As eight SoulCollage Facilitators and I make preparations for
The Great Big Gathering of Goddesses Celebration of 2022, I am feeling led to share my own sweet journey toward the Divine Feminine.
I grew up in the fifties and early sixties, and our family was Roman Catholic. We went to church weekly until my Confirmation at age 13. By then, my two older brothers were grown and on their own, and my parents had various reasons for no longer attending. However, I went by myself! I was drawn to the liturgy, the ceremony, the music, the prayers, and to God.
As I grew up, and even into my late thirties, my concept of God was male-oriented. Patriarchal. Whatever you’d like to call it, that’s what it was. I am glad of it, though, and here is why:
My father was a warm, loving, living example of unconditional love. My mother, although she tried her best, was not. I had two big brothers, no sisters. I had positive and powerful relationships with male priests along my journey: Father Alagna, who sat with me several times in college as I wrestled with the tension between Catholic dogma and my own deeply personal journey with Jesus. Reverend Dunn (well, okay, he was only five years older than me, so I called him Donald!), whose passion for bringing Christ out into the world was contagious. Father Randy (He was my age, so I didn’t call him Father, either!) who acted as my spiritual director for several years.
I am so grateful for all of this positive male influence in my life because it fed and nurtured my soul in ways that were perfect for what I needed at the time.
It wasn’t until 1995 that I realized there was another way of looking at and experiencing God. That year, I came across the book, A God Who Looks Like Me, by Patricia Lynn Reilly. The subtitle was Discovering a Woman-Affirming Spirituality. My whole inner world changed, with the reading of this one book!
The following year, Dance of the Dissident Daughter found its way into my hands, and my spiritual journey took another turn. This book was written by Sue Monk Kidd, and I had previously read (and loved!) several of her books on Christian spirituality. This book, however, told of her “Journey from Christian Tradition to
the Sacred Feminine.” I devoured each page as I discovered that her words, her research and her personal story, was quenching a thirst that I hadn’t even known was a part of me.Ā
One sentence in particular rang truth throughout my whole body, mind and spirit:
To embrace Goddess is simply to discover the Divine in yourself as powerfully and vividly feminine.
I have been re-reading these books as I prepare to facilitate and moderate the Gathering of the Goddesses series, and I am touched all over again by the balance that these truths continue to bring to my own life and journey. It’s not like I discovered the feminine side of God and suddenly discarded the masculine. I still feel close to Father God, and now I hold the energy of Divine Mother as well. I still sometimes converse with Jesus in my inner meditations and I have delightful conversations with various feminine energies. I honor male priests/ministers and female priests/ministers. For me, the real revelation is not that Goddess replaces God, but rather that they complement and balance one another.
What is your experience of the divine feminine? How is She active in your life? Have you read either of the above two books? Please share your thoughts!
