Feminine & Masculine Principle
written by Elisa Romeo
watercolor by Rachel Rothberg
(I have written this blog post in two different voices–from the Feminine Principle and the Masculine Principle. You will notice the writing and ‘voices’ vary based on the energetics coming through. My intention is to bring awareness to the practice of discerning and identifying the shifting value system inherent within each of the Principles. The Feminine is feeling-based, poetic, and metaphorical which requires ‘reading between the lines while the Masculine is more structured, linear, clear and direct. When reading the Feminine writing–relax, feel your body and check-in with your emotional state. Know that you are digesting on a subconscious level when the Feminine speaks, even if the head does not ‘understand’. When you read the Masculine writing–the analytical mind ‘wakes up,’ working to logically categorize, clarify and question, thereby helping the ego understand the material. I color coded the writing to help with the identification of each voice.)
To Understand the Feminine & Masculine Principles, We Must First Understand Totality and Duality
In the state of our Love Totality, all is one. For the expanding ocean of IS, the only experience is one of cohesion and of the All. This state can be felt in meditation or deep prayer as the unquestionable knowing that we are all connected and crucial parts of this bigger IS-ness, the matrix of all creation, which some call God.
The unity of the One can only be the experience of the All. In order to witness the beauty of the One, you must not be the One. As One, you are the total blissful experience of One–but as Two you now have an Other to consciously witness, mirror and engage with the One.
Out of the longing for the One, for the delicious cosmic dance of witnessing itself, duality is born. Now besides the Love as the all, we have created the Love as a Witness. (Some call this the moment of the ‘big bang’.)
Duality creates the means of consciousness. As humans on earth, we live in a dualistic, light-based universe. In our universe, we exist within light and dark. We experience hot and cold. We also live within the duality of energy known as masculine and feminine. And while we can alter our consciousness to visit the Home of Oneness, the physical world and our bodily experience is located within this duality.
The masculine and feminine principle is often misinterpreted as the biology of ‘male’/ ‘female’ or rigidly categorized within stereotypical gender roles. But the masculine and feminine principle exists outside of cultural norms, theories or interpretations. Biology itself fluctuates from a rigid definition of creation as ‘all female’ or ‘all male’ (besides chromosomes of XX and XY, Turner Syndrome appears as a single X, and Klinefelter syndrome manifests as XXY). And in terms of ‘gender’, major fluctuations and degrees of ‘male’ and ‘femaleness’ exist within gender identity and sexual attraction is experienced also as fluid on a continuum. And of course, gender identity does not indicate sexual attraction.
The masculine does not literalize as ‘men’, nor the feminine as ‘women’, yet they are related. Although the masculine and feminine principle exists within many planes (even the astral) on the physical level and expression within sex, the female body is more often an expression of the feminine principle and the male body is more often the expression of the masculine principle. My personal understanding from looking at thousand of clients energetically with varying fluid gender identity and sexual preference is that exceptions of ‘the norm’ are conscious decisions on a Soul level (be mindful that does not equate with an egoic/personality understanding) to experience and understand gender/sex and the masculine feminine principle on a personal and intricate level.
So what is the masculine and feminine principle?
The masculine and feminine principle (which some call yin/yang or shiva/shakti) are archetypal qualities of energy that move through all males, females and all of creation, as well.
With all this fluidity and variation on the continuum of duality, why bother to label the feminine and masculine principle at all?
I have found that in distinguishing and understanding these archetypal principles we gain more self-awareness, gratitude and mastery of our ability to dance with the cosmic dynamics of Love. As we marry our internal Masculine and Feminine they become wedded to the Soul Mission of your life, working together to bring a quality of devotion, beauty and authenticity which is incredibly rare and radiates Grace.
Can you more specifically define the Feminine and Masculine Principle for me (with examples)?
It is difficult to define the categories of masculine and feminine principles because there are many nuances, exceptions and variations but here are some generalities.
The Feminine longs to be naked in the heart of her vulnerability in absolute surrender, observed as the experience of Being where she can reveal her radiance to a trustable and worthy observer. She craves deep intimacy, connection and relationship. She does not need rationalization or explanation, She knows the truth deeply grounded within her own body, born from her experience and her Heart. She is firmly stationed within her physical animal and does not fly out from her head into convincing arguments or social norms. She speaks in metaphor and poetry because She feels the honesty of tone within the words and the lack of what is Real in mind-blather. She emits a Presence of comfort from her essence and models Faith of her place in the greater reality. She is comfortable with messy, dark areas of life and is in synch with psyche’s rhythm and cycles. She acknowledges the necessity of degeneration into the unknown, because she feels herself as earth and understands organic growth. She is skeptical of bigger, better, more–and questions shiny advertisement of perfection because she sees the plastic patina of unlived knowledge. She is not scared of Truth but welcomes diversity of people, things and experience into the Womb of Life. She releases control through her mantra of ‘Down and In’. She is not questing on a Hero’s journey but trusts the nature of the cocoon and the womb within the Feminine decent.
Masculine consciousness thrives on the call toward adventure through inspired action, mission-driven goals and knows himself through ‘doing’. He understands himself by the passion generated from his vision and through the demonstration of his abilities to rise to life’s call. His life quest is to find a Feminine (inner or outer), sovereign in her value and mystery, worthy of fighting and dying for. Like gazing into a flower, he is awed by her creative magnificence and inspired. The experience is similar to being present at the miracle of birth; where the masculine does not birth the baby himself but is witness to cosmic order through the messy and painful experience of birthing. The Masculine in his witness of the Feminine, discovers true beauty which fulfills and brings meaning to his warrior life. A clear, consciousness masculine can even help direct in birthing by reminding her she is safe, she is strong and she is beautiful. His calm direction while she is in pain tethers them both to the earth, staying present to the experience. Discovering this beauty of the Feminine, leads to the discovery of the beauty of all of humanity–the ability to be incarnated and attached to one another and to the earthy experiences of life. The Masculine seeks meaning through his own expansion and mantra of ‘up and out’. His greatest joy is to rest in the matrix of the Divine Feminine, validating all his life’s work, while She receives him utterly and completely.
What makes the Feminine and Masculine Principle the Divine Feminine and Divine Masculine is the journey to the heart.
