| Western culture is in the midst of a paradigm shift that encompasses all aspects of life, and the future of that life. This shift involves the reemerging feminine archetype, and the need for the integration of feminine and masculine attitudes. The need for integration of the masculine and feminine principles spans personal, cultural, and collective spheres. This research project recognizes the loss of the feminine attitude as a natural consequence of a necessary evolution of consciousness; however, this evolution has resulted in a one-sided patriarchal mind-set which favors the masculine and undervalues the feminine, resulting in their imbalance in all facets of life. The study suggests that numinous experiences, including visions, dreams, and synchronistic events, are vehicles and expressions of the feminine conveying messages alerting the individual or collective to existing imbalances. Furthermore these messengers are autonomous archetypal energies mediated by a transpersonal guide, the Self.;Three visions in which images of the feminine pattern are manifest are explored. The meaning conveyed by the feminine's archetypal presence in these numinous encounters is turned through active imagination, personal reflections, cultural-historical amplification, and archetypal amplification of images. The study traces the feminine pattern's first expressions through her evolution from the ancient goddess culture forward, noting her gradual marginalization and repression, the consequences for Western culture, and the dawning of her reemergence. An assessment of the impact of these factors on clinical and depth psychologies is made. Opportunities presented to these professions via the feminine attitude are explored. |
