Feminine Rising
When I heard global activist, Lynne Twist, speak on what she calls the Sophia Century, something deep and ancient inside of me lifted. She coined this term based on a Native American prophecy that heralds the 21st Century as the time when the feminine will rise into balance next to the masculine.
This prophecy centers on the bird of humanity with a masculine wing and a feminine wing. The masculine wing has become over-strengthened and domineering through the centuries while the feminine wing has remained suppressed and underdeveloped, sending the lopsided bird into a wild downward spiral. But, with the strengthening of the feminine wing during the Sophia Century, the masculine wing will relax into a healthier expression as the feminine gains power and begins to balance the bird of humanity in the flight that it was made to take.
Twenty years in, we’re seeing evidence of this rise via the sexual assault prevention movement, the petition for equal wages, straight marriages with more balanced roles, the cultural evolvement of masculinity, and the liberation of LBGTQIA+ people.
Each highlights an element of the feminine that has been suppressed or skewed by patriarchal societies throughout history. And, I’m speaking more broadly than just men and women here. The feminine lives inside of us all.
By “the feminine”, I’m referring to the psychological feminine—the attributes and capacities commonly categorized as female. Gentleness, nurture, empathy, beauty, hospitality, humility, vulnerability, etc. We each have a blend of psychological feminine and psychological masculine traits that make up who we uniquely are. There’s no right or wrong combination, although many of us have been shaped by stereotypical models of “what it means to be a man” and “what it means to be a woman” that have long expired in helpfulness.
I love Luke Gifford’s description in the Head to Heart podcast. “The feminine is the ocean: wild, flowing, open, mysterious, unpredictable, not made to be controlled… desires to be explored, seen, ridden…”
Like emotions and spirituality, she is elusive and ever-changing. And, like the moon, she is luminous, moody, and beautiful, with many expressions.
The core difference between the masculine and the feminine energies is that the masculine is linear and the feminine is non-linear. This stems from early survival conditioning, where men would singularly hunt for food, while women would split their focus between gathering food, looking after the home, and tending to the needs of the children and the elderly. Nowadays, linear looks more like order, structure, and rigidity, while non-linear is fluid, intuitive, and free.
Noting the masculine/feminine contrast, it’s understandable that they have misunderstood each other throughout human history. But, in a patriarchal society, it’s the feminine that suffers under the thumb of the masculine. She’s been consistently undervalued, under-protected, and denied the space she needs to thrive for a very long time.
Growing up, I saw how female qualities within men and women were perceived as weak, stupid, and taken advantage of.
Out of self-protection, I learned to close off my feminine energy and force an inauthentic masculine energy in its place. I’d scoff at “girly” things, rush and overwork myself constantly, deny my own feelings and needs, make fun of hyper-feminine qualities in other people, and trade in my lovely soft edges for harder, pricklier ones. (All unhealthy iterations of masculinity, by the way.) It was either that or shrink into the uninspiring model of what I perceived men wanted me to be: pretty, polite, and quiet about my opinion.
But, I’m so excited that these cultural chains are being broken day by day and paving the way for me to show up in my full, unique range of masculine and feminine capacities. I’m learning to give myself the time and attention I need each day to ground, rest, receive, and heal.
And, at the same time, learning to value and trust my female voice and intuition.
Taylor Swift describes this balance well in her Netflix documentary: “I want to love glitter and also stand up for the double standards that exist in our society. I want to wear pink and also tell you how I feel about politics. And, I don’t think that those have to cancel each other out.”
The Sophia Century is here. The feminine is rising. What a beautiful, balanced future she is leading us towards. May we no longer stand in her way.