Embracing the Feminine
29 Jun 2009 ~ Categories: blog • eco-living • mind • wellness
A few things have got me thinking about the role of the feminine in our modern culture. One is a recent re-read of the women-centric historical novel The Red Tent, which focuses on customs from Biblical times of honoring womanhood with female ritual and community.
The other is this insightful Ani DiFranco quote I stumbled upon:
“I find it metaphorically resonant that a pregnant woman looks like she’s just sitting on a couch, but she’s actually exhausting herself constructing a human being. The laborious process of growing a human is analogous to how a woman’s work is seen. It’s hard to recognize, because a man’s work has such extravagant evidence – skyscrapers, for instance – while a woman’s work just makes the world quietly turn.”
Our western culture was founded on and highly validates masculine qualities like ambition, stoicism and action. This is how a capitalist culture thrives, at least on the outside. In my own past, I’ve excelled at tasks and have been very driven, whether it be in school or with starting my own business early on. And I have earned benefit and burden from this hard work and effort.
But the beautiful truth is that there is a yin to every yang, and while we plow ahead relentlessly with our careers and goals and drives, the feminine energy all around us yearns quietly to keep us balanced. The pertinent question is, are we listening to the feminine voice? Are we listening to her soft call? For a long while, I can say that I wasn’t listening.
I observe so many of my female friends starting families and having babies. It’s amazing to witness them retreat into the knowledge of their own bodies, to trust in the harmony of nature and learn to just relax into it. So without that happening for me, I am self-imposing these feminine skills.
To me, the positive attributes that define the feminine in our culture are things like: being more fluid and flexible, honoring collaboration, downplaying hierarchy, and cultivating creativity. I strive now more than ever in my own life to invite these qualities into my world, into my personal life and into IO. We look for teammates that can share these same aspirations and invite both precision and accountability as well as fluidity and creativity. That is balance. And balance is what we all seek on a soul level.
Embracing the feminine within isn’t just a requirement for women finding balance. For men, integrating the concept of the feminine and all her ways of being in the world can actually take the pressure off “fixing” everything. That can really liberate the dudes in our lives.
I know this can be a hard sell to the manly-man, but it could be the golden ticket to wholeness and joy for both sexes. What part of you, are you leaving out?
And, by the way, if by writing this post I am accused of being a Goddess worshipper, then so be it. It’s about time.
Circling life,
Amy
29 Jun 2009
Jessica Corbin
loving that you are writing Ms.Amy. as founder of the FEMPIRE, you know i feel this post. i am so grateful for our men, our beautiful manly-men. but, as reflected in too many individuals, our world is out of balance due to our current dominant masculine value set. the feminine needs to take the lead for a time… and by “taking the lead” i mean having qualities like community, benevolence, receptivity come to the forefront. acquisition, industrialization, automation had its purpose… these qualities have allowed us to build a global community (although we have a long way to go to make it a peaceful one). but the era of the feminine is, once again, upon us. there is no other choice if restoration of balance is the priority. and as reflected in the saying, “as above so below”… each of us must first embody this balance in order for it to be a dominant reality in our world. thanks again for your musings Amy. xoxo