Divine Feminine

Let’s talk about the Divine Feminine, Goddess energy, and tapping into those influences in your magic practices.

Life is about balance – one thing happens, something else reacts. The most powerful thing we deal with a day to day basis is the Earth itself – the planet we live upon. Just like everything else, life on Planet Earth is a balancing act. In many ways its like a delicate chemical composition and all the ingredients have to be just so in order to sustain life for us and all the animal and plant life that live here. If you bake a cake and you put too much baking soda in it, it’s going to rise too high and burn the top, and taste bitter. If you put too much flour in, it’s going to be heavy and tasteless.

The Divine Feminine is really just a call for balance and restoration in our spiritual, mystical and material lives. We have to equal out the things that shift us out of focus and out of power, so that we can manifest at our best.

But God itself – or the Divine Source – is also equally masculine and feminine. Many magic practitioners will refer to God as She or Her, knowing that God really isn’t either female or male. It’s just a question of what attributes of God may be in play, which can be masculine or feminine.

Without being feminist or preachy, I think we know that power has been concentrated among men for a long time. Before that, however, there were societies that were matrilineal – where women held equal or even high positions as men and had the same rights. In some cultures, power and fortune and land and even names passed from mother to daughter, rather than father to son.

What we are seeing today after all these centuries of dudes being in charge, is the pendulum started to swing pretty strong. When power is gravitated in one direction for too long, creating imbalance or unfair polarity, that means that there is a higher chance of people pushing us much farther and faster into the other direction than we might normally and naturally have done. The power structures have held the populace of the world in a very tight grip, for a very long time but those structures are starting to crack, and starting to crumble, and they will fall. Everything falls, eventually, especially governments and power. The last days of Rome. Nothing lasts forever.

We invoke the Divine Feminine not to usurp power from men and give it to women, but to ask for a peaceful and practical restoration of equality. The best way to do that is to honor the feminine within each of us – and yes, that includes those of us who are male.

Because just like the earth, we are also comprised of both masculine and feminine energy, masculine and feminine power. Some people call the Divine Feminine Shakti – which is what Hindus call the Creatrix (feminine form of Creator) of the Universe. Some call it Yin – the partner to Yang. The Divine Feminine is associated with the moon and lunar energy. It is also associated with the elements of Earth (Gaia) and water.

In the best possible situation, feminine and masculine energies work in unison and collaboration. That is what yin and yang is – perfect harmony. It is when we try to separate out the masculine and feminine force within us, that we create division within ourselves and certainly, in our societies.

Chaos can literally be defined as an imbalance of feminine or masculine energy.

Now this isn’t to denigrate Masculine energy, which is also divine. The Divine Masculine is responsible for progress and evolution, efficiency and rules - which we do need. But the shadow side of the Divine Masculine is a preoccupation with power – again, seeking to hold on to rulership structures at any cost. When we talk about the Patriarchy – that’s what we are referring to. Not to the compassionate and commonsense male civil servants who are in leadership positions. It’s those who dominate and destroy who we view as toxic.

Injustice is a part of life – because energy does not remain equal and balanced. Something happens every second of the day, in millions of ways, that override that balance, that tip the scales of justice and equality. Racial and religious intolerance, unrestrained materialism, gender inequality – these troubles won’t disappear if women were suddenly in power. Because then too we would have other forces attempting to disrupt the balance – it’s just a neverending process of seeking balance, but a noble one that we pursue.

And feminine energy has its downside – it can be passive, or unfocused, or unreasonably idealistic.

It’s easy to see how women can benefit from masculine energy – we may become more confident, more outgoing, more successful, even. The question is – can men see the value of being more feminine without viewing it as weak? That’s an important question to consider because again, just like the earth, we are both feminine and masculine. When we stifle one of those energies, we are thrown out of balance. When we nurture both, we find equilibrium.

These ideas certainly apply to all aspects of life, but later I’m going to talk about specifically how we use the balance of feminine and masculine, and invoke the energy of the Divine Feminine in our  magic practices. But first, let’s talk about some of the Goddesses!

NUT:The Egyptian goddess of the sky, stars, cosmos, mothers, astronomy, and the universe.  Because of her role in saving Osiris, Nut was seen as a friend and protector of the dead. Nut was thought to draw the dead into her star-filled sky, and refresh them with food and wine.

We can honor Nut by honoring the night and darkness, and bringing elements of night (star-shaped crystals, black candles) into our ritual work. Nut can be particularly helpful when doing rites around those who have recently died.

ASTARTE: Astarte was a prominent goddess of both the Canaanite and the Phoenician pantheon, derived from an earlier Syrian deity. She was associated with war, sexuality, royal power, healing. Images of Astarte usually show her naked, often with lions.

We may honor Astarte on behalf of strong, powerful, warrior women, and invoke her in our ritual work with swords and images of lions.

KALI:Kali is the Hindu goddess, considered to be the Master of death, time and change. Sometimes called the Dark Mother, she destroys the evil in order to protect the innocent. Portrayed as having either four arms or ten, her eyes are red, her hair disheveled, fangs protrude from her mouth, and her tongue is usually sticking out.

The name Kali means force of time. When there were neither the creation, nor the sun, the moon, the planets, and the earth, there was only darkness - and everything was created from the darkness. Kali was that darkness, and we honor her in our magic traditions by recognizing the cycle of life. Kali teaches us to accept the world in its integrity. She helps to get rid of enemies, fears, and anxiety, which can be useful in ritual work.

APHRODITE:The Greek Goddess of Love and Beauty, Aphrodite (the Romans called her Venus) is associated with love, lust, beauty, pleasure, passion and procreation. Often shown holding a dove, or bathing naked in seawater, Aphrodite is frequently invoked by name during enchantments dealing with love and romance. Wiccans regard her as the ruler of human emotions, erotic spirituality, creativity, and art.

We honor Aphrodite by celebrating beauty, acknowledging creativity, and being loving toward ourselves and others. Red and pink objects – candles, crystals, can be used to invoke Aphrodite, as can water and items from the sea – shells, sea moss, salt.

BRIGID: The name Brigid means ‘exalted one’ in Old Irish, and she is associated with wisdom, poetry, healing, protection, blacksmithing and domesticated animals. Brigid is one of the Triple Goddess according to pagan lore, in many ways representing the three stage of woman: the Maiden, the Mother and the Crone.

She is particularly associated with publishing and printing (as is the Saint that was named for her) and so, particularly important when it comes to any writings we do around magic including our grimoires or journals.

Imbolc, also called Saint Brigid's Day, is a Gaelic traditional festival and also the Feast Day for Saint Brigid and is held on February 1st, halfway between the winter solstice and spring equinox. We might honor Brigid on Imbolc with items associated with sheep or cows, by washing the hands/feet/head, and by sowing seeds for spring. Pagans will often use primroses or dandelions in celebration of Brigid (the spring flowers) in their rites.

LILITH: One of my favorites to talk about, Lilith is believed to be the first wife of Adam, first man, in ancient Hebrew lore. Her Hebrew name Lilitu (literal translation = screech owl) is often invoked as a demon although some texts indicate that it was intended as a bird that flew in night skies. Tradition has that Adam and Lilith were both created by God, and intended as equals but that Lilith displeased Adam (perhaps because he was his equal) and so he cast her out of the Garden. Lonely and despondent, he then cried out to God for a life partner that would comfort him and so God created Eve, using the rib of Adam and therefore subservient to him.

Lilith, once cast out of the Garden, became pregnant by one of the archangels but miscarried many times. Unable to conceive her own children, she became deeply envious of the children that Eve bore for Adam. Some part of the Lilith legend claim she was the infamous serpent that tempted Eve to eat of the fruit of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, resulting in her and Adam’s exile from the Garden.

Lilith appears only once in the Hebrew Bible, Quoting from Isaiah 34:

Her nobles shall be no more, nor shall kings be proclaimed there; all her princes are gone. Her castles shall be overgrown with thorns, her fortresses with thistles and briers. She shall become an abode for jackals and a haunt for ostriches. Wildcats shall meet with desert beasts, satyrs shall call to one another; There shall the Lilith repose, and find for herself a place to rest.

Lilith represents that darkness of creation – the cost of creating – and we may invoke her during ritual work when we summon forces of darkness. A reminder that darkness is not evil, nor the absence of light – it is the partner to light, allowing light to exist. Lilith is sometimes associated with vampires and scorned women and items of deep red and black may be used in ceremonies to honor her spirit. Because Lilith has become synonymous with the persecution of witches, many modern witches honor her as a protective if rageful goddess.

MARY: Lastly, we have Mary, mother of Christ, Mother Mary, the Virgin Mary. Considered the holiest and greatest Saint, Mary is the supreme example of sacrifice and honor and sorrow. Today, many scholars doubt the story of the virginal birth and yet, we continue to revere Mary as a pivotal figure in religious history and an inspired icon in magic.

Believe it or not, there are more mentions of Mary in the Quran than there are in the Bible – I encourage you to learn about Muslim reverence for Mary and even for Christ.

We honor Mary with own sacrifices, when we release what we must in order to gain what we require. Again, all things must end – we can choose to release what does not serve us in a loving and respectful way rather than hoarding and hiding and trying to stall the inevitable.

We might use images and items associated with virginity, purity, and divine faith in our rituals to honor Mother Mary. White candles, roses, white crystals, but also cups and Chalices – the Cups of the tarot deck for instance. The chalice is linked with the mythology of the Virgin Birth (associated with the womb) and also the legends about the Holy Grail.

You might pick any one of these Goddess to honor for any individual ritual, or any particular time in your life. You can also create your own Goddesses out of important cultural figures whether they be Frida Kahlo, the artist who transcended suffering to create surreal art, or Ronnie Spector, the bad girl of rock and roll. You can honor the Goddess in your mother, your grandmother, your sister, your daughter, yourself.

Back to the topic of the Divine Feminine here are some of the ways that we all (including men) may use feminine energy in its best ways:

1. Connect with your inner Divine Mother: Recognize the nurturer and life-giver within yourself. What do you create and what survives by your love and devotion?

2. Examine your wounds surrounding femininity: Femininity is not always loving and nurturing. Where have women wounded you and what has society taught you (good or bad) about femininity?

3. Tune into your emotions: Pay attention to how you are feeling. You don’t have to indulge every emotion, but acknowledging it and perhaps what created that feeling is incredibly empowering. Failing to do so – while considered the more manly act – creates that imbalance that often leads to rage and violence.

4. Cultivate your intuition: Obviously, an important topic in the conversations we have been having in the last couple weeks. Just like we must pay attention to our emotions, so too we must understand our instincts and intuition. It’s not just about overcoming our primal and unhealthy urges, but identifying when and how our instincts pay off for us.

5. Find a feminine teacher/guide/figure you admire.

6. Slow down and be present: Masculine energy is all about do-do-do. But feminine energy is about being receptive, passive, and living in the moment.

7. Practice self-love and inner child work: By learning how to love yourself, you are better equipped to show true compassion to others. What better ways to awaken the Divine Feminine within you!?

8. Connect more deeply with your body: This includes not only the physical exploration of the body, but the intellectual as well. Identify when you don’t feel well, when you are curious, when you are hungry, when you are happy.

9. Honor, protect, and celebrate Mother Earth

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