By: Ruby Gangadharan: Confluence Daily is your daily news source for women in the know.
Only goddesses can get away with being themselves, enjoy the freedom & satisfaction of doing what they do best. No apologies. No judgement.
In the Hindu tradition, there are hundreds of goddesses. They all come from the one supreme feminine energy or Shakti but in their individual manifestations, they are revered and celebrated for specific energies.
Parvathi – for love, fertility and devotion
Durga / Kali – the warrior, the slayer of evil
Bhuvaneshwari – one who provides food for sustenance to humans
Saraswati – for knowledge, wisdom and learning
Lakshmi – for wealth, prosperity and fortune
Sita – for her grace under pressure and a sense of duty above all
Radha – the epitome of a woman in love
Ganga – for being spiritually nourishing and her ability to purify
Aditi – the ruler of past and future
Rati – the ruler of sexual passion
Tara – for her ability to convert human sexuality into spiritual enlightenment
These and other feminine energies are not only revered and celebrated for what they are good at but also play a central role in many a musings. They are respected and treated equal to their masculine counterparts because of it.
Each of them is sort-out for a specific solution to a problem which is in their domain.
We wouldn’t knock on Kali’s door to be blessed with more creative energies. She would turn around and gently say, “Darling, I think you need Saraswati’s house.”
Each of them have their own rituals, preferences, quirks and strengths.
But as a woman, a mere human form, I won’t be afforded these liberties.
Nope. Not one bit.
As a woman, I am expected to harness and be skilled at all the various forms of feminine energies that the universe holds.
I must be kind, devoted, dutiful, fertile, pure, innocent, knowledgeable, creative, graceful, be able to feed and nourish everyone around me, be fierce and strong, soothe the past yet anticipate the future with accuracy, be passionate and enticing, devotional and spiritual.
When I look at this list, I completely understand why we as women so often feel inadequate, exhausted and empty.
Because it’s not enough that we become Goddesses and excel in our strengths but we must become the Supreme Feminine Energy from which all Goddesses are birthed. We must transcend all saints, helpers, angels, goddesses and become Shakti itself!
This is the expectation most women are up against. This is what we are attempting to manifest as our reality. Somehow we’ve bought into and signed up for this task. We spend hours leveling up in all these areas, we sit through multiple workshops and programs, read all the self-help books, spend sleepless nights trying to find the right words to explain why we aren’t all that yet.
I am sure someone can and has written about how this all came about. How we reached this stage where I am expected to be all and do all. But now that I see with clarity what a misguided adventure this is…
So I say to you, no thank you, I am out.
I am not going to buy into this false narrative that crushes my soul. I am not going to play this game anymore.
My soul has taken a physical form to live out a life purpose and a life experience. It isn’t here to showcase and achieve an external standard of what it means to be a woman.
Within me lies a part of the feminine energy. I know it because I feel it move and stir, wanting to express itself.
It is what I bring to the table. It is what I am good at. It is what my life’s path is meant to be.
I must embrace THAT goddesses energy. I must recognize it’s qualities and I must express myself through it, unapologetically.
That is what I am meant to do. That is how I will bring balance and progress into the world.
I must embrace and become the Goddess within me because let’s face it, only Goddesses get a free pass.
More by Ruby:
Ruby is a Spiritualist & Dog lover, Energy Coach & Pranic Healer, Deliberate Creator, Writer & Speaker, Yoga Teacher & Practitioner. A forever creative and her virtual address is www.everydayloamagic.com
