Wise Women's Lust for Life

In modern society, a lot of pressure is placed on younger women to appear a certain way, to be appealing and have a healthy libido or healthy sexual drive. In “Latin libīdō means desire, willfulness, lust, akin to libēre, to be pleasing.” Cultural expectations, and not living from one’s own heart, can interfere with a healthy libido.

Swiss psychiatrist Carl G. Jung’s states that “the libido is identified as psychic energy… that manifests itself in the life process and is perceived subjectively as striving and desire." It also represents a healthy balance between the feminine and masculine—the Yin and Yang aspects of ourselves.

In Chinese Medicine, the libido, with its chemical mix of neurotransmitters, neuropeptides, and sex hormones, is associated with Qi and Yin and a healthy balance between the Heart and Kidneys. The Heart is said to house the mind and spirit (Yang) and the Kidneys (Yin) rule our life essence. The Kidney energy naturally dissipates as we age. However, consciousness and resonance of the Heart grow stronger with awareness and joyful expression.

As women age, we can certainly remain “juicy” and pleasing through a healthy lust for life and becoming more and more pleasing towards our authentic selves. Women of age are becoming “sexier” through knowing who we are, trusting our own authority and becoming more playfully expressive. There need not be anything “anti” about aging. Graceful aging cultivates spiritual maturity—acceptance, appreciation and celebration of the natural cycles of life.

Barbara Marx Hubbard, vital 86 y/o futurist and visionary, invites taking libido to a higher level. Imagine a new embodiment of the “suprasexual” that is discovered through “vocational arousal”. In essence, it’s doing and expressing what you love and what you’re passionate about. Passion is Heart Medicine. Add into the formula that most delicious ingredient of all—humor—and…bingo! You've just enhanced the life force! We are certainly in a time of dramatic awakening and liberating change. We have the opportunity as the wise visionary trickster to essentially reinvent ourselves and live a lush, juicy life!