I’ve spent the last 30+ years powerfully immersed in the world of the Divine Feminine. As I wrote in the introduction in my book, Circle of One: The Art of Becoming a SELF-Centered Woman, I walked into the 4th Universalist Society (a UU congregation in NYC) in 1992 where “I was introduced to the idea of the Divine Feminine and something our minister called “Earth-based spirituality. That was my first spiritual “a-ha!” in twenty years, experienced as “Oh, that’s what was missing!” (in my spiritual journey up to that point). And I’ve been at Fourth U ever since. 🙂
Over the next several years, I dove into everything I could find on the early Goddess-worshipping civilizations, feminist psychology, women’s spirituality, and sooo much more. Eventually, I brought it all together in my Master’s thesis, “Weaving a Path to Wholeness Through Women’s Ritual and the Four Elements” (which became the foundation of “Circle of One“). That’s when I started leading my New Moon and Full Moon SisterCircles and Meditations, teaching workshops and tele-classes, and gave talks on all of it.
Balancing the masculine and feminine energies within us.
And then within a year after we entered the new millenium in 2000 (in numerology, that reduces to 2 which is the feminine number), I was drawn to lead a few classes on exploring how we all embody both feminine and masculine qualities within us. I still love the name of the one I led with my dear co-authors of our seasonal books, Authentic Women Playbook: Daily Discoverings of Your Divine Feminine — the title was “Venusian Solutions”!
One of the things we did was to collect a whole list of qualities that are typically defined as masculine and feminine... you can now find all kinds of pretty charts that illustrate them, like the image above. We acknowledged that these terms have been polarized in the West to mean male and female, but feminine and masculine qualities are apparent in both men and women. The psychologist, Carl Jung promoted that idea by simply labeling them “active” and r”eceptive”. In the East, yin and yang represent those active and receptive principles of nature, which creates a more a balanced partnership based on these complementary energies.
I shared this perfect quote from Elizabeth Cady Stanton who wrote “The Women’s Bible” in 1895 (definitely learn more about her extraordinary work):
“The masculine and feminine elements, exactly equal and balancing each other are as essential to the maintenance of the equilibrium of the universe as positive and negative electricity, the centripetal and centrifugal forces, the laws of attraction which bind together all we know of this planet whereon we dwell and of the system in which we revolve.”
So why is it coming up for me now? Well, when I started pondering on themes for this month’s Aries/Libra Full Moon blog, that interplay between Mars (which rules Aries) and Venus (which rules Libra) jumped out.
Of course, the obvious association could be to John Gray’s now-classic, Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus, which offered men and women a practical way to improve their communication and relationships by acknowledging the differences between them. And it spawned a whole Mars/Venus series that looks at every aspect of relationships — definitely check them out during this Libra season which runs from September 22 — October 21st.
And as always happens when I begin to ruminate about a blog or creating a ritual circle, wonderful little synchronicities pop up. The Virgo Full Moon coincided with the Fall Equinox this year (that moment on the Wheel of the Year when the hours of light and darkness are in perfect balance), so I embraced the theme of balance then, too. I was inspired to share a Sanskrit chant I learned years ago that was presented as a way to bring our masculine and feminine energies into harmony: Sthiram Sukham Asanam (Sthtiram = strength + groundedness; Sukam = Ease, grace, sweetness).
I had a few other synchronicities, but I’ll share them below in my Deb’s Picks
How do you honor the feminine/masculine, yin/yang, receptive/active qualities within you?
Be sure to join us for my Aries/Libra Full Moon TeleMeditation this Tuesday, October 7th at Noon ET — click HERE for details on how to participate. I think we might even chant Sthiram Sukham together… hope to “hear” you then! (And if you miss it, contact me and I’ll send you the recording, or look for it on Facebook & Instagram)
(And remember, New Moons are when the Sun and Moon are in the same sign – you can read my Libra New Moon blog from a few years ago to get some ideas about how you can further tap into that energy right now, or better yet, come to my Libra New Moon SisterCircle though the Wellness Universe on Tuesday, October 21st!).
NADI SHODHANA or Alternate Nostril Breathing
This is one one of those other synchronicities that came up recently in a yoga class… which by the way, was momentous to begin with since I’ve been practicing at home and haven’t been to a live class since my knee replacement in January! The instructor led us through “Nadi Shodhana” or alternate nostril breathing and reminded us that we were activating our feminine energy (calming) when breathing through the left nostril, and masculine energy (energying) when breathing through the right. Cool, right?
MEDITATION TO BALANCE MASCULINE & FEMININE ENERGIES
Turns out there are actually quite a few beautiful meditations like this on YouTube. I listened to a bunch, but this one was my favorite; it’s a 15-minute guided meditation from davidji, a globally recognized meditation teacher, mindbody health & wellness expert, mindful performance trainer & author. He offers breathing prompts and a mantra – Om Shiva Shakti Ritam – then gives you 7 minutes of silence to do it yourself before gently guiding you back out. Click on the link above to experience it, then go to his website to see all he has to offer. I love the welcome that greets you: “Get Heavily Meditated”!
7 INNATELY FEMININE PERSONALITY TRAITS ALL REAL-LIFE GODDESSES SHOULD EMBRACE by Deborah Roth
Just had to thrown in one of my own blogs here! Sorry, I’ve never written about embracing feminine and masculine energies… maybe this Full Moon will inspire me to do that. This is one that I wrote in 2019 when I was blogging for Your Tango and it got thousands of views and shares there. When I updated it last week, I included a photo taken after the Celebration of Life service for my dear friend and college roommate, Okhee, who I wrote about last month. They are just a few of my beloved classmates from Mount Holyoke College, some of the most loving, powerful, brilliant, heartfelt women I know — a kick-ass blend of yin and yang energies! And believe me, I drew on all of it when I shared my tribute during the service.
LIVE CHAKRA BALANCING MEDITATION Brooklyn, NY; Wed., October 15th, 7-8pm
So, this isn’t specifically about balancing masculine/feminine energies, but alot has been written about which chakras embody which energy. One blog I found proposes that the “odd” chakras are associated with the masculine, while the “even” ones are feminine. Then here’s another take on it… do your own search and see what resonates for you. In any case, it was kinda fun to actually find a live meditation in my area with this focus — maybe there’s one in yours. I won’t make it to this one, though, since I’ll be meditating up at Kripalu Yoga Center for my annual retreat!
YPC SOUND OF MUSIC VIDEO: A Love Letter to our City
So, this offers no obvious intention for balancing yin/yang energies, but I just had to share it cuz it’s so uplifting! The Young People’s Chorus is a “multicultural youth chorus internationally renowned for its superb virtuosity and brilliant showmanship” and their Creative Director, Elizabeth Núñez is the conductor for my wonderful women’s chorus, the SoHarmoniums. They produced this video to honor the 60-year anniversary of The Sound of Music. Even if you don’t know the words to all the songs (like I do!), you’ll love it!
I hope some of these Picks have inspired you to explore your own inner balance of feminine and masculine energies, and maybe to look for ways to support their “dance”. And as always, if you’ve got any other Soul-full events or resources to share, I’d love to hear them!
With crisp, beautiful Fall blessings,
Deborah