Can A Business Be Feminine?

I want to talk about the Masculine and Feminine energies as they relate to Business.

*This is bound to be a touchy subject because we, as a collective, are at the cutting edge of re-defining gender and polarities. I’d like to disclose that I am a femme identified cis-gendered unbearably (haha) straight woman who uses she/her pronouns, AND I AM LEARNING. So if any of the wording that I use here is “behind the times”, please feel free to tell me so I can learn, ponder, imagine, and grow - to offer a more relevant and inclusive way of relating. <3

As a female/mother entrepreneur and business owner I have often struggled to find a flow that supports Femininity (and especially Motherhood) in business. A flow that not only supports me as woman who is tied to the moon, but supports all those who work alongside of me, which are almost always women. A flow that lives by the Moon’s Rhythm, not by the Gregorian calendar work week.

Traditionally, ghee is made on the Waxing or Full phase of the Moon. According to ancient Vedic texts, this is an expansive time during the lunar cycle when the essences of plants and animals are drawn upward. In my years of making ghee I have actually noticed that the ghee seems to cook/react differently depending on the moon phase.

It has always been my dream to exclusively make ghee during the Waxing and Full moon. However, that dream hasn’t come into fruition because I’ve never been able to figure out how to transition from a weekly schedule to a Moon Cycle rhythm because “every Tuesday” is easier to plan with my team than “every Full Moon”, which can fall on any day of the 7-day-week system that we live in.

Over the years people have often referred to me as “The Ghee Goddess”. While it’s an endearing compliment (and I’ve gratefully received it!) - when I think about the Goddess element in this business I mostly think of Cows. I think of Motherhood. I think of Milk.

“Ghee carries the essence of the Divine Feminine; it is the essential oil rendered from the creamy nectar of mama cows, the sacred juice of Motherhood, the Maternal gift of nourishment.” - Marion Hearth

This is a photo of me and a dear friend (and former kitchen manager). Devi and I met in 2012 when we were both pregnant and embarking on a journey into Motherhood. She recently stepped out of her position in the kitchen and decreased her hours with Goddess Ghee so that she could accept a position at her child’s school - supporting her desire to be with her child more.

When I created this business I was breastfeeding a 6 month old baby and a 2 year old. Everything about this business screams “Motherhood!”, from the mama cows who provide the milk for the ghee itself, to the mother who birthed it: me, to the many mothers who have poured ghee with me along the way to support their livelihood and family. Many of my helpers over the years have transitioned out of working with Goddess Ghee because they became pregnant or wanted to spend more time with their children.

Ironically, because this business is so saturated in the fats of Motherhood and Femininity it is a constant struggle to reconcile the Feminine polarity of Motherhood with the Masculine polarity of Business.

Over the past 20 months, since separating from my children’s dad, I have lived from my own inner masculine more than ever in my life. And it’s been beautiful. Powerful. Humbling. Challenging. I see now that I am not just one polarity. None of us are. I am the yin and the yang. I am whatever the moment needs me to be. And this moment, a 20 month moment, has called my yang to rise up within me to support my yin. To support my Motherhood.

But I see a change on the horizon. A change that is necessary to honor the Feminine.

I recently decided that I would hire a Full Time Manager to help me run Goddess Ghee. The reason for this is mainly so I can spend more time with my children, more time with myself, more time with my sisters, and more time in my creative expression. More time in my Feminine. A secondary reason is because demands are high and it isn’t sustainable for me to continue giving more (time/energy) than I have to give, pulling from all of my resources and using up every last drop.

When I set out to interview someone I was looking for a yang/masculine energy to “work 40 hours”. Because that’s what I’ve imagined this Business needs. That polarity seems necessary to “succeed” in business. Though I didn’t explicitly request a woman for this job, I was hoping it would be a woman. But after a few conversations & interviews with women I find myself at a stand still. Because every woman that feels drawn to come alongside me in this business wants the same thing as I do: to find freedom in a feminine flow.

What Goddess Ghee needs is EITHER:

Masculine/yang energy to keep growing and “make it” in the business world. 

OR 

To completely shift to a Feminine/yin Business Model. One that honors the Moon Cycles. One that honors menstruation. One that honors boundaries and self care, abundance and sustainability. One that honors femininity and motherhood. One that places our ability to Supply over the Demands.

OR

Both. Merging the Yang with the Yin to allow the masculine polarity to support the feminine.

BUT HOW DO WE DO THAT?

A friend recently asked me, “What if your business could menstruate?”

What if it can?

I recently wrote a poem about how I long to be met in my feminine by the masculine, and the last line of the poem is “I want you to carry the heavy things when I’m bleeding.”

What if Goddess Ghee needs that too? To be supported by the masculine so that we aren’t a bunch of strong and powerful women lifting the heavy things while we’re bleeding when we’d prefer to be in the red tent.

What if the reason I have a Business with the archetypal energy “Goddess” in its’ name and essence is because I am being called to learn the Goddess way of business and economics. What IS the Goddess way of Economics?

As a collective it seems we are desiring a paradigm shift from a Patriarch system. But to what? And what does it actually look like?

“Because we’ve lived under a patriarchy for so long, when we imagine a Matriarchy we are actually just imagining the same dominating Patriarchy but run by women. A true Matriarchy doesn’t look like women dominating men, it looks like the masculine in service to the feminine, and this type of matriarchy actually benefits and fulfills the masculine (through recognition) more than a patriarchy.” - my friend & confidant, Adam Shiva

So why am I sharing all of this with you?

I want you all to know what’s on my heart, what’s on my very full plate, and what the future of Goddess Ghee holds in consideration of these things.

And I want to hear from you.

What does a Feminine Business Model look like to you?

How do you imagine the Masculine supporting a Feminine Business Model and in what ways do you imagine involving the Masculine could allow a business to be more Feminine?

As more women and mothers become entrepreneurs and business owners, what needs to shift in the structure of business economics that will support us in retaining our Feminine essence while earning abundance, rather than losing it for the sake of “empowerment”?