THE DIVINE FEMININE

In our world today, sadly, religions have become the cause of division and hatred. They are the root cause of oppression and create intolerance. Many of them espouse peace and tolerance as a core tenet of faith, but sadly the more radical teachings and interpretations of their creeds feeds into hatred and fear.

It is also evident that many religions espouse a male image of the divine, effectively excluding women from seeing themselves as individuals who can aspire to becoming a perfect being. Men are those who are in the image of the divine. Patriarchal religions ensure that women are relegated to lesser roles or in extreme circumstances are seen as less than men. Women are chattels to be used and discarded, controlled and blamed for any affront to the divine, or to their families honour.

While I tend to espouse the view that the divine has no gender, I feel that representations of the divine are powerful in shaping how we view one another, and in shifting the control of religion to a more equitable and hopefully less fanatical reality.

It is time for open discussion into the very real impact of imaging the divine as male and the effect it has had on our lives, our societies and our world. It is time to redress the balance, and remove the stranglehold that men have on our spiritual lives in the guise of organised religions.

Perhaps, in some small way this initial post exploring how we visualise ‘the divine’ will open some eyes and move us closer to the realisation that if we were created by a divine force, we are all equal and cherished by that divinity. Let us tear down the walls that have been built and come together to truly open ourselves to show love and tolerance of one another and reduce hatred and fear.

If you are interested in reading more about the Divine Feminine pop over to my Truth of the Divine Feminine FB page. You may wonder why I write about this topic? It is something close to my heart, and it inspires me to strive, through my art, to generate discussions and raise awareness of the need for change.