The Great Mother

Divine Feminine

“Old woman is watching, she is watching over you.

In the darkness of the storm she is watching.

She is weaving, mending, gathering the fragments.

She is watching over you.

Old woman is weaving, gathering the threads.

Her bones become the loom she is weaving.

She is watching, weaving, gathering the colors.

She is watching over you...”

Anne Cameron (Daughters of the Copper Woman)

The latest edition of the Parabola magazine is dedicated to the Divine Feminine. She figures prominently in most world religions, except Judeo-Christian-Muslim, and in all Native American cultures. She is associated with winter, darkness, perception, moistness, softness and instability (in the sense of being unpredictable, changeable, and intuitive). The Great Mother is the bringer of life in all its forms; the keeper of the seeds, and the tender of all manner of unborn and forming infants.

The pineal gland is associated with the deep feminine. It sits in the center of the brain and yet has the ability to perceive light and darkness. It releases melatonin in darkness and blocks its release in light, which regulates our circadian rhythm. It also controls the release of the gonadotropic hormones from the pituitary gland, affecting fertility. Its ability to perceive day and night, has given credence to assumptions that other kinds of perceptions arise here too. “When we are working to understand ourselves, for instance, or to create a shift in our lives, or to transition from one state of being to another, darkness appears. It actually has a very important role.” (Holly Bellebuono; Darkness and the Divine Feminine, Parabola, Spring, 2016) We typically experience these times of transition as shadowy, like trying to see through a fog.

Unfortunately, the feminine association with darkness has also played a role in the abuse of women, from the middle ages until the modern era. The powers of perception have always been suspect, and interestingly, always associated with women even though men have equal access to the influence of the pineal gland. Perhaps it is because the “Old Woman” gathers the fragments, collects the threads, and weaves them back together. She understands that fragments and threads are just as valuable as a finished piece. In truth, there would be no finished piece without them. Unfinished, broken and fragmented things are not so valuable to the masculine, logical, linear mind. That daylight world likes things neat and tidy, dry and explainable, not murky and moist and undefined.

Like Yin and Yang, we humans are a mix of light and dark. The feminine face of God has been placed in a locked closet in a dark corner of the basement, because she's fearsome. It's time to fetch her out and show her the respect she deserves. She can bring the world back into balance.

                                                                    In the Spirit,

                                                                        Jane