A Woman Honoring Her Spirit
Originally published in Women's LifeStyle, May 2004

For almost a century, women’s lives have been dramatically changing, and their spiritual lives are no exception. In churches and temples, fields and sacred places worldwide, women are finding themselves searching for a spiritual life that fits who they are today.

The women’s spirituality movement, seen by some as a “new” movement, is hallmarked by the longing for a deeply felt experience of the divine, or God. In actuality, it is not a new movement at all, but the same movement in new clothing that women have been connected to since time immemorial. It encourages us to ask the question: How can we experience the sacred in our everyday lives? This movement feels new to many of us because it may not be taking place within the boundaries of the established religious structures we are familiar with. Instead, the Women’s Spirituality movement seeks to carve out its own broad path, encouraging women to embrace their connection with the divine wherever and however it shows up. From the boardroom to the bedroom, from the temple steps to the steps of Machu Pichu, all are honored as valid ways for women to connect with their Source.

Joan Borysenko, Ph.D. writes of this journey that many women today are taking to seek out a religion, or religious practices, that deeply nourish and support who they are. In her profoundly enriching book, A Woman’s Journey to God, she describes a “dryness of the heart,” which seems to catapult a woman into an inner journey. She goes on to explain that “Women are inherently mystical, that is we tend to experience direct connection with the Divine. Life and spirituality are the same.” What we seem to be longing and searching for is an experience of God which makes sense to us, honors us as women, understands the rhythms and seasons of our lives, and in many cases, a God who looks like us.

A God who looks like us? What does that mean? As the women’s movement has come into full fruition with equity at its core, the same request is also being made of organized religion. The call has gone out to incorporate inclusive language (God as He and She), to ordain women, and to explore what many refer to as “the feminine face of God.”

Feminist spirituality is quite different from the spirituality of other foremothers. Borysenko explains, “Many women are tired of repenting for Eve’s sins and are ready to reclaim the energy that has been lost to spiritual traditions.” As a result, many women have gone outside of the traditional religions of their childhoods to find a “new” way to relate to God which is friendly, affirming, rich and deeply meaningful from a woman’s perspective. This can take as many forms as there are shoes in our closets. The form doesn’t seem to matter. What does seem to matter, as Borysenko points out, is that “Women are reinventing religion from the inside out.”

The God that is related to through women’s spirituality is, indeed, a God with a new persona. The divine wears other hats besides that of the traditional Western view of “God as Father.” Women may speak of God as “Father/Mother” or as Friend; Infinite Mystery; Universal Truth or Wisdom; Divine Beloved; Consciousness. What this does is allow women to explore a bigger version of a supreme being that encompasses feminine characteristics—characteristics that we as women know very well. These characteristics are: wholeness, healing, love, compassion, receptivity, connection, brother/sisterhood, intimacy, nurturing, peace. They are characteristics of the feminine.

As women explore new faces of God, they embark on a journey to their inner selves, where wounds of old can be healed and where new frontiers of faith can expand. As our perceptions of the Divine change, so do we. In The Feminine Face of God, Joan Borysenko emphasizes that this spiritual journey for women is vitally important to our total well-being. She wisely shares, “We can have a relationship to God only in proportion to the relationship we have with ourselves.” In other words, if our relationship with ourselves is shallow, our relationship with the Divine will be shallow as well. If it is expansive and rich, the same applies.

When we begin to feel a dryness of heart it is a call—a call from above to look within and explore our inner life. How that shows up is up to us. As women, we do have the freedom to follow our spirit wherever it takes us. It requires only courage to take that first step and ask, “What is it that my spirit longs for?” Maybe you’ll find yourself trekking up a mountainside in Tibet. Perhaps you’ll dance in a meadow under a new moon. Or maybe you’ll kneel at the altar of your childhood church and bow your head in prayer.

Whatever is whispering to your heart, listen, pay heed. It is your spirit calling you home.