I looked back, and I actually wrote about the Divine Masculine last year. With Father's Day coming up, my mind returns to this idea of not only the Divine Masculine, but how we relate to the idea of masculinity in our greater world and in our faith.
I think that we are starting to look at ideas like male and female in a different light, or more specifically in a broader spectrum. Many of the qualities that were typically associated with being 'masculine' are now being looked at as less then idea...and we are realizing they aren't really tied to masculinity at all. Things like strength, aggression, assertiveness...these are qualities that anyone can have and the lack of them doesn't make a person less masculine.
Things become a bit more convoluted when we consider the Divine Masculine though. The Divine Masculine is an archetype, it isn't a specific person, or deity. It is one half of the coin of Divinity, if you think about the sides as Masculine and Feminine as an archetypal duality. The thing is, that this two-sided-coin way of looking at the world is one that we are starting to outgrow. We realize that the world is more than just two sides, there is the edge, the rim, the interior and the 'not-coin' parts of the coin.
And yet, a lot of our practices still involve the twin ideas of Divine Masculine and Divine Feminine (even if you also work with other deity-forms and accept other expressions of gender), and I think this is because our dual-divinity is based on the creative principle...it is literally a divine reflection of our biological procreation process.
When we think about the Divine Masculine and Feminine, in a Pagan context, we are looking at the procreative powers of the natural world, the way that new things are made, and for most of nature this involves a male and a female. We see the Divine Masculine as the archetype of all the male's of all species and types, in all the world, and the same for the Divine Female. It is only through the two combined that creation (of new life) happens..for most of life on this planet.
But we don't always acknowledge this fact...that our concept of dual-divinity is based on this biological process. We try to link similar qualities to the physical act, so the Feminine is the vessel, the one that holds and nurtures life, while the male is the protector and the spark that ignites new life in the female. This is spirituality imitating nature, and it's all well and good until you really start to look.
There are lots of examples the break this mold, where the females are the hunters and protectors or where a couple-bonding doesn't occur, or where the males tend the babies/eggs. As with most things, I think we are conditioned to accept information that we are given, and not really think about it..but it is through looking with our own eyes, uncovering our own truths and really thinking about the deeper meanings, that we come to our own experiences of how things are and what things mean.
We acknowledge the fact that our deities are not biological beings and don't always follow the same rules as we humans do. And yet, we still want to humanize them in many ways, and the way we look at the Divine Masculine (and Feminine) illustrates this perfectly.
If you think, you can probably name off a handful of Gods who fit this very traditional role of Divine Masculine. They are the warriors, the fathers, the strong. But I bet you can also name off quite a few who are less traditionally 'masculine'. These are often the tricksters, the poets, the dreamers, the artists...and yet they are Gods and we accept them as such.
We see ourselves as reflections of the divine, that divinity lives in us. And it doesn't just match up Masculine to male and Feminine to female. We each hold both within us, and we can express either in any given moment.
Looking back to the myths and stories of the Gods, we can see how different traits are beneficial in different situations. If we are racing towards battle, with swords in hand, then being able to spin a compelling story with your words isn't that useful...but strength of arm and fierceness of spirit is. But after the battle, when you are telling the children what happened, so they can take your experience and learn and grow from it, then being able to craft a story that will be remembered and that captures the essence of the experience is much more needed than knowing how to swing your sword.
The Divine Masculine is a part of all that is, but we may not be seeing it clearly. Our understanding of the world is changing. The way we treat each other in society is changing. Right now, a lot is in flux. And it may be time to revisit our understanding of the Divine Masculine and Feminine. To look at how they manifest in our world and in our Selves, and to decide how we want to relate to them. If we are working with outdated expressions and understandings, then it may be time to look deeper, to question what we know and why we have accepted it as truth...and to figure out where we are going in the future.
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