For many years I have been led to the Divine Feminine. When I pray, I pray to the Goddess. When I speak of the Source of all, I speak in feminine metaphors. Although I believe that the Divine is neither male nor female, speaking of the Divine in feminine terms is a counterbalance to the masculinization of God. When God is spoken of in completely masculine terms, is defined as male, and is omnipotent, then Patriarchy becomes a way of life, and the feminine becomes less than or something to be feared.

I feel that is it important to bring balance back into our idea of what is Divine. It is time to recognize the gifts of the masculine and the feminine. It is time to see that masculine and feminine are complementary, not oppositional. If we look at the symbol of the Yin and Yang, each aspect is contained within the other. When the masculine and the light is dominant, the dark is contained within the light. When the feminine and the dark is dominant, the light is contained within the dark.

Patriarchy has long been afraid of the dark, earthy, wildness of the Goddess. And yet it is the very dark wildness that births something new. It is the earth that keeps us alive. It is the intuitive that leads to leaps of discovery. It is the dark feminine that initiates us into growth and rebirth. While the masculine is focused on the mind, conquest, and winning, the feminine is focused on intuitive knowing, love, and connection.

The Great Mother represents Sacred Unity. Her archetype is the epitome of balance and wholeness. She is the great circle which has no beginning and no end. She encompasses all, births all, and receives us all at our death. She is the great Creatrix. She represents both fecundity and death. She is both lovely and fearsome in her aspects.

Over the past 2000 years, the monotheistic male god has come to dominate world religions. In that time the feminine aspects of god have become almost completely obliterated. And the world has become increasingly out of balance. We have lost our connection to our mother earth. We have become slaves to doing and productivity rather than being. We have valued the intellect over the heart. And we are on the brink of annihilation.

What if we begin to value the Divine Feminine once again? What if we begin to bring balance and wholeness back into the world by acknowledging the value in both the masculine and the feminine aspects of the Divine?  What if we open ourselves to Sacred Unity and acknowledge that there is room for the Divine Feminine as well as the Divine Masculine? What if we no longer feared the Sacred Feminine but invited her to the table as we seek to birth a new world?

Barbara Garland
October, 2022