The True Wounded Feminine:

Sister Oak & Sister Ivy, commonly known as “poison oak” & “poison ivy”, both are plants found primarily in places on the earth where the land has been disturbed. CO2 feeds these plants and can drastically change their chemical balance. For example, since 1960, the levels of urashiol (the toxin found oak & ivy that can cause an allergic reaction, dermatitis on the human skin) have DOUBLED due to an increase in CO2 in the atmosphere. Interestingly enough, this correlates to the time period when the beloved term “hysteria” came out in reference to house wives “going crazy” because they felt powerless to their circumstances. The planet as a whole is suffering from humanity’s chemical imbalance.

In case you are unaware of how an increase in CO2 like this can happen please read the following…

The natural land and vegetation, along with the ocean release high amounts of CO2 since the earth was born. It has always been able to re-use it’s CO2 emissions creating a cycle that is healthy for the earth to survive. However, since the industrial revolution, mankind* started introducing CO2 from outside the earth’s natural Carbon cycle. According to GPWayne “our output of 29 gigatons of CO2 is tiny compared to the 750 gigatons moving through the carbon cycle each year, it adds up because the land and ocean cannot absorb all of the extra CO2. About 40% of this additional CO2 is absorbed. The rest remains in the atmosphere, and as a consequence, atmospheric CO2 is at its highest level in 15 to 20 million years (Tripati 2009).” So, while the yearly CO2 emissions from fossil fuels seems minimal, the earth cannot re-cycle all of the CO2 thus over time this drastically upsets the Carbon Cycle causing effects like global warming, increased amount of oak & ivy plants that contained increased levels of urashiol.

I see this as a direct mirror to archetypes like the goddesses Lilith & Sedna. Both of these goddess’s stories are tragic and heart breaking in which they both were betrayed by their masculine counter parts. These are archetypes that fully exist within society today. As well as, within each of us as individuals.

Just as the planet is a mirror for the archetypes of society, it’s all a mirror to our own individual souls, to the characters that we have manifested in our lives & to the characters that we, ourselves have played out in our lives.

This doesn’t have to be a war against our brothers or our fathers. This is the feminine being fierce in her own protectiveness. The job that we should be doing for her! She’s being fierce because we haven’t been listening. We haven’t been honoring her. We haven’t been holding space for her. We haven’t been respecting her boundaries.

In what ways have you not respected your own boundaries? Or someone else’s? I implore you to find the ways in which you have been the perpetrator, not just the victim to these imbalances. Because it is in accepting the wholeness of who we really are that we find healing, balance, grace, understanding. If we do not want to be destroyed by the effects of what has already been done, then we must dig deep within ourselves before we point the finger at one another. We must find the peace and harmony within so that we may create it with out.

If you resonate with carrying this wound, I encourage you to make space for it in your life. Find a way to listen compassionately to its’ needs.

*Mankind – this word’s etymology describes only one gender, “man” that most of us have agreed to mean “humanity” as a species. Where are words like these born from? Can we blame the male gender of our species? Possibly, but that’s far too easy of an out. It is the ego coming through the male gender wanting to pridefully galavant around making sure everyone knows it’s important. In fact, it feels like it would DIE if we forgot about how important it is. And, what does that bring us to, if not “ego-death”. The awe inspiring, late Terrance McKenna says “Ego is a structure that is erected by a neurotic individual who is a member of a neurotic culture against the facts of the matter. And culture, which we put on like an overcoat, is the collectivized consensus about what sort of neurotic behaviors are acceptable.”

The ego has had it’s time, now the fierce feminine is having hers. To find balance outside, we must learn to live inside with the two side by side, giving them both a place to exist, to be seen, to be heard. We must be the loving parent we might not have had. We must be strong in our acceptance of the wholeness of who we really are.