In conversations with women, I am noticing a persistent thread emerging around new visions and symbols to guide us in claiming our deep empowerment in the world. This week I was asked, "How can women balance remaining true to their integrity and their deep and passionate impulse for life with their emerging leadership roles within society and within systems that are inherently set up to demand the "getting ahead" ethos of competition and scarcity?"
Much literature, from a wide range of disciplines and orientations, has emerged to critique this stance within our world, yet the problem and conflict persists at deeply entrenched levels. Again I have to return to the fundamental importance of what is embodied in our cells, and the ways in which certain energies flow into our lives to assist us in creating new structures in the outer world, just as we work to shift the energies within ourselves.
I've categorized the different energies that are powerful archetypes for women (particularly as they emerge in our leadership) and would like to offer a brief differentiation of these energies. In many ways, I think that the Diva, the Warrior and the Priestess can all signal a healthy femininity, but they must be engaged with consciously, otherwise they have the potential to be destructive.
The term Diva has negative connotations, yet has also been embraced by many women at the popular cultural level. Being a "Diva" is appropriated as symbolizing the ability to express one's creativity, and to assert one's needs and suck the marrow from life by boldly going forth to claim what one desires and what one deserves. There are many positives in the ability to do this, particularly in the face of a long, deep history of repression of women's needs and a devaluation of their contributions and creative expressions. Where the Diva slips into her shadow side is when she doesn't keep the thread of empathy and love in her consciousness, and the assertion of her needs and worth becomes a "me-first" repetition of the worst aspects of a power-driven culture, or when her creativity becomes devoid of any life-affirming qualities but instead drowns in excessive egotism or materialism.
The Warrior is rarely associated with women, yet historically there are many women who have carried the torch of tenaciously taking up a cause and taking a stand in order to advance cherished ideals and values. The Warriors are the female activists. They have passion and purpose, and are determined to create a new world through their hard work and dedication to articulating what is wrong and putting forward their vision of what is right. The Warrior allows us to take an ethical stance, and work to support those values. This energy allows us to feel strong and powerful, and emboldened by our vision of a different world. Where the Warrior can become overwhelmed by shadow is when anger becomes the fuel to keep burn-out at bay, and in-fighting results when the gains have not lived up to their nourishing promise or have not been achieved in the fullness of the vision, which then feels like failure in the face of all the hard work and sacrifice.
The Priestess is, to me, the most unexplored of the energies. In a culture which is both very secular and very religious, the essence of spirituality and mysticism have suffered a pretty severe repression. The Priestess is an energy that one must search far back into history to find. She is the one who tends to life in all of its paradoxes, and honours love above all else. She tends to the fires of her deep intuition and wisdom, and keeps faith with the most enduring, sustainable and nourishing values of life - truth, integrity, courage, humility, love, justice, and respect. She places the mystery at the centre of her life, and values the indigenous wisdom that lives in her bones, instructing her on her connections with all of creation. In her shadow aspect, the Priestess can become inflated with false power and ungrounded fantasies, and her charisma becomes a form of manipulation and control.
Of course, there are a myriad of archetypes and symbols that inform the lives of women. These three, particularly among women finding themselves in leadership roles, are important ones to meditate on. If we can strike a human balance, we can live the possibility of asserting our needs, expressing our creativity, allowing our desires to be consciously fulfilled, taking a stand to further passionately felt values and visions for future generations, and tending to the fires of our deepest wisdom and knowing in service to life and to love.
Sounds like a full and beautiful life to me.
Much literature, from a wide range of disciplines and orientations, has emerged to critique this stance within our world, yet the problem and conflict persists at deeply entrenched levels. Again I have to return to the fundamental importance of what is embodied in our cells, and the ways in which certain energies flow into our lives to assist us in creating new structures in the outer world, just as we work to shift the energies within ourselves.
I've categorized the different energies that are powerful archetypes for women (particularly as they emerge in our leadership) and would like to offer a brief differentiation of these energies. In many ways, I think that the Diva, the Warrior and the Priestess can all signal a healthy femininity, but they must be engaged with consciously, otherwise they have the potential to be destructive.
The term Diva has negative connotations, yet has also been embraced by many women at the popular cultural level. Being a "Diva" is appropriated as symbolizing the ability to express one's creativity, and to assert one's needs and suck the marrow from life by boldly going forth to claim what one desires and what one deserves. There are many positives in the ability to do this, particularly in the face of a long, deep history of repression of women's needs and a devaluation of their contributions and creative expressions. Where the Diva slips into her shadow side is when she doesn't keep the thread of empathy and love in her consciousness, and the assertion of her needs and worth becomes a "me-first" repetition of the worst aspects of a power-driven culture, or when her creativity becomes devoid of any life-affirming qualities but instead drowns in excessive egotism or materialism.
The Warrior is rarely associated with women, yet historically there are many women who have carried the torch of tenaciously taking up a cause and taking a stand in order to advance cherished ideals and values. The Warriors are the female activists. They have passion and purpose, and are determined to create a new world through their hard work and dedication to articulating what is wrong and putting forward their vision of what is right. The Warrior allows us to take an ethical stance, and work to support those values. This energy allows us to feel strong and powerful, and emboldened by our vision of a different world. Where the Warrior can become overwhelmed by shadow is when anger becomes the fuel to keep burn-out at bay, and in-fighting results when the gains have not lived up to their nourishing promise or have not been achieved in the fullness of the vision, which then feels like failure in the face of all the hard work and sacrifice.
The Priestess is, to me, the most unexplored of the energies. In a culture which is both very secular and very religious, the essence of spirituality and mysticism have suffered a pretty severe repression. The Priestess is an energy that one must search far back into history to find. She is the one who tends to life in all of its paradoxes, and honours love above all else. She tends to the fires of her deep intuition and wisdom, and keeps faith with the most enduring, sustainable and nourishing values of life - truth, integrity, courage, humility, love, justice, and respect. She places the mystery at the centre of her life, and values the indigenous wisdom that lives in her bones, instructing her on her connections with all of creation. In her shadow aspect, the Priestess can become inflated with false power and ungrounded fantasies, and her charisma becomes a form of manipulation and control.
Of course, there are a myriad of archetypes and symbols that inform the lives of women. These three, particularly among women finding themselves in leadership roles, are important ones to meditate on. If we can strike a human balance, we can live the possibility of asserting our needs, expressing our creativity, allowing our desires to be consciously fulfilled, taking a stand to further passionately felt values and visions for future generations, and tending to the fires of our deepest wisdom and knowing in service to life and to love.
Sounds like a full and beautiful life to me.
