God as feminine, God as mother
The Book of Longings hasn’t left my nightstand in two years. Have you read it? I’ve read through it twice now and each time I am struck by the depictions of the feminine - her humanness, her holiness, her abuse, and her longing.
Why is it that cultures have all but wiped out the depictions of godliness, holiness and divinity that are inherently feminine?
In early Christianity and in Jewish scripture, devotees prayed to Sophia
The ancient Egyptians revered Isis and Hathor
In the Vedas, Tantric lineages, and Hinduism, we are exposed to Durga, Kali, Lakshmi, Bhuvaneshvari, Lalita Tripura Sundari - archetypes of the Goddess
The Vedas themselves - some of the oldest scriptures in the world - were written by rishis (men) and by women (rishikas)
The first time I read The Book of Longings by Sue Monk Kidd a few years ago, I was transported back to my days as an acolyte. I grew up in the Episcopalian Church. On Sundays, I would hold the torch following the cross in the processional. I literally held up the Gospel as the father (also known as a pastor, priest, etc.) read that week’s passage. I mean this literally - Gospels are heavy and my arms would quake.
After preparing the altar for communion, I would sit in the side alcove and flip through the Bible, the hymnals, the little red books and so on to try and find where the feminine went. I was maybe eight, nine, ten.
It wasn’t necessarily that I was looking for the female form of God, but rather found it hard to believe that only men had something to say in those biblical times. I love that little Leanne was thinking these thoughts. ;) And, you know…she was right. Just in case you’re wondering, I no longer identify with religion, yet study religion closely as a spiritually inclined human.
Back to the book. It follows the story of Ana, who becomes the wife of Jesus. Yet, this isn’t a story about Jesus or Christianity necessarily (because that wasn’t even established), but rather the story of a woman who was potentially married to the Messiah. It wouldn’t have been out of the question for Jesus to be married at the time. What I loved is that Jesus had his God and Ana had hers - Sophia. And Ana’s aunt, Yaltha, had hers - Isis.
The further we go into the story, we witness the many ways women have (and are) silenced. We witness brutality at the hands of men who craved power and would do anything to get it. We know how Jesus’s story ends, and again…this particular book isn’t just about him. It was about the women in their human forms and in their holy forms.
At the Crucifixion, there are no absolute truth accounts of who was there until Jesus took his last breaths. But, many stories point to the women. His Mother, Mary. Mary of Magdala. Mary of Bethany. It’s said that a woman named Vanessa came to him when he fell carrying the cross and wiped his face. In The Book of Longings, Ana was there. But, most of his disciples were not present. Unless you are one that counts Mary Magdalene, which I do, and potentially John.
I’m always moved to tears by this. It was the women.
How brave these women must have been.
To follow his walk.
To witness his labored breathing.
To be there when he died.
To risk their own lives.
To cleanse his body after death.
Why don’t we talk about this more? Why was the only female disciple - Mary Magdalene - slandered as a prostitute for years? How might the world be different if we accepted that Jesus likely or at the very least might have had romantic relationships? Or allowed women into his ministry? Why is God in many cultures - though certainly not all - depicted as solely male, rather than both male and female and also neither of those?
Yoga isn’t actually about asana (or physical postures). Yoga is about divinity. It’s about connecting with the soul that according to the Vedas is divine. And, yoga - particularly the lineage I teach - is about recognizing the forms of both the masculine and the feminine within you. We do this through movement that isn’t linear or even fast or sweaty, but that prepares us for meditation and self-inquiry.
A lot of us think we already know the masculine, because it has been revered for centuries - the productivity, the achievements, the goals, the “doing.” We let our lives be run by even more toxic forms of the masculine - addiction to work, the material world, hierarchy (rather than order), how much we can cram into our days, power, prestige.
Most of us don’t know the feminine. Not yet. The creativity, the rest, the unconditional love, the spontaneity, the self-acceptance, the ferocity, the courage. This is what you’ll more often find in the work we do together. You’ll experience the places within you that allow yourself to take a deep breath. To surrender. To accept yourself, rather than trying to fix your brokenness. To witness the darker, uglier, riskier parts of yourself and to rise with clarity, strength, tenacity and beauty.
Just like the women in this story. Perhaps that is why I am so moved. Because this is a heroine’s journey. It’s also a realization that perhaps what we’ve been led to believe isn’t necessarily truth. I love unraveling these moments. Where we start to question - What IF there was more of the feminine in the world? What if it was honored in spirituality, religion, board rooms, medicine, offices and so on? It can be.
What do you think?
Jai Ma.
With love,
Leanne
P.S. If you’ve worked with me in the last 4-5 years, you know that I speak quite a bit about various forms of the Goddess. Durga, Inanna, Kali, Mary Magdalene, Mother Mary, Lakshmi, and so on. It’s not that we worship them (though some cultures do), but rather to understand the archetypes as different forms of divinity in the feminine forms.
For many, these stories help us to heal our own wounds as women in the world - our physical, emotional, and spiritual traumas. They will likely show up in some way in the Cultivating a Practice: 21 Day Yoga and Meditation journey. I hope you’ll join me for three weeks of meditation and movement practice (plus, we can connect live a few times!). Read more about it, and register before November 6 to also get the Nourish yoga practice library here. Please ask me any Q’s about the program, too.
Links:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/52698452-the-book-of-longings
https://uscatholic.org/articles/201601/desperately-seeking-sophia/