RE:IJSNC, Issue 1, Volume 2, May 2012 - Ocean Seminary College

Restoration Earth: An Interdisciplinary Journal for the Study of Nature & Civilization, 1(2)
other, and reaching out via internet discussions, 11
this is just a beginning as women also need to heal
their relationships with the internalized feminine
and likewise with other women. The desire to
reach out is generally motivated by an image of
women as caring, nurturing and such. It does not
address the deeper power—hidden in the shadowed
inner realms. The power that arises as we
connect with Nature, Mother Earth, will assure the
needed changes.
First, women need to embark on that deeper
journey in order to clear the patriarchal forces
within themselves. This is a necessary step if we are
to free ourselves from interjected and internal destructive
behaviors (Mijares, Rafea, & Angha,
2011). This requires an inner journey—one where
we learn to sense our way through dark emotions
and motivations deep within unconscious realms.
As we become more aware of neurological sensations
and intuitively recognize what is behind
them, we can heal our relationship with our inner
feminine—an awareness that is greatly assisted by
breathing processes (Mijares, 2009).
The interjected patriarchal forces show up as
repressive conditions and internalized voices
within consciousness. For example, an unconscious
masculine part of oneself can demean the
unconscious feminine, causing her to believe, on
an inner level, that she is unworthy or doesn‘t
know what she believes. This then impairs outer
relationships as the woman may project this pattern
on other women in order to feel better about
herself. When this internal programming is recognized
at psychosomatic levels, the pattern can be
changed.
A recent article in Harper’s magazine noted how
generations of feminists have failed to connect
with one another, thereby weakening what each
generation has contributed. According to the research
by its author, each generation tends to emphasize
a different direction, thereby undermining
and criticizing the work before and after, and confusing
definitions of feminine nature (Faludi,
2010). The author’s point was that this was a form
of matricide. As long as there is a psychic split
within the relational feminine, we cannot bring
forth our innate power, this power to move mountains.
We need to reconcile differences, and build
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on one another’s contributions—from Enheduanna’s
stories of Inanna through feminists of all eras
(Dalglish, 2000; Dalglish, 2008), and all those who
work for gender balance.
Generations of women have both held and passed
on an internal psychic split. Given that the mother is
generally the initial relationship, the newborn feminine
self is psychically influenced by the mother’s
experience at a cellular level. Most likely, the imprinted
message from the last five to six thousand
years of patriarchal ideology and behaviors has been
passed on (consciously or unconsciously), the message
that the feminine self is inferior. Also, the
mother has her moods, like the changing moon, as
does Mother Earth Herself, evidenced in storms,
floods, rains and sunny days.
According to psychoanalytical perspectives, an unconscious
split occurs in those who cannot hold the
changes taking place in the mother and/or the environment.
If there is trauma or the mother does not
provide essential nurturing, the split is exacerbated.
Psychoanalysts call this the “good mother”/”bad
mother” split. So this equates to an internalized
“good woman”/”bad woman” split.
In the Introduction to A Force Such as the World Has
Never Known (in press), I wrote how:
One also sees this split encouraged in religious
tales, such as the “virgin” rendition of
the birth of Jesus, similar myths related to
Guatama Buddha’s birth as well as the births
of other historical male figures. The virgin
(which actually means someone who is whole
in herself) is distorted to represent a woman
who is sexless (and whose only role is to be a
“pure” vehicle to birth great men). Other
women then end up holding the projected
opposite—the whore, the bitch, the demon
figure (and in many fairy tales she is also depicted
as the “wicked stepmother”). (Mijares,
Rafea, & Angha, in press)
Consider the numerous women who are unable to
get along with one another. They are acting out these
archetypal influences, diminishing another woman or
negating her accomplishments because of envy and
the deeply felt sense of incompleteness. Many
women dominate or demean others in misbegotten
attempts to feel important. Envy is based on a false
idea of inferiority. Thus “when we are unable to rec-