“Gather the women” is a message from mother archetype, mother Earth, mother instinct, Mother Goddess, the Sacred Feminine. Suppression of the feminine principle is taking life on the planet to the brink. Terrorism, wars, and the proliferation of nuclear weapons, global warming and deterioration of the environment; domestic violence, trafficking of women and girls, and children who are traumatized and dying of preventable diseases are the toxic symptoms. “Gather the Women” is a call from the Sacred Feminine to bring the feminine principle into consciousness and peace into the culture, to be a critical mass, a tipping point–the metaphoric millionth circle.
This is not about replacing patriarchy with matriarchy. Women can be as predominated and as unempathic as men as a gender are thought to be, and there are many men who are nurturing and empathic as women are thought to be. This is an acknowledgment that women as a gender–as a whole, not every woman, but women generally–have a wisdom that is needed to save the world. Compassionate activism can also be an individuation call, a response from within to become involved in the world.
Urgent Message From Mother is Jean Shinoda Bolen’s newest book, to be published in September, just weeks before this lecture.