Female and Male Principles
"When we speak of “female principle” or energy and “male principle” or energy, it has nothing to do with one’s physical gender. We are referring to a type of energy. All people, men and women, have both “male” and “female” energy within. If we did not, we would be so unbalanced we would not be able to function on a day to day basis. Call it Yin and Yang, if you like. It is only because the woman’s body is the living symbol of the Goddess who gives birth, that the woman takes the role of High Priestess and represents the Goddess in a ritual circle. The patriarchal obsession with who is on top, who decides for the others, has no place in our tradition. In our McFarland Dianic Path, males are welcomed members, yet there is a need to release the common “take charge” attitude that is often expected of men in our culture. In ritual matters, the High Priestess, as a representative of the Goddess, rules supreme. The High Priest, as the representative of Her Son and Consort, functions to assist, protect, and serve the coven. Outside the ritual circle, all coveners are equal and most group decisions are made on a consensual basis. "Consensual" means that all decisions that affect one person or more in ritual matters must be agreed upon by all. This means any one person has the same responsibility as any other. There is sometimes a sense of frustration if one cannot directly influence the decisions of others by force of will. Women will sometimes sense this as well. In action our persuasive powers come into play, and we must reveal our true selves if we will be honest. How can the allowance of personal innovation and consensual decision making be described or taught if we do not release our instinctual desire to control others, based upon the belief that we are powerless? We must give up something in order to give space for something new, opening our hands to let drop whatever binds us and accepting the unlimited energy within us." All High Priestesses are autonomous."
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Famous quotes containing the words female, male and/or principles:
“What I expect from my male friends is that they are polite and clean. What I expect from my female friends is unconditional love, the ability to finish my sentences for me when I am sobbing, a complete and total willingness to pour their hearts out to me, and the ability to tell me why the meat thermometer isn’t supposed to touch the bone.”
—Anna Quindlen (20th century)
“I want you to consider this distinction as you go forward in life. Being male is not enough; being a man is a right to be earned and an honor to be cherished. I cannot tell you how to earn that right or deserve that honor. . . but I can tell you that the formation of your manhood must be a conscious act governed by the highest vision of the man you want to be.”
—Kent Nerburn (20th century)
“Struggle is the father of all things.... It is not by the principles of humanity that man lives or is able to preserve himself above the animal world, but solely by means of the most brutal struggle.”
—Adolf Hitler (1889–1945)