In today’s increasingly gender-diverse society, it can be unpopular to acknowledge the fundamental polarity of sexual energy, in the cosmic / esoteric sense, but it is nonetheless essential to understand the equilibrium held in place by these divine principles. It should also go without saying that the extremes of any system exist to justify the mean; or put more directly, there is no ultimate “rightness” to be derived from embodying one extreme or the other according to one’s biological gender at birth. 

The value in looking at the universe through this lens is in understanding its inherently complementary and balanced nature within the bounds of which (between the extreme polar opposites of the sacred feminine and sacred masculine) an infinitely diverse array of individual expressions can rightly occur.

Nevertheless, these extremes exist and we draw upon them -in combination- to shape ourselves, and thus, the world around us. At different times and in different places these extremes combine in various ways and, I think, according to the nature of the current age, produce the contemporary influence of gender in society.

History is replete with cycles by which the basic ingredients of human civilization are reconstituted in various ways (which I believe appear evolutionary only in small timeframes) to produce a revolving (or perhaps oscillating) narrative for the human drama. 

In the earliest of times for which we have evidence of neolithic society, there is compelling evidence that our civilizations were matriarchal rather than patriarchal -and that our first gods were goddesses! For tens of thousands of years between the neolithic times depicted in cave paintings and more modern, written history, there is little evidence of the perpetual struggle for dominance that has defined the “ascent” of the patriarchy in our modern society. A mere five or six thousand years of brutal male-dominance pales at the time depths defined by the nurturant feminine aspect.

Even while the ravages of extractive patriarchy raged at one end of the globe, indigenous life, markedly less defined by the male aspect, flourished elsewhere in the world until globalism reached its probable peak in modern history. The globalist urge is as inherently masculine as imperialism; one is simply the logical extension of the other.

So if this is the peak of globalism, then it is also the peak of patriarchalism. I believe we are witnessing the turning of the tide as the increasingly masculine cultures of the last five thousand years gradually reintegrate and reprioritize the feminine aspect. Like a young man who leaves home to define himself eventually returns (metaphorically, at least) in search of his roots, humanity will inevitably have to return to our roots to truly understand ourselves.

We Come From The Earth, To Her We Shall Return

Grounding is an underappreciated aspect of personal health (and magical efficacy). We don’t work right when energy can’t flow from the earth to the sky and from the sky to the earth, freely. In my energy healing practice I see clients nearly every day who are suffering from energy blockages which manifest in all sorts of physical pains and illness. One of the more common reasons that people suffer energy blockages is that they don’t know how to release spent emotional energy back into the earth.

Just as our bodies receive nourishment from the top and evacuate waste at the “bottom”, our energetic bodies transmute energy from above down into the earth. However, in the case of the energetic body, we also absorb energy from the earth and transmit its receptive, balancing powers up to the sky, facilitating their sacred union within ourselves.

Mixing these energies in delicate balance is essential to our health and wellbeing, and our magical potency as well. It is necessary to be in right relationship with sky and earth (and underworld) to experience the best of what the universe has to offer.

Consistently, my clients which are astrologically-inclined, particularly the astro-mages, all suffer from anxiety and excess energy, which I attribute to a lack of grounding and, thus, an overabundance of busy / cerebral sky energy. Personally, I experienced a profound reduction in anxiety and nervous-energy (restless limbs, etc) when I began regular grounding and chakra clearing exercises.

The whims of sky gods have us pursuing the elevation of mankind to power, to glory, to space and beyond, etc. As portrayed by the Greek pantheon, the gods are always meddling in human affairs to push us towards epic quests and endless challenges. And that’s all good in measured doses -but unchecked, it leads to classism, colonialism, and totalitarianism. Archons gonna archon…

The sky gods are patriarchal, obsessed with power, conflict, and domination. In pursuit of their favor we become too focused on the same, forgoing the natural equilibrium of grounding in the earth in complement with our ascent to the heavens. Over the last half a decamillennium, we lost our connection with the earth, and the sacred feminine, and, in so doing, access to their essential and eternal fertility.

But as in life, where we are born of the earth and return to the earth in death, the great cycles of life cannot be avoided and it seems clear to me that we’ve reached the apogee of the male “sexual” force at this point in our evolution, meaning that we’re due (perhaps overdue) for a return to a more divinely feminine way of life.

It’s All Downhill From Here

Gravity is an unavoidable truth and there is gravity encouraging the increasingly rapid decline of male-dominance in society. A force is pulling humanity inward, despite our undaunted attempts to spread out into the universe as conquerors, to face the realities of our extractive way of living at home on earth. At the same time, we will be forced to confront the potentially fatal consequences of zero-sum thinking; from starvation, to mental health crises, to mutually-assured self destruction.

These are the faults in a system predicated on extraction and dominance. They can be resolved by prioritizing regenerative practices -but this cannot be accomplished from within authoritarian frameworks based on zero-sum thinking. They can only manifest in nurturant environments where value isn’t determined by potential for individual growth and return.

Regenerative thinking, which is exponential in nature (just open a fruit and count the seeds one tree can generate), is inherently feminine. It prioritizes self-sacrifice for community gain, nurturing and protecting the vulnerable, and self-improvement rather than self-aggrandizement. This is the influence of the sacred feminine at work and channeling more of this energy into our lives, and the world at large, can help us perceive this cyclic shift as a return of feminine power, rather than a decrease in masculine potential.

As globalism declines in effectiveness, local communities will rise in importance. Decreased connectivity leads to increased personal resilience. And the resulting decentralization will force power to be gradually redistributed along the way.

As with so many examples throughout history, those who can glimpse the future stand to gain the most in the coming transformative times. Recognizing that the so-called “ascent of humanity” was merely one side of a sine wave rippling through time -and that the ascent has in many ways become a descent instead- opens the future to new realms of possibility and opportunity. It may all be downhill from here, so to speak, but that just means we have momentum on our side.

A Mother’s Love

What’s more resilient than a mother’s love? The earth is our Great Mother. We are her children and she is the mother of us all: plants, animals, people, and so on. And like any mother, she nurtures us, protects us, and forgives us for the abuse we give her in return, in our youthful ignorance. 

As we awaken to the inevitable shift, the expression of the sacred feminine embodied in Gaia, the Earth, welcomes us warmly and with no hesitation. We can commune with her simply by immersing ourselves in the community of beings we call Nature. Modern materialist society refers to this as “nature bathing” but any benefits therein are simply a manifestation of our mother’s love.

As magicians we worry ourselves constantly with securing the favor of fickle (and archonic) planetary spirits who rule our fates and fortunes but rarely with the nourishing, regenerative feminine aspect which provides much of our health, joy, and longevity. This too is bound for inevitable change because the endless machinations of the sky gods do little to ensure our survival and thriving as a physical species in a delicately balanced material reality.

The way forward is back home, back to our gracious, loving Mother Earth, Pachamama, and through the feminine luminary, the Moon. Through worship and veneration, through regenerative thinking, through healing and nurturing each other and the more-than-human world, and through simply losing ourselves in rapt wonder at the magnificent and immanent beauty of existence.

We’re going through this transition as a species, as societies, and as individuals. This represents nothing less than a seismic shift in how we perceive, engage, and thrive as humans. As we go through this journey –returning to our roots- those of us who embrace the shift, and ride the wave, will benefit most from the momentum of these tidal forces. 

Mother Earth and Grandmother Moon, our sacred matrilineal line, loves us all and patiently awaits for the turning of the age to bring us all back into their embrace again; but we don’t have to wait to receive these blessings. The work of moving into right relationship also moves us into the grace of the sacred feminine -and this nourishment is always available to those who recognize its sublime, but awesome, power.

Featured Image: A New Era of Legend by Harkale-Linai