All sacred sexuality traditions, indigenous traditions and esoteric teachings of the major religions from around the world and through the different ages teach this: All of creation stems from the interplay of masculine and feminine energies.
The making love of Shiva and Shakti, yin and yang, expansion and contraction, action and receptivity, chaos and order, night and day, positive and negative are all expressions of masculine and feminine energies.
The masculine essence is the unwavering stillness of consciousness, while the feminine essence is movement, flow and change. Shiva is empty, still, pure presence, while Shakti is constant movement, the full expression of emotion, life and death, creation and destruction. All things are manifested in the universe through the love-making of Shiva and Shakti.
This is the the dance of life. Without these energies combining, nothing is born or can sustain life.
As above, so below.
Principles of nature exist at every scale of the universe from the micro to the macro level, and are at play within all living things: ourselves, within our relationships, society, culture, nature, the world and beyond. They are in all living things and in all social dynamics and on every level of existence. Within, Jung named them the anima and the animus, meaning that both men and women have both masculine and feminine energies or aspects to their character.
Investigating the polarities of the masculine and feminine energies within us is the most powerful approach to personal development. And simple. Only two things to remember. :)
The masculine and feminine need each other in a spirit of cooperation. We have different strengths, different ways of being. We are complementary wholes. We are complete unto ourselves when we develop both energies.
Through practice we can strengthen and raise the quality of both our dominant and our less dominant essence and harmonise these aspects within us. This creates integration of the self. Maturity and balance and health on all levels, including spiritual development. It is the Hiero Gamos, which means sacred union, the highest secret of enlightenment of the ancient mystery schools of Egypt and ancient civilisations. The most important, the oldest, and the most tested pathway. This esoteric teaching used to be kept hidden from the people. The inner marriage is when your mature masculine essence and your divine feminine essence are in harmony within, you stop looking outside yourself for validation, love or direction, instead you are complete unto yourself. You’ve achieved internal integrity. It’s an inner alchemy which births us into oneness.
Life is more super charged when we harness natural energies, such as working with principles of life, like this one.
Everything is born of woman, and seeded by man,
(and nothing shall be done to harm the children.)
The first sacred principle of the twisted hairs tradition.
I love sacred principles for their simplicity and depth. I think the most simple things are the most profound truths. Or the most profound truths can be summed up in the simplest of statements. When multiple points of view from around the world converge - therein lies what is true about life. Like the nexus between quantum physics and the Tao and indigenous teachings which all communicate the truth of the two opposing and complementary principles of life. It makes sense to pay attention to the more feminine, less rational expression of knowing. The way of the indigenous, and those who are still connected to spirit, to dream time, to nature and to the cosmos. Why shouldn’t the world revolve around the protection of all indigenous cultures and species and eco systems instead of around natural resources and economic and environmental exploitation and the loss of everything magical, natural, sacred and beautiful? We all know the world would be better if we had more balance in it, more respect for the sacred feminine.
We need to create a world where the mature masculine and the divine feminine are in harmonious relationship on every level, individual to planetary, instead of what we have now, which is the immature masculine and the wounded feminine dominating and at war with each other. Woman against man, and economics over ecology, for example. Cooperation, not conflict. It could truly help heal the world, on every level, individual to planetary. We can only start with ourselves and our personal relationships.
Everything natural is sacred in my book and the world is losing what’s natural every day. These definitions of the sacred masculine and feminine are above and beyond what socially constructed definitions of masculinity and femininity are. They are the true use of the word, the true nature of the dynamic. Its only empowering to know about them, not disempowering nor limiting. It’s just useful information to have for relationships.
Even if the world is becoming more increasingly gender neutral and with masculinity and femininity being under attack as they are … I will still hold these principles dear, as they are the first and most sacred principles of life.
The concept of Masculine vs. Feminine energies is deeply rooted in tantric traditions and should not be misunderstood as an anti-feminist, patriarchal concept designed to subjugate women—quite the opposite, it is about a women feeling safe and in her full power; to be able to her lessen her vigilance, shed the inherently masculine expectations of the corporate workplace, and relax into her true state of a powerfully nurturing and emotional being.
Masculine qualities tend to be more active while feminine qualities tend to be more passive, and qualities such as love, wisdom, kindness are genderless. Basically we use our masculine energy when we need to go out into the world and achieve or do or build or work, when we need to over ride to achieve and to think. The rest of the time, spiritual teachers say, we should relax more into our feminine. More into flowing, into honouring our rhythms, more relaxing, being in the moment, not having a goal, being dreamy and pottering around. Being alive to the flows and changes of life. Making love in a more feminine way, like letting go of the goal and going with the flow, prioritising relaxation and connection over peak orgasms and visuals and so on.
We are running masculine and feminine energies all the time whether we realise it or not, the problem is most people have an unhealthy masculine and a wounded feminine running the show, and we need to step up, do the work to understand ourselves and our patterns more, and learn how to respond from a place of the mature masculine and divine feminine. Thus these sacred principles can help guide us.
Embracing these principles brings beauty and ease and ever lasting attraction and devotion to intimate relationships. It takes our sex life into a whole different realm, one which is more satisfying and even quite magical. If we are in harmony with universal principles, we are in harmony with life, and this creates ease, flow and contentment. Happiness, bliss and devotion results.
Perhaps an exploration into it needs to be a poetic scientific approach, one rich in metaphors, one that you feel your own way into, and draw your own meaning from. It’s how the sacred masculine and feminine fit into your inner narrative, they are principles, not a prescriptive set of rules for how to live in the world. Principles exist to guide us not to limit or constrain us.
Artist: Michael Parkes
The more we women stand in our feminine power, master the art of surrender, to ourselves, our minds and our bodies and our men and to the flow of life, the more we free up space for the men in our life to stand in their masculine energies and empower them by revealing the true strength of the feminine and the true beauty of living from these polarised energies in relationships. Relationships become divine and full of ease when we utilise these principles available to us, since the beginning of time and space, known throughout the ages, re-discovered and re-invented for modern relationships through the rise of western tantra and the conscious sexuality field.