As is said in an ancient text, “The One divides in order to reunite,” the division of the One Divine Power or Being creates the opportunity for reuniting in a complimentary relationship, on many levels and in many ways. These creative possibilities for uniting are what makes life interesting and enjoyable. The One Being divided in order to reunite -- suggests that the very purpose of dividing into multiplicity and differences in being was for the experience of reuniting. In other words, if there was no division and multiplicity of the One Being, then there would never be any opportunity and experience for reuniting. Realize that this experience of reuniting is the great Enjoyment.
The One divides in order to reunite, which means that the essential life consciousness divides or polarises its power and its embodiment, so that The One might experience and enjoy the complimentation and harmonious rhythm between the intercoursing polarities. The One Being, Whom we all are in essence, wishes to experience and enjoy each of the polarised qualities of expression in their distinct separateness and uniqueness, and The One also wishes to experience and enjoy the uniting of this polarisation, the experienced reunion of One Being, One Power, One Love.
Every power or quality has its natural opposite, and these are not necessarilly opposing but are potentially complimentary. So, one of the aims of the spiritual path is to transform opposition into complimentation, harmonious rhythm and joyful intercourse.
Every
power has its natural opposite, and a greater power, on a higher
level, is realised or expressed when these opposite powers harmonise
in rhythm together, when they compliment each other in expression.
Life as it is is based on such divisioning and complimenting of
various spiritual powers or qualities. All life and all activity has
at its core source certain of these fundamental spiritual powers, any
of which derive from either pole of the essential spiritual polarity,
god and goddess. This most essential polarity can be perceived
throughout all things and all actions in the world, and its most
apparent archetypal example is in the polarity of the sexes and in
sexual intercourse between man and woman.
In tantra, the god and the goddess are significant fundamental
polarities of the One Divinity. The tantra views all powers and
qualities as either male or female, as either of the god or goddess,
within the One Great sexless, hermaphodite Being. This is the way
cosmic realites are viewed and understood in this world of sexual
relations. It is not that the god and goddess have particular sex
organs but that these cosmic polarised powers manifest through the
sexes of man and woman and through their complimenting sexual organs.
The god and goddess are each only one half of the Whole Divine Being,
so for wholeness both are needed in a united relationship and neither
is sufficient unto itself.
This relationship of the polar opposites, in the underlying spiritual dimension, is likewise needed in the world of man and woman. Both man and woman need each other, need their relationship, for the experience of true wholeness. And yet, through this relationship they can each discover their own wholenss, for both man and woman are each, in essence or potential, the One Whole Divine Being. This may appear paradoxical, but man and woman are each potentially whole unto themselves and yet this wholeness is only found through relationship, through relationship with each other or relationship with the world.
It is in the relationship that wholeness is found, and this wholess is realised in the consciousness of man and woman. Woman cannot find her complete wholeness in just her female qualities, and man cannot find his complete wholeness in just his male qualities, just as the female goddess power and the male god power are but half of the Divine Whole. Because man and woman, in their essential psyche and body, are each representative correspondences of the god and goddess, respectively, neither can find wholeness without some relation with the other. Thus, women in relation with just other women, or men in relation with just men, cannot bring wholeness of Divine realisation. Of course, this is not to devalue the importance of women in relation with women or men in relation with men, for that too brings about a significant realisation of divinity. It’s just that the relation of the sexes, as in the relation of the cosmic polarities, offers the potential for complete realised wholeness.
One needs to develop an ongoing, committed relationship with the Other,
being open and accepting of that which appears and feels to be of an
opposite nature. Thus, there is an ongoing relationship or
intercourse between the conscious psyche and the unconscious psyche.
A synthesis develops between the two, not a permanent, unchanging
synthesis but an ongoing, developing synthesis, where ever new stages
of synthesis are revealed and new expansions of integration are
brought into being.
At first a relationship is established with an archetypal quality, such as the Guide or Healer or Lover for instance, whether this is viewed as within oneself or the other, and then eventually this Other is realized as being oneself. Esoterically, a relationship between two is first established, and hence duality, then the two become merged in union, where unity is finally realized, and what was the Other has now been assimilated into one consciousness of being. So the first stage of synthesis is a revelation or vision of the archetype, as Other in relationship. The second stage is assimilation or recognition of the Other as Oneself. And the third stage is actual self-expression of the archetype, as being a true quality of the self-will.
Woman can realize divine wholeness through a spiritual relation with the male god divinity, and man can realize divine wholeness through a spiritual relation with the female goddess divinity. Each will realize this relation in their own way.
For man the divine goddess is realised as a particular power or quality of love - gentle, accepting, and nurturing to him. She is felt and known as either the Divine Mother, the Divine Lover, or the Divine Healer. The Great goddess has this triplistic expression -- The Divine Mother is the Unconditional Nurturer or Compasionate Wisdom.
The Divine Lover is beauty divine, bringing the sensuous feeling of divine joy which inspires man to love and cherish the goddess. The Divine Healer is the great purifier and transformative force of the goddess, which is sometimes seen as the Witch of Death because of Her power to elimanate whatever gets in the way of pure goodness and harmony. The witch’s powers are either destructive or healing, depending on one’s perspective.
The psyche of man needs to feel these goddess qualities and allow their powers to nurture his wholeness. He needs to feel the goddess embrace him with divine love, and through this he feels whole and loved and comes into a complete love of himself. Through the goddess he knows he is unconditionally loved and embraced along the journey of life. He can melt into this love and surrender himself into it. Then, She lives through him and even expresses through his male qualities.
She gives him a particular quality of power and inspiration in life, and he comes to love, worship and serve her. As the goddess within is realised and loved, he also finds Her manifesting in woman, whereupon he loves and serves woman as the expression of the goddess. So too does he find the goddess manifesting through all nature, and he loves and serves the earth as Her manifested expression. Thus, the male psyche relates in love with the goddess divinity, and his male spiritual qualities serve and harmoniously compliment the goddess love.
For woman the divine god is realised as a particular power or quality of love - strong and guiding. He is felt within as empowering her to courageous expression, adventure, and firm determination. He encourages her to be strong and daring and guides her to creatively manifest greater beauty and goodness in the world of relations. He leads her on the straight path to spiritual realisation and powerfully protects her from harm and negativity in the world. For woman the divine god relates to her as either: The Expressive Impulse, The Guide, The Magician, The Lover-Redeemer-Savior, or The Protector.
These are the primary archetypes of the god, also known as the five faces of Shiva. The woman can feel and know these powers of the god looking after her, guiding, protecting and empowering her adventure in life toward self-discovery and creative manifestation in the world.
With Him she can feel safe and strong, while maintaining her softness and gentleness in life. She can feel guided on her way, and protected as well, while maintaining her unconditional openess, acceptance and embracing of whatever is given in life. Thus, the female psyche can freely manifest in the world, in her particular quality of love as expressive of the goddess, while being blessed by her intimate relation with the god powers. She can invoke the powers of god at any time, and He is always here to care for her and help her own her way, or she can live in continual spiritual relation with god the divine and express herself in the world with His power constantly behind her.
She might also realize the importance of His spiritual work in the world, to help heal, protect and guide the planet and humanity toward the full expression of natural beauty and goodness, to help bring out all the divinity that is inherent in all kingdoms of nature. For god is the great lover of life and the goddess divine, and He seeks to serve Her creative expression of beauty and goodness. This is the divine relation, the divine love affair between god and goddess. And woman, through knowing and spiritually relating with the divine god, and realising His work in relation to the world, can come to respect and love man as he expresses this god power in relation to her and the world. Her female goddess powers of love may even nurture and inspire that god power to express more fully and firmly through him. In this way woman can serve man, as man can serve woman, and both can serve a greater cosmic relation in the whole world of manifestation.
Woman’s relation to the god qualities is somewhat different than man’s, and man’s relation to the goddess qualities is somewhat different than woman’s. The Mother Goddess is a similar experience for man and woman, as the divine presence of compassionate nurturance. Yet the goddess Lover, for man, is a divine presence seemingly outside himself which captures his libido interest and leads him toward proving himself as a hero and prophet of goodness and beauty. The Divine Mother makes man and woman feel unconditionally loved in their childlike innocence and soothes their fears of life, while the Goddess Lover actually inspiries and seduces the man to grow into being the responsible warrior, hero, or servant of life, and She also gives him the sensuous joy only known through the man’s fearless exploration of life. The presence of the Mother goddess is safe and nurturing, but the man remains in a passive mode, while the love goddess brings out his inherent passion for adventuring into the seductive powers of sensuousness and beauty. This love goddess is not presented to woman in the same way, though she has a taste of it. For woman the love goddess does not appear as outside but within as her very own potential. For woman the love goddess is the inner inspiring power for being womanly sensuous and beautiful. This is not merely cultural conditioning but is a divine essence within the body psyche of woman, just as the Hero Lover is within man’s essential divine potential.
Though man can be sensuous and beautiful in a way that is somewhat different than woman, and woman can be heroic in a somewhat different way than man. Woman becomes the Love Goddess, while man revers the Love Goddess. The female ego identifies with the Love Goddess, while the male ego acts in relation to Her. We can call these the sexual ego of the female and male psyche. The male can assimilate qualities of the Love Goddess into his own ego identity and expression, but he doesn’t identify as being the goddess as is the potential for the female ego. So the love goddess is either relational or identifiable, depending on which ego. This difference in the experience of man and woman is true for all aspects of the goddess and god. Woman, the female sexual ego or psyche, has the potential to assimilate and identify with the goddess powers or qualities. She can become the Compassionate Mother, the Seductive Lover, and the Purifying Healer, while the man, the male ego psyche, realises his relationship with these goddess powers.
Likewise, the man can identify with the god powers or qualities, while the woman realises her relationship with the god. The essential qualities of the god are still available to woman and can even be expressed in a male kind of way, but her identity will be as the goddess, which expresses in its own way the guide, the protector, the lover, the sorceress, and the creative expresser.
LINK to- Powers from the Unconscious
endnote:
Some teachings might
say that the opposite half of oneself,
is really the other aspect of the god or goddess. In other words,
some teachings might say that what I’m calling the god power or
quality of expression is none other than a balancing aspect of the
goddess, the great goddess Herself possessing these polarised
qualities. And one could say the same concerning the great god, in
relation to man. Under this terminology, the woman finds complete
wholeness as she expresses the goddess in Her bipolar aspects, in
both Her magnetically embracing aspects and in Her electrically
assertive aspects. So here she can leave the god divinity just to
man, since all the qualities are different aspects of the one goddess
divinity.
Likewise, in this spiritual system, the god Himself
possesses all those qualities or powers which I have termed as
goddess powers. The god, for man, is spiritually bipolar, as is the
goddess for woman, so man can discover his wholeness through the
bipolar expression of the god, and thus he need not be bothered by
the goddess. In other words, in this system of teaching, the man is
just the expression of the god and the woman is just the expression
of the goddess. The god is for man and the goddess is for woman, and
neither really need the other since both god and goddess are each the
complete divinity themselves. This kind of teaching, or system, is
perfectly acceptable and compatable with the tantra. It’s just a
matter of how one views the great divinity. I present this other view
in order that there be no unnecessary argument, because the essential
wisdom is potentially there in this other system as well as in the
teachings of the tantra as I am describing.
This presentation of the divine wisdom, though, seems to make greater sense, because the man can feel a goddess or female type of power within himself, and the opposite is true for the woman. Also, a dangerous distortion of truth might occur if women and men were to consider themselves the exclusive expressions of different divinities, that is, men would have their god within and women would have their goddess within, and men and women would feel further divided into their respective sexes. Therefore, it seems more to the truth to view the man as possessing both masculine and feminine qualities, essentially the same ones as woman, while also respecting the differences, but equal value, between a male kind of power and a female kind of power, as archetypally found in the sexual ritual.