Michael Jackson, matriarchal values and the divine feminine

I’m an MJ fan, and I have been since I was a child. I saw him live in the History tour in Gothenburg when I was 12. Lately he has received a lot of attention again, 17 years after his passing, because of the biopic Michael. 

What do I mean by Michael Jackson and matriarchal values and what does he have to do with the divine feminine. Firstly, when I talk about what I mean by the divine feminine, I’m very aware of the coopting of that term that has been happening in some circles. 

When I say divine feminine or feminine energy, I am not referring to gender roles or traditionalism in any way. Quite the opposite. And I am not referring to aesthetics either. The true feminine and masculine are frequencies or energies that exist in all of us. We all have both within us. Feminine energy is creative and free thinking. Masculine energy is structured and disciplined. 

Although some individuals can have more of one than the other, regardless of their sex or gender, there should be a balance of both in all of us. Both are needed. But not in some of the distorted, controlling ways that it has been made into sometimes. However, the feminine energy has been suppressed in many ways, and especially so in men but also in women. It has been suppressed in all of us.  

Michael Jackson, on the other hand, was not afraid to embody this part of himself. He was a creative free spirit. He was sensitive and deeply empathetic and didn’t conform to what society expected. And all of this made him very powerful in the most positive sense. 

When we talk about matriarchy, we are not talking about patriarchy the other way around. Patriarchy is a system of oppression. Matriarchy is a completely different way of viewing the world.

It’s not hierarchical, but instead communal. It’s peaceful, and it centers children, women and those who are most marginalised and most vulnerable. But it wants what is best for everyone. 

Michael Jackson centered children and people who are vulnerable and marginalised. He spoke up against injustices and he gave so much to causes that helped children especially. This was then misunderstood and weaponised against him. 

Some people thought he was weird because he didn’t conform to what a man was expected to act like. He had creative, playful, soft and sensitive qualities about him as well as being very influential and powerful. He embraced not only his inner feminine but also his inner child.

I even think finding our creativity and playfulness is maybe the only way to be truly powerful, because it’s the most effective way to manifest. And MJ was a master at manifesting. 

Even his appearance was considered somewhat feminine or at least androgynous. He embraced these parts of himself unapologetically, and many people were drawn to that, even if he also received a lot of scrutiny for it. He, consciously or not, went against the status quo for what a man is supposed to be under patriarchy. 

In one of my favourite songs by him, ‘Will you be there’, he even refers to this in the lyrics where he says: 

“But they told me a man should be faithful and walk when not able and fight ’til the end, but I’m only human.”

That brings me to his friendships and relationships with women. I mentioned how he embodied matriarchal values by centering children and marginalised people, and even animals. 

But he also centered women, in the sense that he surrounded himself with women that often were his closest confidantes and that were very powerful, influential people in their own right. He truly respected and listened to women. 

Some of these women were:

His mother Katherine. It should be mentioned that he left his whole estate to his mother and his children, which says a lot about who he centered in his life. 

His best friend Elizabeth Taylor who is an absolute icon, both as an actress and as an activist. And it’s worth mentioning that she was 26 years his senior. In matriarchy older women are revered because they have the wisdom and life experience that we can learn from. And these two also had a lot in common having grown up in show business. 

His friend Princess Diana, also an icon. Diana Ross, a musical legend, who helped him in his early career.

His sister Janet, who he collaborated with and who is an iconic artist in her own right. 

I will go as far as to say that Micheal Jackson was a matriarchal type of man. He shows that having these values is not about diminishing yourself as a human being, because you are male.

But it is about becoming more human by embracing the whole of your humanity, of not being afraid of going against the norm and also centering others. Even though he was immensely successful, he didn’t make it all about himself. 

Embracing his feminine energy, which is within us all regardless of sex and gender, meant he was able to perceive other people’s needs, and especially children’s needs, and to decenter himself and be nurturing to others. 

He has said himself that: “If it wasn’t for the children, I’d throw in the towel. Everything, in my heart, is for them.” And he said that children meant the stars, the moon, the universe. And that all children do, not just his own (and he had three children himself). He said he’s not territorial, and he always felt a responsibility to take care of others. 

These are true matriarchal values. Centering children, but not just your own children, and realising that we are all responsible for the caretaking of the children in the world, in one way or another, whether we have our own children or not. Me as an example, I am child free but I can still feel a responsibility as a human being, for the care of children in general. 

Matriarchal values is not about nuclear family or having our own children if we don’t want to. It’s about building community and extending our circle of care beyond our closest family. And this is what Michael Jackson did and embodied, and he had the resources to do so in a larger sense because of his talent and success. 

Matriarchal values are about equality, equity and it mostly rejects hierarchies. It’s not about who has power over who. It’s about rejecting oppressive power structures altogether for the good of everyone. 

MJ never saw himself as above anyone else as a person. Someone who is that excellent at what they do could easily get a big head. But he never did, not in the way he treated other people. 

He even saw his fans, not as fans, but as family. Again, this comes back to extending the idea of what family is and creating a larger community. I could continue on about this in relation to his love for the earth, what is often called Mother Earth. But that’s for another time.