Today in South Africa we celebrate Women’s Day which is very important for the recognition of the ways in which women have suffered by virtue of holding the status of the ‘weaker’ sex and for the roles that women (specifically woman of colour) have played in ensuring balance and equality for the disadvantaged and voiceless.
Without taking away from this important commemoration of women in particular this is a time when we are being urgently called, irrespective of gender or gender identification, to be more aware of the feminine energy and how it shows up (or not) in our lives. We all have masculine and feminine qualities within us but, as with the history of the external suppression of women there has tended to be a parallel suppression of the internal feminine.
Modern-day patriarchal society has, for way too long now, rewarded the masculine qualities of control, structure, competitiveness, separation, linearity, the intellect and goal-oriented action with the honour of being valued, accepted and being allowed to belong to the tribe.
On the other hand, the feminine qualities of intuition, embodiment and sensuality, creation, the unknown, rest, compassion, and inclusivity have often been subtly suppressed through implicit messaging and responses passed down through the media, parenting, schools and various channels of society.
The result is that people of all genders have relegated their feminine qualities to the darkest corners where shame and inadequacy reside and, instead, we all show up as only half of our beautiful, powerful wholeness. And all the doing, striving, competing, knowing and controlling results in a very depleted, disconnected and increasingly unwell society. Of course, there is a place for these qualities – the clarity, drive and structure of the masculine is very necessary but CONNECTED TO AND IN BALANCE WITH the feminine.
Those women who marched to the Union Buildings in 1956 were women who had been suppressed for so long by the patriarchal masculine system of entitlement and separation that they came up against their own, beautiful feminine power – the power that women have when they find their voices and are led by the life force and feminine essence that results in expression of truth and creation of form – these were women who stepped up to use their voices to birth something new and, led by and devoted to the the feminine, the masculine energy then came in to provide the structure, direction and container to hold that voice and direct it’s truth towards creation of new forms.
This time in our history is calling us into the unknown, to denounce all that has been, until now, the status quo and unquestioned so that, irrespective of colour or gender, we can claim our full truth and express that in a manner that will birth a new way of being – a more connected, inclusive, nurtured and supported way of life.
This is a foreign concept for many people but if you feel something stirring in your soul or gently rattling the cage, know that that is your feminine energy ready to create a new and different way of being. Perhaps today you can just start off with acknowledging that inner stirring?
Please comment below: Have you been feeling there is something stirring or longing for change within you? Do you recognise these more feminine qualities in yourself?
