Comments on: The Sacred Feminine

By: Nancy Vedder-Shults

Nancy Vedder-Shults — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 04:17:52 +0000

Brenda, I don’t know if you’ll see this response, but I wanted finally to respond to what you said. I went on vacation almost immediately after I wrote this piece and then when I got home after Thanksgiving, I got sick.

I agree with you that dichotomies are intellectual constructs. Sometimes they’re useful, sometimes they get in the way. But it’s important to remember that they’re just constructs to help us understand something, not reality itself. And I agree that in our culture (and maybe elsewhere, since we’re all human), we tend to give too much power and authority to our intellects. When I say that I mean it exactly as you describe it — that we believe that our own personal intellect should run the show, when in fact, it needs to be spirit, because it has a much broader view and understanding of all parts of our life. I learned this (and have to relearn it over and over again) when I did the Hoffman Process in 2001.

By: Brenda Nelson

Brenda Nelson — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 03:52:32 +0000

Yes, dichotmoies are more of the intellect’s way of seeing things–sort of ironic, that. I do not pretend to not have an overly dominant intellect. But I think the degree to which we are invested, and I am talking most all of human kind now, in our intellect is hurtful to ourselves, each other and the planet. It is allowed to be in this place, but it is not the most copacetic place to be, I believe. The intellect seems to have certain limited functions and has bitten off more than it can chew in terms of trying to manage our personal lives and the world. It is not equipped to do it and it is scared out of its mind (ha-ha). It’s like the Divine Feminine, Great Mother said, well okay, yu want to play grown up and have my job? Go for it. Allowed. But if it starts to all feel like too much, know that I am here waiting in the background–your soft place to fall. Just call my name and allow that we are still One, but you have just been turned away from me. You can turn back at any time and I will not consume you, as you fear, but will simply allow that yu forgot who yu were and can now choose to remember and BE all that you want to be, through/with me.

By: Brenda Nelson

Brenda Nelson — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 03:45:05 +0000

Hi Nancy:
Yes, I see your point about Her speaking through us in various ways–prompting us to do various things. Ultimately we are all One, and whatever one of us achieves in the way of knowing Her, then belongs to all of us. That is fascinating that your study led you to an ecstatic experience. Maybe I have more of a split between my male and female minds than you do. I think the male mind can be directed to pay attention more to the inner world. I get my most direct connection to Her through art. Puts me in a “right-brain state” or whatever you want to call it. From there I seem to have easier access to Her. I have heard jazz musicians say that when they are really into their improvisation God is playing through them–which I totally “get.” Any of these humbler forms of being, including improvisational dance seem to create space for knowing Her/our Divine Self. But I get off on my intellect too, and enjoy reading writing and talking from that place about metaphysical things, but it is no substitute for the real experience. I think that the world is so sad today because they have lost that connection to Her. PBS recently had a documentary about finding the oldest “city” in the world–the first step between, tribal living and modern civilization. It is in S. America, and they found no weapons or defensive structures of any kind. It was a place of peaceful trade. This was about 5000 years ago. It was right about then that most cultures seemed to show a marked shift from right hemisphere dominance to left. We went from knowing our Oneness with each other and our sense of security of knowing we lived in a safe and loving Universe (death being just a transformation and nothing to be feared.) But then we got into the male mind–and separation from individual/ego “self” took over. We got “smaller” I think. A very personal and defended sense of self as opposed to the former, group/God everyone self. I think the animals still have this–know their oneness with us–each other. Have experienced it breifly with my cat–and “saw” in that moment how more advanced his perception of who he is, is than my own. Talk about embarrassing! My “pet”? I don’t think so.

So that’s my take on things. Would invite yours.

By: Heather Mendel

Heather Mendel — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 22:10:09 +0000

I agree – we don’t want to stumble into dichotomies like emotion v intellect. We need and honor both aspects of ourselves as channels we use to explore our existence. For me, curiosity is certainly a spur to intellectual pursuit and is broader and deeper than just a tool for the intellect. Intuitive curiosity too is a reality in my world.

By: Heather Mendel

Heather Mendel — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 22:03:44 +0000

Is you chant available for reading?

By: Heather Mendel

Heather Mendel — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 22:00:13 +0000

Delighted to be a conduit of Jean’s wonderful ways of expressing deep truths:-)

By: Jim Wilkinson

Jim Wilkinson — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 01:04:44 +0000

Isn’t curiosity part of the intellect? It’s clearly what led me here. Emotion and intellect are not only compatible, they are both essential, in balance. I consider emotion vs. intellect to be a patriarchal false dichotomy.

By: Jim Wilkinson

Jim Wilkinson — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 00:41:48 +0000

I love Jean Houston’s definition of archetype. I will try to remember it and think of it often. I might just have to share it with my atheist friends.

By: Nancy Vedder-Shults

Nancy Vedder-Shults — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 05:33:20 +0000

I couldn’t agree with you more, Brenda, when it comes to the experience of the Divine Feminine and its centrality to all we are about. However, in order to change not just ourselves, but others as well and society, too, we need to create change on all levels. I’m certainly not the one to push for the transformation in academia. I figured that out before I even finished my Ph.D. in 1981. And it sounds like you aren’t either. You say it very well when you say “But our awareness of Her living through each of us is extremely valuable.” And I think that for some of us that awareness translates into a need to push for Her acceptance within patriarchal institutions like the academy.

Actually, I would also agree that being highly focused in the intellect makes it harder to experience the Goddess — at least most of the time. But I had one experience when I spent a great deal of my time and energy in a focused period researching Kali and ended up ecstatic. I “grokked” Her big time, and that translated into a a spiritual experience of ecstasy. I think other women (academics perhaps) may have that experience more often than I. For me, intellect is often bound up with my ego and attempts to control the world, and, therefore, is anything but an opening up to spirit. I’d love to continue this discussion with you.

By: Brenda Nelson

Brenda Nelson — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 03:51:56 +0000

Well, I agree that the Sacred Feminine is incredibly important, and that we live within a patriarchy, which has many members that still find the Feminine threatening. But whether or not scholars find Her to be of importance is of no importance to me. The whole “scholarly” approach to knowing Her barely scratches the surface–even at liberal schools like The Institute for Transpersonal Psychology (which I attended for a while). But knowing Her even just intellectually, is a good place to start and it’s a good thing it is happening I guess. However, there is so much more beyond what any intellectual institution or approach can comprehend about Her, that in the larger picture scholarly acceptance matters very little. All scholarly institutions and approaches are patriarchal and intellectual–and therefore highly limited in their ability to “get” the greater implications of what the Divine Feminine really is. But in our male-mind world such places are the be all and end all of the place to gain credibility. I personally could care less any more. The Great Mother/Goddess/Divine Feminine when finally “experienced” is more of a PLACE than a being. The deepest most sacred place at the center of all being…no words can describe that experience of Her. But our own awareness of Her living through each of us is extremely valuable. And you don;t need to be a scholar to experience that–in fact–being a scholar–and highly focused in the intellect makes it harder–whether you are male or female. I know of that first hand.