Each of us contains the opposite. Perhaps, as in the I Ching, complement is a better word then opposite. Each man has elements of The Feminine inside and each woman has elements of The Masculine. We each express our own individual blend of these principles.

 

I have chosen to capitalize The Feminine and The Masculine to emphasize the archetypal nature of these principles. They are much closer to the Chinese ideas of yin and yang than to simple notions of how we define men and women in our culture. An individual woman may not be yielding but the principle of The Feminine has a yielding non time bound element. Some men do not do well with time or structure but The Masculine is both time bound and structured

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The Feminine and the Masculine are important archetypal elements within our dreams. Most of the women in a dream will represent what is going on in the Feminine. Male characters will point to what is happening in The Masculine aspects of the dreamer. By paying attention to these characters we can see how we are balancing these principles in our life. Has one element become to dominant, perhaps taking over? Are we underutilizing an important part of who we are? The dream may point the way to establish a better balance or to live out our lives more fully.