Is there a Feminine Face of God?
by Tabby Biddle
Have you ever questioned the image of God as male? For most of my life I never did.
Over the past year I started to wonder how always hearing “he” and “him” in reference to God creates the idea that some people, who are male, are more like God, and those who are “she” and “her” are less like God.
Now I know for some who are reading this you might want to stop right here or you are super skeptical of what I am saying. I get that. And others, you may be open to listening and maybe have had similar wonderings. So I will continue…
Recently I attended a slide show presentation about Goddess artifacts from around the world. The presentation was given by Karen Tate, author, speaker, scholar, and radio show host, who specializes in the awakening to the Divine Feminine, or as she terms it “the feminine face of God.” Karen has written a book, Sacred Places of Goddess: 108 Destinations, which takes both the armchair traveler and the get-up-and-go traveler around the world to learn about the ancient sites that carry the archaeological, mythological and spiritual history of the Goddess.
What I found so impactful from her presentation and her book is the breadth of Goddess artifacts around the world that give clear evidence to the longtime role of the Goddess before Judaism, Christianity, and Islam were established. In fact, it is evidenced that for nearly 30,000 years the Goddess represented the supreme deity.
For me, seeing these ancient goddess images and artifacts carries great meaning today.
Since many of us never question the image of God as a male (at least I didn't for most of my life), I wonder how this gender bias has influenced women’s self-image and status in the world. In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, Karen poses the question so well, “If you call God a ‘he’ and ‘him’ all the time, then how can women feel divinity inside themselves when they know they are not a he?”
And for me, I question, “Could both women and men be taking this message in on a subconscious level and creating a lower self-image for women and impression that female power can never be fully legitimate?” If this is the case, I believe there is a shift happening.
In the last blog I talked about traditional feminine values such as compassion, relationship, tenderness, and unconditional love coming to play a respected role on the world stage which some are attributing to the re-awakening of the Divine Feminine. I wanted to clarify that I am not suggesting that if all women were in power and men were out of power and leadership positions that this would be the solution to creating a greater world. This would, I believe, lop-side our world culture once again!
What I am actually suggesting is that as feminine values (or what have been traditionally known as feminine) are gaining respect and appreciation, women may be able to appreciate and respect themselves in greater depth and men may be able to appreciate the feminine aspects of themselves that may never have been honored. I believe that as we work toward more of a balance between the feminine and masculine, there may be a greater way to live that we have not seen yet.
Have you ever considered what life would look like with female and male power in balance?
Tabby Biddle is the founder of Lotus Blossom Style, a yoga lifestyle company on mission to empower women through the Goddess and support the blossoming of their potential. She lives in Santa Monica, CA. Learn more at lotusblossomstyle.com.