She Protests Too Much

"thou doth protest too much."  --William Shakespeare

Some women who call themselves "feminists" may really feel deeply the opposite, as in "thou doth protest too much." William Shakespeare wrote this line more than five centuries ago, a prescient insight into human nature.
 More recently, Thomas Moore in his book, the Soul's Religion, takes up the topic of femininity writing that "in a deep corner of their soul, [they] rejected women and didn't really appreciate the value of feminine qualities." 
While perhaps trite to say, Moore observes that behavior is a double edge sword, or sides of a coin, the flip side is naturally its opposite. Is that hard to understand?

He further writes that the women with whom he discussed this contradiction within themselves have much courage to explore this embarrassing discovery about their deepest feelings and values. Contrasting with  women, there are also men whom Moore writes, are caught by the same or similar notions dishonoring women, "the mother goddess" as he calls it. They are excessive in their devotions towards women; an unbalanced adoration that puts off real, flesh and blood women. Here the Avatar of the goddess is confused for the goddess herself.
 In these men there often are signs of this imbalance: sudden anger and resentments, even violence towards women in a generalized sense. paraphrased

The feminine energy in life doesn't disappear as a result of this hostility directed towards herself. Rather she may be pushed just beneath the surface where her energy lurks, often making life and relationships impossible. The candle is extinguished; in her neglected state, she is oppressed and unexpressed; while some choose to engage in the traditional helping professions, this gives only temporary outlet.
 Pushing through barriers erected just for her suppression, so as to have a clean, tidy, daily existence, the spiritual nature of the mother goddess soon rushes forward. She will have none of that! The retort of which is a fierce tongue lashing, a warring heart and an excess passion for the physical pursuits of the world.

Working herself free of blockages is to restore the balance of energy that is natural to the soul. More than just talking about these lacks as correction, we must take concrete action in a direct, soulful, spiritual way to gain the balance that we need. 
We must not become lost in addictions either to drugs or behaviors for they are no good substitute for the spiritual ecstasy that we may really be seeking, or the holiness found in religion because all human problems are spiritual problems, insists Moore.

In the Presence of Gods and Goddesses

"People can get so over-involved with searching for mythic connections that they forget they also have personal associations to the symbols." Robert Johnson

Many times we dream of events from our past waking day, a sort of summation or re-hashing of events, or their parts. The mind in its curious method dissects, injects and reintroduces the subject in a way that is different from the events of our waking world. It's as if the mind sees with its own eyes, for its own purposes. Humanity has for eternity taken note of dreams. They perplex, confuse and inform in equal proportion. The bible as well as many other ancient texts serve as oracles to the perplexing nature of the dream state. Dreams and spirituality have always had a connection.

It is within our deepest self that we dream. In the silence of our nights images come to us; energies and feelings are portrayed as if on a movie screen while we slumber; watching the show which at times is so vivid and realistic filled with our emotions, hopes or fears that upon awakening we're not entirely sure if it "was real or just a dream." Often time the memory of the dream is deep; we ponder it, catching what little we can deduce and turning it outward concretely looking at others. But outward is not the solution, nor is it a resolution because the dream is the dreamer and the images are personal. No more is it true that dream symbols are standard than it is to assume that the loves one plays out at night are interchangeable!

If it were true that the loves, the gods and goddesses of our dreams were interchangeable, would not their value be so much less? What would we learn, and what could they teach us about our feelings, our beliefs and our own energies? Often dreams record and reflect changes a person has made, or is soon to make in their waking life; dreams then represent a reflection of their engagement with their own values and beliefs. In our spiritual journeys towards greater wholeness, dreams play an important role in representing to us what we most deeply think and feel.

We try on roles, we solve issues, paradoxes are presented and solutions, or part solutions, rendered. Feelings are deeply considered; the feelings that may have been squelched in our waking day, now are guides to what matters to us. Even if the images presented in the dream are borrowed, as in for example, your mother, your neighbor, the man in the store, an animal or a place, those images symbolize something that is going on. "You use that image to refer to something inside of you," writes Robert Johnson. With careful consideration, dreams can and often impart wisdom to the dreamer.