Can Women Save the World?
A Discussion on Archetypal Revelation and Change

Abstract

The Feminine Archetype can guide needed global transformation. Mythologies throughout time note archetypal influences of saviors, heroes, warriors, etc. Humans have historically relied on and turned to saviors in times of need. Patriarchal institutions have attributed these archetypal forces primarily to men. Given this history it is best that we do not project the Savior archetypal complex on women as this would simply be repeating a patriarchal era pattern. The feminine archetype is relational. A relational force is needed to nurture equality of gender, race, religion, and nationality. The necessity for women’s leadership is obvious, but the challenges impacting all life at this time require more than one gender, race, religion, or nationality. Ultimately, everything is related. When women fully embody this relational archetype it will evoke a new era.

Key words:
Feminine, Women, Leadership, Archetype, Nature, Power

You walk upon my paths
and acknowledge my beauty
But you do not know my power—
The power to push forth mountain peaks
And open valleys for oceans to fill.

Mother Nature claimed her feminine power in these words. We do not know this power, but it is time to discover and use what we can, as the need for transformation is immense. This message had risen in response to a creative writing assignment. The course instructor had asked that students spend some time in Nature, and write from the perspective of a tree, rock, stone, or a similar manifestation. I chose to wait until after a sunrise walk in a nearby redwood forest the following morning, as I wanted to allow the words of the Earth Goddess to speak through them—unhampered by my personality and left-brained thinking. As the final line came through, an earthquake started. Later I learned that the epicenter was in that location. The synchronicity affirmed the message (Mijares, 2013; Mijares, 2015; Mijares, et al., 2020).

A few years later I found myself pondering the phrase, “But you do not know my power.” We have been under a limited patriarchal interpretation of power. The image of a power that can move mountains and open space for oceans to flow is immense. There is a strong relationship between Nature and women, and it is time for women to embody it.

French feminist Françoise d’Eaubonne’s (1920-2005) book, Le Féminisme ou la Mort was published in 1974. The term ecofeminism was introduced as d’Eaubonne equated the patriarchal robbing of Nature’s resources with domination over women, making them subservient to men. It took a while for the women’s movement to recognize this dynamic relationship—as well as the need to listen to and learn from Nature. Women and Nature are related. Mother and matter come from the same Latin root word, matr. Many feminists are discovering this truth. Vandana Shiva has been a powerful vocal influence in this area. Mies and Shiva (2014) quoted Ariel Salleh in their Foreword to Ecofeminism, highlighting elements of the feminist movement and relating them to environmental efforts. Salleh wrote about differing feminist models, for example,

Radical feminists highlight the contradictions of women’s everyday experience under masculine domination… spiritual feminists celebrate the liberatory potential of ‘feminine values,’ even as they acknowledge that many such attitudes are historically imposed upon women. Socialist feminists examine the unique form of women’s economic exploitation as unpaid domestic labour in the global market. Liberal feminists simply seek equal opportunities for women, leaving this same capitalist society intact. Poststructural feminists look at how women are socially constructed, and positioned by language in the popular media, literature, religion, law, and so on. (Mies & Shiva, 2014, pp. x-xi)

Mies and Shiva recognized the relevance of the above feminist models but added an environmental focus. Modern humanity has been slow to understand the relationship between gender and Nature, but this awareness is strengthening. Now it is also time for women to recognize and exercise the relational power within them for the sake of all life.

COVID-19 and Nature

Progressive movements have been steady, but many people did not foresee that a viral pandemic would change the world and likewise impact feminist movements. By the end of 2019, the world had learned of a deadly virus in Wuhan, China. Within a very short time it began appearing throughout the world. The consensus is that it originated in bats. It has been established that “Occupational, residential, dietary and environmental exposures to mixtures of synthetic anthropogenic chemicals after World War II have a strong relationship with the increase of chronic diseases, health cost and environmental pollution” (Tsatsakis, et al, 2020, Abstract) and that “Uncontrolled porcine, bat, mouse, bovine, avian and human coronaviruses dispersal can impact both global public health and economic stability” (Introduction). Neglect and maltreatment of the environment is contributing to disease on many levels. There are increasing reports of more virulent viruses emerging alongside COVID-19. In short, human behaviors may well have evoked these new viruses.

Humanity and much of its enterprises have been halted due to the pandemic. This may well be a blessing in disguise, as it calls us back to ourselves and our environment. Nature is, once again, evidencing just who holds the reigns of power for life, wellbeing, and death. This is much bigger than any one gender, race, religion, nationality, cult, or any other human grouping. Although women are vitally impacted by the virus, they are more apt to be doing the caretaking and also to suffer the effects.

In a recent article based on an interview in Time, Melinda Gates writes how “Disease outbreaks always impact women disproportionately, and COVID-19 was unlikely to be the exception. Gender equality advocates began bracing for a catastrophic wave of shadow pandemics” (Gates, 2021, para. 3). Gates asks, “What are these “shadow pandemics”? and then notes that

Violence against women is reaching terrifying heights in country after country. The Malala Fund projects that an additional 20 million girls of secondary school age may never return to the classroom. In low- and middle-income countries, the strain on healthcare systems could lead to 113,000 additional maternal deaths. Here in the U.S., one in four women has already considered downshifting her career or leaving the workforce altogether because of new caregiving responsibilities at home. Meanwhile, all 140,000 of the jobs that disappeared in the U.S. last December belonged to women, most of them women of color. (para. 4)

It is often acknowledged that the majority of nurses and frontline caretakers are women, making them more susceptible to COVID-19 and its new variants. Additionally, they carry the burden of caretaking of families. A lot is being placed on women of all cultures and races, yet one’s economic status has an influence on quality of care as well as recovery (Vivek, 2020). How does this impact the women’s movement and the need for equity in all, if not most, areas of life? Will women be able to change the course to one that’s beneficial for all life? Does this imply that women are the latest saviors of humanity?

Archetypal Influences and the Shadow

We are rarely conscious of the archetypal influences rising from humanity’s collective unconscious, but they’re present throughout most of our stronger passions and goals. We are swayed by heroic actions. Most people are aware of their inner child. At its core, the inner child archetype reflects innocence and the capacity for playfulness. It is relevant that during the last few decades, women have been increasingly depicted in films as embodiments of the warrior archetype, for example, Wonder Woman and Captain Marvel (Mijares, 2013; Mijares, 2020). There are many archetypal influences, but this article focuses on the Shadow, Savior, and Feminine Archetypal influences.

The shadow archetype represents the unknown and undeveloped elements within the human unconscious. The late psychoanalyst Carl Jung believed it was vitally important to first give attention to the shadow, writing that, “One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious. The latter procedure, however, is disagreeable and therefore not popular” (Jung, 1945, para. 335).

Overall, women’s power is hidden in the shadows. When a woman does not recognize her shadow, the tendency is to project it onto other women. Thus, women need to examine how they wield power. They can embody these archetypal forces to empower themselves for the good of all. We can no longer accept limited images of the feminine. New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern exemplified feminine power and compassion (Fifield, 2019) after a Muslim Mosque was attacked, with 51 people fatally shot and 49 injured. Ardern embodied a balance of fierceness and grace as she both confronted the evil and protected the vulnerable. Women can meet the needs for transformation in a troubled world by embodying the energies of power hiding in the darkness, and blending them with the light of caring. First, women need to bring these unrecognized shadow forces into the light of awareness, despite the polarization between the forces of light and darkness, for, “one cannot exist without the other. As the day is incomplete without the night, our humanness is realized through the integration between male and female aspects of the self” (Mijares, et al., 2020, p. 26).

Archetypal Savior

The Savior archetype has been quite influential during the patriarchal paradigm. The savior is a lead figure, an exemplar there to guide and save us from ourselves and the lures of this world. The strongest example of this would be Jesus Christ. In fact, the word Christ (chrīstós Greek means “anointed one,” para. 4) is archetypal by its very nature. Jesus is the earthborn name and Christ is the divine position of being the model of perfection. An Egyptian Sufi friend explained that the Prophet Mohammad, as well, represents the archetype for the perfect human being. Although both of these prophets honored the feminine, as evidenced through their behaviors and the changes they encouraged in their cultures, they were still solely representative of the completed male. The idea that women not be seen as saviors may not be popular with many women leaders and groups, but the women’s movement should not become some sort of theological ideal of women’s superiority. This is simply another version of long-held patriarchal practices. Given the immense challenges humanity is facing, one gender, race, religion, or nation cannot fix these problems on their own. As women face their own shadows, clearing thousands of years of patriarchal influences, they will be able to lead through their caring and relational wisdom.

The Feminine Archetype

The feminine archetype needs to rise from the shadows into the light of the actualized world, to truly transform the ways we relate to one another so we can work together to heal our environment. This transformation needs to happen within women as well as men. This archetype is a potential within men as well. This fierce feminine power can be seen in maternal animals. For example, anyone in their right mind would not attempt to harm a cub of a mother bear. Given that women are the mothers of humanity, we should be feeling this fierceness and be readying to move mountains for the good of all life.

At this evolutionary moment, an inclusive grassroots effort is needed. As we recognize and listen to the wisdom of both the feminine archetype and Gaia, our Mother Earth, the world will change for the better. As women consciously embody the feminine archetype, they will restore a much-needed balance, opening the door to a nurturing and sustainable relationship that includes all life on this shared planet.