The dictionary defines the word “soul” as “spiritual essence,” or “that immaterial part of us that survives bodily death,” and for a long time, this “spiritual,” “immaterial” aspect of ourselves has been what the world has regarded as the most valuable part of our identity: the, holy, sacred part. Our physical body on the other hand, has been regarded as a mere “shell” which houses this important, divine aspect. In the last few years, however, due to Dan Brown’s popular novel, The Da Vinci Code, the unequal status between the physical and the spiritual realms has been challenged, as humanity remembers that we once recognised the existence of a feminine component to spirit.

This feminine aspect to spirit, known as the Sacred Feminine, was said to be imprisoned within physical matter. Trapped inside matter, the divine light of the Goddess longs for release so that She can once again be re-united with her Beloved, her divine male counterpart: God.

The idea that there is a God and Goddess, equal in status - two halves that make up the divine Godhead – forces us to re-think the status of the physical, material world, and how we think about it. Stripped of its sacred nature when the existence of the Goddess was rejected and banished from mass consciousness, the planet, (and indeed, all things physical) have been regarded as being so much less important and valuable than the spiritual realm. The earth has been something to be subjugated, dominated, used and exploited for our own ends. Now, with the return of the Goddess to our awareness, the earth, and all of Creation, must be regarded not just with loving respect, but with reverence because of its divine nature.

The same argument for an elevation in status can be applied to the feminine principle and all female aspects of experience. Having been subordinate to the masculine principle - due to the idea that the Godhead was perceived as being purely masculine in nature - the female side of existence, can now begin to assume the same privileged status as the masculine. At long last, it seems we are about to enter a phase where masculine and feminine, spiritual and physical, material and non-material, mind and body, can be regarded as equals.

The awareness of the Sacred Feminine and the value of her particular kind of wisdom, has survived mainly in ancient myths and legends, such as the legend of the Holy Grail. However, while in Dan Brown’s novel the grail is interpreted literally, as being a blood line descending from Christ to the present day, those who understand the true meaning of the grail quest know that the legend tells how humanity and the land (the earth) can be rejuvenated and restored to their original, healed state, by uniting the separated God and Goddess.

Yet, if we are to free the Goddess from her imprisonment in matter, so allowing her to re-unite with the God, then we need to make the journey into our own bodies, deep into our own being, to search out the fragment of lost light, the dispersed and separated fragment of our Divine Mother. We must seek out our own souls.