Slow Down and Meet Your Sacred Feminine an interview with Marion Woodman by Jane Lister Reis What is that nourishes our bodies, renews our souls? A quiet walk in a winter woods, quality time with those we love, silent moments with our inner self? Marion Woodman, Jungian analyst, lecturer, and author of seven books about human consciousness, would say "yes" to all of these things, but first she would categorize them as experiences of the feminine. What is the deep or sacred feminine? According to Marion Woodman, it is the deeper and slower aspect of ourselves, our very own soul, which at this time in history is pushing its (her?) way into our consciousness — both in gentle and not-so-gentle ways. I had an opportunity to talk by telephone with Marion Woodman at her home in Toronto before she left for a U.S. book tour. Her newest book, The Maiden King: The Reunion of Masculine and Feminine, written with her friend and colleague, Robert Bly, explores an ancient folktale about the possibility of a new relationship between the masculine and feminine. Jane: How did you come about your work with the feminine? Marion: I came to the feminine, and what I call "the new masculine," when I was in my forties. I realized that I was never going to get rid of my food addiction if I did not change my state of mind. I was definitely a perfectionist. Everything had to be efficient. I didn’t want to waste any time or energy. An extreme critic sat on my shoulders all the time. I was literally driven in every direction. It didn’t matter what I was doing; it had to be done perfectly, faster, and better than it was humanly possible to do it. I began to realize, mostly through my dreams, that I had to accept my humanity. Being human would mean accepting what I now know as my femininity. I have worked hard to let go of those attitudes that were driving me. Instead of living from that place of controlling myself, my own body, and everything around me to fit into my rigid patterns, I surrendered. Marion Woodman’s story of her surrender of her food addiction (what is now diagnosed as the eating disorder anorexia nervosa) and her fairytale-like experience of healing from an unknown Indian woman is chronicled in her book, The Pregnant Virgin: A Process of Psychological Transformation. It was during her visit to India that Woodman’s eating disorder and deteriorating physical condition finally caused her body to collapse and her soul to leave her body. "Looking down at my body," she said, "I saw that I did love my body and desired to be back in it. I rediscovered the sweetness of my body, and it was this awareness that led me into an acceptance of my humanity and my own imperfection." It was from this experience, Woodman says, that she was able to recapture "the glory of being a human being and able to accept [her] own process." "Suddenly I began to live in the present. I was really being able to hear what other people were saying. I was slowing my life down to a human pace. This is what I consider the feminine now. In India, I recognized and learned surrender." Jane: As you talk about the deep feminine, I feel a curious warming sensation in my own body, almost as if my heart is melting. Is this what you are describing as the feminine? Marion: Yes; in my present work, I am attempting to help women experience this in their own bodies, in their own souls. I take thirty women on ten-day intensives into a beautiful place in nature. Along with a voice person and bodyworker, we work with their dreams to open up their bodies and help them find their voices. These young women are so terrified of emotions that we have to go very slowly. There’s great danger of them exploding with feelings that have been repressed in their bodies. Our bodies move more slowly than the mind. Since we have abused our bodies for so long, the body is profoundly frightened. Often in these intensives we run into this situation where the body just freezes. A woman in the room will start to cry and others will go into a freeze of terror. But we work it through with love. Jane: Tell me about your understanding of the reunion of the feminine with the masculine: How do you see these two energies coming together? How does the masculine honor the feminine and vice versa? Marion: From my point of view, patriarchy has wounded the masculine as profoundly as it has wounded the feminine. What is being revealed through people’s dreams over the last ten years is that the feminine is becoming more and more secure and certain of herself (and I don’t mean in terms of mothering). According to Woodman, women are finding their own "mother" containers in which to honor their own bodies, emotions, and voices. Woodman says that when "this process develops, women start producing their own pictures, articulating their own thoughts through poetry, essays, or whatever vehicle they choose, and begin to come forward. There’s another energy that is necessary to give a woman the strength to take it into the world or even to take it into a deeper place within herself." This, she says, is the moment of reunion of the masculine and feminine. The great paradox is that the more you find yourself, the more you find the soul of everyone else. Marion Woodman describes this inner journey and search for the deeper feminine — and, ultimately, the reconnection of the masculine and feminine — as a profound experience of finding your own soul and finding the world’s soul at the core. According to Woodman, the great paradox is that the more you find yourself, the more you find the soul of everyone else. "Once you have touched into this place within yourself," she says, "you cannot see a tree cut down without pain. You’re related to everything. I find more and more women are dreaming about this beautiful little boy and of their own inner masculinity being healed." This inner dream experience, Woodman says, gives them the courage to go out into the world so that they can find their own voice. Where are we currently, as a human consciousness, in relationship to the feminine? "Most women I have worked with," Woodman said, "have tried to put their femininity out there and have found themselves beaten down. They have tried to bring their slower rhythm into the corporate world and have been laughed at." I asked her if she was discouraged that the values of the soul, or the deeper feminine, do not yet have a place in this world. "I have immense hope," she said, "because I utterly believe we are not alone. I believe the divine feminine is coming to us from the other side. She is opening up passageways in many directions. "She’s not going to let this planet destroy itself. Without the feminine, yes, I believe we will destroy ourselves. But we are working to make a place for her in our lives. If we don’t make a place, she comes roaring in — in our relationships, in government, in companies. We are forced to recognize her presence." As I hung up the telephone after the interview, I sat quietly for a few moments to allow the impact of her words to soak into my psyche. I felt different. Marion Woodman’s almost seventy-year-old voice had induced me into having a physical sensation of the feminine. My breath was quieter, deeper, and I was more present in my body. I felt peaceful. Simply through the resonance of her voice and the wisdom of her experiences, Marion Woodman had slowed me down and taken me into the presence of the deeper feminine within my soul. Thank you, Marion Woodman. As our world (and consciousness) struggles to hear and honor the voice of the inner feminine, and as we learn to balance the masculine and feminine in our relationships, we need your voice and teachings about the inner feminine and its reunion with the masculine. Clearly, you are a woman of wisdom for our times.