Feminism is a term coined in 1892, at the first International Women’s Conference in Paris, to promote the advocacy of an ideal – equality of the sexes. Since then, our collective voice gained its strength as we acknowledged the defining similarities that we, as feminists, encountered in our personal experiences.

While we created history – or what I like refer to as herstory – with feet on the ground, others made it their life’s purpose to explore the past.  It is through the remarkable work of those feminist pioneers that we are blessed to understand our true beginnings.

Resurgence of The Goddess

Marjia Gimbutas, an archeologist whose work spanned more than five decades commencing in the 1940’s, was devoted to the study of religious practices in ancient religions.  She bridged the gap (or perhaps I should say hurdled the historical barrier) of patriarchal dominance and warrior-driven behavior to reveal our feminist roots.  Her extensive work is chronicled in her books, including The Civilization of the Goddess and The Language of The Goddess.  I honor her here, as our feminist archeologist of the goddess, for revealing our goddess-centered, matriarchal roots in the similarities of many goddess-oriented, peaceful societies that were buried and preserved in ancient cultural sites throughout the world.

Jean Shinoda Bolen, a psychoanalyst, professor, author and avid modern feminist, is also a Jung analyst.  Through her prolific writing – in particular The Goddess in Everywoman – and her profound observations, she champions the power of myth and archetypal connection. She has given us a road map into our psyches, validated our unformulated questions that craved answers, and invited us to explore what she describes as the progression from myth to archetype to personal psychology. She has enabled me, and many other women of my generation, to gain powerful insights about our goddess within, especially as it relates to our passion for the women’s lib movement.

It was my discovery of these two women, and their work, which allowed me to get in touch with my intuitive sense of that which is innately mine – the gift of the divine feminine. As a result, I recognize and belief that feminism is rooted in that divine feminine.  It is an archetypal call back to the roots of who we are as a human race, to where we find the basis for our universal connectedness to humanity.

The feminists of my generation marched to honor those who paved the way for us.  We marched for our right to equality in the workplace and the home.  And we marched to blaze trails so our daughters and sons could live their dreams. We fought, with resolve rather than guns, for our independence and our right to live our lives as we choose, without patriarchal dominance.

Through our intuitive sense of universal connectedness, we have come upon what I believe is the most important aspect of our feminist journey over the past 100 years – the resurgence of the feminine aspects of unconditional love and compassion that women exemplify as mothers, daughters, sisters, granddaughters and friends. It is in this archetypal and timeless, mythological connection that we are reconnecting to our goddess-centered, matriarchal roots – to a time when peaceful co-existence was a given.