Recently, while lecturing (on Zoom) about the need to balance the sacred feminine with the sacred masculine, a man asked me: “How do you recommend men entertain more the divine feminine?” It is a good question.
I offered one answer yesterday in my sharing on Francis of Assisi because he truly stands out as a man who had an amazing balance of the feminine and the masculine. It is so much in evidence in his poem on Brother Sun as I indicated in the video where I read much of the poem. He found the divine feminine (but also the masculine) in nature.
So that is one answer: Check nature out. And look for its feminine aspects—which are everywhere.
It is important to put our hunting-gathering instincts into answering that question, for a patriarchal culture has so flooded us with the uber masculine that we can find, in such a fog, neither the healthy masculine nor the feminine.
This is where praying the feminine names for divinity such as we have been meditating on for weeks becomes a meaningful—and important—exercise.
Such a practice brings the feminine back to one’s own consciousness.
So too is realizing our own mysticism. Mysticism itself is feminine, as Dorothee Soelle described it. Mysticism “comes closest to overcoming the hierarchical masculine concept of God….The mystical certainty that nothing can separate us from the love of God grows when we ourselves become one with love by placing ourselves, freely and without guarantee of success, on the side of love.”
The male mystics are very good at this (as are women mystics).
Adapted from Matthew Fox, Christian Mystics, p. 278.
See also: Matthew Fox, The Hidden Spirituality of Men: Ten Metaphors to Awaken the Sacred Masculine.
To read the transcript of Matthew Fox’s video teaching, click HERE.
Banner Image: “Mural of St. Francis of Assisi and the Wolf of Gubbio at the St. Francis Inn in the Kensington section of Philadelphia, Pa.” Photo by Jim McIntosh on Flickr.
Queries for Contemplation
Do you agree with Soelle that mysticism deconstructs hierarchical concepts of divinity and replace them with something fuller and more balanced? What examples of this can you offer (including St. Francis)?
Recommended Reading
The Hidden Spirituality of Men: Ten Metaphors to Awaken the Sacred Masculine
To awaken what Fox calls “the sacred masculine,” he unearths ten metaphors, or archetypes, ranging from the Green Man, an ancient pagan symbol of our fundamental relationship with nature, to the Spiritual Warrior….These timeless archetypes can inspire men to pursue their higher calling to connect to their deepest selves and to reinvent the world.
“Every man on this planet should read this book — not to mention every woman who wants to understand the struggles, often unconscious, that shape the men they know.” — Rabbi Michael Lerner, author of The Left Hand of God
5 thoughts on “Men in Search of the Divine Feminine”
Part of mysticism is not only recognizing but also acknowledging the interconnections, the inter-reliability, the inter-dependence within the creation of the all and the everything, what some call the Great web of life. In this context I do agree with Soelle, that mysticism has the potential to deconstruct heirarchal concepts that have contributed to the many crisises all of humanity is facing.
You talked yesterday in the poem of St. Francis, in the Canticle of Creatures, about the first death. It is this death, the deconstruction of heirarchal concepts that must die, lest we become responsible for the second death of not only ourselves, but the Earth and all of creation upon this beautiful planet. This first death as you referenced, that being our own arrogance, ignorance, selfishness and pride, first and foremost must be surrendered to, first within ourselves.
My sense is that brothers need to support brothers in this first death, together. The sisters can support this process, through encouraging them to participate in sacred ceremonies, sharing women’s wisdom ways, for women already carry this feminine principle of death, change and transformation within the archetypal forces of the Divine Mother, whom you have also referenced over the past several weeks, known to us as the Black Madonna, as well as Kali… and as St Francis called her, Lady Death.
Jeanette, what I want to highlight today from your comment is your constructive words for brothers and sisters in your final paragraph: “My sense is that brothers need to support brothers in this first death, together. The sisters can support this process, through encouraging them to participate in sacred ceremonies, sharing women’s wisdom ways, for women already carry this feminine principle of death, change and transformation within the archetypal forces of the Divine Mother, whom you have also referenced over the past several weeks, known to us as the Black Madonna, as well as Kali… and as St Francis called her, Lady Death.”
Beyond “gender” in the image of Divine LOVE . . .
Let’s pray for world leaders of nations, business, science, education, and environmental activists to be open in their hearts, minds, and spirits to God’s Spirit of Love-Wisdom-Truth-Peace-Justice-Creativity to be more wise, compassionate, and creative in protecting Mother Earth and making this world more equitable, just, and sustainable for all of God’s children, all living things, nature, and all of Creation….
Damian, AMEN !!!