Allow the true feminine within to emerge, merge, and more fully participate. This is not society’s idea of the feminine, neither the radical feminine nor the docile feminine, but the true essence of the feminine found in all creatures, man and woman, in all beings despite their political sides, and in all of nature as well. The true feminine is whole, accepting, in balance; a giver and receiver of love and nurturance, able to sustain all of life. Let the true feminine within, without ritual or decision, find its way naturally from deep within the self in a balanced, compassionate and loving manner. With the true feminine in place, all will be well. All will be well.
Once upon a time, in the Age of Chivalry, King Arthur pulled his mighty sword, Excalibur, from the stone, assuring his divine right to the throne. This was the age where the princess and queen were protected by the unrequited, unconsummated love of their devoted knights.
Jung discovered that this masculine warrior, who completely dedicates his life to serving his queen, is actually a living part of a woman’s psyche. This animus, as he termed it, is the masculine part of the inherent structure of a woman’s psyche. Typically, however, a woman encounters this inner character as an outer person, projected upon various boys and men in her life, who reflect, unbeknownst to her, her own inner masculine self.
The masculine in woman is reflected in the symbol of the sword. Aside from its protective function, it wields the ability to slice finely apart the nature of reality in the form of left brain thinking and consciousness: rationality, logic, and the power of discrimination in time and space. When a woman retains versus unknowingly disowns her animus via projection, she is in a position to develop and mature the power and ability of her inherent masculine, as well as her natural right brained feminine nature.
Recently, an eight-year-old girl named Saga pulled a 1500-year-old pre-Viking sword from Lake Vidostern in Sweden.* This saga symbolizes modern woman’s owning her own animus power, as she embodies her voice, tempers her emotions, and keeps possession of her clear thinking.
When I watched and listened to Dr. Ford give her testimony, I heard the voice of a young girl accompanied by the mature mind of an educated woman. Her knowledge of brain science was seamless, her articulation flawless. She knows what many a recapitulating woman knows about sexual abuse, the absolute facts of what happened.
Like many others, she held this truth in well-guarded secrecy for nearly a lifetime. But the traumatized girl-interrupted in her would never let her forget. Though she tried to barricade her way to safety with two sets of front doors she could not be insulated from the power of the truth.
It was to take the rising of her teenage abuser to the heights of the Supreme Court to break her silence. Her truth resonated for many, though many doubt the definiteness of her memory. Having spent the last 30 years treating many women and men abused decades earlier in their lives, I have had the benefit of witnessing the absolute clarity of visceral memory in recapitulation.
Trauma fragments the self as a means to remain viable. Oftentimes the entire experience is lost to memory for many years, until the adult self is sufficiently ready to face and process the experience. Dr. Ford never lost the memory, but her ability to react, to confront, and to speak her truth were frozen deeply in the body of her fifteen-year-old self. Dr. Ford’s testimony before the Senate melted her frozen-in-time reactions to the assault.
This was the true healing moment, the moment of self-unification and restored wholeness. The outcome of the hearing and confirmation process have no bearing on her healing. Speaking her truth out loud freed her voice. It matters not whether she is believed, she is healed. Though there may be more steps for her to take to complete her healing, she is no longer frozen in time, held in check by fear.
Our world finds itself divided, in deep polarization, with leadership modeling and fueling threatening and hurtful language and action, which certainly generates new ordeals for Dr. Ford, but nothing can erase the bridge she crossed in her deep personal healing.
Her testimony sheds great light on the ordeal of sexuality in adolescence as well. She has shed intimate light on the hidden truth of many a girl’s experience, blindsided by the uncontrolled sexual advance of pubescent boys and men. We are a race who, for all our technological genius, knows nothing of the most powerful energy in our animal selves, sexual energy. Yes, we must protect our boys, but the real truth is that boys need to be protected from being overpowered by their sexual nature, as it floods their immature egos in adolescence.
Sexual emergence, education, and regulation are simply downplayed, avoided, or underestimated in our thoroughly modern culture. This is the reason for mass sexual abuse in all cultures of the world. Dr. Ford has added to the recent mass sharing of the truths that most women have been too frightened to share. And though we may be entering a brief dark age that threatens every woman’s control over her own body, some young girl is preparing, right now, to take the human race forward, as Ms. Saga’s lifting of the sword portends.
The key for the rising feminine was modeled by Dr. Ford. Yes, the young girl still resides inside—we hear her voice—but her innocence is liberated and protected by her mature adult mind. She presents with clarity, innocence, and knowledge. She needn’t raise her voice; her calm demeanor resonates deeply with all who seek the truth.
In the end, it’s only the truth that matters. It’s the only way we can square with our spirit, the essence of real healing. Power can push it away, but power that ignores the truth is but a castle in the sand.
I look forward to the emergence of the steady feminine hand upon the sword, in both women and men. Watch carefully, and patiently. It is the real saga unfolding before us. I extend pure love to both Christine and Brett, integral parts of our evolving saga.
