You Must Leave Your Father’s House: The Divine Feminine

Last night, I sat on a panel in a room fulled of vocal, devout Christians and spoke of the divine feminine.

Let me back it up a bit. A few months back, I met this incredible woman who has faced the challenges in her life by expanding, learning, reaching out and helping others. Her spirit shines brightly, and so when she asked me to be on her panel for a ‘Healing the Mother Wound’ event, I said yes.

I don’t do panels. These days, I am way more comfortable in a Circle. But I do ‘Mother Wounds’: the cycles and patterns that are unknowingly passed along generation to generation. And I support her, so my answer was ‘yes’, and I did not think twice about it.

I am an introvert and happier behind the scenes. I never would have dreamed of speaking in a scenario like that without the experience I have had ‘finding my voice’ sitting in six years of Women’s Circles.

Women’s Circles give you a safe space to express yourself and to find your unique voice with acceptance and support. ‘A Sacred Circle’ (they are of course not limited to women) but they are a different way of communicating where each person is given equal time to speak, where we share our stories and where we learn to look inside ourselves to find answers.

This can be a dangerous concept to a Christian, no? Because we should first look to Jesus, the Bible and the Church for answers, not ourselves.

But I have come to believe that each of us has our answers inside. We know what we should be doing. Maybe not long term, but the next steps are there. We need to get quiet and listen.

And then find the courage, support and love to do what we should be doing to grow.

And that is not listening to ego. But jumping right over our mortal ego and listening to the divinity which is inside each of us.

I believe that Jesus would agree.

But many would say and think that would lead to chaos. Perhaps the chaos we see today. Perhaps that is what has led to the chaos we see today.

Everybody going off doing their own thing: meditating and yoga and energy vortexes. My God (and by this, I mean that old white guy sitting on a throne in the clouds), you cannot put that sort of power in individuals’ hands! They are not smart enough! Brave enough! Good enough! They must be told and led!

And I would answer, ‘sometimes.’

I have learned a lot in churches and from the Bible. Last night, the room was full of wise, wonderful, beautiful people sharing their advice and quoting from the Bible. It was interesting and made me think of several things.

I am not as wordy or polished as the other panel members, but I thought I did okay.

And then ‘the question’ came.

What exactly is ‘the divine feminine’ and what does it have to do with the Mother Wound?

I should have prepared. The other panel members had notes and quotes ready. I did not.

How do you answer that question?

The divine feminine is growing up in a church listening to ‘He’ and ‘Our Father’ and ‘women were made from men and should be silent and meek and obedient’ and yes, there’s Mother Mary, but in church she’s so quiet and flat and thinking to yourself, ‘something is not right here.’

The divine feminine is recognizing the beauty and comfort and strength of nature and cycles and feeling that you can find God just as easily at a stream or in a forest, a full moon, the color of the Autumn leaves than at a mega church.

The divine feminine is realizing that strength does not mean burying and ignoring your emotions but figuring out ways to acknowledge them and then let them move through your body with minimum damage to yourself and those around you.

The divine feminine is seeing that we all bring our unique gifts to the table. I have sat in Circle and learned from everyone in every chair. I have opened my heart to those I thought I disliked. I have seen beauty and strength and wisdom in each and every face.

Did I say the above? No, I said parts of it and not as well as that. But enough to make my heart race.

I even used the ‘P’ word (Pagan) explaining that I have hosted my Circles on new and full moons and many would say that it is Pagan, but to me, it is the divine feminine, recognizing that life is cyclical and respecting nature instead of ‘every third Tuesday’.

I just like the concept. The promise of a dark new moon. The beauty of a full moon. And I’ve come to this point where I don’t think I have to explain it. And I’m not trying to convert you.

I have come to know ‘Her’, and if you wish to know ‘Her’ too, find Her. Seek Her.

She will come.

Last night, a woman came up to me after the event and said that she was there because she has been following my group on facebook for five years, and finally, found the courage to come and step out of her comfort zone.

She saw her 14 year old daughter dealing with all of the emotional baggage that had been handed down from herself, her mother, her grandmother and before.

And she knows that it is time to heal and to change.

Yes, it is time.

And that is what I tried to say as well. That the divine feminine is about balance. It is not about hating males or saying this way is better than the other. It is about ‘allowing’, and it is about opposites and learning to work together.

In response to another question, the one male panel member responded by quoting Genesis 12:1 when the Lord said to Abram ‘Leave your Father’s house.’ And the panel member pointed out that God was not only telling him to physically leave his Father’s house, but more importantly, to mentally leave his Father’s house.

That it was time to think differently.

And that is exactly what I thought about when I answered that question about what is the divine feminine and what does it have to do with the Mother Wound. I Iooked out at the mainly female audience who had stopped head-bobbing and were staring at me, and I thought to myself,

‘It is time. Leave your Father’s house. Think differently. I am not going to tell you what the divine feminine is. You go figure it out. A women’s Circle is a good place to start.’