The Sacred Feminine

[aiyanna]

The Da Vinci Code is mostly about finding the The Sacred Feminine in the Gospels...

Please, share you info on the The Sacred Feminine with me!!!!

I found this instresting sight about Islam and the Divine Feminine

www.penkatali.org/feminine.html

[The Wizard]

This isn't really about the sacred feminine, but it's something weird I've wondered about in the bible. It's two verses from the book of Genesis, right in the story of creation.

26 Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground."

27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

It's strange how the passage style goes from saying us and our, to his and he, and in two consecutive verses... Does anyone know any explanations or anything about this?

[Angaridatha]

In Old Testament History we talked about the two contrasting beginning verses of the bible, one being the creation of man as a divine construct and the other emphasizing his inequality with god. Truth be told, there are many references in the bible to reincarnation, the lost sacred feminine, and other wiccan/"new age" (I hate that term because we're really old) terms. I wish I could point some out for you but it's late and as for the sacred feminine, I can't find anything good on the comparison between genesis I, II and III at the moment on google.

But the bible does refer to women in the original creation, and while something was lost in translation, the original word for god was often plural. thus, femenine and masculine.

However, I really don't hold all too much stock in the bible because it was rewritten by the church to serve their own purposes, i.e. written by a bunch of men who wanted power. But that's my own personal viewpoint.

[Angaridatha]

[glow=red,2,300]~~~~~~SPOILER ALERT!!~~~~~~[/glow]

[glow=red,2,300]WARNING[/glow]
Do not read this post if you have not read the Da Vinci code, unless you don't care about me explaining a lot of the symbolism in it, because I'm going to do so to elaborate on Aiyanna's question about christianity's sacred feminine. I will put up another post on the sacred feminine in wicca, but read this one at your own risk if you're interested in the da Vinci code.

[glow=red,2,300]End of spoiler alert[/glow]


Anyway, the context of the loss of the sacred feminine in the Da Vinci code revolves around a re-writing of the bible for the purposes of the church. The holy grail, or sacred feminine, is really the remains of Mary Magdalene, portrayed by the church as a prostitute.

In reality, Mary Magdalene was married, to no other than Jesus himself. Jesus was a prophet, but no more the son of god than any other one of us. In fact, he was Jewish, married, and had children, the bloodline of whom is kept secret by the templar knights, a secret sect designed to keep the truth about the church alive until such a time that it is deigned necessary to reveal it.

The true defamation of the sacred feminine was the bible's almost total removal of aspects of feminine power because the then current society was male dominated and had lost much of the original balance between male and female embodied in the godhead, and the rewriting of the role of Jesus (who in his own right was very influential but not in the exact way the church portrayed him) to their idea of the perfect created son of god.

Also, Mary's role was so stong as Jesus's wife that to prevent her from becoming a patron saint of the church, the church redesigned her as a prostitute and hid the bloodline. To cover up their own conspiracy theory, they took elaborate measures to "lose" certain parts of the original biblical texts and evidence of jesus's real life.

If you want some interesting stuff to reseach, look into the role of the templar knights, the knights of the priory of sion, who encompass some of the most influential people in the world as their grandmasters, including leonardo da vinci. In his paintings, there is much symbolism concerning mary magdalene.

For example, look at the last supper. Look to the left of Jesus. Look closely. Is this a man? Or is this a woman? Some think that it is mary magdalene, accentuated by the fact that she appears to have breasts, is being "cut" symbolically in the throat by paul's hand, and forms the symbol of the sacred feminine, a V, together with jesus. An M can also be seen prominently in the art, for magdalene. Research da vinci's art, there's a lot of symbolism that represents his time as head of the priory of sion.

Read the Da Vinci code if you have not done so, seriously this is a book that must be read.

[Angaridatha]

Ok, now the wiccan (eclectic wiccan, my own, whatever you want to call it) viewpoint on the sacred feminine. If you're not already getting sick of the sacred feminine.

Wicca is very much a goddess centered religion, or at least many sects are. This is partly because we're seeing a reemergence of goddess centered cults and religions throughout the world (including wicca) because there is a current imbalance of god only worship, and the world always balances itself out. The goddess has been waiting patiently for her children to find her again.

The godhead is comprised of two parts, equal and in many ways the same, just as everything in nature has its balance as well. The sacred feminine is that which relates to the goddess, symbolized by the moon, the cauldron we work with, the chalice, any cups or other V shaped items, and many other things.

Oddly enough christianity also mentions a godhead, although theirs is the holy trinity, most of which is masculine. Some claim the church is feminine, but I think the goddess herself is highly underrepresented.

The Chinese also embrace the balance of things with their concept of Yin and Yang. If you look at nature and everything in it, including ourselves and the world we live in, everything is balanced between male and female, light and dark, good and evil, greater and lesser, etc. all in a perfect ratio. This is the essence of the godhead and a major concept in astrophysics. Where there is one essence, there must exist its opposite. As above, so below.

Just as a personal thought, I think most all religions on earth, especially if you study them closely, have some aspects of the truth in them. Most of them say the same basic idea, even if some of them purposely leave parts out. Which is why it's fascinating to see how the sacred feminine is emerging as a concept right now.

[aiyanna]

Jade said:

This isn't really about the sacred feminine, but it's something weird I've wondered about in the bible. It's two verses from the book of Genesis, right in the story of creation.

26 Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground."

27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

Ok, this is what we are taught in Islam...this is a quote from my Islam teacher: "Semitic languages like Arabic and Hebrew use the first person plural for an individual entity. The Quran, for example, uses “We” and “Us” all the time for Allah. It is a custom of the languages and this custom does not deny monotheism" ~TKleven

I'd also like to add that early Jewish and Christian cultures refered to the Godhead as both male and female...this touches on plurism still found in the bible. Since the Quran is influenced by the bible and shares a cultural history plurism is found in the Quran.

[Marius Morningstar]

Jade said:

This isn't really about the sacred feminine, but it's something weird I've wondered about in the bible. It's two verses from the book of Genesis, right in the story of creation.

26 Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground."

27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

It's strange how the passage style goes from saying us and our, to his and he, and in two consecutive verses... Does anyone know any explanations or anything about this?

Could this be due to removing Lilith from scripture? That particular verse always got to me...a very good point though.

[aiyanna]

More about Lilith...

Plymouth Brethren is Christian sect that was founded in Dublin in the 1820s. The British clergyman John Nelson Darby became the most prominent leader of the sect. The Brethren believe in the literal interpretation of the Bible. © 1993-2003 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

Ok, the point...

Darby translated the Bible...and in Isaiah 34:14 he mentions Lilith, whereas the King James Bible does not, she is called a screech owl...

Darby Isaiah 34:14: And there shall the beasts of the desert meet with the jackals, and the wild goat shall cry to his fellow; the lilith also shall settle there, and find for herself a place of rest.

King James: The wild beasts of the desert shall also meet with the wild beasts of the island, and the satyr shall cry to his fellow; the screech owl also shall rest there, and find for herself a place of rest.

Lilith is also mentioned in the Dead Sea scrolls:
And I, the Sage,
declare the grandeur of his radiance
in order to frighten and terrify
all the spirits of the ravaging angels
and the bastard spirits,
demons, Liliths, owls and [jackals...]
and those who strike unexpectedly
to lead astray the spirit of knowledge....

But where we get the most information about Lilith is when she makes an appearance in a satirical work entitled the Alphabet of Ben Sira ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~humm/Topics/Lilith/ (written somewhere between the eighth and tenth centuries CE). It is here that she is first given what has become her most famous persona: the first wife of Adam (before Eve). In this story, she is created at more or less the same time as Adam, and, as was Adam, out of the ground. Because of this she tries to assert her equality -- an assertion which Adam rejects. Refusing to conform to Adam's desires, she escapes from Eden, and is subsequently replaced by the more subservient Eve (who has less claim to equality, since she was made out of Adam's side). Having escaped Eden, Lilith takes on her renowned role as baby-stealer and mother of demons. She also promises to leave babies alone who are protected by amulets with the names of the three angels.

Lilith is also known as the Dark Side of The Sacred Feminine

[aiyanna]

I just bought a book about this, I'll post good info as I read!!!!

[aiyanna]

Sophia: Goddess of Wisdom & God's Bride
By Rev. Mark Raines, R+C

Who is Sophia? Quite literally, She is Wisdom, because the Greek word Sophia translates into Wisdom. More than that, She is the Wisdom of Deity. She has been revered as the Wise Bride of Solomon by Jews, as the Queen of Wisdom and War (Athena) by Greeks, and as the Holy Spirit of Wisdom by Christians. She is known as Chokmah (pronounced HOK-mah with the H being said like -ch in the name Bach) in Hebrew, and Sapientia in Latin. But just who is Sophia?

Sophia is found throughout the wisdom books of the Bible. There are references to Her in the book of Proverbs, and in the apocryphal books of Sirach and the Wisdom of Solomon (accepted by Catholics and Orthodox, found in the Greek Septuagint of the early Church). She is Wisdom Incarnate, the Goddess of all those who are wise.

Is it any wonder that She is constantly associated with wise King Solomon? 1 Kings 4:29-31 tells us that God gave wisdom to Solomon, and that he became wiser than all the kings of the East and all the wise people of Egypt. Wisdom 8:2, 16, 18 tells us that Solomon was seen as married to Sophia. One of the many layers of symbolism attributed to the Song of Songs (also known as Song of Solomon or Canticle of Canticles) is that it speaks of Solomon's marriage to Holy Sophia. Wisdom 9:8-11 even tells us that Sophia instructed Solomon in building the Temple!

The Jews revered Sophia. King Solomon even put Her right in the Temple, in the form of the Goddess Asherah. However, after the "reforms" of King Josiah, there was a threat that the veneration of Sophia would come to a halt - there was even more of a threat when patriarchal Christianity took over the world. Even still, thanks to Her continuing presence in the world and Her presence in the Bible, veneration of Sophia continued in the Eastern tradition with the construction of the Hagia Sophia and the Russian Catholic liturgical service to Sophia combined with the assumption of Mary on May 15. The Russian Orthodox Church has also begun a school of "Sophiology" to explore the thealogy of Sophia without contradicting the Russian Orthodox theology.

Yet the Eastern Christians are not the only Christians to venerate Sophia. Sophia was very likely venerated by early Followers of the Way, and her veneration has survived in the West today in the form of Gnosticism. Gnostics see her as one of the aeons, one of the quasi-deities who live in the ethereal realm known as the pleroma. Gnostics believe that she gave birth to or brought about the creation of a negative aeon, who later came to be called an archon, called the Demiurge, creator and ruler of this world. Gnostics see the Demiurge as the God of the Old Testament, with his strict rules and chains that bind the people of the Earth. Gnostics believe that Sophia and the Father God (not the Demiurge) sent Yeshua to right this wrong. In Gnostic tradition, Sophia plays a very active role in our world.
Sophia and her 3 Daughters, Faith, Hope & Love
- from a Russian Icon Esoteric Christianity doesn't typically support the theory of the Demiurge. It believes that creation is inherently good, and as such so is the Creator. However, the Mystery School does teach that Shaitan, the devil, was the ruler of this world and had accidentally been given the keys to the Otherworlds by the Goddess. He had these keys until the passion, death, and Resurrection of Yeshua, when Yeshua obtained the keys once more and holds them still. The Mystery School sees many similarities between Sophia and the two Christian Goddesses, Mother Mary and Mary Magdalene. Perhaps one or both of them were incarnations of Sophia. Generally we see Mother Mary as the incarnation of Shekinah, and Mary Magdalene as the incarnation of Sophia. But who knows, perhaps both were somehow incarnations of Sophia! After all, both in their earthly forms shared the name Mary, and both in their Heavenly forms share the Hebrew letter Heh in the God-Name YHVH.So how does Sophia fit into the Godhead? With the model of the Trinity/Trinosophia. It supports a masculine Trinity - Father, Son, and Paraclete (Holy Spirit). It also supports a feminine Trinosophia - Mother, Daughter, and Pneuma (Holy Soul).


The Trinitarian/Trinosophia can also fit with the Quaternity. Believers in the Quaternity see the Four as Father, Mother, Son, and Daughter - BUT, they also acknowledge Paraclete and Pneuma as the masculine and feminine essences of Divinity (see the Creed of the Way, in which Pneuma is clearly acknowledged). Perhaps Paraclete is the combination of the two masculine forces, and Pneuma may be the combination of the two feminine forces. This could explain why They do not have Their own letters in the Quaternity, since They may be a combination of the masculine and feminine forces. For more information on the Holy Trinity and the Holy Trinosophia, try taking our Restoring the Goddess Lesson E.

Sources:

1. The Sophia Foundation of North America
2. Sophia, Goddess of Wisdom by the WOW Institute. Originally on www.wowinstitute.org/goddess/hidden/goddess_sophia.html (link no longer works)
3. About Sophia, Hidden Goddess of the West by Brother Leonard

[aiyanna]

Some reflections on Druidic Christology – Rev. Alistair Bate – Jan. 2005

My Druid is Christ, the Son of God, Christ, Son of Mary, the Great Abbot, The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

St. Columba

It is well known that there are today, and have been, probably for nearly two thousand years, Christian Druids. This venerable tradition is however, in danger of being eclipsed as we move out of the age of Pisces and into the age of Aquarius. The danger I perceive is that, sensing the power of the new wave of spiritual activity on our planet the new devotees will miss the opportunity to integrate the best of the old with the new forms of spiritual practice. If Druids are to be true to both our highest calling as human beings and to the traditionally tolerant, inclusive and universalist Druid tradition then we need to make “integration” our watchword for the next century at least. A whole scale rejection of Christianity in favour of a reconstructed Paganism can only lead to more ignorance and fundamentalism. Hence my wish to write something about specifically Christian Druidry.

What one might call “Christian Druidism” is largely theologically incoherent. However, scholars much more able than I have offered some observations on the relationship of pre-Christian Druidic deities with Christian theology and some others, such as past Chiefs of the Ancient Druid Order and the Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids, have attempted to give ceremonial expression to deeply felt theological convictions.

As an example of orthodox Christology finding its way into Druidic ceremonial I would like to consider the benediction at the end of the traditional (O.B.O.D.) ritual for Imbolc; “May the blessing of the Uncreated One, of the Created Word and of the Spirit that is the Inspirer be always with us. May the world be filled with harmony and Light. ….” In this case the writer (probably Chief Nuinn/Ross Nichols, Chief of the Order of Bard, Ovates and Druids and Celtic Orthodox Deacon) was obviously inspired by the opening verses of St John’s gospel. This in itself may be no accident given the popularly alleged association between a Gnostic Johannine tradition and Celtic Christianity. However, the writer may also have been influenced by a passage in the Barddas of Iolo Morgannwg where God the Father is referred to as HEN DDIHENYDD, (meaning the Ancient or Unoriginated One)[1]. Iolo goes on to say that “God the Son is called IAU” (meaning Younger), “that is, God under a finite form and corporeity, …. And when he became man in this world, he was called Jesus Christ”. Iolo goes on to explain some of the epithets of Jesus. Two in particular are of interest; “and he also has other names, such as PERYDD, (Causer/ first cause), and God the NER, (Energy/ the Powerful). The theological difficulty with the above is that Iolo appears at once to imply that Jesus Christ was himself both created and Creator. Such is the difficulty arising from the church’s teaching in the Nicene creed that Jesus was “begotten, not created”. It would appear therefore that Iolo’s Christology leans towards Arianism, though it doesn’t quite get there, and that Chief Nuinn’s Christology leans in the same direction. A more orthodox rendering of Chief Nuinn’s triadic formula might be “May the blessing of the Uncreated One, of the Creative Word and of the Spirit that is the Inspirer be always with us”. This, I believe, would not only be more truly in tune with the bardic experience but would also resonate with the Om/Creation idea found in the Hindu tradition. As we envision Awen, the primordial sound, echoing out of the void we connect with our own creative inspiration as part of that first creative Word, which is in Christian terms, at once Christ and his Spirit. In fact, our own potential divinity, a very orthodox idea, is affirmed by Iolo when he writes that “Jesus Christ, the Son of God, came down from Gwynvyd to the Little World in the condition of man, in order to teach, warn, direct, and inform those who seek to be divine.” [2] It is this urge towards personal transformation, and ultimately theosis or divinisation, that is at the very heart of both Christian mysticism and Christian Druidism, the allowing of Awen, the Creative Word, to do its transforming work in us.

Looking at what one might call pre-figurings of the Trinity among the ancient Celts, one is immediately struck by the theological common ground shared by middle eastern mystery religions, among which I would count Christianity, and the mystery religions of Western Europe. These similarities and correspondences were perhaps understood and grasped most perfectly by Chief Nuinn/Ross Nichols and presented, posthumously, in his “Book of Druidry”.

It is quite well known that ancient Druidism had, as Chief Nuinn wrote, “an essential spirit called Hesus or Esus, linked with the Oak tree, which seemed a plain anticipation of Jesus upon the tree of the cross.” [3]

Iolo Morgannwg goes so far as to identify Hu/Hesus/Esus with Jesus Christ: “Hu the Mighty, -Jesus the Son of God, the least in respect of His worldly greatness whilst in the flesh, and the greatest in heaven of all visible majesties.”[4] The editor of Barddas, Revd J. Williams ab Ithel, helpfully goes on to explain that “the meaning of “Hu”, is that which is apt to pervade, or to spread over. It is used as an epithet of the deity, in reference to His omniscience, and is not unfrequently to be met with as such in the words of the Bards…..”[5]

Chief Nuinn links Esus in a triad of Gods with Teutates and Cernunnos, as their statues were discovered together in Paris, but perhaps more intriguingly, Hesus is also linked with Beli, the “Sun Disk”, and Taruos Trigaranus (the Bull God of three cranes) [6]. Chief Nuinn notices what he calls a “unity of idea” within the Hesus/Beli/Taruos triad. Beli “the sun disk” can be identified with both the Aten of Akhenaten and Adon/Adonai of Moses, in both cases the (same) Father aspect of the divinity, but Beli can also be seen as the Solar Logos, the Creative Word or Son aspect. Hu can be seen as both emergent from the Oak tree - the Mabon/Christ child [7] – and as the Origin, the Father of all[8]. Taruos, as a bull God, parallels the Canaanite Baal and the Greek Zeus, both Father God types associated with bull cults, while the crane as the Celtic bird of Wisdom parallels Sophia, Holy Wisdom, most often symbolised by a dove. Hence we see that Hesus/Hu and Beli both contain Father and Son aspects while Taruos contains Father and Spirit aspects of the Christian Trinity. Perhaps there is indeed a “unity of idea” here.

In practical terms and from a monotheistic Druidic perspective, there is one obvious flaw in the triadic formulas of the past and that is their seeming maleness and consequent reinforcement of patriarchy. The Maiden/Mother/Crone model favoured by Wiccans is a modern invention, though of course the triple Matronae and the three battle Goddesses of Ireland are very ancient. I would wish, however, to make room for the feminine aspect of Divinity in a more orthodox model. Chief Nuinn writes that “Teut, Hu and Bel may be reckoned a trinity of shapes of the One; but there is always the fourth, the feminine balance, the all-mother Ana”[9]. Ana/Anu/Dana/Danu is the mother of all the Gods of the ancient Irish, the Tuatha De Danann, the people of Danu. Interestingly, a Hindu Goddess shares the same name. To call Ana, the Grandmother of the Gods would not, in fact, be incongruous. To Gnostic ears too, this would not sound strange, as one neo-gnostic “Ave” petition reads, “Holy Sophia, Mother all the Gods, pray for us now and at the hour of our death”. If Mary is Theokotos, the Mother of God, then her mother, St. Anne/Anna could be called Grandmother of God. Popularly, though it has never been defined satisfactorily, Mary is not only the Mother of Christ and Mother of God, she is also called, in the Litany of Loreto, “Mother of the Creator”. We are used to the image of Mary as mother of Jesus, but have we really considered her as Mother of the Creator. Preceding even the utterance of the creative Word, She was, as Sophia, the breath – that is the life - of God hovering over the waters[10]. Though the historical Mary is hardly an empowering archetype, nevertheless, I believe that a proper mystical understanding of, and devotion to, the Mother of God, the “Cosmic Mary”, if you will, is a viable alternative to Celtic pagan Goddess reconstruction, beautifully creative though that can be.

In the 4th century St Augustine declared, “That which is called the Christian Religion existed among the Ancients, and never did not exist, from the beginning of the Human Race until Christ came in the flesh, at which time true religion, which already existed began to be called Christianity”. That the religion of our most ancient ancestors is in essence very similar to that of our more recent ancestors is the conviction that keeps some of us simultaneously both Druid and Christian.

Bibliography:

The Barddas of Iolo Morgannwg - J. Williams ab Ithel, ed., 1862 – Weiser (2004).

The Book of Druidry – Ross Nichols – Thorsons 1990.

[roadsister02]

Weeeeeeell, this kinda sorta goes back to the sacred feminine in The Da Vinci Code... Unfortunately Dan Brown kinda sorta skewed the facts when he said that Mary Magdalene was pushed aside by the Roman Catholic Church & forgotten... slightly not true. She was actually given *sainthood* by the papacy very early on in the church's history. The only reason I know this is because in the Catholic Last Rites & Exorcism she is mentioned in the list of saints to which we pray. So, yeah, further proof that even if a book is well researched & claims to hold some truth... well, you can't believe everything you read can you?