In the lands of the universe there is no place
Where She does not manifest Herself…
Compassion wondrous as a great cloud,
Pouring spiritual rain like nectar,
Quenching the flames of distress!

—The Lotus Sutra

The Goddess and the Sacred Feminine—embodiment and reassurance of the possibility of a beneficent universe—are reawakening in the hearts and minds of people throughout the world. This re-emergence coincides with the evolution of movements—climate/environmental, #MeToo/feminist, LGBTQ, human rights, and earth religions to name but a few — that are seeking guidance and inspiration to affirm the interconnectedness and sanctity of life.

Today we see the Sacred Feminine and the fiery Goddesses making their power felt all around the globe, most dramatically with the Goddess Pele of Kilauea, who continues to transform the Big Island. We also see evidence of growing interest in the reemerging Goddess in the Christian Dior fashion house’s licensing of Motherpeace tarot images for their 2017-2018 collection, even covering the exterior of their Paris headquarters with banners of these powerful multicultural Goddesses. Kali, the Hindu goddess of time, change, power, and destruction, was displayed on the façade of the Empire State Building in 2015.

Not only are women rising all over the world, they are joined by fathers, husbands, brothers, and friends who are also exploring their divine aspects and committing to honoring the great range of human diversity to help heal the world and ensure the continuation of life on Earth. The true nature of the Goddess is the Life Force. She is not simply a female version of an external remote deity — she is each of us and all of life — she is love combined with power, creating the potential for a more powerful love and a more loving power. The unity of birth, growth, death, and rebirth are the basis of the Goddess’s teachings. She is creation, transformation, and celebration.

One of our challenges today is how to simultaneously be present to what is going on in our world, keep our hearts open, and act from love. We all wish the world were not suffering so much and yet this is a time of monumental change. For the survival of our planet, our own species, and all beings, we are called upon to grow beyond our individual selves and unite in oneness. We are called to become our wisest, most loving and courageous selves, to expand even more our limited sense of self, beyond our egos and attachments into wholeness.

And so we are here — giving, loving, healing, reweaving — working to restore the world to its natural state of harmony and balance. We are people of all races, genders, classes, and religions who aspire to be what the ancient Daoists called “true humans.” And how do we become true humans? Part of the path involves bringing ourselves back into balance, reclaiming the lost feminine deep within ourselves, and sharing that wisdom and power with the world.

One of the best ways I know to do this is to contemplate gifts of art, myth, and music, receiving messages from our global family — especially those who know the Sacred Feminine, along with the Divine Masculine, and see them all as human first. To become whole, we must shine light on and celebrate that which has been denied and suppressed.

Images speak to our hearts and our guts, and can free our psyches if we carefully choose which images we surround ourselves with. This is a crucial time of transformation and we must ingest and share what nourishes all of us and helps us grow. A powerful way to counteract disempowering images is to look at art of the Sacred Feminine, which encourages reverence for life and awe at the mystery of creation.

I invite you to receive these messages from near and far away in time and space. Gaze on these images, live with them, sing their songs and praises, tell their stories and wait; wait and see what inspiration they have for you, right now, today.

Let us hear the myths, create new ones, and meditate on what the Sacred Feminine means for us today. The rising Goddess may offer us all what we most need — balance.

Hallie Iglehart Austen is a Mill Valley author and ocean activist who created The Heart of the Goddess: Art, Myth, and Meditations of the World’s Sacred Feminine (Monkfish Publishing) with the aim of helping to midwife the rebirth—in the hope that it will be a source of inspiration in our personal, collective, and planetary healing. HeartGoddess.net