The Feminine as Microcosm and Macrocosm

Leonardo da Vinci’s drawing of Universal Man is famous. Leonardo envisaged his great picture chart of the human body as a cosmography of the microcosm within the macrocosm. In other words, he believed the workings of the human body to be an analogy for the workings of the universe.

The macrocosm/microcosm schema is an ancient Greek Neo-Platonic way of seeing the same patterns reproduced in all levels of the cosmos, from the largest scale (macrocosm or universe-level) all the way down to the smallest scale (microcosm or small organism/atomic-level). In this schema the midpoint is Man. Only the male body, not the female body, was considered the proper template.

We women aren’t used to envisioning ourselves as a midpoint in the cosmic scheme of things like the Universal Woman pictured above. If the thought of woman as a midpoint in the cosmic scheme of things seems grandiose, then try this one on: women are containers of yin.

Our bodies and psyches hold the space for the primal feminine energy of yin and its generative power. So in this new schema it would follow that our feminine embodiment (microcosm) is a touchstone, a key to redesigning space and ways of being that enhance the flourishing of life on our Earth (macrocosm). Think about it!

And consider this passage from my book, Conversations with the Goddess, in which the prediction is made that:


"Women will be given visions for building the new world. Certain women who become leaders will attain stature as visionaries equal to that of a Leonardo da Vinci. These women will be enabled to see the outlines, and even the details, of what the new collective will be. Yes, the picture of the new society will be perceived through visionary powers, just as the outlines of new societies arising throughout the history of the planet have always been perceived, though usually not described as such."

©2011 by Chickee Atalla, author
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