To Hold Hands and Dance

I feel the duality of form, of Self; this is how we experience the manifest world. I feel and know the dark and light, so why not embrace the masculine as well as the feminine for both are beautiful and provide all that sustains and resides within.

Yet I feel a resistance to that which has been glorified in the name of the masculine - the war and bloodshed and violence and dominance. Conversely, I know a strength and passion and outer world determination that is necessary and beautiful. I feel there is a grace and a peace that can be known in the masculine. But the duality must become One, comfortable each in the other, honoring of all qualities without fear or loss of sense of self.

I know that the Infinite has no gender, I feel this on a level that goes far beyond thought. I look to this Source of Infinite Wisdom when I am torn or when I feel pulled too far in one direction, feeling the rising tide of judgment that can sweep up and over me in the face of an overwhelming masculine energy. Yet for too many years the masculine has been elevated and the feminine denigrated, I have felt and seen this in my own life and in past lives and see it erupting even out of the feminine like boils, bubbling, raging, seeking escape from the tight skin of over-culture.

Yet this is not The Way for it can never serve or resolve other than through destruction.

Is it possible to take the masculine by the hand and share the grace of nurturance? Shall we hold hands and dance our energies together, twirling upon the wondrous carpets of Mother Earth, raising our joined hands in the luminous love of Grandmother Moon, sit together in the moist dark caves of compassion to hear the voice of the One beyond our meager understanding?

When I feel fear of the masculine within, can I reach out my hand in peace and ask for his touch to be gentle, kind and loving?

We stand back-to-back, protecting each other, sharing our strengths, feeling the energies of our spines connecting and entwining; two serpents writhing as One to become stronger and more stable. Our backs together, we connect without fear of losing our identity yet able to feel the other. Facing outward , we can see all and know the needs of others and Self that are ever manifest in the world we experience. There will come a time when we can turn inward, to face each other fully, no fear, and move together, merge as One.

For now, I am content to hold hands, like a courtship of old, we make tentative gestures to become better acquainted, a delicate dance guided by the wisdom of the elders, entailing mutual respect. I honor the qualities of both as we renew our innate connection. The steps are slow, the process intimate yet allows space. We dance together and separate within a new energy field, a little unsure yet bound by a light of love that neither wants to abandon. I feel the dance within and the fear recedes. We hold hands and learn to grow and Be together in love.

In this way, we grow old together, masculine and feminine, becoming wise, sharing Self and world in harmony -- the Dance of Life as it can be.

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SoulCards® Deborah Koff-Chapin, Center for Touch Drawing