The Feminine

an exploration

The feminine is Truth.

She is what is, at all times.

Existing beneath the surface and at times right in your face.

The Truth cannot be denied.

However, she will often be suppressed, but not forever.

Time is on Her side, and with it, She will be revealed again.

She will make herself known in a multitude of ways depending on the woman, or human being.

She may come to you in dreams, symbols, signs.

She may come to you as emotions and sensations.

She may come to you in pain, disease, loss and death in all forms.

She calls to you through the unseen, through the felt, through direct experience. In light, yes, but more than often She calls you into her dark.

Her Truth will be known whether you possess the awareness to listen, to feel, and open or not.

The Truth will be there, the whole time, waiting for you to feel Her.

Her Truth runs so deep, and requires you to be one with her, with yourself and life moment to moment. To weave between the shadows and the light. Between the subconscious (body) and the conscious (mind.)

This is what my work is all about.

So if you want a deeper relationship with the feminine, with Truth, your body and it's dynamic wisdom, you are in the right place.

But, we cannot speak about the feminine without addressing the whole and the split.

The feminine is an energy, a spiritual viewpoint based on non dualism, that suggests there is a counterpart to masculine energy.

Together the two are one, but throughout history, the feminine has been separated from masculine, suppressed, repressed and dominated by masculine, patriarchal worships that have been dominated by religious structures and other cultural ideologies. This is the aspect of the split most women are familiar with. It has a very strong connection the victim consciousness/ drama triangle lens in which almost all stories are told in the world, on all levels (individual, tribal and collective.)

The feminine, through a psycho-spiritual lens can be used to balance our perspective.

It is beyond gender, and exists within all beings, as does the divine masculine energy, which is something that is reintroduced at a later stage of a woman's healing journey.

The image of yin and yang allows us to connect to the nature of oneness, but also shows us that there is a piece of each opposing energy within the other, and that brings us back to one.

The feminine represents certain yin qualities; gentleness, community/ collaborative, empathy, humility, creativity, sensuality, receptivity and reciprocity.

The feminine also is represented by certain yang qualities; confrontation, destruction, decay, release, birth, initiation.

The Split

The split we have experienced in our culture runs deeper than the masculine and feminine, and even this split may suggest further binary thinking. However, what I would like to introduce is the concept of speaking about things in separate terms only to understand that they are two parts of the whole.

First we break things down, so that we we are further equipped to return to wholeness with multiple perspectives and the wisdom of direct experiences.

Furthermore "the split" also applies to the feminine.

The light; the upper three energy centres (chakras)

(Also refers to the conscious mind)

The dark; the lower three energy centres (chakras)

(Also refers to the unconscious mind)

The heart - can also be split into upper and lower, but it is also the meeting point of the two energies of the feminine, which can see and experience through this work - and our relationship to love and grief, which again, is one.

I would also like to distinguish the different archetypes within the Mother for deeper processing and integration. I will also speak to the shadow when I share more about the Maiden, in future written transmissions and podcast episodes.

The Great Mother

"For some she came in a dream. For others in words as clear as a bell: it is time, I am here. She may come in a whisper so loud she can deafen you or a shout so quiet you strain to hear. She may appear in the waves or the face of the moon, in a red goddess or a crow." Lucy. H. Pearce

As mentioned before, archetypes exist across multiple planes.

The different aspects of an archetype are also manifested in different images. So, when we look at the mother, we must acknowledge that there are many facets to this archetype and thus need to be divided in order to be fully seen, understood and embodied.

I want to begin with examples of where we can feel the Mother, and notice what each example of the archetype awakens within you.

Her Voice

Praises your every effort, including the times you think you've failed.

Wants you to be all that you are, in light & in dark. Has full faith in you and all that you are. Unconditionally Loving. Sees and speaks to your highest potential.

Fierce, loyal and clear. Accepts you as you are, in each and every moment.

The Goddess

What feelings emerge when you hear the story of the Virgin Mary?

Despite being part of the Christian faith, some see her as a Divine figure who was chosen to birth the one and only son of God, knowing that even before he was born, that he would die for the sins of the world.

Or the Greek goddess Demeter?

Demeter is one of the best known goddesses of the harvest. When her daughter Persephone was kidnapped and seduced by Hades, Demeter went straight to the bowels of the Underworld to rescue her lost child. Their legend has persisted for millennia as a way of explaining the changing of the seasons and the death of the earth each fall.

Or the Norse goddess Freya?

Goddess of abundance, fertility and war and discernment. She is still honored today by some Pagans, and is often associated with sexual freedom. Freyja could be called upon for assistance in childbirth and conception, to aid with marital problems, or to bestow fruitfulness upon the land and sea.

Or Yemaya?

With her West African/Yoruba origins, this Orisha is a goddess of the ocean, and considered the Mother of All. She is the mother of many of the other Orishas, and is honored in connection with the Virgin Mary in some forms of Santeria and Vodou.

The Earth

How do you feel when you are in nature?

How do you feel (with all of your senses) when you imagine:

The rose or the mighty oak tree

The sea

The sunrise, or sunset

The wild woods

A cave, high in the mountains

Or deep beneath the surface of the earth.

Soil, sand, or rock.

How all of her elements dance through you?

How do her animals speak to you?

Are there any animals that have always spoken to you?

In your dreams?

Or crossing your path in waking life?

Object and Form

Like a vase, or a fire pit, or even an oven.

These can represent the mother’s life creating nature, symbols for her womb, her yoni.

She is all that cherishes, all that sustains. Fostering life, and growth, not just of her children but of all creation and creation itself.

Your Body

She lives in your body, in the female form.

Some may say this is controversial because the energy can be experienced by all, but it is my belief that the female form holds the sacred codes of the goddess, of the mother, it is a matter of where the codes are held, and how these codes are held.

Are they in the light?

Or do they reside in the shadow?

This is something that will we touch on in later lessons as all archetypes must, by necessity, possess a shadow self.

Ready to meet the Feminine?

Somatic Experience

Tailored embodiment practice

Archetypal framework Active Imagination Personal Reflection

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