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.
“Maria, I have written a great deal about what I ponder, and have been exposed to in my life. Of the three, the Diva has baffled me because popular culture depicts her as self-centered, and immature, sullen or mischievous, over-the-top, and materialistic. The Priestess, and the Warrioress, in my world, is common, but in the general public they have to be discerned, or called forward by my presence, or word spoken. We call what resonates with our spirits to us, and my upbringing included the Priestess, and the Warrioress, and easily I meet them.
ReplyDeleteThat being said this is not the norm. I know this, and respect the fact of the historical piece you wrote so well. You are aware of the energy shift of this millennium from the masculine reign/dominance to include and accept the balancing elements of the sacred femininity equally responsible for Creation, and creative processes. We are in the period of enforcement. There is no gracious acceptance of this merger. It is being forced upon a rigid structure resistant, as all life forms are, to its death. We are in the immature state of protest, anger, and the enforcement of laws.
The first, and vital part of this drama began with repression, and ruthless killing of body, idea, principles, and ideals embodied within the Goddess’ body, and the women she ushered into balance the man-forces within Creation. Following the rage, the judgments and the killings a long period of acceptance passed itself off as acceptance while simmering beneath the surface rimming women’s eyes with tears, bitter tears; their voices swore resurgence through their wombs. Their stories, serpent like in manner and cunning, dwelled in secrecy within their boy and girl children who either failed to live the stories, or did so in such a manner they could be re-told from mother to child, from generation to generation for many centuries.
The 20th century was unable to contain the burgeoning of a quest, or the need for the correct form of the Diva, the Warrioress, and the Priestess to emerge not as a competitor but within our Mothers as a natural, holy and right state of being a Woman for a Man, the World at large, the Earth, our Mother, and the integral part of Creation that brought forth Jesus, Buddha, Mohammed, Mary, Aretha Franklin, Miriam Makeba, Cleo Laine, Nancy Wilson, Fairouz, Sojourner Truth, Flora Purim, Hillary Clinton, Ma Rainey, Billy Holiday, and the other souls. Whenever the process of re-creating the world to live with the Earth, our Mother completes itself Men will have learned to balance the elements within themselves through the Priestess who learned how to confront men as Warriors, to merge with men as the Sacred Whore, and nurture men into relationship simply as they rest from the excursion of their spirits.
That is happening today in small circles around the globe, and at some point, in order for the world to sustain itself, women will have to learn to walk this way with their men. If not we could become like Mars silent in the vast darkness of the universe not shimmering with life as it once did.” – Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories