The Pythagoreans considered numbers to be co-existent qualitative dimensions of reality, rather than distinct sequential units of quantitative measurement that we understand them to be today. In my book, Astrology and the Archetypal Power of Numbers: A Contemporary Reformulation of Pythagorean Number Theory, I consider the spiritual psychology of each of these dimensions – which I call the Number Realms. In the following blog series, taken from Chapter Two of my book, I explore the Realm of Two.
This is Part 8 of an 11-Part Series
The entire Introduction can be read
as a prelude to this series here.
Previous posts in this series include:
Consciousness as a Play of Opposites
Two As the Embodiment of the Shadow
Two as the Gateway to the Fall
The Two as the Embodiment of Feminine Power
The Ambivalent Journey Through the Two Back to the One
Our Collective Need for the Balancing Medicine of the Feminine
Aside from the politics of inequality, in which women are treated unfairly, we pay a steep price spiritually for our ambivalence toward the Feminine. This temporary life we live as spirits housed in bodies is a dance of balance between the Masculine and the Feminine – each of which is necessary if the dance is not to be a blind stumble back into the Abyss. The Masculine is not the sole prerogative of men, nor is the Feminine a possession only of women. Quite the contrary, life requires us to embrace and integrate both, regardless of our physical gender. This integration – called the hieros gamos by Jung – is a necessary dimension of the quest for Wholeness, which is another word for the Pythagorean desire for a Return to the One. The Return does not happen, except through hieros gamos – through an integration of the Masculine and the Feminine. Given the continuing dominance of the Masculine within contemporary society, hieros gamos necessarily means making a larger space for a re-integration of Feminine values.
Re-integration of the Feminine does not just mean an affirmation of women’s rights, nor does it mean the return to a matriarchal society. It requires a much more fundamental shift in consciousness than that, toward a culture of true equality, in which an awareness that the “the roots of all living things are tied together” (Joan Halifax, The Fruitful Darkness: Reconnecting With the Body of the Earth, New York, NY: Harper Collins, 1993, p. 137) serves as the basis for every decision we make – as a culture, as a political body, as a global society. Within the Realm of Two, we must find a more humble place within the natural order, where our presence contributes not just to our own well-being, but to the well-being of every other life form with whom we share this planet.
The Masculine seeks to dominate, and according to this rule, we have assumed dominion over the Earth – forgetting how much more durable the Earth is than we are. We cavalierly raze forests that are older than us, older than the most ancient ancestor we could possible claim relation to. We blast through mountains that pre-date the human species as though they were put there just to challenge our technological prowess. Harvard biologist Edward O. Wilson estimates that by the year 2100, half of all plant and animal species on the planet will be gone (Whitty 38). Global warming; toxic chemicals in our air, food and water; the litany goes on and on. All in a day’s work for the unbridled Masculine.
Care of the Feminine requires us to realize that whatever damage we do to the Earth we do to ourselves. Her roots and ours are inextricably bound. In the end, it is we who will suffer, our children and our children’s children. Future generations will live in a world that no longer quite so easily supports or sustains human life. Some may die prematurely. Many will become sick, with weakened immune systems, diminished capacity to procreate, no air to breathe that is not contaminated, no food to eat that is not toxic, no water to drink that has not been polluted. It is already starting to happen.
The only antidote to such a future is to create a balanced culture in which both sides of the polarity are honored – the Masculine drive toward meaningful progress and the Feminine capacity for caring about how that progress affects our culture, our children, and the larger web of life on which we depend for our survival and quality of life. At various times in our history, we have reached for equality, though within the last 25 years or so, we have gotten severely out of balance. We seem to care less as a culture than we did a short time ago. In this age of austere budget cuts for social welfare programs counterbalanced by bloated military spending, caring itself is often seen as a sign of weakness – as an antiquated vestige of liberalism. This is a dishonoring of the Feminine, and women in power are no less at fault than men. What must change is not so much the percentage of women who are given the opportunity to rise to the top, but the culture in which that opportunity is given. This requires a massive collective shift in consciousness, within the Realm of Two, from an attitude of inequality to one of equality.
If you find the ideas presented in this blog series intriquing and want to read the whole story, you can buy Astrology and the Archetypal Power of Numbers, Part One here.
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