Within contemporary spiritual writings and teachings, so much of emphasis is placed upon the Sacred Feminine and the Return of the Goddess – and for good reason. Women, and those who identify with feminine energy, have been suppressed, persecuted, oppressed and turned into vessels of subjugation, screens of projection for a distorted, socio-political system of thought, belief and action, i.e. patriarchy. Most women across the globe, and men who identify with a different sense of sexuality or simply gender identity, are still oppressed in one form or another – irrespective of a country’s level of economic, social and political capital, GDP, or level of literacy. So yes, we need to focus on the Feminine, and heavily so.
However, what is often forgotten is that the re-cognition of the Feminine principle goes hand in hand with the healing of the energetic distortion within the Masculine. I dislike using polarities such as victim vs. abuser, but it has applied across the board, especially within gendered relations. Abuse does not stop by empowering potential victims or sensitizing them to abuse, it (equally) requires us to address the roots of the dynamic of abuse in the first place. Within the masculine-feminine dynamic, much has been writing on this elsewhere – and in a very condensed summary – it comes down to the ways in which boys are socially conditioned to be aggressive towards, to assume a position of authority or condescension towards their female peers. Young boys are not encouraged to cry, to express their emotions, and to toughen up and ‘be men’. Girls are encouraged to be ‘ladylike’ in ways that do not encourage them to excel, or to enter traditional roles of domesticity and home-making. (There’s nothing wrong with that when it’s a free choice, rather than being the only socially appropriate option for a female to adopt)
Excellent FB pages such as The Girl God and Journey Of Young Women provide excellent resources where you can learn more about this, and ways you can parent children who do not identify with older paradigms of what being a girl and/or boy looks and feels like.
But let’s get back to the Wounded Masculine. Born out of a culture that taught a little boy how not to feel, or to express what he felt – even if it was sadness, anger, pain, or even an urge to wear a pink tutu … we see so many men in the world that identify with the Yang (active) principle in excess. Expression, empathy, emotion are seen as weak, debilitating things, i.e. ‘women’s’ things like childcare and housework. Force, assertiveness, power – qualities liked with willpower and drive are taken to extremes of violence, authoritarianism and suppression. We see this at the the level of the individual and collectively, at the level of government – both run by the maxim of ‘Might is Right’.
Again, this isn’t about men vs. women, as I’ve seen truly compassionate men who heal, and truly aggressive women who seek dominance at all costs. It is about a certain energetic archetype and the way it weaves its own dynamic or narrative. Statistically speaking, however, gender and sexuality plays a strong role in predicting who plays what role – they’re not determinants though. Here’s a great article by a friend of mine ( Sunyata Satchitananda ) who speaks of the same:www.sunyatasatchitananda.com/divine-masculine
Spiritually speaking, as I’ve expressed in the past, I don’t see the patriarchy as responsible for the ‘Fall of the Goddess’. I see it as a collective response to an adoption of Feminine energies in ways that were imbalanced to begin with. Most Priestesses that remember – or are beginning to – also recognize how they have partaken in a collective abuse of power, irrespective of sex/gender. Personally, I see our current experience of patriarchal dominance as a reaction to an earlier energetic imbalance in favour of the Feminine – that does not make it fair, or right – but it allows us to move past the entrenchment of the ‘us vs. them’ narrative.
For the same reason, I do not elevate or aspire to bring back the Old Ways as they needed to go. It’s about bringing back the bits that work, from different times, into something a whole lot more balanced and relevant for what we need now. And, for that same reason, my personal understanding of a utopian vision is one that is decentralized, non-hierarchical and egalitarian. Rather than ascribing sex, race, or gender as a category through which we identify one as spiritually ‘superior’ or ‘inferior’, we’ve got to (hopefully) move into a head/heart space that begins to look at things from the level of the Soul that knows no such label. For at the spiritual level, we have all played such roles (masculine, feminine, victim, abuser).
That does not mean erasing the history/herstory of violence, of gendered imbalances (past and present), or to pretend that they do not exist. It means that we need to become more aware of such imbalances and to question how we consciously or unconsciously perpetuate or participate in them – and how we can stop doing so.
In astrological terms, this need to re-examine our relationship with the Masculine/Feminine dynamic, and specifically its use/abuse of power at the individual and collective level comes through with the following (current) alignments:
(1) The Sun (13 Libra) squared Pluto (13 Capricorn). Certainly a time to explore the dynamics of power within partnerships, and also the relationship between the partnership-and-the-state. Bear in mind that Pluto is also trined Jupiter (12 Virgo), suggesting that we can find healing for those deeper, darker wounds surrounding sexuality, the abuse of power, the wounded Feminine/Masculine, and so on. The role of Virgo suggests the healing work of a spiritual facilitator/priest/priestess aligned with Feminine energy and able to work with Sacral Chakra energy – More on that below. Also bear in mind that the Sun is sextiled the Great Attractor (14 Sagittarius), making it all the more likely for us to find teachings, paradigms and paths towards healing, wholeness, awareness and balance. Those of you with placements near 13-14 Taurus are going to experience quite a profound Yod (Finger of Fate), hang in there!
(2) The Sun is about to conjunct Osiris (14 Libra) on October 8th. A time to shed the light of awareness, of focused consciousness, to the disintegrated or wounded Masculine within. Lord Osiris was torn into pieces and left for the dead in the Underworld. His wife, Goddess Isis entered the realms and literally pieced him together, re-creating a new phallus for her husband as that was the one piece she could not find. It really underlines the dominant thrust of this article .. all over again 🙂
(3) Mars (7 Virgo) conjunct Hebe (8 Virgo). The energy of the Masculine seeks healing by revisiting instances in which its earliest sexual experiences/memories/paradigms were set, often involving a violation of intimate boundaries. Again, remember that the gender roles are not static here – it could be a man remembering being hurt by a elder female in his youth, or vice versa. Ensure that you do not give additional weight to that narrative of being hurt, or by considering it a ‘fixed’ event that will always have power over your life.
(3) Neptune Retrograde (7 Pisces) conjunct Circe (7 Pisces). A caution is given here, especially with memories of abuse we uncover in dream-states or with spiritual practitioners. Not all is what it necessarily seems to be. Avoid creating a further narrative of blame/guilt with whatever comes up now. Try to see such memories or visions as symbols or metaphors as opposed to things that really happened (especially in cases where you’re really not sure). There’s a lot of vulnerability that comes through which this placement, and the use of shadow-games of projection that seek to blame one person or another as a ‘seducer’, or ‘sexual temptress/temptor’ where it may not necessarily be so. Be open to alternative explanations.
(4) Mars/Hebe (7-8 Virgo) opposed Neptune/Circe (7 Pisces). A re-emphasis of the above-mentioned themes. Those with placements close to 7-8 Gemini/Sagittarius will experience this as a Mutable T-Square or Grand Mutable Cross. Allowing yourself to shift into a more balanced vibration that facilitates healing, release, forgiveness and the recognition of your boundaries (& others) is key. Holding onto the whole victim/abuser polarity isn’t going to work that well here. Those of you who work with gemstones may consider the use of rhodocrosite or rhodonite, placed on the sacral chakra, 2-3 inches beneath the navel. It’s also a fantastic time to do any significant healing work with sexual imbalances – but also a time where you may not want to try something spiritually or ritually hardcore unless you really know what you’re doing. Neptune is sextiled Kassandra (7 Capricorn), the ignored oracle. Those with placements close to these points, and, 7 Leo will experience a Yod (Finger of Fate) that is likely to revisit past life-cycles/lessons connected to the Priestess/Mystic/Oracle archetype.
For those of you in Australia, I’d highly recommend working with Priestess Kerri Ryan, MA who runs the following FB pages: Goddess of Sacred Sex and offers sexological body-working as a healing practice. You can find out more about what she does here:http://goddessofsacredsex.com/sexological-bodywork/
Well, that about wraps up this post. I hope you use the energy of these two days to discover deeper places within yourselves in which you can find release, healing, forgiveness – and yes – Joy!
Much Love,
Bairavee Balasubramaniam
The Sky Priestess
Image ‘Bhairava at Kanakadurga Temple – Orange Hue, October 2015’ & Post © Bairavee Balasubramaniam, 2015. All rights reserved.
Dr. Bairavee Balasubramaniam PhD: The Sky Priestess 