Sandra Roman
08/26/2021 6:00 AM
Clarín.com
Astrology
Updated 08/26/2021 6:00 AM
The patriarchal model that was imposed around the world approximately five thousand years ago eliminated women from leading roles, not only from those consciousness-forming stories but -and consequently- from life itself.
Heroes, warriors, princes, kings and wizards began to unfold a range of interesting adventures that
women were not allowed
, who became
passive princesses
waiting to be rescued, battered servants or old, evil and dangerous witches.
In the spiritual realm, the
ancient Goddess
, creator and sustainer of all existence, was replaced by a controlling and limiting male figure.
Then, the course of humanity all changed.
In these times of
feminine revolution
in all areas, it is very important to recover the
archetypes
that were suppressed and relegated, to rebuild ourselves from a new perspective, although based on the ancestral roots of feminine power.
And here the
goddesses
enter the scene
, re-emerging from the depths of our psyche so that we can manifest them in our daily lives.
In these times of female revolution in all areas, it is very important to recover the archetypes that were suppressed and relegated.
Photo illustration: Shutterstock.
Of oral traditions
The storyteller walked among the teepees, always chased by the little people of the tribe.
They anxiously waited for her to stop to twist her long hair into a bun on top of her head.
It was the signal that the telling of a good story was about to begin ...
In all cultures, the
oral story
was the way to convey the worldview of the clan.
Not only the moral was important, but the characters of the different characters, since they provided the fundamental elements for the construction of a personality, from the first years of growth.
Through them, the values that were appreciated for life in community were personified and the different roles that a person could choose to develop throughout his life were described.
Those characters were the archetypal models through which to perceive oneself.
Jungian psychiatrist and analyst
Jean Shinoda Bolen
lit the torch of a
new female psychology
- in a masterful way - based on the
archetypes of the Greek goddesses
.
However, the roles they represent are the stereotypical of this culture, since the Olympic pantheon marks the foundations on which the patriarchy of the West is based.
So the task in this new
wave of feminisms
would have to focus on exploring further back in time, reaching the origins of
the matristic legacy
in order to find ourselves again.
Jungian psychiatrist and analyst Jean Shinoda Bolen lit the torch of a new female psychology.
Photo illustration: Shutterstock.
A classic: the triple goddess
Cultures centered on a female divinity used to perceive her as a
triple entity
representing three major stages in a woman's life:
young, mother, and old
.
All three were reflected in the phases of the Moon: waxing, full and waning, plus the Black Moon, which marked the gap between death and rebirth.
As
a young woman
, she was a "maiden" or
"virgin"
, meaning virgin as the "unsupported unmarried woman."
The
mother
was, in reality, the woman in her childbearing years, in which the role of lover was also very important, but the two were not differentiated from each other.
The
old woman
or "crone", as she is called in English, represented the postmenopausal stage and was identified with the figure of the
witch
, but not in the malignant or pejorative sense with which she is associated today, but in that of the woman who by retaining the blood of life within her body, becomes
wise
and visionary.
As a young woman, she was a "maiden" or "virgin", meaning virgin as the "unsupported unmarried woman."
Photo illustration: Shutterstock.
Remnants of this triple goddess still survive in modern versions that distorted ancient fairy tales.
Aurora and Maleficent, Snow White
and Queen Brunhilde, show their aspects, although deliberately
dissociated
from each other and put to compete, instead of nurturing and empowering each other.
All women carry these archetypes in us and, although some of them are activated in the moments of passage between one age and another, we can manifest them to all beyond the phase of life we are going through.
The
inner girl
always accompanies us, there is no age to live passion and sexuality as lovers, we are mothers of our daughters and sons for life, as well as of our creations and we can act with vision and wisdom, no matter how young we are. we could be.
The queen, the "fifth" archetype
Some thinkers of the
new feminine spirituality
movement
, such as Donna Hennes, claim a fifth archetype that they call the "
queen
" and which is located before the "crone", taking into account that in these times life expectancy is much higher and that physical vitality has also spread.
In ancient times, you were “old” at a younger age, whereas today a woman is not considered to be an old woman simply because she has reached menopause.
On the contrary, this is a time of liberation and
reencounter with one's own sovereignty
, since many have retired from their usual jobs and it is no longer necessary to be aware of childcare.
Now you have all the time to be yourself and achieve the goals you want that may have been postponed at one time.
Initiators, warriors and savages
The
virgin goddess
carries in her body the blood that will be fertilized when her time of sexual maturity arrives.
She can be
creative and inspiring
as well as a self-reliant warrior.
She asks us to return to honor our
menstrual cycle
for the healing of our wounded self-esteem and the planet that needs to regain the leadership of the feminine energy.
This archetype, in South America, is equivalent to that of
"Ñusta" or "Princess"
and involves the innocence of childhood that welcomes the incarnation on this planet, without worrying about the future but for the simple joy of being alive. .
When she does not receive that care, she becomes the warrior adolescent who fights to defend her rights and those of those who need her.
He is not afraid of what might happen to him.
She is an
Amazon princess
and an archetype that we can invoke, when we need to establish our
limits
before others or defend our own ideas and projects.
She is
Brighid
in Ireland, assisted by 19 priestesses called "brigantes", who were also warriors, like the
Norse Valkyries
associated with Freya.
She is the
warrior Anahí
of the Guaraní and
María Lionza
, in Venezuela.
The invincible and untamed
Artemis
, the one who does not depend on anyone to be herself.
The faces of the goddess of love
The
goddess of love
was known by various names and has been worshiped by women and men all over the planet.
But we can safely say that it is the same divinity, despite the fact that the religions that put the male gods first tried to change and manipulate it at will.
The
Greek
Aphrodite
, similar to the
Venus
of the Romans, for example, can be considered a patriarchal version of the ancient
Asherah, Astarte, Ishtar or Inanna
, revered in the Middle East, or the
Rhiannon
of the ancient Celtic world.
"Candles, music, flowers and wine - the raw material of romance, sex and love - are also the raw material of religious rituals, of our most sacred rites", begins by saying
Riane Eisler
in the first chapter of her book
Sacred Pleasure .
He argues that this is not a mere coincidence, but the proof that for the first cultures that populated the earth, sexual relations were part of religion, and that
eroticism
does not constitute an "animal" feature of our nature but one of the qualities that distinguish us from other species.
The Greek Aphrodite, similar to the Venus of the Romans, for example, can be considered a patriarchal version of the ancient Asherah, Astarte, Ishtar or Inanna.
Photo: Shutterstock illustration.
Either because feelings ruled or because they starred in romances, these goddesses represent
a disturbing feminine power
. Patriarchs fear coming into contact with that power as much as succumbing to beauty and love. Perhaps because all three are made of the same substance, they were classified as "demonic" and accused of having brought evil to earth. Their stories were changed and from ladies they became victims.
Through the stories of
Blodeuwedd, Rhiannon, Freya, and Aquehua,
we can understand many of the blocks that prevent us from establishing
harmonious relationships
.
When men began to exercise power over other men and over women, many were sacrificed and punished for exercising their right to freedom.
Re-venerating the
goddess of love
would allow us to abandon the patriarchal association that unites
sex with violence
, pain and sin, to celebrate it as a gift made by the Divine not only to ensure the continuity of the human race but also to enjoy physically and spiritually the wonderful fact of giving and receiving pleasure.
Creative, nurturing and maternal
It is very important to rescue the idea of an
"archetypal mother"
to overcome our feeling of spiritual "orphanhood".
This is how our ancestors understood it, who left carvings and drawings of a pregnant Great Mother in the
caves
inhabited during the
Neolithic and Paleolithic
eras
.
In her “nurturing mother” aspect, we can identify her in the cereal goddesses such as
Ceres, Demeter, Ker, Etsanatlehi, Mama Zara and Tonantzin
, among others.
Women with these characteristics are not only givers of physical food, but also emotional and spiritual.
And they are also goddesses who have suffered from the
empty nest
syndrome
when their children grow up and therefore need to quickly connect with the Queen archetype, so as not to become a "terrible mother" who can even destroy herself.
The "terrible mother" archetype is easily recognizable in the goddesses
Kali
and
Medusa
, for example.
Both are creators and givers of life, but they also have the power to destroy it if their energies are not channeled correctly.
They are archetypes that can help us on the way back to our creative and nurturing power.
They can also give us a valuable clue about our own talents, buried behind tons of prejudices and false beliefs about ourselves.
The "terrible mother" archetype is easily recognizable in the goddesses Kali and Medusa.
Photo illustration: Shutterstock.
With the
sword of Kali
,
We can also cut the veil of illusion that prevents us from knowing ourselves in our true magnitude, while Medusa's gaze gives us a wise and powerful vision of our true destiny.
Other examples of this archetype are
Queen Omphale
, who bought Hercules to be her lover, and the
Celtic queens Maeve and Boadicea,
warriors and autonomous rulers.
We also find her as Lady Godiva, one of the surviving forms of the Goddess Rhiannon, who rode naked on her horse to demand that her husband, the king, lower taxes.
And above all,
Isis
, the great sovereign of the Nile, whose name, in one of its meanings, means "throne."
Isis, the great sovereign of the Nile, whose name, in one of its meanings, means "throne".
Photo illustration: Shutterstock.
Wise men, shamans and witches
Ladies of life and death, the goddesses that represent the Crone archetype are those who, after giving life and sustaining it, have the power to devour it.
An encounter with them always supposes a great transformation, the last great
“rite of passage”
: a death and a rebirth.
His multiple names were
Hecate
, in Thrace and later also in Greece;
Heket
, in Egypt;
Cerridwen or Keridwen
and
Sheela-Na-Gig
, in the British Isles;
Ereshkigal
, in Babylon;
Dhumavati
, in India; La
Llorona
, in Mexico; the
Celtic
Lady of the Lake
, in her double aspect as the maiden Nimue and the "hag" (old witch),
Lady of the Apples
and queen of the mythical Isle of Avalon, also known as the Triple Morgana.
All of them remind us of the old woman who offered the poisoned apple to Snow White and the
evil fairy
who predestined Sleeping Beauty to prick her finger with the spindle and wake up again after 100 years.
They are also the Baba Yaga that Vasalisa had to face to become wise and the old witch who confined Rapunzel at the top of the enchanted tower.
You always have to give them something.
Impossible to pass through them without pain or loss, as much as undoubted is the fact that by emerging from their dark world, we will do so fully mature, complete, and transformed.
She is also
Nu Kua
, the dragon goddess of China, who ordered chaos then creation and
Anna Perenna
, the Grandmother of Time.
We can recognize ourselves in each of these goddesses or archetypal women, in the role they played, in their suffering, in their wounds and losses.
They are a living symbol inside our unconscious.
Without knowing anything about them or their history, we can immediately identify ourselves through their images.
Because they reflect our deepest feelings and contain within themselves the knowledge of a very ancient wisdom.
By Sandra Román, journalist, feminist, writer and speaker. She is a researcher dedicated to the study of the archetypes of the new feminine spirituality. She is the author of the books The Faces of the Goddess, From Avalon to the Southern Cross, The Blessing of the Grail and creator of the oracle Diosas en tu Vida Cotidiana.
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