The Divine Feminine

What does it mean when someone praises the divine feminine? Or when someone says the divine feminine is the way to healing and enlightenment? Or that the divine feminine is reawakening in our world at this time, heralding a return to higher frequencies of light and thought? Is this a Christian concept? Buddhist? Pagan? New Age? Is it tied to religion? Or is it a spiritual concept? What is its history and where are its roots?

The divine feminine is the goddess is in all traditions, and has been since the beginning of time. These traditions are a mystical, magical, powerful, part of primal Mother Earth. They symbolize balance and healing, renewal and restoration.

Sophia is a very ancient form of the Goddess of Wisdom. She is known in many traditions by different names; she carries the mantle of intuitive intelligence. Sometimes she is Isis, spreading her wings of ascension. Sometimes she is Asherah, the original bread of life. Mary Magdalene is said to have been an incarnation of Sophia.

The Old Testament’s King Solomon had a deep and profound relationship with Sophia. She was revered as the wise bride of Solomon by the Jewish people. The symbol of Sophia is the dove, depicted as the bird descending from the heavens, known in Christianity as the Holy Spirit.

In Greek mythology, Athena was the goddess of wisdom and weaving; the owl and the olive tree were sacred to her.

Isis is the Egyptian goddess of magic, fertility, and motherhood. She has gone by many names, such as the Queen of the Heavens, Star of the Sea, Light-Giver of Heaven, Lady of Green Crops, and She Who Knows How To Make Right Use Of The Heart. She is the Great Mother of fertility, of creation, of life and death. Some see the Mary, the mother of Jesus, as an incarnation of Isis. Many view the Magdalene as an initiate of Isis.

The exotic and mysterious Black Madonnas have their roots in pre-Christian goddess traditions. In southern Provencal tradition, the Black Madonna is associated with St. Sara, the patron saint of the gypsies. Many believe the European shrines to the Black Virgin have special healing powers. These energetic places often have a sacred water source and a Celtic foundation. The Black Madonna is another mysterious form of the archetypal feminine principle. So what is the feminine principle?

Simply put, her principles are ones of nurturing, of love, understanding, compassion, insight, intuition, sacred intelligence, creativity, forgiveness, healing, and wisdom.

Whatever your beliefs are, the feminine principle can appear as Ishtar or Mari, Gaia or Quan Yin, as the great Mother Mary or Magdalene the master. She could embody Hathor or Sekmet from the Egyptian traditions, or manifest as one of the pantheon of goddesses from Ancient Greece, the Roman Empire, Africa or the Middle East. She could be represented by the cults of the Black Madonna, be they Christian or Celtic. She springs forth as Spider Woman of the indigenous tradition, weaving her threads into the Oneness.

The qualities and energies of the divine feminine are spun into the web that transcends all time and place. All frequencies of the divine feminine emanate from this matrix.

Below are associations of that matrix of divine feminine essence, from A-Z.

A is for Astarte, she of the womb, a Mother Goddess, one who creates;

B is for blood, for new life passes through her womb and is birthed by it;

C is for clarity, for the Goddess holds the mirror of reflection for whoever seeks her;

D is for deity for the Goddess is the feminine form of God;

E is for elevation, for the divine feminine shows us how to raise our vibration using the
serpent energy of kundalini, and become one with all;

F is for forgiveness, for forgiveness moves us forward and opens our hearts;

G is for goddess, that we may keep repeating the word over and over until we incorporate it daily into our vocabulary, acknowledging the feminine form of divinity;

H is for Hathor, the Egyptian goddess of motherhood, beauty, and joy;

I is for Isis and Ishtar and Inanna, all goddesses of fertility;

J is for Jesus, for he got it; he understood the feminine principles and exalted them;

K is for kindness, for kindness restores hope;

L is for love, for the divine feminine embodies the power of love, especially in her body;

M is for Mary Magdalene, She who opens the doorway to the deeper mysteries;

N is for Nefertiti, Egyptian Queen, Mistress of Happiness, and wife of Akhenaten;

O is for osmosis, for when we follow the ways of the heart, everyone around us feels it;

P is for pentagram, an ancient symbol of the goddess;

Q is for Quan Yin, the Asian goddess of compassion and mercy;

R is for Rhiannon, the Celtic goddess of the moon;

S is for Shakti, the Hindu mother goddess, the source of all;

T is for together, for we are all connected;

U is for universe, for the goddess is and has always been a universal consciousness;

X is the variable, the wild card, whatever you need it to be;

Y is for Yemanya, the African and Brazilian goddess of the sea; and

Z is for zenith, for with the celebration of the divine feminine, we will rise to greater heights.

The Goddess is our primary life force on the planet. If we utilize her love, nurturing, understanding and kindness of the divine feminine within all of us, we will survive in one form or another. Her essence can return balance to our world, our bodies, and our lives.

We need to remember these ways of the divine feminine, so we can expand our conscious awareness and focus on the global issues in dispute. We need the Great Mother to lead us and teach us, so we can find new ways to resolve old issues, so we can enter into peaceful co-existence with one another.

The life force of the sacred feminine is the divine spark that will ignite our spiritual and biological transformation. Her sustainability is our survival as a species.

Gloria Amendola

Updated on March 25th, 2008