Feminism, the Feminine, and the Metamorphic Technique

The following question is asked, at times: Why are there so many women on your Metamorphic Technique workshops? The proportion can be one man to ten or more women. The Metamorphic Technique is about transformation – a woman will have a direct insight into transformation when she becomes pregnant, the consciousness of her body witnessing the meeting of sperm and ovum, and their death as they meet, releasing thus the energy that will preside to the formation of the zygote, the first cell of a new human being. At another level through the menstrual cycle, women have to constantly adjust to a physical tide of change in their body. And that goes on for more than thirty years. They have had an insight into what it means to adapt, which will serve them well as transformation of their patterns takes place. Could we say that they are more courageous than men to embrace the power of likely transformations?

Men will usually resist transformation, most often happy to cultivate the status quo. However, when they surrender, they usually dive faster and deeper into the void that always accompanies the death of patterns when transformation takes place. They will at times trust external elements, such as entheogenic* substances to give them a push. They are not usually comfortable with a softly-softly approach. In the shamanic rituals I have noticed that there can be a proportion of five men to three women participating in the ceremonies. They seem to trust the rituals to help them gain access to the right hemisphere of their brain, the one said to involve the intuitive, feeling and feminine side of a human being.

We are entering the Aquarian age, which is said to be a feminine age, while the Piscean age was considered as the masculine age. The thinking system, at least in the Western society was very much concerned then with linearity and the universal principle of causation. Our technology, materialism and our way of thinking are all based on that principle. The monotheist religions held sway: God out there, the puny human down here. With the Aquarian age, we enter the age of the sphere, the womb, and specially a time of great creativity.

All works of art are based on the principle of correspondence. The painting of a landscape is a reflection not only of the actual scene but also of the consciousness and the sensitivity of the artist through whose prism of perception the scene was apprehended and conveyed. The painting will evoke a certain feeling in the viewers, which will nourish their humanity through their appreciation of beauty. Think of a Rembrandt, or a Turner. The same happens in music, architecture and poetry; the great works of art have the power to shed light on, and nurture our roots. It is that very principle of correspondence which is at the basis of the Metamorphic Technique. It is now taking on a role at the forefront of this age, its dynamism helping our creativity to be more fully released in expression. But for that to happen, we need to be well grounded in our own being, and to start functioning more fully from the standpoint of our own inner authority.

The history of feminism has been well mapped out. The struggles of women in the West to gain independence, the courage to fight against entrenched attitudes, the battles that were won at the price of hardship and defiance of bigoted so-called authorities, all that has fostered a climate of equality unparalleled in the history of mankind.

We are accustomed to looking at history in terms of dates or great upheavals that have left their trace in the human psyche. However, ultimately history cannot be about anything else than the history of consciousness, and the progressive awakening of humanity to unity. The great stepping stones have always been about the new idea of freedom emerging in consciousness and these ideas are grounded in the everyday pursuit of one’s life. There has been throughout history the rise of spiritual bursts or awakenings and cultural changes that have often been brought about by women.

Women have cultivated a few roles over the centuries, such as being mothers of revolution and at the opposite extreme guardians of the status quo. The circle of women that met in the 13th Century, called the Beguines, created the ferment out of which Meister Eckhart took his flight. Change has usually come about from women who have dared to defy tradition. Fairly recently, the individual freedom of a woman has become connected with her sexual awakening.

Is there a more important role for women to play in the transformation of the world? Is it possible to step out of a patriarchal system so that the potential for women and men to be socially and spiritually equal can be brought about? Women’s extraordinary awakening has much too often been followed by their letting go of hard-won liberty and autonomy to go back into traditional ways. However, for the last 40 years, women have been able to take much more control of the way they live their life: free to work or not, to marry or not, to have children or not. But they have carried on using strategies that were necessary to ensure the survival of the human species: one of them is to draw man’s attention to themselves and foster his attention.

Further questions need to be asked. During the post-conception period, when we developed in terms of consciousness our humanity and individuality an important movement took place in the embryo called the proximo-distal development, the nervous system awakening from the centre to the periphery, from the spine to the extremities. However, instead of following that pattern, historically very often the drive for identity of women has been conducted in an opposite way, not from within out but outwardly to within. It has been exemplified in their relationship to children and also with man as protector and provider.

Is it possible for women to stop waiting for definition from men so that they can establish equality in their relationship with them by starting to function from their own centre instead of seeking affirmation from outside? Throughout the process of evolution, in order to survive, women have been obliged to strengthen their ego due to their biological necessity of survival. Is it possible for women to stop waiting consciously or not for something coming from men, such as wholeness and fulfilment? As the ego identity has been very necessary to affirm their place and role in the world, how can women let go of their need for ego without feeling annihilated?

Is it possible for women:

• To enter a new space altogether and to create a new identity without being overwhelmed by the feeling that the passage through the void that this would entail, could destroy them altogether; and
• To let go without fear of the need for a reference point and of their usual image of what it is to be a human being?

In order to create a new field of consciousness, is it possible for women:

• To feel their oneness with the creative intelligence, which has generated the universe, and to let go of their biological, social and psychological conditioning;
• To put aside the constant need for control in order to discover the ground of their being in a type of freedom that encourages dignity and independence of spirit;
• To really embrace the awakening and nurturing of their consciousness within the process of evolution and perhaps revolution;
• To stop the compulsion of competing with other women, which in the past was one of the keys to survival; and
• To evolve new types of relationships through trust, transparency and passion that would allow them to create their future together?

Biological and cultural functioning and conditioning have created a trap where fears and desires reigned supreme. Is it possible to develop an emotional maturity that would counteract the older impulses towards survival? Beyond the needs and the demands that women have used in order to define themselves, is it possible:

• To develop and cultivate the sense of their autonomy and authority based no longer on others’ views but on their own yearning for liberation and their passion for conscious expansion, without falling back into manipulation;
• To free themselves from their identification with their sexual power, so that their relations are no longer the proof of personal success, and
• To enter into deep intimacy with others which is not necessarily connected with sexuality?

It is usual that when there is a deep insight into levels of being tremendous impulses of power come up to the surface. Is it possible that women let go of the false image of themselves that many entertained and embrace vulnerability and authenticity that are not emotional, based upon feeling and humility? Also, can they apply a rigorous examination of their motivation, so as to act with integrity, letting go of pretence and the need to show off?

Throughout history, women along with men have been active in ensuring the rise of consciousness, without necessarily welcoming the responsibility of their choices. Can women stop dismissing their own power by accepting their responsibility to wield it in an enlightened way?

It is said that the Aquarian age is the feminine age. The deepening of the feminine qualities is not a movement concerning women only. To balance the overemphasis given to the masculine throughout the Piscean age, it is vital that the feminine in both women and men come to the forefront and nourish the potential of creativity as deeper levels of consciousness become active. Feminism will have helped give women a greater sense of autonomy. But I feel that there is an urgency to find answers to the questions posed above. The Metamorphic Technique and its unique approach of detachment is a wonderful ground from which the feminine in each of us can exercise its renewing power.

Gaston Saint-Pierre February 2009

*The word refers to a substance which brings about a spiritual experience and enables you to feel the divinity within.