Hi, my loves,
I’ve been on a pursuit of awe as a healing practice that I’ve been sharing about on my passion project site, Belle Awe. Visit HERE to read about that journey. Awe is not just a word in this context, but a practice, a devotion, and a purpose. It has led me across several texts, including the one that I will be sharing with you today.
The Mother archetype has been very prevalent energetically. I have written extensively about the archetype, over the past two years as we experienced astrological transits through Cancer with Mars retrograding from Leo to Cancer from late 2023 into 2024. Now, we are entering another powerful Cancer transit with Jupiter entering Cancer on June 9th. Jupiter is exalted in Cancer, which can create an opportunity for reconnecting to the home, the Mother, and our emotions. Here’s the thing though: Jupiter expands. Whatever is located in the sign or house that Jupiter transits through will be expanded. If the energy is healthy, whole, and expressive, that will grow. If the energy is stagnant, traumatic, or suffocating, it will expand. Jupiter does not discriminate; that is Venus’ job.
I recommend spending time reflecting on the topics of home, ancestors, healing, and the Mother. Let’s talk a little more about the Mother archetype, specifically the devouring Mother.
The Mother is one of the main archetypes or cosmic symbols identified by Carl Jung, but the term has been expounded upon by scholars and authors over time. The Mother as an archetype is present across cultures and time. I always recommend connecting to your heritage and current spaces to identify how archetypes may be specifically showing up in your life. There are many forms that the Mother can take. There is the nurturer, creator, healer, destroyer, transformer, and motivator. The Mother can be all or nothing – a space of infinite possibility.
From archetypes, we find the distortion of our expectations in stereotypes. I wrote about how this shows up for Black women in my piece, Who Names Me? Who Creates Me? Black Women and the Mother Archetype. The expectation that a woman be either very sexual or completely disconnected from their sexuality once they are in the role of mother, either by giving birth, taking on the responsibility of a child, or reaching a certain age. There is the dichotomy of virgin/whore or the triplicity of maiden/mother/crone. Each divides a diverse group of individuals into limited expectations, roles, and mores.
This social stratification of gender, gendered behaviors, and expectations is the very basis for the creation of the shadow or unconscious aspects of the self. The parts of us that do not fit into the limited expectations of our families, social groups, and culture may be pushed down into our unconscious as we attempt to avoid social isolation through becoming more acceptable. This can be a varied experience. You may be expected to be quieter, smaller, smarter, have several children, or perhaps not have any, so you can care for others in your family. Perhaps you are encouraged to excel in school and gain social capital through education or a career. Each person’s experience will be unique to them.
But who creates these expectations? Who decides what roles we should perform?
For the women or fem identified individual, at the macro level we have the archetype of the Mother as discussed previously. At the mezzo level, we have the community individuals who “mother” us. Family, teachers, coaches, and friends fall into this category. Then the immediate reflection of the Mother archetype may be their own Mother or primary feminine presenting caregiver. Whether we receive immediate care and nurturing or experience traumatic circumstances of neglect, socially, there is a lurking image of someone who birthed us. With that image we build ourselves consciously and unconsciously.
Walking the Rose Path of Venus is a process that explores integrating our unconscious aspects. Venus as mother can be found through mythology, art, and history. Aphrodite with her many children through her relationships with various gods, Inanna with her children with Dumuzi, Psyche who births Hedone or Voluptas (Pleasure, Isis and Horus, Mary and Jesus, Mami Wata, Yemaya, Oya, and Coatlique are just a few to consider. We see not only the conscious, but the shadow here. Aphrodite gave Psyche four tasks to complete before considering uniting her with Eros while Psyche was already pregnant with their child. Inanna ventured into the underworld with an understanding that no being returns from there with only a word to send for help if she doesn’t return. Upon finding the location of her buffalo skin, Oya didn’t hesitate to return to her previous life leaving only a horn behind with her children to call her if needed.
The devouring mother is a shadow of the Mother archetype that has been explored by several Jungian theorists and analysts. They explore her as Medusa, who turns us to stone with just a look, freezing our ability to live our lives to the fullest. Marion Woodman explores the shadow of the Mother in her exemplary work Addiction to Perfection. In this text, Woodman explores how the pursuit of perfection can be related to father-identified daughters with complicated relationships with their mothers. All of these examples share how our behaviors and identities are impacted by the Mother archetype. Where we are starving for love, thirsty for spirit, or searching for fulfillment through overconsumption of food, drinks, or items. These theorists and analysts also show us how, through integrating this aspect, we can free the energy trapped within our unconscious, which keeps us locked in patterns over time.
Walking the Rose Path of Venus is a strategy of personal and collective integration. It allows us to explore who we are as complete individuals who then create spaces where others can also be themselves.
I’ll share more about how to utilize the Rose of Venus Path in my upcoming work The Venus Intensive.
With love,
Kamilah Rose