Mystic and author Lucia Rene’, in her brilliant book promoting self-awareness and change, Unplugging the Patriarchy, reports that Mysticism is the study of power.  She says power usually has a negative connotation for most people, because we associate it with abuse of power.  Really, she says, “Power is neither good nor bad; it is simply energy.”  Her contention is that the root cause of our worldly problems is an imbalance between masculine and feminine energy. 

Finding a balance between male and female energies, she offers, is one of our greatest human tasks.  It involves balancing the energy between males and females, as well as balancing the male and female energies within ourselves.  As part of this process, Rene’ offers two different kinds of energy for the women’s empowerment:  the Lunar Feminine and the Solar Feminine.

The “Lunar Feminine” is the yin energy which we usually associate with women.  It involves gentleness, receptivity and nurturing.  The power that is in this energy is its origin in our heart, which infuses each of these activities with love, the basic energy of our world and our universe.

The “Solar Feminine” is the yang energy that is often associated with men.  For true inner balance, we also need to develop the qualities of strength, passion, creativity and action. 

According to Rene’, the Patriarchy (masculine energy) that has predominated on the earth for the past 2500 years, has not rewarded women for asserting their solar qualities.  Now, however, is the time.  Both Lunar and Solar qualities are part of us as women (men also have both).  Now is the time for us to focus on and develop the Solar qualities, so that we balance the masculine and feminine energies within ourselves.

Reading this allowed me to breathe a sigh of relief!  Since the age of 30, I have been unfolding my own empowerment.  And it has taken the form of the Solar Feminine.  It’s been difficult for me to find a lot of women who have also developed their Solar Feminine aspects of strength, passion, creativity and action, leaving me sometimes feeling unusual, even lonely.  Only recently have I decided to also develop more of the Lunar Feminine characteristics in myself.  My dear friend, Deki Fox, has been my mentor in this attempt.  She, it seems, has developed more of the Lunar Feminine and now wants to uncover more Solar Feminine!

It makes sense that we should begin a new radio program, Taking My Turn, through which we dedicate ourselves to “awakening the powerful feminine spirit within our human experience”!  Aired over The Women’s Information Network (www.thewinonline.com), we join with other radio hosts and women around the world to awaken, deepen and enjoy the powerful feminine, both Solar and Lunar. Our ultimate aim is to help women everywhere bring the male and female energy aspects of themselves into balance, preparing themselves for the New Age, and living an energized, powerful, loving and joyful life right now!

©  Ilene Dillon, M.S.W., El Sobrante, California, March 2010