Dark feminine energy is a powerful, animating force that’s rising across the planet today

Dark feminine energy is often misunderstood, and confused with the feminine shadow, toxic femininity, and disempowered feminine traits.

But this couldn’t be further from the truth of what the dark feminine really is. For she is the empowered, untamed and regenerative energetic stream of the feminine principle.

Maybe you’ve come across her before…

Have you ever felt the call of the wild woman archetype?

The pulse of erotic energy ripple across your thighs?

Or maybe you’ve gazed up into a Moonless sky, sensing the deep mystery and dark energy of the void?

Then you’ve made contact with the energy of the dark feminine.

Here’s what’s in this article…

What is dark feminine energy?

The dark feminine isn’t separate, but intrinsically part of the Divine Feminine.

She’s a frequency – a sacred essence that encompasses creation and destruction.

And she has been rippling out across every last corner of the Earth – and deep within her belly – since ancient times.

In the animist world, which is the world of our ancient ancestors, everything is Spirit:

Breath
Tree
Earth
Darkness…

The dark feminine is also Spirit.

She’s a stream of spiritual energy that weaves its way through our world… Hard to define, but always present. Mystical in nature but ready to be called upon in real, concrete ways by those who feel her pull…

Dark feminine energy manifests in many ways. Ways such as –

• The Dark Moon
• The deep, black soil
• Decay and death
• Regeneration
• Transformation
• Chaos
• The unconscious
• The mystery
• The unknowable
• The void
• The liminal

…And like the full spectrum of the divine feminine, dark feminine energy is not over there, somewhere else. She is right here, inside every one of us.

The true nature of dark feminine energy can be hard to describe because of its intangible, ethereal, and liminal nature. And also its wildness, its refusal to be defined, to be one just thing.

This is why awakening your own dark feminine energy, and learning all the ways it wants to move through you is a practice. It’s not something you do once and then forget about.

What’s the difference between dark feminine energy and light feminine energy?

Many people think that dark feminine energy opposes the light feminine energy that’s usually championed by our western culture.

In our dualistic world, it’s easy to see reality in such a polarised way.

But in truth, the light and dark sides of the feminine make up the entirety of the Sacred Feminine principle. There is no separation!

Yet, our human perspective often needs things to be compartmentalized, it makes them simpler to understand.

So to help nurture that part, here are some typical qualities associated with the light side of the feminine, followed by qualities and traits of the dark side –

Light feminine energy and qualities

• Softness
• Nurturing
• Healing
• Intuition and Seeing
• Inward focus and family
• Understanding
• Community
• Collaboration
• Attraction and receptivity
• Patience

Dark feminine traits and qualities

• Sensuality and pleasure
• Devotion
• Magic, mysticism, and esoterica
• Passion
• Rage
• Abiltiy to transformation
• Sexual liberation
• Ability to regenerate
• Authenticity
• Embracing metaphorical death

You may already express some dark feminine traits without knowing it.

And it’s equally likely you’re repressing some level of dark feminine power, as almost every woman has been conditioned to do this. (It’s not a problem with you – it’s a problem with our culture that this is normal).

To find out more, READ THIS POST: 20 Dark Feminine Traits, and How to Awaken them in Your Life

Why has the dark feminine been suppressed?

Over many generations, the traits and qualities of the dark feminine have been shunned, silenced, and suppressed by our western culture. It’s been going on for many, many centuries.

This means that for many women and men, dark feminine energy is not only unfamiliar but also a little frightening.

But why would the structure of hierarchy do this?!

Quite simply, dark feminine energy is a powerful frequency and tool.

… And those with knowledge of powerful tools are hard to control.

So what better way to control people, than to convince them that part of their very nature – namely the dark side – is not only worthless but harmful, dangerous, and even inherently evil?

So that’s what happened.

It began a LONG time ago, when the Divine Feminine fell: when the matriarchal civilizations were overrun and the empire took hold. For many centuries, the colonial, patriarchal (and more recently capitalist) structures of our world conditioned us to believe that dark femininity is “bad”. That expressing any of her qualities could be harmful, or shameful. AND, that women who show a “dark side” have something wrong with them, making them unattractive, undesirable, crazy, and/or an embarrassment.

Our children are taught to fear the dark, through fairy tales featuring wicked witches, and haggard old women who kidnap helpless infants in the middle of lonely forests.

Over centuries our cultural narrative has worked to conflate the concepts of dark and “negative”

We’ve been told that there is something wrong with the dark – that the darkness needs to be avoided.

Instead of the life-giving and regenerative power of the dark (and the dark feminine energy found there), men believe she’s evil, and women are told to reject her…

We’ve been led to believe that the dark feminine represents all the things we don’t want around, all those things that for so, so long, humans have collectively tried to push away, hide and suppress…

• Unrestricted sexual energy, expression + fantasies
• Lust, desire, and passion
• Wildness, untamed, undomesticated freedom
• Violence
• Chaos
• Pain
• Discomfort
• Taboos
• Negative emotions
• The unknown
• The unknowable
• The Occult

And yes, there may be glimmers of a dark feminine expression in those things, but they aren’t who she is. Yet by stuffing her into these tiny negative boxes, her real essence and Spirit have been radically distorted in the collective mind. Distorted into the shadow traits of the wounded feminine.

What is the difference between the dark feminine and the feminine shadow?

As well as conflating the darkness with negativity, the dark feminine is conflated by many, with the shadow side of the feminine. It’s really important not to fall into the same trap that a lot of women do, thinking they are one and the same.

The following qualities, characteristics, and behaviors are shadow traits and NOT expressions of dark femininity –

• Codependency
• A lack of confidence
• Low self-worth
• Being manipulative
• “Drama queen” tendencies.
• Inability to create boundaries
• Difficulty maintaining female relationships
• Inability to speak your truth and/or stand up for yourself

Misunderstanding HOW the shadow side of the feminine fits into this work, is another reason we shun, suppress, and vilify dark feminine energy, without really knowing what it is.

We’re sold the story she is disempowered dark feminine energy. When all the while, she’s an expression of our true feminine nature.

But the tide is turning. Dark femininity is rising in our human consciousness… yet to awaken her, give her space and taste her medicine, we need to look beyond the distortions. We need to look beyond the lies, deprogram our old belief systems around fark feminine energy and welcome her home, untamed.

How to awaken dark feminine energy in your life: 11 ways

There are many, many ways in. A thousand ways to invite dark feminine energy back into your world, and cultivate a relationship with her power.

But here are 11, just for starters

1. Rest

Rest is a sacred act.

A mini-death, rest when the regenerative power of the dark Goddess comes into play. If you’re all “go, go, go” all of the time, then the sacred pause in the cycle of the feminine will not come. (Or rather, it will… either through overwhelm, burnout, or illness, you’ll be forced to stop).

Making time for rest as a conscious act is a MUST if dark feminine energy is going to rise through you.

2. Learn to love your menstrual cycle

Life isn’t linear, it’s cyclical.

Just like nature, all of our life experiences move through seasons, from birth and growth, to death and rebirth. yet without dark feminine energy, this cycle is incomplete.

All women have a unique ability and gift for physically connecting to the mystery of this dark feminine side, through their menstrual cycle.

Every woman holds the template of the sacred cycle within her body. She gets to experience the magic and mystery of regeneration every month. (If you aren’t menstruating, each lunar month the dark Moon offers something similar – see point X).

But many, many women have fallen victim to the conditioning around their menstruation, believing – as patriarchy has told them – that their blood is dirty, shameful, and embarrassing. It’s an irony and a paradox, that many believe you can’t be a ‘feminine woman’ whilst menstruating when it’s exactly this, that makes us women at all.

Getting to know – and fully embrace – your own cycle of menstruation is an intimate way to get to know how dark feminine energy flows through you. AND its an act of resistance. A reclamation of sacred femininity and the power we hold.

 To find out more about your sacred cycle and menstruation, read:

👉🏼 White Moon Cycle and Red Moon Cycle: Meaning + mysteries revealed!

3. Explore blood mysteries

If you are a menstruating woman, what is your relationship with your blood?

How do you greet your flow?

What do you do with the red nectar your body produces each month?

Most women are taught that their monthly moon blood is a waste product, and something dirty to throw away. But your blood has incredible regenerative, healing, and protective qualities!

Many ancient cultures practiced blood rites. Many indigenous people still do. From simply saving moon blood and using it as a healing elixir on wounds (yes, this works), to spiritually charging it for magical purposes including ceremony.

You could give your blood back to the Earth, or even try re-imbibing it as an extremely potent medicine.

The divine feminine exists in the materiality of our bodies… and the mysterious power of our Moon-thly blood is dark feminine magic.

And if this feels totally taboo to you, then ask yourself why.

4. Do your shadow work

Shadow work is dark feminine work.

Most women (and men) are suppressing vital aspects of their true selves without realizing it. And whatever we suppress within ourselves ends up in the shadow side of the unconscious.

What you find in the shadow may be distorted – an expression of a wounded part of you. When you begin to illuminate the dark side of the psyche with awareness, dark feminine energy comes into play.

Shadow work requires deep healing, full acceptance and self-love, and radical transformation. Dark femininity is the animating force that transmutes shadow into gold. To regenerate pieces of a fragmented soul into something extraordinary is pure dark feminine magic.

Methods to accessing the shadow self include:

• Writing with journal prompts
• Somatic experiencing
• Inner child work

👉🏼 READ ABOUT THE SHADOW SELF, AND SHADOW WORK HERE.

5. Touch the Earth (put your hands in the soil)

Dark Feminine energy lives deep in the rich black soil of our Earth.

She is the decay and dissolution of matter.

She is the fertile void of potential, teeming with sexual energy.

She is that mysterious space between death and rebirth where something miraculous happens.

In the alchemical mysteries, this unknowable, liminal place is the crucible for spiritual transformation. In nature, this is what our good Earth is doing all the time: through the endless cycle of life, death, and re-birth.

Something happens when you literally plunge your fingers into the Earth. Forget gardening gloves – when you let the soil touch your skin a connection to the divine feminine happens, that’s not only physical. She will awaken something deep within you, as you participate in the mystery…

6. Make peace with a thousand little deaths (and BE in the mystery of the unknown)

Humanity is being asked to let go of a LOT right now, collectively. And personally too.

The paradigm shifts are real.

The old ways really are crumbling, and as much as we’re being asked to embrace new ways of doing things…

Do we have to embrace them all?

Is it okay to say no?

Can we let parts of the old paradigm die…

Whilst reclaiming something even older?

NOTHING is fixed right now. Nothing is decided… and this liminality can be an incredibly destabilising place to inhabit!

… But we all have an ally here – a presence that knows exactly how to navigate the liminal. This is the natural home of the dark feminine.

She dwells in this place between the ending and the beginning. She holds this space where humanity now finds itself, and she holds you here too, in all your confusion, unknowing, and indecision.

In this place, She holds us firmly. Her formidable strength allows us to BE here and actually not need to know all the answers.

Whether you have an inability to let GO, or an impatience for what’s to come… this spectrum of feelings in this place,  IS the dark feminine frequency.

7. Befriend your rage

The angry woman is a great taboo within our society.

..As you’ll know if you’ve ever let your own anger and rage loose in public!

The angry woman should be ashamed of herself, right? She’s ugly, out of control, and the polar opposite of ‘femininity’.

But the repressed emotions that often lead to outbursts of anger are different from the sacred rage that is one of the fuels of the dark feminine.

Learning to cultivate a healthy relationship with your rage, and recognizing the emotional intelligence it really holds, is a potent way into this paradigm.

To find out more, I recommend the work of Mystic poet Maya Luna.

8. Activate your Inner Crone archetype

Divine feminine energy manifests through many different archetypes.

Maiden, mother, and crone are the most well-known, corresponding with the three phases of the Moon – waxing, full moon, and waning.

The archetype of the crone (or wise woman) embodies many darker qualities of the divine feminine – she is ancient, fearsome, untamed, and wise.

👉🏼 Read more about how to activate your inner crone HERE

Many also associate dark feminine energy with the archetype of the wise woman, or enchantress. You can read more about her HERE

9. Explore esoterica

From magical work to astrology, sigils to shapeshifting…

The dark feminine weaves her thread through many of the more esoteric practices that humans do.

The mainstream doesn’t tend to accept them (though astrology is being embraced more and more…) Most of the time, the intangible, non-logical, and more mysterious sides of life are shunned and ridiculed by those still deep in a left-brained operating system.

…And hidden by those who do practice.

It’s been this way for centuries, and for many people today, this pattern of non-acceptance is rooted in the European witch hunts of the middle ages. So the sense that practicing anything occult is dangerous is a very real and deep-seated fear. It’s a huge part of the witch wound, and it’s one of the ways feminine power is still stunted.

Yet exploring esoterica (and other things you may think are ‘witchy’ practices), are not only potent acts of self-realization, but they’re also the kinds of spiritual activity that were banned and suppressed along with the divine feminine.

We can (and must) each do the work to release our deep fear around the more esoteric practices, and magical side of life. It’s a fear that no longer serves humanity, and holds us back collectively and personally.

You will restore harmony by embracing (and expressing) your true self.

10. Meet the Dark Goddess

An incredible way to meet the divine feminine principle is through the Goddess, and all her many manifestations.

From Innana to Sekhmet, red-haired Brigid to the Hindu goddess Kali, many women experience the light and dark aspects of the feminine by forming a relationship with one (or more) of the many goddesses.

👉🏼 Read all about the Dark Goddess HERE (and meet 13 of her most powerful incarnations)

11. Carve out time at the Dark Moon

The dark Moon phase is two to three days before New Moon, when la Luna is invisible in the sky.

Ancient cultures revered the Moon as a manifestation of the Goddess, and this dark phase is, of course, when dark feminine energy rose.

It’s her time.

Her space.

You can honor her at the Dark Moon, by getting in touch with your own dark side, and going inwards. It’s time for deep personal inquiry and healing work. Such as:

• Shadow work
• Journalling
• Divination
• Shamanic journeywork
• Rituals of release

👉🏼 I share 5 of my personal dark Moon practices HERE

Do you feel the dark feminine moving through your life?

Do you have your own practices to re-awaken her? Share with me what they are…