A Note to Women Reading the Bible: Reclaiming the Masculine Symbols

For many women, approaching the Bible—especially through symbolic interpretation—can be quietly disheartening at first. The endless stream of male characters—kings, prophets, sons, and fathers—can feel like a closed narrative: something spoken to women, but not from within them.

Some may even recoil at what feels like an overpowering masculine frequency. After all, much of religious tradition has leaned into images of dominance, hierarchy, and rigid structure—traits historically associated with masculine energy. It's understandable, then, that many women feel distant from these stories, as though they belong to a world that does not reflect their own inner landscape.

But this is not the truth.

The Bible is not a record of external history. It is the spiritual autobiography of the soul. Its characters are not people; they are principles. They are the invisible processes that unfold within consciousness—within you. And when the Bible uses masculine forms, it does so to symbolise conscious, directive movements of mind. Every woman possesses these aspects. They are not foreign. They are not masculine in gender, but in function.

This is not exclusion—it is empowerment.

The male figures in Scripture symbolise the active forces of transformation:

• Abraham, the willingness to believe and step forward.

• Jacob, the persistence that wrestles until it is blessed.

• Joseph, the imagination that dreams a future into being.

• David, the boldness that claims dominion over inner giants.

• Jesus, the full realisation of the divine “I am.”

These are not stories of men. They are stories of your own states of being, clothed in ancient imagery. They live within every woman who has ever said, “I am,” and meant it.

And here is where the true power lies: understanding that these so-called “masculine” movements are not traits to borrow from outside oneself. They rise from within. They are not in opposition to your feminine nature—they support it. They allow the womb of your imagination to be impregnated with conviction. They give structure to your desire. They move your vision from formless longing into embodied experience.

The Bible also speaks richly in the voice of women—not as passive observers, but as powerful symbolic forces in their own right.

• Ruth, who chooses loyalty and steps into a new destiny through quiet faith.

• Esther, who risks everything to stand before the king and deliver her people—symbolising the courage of the inner self to speak power into fear.

• Hannah, whose heartfelt desire opens her womb and gives birth to prophecy—showing that deep, vulnerable prayer is a generative force.

These women do not exist outside of you. They are the aspects of your own feminine soul: fierce in devotion, fertile in prayer, and brave in silence. They, too, are the “I am” in motion.

When you read of a prophet hearing the voice of God, know that it is your own inner wisdom rising to meet your need. When you read of a king taking a throne, it is a new state of awareness taking command of your experience. When you see a barren woman giving birth, it is your own soul bringing forth what once seemed impossible.

The “male” in Scripture is not someone else—it is the state of consciousness awakening within you. And the Bible, far from being a masculine narrative, is the story of how the soul—whether clothed as man or woman—awakens to its power and responsibility to create.