Balance & Equality

by Mistress Pam

In the Spring Quarter 1995 issue of The Essemian Way, a quarterly publication from the Service of Mankind Church, I read an article by Lady Diane called "Female - Male Equality." The article stimulated my thinking on the subject, and the result of that thought process follows:

So much has been written and discussed about the concept of female supremacy and male/female equality. It seems to me that often the focus is more on the physical manifestation of the gender rather than the spiritual aspect of the feminine and masculine energy.

"In strictly humanist terms, men and women are equal. Individuals of both genders are blessed with varying degrees of intelligence, emotional sensitivity, and physical prowess; and, as such, should be granted the respect that these qualities merit."

I totally agree with this idea. There are varying degrees of ability in individuals, and varying strengths of the feminine and masculine energies.

"However, in a spiritual sense, women are superior - and here I don't mean superior in the human sense of being a better person, This is not a matter of who's better. It's a matter of spiritual dynamics."

This is where my beliefs digress from those of Lady Diane. I think that in a spiritual sense, the feminine energy of an individual is superior to the masculine energy. Superior meaning "higher than" not "better than." Now, in a physical sense, the masculine energy is FAR more powerful than the feminine energy. I believe the masculine energy encompasses the physical, instinctive, and logical aspects, and the feminine encompasses the emotional, intuitive, and spiritual aspects.

I think that the dynamics of feminine energy and masculine energy are present in all of us, regardless of gender... and the feminine energy... the sensitivity, the caring and nurturing side, the understanding side are a part of our feminine nature. The physical strength, , the logical thinking, the ability to maintain emotional detachment, are aspects of our masculine nature. Each has appropriate situations.

"When female primal energy shapes and guides male primal energy, the natural divine order ensues and we have harmony. When male energy is allowed to run rampant and unchecked - as has happened in the modern world - the natural balance is upset and chaos reigns."

If you look at this from the perspective that if we totally repress the feminine side of ourselves, or if we repress the masculine side of ourselves, we become ineffective. To achieve balance, we must manifest and honor both sides. In the "modern world," the feminine side has been viewed as "weak," as "sissy," as "ineffective," and the resulting standards have been unbalanced. We must get back to honoring both the masculine and the feminine energies.

"This does not mean that men cannot have power. Au contraire. Women desperately need powerful men who will dedicate that power to the service of mankind through the guiding hand of a woman who is wise enough to accept and use it as she is divinely led. I personally have always been enormously attracted to powerful men, for when they submit to me the energy is formidable."

Here, we step between the fantasy and ritual of female-dominant play and the reality of the blend of the feminine and masculine within each of us. In ritual or in play, I very much enjoy the dynamics of the energy exchange with a powerful submissive male. I like to relate to his physical, masculine energy as a counterbalance to my own spiritual, feminine energy. But I also like to relate my physical, masculine energy to his spiritual, feminine energy. In an ideal relationship the dynamic of balance - counterbalance between the masculine and feminine side of myself and my partner would expand the horizons of our lives.

In ritual, I enjoy the aspect of my feminine nature dominating and controlling the masculine nature of the person I'm relating to... an "acting out" of the Goddess requiring submission from the God. It's a re-enactment of Shakti dominating Shiva... a control for the enhancement of both. I enjoy the coessentiality of those kinds of rituals, because by the nature of the coessentiality, the masculine nature bends to my feminine nature from a place of choice and strength.

I think that in our society, the female requires a certain amount of submission from the male... requirements she can enforce using the power of her femaleness... That dynamic can be seen in the dating ritual in our culture. Though often, (TOO often), that power is taken from her when men repress their female energy and through physical strength force her to submit to them physically. Then, they think they have male superiority, but there is no balance, there is no harmony - and chaos DOES reign.