PLEASE NOTE: Each of us has both masculine and feminine energies, whatever our gender. However, for purposes of this webpost, I will use men as my example of the masculine energy. For the word “man” you can read “male\animus energy.”
In positive manifestation, masculine means tolerant, patient and accommodating. The fundamental masculine quality is immovability and bluntness. Men may have the wisdom to know what is happening, whether just or unjust, good or bad, negative or positive, and to just let things be as they are. Masculine energy is also known for loyalty, reliability, and the ability to join in groups to achieve common goals. It is culturally associated with politics, institutions and traditions. <source: Judith Simmer-Brown, “Pure Passion”, Shambhala Sun, July 1999. Click here to read full article.>
But there are times when “to just let things be as they are,” as mentioned above, arises from fear of hearing something you’d rather not hear, or having to express feelings you’d rather not express, not from a positive application of the masculine principle. On this negative manifestation of male energy, Judith Simmer-Brown comments:
On the other hand, masculine energy can be too accommodating, even lazy, and tends to be dull and oblivious. Without the stimulation of feminine wisdom the masculine can go to sleep or be lulled into merely habitual routines…. Click here to read full article. <source: Judith Simmer-Brown, Pure Passion>
While growing up, I was somewhat of a “daddy’s girl” and wanted to know that he was there for me. Like many men in my experience, Dad didn’t have a great deal of enthusiasm for expresing feelings. Or talking about personal problems.
At the age of 21, while walking along the white sands of Fort Myers Beach, Florida at Christmas, I told him I felt that he didn’t support me. He was surprised. By “unsupportive” I meant that he didn’t initiate a discussion of matters that concerned me. He could sense that there were areas of my life with which I wasn’t pleased, or about which I might be troubled. But he “just let things be as they are.” As a result, I didn’t initiate discussions with him because I felt he didn’t want to hear or talk about these matters. I interpreted this lack of meaningful communication to mean that he was uninterested. Once he understood how I saw his silence, he broached topics that he thought may concern me without waiting for me to initiate conversation.
For my father to think that he knew what I was concerned about and therefore didn’t have to talk to me about them, was, to me, an intellectualization. I believe that the purpose can be to avoid the expression of our genuine feelings vis-a-vis significant others, in this case, daughters\women. Intellectualizing feelings, because the male energy thinks it that it knows all the answers or that the expression of feelings is really not important, can shut the door on important aspects of relationships that are significant to us.
Here is a pictorial representation of the negative male energy:
<The Son of Swords card in the Motherpeace Tarot deck represents the negative male energy. It) implies that you are approaching your goals in an overly rational way. The thoughts that determine your movements are like words cutting you off from the nourishment you need to sustain life. The cold logic of your ego is about to strangle the dove of your heart. You need to soften and remember that you are not functioning in a vacuum. Let go of the false sense of isolation you feel and connect to the rest of life….you need to stop thinking and get down to feeling. <source: Motherpeace: A Way to the Goddess through Myth, art and Tarot by Vicki Noble>
