"The world in the past has been ruled by force, and man has dominated over woman by reason of his more forceful and aggressive qualities both of body and mind. But the balance is already shifting; force is losing its dominance, and mental alertness, intuition, and the spiritual qualities of love and service, in which woman is strong, are gaining ascendancy. Hence the new age will be less masculine and more permeated with the feminine ideals, or, to speak more exactly, will be an age in which the masculine and feminine elements of civilization will be more evenly balanced." – Abdu’l-Baha, quoted by J. E. Esselmont in Baha’u’llah and the New Era, p. 149.
Painting by Android Jones
Every being has feminine and masculine energy. The most straightforward way to understand these energies is to look at the biological hormone cycle of the female and the male. A female has an approximate 28 day biological hormone cycle. This is known as a infradian rhythm (monthly; lunar). A male has a 24-hour cycle. This is known as a circadian rhythm (daily; solar). Despite the sex-based biological hormone cycle, you are attuned to the frequencies of both these cycles. This is why a female, who has a cycle every month (marked by her menstruation) also feels the circadian rhythms of the sun in her sleep schedule. And though males don't have a visible physical marker like woman do to mark their connection with the lunar infradian rhythm, they too feel the lunar cycle on a subtle level.
The circadian rhythm, ruled by the sun, also determines the two masculine signs, fire and air. The infradian rhythm, marked by moon, also determines the two feminine signs, earth and water.
This makes sense. As the moon controls the forces of the tides (aka: water) and the majority of earth is water. We also refer to the earth as "mother earth" or "mother nature."
Qualities of masculine energy may be assertiveness, directness, and speed. (I visualize the daily presence of the sun here or the winds/fire of a forest fire.) Useful and necessary, at times.
Qualities of feminine energy may be intuition, compassion and patience. (I visualize the shifting of the tides and the changing of the seasons.) These qualities are gaining ascendancy in relationships, business organizations, and human nature in general.
This is marking the balance in society of feminine and masculine energy in each and every being, regardless of sex and gender. This shift will mark the healing of a number of imbalances on both a micro level (in the body) and a macro level (in society).
While on a biological level, females and males hold differences that influence their roles in procreation and early child-rearing, on a spiritual level, women, men, and all genders can access their masculine or feminine energy in every situation they find themself. Bringing a blend of assertiveness and directness (masculine) with intuition and compassionate patience (feminine) is a sure recipe for harmony with self, partner, family and community.
Reflection Questions:
If you are male identified, how does it feel to cultivate your feminine capacities like intuition and compassion? If you are female identified, how does it feel to cultivate your masculine capacities like assertiveness or directness?
Do you notice yourself identifying more with one or the other of these?
What were you taught the definition of feminine or masculine to be?
Do you have a bias that any of these is favorable to the other? Why?
Which of these qualities/attributes do you feel called to work on and where can you do so in your life?
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