The Changing Face of the Sacred Feminine

Definition of the The Sacred Feminine & its Control by Other people that are not so Sacred!

Throughout my life, I have always felt the need to promote the sacred feminine.  I do not feel that one sex is any better than the other but as I grew up I realised that the masculine in our society in some places appeared more revered than that of the feminine and so this need is to basically to balance things up from my own perspective.  Even in this day and age I still see that a vast number of different types of people that prefer male babies, revere masculine ideals, follow chauvinistic concepts such as the woman's place is in the home & that a man has a "right" to have sex with every woman when he does not.  I find this revolting, I always have done & it is difficult to accept.  This transgression against the feminine can go from mass rape & murder of women and children to abuse in religion to controlling what women wear & do.  
There have been many different reports regarding the abuse of children and women in certain religions, it is not just one religion & it is a repulsive reminder that many people use the Church for their own personal power.  The reason these people do is deplorable and never anything to do with any of the spiritual tenets.  It astonishes & horrifies me how religious organistions harbour criminals, silencing the already-scared victims & appear to whole-heartily support the offender.  This behaviour is inexcusable but still it seems to continue as if it is "normal."

Regarding what clothes women and girls wear, many people would think of the Burka worn by Muslim women which may be worn either by the woman's or by male choice.  However, this level of control is also applicable in the west & there have been some reports of girls at college being excluded for what they have worn rather than boys being taught that it is their responsibility to control their sexual urges.  A woman should be able to wear what she wants, it should not matter to the male sex because self-control is all & necessary.

It is laughable in this day and age that there are still small-minded people that cannot see this larger truth, that it is down to us as parents to teach our children this fundamental but rather basic concept.  Some of this problem can stem from some religious ideas, fundamentalism in whatever form is ugly and has nothing to do with faith and has everything to do with control over everyone else except yourself.  Sometimes conditioning comes into play, I personally do not know one man that will happily clean the toilet as this is viewed as women's work - even if both partners work, in a heterosexual relationship women do tend to clean the loo!  In addition, there are still some men in this world that believe a woman is a possession whether within or outside any form of relationship.  In some places of the world women and children are raped on a daily basis & they have no rights regarding either the rape, their bodies or the termination of any pregnancy & some die shortly afterwards.  Even Universities in the west are not safe from sexual assault and there have been many reports where sexual harassment, assault and rape has increased but has not been recorded, reported to the authorities so the crime is unpunished.

Yet "Ownership" can go the other way, In some parts of the USA there are the Purity Balls where a daughter promises her father that she will remain a virgin until she is married and her father promises her that he will protect her mind, body and soul so that she DOES remain chaste.  I do not see any teenage males at these affairs, it is all teenage girls and the fact that they are promising their fathers that they will remain chaste until after marriage is not healthy.  Again it this is all about control, nobody has the right to call their child or their sexuality a possession, she has a right to explore it under her own terms when that time is right & does Daddy also choose his daughter's husband as well?   For a young woman to grow and develop having control over their own sex life is all important.  Once she is at an age where sexual intercourse is possible it should be her choice who she sleeps with, not the boy who shows no self-control when viewing her in class or anywhere else, not a controlling & over-protective father and not anyone else.

Lightbringer Series - 
Illumination from the Depths - Rebirth Trac Davies© .

In the 1980's I became a feminist & I have watched how it has changed over the years along with the concept of what  equal rights mean.  At present there are issues because feminism, which is a basic right to equality between the sexes is parodied and placed into a stereotypical box, turned into something that it never was  & thus the culture of controlling equal rights is targeted.  However, feminism in 2015 has both more female and male supporters than in did in the 1980's & all state inequality that they have had to deal with either on a daily basis or in certain situations.  Sometimes the inequality concerns those that have certain viewpoints of what men and women should be, sometimes it is to do with abusive issues either in relationships or with bullying, sometimes it involves  transgender people.  Many are exploring Transgenderism much more openly & gender is no longer viewed as clear cut as it once appeared.  There have been children who insist from a very early age that they are not what they were born as & are unhappy if forced to remain as this sex.  In addition, many adults of both sexes do not feel the same restrictions upon their gender as they did in their own childhoods.  So feminism now covers equality for everyone, whatever sex they feel themselves to be.

Lightbringer - Trac Davies©

My point now is that we all sacred, whatever sex we choose to be and that we all deserve respect and equality.  This is something that I have discussed before but there seems to be a culture where some people are treating other people and animals as things.  This is where the true evil lies, we are not things, we are living, feeling beings, we are not here for anyone's entertainment, we are not here to be used, or told who we are and what we should be.  I feel very strongly about this, I dismiss the toxicity of those that feel people should be straight-jacketed, that they should be what they are, that they should be "normal".  who has the right to say what "normal" is, who would really know?  Those that gossip and slander others should know better than to do this, it is a deep toxic pit, a trap of their own psyche, not of anyone that they are discussing & they will drown in their own toxicity and deserve everyones pity.  

 
Please be patient, I'm rebranding. 

My work can also be viewed at:

https://www.etsy.com/shop/TracDaviesArtist
http://www.redbubble.com/people/tracdavies
http://tracdavies.deviantart.com/   
http://www.zazzle.co.uk/tracdaviesartist 
https://www.facebook.com/TracDaviesArtist
https://twitter.com/tracdavies
https://www.instagram.com/tracdavies/

Some links I have included that are examples of what I have discussed in this blog:

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catholic_Church_sexual_abuse_cases

 http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/exjehovahs-witness-schoolgirl-exposes-organisation-as-a-religion-that-destroys-lives-10273064.html

 http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/canadian-student-given-detention-over-inappropriate-dress-attacks-discrimination-against-womens-bodies-in-facebook-post-10249023.html

  http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/stepfather-arrested-in-pregnant-10yearold-rape-case-1023http://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/higher/britains-elite-universities-dont-fully-record-allegations-of-rape-or-sexual-assault-10274020.html9112.html

  http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/isis-burns-woman-alive-for-refusing-to-engage-in-extreme-sex-act-un-says-10272832.html

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purity_ball
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_gender
 http://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2014/sep/23/media-transgender-people-bbc-radio-one
 http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/may/25/transgender-children-gender-identity-bigots-media

The Watchtowers - The Watchtower of the West.

The Watch Tower of the West - Or how mere mortals feel the Call or the intense pull from; *That feeling we get when we look to the west.*

 

The Watchtower of the West was the first in this series of four.  I completed this painting in July 2010 & it is the one Watchtower that most calls to me, pulling both heart and soul towards the place I have painted.  
I first envisioned this painting when completing the Flight of the Hamsters & was going to call it The Eye of the Needle.  However, when I started the painting, I kept thinking that the 'needle' looked like an elemental being & decided against calling it by its original name because it didn't fit the painting.  I realised that it reminded me of one of the Watchtowers of Paganism, thus the Watchtower of the West was born. 

In Paganism, Watchtowers are the Spirit Guardians of the four cardinal points, although some believe that they are the abodes of the Guardians.  I have included a link to Wikipedia for a further, more thorough explanation of the Watchtowers, for there are many versions of what they are but Goddesses, Gods, spirits, animals and angels have been Watchtowers for the cardinal points. 

Westwards always speaks of the sea to me, of rocky shores, of coastal paths, of arches in cliffs but there is also a feel of travel with the western watchtower.  Of journeys that have started or ended, of ones that are being undertaken, of outer and inner journeys, of the shamanic or spiritual path.  The West to me also lingers in echos of freedom and spirit.  

I have various feelings about the cardinal points, for instance the South is heat, fire, energy etc; but I have always felt the pull of attraction West.  Perhaps human beings are much like homing pigeons in that they hear or feel the magnetic fields & physically navigate towards where their heart & soul feels it should go.

The Watchtower of the West - Trac Davies© .

Every journey, whether internal or external needs a guardian but the Western Watchtower is disguised as a pinnacle of rock. This elemental being always feels female to me but that could be because I painted it & am one myself. Her "arms" are in a somewhat protective position, which is indicative of self-protection, which in any journey we need to have, but they also look like they have something in them. This "something" is the secret of success for each person that looks upon the Western Watchtower and so what she hides is secret but personal to each person. The Watchtower is camouflaged and has algae on it so to a casual observer looks like a craggy needle but her "needle's", ever-open eye sees everything but she is silent, says nothing and keeps your secrets and is watchful over you on whatever journey you are on.

This Watchtower, if one looks into the distance, faces a corresponding pinnacle.  This pinnacle will be the total opposite,  a male to her female for example, thus depicting balance & equality but it also serves another purpose.  It is a natural gateway for travellers to depart and return through.  The sea is choppy for no journey in life is ever completely smooth and if one is you can expect a rougher time of it with the return or next voyage for circumstances, like the sea are in perpetual change.  

The archway signifies different dimensions, these could be a different place or mind set, but it also signifies permanence.  When we travel to different places in body, mind and soul, we travel through permanence.  The Western Watchtower and her counterpart are indicative of this but so is the archway & the cliffs.  Different states of being are birthed from actual conditions that we live in, our body houses mind and soul but it has to experience the permanence of this world before any changes to the inner or outer states can occur.

My work can also be viewed at:

 

http://www.artfinder.com/trac-davies
https://www.etsy.com/shop/TracDaviesArtist
http://www.redbubble.com/people/tracdavies
http://tracdavies.deviantart.com/   
http://www.zazzle.co.uk/tracdaviesartist 
https://www.facebook.com/TracDaviesArtist
https://twitter.com/tracdavies
https://www.tsu.co/TracDaviesArtist

*Taken from: Stairway to Heaven - Led Zeppelin

Link to explain Watchtowers: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watchtower_%28magic%29
Link to explain Homing Pigeons & Magnetoreception: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetoception

Trac Davies - Artist ©