Feminine and Masculine: Finding the Balance
As the busy summer slows into a slightly less busy fall, the workforce of Jackson yearns for a break. Whether this is a trip to the desert, the beach, or maybe it’s a staycation to catch up on projects, we all need to rest.
As the busy summer slows into a slightly less busy fall, the workforce of Jackson yearns for a break. Whether this is a trip to the desert, the beach, or maybe it’s a staycation to catch up on projects, we all need to rest. The off season represents our town’s natural flow, which provides an ebb. If the summer and winter season are yang energy (masculine), then the off season is yin energy (feminine).
It’s obvious that we live in a patriarchal society dictated by masculine principles in a generally toxic state. This is a double-edged sword. On one side of the sword, this drive to go, succeed, build, innovate, and push through has made humanity what it is. Humans as a race are incredible and the fact that we have been able to provide basic needs to billions of people is truly remarkable. On the other side of that sword, we have damaged the earth as well as our psyches in the process. So, let’s get dark for just one second – America is struggling like never before – we are stressed out, tired, overweight, overwhelmed, and lonely. This certainly doesn’t represent all of us, all the time. Sometimes, I’m lucky enough to get in a good flow, and find a balance between the yin and yang, the light and the dark, the rest and the work. Often, I find the balance only to lose it again from some life stress that inevitably comes up. Then, I get back into a balanced flow state quickly or slowly, depending on how aligned my life is with the general principles of masculine and feminine.
There’s an Ecuadorian prophecy: humanity is represented by a bird. Right now, the bird has one wing, representing masculine energy. This one wing makes it fly in a circle. The second wing is that of the divine feminine. Once this wing comes online, the bird will be able to fly straight for the first time.
Some of you certainly are full on riding the tide towards the feminine divine cultural revolution, but many of us are still grinding away, stuck in the hustle not sure how to get ahead without straining our mind, body, and spirit in the process. So, let’s examine what these energies embody to truly understand this balance.
Divine Masculine Energy
The best example I can think of for divine masculine energy is how the military trains its soldiers. They make people wake up with the sun, exercise, push their limits in a safe container, work in teams, and practice exemplary manners. While what the soldiers do after this training is controversial, and there likely are many toxic components, we can’t deny that this training ultimately creates strong and courageous men and women. Characteristics of the toxic masculine are pushing through no matter what; always being on time, trying to make more money, working to succeed no matter the cost. It’s this toxic masculine energy that we all feel (for many day in and day out) that wears us down, causes burnout and ultimately loneliness and dissatisfaction.
Divine Feminine Energy
Now let’s talk about divine feminine energy, because this is what I believe many of us need to embrace in order to get more into balance. Its dark and mysterious and completely opposite of how most of life is lived. However, there are a few times in life that are invariably lived in the feminine. When a baby is born, they demand living in a feminine state. First sleep, then eat, then poop, and round and round it goes for what can feel like a very long time. When reaching toddler age - which is as far as I’ve gotten - no matter how badly we want it, we can’t pressure or push our child to sleep more, be potty trained faster, or even practice basic societal norms or manners when it would be most convenient. We can try and put these masculine principles onto them, but that’s simply not how it works in the beginning. Small children live in the feminine until we’re eventually able to train it out of them to then embrace masculine as the dominant energy moving forward. This concept can be another blog post for another time…
At the other end of life, if someone reaches old age, the feminine once again prevails. It’s a time when the individual naturally wants to rest more, go inward, move slowly, and be nurtured. They no longer can be bothered by these (masculine) societal norms. Time, to them, once again becomes circular rather than linear. The unfortunate part about our society is that, while some time is carved out for our babies, we have a hard time slowing down in such an extreme way to take care of the elderly and thus, they are forced to move into an assisted living facility to finish out their days.
Thrive in Balance
On the two extremes of your life, you live in the feminine. And unless you are very conscious of this principle or have poor health that demands it, you’re living in the masculine in order to be a successful member of our society. And hopefully, as I’ve illustrated, this isn’t always a bad thing. It just becomes problematic when we don’t also honor the feminine. This means rest when you need to rest. Particularly when you get sick! It means going inward and asking yourself hard questions rather than seeking advice from friends or a therapist. It means spending time looking at your shadows, re-programming past traumas that may be causing toxic patterns in your life or relationships rather than escaping to work or a night out. We need to live in balance in order to thrive.
