tear up. It belonged to my little girl, who had to leave us when she was very young. But now, it will make music again. I think for that scene alone, this is my personal favorite adaption, but we'll probably go back and forth in this video referencing the different versions. So straight up, the first thing that really stood out upon the revelation of this movie's mystical nature are that the four girls are a reflection of the four elements. Each sister represents two of the four elements, each starting in one element and then transitioning to another through their personal growth. The four elements, of course, speaking to fire, the spiritual will and passion, water being the emotional body, air, the mind and thoughts, and earth is the physical body and dimension, and subtly, because it will be relevant later, the ether, the hidden fifth element, relates with spirit and the incorporeal. In Little Women, the story takes place largely over two eras, a period of childhood and a period of young adulthood, which are essentially divided between two events, the death of Beth and the marriage of Meg. So the characters are Amy, Beth, Meg and Joe. Starting with Amy, she begins as a representation of the fire element, the youngest of the four who especially in the book is described as being very selfish, familiar to the princess of wands in the tarot, focused on her own needs and ideas. She literally burns Joe's book at one point, demonstrating more of her fiery energy. Next, we have Meg, who begins as earth. She is very focused on the material future she wants to create, having money and wealth. I wish I had heaps of money and plenty of servants, so I never had to work again. The story goes that they used to have wealth, but their father went off to fight in the Civil War when the family sank into poverty as a result. Meg yearns for the wealth to return and believes it is through marriage that this can happen. Of course, wedding rings usually hold a stone, further adding weight to her representation of earth. After this, we have Beth, the soft-spoken loving and nurturing one, definitely water. She is always the calm and centered one who humbles the rest of the group whenever they're having an argument, wishing the best for everyone and hoping that the group can just find harmony and get along all the time. And of course, once again, that piano scene, you just can't help but cry. Finally, there is Joe, the often seen star of the show. Joe is the different one. She is unique. She thinks differently than her sisters and most young girls of her age. She connects more with her creative energy. She likes to write and tell stories and doesn't care much for the idea of getting married or having a family. She's an expression of the divine feminine who actively chooses her own reality rather than just going along with the imposed story that women simply exist to get married and have babies for men. And this is one of the most important pieces that contributed to the success of this book to begin with. It empowered women to think differently about their roles in society and support them no matter what path that they chose. Now, these relationships match for the first half, but once they transition into adulthood, we see a much different picture. Once again, starting with Amy, she transitions from fire into air. She becomes more intelligent, more mindful, and travels to Europe to learn art. Now, you might be thinking that because she's doing art, wouldn't she actually transition to the element of water? But there is a line in the movie specifically suggesting her paintings lack emotion and needs more work. Further, much of her story in the second half revolves around her marriage to the young man Laurie and her decision on who she should marry leading up to it. Ultimately, she puts a lot of thought and consideration to this decision, something only a very mindful person would do. Now, Meg, on the other hand, transitions from earth into water. She marries for love rather than for riches, a potent example of the shift in consciousness from a more materialistic state of being. This results in her remaining poor for the rest of her life, but she's okay with that because she's happily married, the thing that she really wanted. At one point, she buys fabric for a dress that's very expensive, but she does so because of the emotional pressure from her friend. And upon seeing the effect that it had on her relationship with her husband, due to how much money they had, she sells the fabric to support her family. Next, we have Beth. Now, Beth is an interesting example because she passes away in our transition to adulthood. Beth transitions from the watery element into two elements. One is to earth because her body returns to the earth. However, before she passes, she said she's going to God soon. And herein, we see that truly, she also shifts into the fifth element, the ether, one with spirit. And through her, literally all of the elements are covered. And finally, we have Joe, who steps out of her comfort zone of just thinking about her dreams, but truly stepping out and living them. With her transition from air, she moves into fire, embodying the matured fiery energy as she moves away from home and becomes a published author, which again, through its storytelling, gives a strong empowering message about how anyone can live their dreams if they're willing to go after them. Not only do each of the girls demonstrate these elements in their transition, we also see them embodying and educating us subtly about the wisdom we find in the royal arcana of the tarot, the youthful and mature energy of each element from childhood to adult, or the princesses into the queen archetypes. From here, we can also see some interesting correlations of elemental differences between the various film adaptions. Greta Gerwig's 2019 version is much more intellectual than its predecessor, keeping a fast-paced dialogue and consistently jumping in the timeline between past and future. In contrast, the 1994 edition was entirely linear and far more emotional. This new version is a bit more expansive, covering a greater awareness of the times and gender roles. These differences alone might identify the 1994 edition as relating more with the elements of water and earth, and the new 2019 edition as fire and air. So while the 1994 version was much more concerned with simple storytelling in a meaningful way, the 2019 edition carries with it some other messages that are very important for our collective spiritual awakening. One line in particular has Amy describing that marriage is an economic proposition wherein upon marriage the wife is owned by the man and when children are born, they too are owned by the man. They would be his property, so don't sit there and tell me that marriage isn't an economic proposition because it is. It may not be for you, but it most certainly is for me. Of course, while times and collective mindsets have changed a great deal since this time period, even though it was only a little over 100 years ago, it is very important for us to realize this truth as society continues to evolve. Just consider that in another 100 years from now, what ingrained belief systems we may recognize are ridiculous, but yet today we deeply cling to. In order to create a more harmonious future, we have to be able to learn from our past, and this story does a wonderful job of presenting our past for us to digest today. Breaking free from her old reality, Joe says women have minds and souls as well as hearts, ambition and talents, as well as just beauty. And I'm so sick of people saying that that love is just all a woman is fit for. I'm so sick of it. But then also expresses that she too is lonely, and this is something that we all must face, men and women alike balancing the masculine and the feminine within us. Truly, even I'm fairly new to this story, and yet I recently learned that my own mom said that she read it nearly 20 times growing up, as there wasn't very much content available for young girls that was liberating in the same way. Just imagine it would have been even worse 150 years ago when it was first published. How many female protagonists were there in storytelling? Women were always the love interest or the wife, but never the hero or the main character. This book shifted the landscape for women's literature by being something that half of our human population, at least in the Western world, could connect with in a really meaningful way. It's just about our little life, says Jo, of the new writing she is producing. Who will be interested in a story of domestic struggles and joys? It doesn't have any real importance. Maybe, says her sister Amy, we don't see these things as important because people don't write about them. And so, with this we find perhaps the deepest and most profound lesson of them all. It doesn't matter who you are, male or female. If you find importance in some aspect of life, something that others seem to glaze over, even if it's meaningful, talk about it, tell the story, and who knows, you might just start a revolution. Happy holidays, everyone, and we'll see you next time on Hidden Spirituality.