by Dra. Rocío Rosales Meza: In many Indigenous traditions, and specifically the Q’ero lineage that I am honored to work with, medicine people describe spiritual energy in the form of feminine and masculine…
We view feminine and masculine, not merely at the human level of gender, but beyond it, as spiritual energies that we all must encompass to be in harmony and balance with self and all of creation.
Thus, it is important to view feminine and masculine as energies and wisdom that are available to all of us, if we can tap into and nurture them. It is important to see these spiritual energies not as human colonial binaries, but as energies that are meant to co-exist to support life. When we as humans, embrace these spiritual energies within us, we can experience wellness and can contribute to the wellness and balance in the world around us.
Though at this point in time, feminine energy is in need. Divine Feminine energy is important and needs to be amplified because masculine energies have most recently dominated the world. While some of this energy was helpful, most of it was destructive and it has made up the last 500-year colonial cycle that we are beginning to shift away from.
To truly shift out of this destructive cycle, we need humans embracing their divine feminine energy and taking the lead from the matriarchs. Amongst many Indigenous peoples, including the Q’ero Inca nation, it is believed that the times of harmony and balance would be brought back and led by the matriarchs, those that helped us remember and taught us all to reconnect to feminine spiritual energy.
What exactly is Divine Feminine energy?
Divine feminine energy encompasses many qualities, but one of the simplest ways to think about the divine feminine is to look to our Mother Earth. Our Mother is nurturing, loving, emergent, and exists in cycles. She is also fierce, a protector of sacred creation and seeks balance for life to flourish. In other words, the strength she embodies is not for destruction but for LIFE. This is in drastic contrast to the human system of patriarchy, the way that masculine energy has been used to control, dominate, and exploit humans and the land.
While we may not necessarily agree with this destructive use of masculine energy, those of us that have lived and been raised in the Western (colonial) world, learn it and become indoctrinated into this way of being, without our awareness and consent. We end up perpetuating harmful ways of being, of relating, of doing our work, and we perhaps unconsciously end up colluding with systems that create inequity. In this collusion with the system of the colonial capitalist patriarchy, we may also end up perpetuating collective illness as it is these systems that create unwellness in our current world.
And so to shift out of this current colonial reality, we must decolonize or dismantle these colonial oppressive systems and ways of being, thinking, and relating, and instead reconnect to sacred Indigenous ways. Three main ways that we can begin to embrace the divine feminine energy to begin to shift out of harmful ways are 1) to engage in reciprocal ways vs. extractive ways, 2) to honor cyclical time vs. linear time, and 3) to honor a sacred intuitive relationship with Spirit vs. an authoritative, hierarchical relationship through institutions.
Embracing our Divine Feminine means nurturing relationships vs. extracting when we engage with others and with Mother Earth. In this current reality, we have been taught to perpetuate exploitive ways. For instance, we have been taught to “ground” with Mother Earth to center ourselves without learning how we can give offerings to Mother Earth to give back to her. In Indigenous tradition, we honor our sacred relationship with our Mother Earth, we know that we are not separate from her, and that if we do not tend to her and our sacred relationship, that we will be on our way to imbalance and disharmony in the world. Caring for Mother Earth and our relationship with her is central to embracing the divine feminine. Our Mother teaches us compassion, calm, and the importance of being in sync with all of life not against it. In following her lead, we can begin to see how our very survival, and thriving, is related to our collaborating with each other vs. competing. We begin to think and act relationally, collectively, vs. individually, we begin to remember and honor our sacred relations.
Embracing our Divine Feminine in Indigenous worldviews
Embracing our divine feminine in Indigenous worldviews also means honoring time as infinite and cyclical, rather than linear. Mother Earth teaches us to honor rhythms, seasons, rather than always having to be “on”, always producing. This honoring of cyclical time allows us to also be more compassionate with self, and with others, as we no longer feel pressure to have to perform on a clock. The absence of external pressure allows you to move with the flow of life, honor what comes, and have compassion as we are able to be more present with what shows up.
And finally, embracing our divine feminine also means honoring our sacred relationship with the divine instead of seeking validation through institutions. Through the colonial reality, we have been taught that Spirit is something outside of us, something that we need to connect to through an institution, and that must be validated by an authority. Amongst Indigenous cultures, we do not see Spirit as a “field”, or as a connection that we must “earn.” Instead, we understand that we are an extension of Spirit, that everything is Spirit, and that we are meant to exist in harmony and balance. Embracing our divine feminine allows us to co-create with Spirit and the new world we are seeking.
May we remember, may we heal together and get free.
