Co-creation: the magic potion of the Divine Feminine

Photo: Geoffrey Dunn

We all know the adage “do your best and let the Divine do the rest” which is proposed in many spiritual traditions. This is not quite the co-creation invitation that is the heart of ancient body-led traditions. The Divine is not picking up the remainder of what your action, rather we are invited to enmesh our energies with the movement of the Divine at all times, from the initiation of the each movement of our lives.

This alchemical constellation of movement and action implies not surrender but an active, passionate and lively presence at all times. Every movement of the Divine is creative, not a repetition of old patterns and templates. To dance with the Divine requires active intelligence, a sense of adventure and openness to the unknown. In other words, this is not a mind-led action of control and process, but a body-led movement of unfolding and creation.

The creative dimension of co-creation is something we overlook in our times when creativity is considered “non-essential”. The nature of moving with the Divine is dance because the movement is not of a functional nature as the mind would propose, but is an aesthetic manifestation. This is almost impossible for us to consider in these times when we have separated the functional from the creative and prioritized the functional as more essential to life than artistic manifestations. And this is the tragedy of the times we live in.

We apply our functional lenses to everything and we fail to perceive the dance of Nature all around us. When we simply see the dance of a bird as a “mating” action, we remove ourselves from the magic of Nature’s unfolding. There is no duality between the creative and the functional in Reality—we have divided our life in this duality and robbed ourselves of the wonder that drenches Reality at all times.

Creativity is an intelligence as mighty as any other form of intelligence. It has its languages of manifestation primarily rooted in artistic practices. The creative language of the body is dance. And dance is the most ancient incantation of co-creative movement with the Divine. Dance in this approach is a specific practice, and many ancient traditions like Indian dance, hold the roots of the ancient wisdom of a body-led spirituality. It is important to recognise the intelligence, craft and practice of such traditions if we truly want to embody a co-creative Divinity and not just a fantasy.

The most ancient Goddesses in India were warrior Goddesses not because they upheld war and violence. They signalled the ferocity that is asked of us in a co-creative movement with the Divine. They signalled the nature of the Divine as energetic, passionate and alive. The Goddesses did not ask for surrender, austerity and stillness, they asked for presence, passion and dance!