The path of the Sacred Feminine is a journey for women to explore and understand themselves. Femininity has many aspects to it, from our societal roles and identities to our sexuality and healing.
Spirituality Women’s’ spiritual is about embodiment of the spirit. In Taoism the body is yin, or feminine. All aspects of the physical realm, such as the body, health, sensuality and childbirth, are all aspects relevant to our femininity. Many world spiritual paths are very masculine in their approach, such as pure meditation. Although we need to develop our meditation skills, this is best combined with physical practices such as qigong, yoga, massage, healing and dance.
Healing Our reproductive organs are extremely complex, after all they have the capacity to develop and bear a human life! This complexity also means that there are many forms of health problem women can develop. In Taoism we say that the female sexuality is like water and the male energy like fire. Thus male sexual energy is faster to flare up and often they can feel the heat of their sexual desire. However, for women it can be possible for us to ignore our sexual energy, in which case our chi stops moving and becomes like stagnant water. This stagnant chi is the root cause of many diseases in Taoist Medicine.
In addition, Taoists say that the sexual organs are the place where subconscious pain is stored. Thus our healing journey is a journey of “reclaiming the shadow”; finding the parts of our self we have rejected and thus energetically pushed “down there”. Therefore, in addition to using healing aids such as herbs, diet, moxa and massage, our healing is also a journey within.
Sexuality Many women are taught to give away their sexual power: thus their sexuality is a reflection of the man they are with. In such cases, without a partner the women may not even connect to her sexuality (and thus develops stagnant chi). Our sexuality is a gift; it is our creativity; it is our radiance, vitality and wellbeing.
The Taoist Sexual Practices have been used in China since ancient times as a way for men and women to tap into their sexual energy. This enables us to understand our sexuality better, to heal our sexual organs, to raise energy. Raising energy means drawing the orgasmic chi up into the body instead of discharging it back to the Earth. This enables us to draw it from the root chakra to the crown, thus connecting sex and spirit. The practice also gives us ways to increase our vitality. If we choose to share with a partner, we discover ways of connecting in unity consciousness with our lover.
