What has been your experience with the Divine Feminine and Yin energy?
I stumbled onto goddess-centered spirituality a few years ago and really like it. The religion I was raised in does not honor the divine feminine at all, although it says we have a heavenly mother as well as heavenly father.
How have you reconciled the male and female aspects of God into your spiritual practice?
I'm trying to reconnect with the male aspects now so I can have more balance. I have some baggage from the God concept I was raised with and I rejected the male aspects of the divine for several years, which was probably a healing thing, but I feel the need reconnect on my own level.
What are the archetypal evolutions of the feminine that you're noticing in the West?
I think overall there's more recognition of female power and agression as a positive thing although it's still really feared and people are still really ambiguous about it.
Gaia/Earthmother as an archetype is really strong right now with environmentalism and concern for animals, and also with the growing interest in native peoples' spirituality and shamanism, which are very earth-centered. Maybe also present in the trend of women choosing to leave careers to be stay home mothers or to have jobs where they can work at home.
The Witch archetype is strong right now too with the growing popularity of Wicca, witchcraft and feminist spirituality. Witch is all over the place in popular media the last few years nad it's often the shadow side that's portrayed but more and more we're seeing the positive side of it as an archetype of empowerment, wisdom, sisterhood, etc. (Practial Magic for example, or the Sabrina the Witch TV series.)
Also I think Wise Woman/Crone is strong because as the baby boomer generation ages, there's been more attention paid to menopause and sexuality, there are more older actresses making movies in Hollywood and trying to change the status quo there, there are more women in political leadership positions, though still not enough IMHO. The trend of older women dating younger men.
I think there's some archetypal energy going on with the trend of so many single mothers in the U.S. too, and also with more attention paid to lesbian issues. I'm not sure which archetypes on those though.
Also I think with the alternative healing practices becoming more mainstream (massage, aromatherapy, etc.) we're seeing a softer, more feminine side of Healer, which has been a very male dominated archetype, the old guy in the white coat. LOL
Oh, and Warrior too, with more women in the military, and after the 9/11 bombings, women were more eager than men to nail the terrorists and go to war. And with popular media like Xena and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, etc. My daughter watches a show on Disney channel called Kim Possible, about a teenager who's a kickbutt hero, strong, smart, saves the day. There are two boys on the show but they're both sidekicks. How's that for a cool gender role reversal? I love to watch it too. <img src="/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />
Not sure about trends of the world.
Heather