The Yoniverse, collective pain of the female.
A lot of terrible things happened in the past. For many women, immense damage has collected down to the gene level – and this is over generations. This pain, or the „memory“ thereof has been an integral part of the female history and has left deep scars in the female collective consciousness.
Mayonna A. Bliss – co-iniator oft he Women’s Congress – describes this very perceptively:
„The collective pain is the sum of the pain that women have experienced. The million times repeated damaging of the female womb has burned the experience into our cells and has been passed unconsciously from mother to daughter. We carry the history of the women before us within ourselves. As we are also a part of this female collective in our time. If we are all „one being“ then we can also feel the pain of women, who have been raped or silenced on the other side of the globe. The deeper I explore into my womb as a center of female existence, the deeper I come into contact with the female collective. Not only the female pain is then tangible, also an old female wisdom rises up like a memory.“
What´s happend? Let’s travel back into history.
The Patriarchy. In around 4000 B.C. the phenomenon of Patriarchy arose – the dominance of the man over the woman. In almost all societies in Europe, the Near and Far East as well as Asia the social status of women was only marginally above that of slaves. They were refused participation in politics, religion, and any influence on the cultural life. They were considered unable to contribute. In the work of the philosopher Arthur Schopenauer we can read „As care givers and child rearers of our first childhood the woman is perfectly adapted since she is herself childlike, and short-sighted. In a word they are their entire lives only older children, a kind of middle stage between the child and the man – who it the one who is actually a full person.“
Women were not allowed to possess wealth, and were in fact, seen as objects to be possessed by men. Money lenders and tax collecters could actually „confiscate“ women and release them again only upon payment.
In Assyria rapists were thus „punished“: the wife of the perpetrator was given to the husband of the victim – to do with as he pleased…
Another supremely cruel manifestation was the so-called Ritual Widow Murder. This said shortly following the death of her husband a woman had to kill herself or she would be murdered. This ritual survived into the 20th century in India and China – even now it is not unheard of. The widow of a Brahmin was supposed to engage in „suttee“: to throw herself onto the funeral pyre of her husband – or be thrown. According to Hindu doctrine, after the death of her husband a woman was reduced to a sinful half-breed, a social outcast denied the permission to marry again.
In Europe and North America (excluding orthodox sects) women and men enjoy basically the same rights, whereas in other areas the life of a women still resembles that of a slave. In many countries, especially the Near and Middle East, women live in special, closed-off areas which they can only leave when accompanied by a male relative. If an unmarried women engages in sexual relations she can be killed by a male relative – even if she was raped. In Saudi Arabia women still have to wear the „abaya“ or Burka“; a long, black completely concealing robe. This includes a head covering called a „nigab“, with only a small slit for sight allowed. Women are still not permitted to drive, the threat of stoning is still very real for extra-marital sexual relations, while men are permitted to be married to up to four women at one time.
In addition to this institutionalized repression, women were constantly confronted with physical violence. In many cultures the punishement for extra-marital sex, pre-marital sex and abortion was death. In China the tradition of foot binding was a long one, a painful deformation and handicapp, which left women with very limited mobility. The small steps required after this procedure supposedly increased the muscular activity of the vagina, increasing the men’s pleasure during the sex act. The beating of wives was not only seen as permissible but as necessary – women were considered to be „emotional, undisciplined creatures“ which men had to teach self control through violence – as once expressed by a student of Confucious.
The most glaring example of the reduced value of female life was Infanticide. This is the systematic murder of newborn female infants – also a common practice in Europe until several centuries ago. The contemporary effect of this is seen in the 1:4 relationship from women to men in places like India. One of the causes of the brutal gang rapes which are more and more coming to light with the help of the press.
Female Circumsicion. The cruelest of rituals is genital mutilation. This is practiced mainly in Africa, Yemen, Iraq, Indonesia and Malaysia. This “Female Circumsicion” is practiced on girls and women from infancy through to adulthood, in most cases, however, at the beginning of or during puberty. “Female Circumsicion” is a dangerous and irreversible procedure, often carried out with a glass shard or dull blade. Immediately following the procedure the woman suffers intense pain, shock, and heavy blood loss. This procedure can lead to Septicemia, Tetanus, HIV and Hepititus. With it comes serious bodily as well as mental damage, and can even be fatal.
During this procedure the clitoris is removed and often the inner and outer labia as well. This equates to a removal of all pleasure producing genitalia. At the end the vagina is sewed closed with only a tiny hole remaining for the discharge of urine. Afterward, the woman cannot move for days, they cannot even sit down – firstly because the wounds have to heal, and secondly, because the pain is simply too great. Many children do not survive such a procedure. On the wedding night the vagina is then „cut open“, often with some force, by the husband. This is the beginning of a new chapter of suffering for the woman.
What is behind this? For one thing, the virginity of the women should be thus ensured. However, the main reason is to control women – by controlling their sexuality. The removal of all pleasure producing organs should reduce sexual desire and remove the possibility of experiencing orgasm. It also has the effect of making the sexual act difficult and painful. It should be strictly avoided that a wife looks at another man “out of sexual desire” which would equate to a loss of power of the husband.
The witch hunts. The christian religion’s persecution of witches as well as the burning of witches between 1550 and 1650 A.D. is the deepest-buried of female traumas. The cruelest punishing and raping imaginable of which often the worse perpetrators were men of the church or of high position. These deeds led to the death of hundreds of thousands of women in Europe in a relatively short space of time. A collective pain which is so big, it can never be fully erased.
The Yoniverse
Old sciences like Tantrism and Taoism are convinced that all women are connected through their own Yonis (female genitalia) and they name this phenomenon The Yoniversum. Modern science has revealed that on an energetic level everything is indeed connected. If we accept this thesis as correct it would explain a lot of „unexplainable“ problems.
There are many women who do not enjoy sex and don’t even feel anything when they engage in sex with their most loved partners – as if the entire womb were numb. It is even more dramatic when in the course of sexual relations fear and pain are experienced – althouh there is no bodily or medical reason for this to occur. The medicine taught in schools as well as psychotherapy can’t really help in this area. The female collective pain could be an explanation.
Yoniversum as a concept contains the hope that this collective pain can be alleviated or erased simply by the act of women experiencing joy and lust with their Yonis. It is as if more and more wine were being poured into the vessel, displacing slowly the water.
What can we do?
Healing or alleviation of the pain can only occur where the root of the problem is: the damaging of the womb. A lot of psychic as well as energetic damage has occured here. These can be slowly healed with loving, respectful touch and massage.
The Yonimassage is a proven method – it is ancient and arose from Taoism. In the mean time it is used more and more frequently as a part of sexual and psychotherapy.