My Spiritual Journey with the Divine Feminine
Tabby Biddle is the bestselling author of Find Your Voice: A Woman's Call to Action, the co-founder of 50 Women Can Change the World in Media & Entertainment, and an internationally recognized women's leadership coach, career coach, educator and group facilitator.
Recently, I was interviewed by the artist, writer and mystic Karen Kinney about my spiritual journey with the Divine Feminine. Karen is the creator of the “Divine Feminine Newsletter,” which highlights women’s experiences of the Divine Feminine via their spiritual writings and wisdom.
The newsletter is both a portal for supporting voices of feminine wisdom on the planet as well as research for her third book, a compilation of women’s spiritual journeys from a feminist point of view.
The following is an excerpt from Karen’s newsletter, which leads into our interview. Please enjoy!
Hello dear ones,
As we begin this new year, in what ways might you be called to expand in the world?
We assist the rise of the Divine Feminine when we are willing to step into our largeness. We each have greater capacity within, asking to be birthed for this particular time and place. But expansion requires that we place greater faith in our inner knowing.
Patriarchal religions and structures perpetuate a model of outer authority ~ usually top down and male driven. But a key component of a feminine spiritual path is trusting our inner knowledge and allowing it to take precedence over any outer directive questioning what we know in our innermost parts.
Below you'll find a few of my reflections on inner authority, followed by a poem by Maria de Los Angeles, a gifted writer, sharing her embodied experience of trusting her inner knowing in the midst of stepping into expansion, and finally an interview with Tabby Biddle, a dear friend and phenomenal women's empowerment coach, in which she shares about her spiritual journey with the Divine Feminine.
Wishing you all an expanded and courageous new year!
Interview with Tabby Biddle
Karen: Tell us a little about your spiritual background. When was your first encounter with the Divine and what was it like?
Tabby: My family lineage is connected to the Quaker tradition on my dad's side and Catholicism on my mom's side. I, however, grew up in a non-religious household. At age six or seven, I asked my mom if we could go to church. I wanted to know what we were missing out on since many of my school friends went to church. She agreed to take me and my two older brothers, but insisted that we would not go to a Catholic Church (I think she'd had enough of them). She instead took us to an Episcopal one. I remember enjoying the spiritual feeling inside the church, as well as the music. However, after about four weeks, my mom stopped taking us. She said my brothers weren't very interested, my dad not at all, and that it was too much for her to get all three kids dressed up every Sunday on her own. She'd rather be gardening.
By high school, I was back in a religious setting at an Episcopal boarding school outside of Boston. I always felt deeply connected to the Divine when I was singing in the chapel choir.
After college when I moved to Washington, D.C., I began a regular Sunday ritual of attending a Quaker Meeting House. I had heard about how Quakers sit quietly for 20 minutes in contemplation, and then after 20 minutes if the Spirit moved you to speak, you stood up to speak. This sounded interesting to me. I believe this is where I first started practicing meditation.
Several years later, inspired by an intuitive calling, I left Western religion behind and spent nine months backpacking throughout Southeast Asia and Nepal, and then spent the following year in India. On these travels, I was initiated into yoga and meditation at a deep level. I dropped deeper and deeper into my intuitive knowing and was introduced to Hindu and Tibetan goddesses and the Feminine. I experienced the Divine as a transpersonal energy through my meditations, and also came to know myself as an embodiment of the Divine through my yoga practice.
Karen: In what ways have you experienced the Goddess in your life?
Tabby: The Goddess came to me in a big way shortly after I moved to Santa Monica, California in 2006. I had been studying yoga for years, and more recently Tibetan Buddhism. I had a thangka (cloth wall hanging) of the Tibetan goddess Tara hanging above my bed. I hadn't thought much about the effect this might have, aside from the fact that I loved it and felt very safe having it above me as I slept.
One morning after waking, I was getting ready to slip on one of my favorite tank tops. I paused, looking at the peace symbol on the tank with the words underneath "Don't Fight," and thought to myself, "There should be more clothing companies that put forth this message." Then I heard an internal voice say, "You should do it. It should be you." I was a yoga teacher and a school teacher, not a fashion designer or entrepreneur! But the message came through strongly, and I listened to it.
The next day, I heard, "In order to have peace in our world, we must balance the masculine and feminine within ourselves. Put the Goddess on t-shirts to help bring her out of the ashrams and temples, and into the mainstream. Help women remember that they are goddesses." Green Tara was the first goddess to appear on the shirts. Then Lakshmi. Then White Tara. Then Saraswati.
Today, the Goddess comes through to me very strongly from the ethers, from inside of my body, and through music.
Karen: As a woman, how have you experienced the cultural norm of a patriarchal God figure?
Tabby: My whole life was based on a patriarchal God figure until the age of 26. I grew up as the youngest child and only girl in a family of two older brothers and a strong lineage of male leaders in American history. I always compared myself to the boys and saw men and boys as the "norm," of which I was an outsider. I flip-flopped between the feeling of "never being enough" and "being too much." For many years, I saw my value as related to men and boys ~ including being liked by boys and seeking the respect of male teachers, mentors and colleagues. I think this worked for a certain while, until it didn't.
At age 26, I was at the top of my game as a young, professional woman working at the National Geographic Society, with friends and fun all around me, seemingly happy, but something deep inside me was speaking out ~ even yelling ~ telling me that if I didn't get out, I would soon be imprisoned. I listened. Thankfully. That's when I left for Nepal, India and Southeast Asia and was introduced to Eastern religion and philosophy.
Karen: What rituals make your spiritual practice meaningful?
Tabby: My morning practice is integral to who I am. I practice yoga, meditation, chanting, prayer and, on occasion, use my Goddess Oracle cards when I feel I need some extra guidance. My practice is what connects me to Source on a daily basis. The rituals are meaningful to me because they are all feminine-based. I feel grateful to have found my way to them.
Karen: What does a feminine spiritual path look like for you? And how does it differ from a masculine one?
Tabby: A feminine spiritual path is more body-based than a masculine one. It's about honoring and celebrating your body and the wisdom within. It's not about transcending your body, and certainly not about shaming the feminine body.
A feminine spiritual practice honors beauty, pleasure, abundance and prosperity. A masculine one, as far as I know, is about denying a female's pleasure, denigrating her body, and shaming her for being a woman. A masculine spiritual path puts women in a secondary position. A feminine spiritual path sees women as goddesses, and sees the Goddess as the primordial force in the world. She is the Creatix. The Cosmic Mother. The Cosmic Womb.
Karen: Has your spiritual path given you a sense of feeling empowered as a woman? If so, how have you experienced this?
Tabby: Yes, most definitely! Ever since I awakened to the feminine spiritual path, I have seen myself as a Creatrix. I have seen myself as central in my authority. I have seen it as my right and my duty to speak my truth, share my wisdom, and show up as a spiritual channeler and healer for women. It wasn't until I began my feminine spiritual path that I truly found my voice. I feel empowered to speak what I know and to support other women to do the same. I also feel that my feminine spiritual path has connected me to women at a deeper level than before. I feel a deep sense of sisterhood and the support that comes along with it. That is most certainly empowering.
Interested in learning more about Karen Kinney’s quarterly Divine Feminine newsletter? Subscribe here.