Every human being experiences the original triangle of Father, Mother, Child. How we handled this first initial triangle and the dynamics involved is generally how we will handle subsequent triangles...Until the original triangular dynamic is resolved or transformed, it will continue to be repeated in other triangular settings. — Angeles Arrien The original triangular wound does not lie in the inter-relational dynamics within our personal Mother, Father, Child relationship. The original wound lies in the submersion of the feminine within the Christian Trinity. As a result of this split, our current relationships seem to dramatize a persecutor/victim/rescuer mythology. As Arrien states, "How we handled this initial triangle and the dynamics involved is generally how we will handle subsequent triangles." This original wound has influenced the way we interact with one another. While I was contemplating this original triangle, a profound sense of fragmentation and perplexity arose within me. At one time in our history, the original archetypal energy of Father, Mother, and Child was indeed balanced and whole. During the reign of Constantine, around A.D. 525, this sacred symbol was tampered with and its archetypal energy corrupted. As a result of this tampering, millions of people now unconsciously enact shadow roles within triangular relationships. These are the roles of Persecutor, Victim, and Rescuer. Had the original triangle not been altered, we might never have lost sight of the energies of the Healer, Warrior, and Teacher that Angeles Arrien speaks of as the restored portions of this triangle. In The Goddess in the Gospels, Margaret Starbird tells us that once, long ago, relationships were based on what is called the hieros gamos, or sacred marriage. This belief in equality created a balance in the lives and relationships of those practicing its tenets. At that time, the feminine sang out loud and strong and espoused the glorious attributes of Healer, Teacher, and Warrior. Where did the schism occur? Why was the feminine element in the Holy Trinity given less import over the years? The legacy of this split seems to have resulted in guilt, abuse, confusion, and the suppression of female equality in our society today. The key, it seems, is housed within the dynamic of fear. Fear of lack, fear of separation, and the fear of powerlessness are the insidious players here. During the reign of Constantine, the forefathers of Western Christianity, in fear of losing power and control over the people, took on the role of aggressor/persecutor and the feminine became their scapegoat/victim. It was during this time that an important piece of the archetype of the Trinity went underground. Fragmentation occurred and a new energy was unleashed: that of the shadow side of the Trinity. As a collective, we began playing out persecutor/victim/rescuer roles as we moved toward remembering and healing this split. This wide-scale disdain for what it means to be fully feminine created an energetic imbalance within the archetypal energy of the anima found within every human being. Andrew Harvey very eloquently relates, in his book Son of Man, that we, as a society, are out of balance. He asserts that this stems from our denial of the feminine in her totality as a vital and necessary part of our psyche. Margaret Starbird and Andrew Harvey are only two of several authors attempting to heal this original wound. Starbird desires to help us reconnect to the energy of the Bride of Christ in our psyches. Harvey not only encourages us to see the feminine in Jesus himself as an androgyne, but also attempts to awaken us to the full-feminine form found in Jesus’ mother. In the original Father, Mother, Child triangle, it is the energy of the mother that has been wounded, and as a result, all have been affected. The feminine that was allowed to remain was housed in such purity and chastity that she became hard to relate to. Many biblical scholars are baffled at the literal usage of the word "virgin" in Christian doctrine. The word "virgin" refers to a woman who did not unite with a husband in marriage but was whole unto herself. The word had nothing whatsoever to do with sexual intercourse. The Christian tradition has always honored the mother of Jesus for her human role, but has fallen short of naming her an equal partner of Christ. It is, perhaps, interesting to note that in 1997 Pope John Paul II strongly considered naming the Virgin Mary "Co-Redemptrix" with Christ. This was met with strong opposition from all over the world. Even though the pope’s vision was never made manifest, his proposal only shows us that the archetype of the feminine remains with us. Healing on a global scale would occur with the forgiving and releasing of a fear perpetrated long, long ago. Not only are females currently experiencing an overly well developed self-critic, the anima found within many men is also in dire need of healing. On a large scale, the young men in societies all over the world have not been given the freedom to express pain or sensitivity. Not allowing boys to cry is an example of suppression of their anima. Arrien states, "Fear creates the aggressor, love stimulates the healer within." Love is the perennial thread that runs throughout the world’s spiritual traditions. It is time we walked our talk. Through acknowledgment, love, and forgiveness the persecutor/victim/rescuer within can be transformed into the healer/warrior/inner teacher. The energy of the Divine Feminine has been sugarcoated and one-sided. Not only is she, as an archetype, the Madonna, the Mother, the Virgin, and the Nun, but she also consists of such archetypes as the Spider Woman, the Sacred Prostitute, the Wise Healer, the Black Madonna, and the Triple Goddess Kali. The Divine Feminine is multifaceted, and in order to heal, we must acknowledge ourselves in each of her faces. It is my hope that we, as a collective, will begin to heal the original wound and allow the submerged aspects of the Divine Feminine to reenter our psyches and bring us into balance. One form that her energy takes in the Christian Trinity is that of the Shekinah, or the feminine face of God. She is a healer with the gift of prophecy and intuition, and is the still, small voice who warns or imparts messages to humankind. Her retrieval plays an important role in the healing of the original wound. Following further contemplation on the symbol of the Trinity (+), the following insight was also unveiled. This upward-pointing triangle is the symbol for spirit, or the male aspect. It is a transcendent, ascending symbol. Cross-culturally, it can be thought of as a symbol for fire/mind, the individuating principle. Arrien writes, "the inner warrior is that aspect of oneself that honors and respects oneself in equal proportion to honoring and respecting others" (italics mine). If we live only out of this upward triangle, we are assertive and differentiating, but this is not balance. To view this from the Hindu chakra system, we are following the pingala path of the kundalini through the centers. When we espouse only this one half of the energy and finally transcend our egos, we begin to think that we are just a little bit higher than everyone else is. We think we’ve arrived, and find ourselves looking down at others groveling in the mud. What an illusion this is! We have not come to balance at all. The warrior is still honoring self over other, saying, "I have the truth, follow me!" As humans blaze such individual paths, they tend to fragment the communal or feminine aspect of life. Chewing on this a bit longer, the downward-pointing triangle (,) showed itself as the symbol for soul, or the female aspect of the psyche. It is a transforming, descending symbol. It can be thought of as a symbol for water, the feeling/heart principle. It is only when we unite the triangles of spirit and soul that we become balanced. Are we evolved to the point where we can allow all others on the path their own truth? Perhaps there is a mandala out there to house the message of this balance. Perhaps with the energy of another symbol, the "shadow side" of the Grecian triangle of rescuer, persecutor, and victim would be, as Arrien states, "transformed to access the positive aspect of the Creative Triangle: Teacher, Warrior, and Healer." The Star of David, also known as Solomon’s Seal (Y), is a symbol of balance, and stands for the unification of opposites. It is a symbol uniting male and female energy. It is a symbol that balances conscious knowledge with unconscious understanding. As a symbol, it unites fire with water and mind with heart. It could easily be the mandala for the sacred marriage of the Bride and the Bridegroom. It is a perfect symbol of the transformation of which Angeles Arrien speaks. We must go back and heal the original triangle if we are to loosen the shadow of what Angeles Arrien calls the "Grecian version of victim/aggressor/judge" in our immediate lives. We can do our part to work on healing this triangle at an immediate, personal level as each of us works through his/her own father, mother, child wounds. Perhaps it is after we have consciously begun healing the rescuer/persecutor/victim roles we play in our families, through acknowledging, forgiving, and taking responsibility for these games, that we begin to see the bigger picture of the original wound. We must reconnect to the feminine aspect of creation that was once cast out of the temples of the holy and proclaimed evil. To achieve balance in an overtly male-oriented paradigm, we must embrace our intuition and our creative imaginations. It is an initiation into the realm of the heart that is required to bring our planet into higher consciousness. We know that all aspects of creation include a feminine counterpart. We must remember the hieros gamos if we are ever again to find balance and equilibrium in our lives. Love is what we are in our purest aspect of creation. Love comes from the heart; love is divinity. |