I was struck by Gerda Lerner’s statement at the end of her book, Creation of Feminist Consciousness, where after all of her scholarly research and writing she states: “The most important thing I learned during my process of writing was the significance to women of their relationship to the Divine and the profound impact the severing of that relationship had on the history of women.” p. vii
I am certain that Gerda would applaud any attempts to bring women’s relationship to the Divine back which is what the next few blog posts will be about.
Why do women need the Archetype of the Divine Feminine to inform their lives? And what is the history of the Sacred or Divine Feminine? (I will use the terms Sacred Feminine, Divine Feminine and The Goddess interchangeably.) Going forward we will explore both the history of the sacred or divine feminine principle, how to recognize it and why it is needed by individuals as well as by the culture.
Connie Zweig in the introduction her book, To Be A Woman, states, “Reawakening the Divine Feminine,” implies that at some point in time “She” has been banished from the spiritual realm of the Divine by a masculine God. Greek Mythology and the Christian Story are two significant historical points in time when the suppression of the sacred feminine is particularly evident.
In her book, Goddesses in Older Women, Jean Shinoda Bolen expresses a similar sentiment by saying, “It is time to challenge negative stereotypes of older women and understand the relationship between the fate of goddesses and treatment of women and the effect of this absence on women’s spirituality and the theological basis of Patriarchy….The Archetype of the goddess has come in to activate on all levels the long buried yearnings in women for the sacred feminine.” p. Xx.
The previous post by Carol Christ, “Why Women Need the Goddess”, is one of the most profound and articulate articles I have ever encountered on this current subject. I urge you to read it!
I have identified five levels of culture that spirituality and the divine feminine impact. It is vital to distinguish between the realm of spirituality and that of religion. Spirituality is the feminine principle manifestation and naming of the sacred; religion is the masculine principle manifestation and naming of the sacred. Together, in equal measure, they would create a “whole.”
Level 1 - Historical/Archetypal
Where is a balanced presentation of the divine feminine in mythology, art and literature? What happened to the Goddess voice and presence in our lives?
Level 2 - Cultural
Where is the divine feminine represented in politics, religion, education and the world around us? What we need to be asking is the question Patricia O’Reilly asked, “Where is the god who looks like me?” Where is authorization of women?
Level 3 – Interpersonal
Where is the opportunity to learn about the sacred feminine in education, psychology and human development, to recognize and name the sacred in others and see its reflection in oneself?
Level 4 - Personal Self
Where is the opportunity for Psycho/Spiritual development that builds self-esteem, a sense of worthiness, birthright and equality? What higher power supports these qualities for all humans?
Level 5 - Physical Body and the Earth
Where is the opportunity to acknowledge the sacredness of the Earth and of our Bodies, with both being perceived as vessels of the Sacred, deserving to be listened to, honored and respected? As a bodyworker, I consider myself a body “listener” and experience both the human body and the earth as the primary expressions of the sacred in life.
For the rest of this post, I’d like to share some quotes from wise women that reflect how other Feminine Principle writers perceive and describe both the presence and loss of the sacred feminine in their lives.
“The woman who comes to know the goddess grows in the understanding of that divine aspect of her feminine nature that is part of the Self, the archetype of wholeness and the regulating center of the personality. Rather than trying to dominate her life, her ego works together with the Self. She is led, as it were, by her most profound needs, by ideals and attitudes that come from within. She is not contaminated by external circumstances or overly affected by criticism.” (The Sacred Prostitute, p. 62.)
“Maintaining the right relationship with the goddess is not an easy endeavor. The history of humankind’s attitude to the goddess has left its mark on the psyche of women today. In ancient times the goddess was “venerated”. (The word “venerate” stems from the Latin ‘venerari’ meaning to worship or to reverence. It has the root of ‘veneris’ meaning love, sexual desire and loveliness, from which the name Venus is derived.) Later changes in religious tradition resulted in the loss of reverence toward the goddess and the sacred prostitutes who were her priestesses. With the advent of patriarchal religion and the consequent loss of reverence for the goddess, woman’s conscious development was considerably hindered. Slowly she came to worship gods made by men; men’s values became her values; men’s attitudes justifying the subordination the subordination of women, became her attitudes.” (Qualls-Corbett)
“Obliterated along with the goddess was the concept of woman as “one-in-herself,” a person of integrity; as woman defined herself exclusively in terms of her relation to man. She defined her chastity by echoing the masculine, physical criteria, as prescribed by the laws of men, while negating the chastity of her soul. Although this ran counter to her inner feminine core, woman saw herself as inferior, a role she accepted until only recent times.
The loss of the relationship to the goddess has given rise to discontent; without a conscious awareness of her, the ways in which a woman may express her intuitive nature are extremely limited. Women must discover the significance of the goddess so that the dynamic aspect of the image, acting as a pattern or behavior, may have an active role in shaping, regulating and motivating feminine consciousness.” (Qualls-Corbett, The Sacred Prostitute. p. 118)
“Most men now have such guilty vague fears because they feel they must insist on their special insights and do not grasp the range, dimension of feminist change as personal transformation--which means hearing, listening to women. The enemy is man’s imbalance within themselves which creates a blind determination to continue to define woman and expect her to live within and by his…situation as if it were hers, he deflects the lessons of her unique situation with...his dominance. This is what we are changing--defining women through the thoughts and actions of other women. Because of their own internal imbalance, men have continually re-invented, contrived images of women because they buried, denied and repressed women’s experienced, invented, lived images created by themselves. But men cannot imagine what it is to be a woman dreamt by a man. His long dream enshrouded our very own.” ( Carolee Schneemann, in Elinor Gadon’s The Once and Future Goddess, p. 294).
(Think about our advertising and movie industries and the imaging of women by men……. There is a Netflix original entitled Misrepresentation that addresses this subject. Check it out!)
“The creation of children is one half of human joy. The other half is the creation of love between adults, and the creation of ‘mental children’: seminal (ovular) ideas and insights. It is too much supposed that the creation of ‘mental children’ is the sole province of men, because the creation of physical children is the exclusive ability of women. It is as though men, unable to have physical children insist on their exclusive ability to have mental ones. All creativity that concerns both love and imagination, so why is it that women, arguably the sex more gifted with powers of loving and imagining, are not much credited with mental-creative powers?” (Shuttle and Redgrove, The Wise Wound, p. 21.)
Just some food for thought…….share them if you have them!