Wild Woman and Wild Man

I love when modern myths converge with ancient mythic concepts. All of us Gen x ladies know Tank Girl. She was the wild feminine we all aspired to be as teenagers. She echoed all of the Ancient ProtoIndoEuropean goddesses like Skadi in Scandinavian myths, Artemis in Greek myths, Arduinna in Celtic myths, Devana in Slavic myths, and Aranyanni in Hindu myths. Much like our other 80's icons like Punky Brewster and Pippi Longstocking, these female protagontists that symbolized the Divine Feminine who had to survive without any protection from the divine masculine, helped young women grow through the painful awareness of how fragile life can be in such a harsh world. The 80's was a time when the Baby Boomers came into their full power and often that power was to abandon their own children for the capitalistic addictions of materialism. 80's shows had so many refrences to parents abandoning their children, that is was common to have bulletins every night with news anchors asking parents if they let their kids into the house that night. The boomer's were the first generation of two working parents in the home and there was no societal structure to help them adjust. That generation literally worked until they dropped and children were seen as "material objects" like collectables than actual human beings. The boomer's were the first generation to truly sell their very souls to the Gods of money and commerce. They also sold their kids. Even the spiritual movement was a commodity, to be bought and sold. Gurus were judged on how many books they sold, not whether or not they healed or helped people. With no spiritual guidance and no emotional support, many young women in the 80's had no models for divine feminine guidance until the wilderness goddesses showed up. Post-Apocalypse was the genre because that was how the lndscape of the human heart was at that time. The human soul was abandoned for the pursuit of money and fame. This left the emotional and spiritual well-being of everyone at that time, abandoned and caged into the expectations of capitalism. If any healing was to be found, it was in the wilds, the unknown lands not yet corrupted by capitalism and the addiction to materialism over spirituality.

This energy of the wilderness goddess is also symbolized by the constellation Virgo, and in the Northern Hemishphere, we feel her wildness in the full heat of summer. The Wilderness Goddess shows us that women can survive without the divine masculine if she has to. She can even thrive and organize other women, until the divine masculine is able to heal and hold space for her to bloom once more. In fact, in many of these myths, these wild goddesses find lovers who are also outlaws. For the current society, being divorced from balance or reason, the vagabonds who hold the lunar powers of the animalistic side of nature, can create loving communities out in the wilderness, away from the shadows of society. The wilderness, albeit savage and uncertain, allows for a freedom for the divine feminine and divine masculine to heal, especially when society locks the divine feminine and the divine masculine into unhealthy shadow patterns. The shadow of the feminine is either the vindictive/martyr feminine archetype. The shadow of the masculine is the betrayer/aggressor masculine archetype. Out in the wilderness, the vindictive woman learns vulnerability, the martyred woman learns sovreignty. The betrayer masculine learns loyalty, the aggressor masculine learns kindness and nurturance. The lesson of Virgo brings with it the knowledge that the wilderness can often bring the spiritual healing that is much needed in our worlds. When society becomes corrupt, the places of freedom become the new havens of the future. It will be in these wilderness places, that the birth of new worlds comes. Then, when the wilderness comes knocking on the door of the king's castle, it will be with the message of the new era of enlightenment. It will be the dawn of the new age.

Art: Tank Girl and Booga by Various Artists