Feminine Presence

Understanding your individual female essence is a crucial aspect to expressing yourself as a woman, and this essence is reflected differently and to varying degrees according to your aesthetic and your Image Type.

A painting that uses more feminine qualities would be more contoured, lighter, more tonal, and uses more tints (white added) and colours. A painting that uses more lines and angles, is darker and with a stronger contrast and more shades (black added) would be considered to have a more masculine essence. The same applies to your personal image and your personality, which, if more masculine would be have a more logical, rational, and analytical approach, rather than creative, impulsive, and instinctive - the feminine approach.

With my Image Typology system, I use feminine archetypes to examine your feminine essence. Women can be differentiated in terms of feminine age or stage, like the 3 phases of the moon - the Maiden, the Matriarch, and the Seer. These ages are related to your presence and the energy you have, and nothing to do with physical age. They help to clarify the aspects of your feminine essence, and although we exhibit all aspects of the feminine presence at various times, there is one that we identify with most.

To be balanced as an individual, I believe you need to express your feminine essence correctly. If you don’t, this is when you could easily look like mutton dressed as lamb, regardless of your age, or like you are dressing too old even if you are 50! For example you could never imagine Margaret Thatcher being ‘girlish’, and, likewise, you couldn’t imagine Sally Field without her giggles and girlish smile.

Besides your feminine archetypes, there are key qualities that are represent the feminine, at the group level rather than the individual level.

Female Qualities Male Qualities

Evolution Revolution

Co-operation Competition

Being Doing

Intuition Logic

Heart Mind

Love Freedom

1. Evolution

Nature’s natural process is to evolve. A flower will seed, grow and bloom. Each of these phases require movement. Movement and evolution is a female quality, and education is a way we achieve movement, which often falls on the shoulders of the female in the family.

2. Cleansing

Cleansing is an important ritual to women, and we spend hours maintaining our personal environments and spaces. At a group level, cleansing our environment is one of the most essential roles we can play. This refers to not only to our home, but our larger environment – our planet. Our natural resources are the most important contribution to our life.

Wangari Maathai, Kenya's assistant minister for environment was recently awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her efforts in nurturing the planet. Green Belt Movement, of which she is the founder, is an environmental conservation organisation. She says:

"The environment is very important in the aspects of peace because when we destroy our resources and our resources become scarce, we fight over that. I am working to make sure we don't only protect the environment, we also improve governance."

3. Nurturing

Nurturing is another trait of the feminine. We are great at nurturing ourselves – manicures, designer clothes, make-up, haircuts, etc. We are good at nurturing our friends and children/family. Nurturing is also what creates wonderful work by charities and movements that help less fortunate communities globally.

4. Communicate

We are often chastised as women for talking too much. But, there is too often not enough talking in the world and too much doing. Feminine essence is passive and is more focused around maintaining passivity. Communication, which doesn’t mean gossiping or chit chat, is a means to bringing about solutions. Communication offers opportunity.

5. Being

The art of being rather than doing is a feminine trait. This doesn’t mean you are ‘being’ unproductive or lazy. It simply means that your don’t have to do something to achieve a result, but instead can passively enjoy stillness, and allow things to unfold. This can be very irritating for action-orientated people, but many great thinkers are be-ers, as they allow the ideas to unfold and permeate the mind.