What is the Divine Feminine?

The Divine Feminine is synonymous with Yin in ancient Chinese philosophy of Yin and Yang, which is a concept of dualism that describes how seemingly opposing or contradictory forces are actually complementary, interrelated, and interdependent in the natural world, and how they give rise to each other as they interrelate to one another. Shiva and Shakti are tantric version of these forces.

The Divine Feminine (or Yin) is not exclusively associated with the female bodies or gender identity. Every physical being on the planet, including earth and nature itself, exhibits qualities of the divine feminine, including beings with male bodies or gender identities. This is why it is considered divine: it is omnipresent. This concept is also found in Jungian psychology in the animus (the unconscious masculine aspect of a female’s psyche) and the anima (the unconscious feminine aspect of a male’s psyche).

In this way, one should view the embodiment of polarity between masculine and feminine energies as a spectrum.

Concepts, qualities, and values associated with the Divine Feminine archetype encompass both creative and destructive forces:

• Unobstructed and unforced flow and movement
• Water and earth are the associated elements
• Intuition, emotion (both positive and negative in nature)
• Nurture, creation
• Surrender, release, receptiveness
• Magnetism and attraction
• Playfulness, creativity, going with the flow
• Big picture, abstract thought
• Subtlety
• Resting, passive
• “Right brain”

The Feminine Is Not A Gender Role

The understanding that the Divine Feminine is a part of everyone regardless of sex or gender identity, and is a fundamental force observed in all of nature debunks the concept of gender essentialism. It is important that spiritual practitioners and followers understand that the concept of the Divine Feminine does not reinforce gender identity or gender roles, but rather, renders them inconsequential.

A person of any sex may identify anywhere on the energetic spectrum between masculine and feminine at any given time, and will always exhibit qualities of both. As spiritual practitioners, the goal is to learn how to consciously embody any masculine or feminine qualities necessary to create a balanced and harmonious energy. This process is described in the occult concept of alchemy, and is depicted archetypally by various hermaphroditic deities.