Sacred Feminine Symbols
Symbols of the Divine Feminine
You will find sprinkling around this website symbols representing archetypes and other themes resonant with our Flow of a River.
Specifically, you may see the phoenix and several geometric symbols of the divine feminine.
Read on to learn about the symbols and also about the colors we have chosen for the website.
The Phoenix
The story of the phoenix originated in ancient Egypt, later evolving into its modern form in Greece and Rome.
The phoenix in that story lives and dies in a cycle of intentional, painful death by fire, from which it emerges reborn.
The phoenix you see in our website has an elegant, feminine shape and color, fiery and passionate — as much flames as phoenix.
We can view a reborn phoenix as having been transformed — having surrendered its life to a painful death by fire with the conscious intention of being unforeseeably transformed in rebirth.
In retreat we Sisters may consciously follow this pattern, immersing in the shadow, surrendering our selves, inviting the emergence of unforeseeable selves, embracing the death of the old and the birth of the new.
We found and purchased a basic version of this phoenix here.
Red on Black
You have probably noticed the red on black colors in our website, such as right here where you are reading. These colors have meaning, like many things we use to give meaning to the Flow of a River retreat, including metaphors (Flow of a River being the first), archetypes, pillars, rhythms, earth elements and journeys.
Colors in general are often used symbolically, so the choice of red on black lends another source of meaning for us.
To begin with, we chose the specific version of red from among many variations of the Bougainvillea flower.
Red often signifies life force, blood, heat, power, passion, and sometimes violence or intensity.
Black often signifies mystery, the unseen world, ancestors, death, protection, and the threshold between worlds.
When paired, red on black can visually evoke:
â‹— Life moving through darkness
â‹— Blood and fire emerging from the void
â‹— Power accessed through the unseen
â‹— Crossing into liminal or spirit realms
The color pairing appears in many symbolic systems:
â‹— Haitian Vodou and New Orleans Voodoo
Red: life force, blood, heat, power, passion, and sometimes violence or intensity
Black: mystery, the unseen world, ancestors, death, protection, and the threshold between worlds
â‹— Alchemy: red (rubedo) emerging from black (nigredo)
â‹— Jungian psychology: consciousness igniting from the unconscious
â‹— Tantric iconography: Shakti (red) arising from the void
â‹— Revolutionary symbolism: blood, sacrifice, transformation
â‹— Phoenix imagery: fire against ash
â‹— Modern design: intensity, contrast, primal force
Geometric Symbols of the Divine Feminine
Around our site you may notice six geometrically shaped symbols, standing out in yellow.
Created by Anna H., these symbols represent aspects of Divine Femininity.
On her website Atlas Of The Soul, Anna gives beautiful descriptions of the symbols’ meanings.
Below we give you for each symbol the first paragraph of Ana’s description, but you can find much richer descriptions on Ana’s website itself.
Downward Triangle
The downward triangle represents the life-giving, nurturing, and receptive power of the divine feminine. Like a womb or vessel, it points to the earth. We can image water flowing or a child being born. It reminds of a container, open and holding, symbolizing our power to receive, to nurture, and to give life.
Spiral
The spiral is another ancient sacred symbol, carved into stones and painted in caves. Found across cultures, from the Neolithic spirals at Newgrange in Ireland to petroglyphs in the Americas, it mirrors the forms we see everywhere in nature: shells, ferns, whirlpools, hurricanes, even galaxies. Its geometry suggests both movement and continuity, making it a universal sign of life unfolding.
Circle
The circle has always carried a special weight in human imagination. Because it has no beginning and no end, it is one of the strongest symbols of timelessness, unity, cycles, and the infinite. Everything returns, everything repeats. In sacred geometry, it is often seen as the primal form from which other shapes emerge (which we can again interpret as the feminine’s life-giving force).
Horizontal Line
The horizontal line mirrors the horizon, and so it has been tied to ideas of grounding, rest, and stability. In art and design, horizontal strokes are often used to create calmness, openness, or a sense of balance, spreading the eye outward rather than pulling it upward.
Moon
The moon has fascinated humanity for as long as we exist. Its phases, its disappearance and return, and its quiet pull on the tides have made it one of the most potent symbols of rhythm and renewal. Across cultures, the moon has been linked to cycles of life and death, fertility, and transformation. You might also be familiar with the Triple Moon symbol from Neopaganism, representing the three archetypes of Maiden, Mother, Crone, visualized by a waxing, full and waning moon.
Venus
Growing up, this is likely the first sign you have come to know as a symbol for the feminine, along with Mars symbolizing the masculine. But do you know where exactly this interpretation is coming from? On our night sky, the Venus is the brightest object after the moon. It shines with a soft, luminous glow and appears in rhythmic cycles, as the morning or evening star.