Whether you have ever physically given birth to a human being or not, you embody the mother archetype as creatrix and giver of life. The feminine body is the portal through which all humans emerge, and as such, it is a powerful conduit for anything you wish to create in your experience. The maternal face of the goddess reminds us too that not only can we create life inside of our bodies, but we can feed and nurture that new creation once it has made its way into the world.
This may be the very thing that provoked fear in the ancients and caused them to keep women submissive. She bleeds and does not die? She grows a human being inside of her and then feeds that creation with the milk from her own body? That’s powerful – and scary.
Using the lens of the mother archetype, you can apply those same ideas to anything that you wish to create in your life. You can envision planting the seed in the darkness of your womb, nurturing it through your spiritual practices, and then feeding it once you have birthed it. Spending a few minutes to really take that in should make you feel like anything is possible. If your body was designed to create something as complex as a human being, what else are you capable of creating?
But like all the archetypes we will be exploring in this blog, the mother archetype has her shadow side. She can give to the point of exhaustion, nurture until she is overwhelmed and become the ultimate martyr, trapped in the life that she herself created. If she doesn’t receive the love and appreciation she feels she deserves, she can feel disillusioned and disappointed. In the process, she can lose her own sense of self and self-worth, living for others and no longer having an identity of her own.
Once the time comes to release those she loves into the world, she may no longer feel a sense of purpose in life, something we commonly define as the empty nest syndrome. If we still have a partner when the children leave, we may begin to treat that person like a child and lose connection with the sensual aspects of that relationship. These disempowering feelings can then manifest physically in lack of sexual desire and numbness.
One way we can find balance in our mother archetype is by tapping into our sacred sexuality and embracing our fertile nature. We can also remember to love and care for ourselves just as we love and care for others. These practices can shine a spotlight on the shadow, causing it to vanish and leaving room to fully embody the archetype’s positive aspects. So remember that you do have the capacity to birth new creations into your life and the lives of those you love. You just have to remember your power.
As we will do in each ensuing month, we will wrap up Month Two by reflecting on both the shadow and the light of this archetype so we can be open to every face of the goddess.
Shadow: Self-sacrifice, over giving, feeling trapped, martyrdom.
Light: Conceiving, creating, nurturing, providing an environment where others flourish, and thrive
Sacred Circle Retreats 