I’m disappointed. And I’m elated, at precisely the same time and for precisely the same reason. I’m disappointed because there is a woman who is a serious contender for the White House, and I can’t vote for her. I’m elated because there’s a woman who is a serious contender for the White House but I’ll be voting for a 70-something-year-old, wild grey-haired Jewish man from Vermont. No, this isn’t double-speak. Let me explain.

As a progressive feminist Mennonite woman, and a mother and grandmother, I would love to see a woman serve as President of the United States. And I hope some day I will. I want my daughters and sons to navigate a world where women are just as represented, or more represented (to balance the patriarchal scale), in our politics (as well as in all of our cultural, social, and religious institutions.) But, more importantly, this country, the world, the Earth herself, desperately needs an embodiment of the feminine to counteract the destruction of a lopsided masculine. Gender aside, as important as that is, the most important factor in determining a shift from the dominant narrative is the development and integration of the feminine, the anima. I’m not talking penises and vaginas here. I’m talking archetypes, collective unconscious, and value systems. Of all potential Presidential candidates to lead the US for the next 4-8 years, Bernie Sanders most closely aligns with expressions of the feminine. Here’s a man who has integrated his masculine with his feminine. Here’s why it’s important.

Very generally, and archetypally speaking, the feminine, in both women and men, is the energy of cooperation, empathy, justice, diplomacy, yielding, equality, fairness, and compassion. The masculine, in both women and men, could be seen as the force of assertive action, decision-making, determination, confidence, discipline, force, and control. Again, please don’t assume I am speaking of gender. All human beings contain both feminine and masculine qualities. Unfortunately, the feminine, along with their female carriers, have been subjugated for centuries, and the shadow of the masculine has ruled with an iron fist in our unconscious, in our domination oriented policies and practices that have wreaked havoc on the Earth, in our elitist politics, and in an unfettered capitalist economics whose bottom line is profit and growth at any cost. Domination by the masculine has brought us to the brink of a collapsed economics, social contract, and ecosystem. And, it has been internalized by both men and women. Both Republican and Democrat.

Yet, all is not hopeless. On the margins, in the outcast circles, on the fringes where the wild things bloom, are people, organizations, and yes, a politician or two, who not only carry the values and expressions of the feminine, but carry the feminine in an integral and balanced chemistry with the masculine. There are many examples of men and women who have lived out this balance with both astounding resulting changes in the world and quiet transformation in the minutiae. Jesus of Nazareth, Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr., Wendell Berry. Harriet Tubman, Mary Harris (Mother) Jones, Alice Paul. of These well-known figures, and hundreds of thousands more less known, developed a strong feminine and masculine, with the ability to hold both power and compassion in the same extended hand.

Two top contemporary examples include Pope Francis and Bernie Sanders. Both advocate for policy changes to address the problems of poverty, inequality, racism, ongoing war, climate disruption, and human rights. Both advocate for new economic and political systems that work for all people, the working class, not just the wealthy. Compassion. Empathy. Justice. Sustainability. Reverberations of the feminine rising. The coming people’s revolt isn’t against men. It’s against a tired old patriarchal domination system whose forms and substance are lacking for this time in history. We’ve had enough. We need new feminine-influenced systems to meet the challenges that the people demand, that the Earth requires. Unfortunately, Hilary is a voice of establishment politics, perpetuated by an overgrown and imbalanced historic cultural masculine. Bernie, in his slightly gruff, pragmatic masculine demeanor, exudes the feminine in his policies and orientation toward the poor and disenfranchised.

And so, there it is. The paradox of our time. Long live the Queen in King’s clothing.