What Is The Divine Feminine & How To Awaken Her Power Within
The Divine Feminine lives within you, within me, within us all.
For the past few thousand years, she has been repressed, cast into the shadows, and left without a safe place to fully express herself and her gifts.
But she is on the rise. She is slowly waking up and returning to us all. Women (and men) around the world are hearing her call.
If you found your way to this article, chances are you have heard her call, and you are ready to explore and embody Her.
What is the Divine Feminine?
The Divine Feminine is an energy, which means she can’t be seen or heard, but she can be felt.
She is the feminine that exists in all living beings on earth, including the ocean, moon, and trees.
She is sometimes known as Yin energy, Shakti, Kali, or Gaia.
In her truest nature, She is nurturing, motherly energy, and affection. Beauty, sensuality, and attraction. Creativity and inspiration in their purest form. Peace and harmony. Abundance and the knowing that the earth will always provide enough. Intuitive and fully open to receive. Empowered within. Honored and respected. And she is divinely connected to mother earth.
The Divine Feminine within you is wild, free, and untamed. She ignores the unwritten rules and boundaries that society has constructed for her, rises above, and paves her own way. She is unafraid to speak her truth, embrace her sexual nature, and show up fully and authentically. The Divine Feminine trusts her intuition, allowing it to guide her. And she lives in the cyclic rhythm of the moon, the seasons, and the wheel. She understands the sacredness of life and trusts that all her needs will be met.
This is your true nature as a woman. And even if this doesn’t resonate with the woman you are today, the Divine Feminine is still there within you, waiting patiently to be embraced.
How we lost our connection to the sacred feminine
The Divine Feminine is one half of the whole; the Diving Masculine is the other half.
Together, they create a world of harmony and balance.
But this is not the world we find ourselves in today.
The Divine Masculine we see today is a toxic version of his true energy and light, sometimes known as the shadow side. This can be seen in the patriarchal systems and societies that run our world, which we have not only passively allowed to continue but have actively encouraged.
He has become aggressive, controlling, abusive, and egotistical, on a rampage for power and dominance.
We can see this in the way women have been oppressed and violated, similarly to the way our planet has been raped. We also see this in war, conflicts, and bombs that have plagued our people in the attempt to make everyone either a winner or loser. And we see this in the way that land, ancient traditions and rituals, connection, and freedom were stolen from our ancestors, replaced with capitalism, hierarchy, and modern religion.
And the feminine has been forced to match his shadow with her own. She has become the victim, insecure, passive, inauthentic, co-dependent, and often manipulative.
But in his truest, lightest form, the Divine Masculine has integrity. He is courageous, intellectual, and grounded. He is non-judgemental, independent, and mindful. And He matches Her in her lightest, truest form.
Awakening the divine feminine
Deep down, we all feel an imbalance in our lives. But most of us don’t know what that is or what the solution looks like.
We’ve been fed the belief that more equals better. Exhausting working hours and stress have become normalized. And we’re stuck in our minds, disconnected from our bodies and our emotions.
We’re missing that connection to Her, the Divine Feminine. She has two sides: one light and one dark. Both are needed for wholeness, but this article will focus on the light side of the feminine.
Over the past hundred years, the women’s movement has sought to address these imbalances; by putting more women in leadership positions, managing the wage gap, and holding men accountable for their abuse of girls and women.
But these surface-level changes will only go so far in creating real transformation in our world. If men (and women) still do not welcome in or respect the feminine archetype, then the imbalance will remain.
Much education is needed to awaken us all to the chaos we create and live in and guide us back to our true nature as living beings on earth.
Despite the resistance to change, she is still rising. She does not care if we are ready for her or if she will be welcomed with open arms. She has been reflecting, learning, and growing in the shadows all this time. That strength is what we’re beginning to feel as a collective.
That strength is causing huge disruption to our world, a breakdown of systems, and archaic beliefs turned inside out. It is that strength that is fuelling feminism, equality, more compassion and rights for animals, ethical and sustainable fashion choices, and practices like meditation and yoga to become mainstream.
Oh yes, she is rising.
Are you ready to rise with her?
Activating the Divine Feminine within you
As I mentioned, the Divine Feminine has many sacred gifts to offer you in your life, regardless of what gender you are.
These are just some of the ways awakening her within you will benefit and enrich your experience here on earth:
- Increasing your self-love and appreciation
- A deeper connection with your body and sensuality
- Being in tune with your rhythms and how they mirror Hers
- Strengthened inner guidance and trust
- More creative energy
- Being fully open to receive
- Creating a deeper sense of community and partnership with others
- Being able to be fully present in the moment
- The ability to relax and let go
- A feeling of wholeness
If any of these are speaking to you, and you want to call them into your life, it begins with awakening the Divine Feminine within you.
Because she is energy, you might be a little confused about how to do this. So here are some practical ways to awaken Her:
1. Healing the Divine Feminine begins with examining your wounds surrounding femininity
What are your current beliefs around femininity, and what it means to be a woman or man?
And what traits did you see in the women and men around you that informed your beliefs?
You might have learned that women should be pretty, quiet, and “lady” like. That women should be submissive, run the household, and have the perfect body. You may have learned that women should be people-pleasers, swallow their feelings, and always be happy and smiling.
These are all common beliefs about what a woman should look and behave like, but what did you learn about femininity growing up?
Your personal wounds around femininity may be quite different because of the women around you in childhood.
Perhaps you witnessed your mother being emotionally or physically abused by her partner, so you learned that women are weak or shouldn’t challenge men. Or maybe your mum suffered from mental health issues, and you determined that women are unreliable and never happy.
Look to your own personal experiences, as well as the general negative beliefs you’ve inherited around femininity. Know that these are not a true representation of the Divine Feminine; rather, a shadow version.
Take some time to think and journal on these beliefs. Because the only way we can move forward and grow is if we let go of old limiting beliefs that no longer support the person we are striving to become.
2. Commit to self-love & self-acceptance
If we haven’t yet learned to fully love ourselves, we cannot show true love and compassion to those around us. And genuine compassion for all beings (including yourself) is one of the ways to awaken the Divine Feminine within you.
Self-love is not a short journey because there is no quick ailment for re-writing years of self-judgment or childhood wounds. But if you commit to showing yourself love and acceptance every day, you will get there.
Begin small. Look in the mirror and say something kind and loving to yourself. Create space each day for some type of self-care. Meet your shadows, confront the negative thoughts you’re holding on to, and replace them with ones that serve and empower you. Surround yourself with people who are also committed to self-love and self-acceptance, people who inspire you and lift you up.
You cannot give love or compassion from an empty cup. So make sure you’re filling yours up each day.
3. Connect with your body to awaken the Divine Feminine
Our bodies are constantly scrutinized and critiqued by outside eyes. Most of us begin to take on that pressure and judge our bodies for not looking a certain way. We begin to see our body as no more than a physical object.
Many of us have been purposely disconnected from our bodies over the past few thousand years in an attempt to tame us, control us, and disconnect us from our power.
Additionally, many of us hold huge amounts of stress, trauma, and abuse in our bodies; from this lifetime as well as past ones we’re not fully aware of.
We must work to release and clear away this stuck energy from our bodies so that we can reconnect with them and feel comfortable and at peace within them. Because this makes space for the vibration of Her to rise within us and show up fully.
So, how can you clear this energy and connect to your body?
You can try body-healing therapies like breathwork and massage. You can practice more self-care by nourishing your body with plenty of water and healthy foods and get enough sleep each night.
Move your body in ways that feel good to you, whether it’s walking, running, swimming, or something else. Practicing yoga can also be a wonderful way to be fully present and feel a body, mind, and spirit connection.
Sit and scan your body, slowly from the feet all the way up to your head; notice where there’s more tension and see if you can breathe into that space and let it go.
4. Get outside and be with Mumma Nature
As I mentioned already, our earth and all nature are the work and creation of the feminine. The trees, flowers, wind, rain, and the soil beneath our feet.
The more time you spend in nature, the more connected you will feel to Her and her energy. Plus, it feels really good soaking up the fresh air, moving your body, and giving your eyes a break from your computer or phone screen.
If you have a garden, it can be a beautiful morning ritual to step outside first thing and plant your bare feet on the earth. Take some breaths here, do a few stretches if you feel called to, and notice the elements surrounding you. If the sun is shining, feel the warmth wash over your skin.
You can also do the same thing in the evening, but with the moon instead. Let the moonlight twinkle down on you, and feel yourself becoming more in tune with her natural rhythms along with your own.
And you can bring nature into your home more, through indoor plants and flowers.
5. Tap into the Divine Feminine energy by feeling your feelings (without judgment)
Women are generally more in touch with their feelings and speak openly about them with other women. Men tend to avoid meeting and addressing their emotions because they’re taught it’s weak or feminine to do so.
It’s not weak, but it is innately feminine, and our emotions are a source of Goddess wisdom. And even as women, we have often been taught to swallow or hide how we’re truly feeling and pretend that everything is okay when it’s not.
We’re disconnected from the Divine Feminine. We can see this in a strong disconnection from our feelings in this masculine-driven world obsessed with the external.
We repress our emotions thinking they’ll disappear if we avoid thinking about them. Still, they only fester and swell in the darkness until we address them and the root of why we’re feeling that way.
So give yourself permission to feel all your feelings without judgment.
Regularly check in with yourself, and ask, “how am I feeling right now?” Try and assign a word to it: happy, excited, down, confused, mellow, anxious. And release all judgment from this process. Because there are no right or wrong feelings, no good or bad feelings.
And try and find a safe space for you to discuss these feelings, whether with close friends, a women’s circle, a coach, or even a therapist. This will help you feel held and supported and create a feeling of trust around sharing some of your most vulnerable, intimate feelings.
Tuning in to and making sense of our feelings helps us understand ourselves better. We learn empathy and show compassion. We’re able to tap into the feminine energy that has been suppressed within and allow the feminine to flow freely through us again.
6. Get comfortable speaking your truth
Because we’ve been hushed and made to feel inferior as women for so long, this is often hard-wired into our brains without us knowing it.
Boys learn from a young age that it’s okay to be loud and aggressive, while girls determine they need to be quiet and accommodating.
I, for one, have always struggled with speaking my truth and raising my voice. I think this resulted from many things: being bullied at school, having an overbearing older brother, and learning poor communication from watching my parents.
And most of us aren’t taught how to communicate effectively. It doesn’t make it to the list of important things that we need to know at school, although it affects all the encounters and relationships that we have in our lives.
Do you know how to ask for what you need?
Are you able to speak up for yourself calmly yet firmly?
And do you know how to set healthy boundaries in your life?
When we keep our mouths closed and bury our truth and our needs, we become disconnected from our power. This is because we’re blocking the Divine Feminine wisdom that wants to flow through us.
When you feel discomfort within, and like something needs to come out, that’s nothing to fear. It’s a feeling, which you now know is not good or bad, and you have the power to presence it. You have a duty to presence it.
Whether that’s in your relationship and you feel like you’re not getting what you need. When you’re catcalled in the street, and you know you need to speak up. Your boss puts too much work and pressure on your shoulders, and you need to push back.
Don’t repress your emotions. Tune in to what you need and want, and have the courage to show up authentically and presence it. This is how you begin to give your inner wisdom a voice.
When you’re connected to your Divine Feminine power, you will be comfortable with your feelings and needs. And you will love and respect yourself enough to know you deserve to be listened to and have them met.
7. Awaken the Divine Feminine by figuring out who you really are on a soul level
People pleasing and wanting to fit in and avoid judgment are the main culprits for living a half-life and failing to figure out who we really are and what we really want from our lives.
There are so many things we believe we have to do or should be doing. But have you ever stopped to think about what your true calling is here on earth?
As women, we often don’t even create time or space to think about this. We’re too busy taking care of everyone else in our lives and making sure they’re happy and loved and thriving. But it’s not selfish to turn your gaze inward and make sure you are happy and thriving. It’s not selfish at all; in fact, it’s vital.
Because this is how you’ll discover your soul’s purpose. This is how you’ll find the real you, underneath all of the programmings and inherited beliefs. And this is where the Divine Feminine can be found.
Maybe you’re in a job that isn’t where your true passion lies. Perhaps you’re in a relationship that you’ve outgrown. Or possibly you’re not giving yourself time to explore all the interests and hobbies that your soul is desperate to experience.
Give yourself permission to say no to things you no longer want and yes to new things you do want. Give yourself permission to play and travel and be; and see if anything stirs your soul. And give yourself permission to be selfish sometimes, and figure out who you really are.
Because contrary to what you’ve been taught, you are not here just to be someone’s wife, mother, carer, or co-worker. You are your own person, with your own gifts and your own path to pave here.
8. Honor & explore your sexuality
Our world has a really fucked up relationship with sex and sexuality right now.
Female sexuality makes most people uncomfortable—women and men—because patriarchy has engineered it that way.
Sex, in general, is seen as taboo. And we learn that from the way it’s not openly spoken about and how adults clam up when we mention it as children. We learn to feel shame around sex, our genitals, and our sexual desires.
Worse still, sex has been ripped away from its sacred nature and re-packaged and sold to men as a commodity to be purchased. We see that in an endless supply of porn, strip clubs, and prostitutes.
Women and men learn to “perform” in bed in a way that caters to his needs but often completely ignores hers. The female body feels like an object rather than a powerful divine vessel that nurtures and creates life.
To access the full power of the Divine Feminine requires you to explore and embrace your sexuality.
Here are some helpful questions to ask yourself today:
- Am I confident asking for what I need sexually?
- Do I know what I like or want, or need?
- How do I feel about my body, my breasts, and my vulva?
- Am I able to speak up and set boundaries around what I do and don’t feel comfortable with in bed?
- Am I able to fully receive pleasure?
The answers to these questions will likely bring up feelings you’ve buried or didn’t even know existed in your subconscious. And discovering these feelings and attitudes, and figuring out where they came from, is how you can begin to nurture your sexuality back to a state of wholeness.
Spend more time with your body, getting to know your anatomy and how you like to be touched. You may also want to try using a yoni egg to connect deeper to the sacred sexuality that resides within you and empower yourself.
9. The Divine Feminine asks you to slow down and just be
Our world is currently built on masculine energy, which encourages us to do more, be more, and have more.
This has led to a world that is go go go, rushing around all the time, and believing that you always need to be busy doing something.
In contrast, feminine energy is about being rather than doing. It’s about slowing down, being receptive and reflective, and being present in the moment.
And we all could do with slowing down a little more.
Maybe that looks like journaling or writing for you. Maybe it’s being in nature more like we already spoke about. Or maybe it means switching your phone off as soon as you get home and not turning it on again until the next morning. Maybe it’s sitting and doing ten minutes of meditation in your day. Maybe it’s leaving work on-time more often. Or maybe it’s as simple as taking a five-minute tea break or taking a few deep breaths wherever you are right now.
Our brains are wired to “do,” so you’ll probably find it hard to switch frequencies and allow yourself to just be. Your brain may try and convince you you’re wasting time or being lazy, but don’t believe it.
10. Tap into and trust your intuition
Your intuition as a woman is like your sixth sense.
It’s a Divine Feminine gift that is more potent and present in women than men. It’s the opposite of logic, which is a masculine quality. Since we are a society that values logic above all else, we have become disconnected from our inner voice.
We live in our heads rather than our hearts, making it difficult to differentiate between fear and intuition. And some of us have been led to mistrust our intuition or devalue it because it’s “irrational” and “illogical.”
But tapping into and trusting your intuition will help you navigate your life with much more ease, grace, and confidence. You’ll just know the right decision to make, without knowing how you know. You’ll feel it in your body before you know it in your mind.
Regardless of how tuned in you are to your intuition right now, there are practices you can follow to begin strengthening that muscle:
- Meditate
- Practice yoga
- Use tarot and oracle cards
- Journal and connect with your higher wisdom
- Channel from your own divine guides
- Exploring your dreams and their symbolic meanings
11. Create ritual & sacred space in your life for the Divine Feminine
Ritual and sacred ceremonies used to be a way of life for women in ancient times.
There was a greater sense of community amongst people. Women of all ages would regularly come together to converse, share, or celebrate; on new and full moons, while bleeding and on the turn of the wheel.
Sacred ceremonies and rituals act as a bridge between the two worlds: earth and the spirit. Your fears, anxieties, and shadows can be met and softened with compassion and the great power of a circle of women. And the feminine within you craves to be in beautiful sacred spaces that have been created with pure intention and love.
Creating ritual and sacred space in your life can be simple. Light a candle before you meditate or practice yoga. Take a bath. Make a sacred altar for yourself, however small or grand you like, with divine objects that speak to you.
Celebrating the new moon with releasing and intention setting, or the full moon by dancing and singing in the moonlight.
Or perhaps you attend a women’s circle near you, or you host your own.
Ritual and sacred space will often evoke memories from previous lifetimes that your energetic bodies still remember. You may be connecting to the wisdom and Divine Feminine spirit you felt when you were in sacred circle with a community of women thousands and thousands of years ago. For it has never truly been forgotten.
This is the power of sacred space.
12. Realize the wholeness that has always been inside you
We know the feminine has been suppressed for the past few thousand years. But although she has been pushed down and hidden, she has not been destroyed.
She can never be destroyed. She is still within you, as she is within me and every being on the planet.
The dominant masculine that resides within you, and almost everyone else, tries to pretend it is whole and complete on its own. But it never can be. Because like I said at the beginning of this article, the Divine Feminine and Masculine were created as two halves of a whole.
We need both for wholeness, and all of us already can find both within.
This means you are already whole. We are all whole; we just need to start expressing the suppressed parts of our wholeness.
Regardless of what goes on around us, we have the power to embrace and express the Divine Feminine with us. We can act with compassion, promote peace, live in abundance, nurture ourselves and our earth, and slow down so we can live a richer, fuller life.
This is the challenge we face as individuals, as well as a collective.
The Divine Feminine will rescue our planet, returning light and harmony to it. But we have to awaken her within ourselves first.
If you’d like to find out more about the Divine Feminine archetypes, check out this article:
The Divine Feminine Archetypes & How To Embody Their Powerful Energy