Now that We’ve Awakened the Goddess, Are Men Allowed to Be Gods?

Scrolling through my Facebook feed on any given day yields loads of articles, memes, and lengthy posts about all things Goddess. Awaken your inner goddess! Stay wild! The Goddess is rising! I walk the priestess path! I only roll with goddesses! A photo of some bohemian-styled white chick skipping through a wheat field or whatever often accompanies all this catchy phrasing.

It’s not truly empowering, nor does it match anything close to reality of a woman’s everyday life. If anything, it’s just another impossible ideal, like Photoshopped bodies and flawless motherhood. So here’s a hard truth that no one seems to want to talk about. Women may like the idea of being a goddess, but do we also want the responsibility of that title? Goddesses do not hide from anything or anyone, not even from themselves. They radiate power, wisdom, love, and sensuality. They do not ratchet down to match a lower vibration. Embracing goddesshood would mean walking around in our absolute worthiness instead of our shame. It would mean owning the truth of who we are. It would mean the end of blaming and scapegoating. It’s a tall order, and it comes with the obligation to walk our talk.

While we’re busy working out how we feel about ourselves as women and reclaiming our power and trying to smash the patriarchy, what about men, our beloved brothers on this journey? If women are goddesses, are men allowed to be gods? If we assert that women are reflections of the Divine Mother, then we also have to acknowledge that men are the reflection of the Divine Father. Yet, we do not see much about men struggling with this concept. We assume they don’t struggle at all, because the patriarchy supports the notion that god is, and always has been, masculine.

Do men stand in front of the mirror every morning and say, “I am a god” without hesitation? Some might. Most wouldn’t, at least not without doing a hundred push-ups first. Do they need memes that say: Awaken your inner god! The God is rising! Don’t let them tame you! I only roll with gods! Do men look at the covers of Men’s Health, GQ, and all of the other magazines aimed at them and feel shame for not having a chiseled chest, six-pack abs, and control of a major corporation? I’m fortunate enough to talk with men who drop the façade and let their hearts speak on occasion. When I hold space for them like this, I’m always overcome by how much they long for acceptance as they are, just like women do.  

We think we know the traits of a goddess, but what are the traits of a god? Strength, fairness, courage, love, tenacity, and passion, for starters. Not all men will step up to the god title and the associated responsibilities, just as women may or may not own the goddess title. When a man does embrace his godhood, however, he is also walking around in his worthiness instead of his shame. He owns his truth as well. It is the end of blaming and scapegoating for him, too, as much as it is for women.

Even in the pagan community, which honors various pantheons of goddesses and gods, things are still heavily slanted toward the Goddess. I searched for books about the Horned God specifically, and few turned up in contrast to the plethora of books out there on the Goddess or the Divine Feminine. I had to dip into Jungian explorations of masculine archetypes just to round out my search.

I’m not saying women need to give up any ground we’ve gained in reclaiming our divine femininity. There are still battles to be fought in that that arena, of course, but men are allowed to be gods…more than allowed, they are invited and beckoned. We need them. We want them to know and recognize the divine masculine within, because there is so much work to be done in this world. If all of us knew without a doubt that we are the Divine expressing itself in human form, what couldn’t we achieve together?

So Mote It Be