In an earlier blog I have already written about “What the female path means for me…”, and I have promised to explain in greater detail. This female path is for many women the important and fulfilling realignment in their lives.
Whereas in times gone by women were seen and adored as the great wise ones, the knowing or the elemental women; in past centuries they had to give up their old position in society involuntarily to make room for men.
But today, in times of great changes, an increasing number of women feel the strong desire to regain their old female position in society. But they are tired of having to fight. As fighting has nothing to do with female strength and power, and female wisdom. These are male attributes, which we women have acquired to walk the male path, while gradually abandoning the female path.
HOW DO WE WOMEN FIND OUR WAY BACK TO THE FEMALE PATH?
First of all, we should realize that for years many women have developed and lived far more male than female qualities. This confession is not necessarily pleasant, because it needs conscious reorientation, which needs a lot of inner clarity, honesty to oneself, and eventually earnest desire. And this is definitely not easy.
We live in a world of duality – also called polarity or contrasts: man – woman, strong – weak, dark – light, up – down … the list goes on. Polarity has nothing to do with black and white thinking, though. The polarity I am talking about is neutral, and an important part of our dualistic view of the world.
IDENTIFYING AND ACCEPTING OPPOSITES
Maitreyi Piontek states in her book that femininity is strengthened through depth, love, silence and freedom, masculinity needs highlights, successes, recognition. What sounds like a cliché at first, hits the nail on the head. Because as long as we do not recognize the male and female energy patterns, we will not be able to differentiate between the male and female path. The following examples should show even more clearly what I mean:
FEELING (YIN, FEMALE) – THINKING (YANG – MALE)
We know that feeling is not reserved for women, and thinking is not reserved for men, but feeling corresponds with female energy and thinking with male. (I would like to remind you of the YIN-YANG-symbol from my last blog. It clearly shows that we women should not only live and develop female YIN characteristics – shown in pink – but also male YANG energy – shown in light green.)
Now as a woman ask yourself the following questions:
- What do I follow more strongly: my feeling (YIN) or my brain (YANG)?
- Am I scared of losing control (YANG) when I follow my feeling (YIN)?
- Do I value my intellect (YANG) more than my intuition (YIN)?
TO BE (YIN, female) – TO DO (YANG, male)
Obviously we women cannot and do not want to sit back and take things easy, waiting for men to do something (for us). But female energy has always got to do with ‘to be’, such as devotion, relaxation or calmness.
- Am I afraid of not being noticed (YIN) unless I am constantly doing something (YANG)?
- Have I got the feeling (YIN) to hand my power (YANG) on to others when I am awaiting things instead of being active?
TO RELISH (YIN, female) – TO EXERCISE (YANG, male)
Sportswomen probably start to scream now, “What, we women should not train (our body, our abilities, etc.) any more?” Of course, you can exercise as much as you want. But can you feel the difference between relishing (YIN, passive), and training (YANG, active), and the subsequent contentment (YIN, passive) and performance-related success (YANG, active)?
And the list of male YANG and female YIN energies goes on, such as:
- silence (YIN) – noise (YANG)
- content (YIN) – shape (YANG)
- corpulence (YIN) – slimness (YANG)
- softness (YIN) – hardness (YANG)
- inside (YIN) – outside (YANG)
etc.
IT IS NOT ABOUT STEREOTYPED THINKING
… but becoming aware of our female energy potential again, appreciating it, using and extending it. It is not about defying the male, but not giving the male energies inside us women too much space.
If you have straight hair, you should love it instead of looking at women with curly hair frustratedly. And if nature has provided you with frizzy hair, why do you want to tame it with a hair straightener?
And why, dear woman, do you want to live male characteristics at all costs? You might have to practise hard to gain them, and they might not make you happy eventually, either.
It might make many women a lot happier to leave the male path and return to the female one. I think it is worth considering!
Ingrid Auer for Women 