The Gender Wars, Patriarchy and Matriarchy, and the Point We Keep Missing part 2

The reason people’s communications often go wrong is because they give a different meaning to every word and its understanding. Patriarchy, matriarchy, masculine, feminine... Some talk about the embodiment of these words without it being gender specific, while others make it very gender specific. My previous article spoke about these things in a very gender specific way, because that is usually easier to understand for most. But what do these terms truly mean at their core? I felt the need to elaborate on my previous article in a way that is not shaped by societal norms. The articles will seem to counteract one another, and that’s because they do. There is a big difference in the meaning society gives to patriarchy and matriarchy, and the metaphysical/esotheric meaning. Still, both articles hold truth and lead to the same thing! In a metaphysical sense we are talking about two fundamental polarities that drive the entire universe. In many teachings, the "Masculine" is described as the Active Principle/The Vector and it is the energy of Projection; in other words, it is the piercing arrow, the spark, and the drive. It is also linear, focused, and assertive in essence. You might want to think of it as in the force that pushes outward to define a shape, or to conquer a distance. It is often described as the solar energy. And what characteristics does solar energy have? It radiates, illuminates and penetrates. It is the "Seed" that seeks a place to land.

The "Feminine" is described as the Receptive Principle/The Vessel and it is the energy of Containment; it is the ocean, the womb, and the void. It is often described as passive and yet it is the powerful capacity to receive, transform, and nurture. We see it as cyclical, fluid, and intuitive. Think of it as the space where things are allowed to grow and evolve. It is often described as the lunar energy which characteristics are to reflect, pull the tides, and to hold the mystery. This is the "Soil" that nurtures and transforms the seed into a tree.

In that sense, when we talk about Patriarchy (and the dominance of the Vector), it means that the system is governed by structure, law and logic and it has drive... Drive to take action, to categorise, to give something a solid shape and it’s a system where directness overrides the need to flow. This is the Architect: everything is built on a blueprint, but in that sense it also means that everything that doesn’t fit the blueprint is discarded.

When we talk about Matriarchy (and the dominance of the Vessel), it means that the system is governed by connection, intuition and flow. The world becomes a web of relationships, where the process of becoming is more important than the final product. This is the Gardener: everything is organic and chaotic, but that also means that everything is driven by the needs of the collective and that everything that is singular gets erased.

Feminine and Masculine, Matriarchy and Patriarchy, Yin and Yang, Form and Force, Lungs and Breath, Water and Fire, Physical and Energetic,...etc The Masculine is "nothing" until he acts. The Feminine is "everything" until she is shaped. The beauty is that one cannot truly create without the other, they constantly intermingle, even in the creation of life. Both are protective in their own way: masculine protects by exclusion, feminine protects by inclusion. A law is feminine in essence, upholding said low is masculine at its core. Do I make sense to you? So when they are balanced, society will have creation and continuation. But when one becomes more important than the other, we get a very specific flavour of reality that will create a massive Shadow (as we are seeing in most of society today: the Shadow of Patriarchy)Contrary to what a lot of new-age teachers preach; the masculine is NOT to provide containment, but STRUCTURE, and to uphold! It is because of Patriarchy’s Shadow that men are now asked to get in touch with the Feminine and provide the containment for society, to heal as a whole. This is not the same! I, myself, didn’t understand this distinction until recently.

The thing is, that when we compare the physical to the metaphysical (spiritual/energetic/however you may call it), it seems like the roles are reversed at the surface and it can make things confusing. But...it’s an exchange!

We can’t have one without the other and to choose one over the other would be a major mistake. In the physical the Masculine builds a wall, much like the male DNA does by providing the building stone of the placenta, to protect and provides in its structure. This happens in a rather aggressive way, and the female DNA tempers and regulates this very precise action, she provides the building ground in which the structure can be built. Basically: the Feminine allows this in order to create life. She provides containment! In other words: the “act” of building the wall is masculine projection of Will. The feminine receives the wall, nurtures and allows it to exist. And that is true containment...   The baseline is that the soil (feminine) contains the seed (masculine), the interaction here is beautiful. Another way to put it is this: The Soul and its Spirit is both Feminine and Masculine. A soul ALWAYS has spirit in its essence (if it doesn’t fully retain Spirit, it means that the soul has been ripped apart through trauma and in that case, a soul retrieval must be done). The Soul without Will is feminine, the Spirit without anything to hold it is masculine. In the same way: energy is feminine and awareness is masculine. The Form of energy is, for example, a physical body. And the ACT of the Soul entering the body is masculine (it needs Spirit to do so). We could not exist without one or the other. The discussion of patriarchy vs matriarchy is ridiculous. We need Unity: balance between the two.

But for those that still want a comparisson between the two based purely on what they provide: A patriarchal society: highly on wanting efficiency, focussed on rapid expansion, massive on infrastructure. Can lead to burnout and sterility, and gets rid of anything that doesn’t fit the mold. Patriarchy means logic over intuition, hierarchy over network, extraction over cultivation. A matriarchal society: high on wanting stability, deep emotional intelligence, economical harmony. Can lead to stagnation, inability to make quick decisive moves, and can lack clear individual direction. Matriarchy means intuition over logic, network over hierarchy, cultivation over extraction. In my previous article I also discussed how this can go bad when tied to gender specific archetypes (which is usually also the case, we can embody some aspects more easily than others according to gender/sex). Both can focus on the individual and the community or collective in different ways. But we usually tie the individual to patriarchy and the community to matriarchy .The bottom line is this: a patriarchy is like an arrow and it’s great from getting from point A to B as fast as possible, but it destroys everything in its path if its force is not contained. A matriarchy is like a pool that’s great for sustaining life and keeping everything balanced, but it can become a stagnant pond without the Will to move forward.

When people fight about "which one is better," they're missing the point. An arrow with no target is just a piece of wood, and a pool with no inflow is just a puddle. Ultimately, the arrow needs a target, and the pool needs inflow; the Vector requires the Vessel, and the Vessel requires the Vector, for true creation and continuation. The only way a society actually functions without eating itself is by balancing both. And from another, practical point of view, tied to gender/sex: A woman’s mind often connects more fluidly to the unmanifest realm of potential (the feminine cosmic void). So she acts as the oracle or muse and catches the vision or idea from the ether that does not exist in the physical yet. Because the physical polarity is perceptive, she doesn’t always feel the biological drive to physically build it herself. Instead she does everything to be able to hold the space for its existence. A man’s body is physically projective and they excel at creating the structure. So when a woman communicates a vision, it acts as a spark to the man’s desire to conquer (in this case a project) and build. He executes the idea, drafts the blueprints, chops the wood and/or lays the bricks. After that, the woman is fulfilled and takes care to nurture what the man built and the man overlooks the finished project, protect it, and feel fulfilled also. Both can feel safe within this the structure built.

A woman wants a child, the man perceives (awareness sees purpose) and takes action, the woman receives and nurtures, a child is born. And that is how divine unity works... this is what society needs to continue on and thrive. To end this article: let me point out that we have both in each and every one of us, to have divine unity within is to be truly free. The talk of embracing only masculine or feminine and to be only this or that seems troubling to me, and yet a lot of spiritual teachers talk about practicing polarity in such a way. I guess that the easiest way to learn is to embody what's closest to your gender first and have a partner that embodies the other for divine unity in the family. But keep in mind that eventually we will need to find the balance within ourselves aswell. Something to think about for sure...