Women's Workshop - March 1996
To: The Ixtlan Mailing List
Workshop for Women
I want to make some posts on the women's workshop as soon as possible but
after a brief conversation with a dear friend and mutual petty tyrant who
happens to be a male, I think I need to clarify my understanding of an
issue which the sorcerer's presented us with.
The male principle and female principle. As far as sorcerer's are concerned
the difference between male and female biologically is not that great
except for the womb. On the other hand, the difference between males and
females energetically is vast. Due to this difference we were presented
with some of the differences in male behavior verses female behavior.
They presented these (what my friend called generalizations) based on what
they say is the male paradigm and it's subsequent behaviors. According to
Carlos the socialization of the male is not that difficult for them because
it is based on the male principle. For a women on the other hand, it is
devastating because it contains virtually none of the female principle. It
was also pointed out that sorcerer's could make these observations about
the behaviors of male and females because they have divested themselves of
this socialization and can see it for what it is.
Males have certain invested behaviors which repeat themselves in various
shades over and over and females have the theirs. These generalizations are
to some degree the flyers installations which is why they are so
homogenous. They stated over and over that these behaviors are part of the
male paradigm which women have mimicked.
So in our efforts to convey to you guys what was said at the workshop, it
may sound as if they were making broad generalizations. It may even be
feared that the sorcerer's have turned us into egomaniacal beasts and/or
that we are going to try to control and dominate you men. We may be
egomaniacal depending on our personal power, but it is not likely that
anything the sorcerer's told us will be the cause of that. As far as
wanting to dominated anyone. It is our intent as females to rid ourselves
of being dominated, but to dominate others is not part of the female
principle there is no need for it. So that fear would be based on what is
part of the male principle. There are women who do those things but they
are mimicking men. Because our socialization gives us only reminiscent
inklings of the female principle, as women warriors, our effort is to
recover our femaleness and if we are successful, to intend the evolution of
our species.
I am going to attempt to repeat to you some of the things I remember from
the workshop, mostly the first night. As I did not take notes they will not
be in sequential order and not verbatim quotes.
Carlos Castenada spoke with us Friday night and told us he had to be very
careful what he said because speaking with a group of women is very
different than when there are males around (comrades). He pointed out that
women are aware of everything whether they were conscious of it or not,
because of their womb. Where as men are experts at taxonomy. He spoke about
the deleterious effects of socialization on women and that men had no
reason to want things to change because they had it made in this world.
He said the male is generated from the female (and made jokes about how
backwards the Adam and Eve concept is) and is very fragile. The male is,
according to the Nagual a small filigree of energy. He said that the male
principle is rare in this female universe and therefore gets much unearned
attention. That is why the male ego is so huge and the gap between his ego
and his action is so vast. He also indicated that since the male is
generated from the female he contains nothing unique from her. He stated
that the paradigm of this world is the male paradigm and through rigorous
control from the flyers and the males (he did not say in collusion); the
female paradigm is virtually non existent because we have had no model to
align ourselves with. He said that the flyers knew that in order to
dominate this species, they're attack would have to be on the female and
that all would fall thereafter.
The Nagual stated that the female had been socialized into apathy about her
seeing and that this is not her natural state. For a female, silence is all
that is required. He said that the female assemblage point is turned so
that the shinny side is tilted inward and this enables her silence to be
total. For a male whose assemblage point is tilted shinny side out, to
completely shut off the outside noise is not fully possible. Therefore men
spend their time doing taxonomy, and talk, talk, talk. Women on the other
hand have a predilection for action. Women are geared toward Doing. Toward
practical action. He said that men try to compensate for this (according to
warriors this is a vast difference) by trying to make women BEHAVE!
He said men come up with all sorts of ways to dominate women but most of
them apply to themselves. They call women hysterical. But it is really they
who are hysterical, and they have good reason to be. They are very fragile
(Poor Babies, he laughs). They will do anything and say anything for
female attention (which women are all to quick to give). He said that men
think they are trying to find Daddy's (manhood) but what they are really
doing is trying to find Mommy's.
All of the warriors party told us over and over that nothing they are
telling us is new to us, as women we already know everything they are
saying to us but the issue is to bring to our conscious attention, what we
are already aware of. This requires silence. The Nagual told us that women
perceive deeply and that each of us is unique due to our wombs (it's kind
of like our cosmic finger prints). For a man he must use to totality of his
being to become aware and men are more homogenous in their perception. For
the female her womb perceives directly so her knowing is direct.
They all stated that they were not male bashing but that no female should
allow a man to tell her what to do; he is not qualified to do it. They told
us again that 80 to 90 percent of our energy (male or female) is tied up in
the rituals around courtship and that this has to be disposed of in order
to gain energy. Florinda made a point to tell us that it does not mean we
need to be bland in our choice of clothing etc. Only to do what we do for
the hell of it, as a gesture toward it.
They told us many unusual things about ourselves energetically as females
(particularly Taisha) but I can not convey those right now. Maybe someone
else will choose to. Carol Tiggs told us a story about the Nagual and how
he had come to a difficult time of morose desperation unable to figure out
what to do. She said that a women of another lineage sent for him (and in a
magic story I will not attempt in this forum) he found that he was not to
guide of his party – that the guide in fact has to be from the womb. It was
a great relief to him to finally discover this. [I guess that is why he
jokes about just being the chauffeur.]
Several times they directed our attention to the issue of our species which
is on the brink of destruction. If this is going to change it must come
from changing the focus of our attention on the womb (from sexual) to the
fact that it is a direct link, as preceptors, for intending something
entirely new. If man is to survive it will be necessary to evolve and
necessary for men and women to work together in a whole new way.
What is going on with this list is the same old male/female
dichotomy. When I posted what we were told at the workshop I left out much
of the depth (which is hell to verbalize) and flogged you like they flogged
us with the this is what is going on and in order to change you have to
realize what is happening here. All of us are in battle against self
importance and we are also warriors. The idea in posting about the workshop
here is to help you get an understanding of the Warrior's understanding
regarding the male and female principle. Part of the understanding has to
come from knowing that the world you see before you is the male paradigm,
and it is designed to keep women submissive and disabled. It is not your
fault. None of us were there when the agreements were made. But you can
only assist in changing it if you begin to realize your role in
perpetuating it.
We are all warriors here! Comments about women regarding makeup, wanting to
talk romance, and all the other traditional attributes are exactly what we
have to realize are keeping women defined and disabled. The comments
regarding males that the Nagual and the Witches made were not slander, they
are accurate descriptions of the paradigm before us. The difference is, the
descriptions of the Female paradigm are not accurate. Women are simply
mimicking the male paradigm. In order for women to become consciously aware
of what the female principle is, she is going to have to have time, she is
going to have to be buffered to some degree from these onslaughts from the
continual attempts to keep her subdued. If you intend to assist us stop the
descriptions because you don't know us at all we hardly know ourselves.
As things stand, males have all the advantages in this world and it is very
difficult to want to change it. On the other hand, if you can see that to
evolve is an advantage to all in the long run, change may become more
valuable in your eyes. Women can guide themselves but your assistance could
be invaluable as some of us have families to raise and time is short. It
doesn't help for you to be reinforcing the socialization that has been put
on us since the beginning of our lives. Withhold judgment!
Taisha told us incredibly mysterious tales about ourselves. She wove her
story and for the first time we were enlightened that women are the tube
through which we slip into the world of the inorganic beings. As females,
we are the very tube through which we move to enter that realm! This is
astounding! The opening is part of us. Through this we can begin to measure
just how cut off from our true natures we have become. Interestingly enough
she related to us that flirting was one of the closest things we have to
our real natures. Not as it has become, for the sake of courtship, but as a
means of finesse and communication. The Nagual told us that the ultimate
male conquest has been women calling other women bimbos. Women turning on
each other and taking on the males derogatory languaging.
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