The Sacred Masculine

Last Updated Friday, 04 December 2015 12:04

In the last few decades we have started to see a re-awakening of our awareness of the Sacred
Masculine. This consciousness is not confined to men - although men are the group in our
society who are often out-of-touch with their spiritual essence. In the same way that both men
and women have a feminine aspect to their conscious make-up, so too do both genders have a
masculine aspect.

For over two thousand years many cultures have ascribed or assigned the male gender to their
gods. The Divine is most often referred to as 'He'. We have become accustomed to thinking of
God as male. Yet the Divine Feminine has also had a strong presence throughout history. The
Goddess takes many forms and names: Isis, Diana, Gaia, Yin, Hecate, Brigid, Venus, Moon, ...
to name just a few.

This introduction to the Sacred Masculine explores some of the ways in which male spirituality
is now being understood and experienced. In a recent book on the subject, Matthew Fox
asserts: "When the Sacred Masculine is combined with the sacred feminine inside each of us,
we create the 'sacred marriage' of compassion and passion in ourselves."

The Male Journey offers a powerful programme of male initiation and transformative spirituality
for men seeking to heal themselves and become authentic leaders and elders for the next
generation.

The Sacred Masculine is most often presented through archetypes, metaphors and images.
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The Sacred Masculine

Last Updated Friday, 04 December 2015 12:04

Robert Moore and Douglas Gillette were pioneers of the modern-day men's movement. They
identified four classic archetypes of the man in touch with his sacred self, that they named King,
Warrior, Magician and Lover.
- The King archetype is the fully conscious male commanding leadership with respect. He
is associated with authority, order, law and direction. He has two shadow 'wings' identified as
the Tyrant and the Weakling. The immature boy version of the King is the Divine Child that can
also be a child-tyrant or a weakling.
- The Warrior archetype is the holy campaigner or activist. He has courage, persistence
and devotion. He has two shadow aspects of the Sadist and the Masochist. His immature boy
version is the Hero, that can descend into the bully or the coward.
- The Magician archetype is full of consciousness, growth and transformation, often
associated with our 'third eye' of insight and intuition. His shadow side can be exposed as the
Manipulator or the denying Innocent. His immature boy version is the Prococious Child, that
can descend into the trickster or the dummy.
- The Lover archetype is sensual and delightful, appreciating goodness, truth and beauty.
His shadow sides include the Addicted Lover and the Impotent Lover. His immature boy self is
the Oedipal Child, that can descend into mama's boy or the dreamer.

These archetypes are offered as the classic expressions of male figures of sacred spirituality.
In traditional cultures, all four archetypes were found, and all four are needed for balance within
the healthy community. Increasingly, our present-day communities are dominated by men
demonstrating the unhealthy shadow sides of these archetypes. It is interesting to review a
book/film such as Lord of the Rings to see just how these archetypes play out in such clear
roles. Eventually Strider / Aragorn emerges into his true manhood as the fully conscious King of
the third book. Whatwe lack today are real, true King figures. How many can you name that
exhibit the characteristics of the healthy, conscious, self-aware King that includes aspects of at
least one or two other archetypes? Nelson Mandela, Ghandi, Martin Luther King come to mind
... but then we start to struggle.

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The Sacred Masculine

Last Updated Friday, 04 December 2015 12:04

Another pioneer advocate of male spirituality is Fr. Richard Rohr. He argues that one of the
main reasons why male spirituality has become lost is that we no longer initiate adolescent
males into the adult world; the traditional rights-of-passage for manhood have been
abandonned and without this teaching and mentoring, young men have lost touch with their role
and their function.

Rohr charts the male spiritual journey in two halves. The first stage of ascent occupies the
first 40 years of life and involves making and keeping promises to grow. Most of this time is
spend in the Heroic Journey involving idealism, power, potential, love, responsibility, self-control
and sacrifice. This leads to Self-Identity - an awareness of personal boundaries and an
eventual willingness to let go of the self. This progression depends on satisfactory male
initiation as the boy enters manhood. Without such initiation, the Angry Young Man never gets
to experience his own power or goodness satisfactorily, starts to act out negatively, and
becomes the Young Fool.

The second stage of descent starts somewhere between ages 35 and 50 where the
conscious man "needs to rest in God's promises and model the wholeness/holiness for others".
Some men don't develop from Self-Identity and just become the Old Fool. Others do continue
to develop and face the Crisis of Limitation (the mid-life crisis) sensing a loss of inner meaning
and potential failure arising from their own limitations and paradoxes. The heroic virtues don't
work anymore, and humility, honesty and a surrender to God's control start to emerge. Some
men become Embittered: they confront these challenges but without reaching enlightenment or
acceptance. Others enter the Wisom Journey, letting go of their old form with spiritual
guidance, surrender, patience and acceptance; the time of sacrifice is replaced by mercy. The
end of the Wisdom Journey is reached by theHoly Fool - the mellow grandfather able to live
with paradox who returns to simplicity and humanity.

I strongly recommend the Men's Rites of Passage , created by Richard Rohr and others, if you
would like to explore this journey further

Most recently, in 2008, Matthew Fox has created a wonderful exploration and synthesis of
sacred masculinity. He too argues that male spirituality has become hidden and
unacknowledged through fear and disconnection. He seeks to reconnect us with ten powerful
metaphors for the sacred male:
1.

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The Sacred Masculine

Last Updated Friday, 04 December 2015 12:04

Father
Sky
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Some questions for reflection:

1. Which men (living, historical, fictional) present 'models' to you of the good / competent /
respected man?
2. Which are the various archetypes outlined in this article resonate with you?
3. How might you develop aspects of some of the other archetypes in your life?
4. How might aspects of the Divine Feminine and the Sacred Masculine come together in
you, irrespective of your gender or sexuality?

Please contact me , in confidence, if we might work together to explore the Sacred Masculine
further.

Useful resources
Robert Moore and Douglas Gillette: King, Warrior, Magician, Lover
Richard Rohr, From Wild Man to Wise Man
Matthew Fox, The Hidden Spirituality of Men
Richard Rohr, On the Threshold of Transformation
Robert Bly, Iron John: A Book about Men
Bill Plotkin, Soulcraft: Crossing into the Mysteries of Nature and Psyche
The Male Journey
Men's Rites of Passage

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