Hello again,
Recently I published a post about having a dysfunctional parent and described the hurt I felt growing up (and sometimes currently).
Often when I write something personal or tell others, I receive a solution in the following days.
This one came from a book I owned, as I received an intuitive hit to re-read it more closely a second time.
It's called The Goddess, Mythological Images of the Feminine by Christine Downing.
I have studied and discovered various layers and contours of archetypes in myself for 15 years.
The most influential books for me are Jean Bolen's, Goddesses in Everywoman, Gods in Everyman, and Goddesses in Older Woman (my favorite, and this can apply to old-soul younger women).
These books provide both and an intellectual and spiritual treasure trove for women who are seeking more self-understanding and depth in their lives.
I'll talk briefly about the Bolen books before I get to the healing archetype I came across in Downing's book - one that has deeply changed my perspective.
Understanding Feminine Archetypes
The Jean Bolen trilogy provides an intrinsic foundational understanding of the rich and complex influence of archetypes in our lives.
Bolen's pantheon includes mostly Greek Gods and Goddesses, and her books serve as powerful healing tools that provide both a revelatory and deeply empowering view of the nuances and complexity of the feminine (and masculine).
Of course, all humans possess both feminine and masculine traits, so the terms "feminine" and "masculine" are used for descriptive purposes but are not limited to one gender.
Without going too much into the breadth and depth of Bolen's rich archetypal material, I will touch on a few of the main Goddesses so I can then explain why Downing's material affected me so deeply.
Greek Goddess Archetypes
There are several Goddess archetypes no longer readily found in Western culture. Hestia is one of them, and she is the Greek Goddess of the hearth who represents living from one's center.
Persephone represents someone who is very comfortable in the underworld, the world of images, dreams, impressions and intuition. She can also be an empath or have mild or strong psychic abilities.
Sophia (a non-Greek Goddess) is the active archetype in someone who is naturally receptive to mysticism who has intuitive revelations about self or others.
Sensitivity and Depth
Learning about these archetypes gave me a powerful validation of my sensitivity, depth and intuition, when most of my life I've been told I'm too quiet and "not enough."
I now strongly disagree, I say with amusement.
You may read some of Bolen's works and learn that, archetypally, you are actually "more than."
I don't mean that in an arrogant way, it's just that some folks may not be able to relate to your depth, sensitivity, and insight - those are the circumstances where I'm quiet, actually.
At this point, I accept that when I'm around folks who "don't get me" it's ok for me to be quieter than I normally would around kindred souls.
I just don't see a need to reveal myself to non-sensitives, when I probably won't be understood anyway.
This is said without resentment or the desperation I used to have to be seen by these folks.
But, on to my main point.
A Missing Puzzle Piece
For years I lavished in the study of feminine archetypes (I'm an INFJ, so an interest in Jungian depth psychology comes naturally). I've read and journaled about the content of many books about archetypes.
However, no matter how deep I went, learned about myself, or came to have a reverence for the rich capacities of the feminine, something was missing.
There was still a felt vacuity in my knowledge-base, a missing piece of the puzzle, and a vague hurt. I was feeling this when I wrote my last post about my absent mother.
Until I picked up the Downing book...
The Earth Mother Archetype
Christine Downing talks about an archetype that is the mother of all feminine archetypes, the ontological ground, or progenitor of these many facets of femininity.
Downing calls her Gaia, the great mother, specifically a transpersonal, pre-human force, an archetype that lives within us all.
Gaia is a facet that is usually found later in life, after much introspection, and she comes into play as a result of having lived deeply and well (including working through our pain), but still finding something is missing.
She is the Earth Mother, the Center, but even more so than Demeter, the consummate (although sometimes clinging) mother archetype.
Gaia has more of a primal, transpersonal grounded center than Hestia, the quiet and naturally Zen woman.
Primordial Force
Most folks have some sort of Higher Power they turn to, but Gaia is an archetype, a primordial force that is primarily "of the earth".
An ancient statue depicts Gaia emerging from the earth, as her many feminine facets constellate out of her primal "allness" into various Goddess archetypes.
She's a force not in terms of dominance or willfulness, but in terms of healing transformation.
The inherent sense of self-worth that Gaia provides affords us a secure base from which we can more easily let go.
When we give up the various flawed and more human Goddesses to Gaia, their primordial mother, their possible defects of character come into balance more easily.
Athena's drive for power can transmute more easily into an authentic, generative creativity.
Aphrodite's relationship-destabilizing potential (by possibly leading with her sexuality in an imbalanced way) can become a healthy, sensuality-based, relationality.
Persephone's sometimes excruciating vulnerability can transform into a wisdom-based potential to serve as a guide for others.
Artemis's righteous anger at social ills may ground itself into centered action for service to world and community.
A Sophia woman's mysticism is enriched and deepened.
Or perhaps...when we transform and heal our Goddess archetypes into their positive poles, Gaia is more likely to reveal herself to deepen the healing.
Releasing to Gaia
When we metaphorically give up, or release, our biological mother to Gaia, we realize we are all bit players in the human continuum.
We are all unmothered until we find Gaia, we are all in the same boat.
Those of us closer to the Great Mother's capacity for rootedness and generativity (having worked on ourselves consciously and/or intuitively) tend to be more authentic and emotionally healthy.
Those who are unlucky enough to have a lack of understanding about how to access this powerful grounding force (or some semblance thereof) lean more towards dysfunction.
There is an enormous amount of self-esteem and self-awareness to be gleaned from Goddess femininity.
Homecoming
Gaia is a primordial, transhuman, pre-personal archetype that is is available to us, from within us.
Her roots are pre-Hellenic, and her mythological inception is pre-Kronos. She is an ever-present source of groundedness and connection, and a reminder of our deep worth.
Being grounded in her primal, rooted, "is-ness" teaches us the gist of the saying, "We are so much more than our worst mistakes, and even more than our greatest accomplishments."
There is no need for proving in her domain, no need for overcompensation.
She is a lost archetype, but those who eventually find her (one way or another) may also find a depth of peace.
Not a blissful Nirvana-in-the-sky state, but the experience of the absorption or transformation of grief and suffering into a reverent and deep sense of acceptance and worth of our feminine being.
Grief, resentment, hurt, aloneness are softened, and compassion comes in, for we are all in search of our "homecoming."
Those who find Gaia within - and she is available to us all - may find some semblance of peace at last.
Not a pure serenity, but a wizened and deep appreciation for the suffering of humanity due to the separateness from a whole-ing and healing, primordial grounded center.
A Votre Sante (Here's to your health),
Alix
