When God became a man — and what it did to women & politics

Part one.

Before we dive in — Hi. Welcome to Threads of Remembrance, a seven-part journey through history, power, and the Sacred Feminine —co-written by Sarah Jenks and Kelly Taveras.

This series is, above all, a labor of love. Love for this community. Love for the grief, confusion, overwhelm, anger, and hope that so many have felt in the wake of this political moment. Love that refuses to stay silent. Love that calls us to action, to healing, and to a deeper understanding of what it means to stand for justice.

No matter where you are in this moment—whether you are enraged or exhausted, whether you are on the front lines or just beginning to awaken—you are not alone.

I (Sarah) have been reflecting on what it means to stand in my role as a Priestess in times of massive oppression. I know that my role is to weave love and transformation together, to create a path where healing and action walk hand in hand.

I (Kelly) have been asking myself how to bridge the work of social justice with the deep wisdom of spiritual practice. I am certain that frequency is overlooked as potent fuel for change—and that justice is love in action.

This series is about remembering.

Remembering what was lost. Remembering the wisdom that was stripped from us. Remembering the ways power has been taken, manipulated, and weaponized—and how we take it back.

If you are ready to journey with us, grab a mug of something warm and carve out 15 minutes to sit with what we are about to weave.

Let’s Start at the Beginning

There was a time when the divine was not confined to the image of a man.

For tens of thousands of years, the Sacred Feminine was honored in the temples, whispered in the prayers of healers, warriors, and mothers alike.

She was Inanna, Queen of Heaven, sovereign of love and war.

She was Isis, the weaver of magic, birth, and resurrection.

She was Gaia, the earth itself, the source of all life.

The divine was whole—feminine and masculine in balance, a dance of creation, destruction, and renewal.

Then, everything changed.

Around 3,000 BCE, civilizations bent on conquest and control began silencing the voices of the goddesses. Male-dominated religious systems rose in their place, and by the time monotheism took hold, the only God left was male.

This was not a spiritual evolution. It was a deliberate erasure. A rewriting of the sacred that reshaped not just religion, but power itself.

The Political Weaponization of the Masculine Divine

What happens when the divine is stripped of its feminine face?

The answer is written across history:

• In Rome, women were barred from political power, their existence reduced to property and lineage.
• In early America, Puritan doctrine cast men as leaders, women as subordinates—laws followed suit, stripping them of the right to vote, own land, or govern their own bodies.
• Even when the 19th Amendment granted white women the vote, Black, Indigenous, and immigrant women were left behind—some unable to cast a ballot until 1965.
• Today, the United States remains one of the only wealthy nations that has never had a female president.

The belief that “God is a man” is not just theological. It is political.

It is the foundation upon which patriarchal governance has been built. It is the silent permission that keeps women underrepresented in Congress (only 28%, when we are 51% of the population), keeps men deciding the fate of reproductive rights, and keeps women’s leadership questioned, diminished, erased.

And now, in 2025, we are watching this ideology push toward its most extreme expression.

The Suppression of the Sacred Feminine—Then and Now

The same forces that erased the goddesses, burned the midwives, and silenced women’s wisdom are at work today, embedded in policies designed to strip autonomy, reinforce submission, and consolidate power into the hands of men.

• The attack on reproductive rights – The Trump administration paved the way for Roe v. Wade’s destruction, allowing states to criminalize abortion. Now, with a court stacked in his image, there is talk of a national ban—an attempt to erase choice entirely.
• The rise of religious fundamentalism in lawmaking – Trump and his allies have fused government with white Christian nationalism, wielding faith as a weapon to control bodies, strip LGBTQ+ rights, and enshrine patriarchal rule.
• The silencing of women in leadership – Trump has made a sport of mocking and demeaning female leaders, emboldening a culture where women in power face heightened harassment, while protections like Title IX are quietly dismantled.
• The criminalization of marginalized communities – Just as patriarchal systems have historically controlled women’s autonomy, Trump’s policies have done the same—separating families, detaining pregnant migrants, denying asylum to survivors of gender-based violence.

These are not isolated events. They are the echoes of a history that tells us: when the Sacred Feminine is erased, control follows.

The Psychological Cost of Erasure

When the goddess was stripped from the heavens, something was stolen from women, too.
We learned—consciously or not—to see ourselves as secondary.

To question our own authority. To soften our voices. To distrust our wisdom.

• Internalized inferiority – When men are seen as closer to the divine, women absorb the unspoken message that they are lesser.
• The double bind of leadership – Women in power are dismissed as too emotional or too aggressive—trapped in a constant negotiation of how much space they are allowed to take.
• The weight of systemic barriers – Women make up nearly half the workforce, yet hold only 29% of senior leadership positions globally, forced to work twice as hard for half the recognition.
• The exhaustion of proving worth – The pressure to conform, to fight for a place at the table, to push back against deeply ingrained bias leads to burnout, anxiety, and self-doubt.

This is not a personal failing. It is the result of thousands of years of deliberate suppression. And it is time to reclaim what was lost.

How We Restore the Balance

The world will not change until we do.

This is a call to remembrance, a call to restore the divine balance within us, within our communities, within the very structures that govern our lives.

Step 1: Reclaim the Sacred Feminine

If you were taught that God is only male, seek the stories that were erased. Speak the names of the goddesses who were cast into shadow. Remember that the divine exists within you—not outside of you.

Ask yourself: If I truly believed in my own sacred power, how would I move differently in this world?

Step 2: Dismantle the Patriarchy Within

We have been conditioned to trust male authority over female wisdom. To see women as “too much” while excusing the same traits in men. To unconsciously reinforce the very system that binds us.

Examine your own thoughts. Who do you defer to? Who do you dismiss? The revolution begins here.

Step 3: Uplift Women in Leadership

Power is not given. It is taken, built, and supported.

• Challenge bias when you see it—when a woman is labeled “too emotional” or “too ambitious,” name the double standard.
• Vote for women who fight for equity, reproductive rights, and justice.
• Invest in women-owned businesses. Hire women. Promote women. Mentor women.
• Teach boys to see women as leaders. Challenge men to examine their privilege.

The structures of patriarchy do not crumble on their own. We dismantle them together.

What Comes Next

The erasure of the Sacred Feminine did not end with goddesses. It continued through centuries of persecution—most infamously in the witch hunts, where women’s power was labeled as dangerous, subversive, something to be feared.

And that fear still lives in us today.

Next, we will explore how the war on women’s wisdom—our intuition, our healing arts, our spiritual authority—continues to shape the world around us.

This moment in history is a reckoning.

We are not just remembering. We are rebuilding.

Are you ready?

With love and fire,

Sarah & Kelly

When & How You’ll Hear from Us Again

Our upcoming full-day Ceremony, REMEMBER, at Old South Church in Boston is happening April 28. A gathering of 800 women, reclaiming what was lost. Join us.

ICYMI:
Are you coming? A message of love & justice.