Re-member the FeMinine face of the divine
During the last thousands of years, the image of the divine that was handed down to us, is that of a male figure high up in the sky, watching us with severity, warning us for bodily sins and infusing us with unworthiness and guilt. The FeMinine face of the divine has been forgotten and restricted. In the west, Mother Mary kept her status as the Mother of God, but she represents only a partial aspect of the FeMinine: that of purity and immaculate conception.
What now comes back to the collective memory is the FeMinine face of the Divine.
Mary Magdalene for example is a FeMinine christ who touches the hearts and wombs of many people these days. She is showing us a totally different picture of the divine: embodiment, sacred sexuality, blood mysteries, the mother and the lover archetype, going beyond polarity… And most importantly gnosis: know thyself and you will discover that the divine is also within you. As within, so without. As above, so below.
Tara, the female buddha of love and compassion, also tells us an interesting story. Advanced as she was in her spiritual practice, the monks said to her: “what a pitty that you are born in the body of a woman, because now you can never reach enlightenment in this lifetime. You will have to come back as a man.” Upon hearing that, Tara in her wisdom knew that enlightenment has got nothing to do with gender, but still she decided that she would come back in a female body lifetime after lifetime until humanity would be ready to understand that enlightenment goes beyond gender.
Tara is one of the 1000 names for the Goddess. Some of Her other names are Inanna, Isis, Ishtar, Hathor, Artemis… If you want to know more about Tara and listen to some of her beautiful mantra’s, go to this page.
“The Great Goddess appeared in many different cultures throughout the ancient world. Known by many names, she was multifaceted and manifested in a variety of forms to satisfy the various needs of the peoples who called upon her wisdom and compassion. In the Near East she was worshiped as Innana, Tiamat, Ishtar, and Astarte. In Egypt she was venerated as Isis, Hathor, Neith, and Maat. In Greece she was revered as Demeter, Hera, Artemis and Aphrodite. In the Far East she was known as Shakti, Adati, and Durga in India, Tara in Tibet, and Kwan Yin in China and Japan. This feminine deity later evolved into the Virgin Mary, Sophia, and the Shekinah of Christian and Judaic cultures.”
– Mysteries of The Dark Moon, Demetra George