When we talk about the feminine and masculine, it is important to first differentiate the feminine and masculine energetic signatures from the physical gender of male and female. It is not always true that people who are predominant in feminine energy will be female in physical gender, nor masculine in male gender. The material and the immaterial aspects are integral, intertwined parts of being human, but as the old saying goes, “you can’t judge a book by its cover”. Observed outward physical appearance is no substitute for felt internal state.

As indicated above, we all hold both masculine and feminine energies; we are both physical and metaphysical beings. We are not one or the other. We can be predominantly one and align and identify with either feminine or masculine most strongly, and we can hold a ‘role’ to bring the strength of the feminine or masculine into the pattern of the physical world. We can be engaged in our masculine energy when we are predominantly feminine, and vice versa. We both act in the material world, and in the energetic, metaphysical world. It’s just that our perception is dominated by one way of knowing and perceiving and conceiving ourselves, the masculine, while the feminine is less recognised and less conscious. So let’s see if we can make it a little more conscious.

Understanding of energetic principles is a matter of feeling rather than rationale, however for the sake of articulation, there are a few distinctions I find helpful.

A key distinction is material versus energetic. The masculine is aligned with the physical, and the feminine with the energetic or metaphysical. Or we can use different terms, such as the seen and the unseen, the tangible and the ethereal, the practical and the magical. The masculine is currently most prominent. It is affiliated with what we can see and touch and experience in a shared way with others. We can agree on what is ‘real’ when it comes to this aspect. It is easy to connect to. The feminine is deep, internal and experiential, and may even be below conscious awareness.

In the material world, we can think of the masculine representing the state of doing, and the feminine of representing a state of being. Active, protective, supportive, productive masculine, and flowing, subtle, nurturing, holding feminine. Here we can see the reflection of what was stated in the introduction – we must all hold both feminine and masculine energies for we both do and be all the time. We cannot do if we don’t first be, and we cannot be in the material world if we do not also do to support our being.

Knowledge in the masculine comes through external channels of learning, and involves logic, reasoning, and research. It is associated with rational left brain thinking. Knowledge in the feminine comes through internal channels, and involves reflection and contemplation on feeling truth that lies deep within the energetic system. It is associated with intuitive and creative right brain thinking. Feminine knowing can be harder to grasp, especially when we are routinely and repeatedly trained in masculine ways of knowing. It doesn’t have a rational structure it can easily fit into. We might best express it through artistic modes of communication rather than the rational masculine channels of language, such as what I am currently using.

The masculine is anchored in the ego self, the conscious self construct, being the aspect of the Self that is most closely aligned with material reality, and formed through early contact with material reality. The feminine is anchored in the unconscious, which includes the soul and all the hidden mysteries of the Self. Our distortions in our self-concept, our ego, are learned through external masculine channels and then absorbed into our feminine space, interfering with our clear sense of self. It becomes like part of our deeper knowing but it is an out-of-place aspect and never fits, creating a disturbance. Distortions are more connected to our masculine ego than our feminine Soul, and yet intertwined. When we do internal Soul work, or have a transcendent experience that connects directly to the Soul, we irritate these distortions and this causes painful confrontations with them. This can be a Dark Night of the Soul or Ego Death experience in which we reconcile these distortions and allow more of the true Self to reflect through in the ego.

The masculine is action and power in the material while the feminine is action and power in the energetic. Or to put it another way, the masculine creates in the material (physical labour), and the feminine transmutes in the energetic (energetic labour). Energetic labour and physical labour are both as taxing as each other, yet because only one is able to be witnessed, and in the traditionally dominant worldview only one is even recognised, the unseen labour is commonly dismissed as not existing at all. The tiredness, unfortunately, is real.

At an esoteric level, the feminine is the container, or rather the space of the container, and the masculine is what can exist in that space. Using a physical metaphor, an empty room is the feminine, and what is built or placed in the room, the furniture for example, is the masculine. Internally, the feminine is the internal space in which all that can be conceived or experienced internally is held and known. The masculine is the thoughts and rationalisations that fill the space, the ‘objects’ of our conscious awareness. In dreaming, the feminine and masculine can dance together to conceive new things; a blend of fantasy and reality.

Knowing and feeling the signatures of the feminine and masculine, as energies, is through the feminine ways of knowing; of feeling into the internal energetic systems, through intuition and creativity. This has become an uncommon way of knowing, due to long suppression and derision of the feminine essence, and our world and all that share it are poorer for that. We are living through times of great change, and the feminine energies are rising, repairing, and returning to their natural prominence.

If you want to be part of the rising feminine energies, here are some tips. Where you can, make time to slow down. Spend time in nature or in meditation, engage in mindfulness practices that focus on the breath, or the heart space, or that ground you in your bodily sensations. Engage in art, whether creating or experiencing. Consider how you feel in response to the engagement. Spend time alone in solitude and quiet without distraction where you can hear what lies beneath the noise of the everyday. Any practice that encourages feeling, and reflection and contemplation on the sensations of feeling, will connect you to your being rather than your doing self, and help you to know and expand your feminine aspect.

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