We are one; or perhaps more like two in one. The world is dual in nature, but our essence is primordial unity. The first cosmic division created day and night, yang (+) and yin (-), masculine and feminine.

The symbol of the androgyne appears in all ancient spiritual traditions.

Split in two, fused in one

The androgyne is present in Hindu culture, Taoism, the Bible, Japanese culture. In Greek mythology Plato speaks of the androgyne as having great power. Originally a man and a woman that were united as one, back to back. The gods parted them because they were too strong, and ever since the two halves have been looking for each other so that they could reunite.

In left-hand Tantrism, the idea of androgyny is closely related to the erotic fusion in which the two lovers control the sexual energy and elevate it to the superior planes of the being.

It is not possible for a couple to reach the state of androgyny without controlling and alchemising this energy individually and together.

For a man, however, it is not possible to develop his inner feminine aspects unless he has awakened and amplified his masculinity. The same applies in the case of a woman; it is not possible for her to awaken her masculine aspects unless she has first amplified her femininity.

The great advantage for a couple is that when love is based on several real affinities, there is a chance that there will appear a polarization between the man and the woman. A completion on every level, that will awaken in each of them the androgynous state.

So where there is profound love and authentic communication on many levels there is also an ideal framework for tantric practices that help us to obtain the androgynous state.

Psychological androgyny

Csikszentmihalyi, one of the founders of positive psychology, stresses that the psychological tendency towards androgyny must not be confused with homosexuality. Because it does not refer to sexual constitution, but to a set of psycho-emotional capacities.

Psychological androgyny is a much broader concept. It refers to a person’s ability to be dynamic and protective, sensitive and strong, solar and receptive, regardless of gender.

A psycho-androgynous person actually doubles their repertoire of responses and can interact with the world through a much richer and more varied mode of relating. So they have more chances to obtain not only the strengths of their own gender, but also those of the other.

In many spiritual traditions, the androgyne represents even more conceptually. As it defines the complete human state, the universal man who brings together all complementary aspects. That is why in the Christian tradition there is that primordial, edenic single being – Adam-Eve.

Why is it important for tantrics?

It does not have the slightest connection to the increasing tendency of shattering the meaning of terms and behaviours related to the differences between male and female sex. The state of androgyny is a superior, glorious state in which all the beneficial, vital, psychic, mental and spiritual paranormal forces are united  perfectly in the same human being.

It represents the highest state in spiritual awakening, for it expresses the complete identification with the supreme unity of the Creator. The Androgyne combines and synthesizes the qualities of the two sexes superlatively. As it is the fruit of the mystical fusion between the Masculine Principle and the Feminine Principle. They need not look for anything outside of themselves; they are complete.

The erotic Pulse appears as an avid thirst of the psyche to achieve perfection by uniting polar opposites within its own body.

This way, the spirit, reintegrated into the original unity and reborn as an ideal, traditional androgyne – the symbolic child of Shiva and Shakti. They will have access now to the highest planes of manifestation of the cosmos, melting in the Eternal Absolute.

In Tantra, the purpose of the profound and plenary transfiguration of love, in which the two lovers perfectly control their sexual energy is the integration of the (+) and (-) polar principles of the human. This results in their accelerated transformation into a wonderful androgyne.

From symbolic to subjective

The androgyne has different and complex symbolic representations in spiritual cultures and traditions:

It is symbolized by: the cosmic egg, the sphere – the only geometric figure that can be expanded on all sides at once, the Phoenix bird from the Chinese tradition, the dairy cow that is at the same time the divine bull that sows (in the Hindu mythology). One that gives birth to two in Taoism, the man who is at the same time man and woman, with four hands and four feet, Shiva who embraces an ecstatic Shakti, Shiva that is half man, half woman.

Misused by modern culture in order to define trends in the entertainment industry and LGBT campaigns, the concept of androgyny was emptied of its sacred substance and even compelled to define things contrary to its true meaning.

Androgyny has nothing to do with the labelling of men or women as non-binary or gender fluid. It has nothing to do with transsexuals or transvestites. The glorious androgynous state – which all the great spiritual paths of humanity relate to – is not about a label or an identity.

Why is it important for our evolution?

The glorious androgynous state is a complete, profound and radical process of inner transformation. It is about a state of elevated harmony, activation of a sacred intensity in the human being that fulfils all its psychic, mental, spiritual potential and attains wisdom.

In any great tradition in which it is used as a symbol, the universal androgyne has the same important characteristics:

• appears at the beginning, and at the end of the world (because it represents perfection, the totality of the human being)

• a paradisiacal and divine plenitude, in which the separation of the sexes is abolished

• it is the couple that is united through a profound, frenzied love that reflects, in the human plane, the communion between Shiva and Shakti, between the Eternal Masculine and the Eternal Feminine

• going beyond duality, the total and glorious reintegration is the ultimate goal in the practices of Hatha yoga and in those of Tantra yoga

• any opposition is ultimately intended to be annulled by the unification of the heavens (+) with the earth (-)

• reaching the androgynous state the man awakens all his divine potential, an because of this he can manifest even paranormal abilities.