|
 s there proof that Holy Spirit is
female? Does the holy name of God, YHWH, imply a union between a masculine and a
feminine deity? Because the Bible speaks with authority to many millions of
people the answers to this question has great impact.
The following is devoted to restoring to
light the Goddess of the Hebrew Scriptures – the Goddess who is mentioned within
the Bible that is used by Jews and Christians. The Goddess who was known to the
Patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The Goddess who is mentioned from Genesis
through Revelation. The Goddess of the ancient Israelites and of the earliest
Christians. The Goddess who has been hidden in plain view for many, many
centuries.
This is not about one of the goddesses of the ancient Egyptians or Romans, nor a
goddess revered by present-day Hindus, but a Christian Goddess Who was
repeatedly mentioned in the Scriptures. The Goddess of Israel Who has been
deliberately concealed by churchmen and scholars, century after century. Many
scholars who have set out to find Goddess in the Scriptures have often confused the true
Hebrew Goddess with goddesses whose worship the Bible
condemns. What follows is a restoration of knowledge that there is a Goddess in
the sacred Scriptures. It is a revelation that original Israelite and Christian
worship included and depended upon a Divine Female: the Covenant People of old
believed in a deity that was both God the Father and Goddess the Mother, they
believed in a Redeemer and a Co-redeemer.
~~*~~
n the beginning was the question..
Have you ever dreamed of Paradise? Paradise may be the most popular and
intensely meaningful idea ever to have gripped the human imagination. We
find it everywhere. It fills our dreams and inspires us all. We seem to be
born with it embedded in our unconscious mind. It is a theme of legends;
stories that have been told at the hearth fires of our ancestors, going
back to a time beyond human memory. The story of Paradise occurs all over
the world. The Garden of Eden, the Greek Golden Age, The Australian
Aborigines’ Dream time, and the Chinese Taoist Age of Perfect Virtue, are
just some of its manifestations. In every tradition, the image of Paradise
is derived from a story that dates back to the beginnings of human
culture. The Genesis account of Adam, Eve, the Garden, and the Serpent,
has inspired generations of theologians and scholars; it is a fundamental
part of the art and culture of Western civilization. Eden is a place full
of fruit bearing trees, gold and precious stones; it was the source of the
earth’s sweet waters. A beautiful place is like a beautiful metaphor, both
are full of wonder.
In order to understand the story
of Eden, it is necessary to think in metaphor. The people of the past
thought this way. Long before 'materialist science' arrived on the scene
people did not dissect everything, they did not try to break everything up
into tiny fragments. When they examined something, when they attempted to
understand the world around them they did through the act of metaphorical
thinking. They would approach a subject by finding it's simile or attempt
to understand it through the act of understanding things that were similar
to it. This way of thinking runs contrary to the way that we think today.
It also reveals a past that we may not be able to comprehend in a fashion
that makes sense to us. When one realizes the power of this way of
thinking it sheds an entirely new light on the people of old times.
People love metaphor. Metaphor is poetry. Metaphor is song. Metaphor is
myth.
Ancient and tribal peoples shared a love for metaphor. Our modern
languages consist of thousand of words and expressions deriving form
ancient metaphors. Moreover, the further back you go in time, the more
metaphorical language becomes.
Now a metaphorical interpretation of a record does not necessarily rule
out a historical one, especially when one considers that supernatural
agency may be involved. However, it might also be said that, in some
cases, a metaphorical interpretation of a story liberates meanings, and
depths of understanding, that can not be seen in, or bound to, a
historical event. Another way of saying this may be, since the metaphor is
timeless, the history it is concerned with is always present. Some early
Christians like those who authored the Nag Hammadi scriptures did not read
Genesis as history with a moral, but as a myth with a meaning.
The Genesis text is the metaphorical combination of two separate
accounts. In the first, man and woman were created together at the climax
of creation. In the second, God make Adam first, and to relieve his
solitude creates the rest of the creatures, including the first woman,
Eve. Afterward the original couple lives naked and unashamed, in harmony
with each other and with the animals. This is the basic cast, or form, of
paradise accounts found in many cultures.
Beginning in Genesis the original
Hebrew writings described the oneness and equality of man an woman. The
first creature called ha'-adam was not strictly male at all. Ha'-adam is a
generic term for humankind and is used at the beginning of Genesis Only
when God takes a rib from ha'-adam are the sexes differentiated, and the
change is symbolized by new terminology. The creature from whom the rib is
taken is now referred to not as ha'-adam but as 'ish ("man"), and the
creature fashioned from the rib is called 'ishshah ("woman") The very act
of creating woman creates man. This is a love story; the rib is a symbol
of intimacy. "Bone of my bones, flesh of my flesh." This early concept was
that of a soul mate; and is referred to by Plato, who spoke of man and
woman as like a split creature always seeking to rejoin the halves.
An originally binary, or sexually
undifferentiated, adam (“earthling”) is split down the “side” (a better
translation of Hebrew tsela than “rib”) to form two sexually
differentiated persons. Marriage is pictured as the reunion of the two
constituent parts or “other halves,” man and woman.
God created Adam before
Eve? Does the order of the creation make a difference as to one's favor
with God? God did not create Adam before all things. God also created
birds before Adam. Yet, Jesus spoke of us as being worth many sparrows.
Eve is the crown and culmination of creation. Does this mean she is of
more worth than Adam?
Did Eve force Adam to eat the forbidden fruit? If Adam was not deceived
and yet ate also, how is it that this is not a greater transgression?
Jesus spoke of the difference between the deceived and the undeceived
often; and said in one place, that the difference is to be received in the
Judgment, by, 'Few stripes...and Many stripes."
The Bible says, "in Adam all die" (I Corinthians 15:22), not "in Adam
and Eve all die". It says, "by one man sin entered into the world" (Romans
5:12), not "by one man and one woman"! Paul never even mentions Eve in any
of the First Adam/Second Adam passages. Why not? Because Eve's sin was not
equal to that of Adam's sin.
"Wherefore as by one man sin entered the world"...Rom: 5; 12
If this statement (by one man sin entered) seems biased in favor of
woman to you, perhaps it also reveals to the gentleman reader how it feels
to be put in your place by the other sex and told that this is God's will.
The point is not to make contention, rather, to show that love speaks to
no one as of less worth to God. And it is not by works that we are saved,
rather, by grace so that no person may boast. Further, the Apostle Paul
was a preacher of grace, yet, fundamentalism in an 'ink on paper' reading
of the Bible often contradicts the message of grace by preaching that men
are somehow in a preferred status with God. If God is love, then Love is
God; in this is the paradox resolved concerning works and grace. Christ
fulfilled the requirements of the law and released all of us to love God
with unconditional desire for Holy Communion. This makes the daughters as
well as the sons of the royal family of saints and in equal standing
before their Creator.
Adam and Eve are portrayed in
images that are seen as sacrificial toward each other, nature and God.
They are cast out of the Garden when they attempt to become Gods. The
trouble lies in that the transformation was not complete, They only ate
from one tree and could not eat of the tree of eternal life. And so it is,
this story relates how our spiritual birth is accompanied with pain. The
Garden story is a metaphor for this truth that is in all our lives.
And our struggle with our creativity, which is made in the image of God.
The most important aspects of the image
which humanity bears are the close relationship of love between themselves and
God and the responsibility given them as God's representatives to care for the
rest of creation as God's helpers. The word "dominion" does not imply that
humankind is to destroy or exploit nature, but man and woman are to be held
responsible before God for the way they serve God in taking care of the world.
The Jerusalem Reader's Edition Bible states in Genesis 2:15 Yahweh God took the
man and settled him in the garden of Eden to cultivate and to take care of it.
If this is what is usually translated as "giving dominion" then at least this
translation offers a more responsible perspective. God's characteristic as
servant is even more clear in the Gen., Ch. 2 description. Here, at the climax
of the creation story, Eve is created as the "helper (ezer)" of Adam. Woman is
created as help and succor to man’s loneliness. Far from denoting the idea of
service in a subordinated position, the word "help" (ezer) is generally applied
to God" who is par excellence the succor of those in need and in despair. This image of God as servant emerges
clearly in the New Testament in the figure of Jesus, who came "not to be served
but to serve" (Mark 10:45). Jesus of Nazareth was identified with the prophecies
of God's "suffering servant" (Isa. 42:1-4). Above all, he became God's
instrument of divine help in his willingness to live among people in
self-surrender to others in love (Phil. 2: 5_1 1)..
A true love story is a poem. This is because poetry speaks in ways larger than
mere words. Poetry speaks through metaphor and rhythm; ultimately becoming song.
The true love story is the eternal love story. This is the story of woman and
man as their Creator has brought them forth. With the exceeding capacity, for
the love of the other. The beginning record of man’s purpose is of necessity the
story of love. The love between a man and woman. The love that brings forth
children. It is from this foundation of life and living the Creator brings forth
those elements which are spiritual in nature. In the book of Genesis, beginning
at the opening of the book, we read of a man named Adam and his wife, his one
and only, Eve.
Among the many pearls of truth that, for centuries, have purposely been
concealed from those who attend churches and synagogues is the awareness that
Elohim [el-lo-HEEM], the God of the Bible, is really simultaneously both God and
Goddess. In the original Hebrew, the word Eloah [el-LO-ah], is the feminine form
of ‘God’. The word, Eloah, literally means “Goddess”.
For centuries, theologians, motivated by divers agendas and biases, deliberately
masked profound truths about Elohim, the God of the Bible. They deliberately
concealed from the common person’s view the existence of the Divine Feminine
within the Holy Scriptures. Even though some of the Hebrew words for God have a
distinct and clear-cut feminine gender, translators and commentators have almost
universally covered up this knowledge. They were unwilling to use the feminine
word “Goddess”. Therefore, they consistently used only masculine pronouns when
referring to God – even when feminine pronouns would have been more correct.
Early interpreters have pondered the meaning of certain Biblical
passages - for example, the saying in Proverbs that God made the
world in Wisdom'. Could Wisdom be the feminine power in which
God's creation was 'conceived'?, the double meaning of the term
conception - physical and intellectual - suggests this
possibility: The phrase "He knew his wife" is to know physically
but also as 'ennoia'; within thoughtfulness. This character of
thought [ennoia] is feminine, since ... [it] is a power of
conception." "Wisdom, " God's earliest creation and playmate,
who had her counterpart in the Greek Sophia; is a Deity in which
biblically, God's wisdom is specifically expressed as female (Prov
8:1-36).
From this brief analysis we can conclude that it is not necessary to think of
God primarily as having masculine characteristics of domination and lordship, a
practice that has served to legitimatize aggression and domination in androgen
cultures. It is also possible to think of God as having characteristics
frequently thought of as feminine. God extends divine help to those in need
through the chosen instruments. The example of the steadfast love and sacrifice
of God in the Old and New Testaments points to possibilities of a world where
the fullness of these characteristics could be displayed by both men and women.
God language should not be confused with the reality of God. It should
struggle to disclose that reality through careful investigation and
interpretation. It should discover the differences of what is ordinarily
acceptable to a Christian community and what is theologically possible.
The passage in Ex., ch. 3, describing God's self-revelation to Moses points
toward an image of God that is sometimes overlooked in our view of Old Testament
tradition: the image of servant. In and through the actions of the liberator are
those of the servant or helper (ezer). The Ex. 34:6 interpretation of the name
Yahweh makes this more clear as it reminds us that "God is merciful and
gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness. Yahweh
is related to humankind in a covenant relationship of love and concern. This
same idea is reflected in the two Genesis versions of creation. Genesis 1:26
speaks of the creation of man and woman in the image of God. "Let us make ...
[humankind] in our image, after our likeness; and let them have dominion over
... all the earth." "Male and female ... [God] created them." Exactly what the
author means by the word "image" is not clear, but it is evident that the
Priestly writer wishes to point to an analogy between God and man-and-woman. The
analogy is not merely anthropomorphic because in Israel's view human beings are
theomorphic. They are an image of Elohim. The plural word for God (Elohim) and
the words "let us .." reflect not only the idea of God surrounded by a heavenly
court but also the notion of God as combining all the characteristics of the
male and female gods in the Canaanite pantheon which Yahweh transcends, yet
includes.
Many plain and precious spiritual Scriptural teachings have been buried by the
scholars of mainstream churches. For example, the many names of God have been
deliberately kept from Christians and Jews. Scriptural teachings of the true
nature of God, and of the plan of redemption were obscured. These were no
accidents, but very conscious concealments by religious leaders. The truth “has
been falsified by the lying pen of the scribes.” [Jeremiah 8:8] One of the
mysteries of the ancient writ is that the Goddess has been ever-present within
the pages of the Bible.
The Scriptures were originally written in Hebrew, Aramaic , and other Semitic
languages. For that reason, the following includes a careful exposition of
Hebrew words. It also includes explanations of Scripture passages, as well as
comments by early church leaders. References are found in Bible, and in other
ancient Hebrew and Christian texts. At a time when sexual ethics and the
definition of the nuclear family are changing for many people, this alternative
vision of Christian can be very attractive. In addition, these texts offer hope
for anyone who's felt rejected or marginalized in their lives,
~~*~~
In the east where the dawn brings the sun, the Creator planted a garden
paradise; in which was brought forth woman and man. In this way has their
Creator fashioned them. They were one of the same. Such was the union of the
two. And they were brought forth to the delight of the other... And the Creator
and looked through the creation and saw the reflection back . And the Creator was well please with
the creation, for it was seen to be very good. And the Creator created life to
bring forth more life, after its kind, to be fruitful and multiple...
Both Male and Female
 his is written in the Hebrew Talmud, the book where all of the sayings and
preaching of Rabbis are conserved over time.
It says: "Be very careful if you make a woman cry, because God counts her tears.
The woman came out of a man's rib. Not from his feet to be walked on. Not from
his head to be superior, but from the side to be equal. Under the arm to be
protected, and next to the heart to be loved."
Gen 1:1 In the beginning God ('elohiym) created the heaven and the earth. Gen
1:26 And God ('elohiym) said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness:
See also Genesis 3:22 and 11:17 where God is spoken of as "us." 'elohiym is used
of God as a plurality:
The Bible reflects that the first creation, as well as continuing creation, is
done in tandem by Eloh (God) and Eloah (Goddess) (also referred to as Hokhma and
Ruach). Together, Eloh and Eloah make up the Elohim. See Genesis 1:1-3, 1:26-27;
Proverbs 3:19-20, 8:22-31; Job 38:4-40:30; Ecclesiasticus 1:1-10, 24:1-6; Wisdom
of Solomon 7:22, 8:1-7, 8:21-9:4, 9:9-11.
Hebrew language scholars have noted that there has been a strange violation of
convention in the formation of the word "Elohiym", in that the female root "Eoahh",
meaning Goddess, is used and is then combined with the masculine suffix "iym".
So the word "Elohiym" not only means plural Gods, but Gods with male and female
attributes
'elohiym 430. 'elohiym, el-o-heem'; plur. of H433; gods in the ordinary sense;
but spec. used (in the plur. thus, esp. with the art.) of the supreme God; X
exceeding, God (gods) (-dess, -ly), X (very) great. Yehovah is used of God as
His being one God:
Yehovah 3068. Yehovah, yeh-ho-vaw'; from H1961; (the) self-Existent or Eternal;
Jeho-vah, Jewish national name of God:--Jehovah, the Lord. Comp. H3050, H3069.
Thus, in Deuteronomy 6, we see the One God spoken of as a plurality:
Deu 6:1 Now these are the commandments, the statutes, and the judgments, which
the LORD (Yehovah) your God ('elohiym) commanded to teach you, that ye might do
them in the land whither ye go to possess it: Deu 6:2 That thou mightest fear
the LORD (Yehovah) thy God ('elohiym), to keep all his statutes and his
commandments, which I command thee, thou, and thy son, and thy son's son, all
the days of thy life; and that thy days may be prolonged. Deu 6:3 Hear
therefore, O Israel, and observe to do it; that it may be well with thee, and
that ye may increase mightily, as the LORD (Yehovah) God ('elohiym) of thy
fathers hath promised thee, in the land that floweth with milk and honey. Deu
6:4 Hear, O Israel: The LORD (Yehovah) our God ('elohiym) is one (echad)[ Echad
speaks of God as being one as husband and wife are one: Gen 2:24 ] LORD (Yehovah):
Deu 6:5 And thou shalt love the LORD (Yehovah) thy God ('elohiym) with all thine
heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.
The Monotheism here is combined with a compound unity of God being one. In other
words God is one, but not literally in number but in Substance. The Hebrew word
here is the word ('Echad') which means compound unity and an absolute. The
Scriptures have this Hebrew word 'one' which is (Echad) used in other Scriptures
which proves the unity of this word. For instance, in Genesis 1:5, the
combination of evening and morning comprise one (echad) day. In Genesis 2:24, a
man and a woman come together in marriage and the two "shall become one (echad)
flesh.
There are many scripture references implying God as God/dess:: Numbers 16:22 and
also 27:16 | Deuteronomy 32:both 15 & 17 | Job 3:4, 5:17, 9:13, 10:2, 11:5-7,
12:6, 38:7 | Ezra 4:24 to 6:18, throughout all the verses (27 references)
Nehemiah 9:17 | Psalms 82 , (Prov. 1:20-33; 2:2-4; 3:13-19; 4:7-9; 8:1-36;
9:1-5), (Greek name – Sophia) chapter 8 in particular describes her as an
eternal being with godly attributes, one that was with God from the beginning,
who participated in the creation and teaching Her children. In Proverbs 30:5 we
also can read, "Every word of (the) Goddess ( #433 Elowahh, Eloahh) is pure: he
(she) is a shield unto them that put their trust in him (her) [masculine is
English translation].
The Bible abounds in
male imagery and language. For centuries interpreters have
explored and exploited this male language to articulate
theology; to shape the contours and content of the church,
synagogue and academy; and to
instinct human beings -- female and male -- in who they are,
what roles they should play, and how they should behave. So
harmonious has seemed this association of Scripture with sexism,
of faith with culture, that only a few have even questioned it.
However, some commentators observed the plight of the female in
Israel. Less desirable in the eyes of her parents than a male
child, a girl stayed close to her mother, but her father
controlled her life until he relinquished her to another man for
marriage. If either of these male authorities permitted her to
be mistreated, even abused, she had to submit without recourse.
Thus, Lot offered his daughters to the men of Sodom to protect a
male guest (Gen. 19:8); Jephthah sacrificed his daughter to
remain faithful to a foolish vow (Judg. 11:29-40); Amnon raped
his half-sister Tamar (II Sam. 13); and the Levite from the hill
country of Ephraim participated with other males to bring about
the betrayal, rape, murder and dismemberment of his own
concubine (Judg. 19). Although not every story involving female
and male is so terrifying, the narrative literature nevertheless
makes clear that from birth to death the Hebrew woman belonged
to men. What such narratives show, the legal corpus amplifies.
Defined as the property of men (Exod. 20:17; Deut. 5:21), women
did not control their own bodies. A man expected to marry a
virgin, though his own virginity need not be intact. A wife
guilty of earlier fornication violated the honor and power of
both her father and husband. Death by stoning was the penalty
(Deut. 22:13-21). Moreover, a woman had no right to divorce
(Deut. 24:1-4) and, most often, no right to own property.
Excluded from the priesthood, she was considered far more
unclean than the male (Lev. 15). Even her monetary value was
less (Lev. 27:1-7).
Even present-day Bible dictionaries and concordances are still
biased, and ignore basic Hebrew grammatical rules when it comes
to translating the various words for Deity. The result is that
most Christians and Jews have been hoodwinked into to believing
that the God of the Old Testament is exclusively male, and
Christians have been mislead into believing that the Holy Spirit
is genderless.
All translation is a form of
interpretation. The best translations straddle languages, conveying the meaning,
rhythm, and style of the original while achieving integrity and beauty in their
own right. Translation demands, necessarily, innumerable subjective decisions:
How should "Adam be translated? "Man" is a perfectly correct rendering of the
Hebrew, so is "humankind." Strictly literal translations from Hebrew to English
are virtually impossible due to differences in grammar; Hebrew nouns have
gender, which requires changes in verb forms. Also Hebrew and English deal with
tenses differently. One problem that presents itself in translating the New
Testament from Hebrew and Aramaic into English is that of the gender of the
Ruach haKodesh (Holy Spirit). English is very different from Hebrew and Aramaic.
To begin with, English has three genders: masculine, feminine and neuter (i.e.
he, she and it). Hebrew and Aramaic have no neuter gender. In Hebrew and
Aramaic, everything is either a "he" or a "she" and nothing is an "it". Also,
gender plays a much more important role in Hebrew and in Aramaic than in
English. In English, gender is usually only an issue when dealing with pronouns.
But in Hebrew and Aramaic, nouns and verbs are also maculine or feminine. And
while there are no true adjectives in Hebrew (nouns are also used as
adjectives), noun modifiers must agree in gender with the noun. Now, the Hebrew
word RUACH (Aramaic RUCHA) is gramatically feminine as is the phrase Ruach
haKodesh. This is matched by the rôle of the Ruach haKodesh as "comforter"
(Jn.14-16) and the identifier of the "comforter" with YHWH acting as a "mother"
(Is.66:13).
The Greeks of the New Covenant texts were largely Greek-speaking Jews. The texts
themselves were meant to persuade them that Jesus was not only a Jewish prophet,
but was their messiah, hence the name Christian for their sect, Christian
meaning "messianic". The probable Aramaic script or oral witness accounts
containing the Hebrew biblical names found themselves Hellenized, given to Greek
translation or transliteration, from late Hebrew or Aramaic. So, we see, Yeshua
or, more fully, Yehoshua the Messiah, Yehoshua and Ha-Mashiach, rendered into
Greek as Iesous 0 Hristos. Iesous is a transliteration of Yeshua and Hristos
(meaning the "anointed"), being a translation of mashiach. Greek Iesous 0
Hristos is in turn translated into English as Jesus [the] Christ. Similarly,
Yochanan becomes Ioannes in Greek, Johannes in Latin, and John in English.
However we are not Greek-speaking Jews and gentiles. We speak English. Why not
biblical Yochanan in English rather than Greek John? Why adopt an English
transcription of a Hellenized Greek transcription of Hebrew names from the
Hebrew Scriptures?
If we have failed to demonstrate the purposeful inconsistency, consider that the
Tanakh (Old Testament) is done with minimal change. (Abraham may be written
Avraham since the b and v in Hebrew, as in Spanish and other languages, are
interchangeable) Why not transcribe biblical names from the New Covenant
directly into English without an intermediary Greek transcription? Hellenizing
Yeshua the Messiah, into Jesus Christ is comparable to Hellenizing Yahweh (YHWH)
into Zeus. If this were acceptable, we would read the story of creation as, "In
the beginning Zeus created the heavens and the earth," The Tanakh (Old
Testament) would be in harmony with the presently Hellenized New Covenant.
The English "God" of Old English and is equivalent to the Dutch god, German Gott,
Icelandic godh, and Goth guth. The epithet "god" has no added correlation with
Greek or Hebrew than "hell"; also of Germanic origin. In the Greek scriptures
"hell" is rendered hades, in the Hebrew it is Sheol or Gehenna (Gei Hinnom).
The Greeks chose to Hellenize the Semitic epithets for God. However, in English
there exists no grounds (other than the lethargy of tradition) for the
Hellenized, Romanized and Germanized words for God not acquiescing to Elohim,
Adonai and Yahweh in the New Covenant. "God", the name of a northern pagan
divinity, is standard English. Elohim, Yahweh and Adonai may soon beckon to be
embraced by His followers.
The first name for God, we encounter as the third word in the Hebrew Genesis
(reading right to left): brereshit bara elohim et ha-shamayim ve-et ha-aaretz.
Following the Hebrew word order this reads: "In the beginning | created | Elohim
| the skies | and the earth". Elohim a "plural of majesty" with a singular
meaning, derived from Eloah , or from El meaning "God" as in El Shaddai. In the
second account of creation (Gen. 2.4), (be-yom asot adonai elohim eretz
ve-shmayim), our triune God is again called Elohim but also Adonai, meaning,
"lord". Genesis has provided thusly, two words for God: Elohim and Adonai early
in the text.
Yet since His/Her secret name -or any word signifying that name -is ineffable,
the true name cannot be known, written, or sounded. There is however a way to
represent God with letters that do not spell or reveal His secret name. The
Tetragrammaton (also Tetragram), consists of the four Hebrew consonants YHWH or
YHVH (yod, he, waw or vav, he ), normally pronounced Adonai (the Semitic word
for "lord"). Some choose to sound out the letters, YHWH giving Yahweh another
surrogate name for the nameless one.
The "New Testament" is a mistranslation of the Greek title New
Covenant based on Jerome's intermediate Latin mistranslation,
which he rendered as Novum Testamentum. The title New Covenant
itself derives from Luke 22.20, Paul in 1 Corinthians 11:25 and
Hebrews 8.8-13.21. The idea of a new covenant, we must remember,
comes from Paul who takes it directly from Jeremiah 31:31: "I
will establish a new covenant with the house of Israel." Paul, a
Greek-speaking Jew from Tarsos, who knew the Hebrew texts, used
diatheke to convey its meaning in Hebrew, berit , which is
covenant, and also a cut or circumcision, as we see when Paul
speaks of a "new circumcision of the heart" (Rom. 2.25-29).
If we have failed to demonstrate the purposeful inconsistency,
consider that the Tanakh (Old Testament) is done with minimal
change. (Abraham may be written Avraham since the b and v in
Hebrew, as in Spanish and other languages, are interchangeable)
Why not transcribe biblical names from the New Covenant directly
into English without an intermediary Greek transcription?
Hellenizing Yeshua the Messiah, into Jesus Christ is comparable
to Hellenizing Yahweh (YHWH) into Zeus. If this were acceptable,
we would read the story of creation as, "In the beginning Zeus
created the heavens and the earth," The Tanakh (Old Testament)
would be in harmony with the presently Hellenized New Covenant.
The English "God" of Old English and is equivalent to the Dutch
god, German Gott, Icelandic godh, and Goth guth. The epithet
"god" has no added correlation with Greek or Hebrew than "hell";
also of Germanic origin. In the Greek scriptures "hell" is
rendered hades, in the Hebrew it is Sheol or Gehenna (Gei Hinnom).
The Greeks chose to Hellenize the Semitic epithets for God.
However, in English there exists no grounds (other than the
lethargy of tradition) for the Hellenized, Romanized and
Germanized words for God not acquiescing to Elohim, Adonai and
Yahweh in the New Covenant. "God", the name of a northern pagan
divinity, is standard English. Elohim, Yahweh and Adonai may
soon beckon to be embraced by His followers.
Women have always played a vital role in
God's Plan. Consider Hannah, mother of the great prophet Samuel. Or the widow
who fed the prophet Elijah. Shall we forget Mary, mother of Jesus or the women
who ministered to Jesus during His earthly ministry? Wasn't Miriam thought of as
a prophetess in her own right? Esther? What of Dorcas who ministered to the
needs of others by making coats for them… The list could stretch on and on.
Godly women should be held in high esteem as daughters of God, and sisters and
co-laborers in the Gospel.
. There has been a calculated conspiracy to purge the Goddess from synagogues
and churches.
Did you notice Sophia in the painting?
~~*~~
 rominent among neglected passages are
portrayals of deity as female. A psalmist declares that God is midwife (Ps.
22:9-10):
Yet thou art the one who took me from the womb; thou didst keep me safe upon my
mother's breast.
In turn, God becomes mother, the one upon whom the child is cast from birth:
Upon thee was I cast from my birth, and since my mother bore me thou hast been
my God. Although this poem stops short of an exact equation, in it female
imagery mirrors divine activity. What the psalmist suggests, Deuteronomy 32:18
makes explicit: You were unmindful of the Rock that begot you and you forgot the
God who gave you birth. Though the RSV translates accurately "the God who gave
you birth," the rendering is tame. We need to accent the striking portrayal of
God as a woman in labor pains, for the Hebrew verb has exclusively this meaning.
(How scandalous, then, is the totally incorrect translation in the Jerusalem
Bible, "You forgot the God who fathered you."). Yet another instance of female
imagery is the metaphor of the womb as given in the Hebrew radicals rhm. In its
singular form the word denotes the physical organ unique to the female. In the
plural, it connotes the compassion of both human beings and God. God the
merciful (rahum) is God the mother. (See, e.g., Jer. 31:15-22.)
The truth of the sacred feminine is easy enough to establish, not by searching
for hidden codes in medieval paintings but by taking
seriously Jewish and Christian scriptures and traditions. Is God masculine or
feminine? Even to pose the question is to realize
that God, as a spiritual being beyond our comprehension, is neither male nor
female. Or perhaps more accurately, considering that Genesis
1:27 indicates that woman and man were both created in God's image, God can be
described using feminine as well as masculine terms.
To be sure, the Bible uses not only masculine images to depict God, but feminine
images as well. Consider Isaiah 66:13: "As a mother
comforts her child, so will I comfort you" (NIV). Throughout the Psalms, God is
described as a mother hen protecting her children
under her wing.
Elohim is
simultaneously God and Goddess. In the original Hebrew of the Bible, Eloah
[el-LO-ah], is the feminine form of 'God.' This one specific word, Eloah,
literally means “Goddess.” Theologians, motivated by various agendas,
deliberately masked profound truths about Elohim [pronounced el-lo-HEEM], the
God of the Bible. They intentionally obscured the presence of the Divine
Feminine. Even though some of the Hebrew words for God have a distinctly
feminine gender, translators have almost universally suppressed this, being
unwilling to use the feminine word “Goddess.” They have consistently used only
masculine pronouns when referring to God – even when feminine pronouns would
have been correct. Present-day Bible dictionaries and concordances are still
biased, and ignore basic Hebrew grammatical rules in translating the various
words for Deity. The result is that most Christians and Jews have been mis-taught
that God is exclusively male. Elohim is a majestic, awesome Being that is beyond
comprehension. Elohim is translated into English as 'God.' It is actually a
gender-combined word, simultaneously representing both unity and majestic
plurality. It is a compound of the feminine singular Eloah with the masculine
plural suffix -im. Eloah is the feminine singular counterpart of El, which means
God. Eloah is correctly translated as “Goddess.” In Hebrew, the -oah, -oh or -ah
suffix makes a word feminine [comparable to the English suffix -ess, used in
such words as waitress and stewardess.]
n the original Hebrew of the Bible there
is one word, Eloah, which literally means “Goddess”. Eloah is the feminine form
of ‘God’. Other words describing God are also distinctly female. Hebrew nouns
are usually gender-specific [although some can be gender-neutral in usage].
While some of the Hebrew words for God have a distinctly feminine gender,
translators have almost universally chosen to suppress this, being unwilling to
use the feminine word “Goddess”. Likewise, they have consistently used masculine
pronouns when referring to God, even when gender-neutral or feminine pronouns
would have been more appropriate. Most present-day Bible dictionaries,
commentaries, and concordances are still biased, and ignore basic Hebrew
grammatical rules when it comes to translating the words designating Deity. This
has resulted in most Christians and Jews holding to the erroneous opinion that
God is exclusively male. To most Christians and Jews, awareness of the Divine
Feminine is not only unfamiliar, but, initially, may even seem unbelievable.
Elohim
Elohim is the Hebrew word that is most often translated as the English “God.” Elohim is gender-combined, plural word. The word Elohim is concurrently male and
female, and simultaneously represents both unity and majestic plurality. Elohim
is a compound of the feminine singular Eloah with the masculine plural suffix –im.
The word Elohim represents a majestic, awesome God that is beyond the ability of
the human mind to fully comprehend. We can comprehend some of the attributes of
Elohim, but the fullness of the Godhead is beyond our understanding.
El7 is the masculine singular Hebrew word for God. Although specifically male,
in practice, El is often gender-neutral. Eloah8 is the feminine singular form of
the same word, and is correctly translated ‘Goddess’. In Hebrew, the –oah¬, –oh
or -ah suffix makes a word feminine. This is very similar to the English suffix
–ess, used in such words as waitress, stewardess, or poetess. Eloah is Goddess,
the feminine form of God.
Elohim is a combination of the singular feminine word Eloah, to which the
masculine plural suffix –im has been added. In Hebrew, the –im suffix is
normally added only used to make masculine words plural. The question that
naturally arises is, Why add a masculine suffix to a feminine root? The answer
is that Elohim is androgynous, being simultaneously male and female in principle
and attributes.
Eloah / El Shaddai
El Shaddai or simply Shaddai are other titles of God. As has already been
mentioned, El means ‘God’. The word shad means “woman’s breast” [Strong’s 7699],
and shaddai [7706] means “breasts”, “breasted”, or “many breasts”. Though El
Shaddai is translated as “Almighty God”, “God Almighty”, or “the Almighty” in
the English Bible, it literally means “God with breasts” or “[many] breasted
[One]”9 There remain some who refuse to properly translate shaddai as “breasts”,
however, the parallelism of the language used in Jacob’s blessing, in Genesis
49:25, emphasizes that this is the correct translation. “El Shaddai who blesses
you…with blessings of the breasts and womb.”10 The descriptive title El Shaddai
depicts the Goddess of Israel.
A fascinatingly important declaration was revealed in Exodus 6:3: “To Abraham,
Isaac and Jacob I appeared as El Shaddai, but I did not make my name Yahweh11
known to them.” While there is Scriptural evidence that the Patriarchs were
actually aware of the word Yahweh, evidently Elohim related to the Patriarchs
primarily in the feminine manifestations of Eloah and El Shaddai. This
revelation given to Moses is highly important to our understanding. The Deity
the Hebrews knew was the Goddess Eloah, or El Shaddai.
Eloah appears 57 times in the Old Testament; two-thirds of those mentions occur
in the book of Job. Shaddai or El Shaddai appears in the Tanakh [Old Testament]
forty-eight times. Thirty one of those occurrences are found in the book of Job.
The fact that Job lived during the days of the Patriarchs, combined with
Yahweh’s declaration to Moses about the Hebrew Patriarchs mainly recognizing
Deity as El Shaddai, allows us to conclude that the Goddess attributes of Elohim
were much more clearly understood in Patriarchal times. Although the names
Elohim and Yahweh appear in Scripture many more times than Eloah or El Shaddai13
, we must notice significance in the fact that the earliest Hebrews had a
considerable understanding of and relationship with the Divine Feminine.
In the book of Job are two specific declarations of the femininity of Eloah.
Yahweh announced to Job, “the sea…leapt tumultuous from the womb.” [Job 38:8]
Then, Yahweh rhetorically asked, “Out of whose womb came the ice?” [Job 38:29]
Obviously, these verses [and others] undeniably attribute feminine
characteristics to Eloah.
Eloah is synonymous with Shaddai, the Goddess. “Can you claim to fathom the
depth of Eloah? Can you reach the limit of Shaddai?” [Job 11:7]14 “Then Shaddai
will be your delight, and you will lift your face to Eloah.” [Job 22:26] “Can he
be happy with Shaddai? Can he call on Eloah at all times?” [Job 27:10] A similar
verse is, “Now what portion does Eloah allot from above; what fate does Shaddai
apportion from [Her] heaven?” [Job 31:2]
A number of verses, mostly within the book of Job, mention either El or Yahweh
as distinct from Eloah. “I would seek unto El, and unto Eloah I would commit my
case.” [Job 5:8] “Does El pervert judgment, or does Shaddai pervert justice…if
you search for El and plead for mercy from Shaddai?” [Job 8:3,5] “This is the
portion of a wicked man from El, and the heritage appointed him by Eloah.” [Job
20:29] “I swear by the living El who denies me justice, and by Shaddai who has
filled me with bitterness.” [Job 27:2] “El judges the Righteous and Eloah is
angered by the Wicked every day.” [Psalm 7:11] Similar passages include Job
15:25, 22:17, 23:16, 33:4, 34:12, and 35:13.
In Aramaic, the original language of New
Testament times, the word Abwoon is similarly gender-combined, meaning
“Father-Mother.” In the original Aramaic, 'The Lord's Prayer' begins with the
word Abwoon, but in English translations of the Bible, it has been translated as
Father, only. El Shaddai is another name of God used in the Bible. The word
'shad' means 'woman's breast,' and 'shaddai' means 'breasts,' or 'many breasts.'
Though El Shaddai is translated as 'God Almighty,' or 'the Almighty' in the
English Bible, it literally means 'God with breasts' or '[many] breasted [God].'
The name El Shaddai refers to the Goddess of Israel. There is a radically
important declaration in Exodus 6:3: “I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to
Jacob by the name of El Shaddai, but by my name Yahweh I was not known to them.”
The Patriarchs were aware of the Father [Yahweh], but Elohim related to them
primarily as the Goddess, El Shaddai. The word Eloah appears fifty-seven times
in the Old Testament, and Shaddai or El Shaddai appears forty-eight times;
two-thirds of these are found in the book of Job. Job lived during the days of
Abraham, and Job is the second most ancient book of the Bible. There are two
specific declarations of the femininity of Eloah, in Job. The Father announced,
“the sea 'leapt tumultuous from the womb'.” [Job 38:8] Then, He rhetorically
asked, “Out of whose womb came the ice?” [Job 38:29] Obviously there is a
Biblical Goddess, Eloah, from whose Divine Womb sprang the sea and ice. Ruach ha
Kodesh is the Hebrew phrase that means 'Holy Spirit.' Ruach is feminine, and the
Aramaic equivalent ruah is also a feminine noun. These words are always paired
with feminine verbs and pronouns. The Holy Spirit is feminine, and is another
designation of Eloah. In the original Aramaic texts, Messiah promised: “And I
will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that She may
dwell with you forever.” [John 14:16] Wisdom is another name for the Goddess.
'Wisdom' is the feminine Hebrew word Hochmah; the equivalent name in Greek is
Sophia. Although the word 'wisdom' definitely is equated with good judgment and
astuteness, Wisdom unmistakably refers to Goddess in several scripture passages,
The Messiah said: “Wisdom is proven by Her children.” [Luke 7:35] Wisdom
announces that She was brought forth before the physical creation, and She also
assisted in the generative process, alongside Yahweh. “Yahweh created Me,
first-fruits of His fashioning, before the oldest of His works. From everlasting
I was firmly set – from the beginning, before the earth came into being. The
deep was not when I was born, nor were the springs with their abounding waters.
Before the mountains were settled, before the hills, I came to birth; before He
had made the earth, the countryside, and the first elements of the world. When
He fixed the heavens firm, I was there; when He drew a circle on the surfaces of
the deep, when He thickened the clouds above, when the sources of the deep began
to swell, when He assigned the sea its boundaries (and the waters will not
encroach on the shore), when He traced the foundations of the earth. I was
beside the Master Craftsman, delighting Him day after day, ever at play in His
presence, to play everywhere on His earth, delighting to be with the children of
men.” [Proverbs 8:22-31] The Bible makes numerous references to the Goddess. It
instructs us to praise and worship Her; to offer prayer to Her. “I am one who
calls on Goddess and expects an answer.” [Job 12:4] “Then Shaddai will be all
your delight, and you shall lift your face to Eloah. You will pray and She will
hear.” [Job 22:26-27] “Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and
thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall
be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee. And unto Adam he said, Because
thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of
which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground
for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; Thorns
also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of
the field; In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto
the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust
shalt thou return.”
“The word that is translated as “rule” comes from the root
mashal, and not from malakh, which means to rule by domination and is the root
of melekh, or king. Mashal has a different connotation: it implies affinity or
complementarity. It is the root used in Genesis 1: 16 to say that the sun
“rules” the day and the moon “rules” the night. Concerning the zodiac, it is
similarly said that each planet “rules” a constellation. The use of “rule” does
not mean to dominate; rather, it means to have an affinity for each other, to go
together because of complementary qualities...
The story of Chavah lends itself to further contemplation. For
instance, what does it mean when Genesis Rabbah 20: 7 compares a woman’s desire
for her husband to the desire of rain for the earth and the desire of God for
Israel? Surely this is not domination!”
In this quotation, Chavah is a more accurate transliteration of
the Hebrew name usually rendered as Eve, and Genesis Rabbah is the first book of
Midrash Rabbah, a homiletic exposition of Hebrew scriptures, compiled up to the
eleventh century.
“A major misunderstanding of the role of woman in relation to
man has also been created by inaccurate translation of ezer knegdo. Usually
rendered as “helpmate,” the term has been used to say that women should be
subordinate to men. Actually, however, nothing could be further from the truth.
Elsewhere in the Bible, God is referred to as an ezer to Israel. Surely, God is
not subordinate to the Jewish people!
Knegdo means “opposite” or “against” him: “If he is worthy, she
shall be a help (ezer) to him; if he is unworthy, she shall oppose him (knegdo),
to fight him” (Rashi; Yev.63a*). This is certainly not a prescription for an
obedient wife! Rather, it validates a woman’s ability to accurately judge her
husband’s behavior and to treat him accordingly.”
~ Ibid., page 6. * This is a reference to Rashi’s commentary on
Yevamot, 24th tractate of the Talmud. Rashi (Rabbi Solomon ben Isaac, 1040–1105,
France) became widely known for his scholarly commentaries on the Talmud and
Hebrew scriptures, and influenced Christian theologians.
Pertaining to the exclusive maleness of the Hebrew Priesthood,
in the cultural context of Exodus: Of the varieties of religious service in
neighboring Pagan cultures, whether priest or priestess of god or goddess, only
the male priest of a male god performed a service that had no sexual component.
Typically, the priest of a goddess was a transvestite eunuch who had ritual sex
with men, the priestess of a god had ritual sex with the king or Pharoah at
harvest festivals, and the priestess of a goddess was a “holy” prostitute who
had sex with any man who paid the temple fee. The priest of a god served through
offering sacrifices, libations, incense and psalms. The pagan gods, goddesses,
myths and festivals were explicitly sexual, and often brutal in nature. It makes
sense that God’s effort to differentiate a covenant people, a holy “set–apart”
nation, and to prevent or eliminate the semblance of ritual sexual exploitation,
mutilation and phallus worship — given the context — should involve instituting
a male priesthood to serve a linguistically “male” god with no graphically
portrayed sexual nature.
God is Light
ISRAEL
The origin of the word Israel is quite interesting and takes all of our Judeo
Christian heritage back to a deep connection with ancient Egypt.
The word Israel is made up of three ancient forms IS RA EL.
When we define each part we find a deep truth.
IS Female---- I·sis1 (º s¹s) n. Mythology. An ancient Egyptian goddess of
fertility, the sister and wife of Osiris.
RA Male---- Ra1 (rä) also Re (r³) --n. Mythology. The ancient Egyptian sun
god, the supreme deity represented as a man with the head of a hawk crowned
with a solar disk and uraeus.
EL GOD---- the Hebrew term el also became an equivalent to the English
term god, as in the verse: "Who is like unto Thee, O Lord, among the gods"
(Exodus 15:11), in which elim (the plural of el) is used as gods.
There is Israel. The female and male that is within all living things that
together equal God. Or as Jesus put it, the Kingdom of God Is Within You.
The first name for God, we encounter as the third word in the
Hebrew Genesis (reading right to left): brereshit bara elohim et
ha-shamayim ve-et ha-aaretz. Following the Hebrew word order
this reads: "In the beginning | created | Elohim | the skies |
and the earth". Elohim a "plural of majesty" with a singular
meaning, derived from Eloah , or from El meaning "God" as in El
Shaddai. In the second account of creation (Gen. 2.4), (be-yom
asot adonai elohim eretz ve-shmayim), our triune God is again
called Elohim but also Adonai, meaning, "lord". Genesis has
provided thusly, two words for God: Elohim and Adonai early in
the text.
Yet since His/Her secret name -or any word signifying that name
-is ineffable, the true name cannot be known, written, or
sounded. There is however a way to represent God with letters
that do not spell or reveal His secret name. The Tetragrammaton
(also Tetragram), consists of the four Hebrew consonants YHWH or
YHVH (yod, he, waw or vav, he ), normally pronounced Adonai (the
Semitic word for "lord"). Some choose to sound out the letters,
YHWH giving Yahweh another surrogate name for the nameless one.
It is said that Jesus is the image of
God, what that means is that Jesus is pure love, for God is love and love is a
verb. The meaning of love is clearly seen between a man and woman and so it is
said, in his image made he 'them'
There is another compelling feminine image in the Bible: That of Lady Wisdom. In
the Jewish Wisdom literature, beginning with Proverbs,
God's Wisdom is personified as a woman (see Proverbs 8:1-9:6). And as many
biblical scholars now recognize, some of the principal New
Testament passages about the incarnation (including John 1:1-18 and Colossians
1:15-20) are rooted in this Jewish Wisdom tradition,
depicting Jesus as the incarnation of divine Wisdom.
The Greek 'feminine' term for wisdom', Sophia; translates a
Hebrew 'feminine' term, Hokhmah. In the book of 'Proverbs'
contained in the Bible as well as 'The Wisdom of Solomon'
contained in the Apocrypha; It is clearly shown that the early
Hebrews saw God's wisdom and spirit as female.
"Wisdom is a spirit that is friendly to people, but she will not
forgive anyone who speaks against God, for God knows our
feelings and thoughts, and hears our every word. Since the
Lord's spirit fills the entire world, and holds everything in it
together, she knows every word that people say". Wisdom of
Solomon 1:6-7
The bride of the lamb is interpreted to be the new city of
Jerusalem, in Christianity again symbolizes the Church. We read:
"And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from
God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband."
That the interpretation is later than the original idea of a
bride is quite obvious in the Fourth Book of Esdras, where the
prophet encounters a woman and listens to the tale of her
tribulation. The woman disappears and in her place he beholds a
city whereupon the angel Uriel explains the vision saying (4
Esdras x. 44): "The woman which thou hast seen is Sion, which
thou now seest before thee as a builded city." A similar idea is
found in the Wisdom of Solomon where wisdom is personified as
Sophia and is spoken of as having existed before the world,
taking the place of the Holy Ghost in Christianity. We read for
instance in chapters vii and viii:
"For wisdom is more moving than any motion: she passeth and
goeth through all things by reason of her pureness. . . . And p.
458 being but one, she can do all things: and remaining in
herself, she maketh all things new: and in all ages entering
into holy souls, she maketh them friends of God, and prophets.
For God loveth none but him that dwelleth with wisdom. . . .
Wisdom reacheth from one end to another mightily: and sweetly
doth she order all things. . . . In that she is conversant with
God, she magnifieth her nobility: yea, the Lord of all things
himself loved her. For she is privy to the mysteries of the
knowledge of God, and a lover of his works."
English translations usually translate the feminine "Sophia"
into the abstract "Wisdom". Although the Greek and Hebrew words
were fully feminine, the English is not.
“Martin Luther, the originator of the Protestant movement, was
not ashamed to think of the Holy Spirit in feminine terms. We
often miss this in Luther studies because his feminine
terminology is translated into English masculine terms, but if
his German is translated without such a gender bias, his sense
of the Holy Spirit being feminine shines out like a beacon.”
Even the famous Church Father Origen speaks of the Holy Spirit
as
being feminine, when saying:
Paidiske de kypias tou hagiou Pneumatos he psyche.
The soul is handmaiden to her mistress, the Holy Spirit. Another
illustration is found in the now lost Gospel of the Hebrews (cf.
The
Lost and Hostile Gospels by Rev. S. Baring-Gould, London, 1874,
pp.
130-1), probably one of the first ever written by Christian
hands,
extracts from which have survived in the writings of Origen and
Jerome. This particular passage is quoted by Origen and runs as
follows:
Arti elabe me he meter mou to hagion pneuma, hen mia ton trichon
mou,
kai anenenke me eis to horos to mega thabor.
Straightway my mother the Holy Spirit took me in one of my hairs
and
bore me to the great mountain Thabor. -- Homily xv, on Jeremiah
and
on John. Similarly Jerome, another Church Father, wrote (Micheas,
vii, 6):
Modo tulit me mater mea Spiritus Sanctus in uno capillorum
meorum.
Then my mother the Holy Spirit took me in one of my hairs.
The fullest development of her is in the so-called "Wisdom
Books" of the apocryphia in the Greek Pentateuch that were
canonized into Christian Scripture and are still used by the
Roman Catholic and English Orthodox churches.
Sophia dominates the first nine chapters of Proverbs and is
found in both the Old and New Testaments.
There was no attempt in the West to maintain the integrity of
the original texts until Jerome produced the Latin Vulgate at
the request of the papacy in the fourth century. Zuntz, by using
the standard practice of textual comparison, in his detailed
analysis of the oldest Pauline manuscript, notes, in his book,
The Text of the Epistles, numerous places where the text has
been altered. Jerome, himself, in letters to his colleagues,
bewails the fact that he has so many variant texts to select
from for the compilation of a standardized version. At one point
before him he has the old Hieronymian text and its revision. He
says, “The differences throughout are clear and striking.” In
his writings he does leave us a clue to the subject at hand. At
one point he has before him the gospel of the Hebrews used by
the Syrian Christians which, as some now say, predated the four
canonical gospels. In it, Jerome says that the Holy Spirit is
expressed in the feminine gender and is considered the mother in
law of the soul. (Library 11, commentary in Isaiah, chapter 11:
Library 2, commentary. in Micah 7.6:) So here is some additional
external evidence from an unrelated source that the Holy Spirit
was originally considered feminine. In Judaism, the medieval
writers of the Kaballah concentrated on the masculine aspects of
the sefiroth (the 13 aspects of God) and relegated Sophia to an
inferior sphere than that she had heretofore occupied. Roman
Catholicism explicitly associated Old Testament Sophia texts
with Mary or the Mother Church. In the Eastern Church, Sophia
survives and is often associated liturgically with the Holy
Spirit and sometimes with Christ, himself. Further, the church
fathers of the Patristic Age preferred the male "Logos" when
describing Christ in order to avoid gender confusion. Philo, who
at first equated Sophia with Logos, "substituted Logos for
Sophia, until the masculine person of the Logos has taken over
most of Sophia's divine roles including the firstborn image of
God, the principle of order and the intermediary between God and
humanity. Sophia's powers are restricted and she is limited to
Heaven.
John’s concept of the Logos, the Word that was God and became
flesh (John 1:1-14) was derived from the Old Testament
understanding of Wisdom as much, probably more, than from the
Greek idea of Logos. And yet Wisdom, the one before whom are
riches and honor and righteousness (Proverbs 8:18) and who
shared with God in the creation of all things (Proverbs 8:27-31)
is consistently given a female gender in Proverbs and by Jesus
(Proverbs 1:20; 4:6; 8:1,11; 9:1; 14:33; Matthew 11:19; Luke
7:35). "Jesus and Sophia came to be associated through a process
that took place during the first two centuries of our era. The
apostle Paul said it clearly: 'We are preaching a crucified
Christ . . . who is the Wisdom of God' (1 Corinthians 1:23; see
also 1 Corinthians 2:6-8). Others, the author of John 1:1-18,
for example, describe Sophia clearly but only imply that the
person they are describing is Jesus. Elsewhere, such as in the
Gospels of Matthew, Luke and Thomas, Jesus speaks the words of
Sophia as if he were Sophia. Yet others, among them the authors
of Ephesians, Colossians, and James depend heavily on their
readers' knowledge of Sophia in communicating who they thought
Jesus really was. Finally, the literature that came to be called
gnostic includes a wide range of stories in which Jesus and
Sophia exchange roles in a variety of earthly settings.
In the Hebrew tradition, Sophia was considered to have been with
God from the beginning of Creation. In Proverbs 8:27-51, Sophia
says:
When God set the heavens in place, I was present,
Sophia is found throughout the wisdom books of the Bible. She is
Wisdom Incarnate, the Goddess of all those who are wise. 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). Paul explicitly identifies Jesus with Sophia in
1st Corinthians 1:23-25,30 "By God's action, Jesus Christ has
become our Sophia." Then following, in 2:6-8, "But still we have
a Sophia to offer those who have reached maturity: not a
philosophy of our age, it is true....The hidden Sophia of God
which we teach in our mysteries is the Sophia that God
predestined to be for our glory before the ages began...." John
more directly incorporates Sophia scriptures into his
description of Jesus. Sophia's statement (Ecc. 24:8) "Then the
creator of all things instructed me...'Pitch your tent in Jacob,
and make Israel your inheritance'" ... becomes John 1:14, "The
Word was made flesh, and pitched his tent among us." Extensive
references in Paul, John and the Synoptic Gospels are given.
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!
Most New Testament (better rendered, new covenant) translations,
by naming and renaming of places, people and movements, have
changed identity and position to pass distinctly as Christian,
and not as another Jewish faction.
The dissociation of the New Covenant as a Jewish book begins
with the mutation of Semitic names into Greek names. The
messianic (christian) belief itself is not a new concept.
Avraham (Abraham) himself was a messianic. He believed in a
messiah bringing salvation; he simply looked forward while we
look back. In the New Covenant, members of the messianic
movement are referred to using largely Greek or seemingly Greek
names. The Greek name most often is but a vague reference to the
original Hebrew name in sound and association.
In both Greek and English, "Spirit" is a neuter noun. And we
think of a neuter noun as an "it" rather than a he or she. Thus
we think of the Holy Trinity of orthodox theology in a peculiar
way. God the Father we visualize in warm, personal terms. God
the Word (i.e., Logos) we more often speak of as God the Son and
think of personal images ranging from Bethlehem to Nazareth to
Jerusalem. Not so, however, with the Holy Spirit. Both the
neuter noun and the biblical images of fire and anointing tend
us away from personal to impersonal imagery, from Spirit as
divine personality to Spirit as divine emanation. How
unfortunate. In the Gospel of John, Jesus invites us to know
about, expect, and experience the Holy Spirit. And he speaks of
the third member of the divine family in terms that are
personal. In fact, he challenged his original followers to think
of the Holy Spirit in the same personal ways they had
experienced him.
Ruach or Ruacha. Feminine. Ruach HaKadosh rather than Ha Kodesh. Kodesh is
referred to as an object, kadosh is use to refer to a living entity. We know the
name of the Father - Yahuweh. And of the Son - Yahashua. But what is the name of
the Ruach HaKadosh (the Holy Spirit)? Her name in the Hebrew is “Chochmah”
(pronounced “KohK-mah”, which in English means, and is translated as, Wisdom.
And as it is written and stated previously, in Luke 7:35 7:35 “Wisdom is
justified by all Her children.” Proverbs 8:1 She/Ruach calls for truth in the
assembly and the lives of believers… Mishlei (Proverbs) 8:6,7 it states that
Wisdom is the instructor of Truth, as it is written, 8:6 Listen, for I will
speak excellent things, and from the opening of my lips will come right things,
8:7 for my mouth will speak truth...” And in I Yahchanan (I John) 5:6 we read
that the Ruach (the Spirit) is Truth. And in Yahchanan (John) 16:13 that, 16:13
“When She, the Ruach (Spirit) of Truth has come, She will lead you into all
truth.” And isn’t it most often the mother who teaches the children the
commandments and instruction of her husband? Yahshua promised that Mamas Torah
would internalize the mitzvoth of the Abba. The Torah of ema is called wisdom,
and she is the Spirit of Torah bringing comfort to balance the Fathers
discipline. Mishle 1:8 And in Yochanan (John) 14:26 it says, 14:26 But the
helper, the Ruach HaKadosh (Holy Spirit), whom the Father will send in My Name,
She will teach you all things, and declare to you all things that I said to
you.” So here She is referred to as “the Helper“ or EZER, even as Havah (Eve)
was given as Adam‘s “helper“. EZER KENGEDO a Helper against or to balance the
overwhelming gevurah/power of the ABBA. The Ruach is the balance to ABBA just
like man and woman balance each other in the natural! Some translations state
comforter rather than helper. Both are correct, and comforter still describes a
female entity for it is the mother who usually comforts the children. She
balance the fathers strict discipline and rigidity. These things should all be
making sense by now. It’s only common sense that if Havah (Eve) was called by
Adam the “mother of all living” that there must also be one who is the mother of
all spiritually living; and that of course, is the one whose image Havah (Eve)
was created in; B‘resheet (Genesis) 1:26,27. Adam was made in Yahshua’s image
the Adam Kadmon and Chavah was made in the Ruach’s image. Male and female. Now,
going back to B’resheet (Genesis) 1:26,27 where Elohim says, “Let ‘Us’ make
humans in our image” In Beresheeth (Genesis) 11:7 it says, 11:7 Come let “Us” go
down there and confuse their language that they may not understand one another’s
speech. If the second party in the “Us” statement is the Ruach HaKadosh (the
Holy Spirit), then is it any surprise that the one who caused the languages to
become confused is the same who caused the languages to be brought back into
unity at Shavuot (Pentecost) in Acts 2:1-12? And doesn’t even science indicate
that it is the female gender that is the more gifted in language? Chochmah, like
the Ruach HaKadosh (the Holy Spirit), is feminine, gifted in language, a mother
of the Sons of Elohim - one through whom we must be born. And in Romans 8:2 it
is written that the Ruach of truth is the Spirit “of Life“. And finally, last
but not least, in Mattityahu (Matthew) 29:19 Yeshua says, 29:19 Go therefore and
make disciples of all nations, immersing them in the name of the Father, and of
the Son, and of the Ruach HaKadosh (the Holy Spirit).” The Great Commission is
in essence in invitation to join the 2 parent family of YHWH. She was there in
the beginning, nurtures and comforts her children, and leads Her children into
all truth as she upholds the Torah. And what a joy and wonderful thing it is to
know that we are part of a complete, two-parent family. 1:13 In Him is the
gospel of your deliverance, in whom also, after having believed, you were sealed
with the Ruach haKadosh (Holy Spirit) of Promise.” In this verse we see the
birth process described once again; this time to describe the formation of our
character, into the character of Yahshua, thus completing the picture of us
being sealed inside the womb of our spiritual mother until the character of
Yahshua can be formed in us.
The Holy Spirit in particular is an archetypal image that evokes the feminine
divine. She gives birth (John 3:6), life (2 Corinthians
3:6), inspiration (2 Peter 1:21), comfort (Acts 9:31), and groans as if in
childbirth (Romans 8:23). Furthermore, she is described as a
dove and as fire -- both feminine images of the divine in that culture.
The Hebrew Ruach ha Kodesh is the phrase
that translates into the Holy Spirit. Ruach is feminine, and the
Aramaic equivalent ruah is also a feminine noun. These words are
paired with feminine verbs and pronouns15. The Hebrew phrases
“Spirit of Elohim” and “Spirit of Yahweh” consistently use
feminine grammatical construction. The Holy Spirit is feminine,
and is another designation of Eloah. Therefore, following the
original texts, the Messiah promised: “I will ask the Father,
and He shall give you another Comforter, that she may dwell with
you forever.” [John 14:16]
The Holy Spirit is identifies as the Comforter in John chapters
14 to 16. This role of comforting is associated with mothering,
of course. “As a mother comforts a child, so shall I comfort
you.” [Isaiah 66:13] In Isaiah 11:2, the “Spirit of Wisdom” is
also called the “Spirit of Yahweh”. Irenaeus, a second century
bishop, declared that the ‘Wisdom’ of whom Solomon wrote in the
Old Testament is identical to the Holy Spirit so often mentioned
in the New Testament. [Against Heresies]
The Holy Spirit inspired those who wrote the Scripture. [2nd
Timothy 3:16] It is through infusion of insight from the Holy
Spirit that we are able to understand the depths of Scripture.
[1st Corinthians 2:11] The Holy Spirit reveals spiritual truths
to sincere believers. [Moroni 10:5] She interprets our prayers
and the intents of our hearts. [Romans 8:26] She gives spiritual
gifts to believers, such as the gifts of healing, prophecy,
beholding spirits and angels, and speaking words of wisdom. [1st
Corinthians 12:1-12; Moroni 10:7-17 (7-11)]
Another word commonly used to refer to the Holy Spirit is ‘shekinah’.
The feminine word shekinah appears in Aramaic translations of
the Bible, and is commonly use within modern Judaism. Shekinah
is the equivalent of the Holy Spirit; it means “Divine
Presence”. The –ah suffix indicates that it is Feminine Divine
Presence.
The Didascalia, Apostolic teachings written during the 3rd
century, compared the Deaconess [female minister] with the
feminine Holy Spirit. The ministry of the Deacon was likened to
the masculine attributes of God. “Let the Deaconess be honored
by you in the place of the Holy Spirit.” [II:4:26]
In the Gospel of Philip, written in the late 2nd or early 3rd
century, it is also quite evident that the Holy Spirit was
understood by the earliest Christians to be the Divine Feminine.
In lines 24 and 25 we read: “Some said, ‘Mary conceived by the
Holy Spirit.’ They are in error. They do not know what they are
saying. When did a woman ever conceive by a woman?” The author
of Philip was making an important clarification. The Scriptures
say that Mary, the earthly mother of Messiah, conceived by the
power of the Holy Spirit – not that the Holy Spirit impregnated
her16.
God Became
In some Hebrew traditions, God is referred to as Ain Sof – which
means “without end”. God is infinite, ultimate, and immeasurable
– beyond our capability to fully understand. Although we cannot
fully comprehend God, the Scriptures do contain a wealth of
knowledge about the Divine that we can understand.
The Scriptures are emphatic that there is one God – one Elohim.
The Shema declares: “Listen, O Israel, Yahweh your Elohim is
One.” [Deuteronomy 6:4] Though there is unmistakable unity in
God, the Scriptures simultaneously reveal a plurality. “The
Father, and…the Son, and…the Holy Ghost. The Spirit Eloah is
part of the Divine – one facet. This is just like the Father and
Son existing as distinct elements within the majestic plurality
that is Elohim. The ‘trinity’ is Father, Mother [Holy Spirit],
and Son.
The words Elohim and Yahweh may each be classified as collective
nouns. Collective nouns include words such as family, flock,
herd, forest, jury, staff and team. The plurality of Elohim [or
of Yahweh] can be understood in the collective sense of family.
Paul wrote that “the whole family in Heaven” receives its name
from Elohim. [Ephesians 3:15]
Considering these things, it should come as no surprise that in
Hebrew writings, God had no singular epithet. S/He was at once,
nameless, but with a secret sign that could not be uttered, and
so took on one name that meant itself, which was HaShem, which
means "The Name".
A not often remembered image of God is one in which Yahweh is
described by an analogy to the action of a female bird
protecting her young (Ps. 17:8; 36:7; 57:l; 91: 1,4; Isa. 31:5;
etc.). The sustaining care of Yahweh for Israel is represented
in Dent. 32:11-12 by the words: "Like an eagle that stirs up its
nest, that flutters over its young, spreading out its wings,
catching them, bearing them on its pinions, the LORD alone did
lead him, and there was no foreign god with him." In a similar
reference in Matt. 23:37 (Luke 13:34) Jesus says: "O Jerusalem,
Jerusalem ... ! How often would I have gathered your children
together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you
would not!" Other passages compare the love of God with the love
of a mother for her child, or the loyalty and affection of a
wife for her husband (Dent. 32:18; Isa. 46:3; 51:1; 49:14-15;
Ps. 131: 2).70 We need to remind ourselves of the importance of
three words used in the femine gender in Hebrew tradition which
stress feminine attributes of God: Shekinah or the glory of the
presence of God on earth; Torah or the guidance of God; Chokmah
or the pre-cosmic divine wisdom . In the New Testament, Jesus is
associated with all three of these attributes, Thus in Matt.
18:20 we read: "For where two or three are gathered together in
my name, there am I in the midst of them." With this we may
compare the saying in PirkeAbo ' th: "When they sit together and
are occupied with the Torah, the Shekinah is among them. " In I
Cor. 1:24, 30, Paul calls Christ the Wisdom of God . From this
we can conclude that both feminine and masculine characteristics
play a part in the description of Yahweh and Christ. In the
Bible when God has to be described metaphorically, both male and
female imagery is used. "Now will I scream like a woman in
labor", says God in Isaiah. "Gather her brood under her wings",
says Jesus to the people. "Having ten pieces of silver and
losing one", is the Woman who seeks diligently for the lost
soul. "As a nurse cherisheth her children", says the evangelist
in the epistles. In Proverbs and elsewhere the female figure,
'Wisdom' personifies the Divine.
The Hebrew matriarch Sarah is one of the most renowned of the
heroines of the Jewish nation. She is the inspiration for the
wise and virtuous woman of the proverbs. She was nearly a
century old when she bore her child, who transformed that nation
into Israel. But it was not her motherhood that made her great
and beloved. It was her wisdom, based on inner strength and
knowledge.
" How beautiful Sarah is!
Her long soft hair her bright eyes and her radiant face,
her full breasts and her delicate hands,
her round hips and her thighs!
There is no woman more beautiful than Sarah,
no woman who ever stood under the canopy to be wed to a good
man.
Excellent is her beauty,
fair is she under the wide sky. Yet this is not why she attracts
our love: it is her wisdom,
her prudence, and the graceful way she moves her hands."
~Genesis Apocryphon and Jubilees
Wisdom is a quality that is not, today, often acknowledged. Yet
in ancient times a woman's wisdom - gained through years of
watchful awareness and inner searching - was important for the
health and happiness of all her family and, beyond that, of her
entire people. Sophia retains this place which she holds in the
Old Testament Apocrypha with the Gnostics, and as we know from a
fragment of the Gospel According to the Hebrews, the Holy Ghost
is regarded as the wife of God the Father, for there Jesus uses
the expression "My Mother the Holy Ghost," as quoted by
Epiphanius (Haeres LXII, 2).
In India, a dove was uniformly the emblem of the Holy Spirit or
Spirit of God. A dove stood for a third member of the Trinity,
and was the regenerator or regeneratory power. Compare this with
Titus (3:5): regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost. A
person being baptized under the Brahminical theocracy was said
to be regenerated and born again, or, they were born into the
spirit, or the spirit into them—the dove into or upon them. In
Rome a dove or pigeon was a legendary spirit, the accompaniment
of Venus, the emblem of female procreative energy. It is
therefore appropriately shown as descending at baptism in the
character of the third member of the Trinity. The dove also
fills the Grecian oracles with their spirit and power. A dove
was, in several ancient religions, the Spirit of God (Holy
Ghost) moving on the face of the waters at creation (Gen. 1:2),
a pigeon was often substituted. The dove and the pigeon were
used interchangeably. In the ancient Syrian temple of Hierapolis,
Semiramis is shown with a dove on her head, the prototype of the
dove on the head of the Christian messiah at baptism.
the Eastern Orthodox Church has women deaconesses, married
priests, and the Feminine Principle is recognized in Sophia, the
Wisdom of Christ.
The Holy Ghost was the third member of the Trinity in several
Eastern religions as well as the Gothic and Celtic nations. This
notion of a third person in the the godhead was diffused among
all the nations of the earth. Father, Son and Holy Ghost, or
Father, Word and Holy Ghost (1 John 5:7) express the divine
triad of which the Holy Ghost was the third member. The Holy
Ghost was the Holy Breath which, in the Hindu traditions, moved
on the face of the waters at creation, and imparted vitality
into everything created. A similar conception appears in the
scriptures. In Psalms 33:6 the Word of the Lord made the
heavens, and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth.
The Brahminical conception of creation by the Divine Breath, the
Holy Ghost, which was breathed into Adam to make him a living
soul. The Prana or principle of life of the Hindus is the breath
of life by which the Brahma, the Creator, animates the clay to
make man a living soul. Holy Ghost, Holy Breath and Holy Wind
were equivalent terms for the sigh from the mouth of the Supreme
God, as laid down in pagan traditions. The Holy Wind is
suggested by the mighty rushing wind from heaven which filled
the house on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:2). The Holy Wind is
an accepted term for the Holy Ghost in ancient religions. The
doxology, reported by a missionary, in the religious service of
the Syrian church runs thus:
Praise to the Holy Spiritual Wind, which is the Holy Ghost;
Praise to the three persons which are one true God. The Hebrew
Ruh Elohim, translated Spirit of God (Gen. 1:2) in our version,
is literally, Wind of the Gods.
The word Pneuma, of the Greek New Testament, is sometimes
translated Ghost and sometimes Wind, as suited the fancy of the
translators. In John 3:5 the word is Spirit, in verse eight both
Wind and Spirit, and in Luke 1:35 the term is Holy Ghost—all
translated from the same word. In the Greek Testament the word
Pneuma is used for Spirit, Holy Ghost, breath and Wind so that
in the Christian Scriptures they are synonymous. An unwarranted
license has been assumed by translators in rendering the same
word different ways. The Holy Ghost appears also as a tongue of
fire, which sat upon each of the apostles in Acts 2:3. Buddha,
an incarnate God of the Hindus over two thousand years ago, is
often seen with a glory or tongue of fire upon his head. The
visible form of the Holy Ghost as fire was accepted among the
Buddhists, Druids and Etrurians. The Holy Ghost, or Holy Spirit
when visible, was in the form of fire or a bird and was always
accompanied with wisdom and power. The Hindus, Persians and
Chaldeans made offerings to fire, emblem of the Holy Ghost or
Holy Spirit as the solar fire. The Gospel of the Hebrews is
known only through quotations from it given in the writing of
early church fathers. In one such, a feminine Holy Spirit,
descending upon Jesus at his baptism, says: "My Son, in all the
prophets was I waiting for you that you should come and I might
rest in you." Another quote, this time from Jesus: "Even so did
my mother, the Holy Spirit, take me by one of my hairs and carry
me away to the great mountain Tabor." The Acts of Thomas, a
legendary account of the apostle Thomas’s travels to India,
contains prayers invoking the Holy Spirit as, among other
titles, "the Mother of all creation" and "compassionate mother."
In the Secret Book of James,Another Nag Hammadi discovery; Jesus
refers to himself as "the son of the Holy Spirit." The Gospel of
Thomas was composed at about the same time as the biblical
Gospels. Ron Cameron of Wesleyan University agrees. In The Other
Gospels, a collection of 16 apocryphal Gospels,the Gospel of the
Hebrews dates as circa 100 AD. or earlier, and the Secret Book
of James in the first half of the second century. However, all
three could have been written as early as the middle of the
first century (about the time of Paul). Congregations founded by
Paul used a baptism ritual which reunified the male and female
in each new believer. The key verses are in Galatians, the
much-quoted 3:27-28: "For as many of you as were baptized into
Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there
is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for
you are all one in Christ Jesus." The early Christian groups
thought of themselves as a new genus of mankind, or as the
restored original mankind. The Christian baptismal initiation
reversed the division of male and female, returning to the
gender unity found in Adam before Eve and in God. Paul also uses
reunification language in I Corinthians and Colossians, but
without specific reference to male and female. The androgynous
concept received expanded treatment from Gnostic Christians,
some of whom developed the sacrament of the bridegroom chamber
to reunite the two halves in the believer. (In the Second
Epistle of Clement, a second century sermon, appears a saying
not inconsistent with Galatians 3:28: "When the Lord himself was
asked by someone when his kingdom would come, he said, ‘When the
two become one, and the outside as the inside and the male with
the female neither male nor female.’") That rite’s imagery can
be linked with the imagery of Jesus as the reappearing Primal
Man, the androgynous Anthropos, or, as Paul expressed it, the
"Last Adam" (I Cor. 15:45). Also, Jesus urged his followers to
become his equal -- Luke 6:40, the Gospel of Thomas 13, 108, and
in the Secret Book of James. "Make yourselves like the son of
the Holy Spirit," Jesus says in the latter text; and again, "If
you . . . do his [the Father’s] will, I [say] that he will love
you, and make you equal with me."
So why do we not use the term "Sophia" often today? Becuase of
what is called 'Gnosticism', which rejected Jesus's humanity and
crucifixion while boldly proclaiming his identification with
Sophia. Further, there was Wisdom's (and woman's)
connection with the stars, hence astrology, which was also a
source of heresy, and which was systematically removed from
scripture. The same can be said about the "Celestial Father"
which is also "heavenly" father.
The idea of a trinity as God,—father, mother and son—faded away
quickly during the early development of the Christian dogma and
it seems that the replacement of the word logos for sophia
helped to obliterate the idea that the second person of the
deity was female. The change was also favored by the fact that
while ruwach (ruah), the Hebrew term for spirit, is feminine,
the Greek term pneuma is neuter.
The students of the Gospels who had no wish to identify with the
Gnostics often muted the connection while they explored it.
In the Aramaic roots of The Lord's Prayer. Jesus's original
language, the prayer takes on a much fuller meaning. Of
particular relevance is the opening line...."Abvwoon Debashmaya."
The words Jesus used to address God. It means, the birther, the
bearer, the breather/bringer of life and light. From this, it
appears that Jesus is addressing a God that is mother and
father. It would suggest that a mother aspect of God is real and
Holy
The Prayer To Our Father in the Original Aramaic
Abwûn... O cosmic Birther, from whom the breath of life comes,
d'bwaschmâja... who fills all realms of sound, light and
vibration.
Nethkâdasch schmach... May Your light be experienced in my
utmost holiest.
Têtê malkuthach... Your Heavenly Domain approaches.
Nehwê tzevjânach aikâna d'bwaschmâja af b'arha... Let Your will
come true in the universe (all that vibrates) just as on earth
(that is material and dense).
Hawvlân lachma d'sûnkanân jaomâna... Give us wisdom
(understanding, assistance) for our daily need,
Waschboklân chaubên wachtahên aikâna daf chnân schwoken
l'chaijabên... detach the fetters of faults that bind us,
(karma) like we let go the guilt of others.
Wela tachlân l'nesjuna... Let us not be lost in superficial
things (materialism, common temptations),
ela patzân min bischa... but let us be freed from that what
keeps us off from our true purpose.
Metol dilachie malkutha wahaila wateschbuchta l'ahlâm almîn...
From You comes the all-working will, the lively strength to act,
the song that beautifies all and renews itself from age to age.
Amên... Sealed in trust, faith and truth. (I confirm with my
entire being)
The Aramaic word, abwoon, is gender-inclusive. It means
‘ancestor’, and includes both male and female. In the Aramaic
version of the “the Lord’s prayer”, abwoon is the first word. It
was translated into ‘father’ in Greek, instead of ancestor.
Consequently, the Lord’s Prayer in the English, Greek or Latin
New Testament begins with “Our Father in Heaven”, whereas in
Aramaic it begins by addressing “Our Parents in Heaven”.
In about 200 CE, Clement of Alexandria wrote similarly: “God…out
of love to us became feminine. In his ineffable essence He is
Father; in His compassion to us He became Mother, …by loving,
became feminine. [The Rich Man’s Salvation, XXXVII, in the
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 2] Methodius, a bishop of the third
century, wrote: “Adam [was] the type and resemblance of God the
Father…whilst Eve, who proceeded from Adam, signified the person
and procession of the Holy Spirit.” [Ante Nicene Fathers.
Fragments from the Homily on the Cross and Passion of Christ]
Adam, the first human, was created in Elohim’s image. At first,
Adam, like Elohim, was simultaneously male and female. [Genesis
1:27] Then, Elohim divided Adam, separating the feminine from
the masculine into two individuals, with distinct male and
female gender. [Genesis 2:21-23]
Synesius, Bishop of Libya in the early 5th century, in his 2nd
Hymn, wrote of the Divine as both masculine and feminine. ‘Thou
art Father, thou art Mother; Thou art male, and thou art
female.’ [lines 63-64]
There can also be no maleness without
femaleness. There is no Father unless there is Mother. There is
no Bridegroom unless there is a Bride. There is no Savior
without they who are the Lost. There are no children unless
there are parents.
Elohim became the Father, the Son, the Spirit, and the whole
Divine Family. The presence of family necessitates the existence
of gender. Similarly, the fact that Messiah is the Bridegroom
necessitates that there must be a Bride. Not only did Elohim
become the masculine Father and the masculine Messiah, Elohim
also became the feminine Holy Spirit / Eloah / Wisdom, and the
Bride [the Elect]. There is a perfect male-female balance within
the Divine. Because of the unity of the Father, the Spirit, and
the Son, when an individual believes in one, she believes in the
other aspects of Elohim as well. Jesus said, “Whoso believeth in
Me believeth in the Father also; and unto him will the Father
bear record of Me, for He will visit him with fire and with the
Holy Ghost. And thus will the Father bear record of Me, and the
Holy Ghost will bear record unto him of the Father and Me; for
the Father and I and the Holy Ghost are one.”
The Aramaic Language has (like the Hebrew and Arabic) different
levels of meaning. The words are organized and defined by a
poetical system where different meanings of every word are
possible. So, every line of the Lords Prayer could be translated
into English in many different versions.
Scripture proclaims an entirely
different understanding of power. In both the
Old and New Testaments, our God hears the cries of the oppressed and leads
them to freedom, while over-lords are reduced to insignificance. Jesus
incarnated this theme in his life and teachings especially with regard to women.
When a woman preaches, she is a living testimony to the God who turns Nobody
into Somebody. Outside the church, women still struggle with inferior jobs,
low pay, the trivializing and wasting of their talent. but within the church,
women proclaim a God who puts down the mighty and exalts the humble and meek.
However we choose to describe God's transcendence, the mystery of God's freedom
points to
I AM , & LOVE IS
I AM MADE IN THE IMAGE OF THE GREAT I AM,
THE MYSTERY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT IS THAT
'LOVE IS'
THE TWO TOGETHER MAKES ALL THE LAW AND
THE PROPHETS
Creativity is ever-vital. Vitality is ever-creative. She *is* the energy-force
of creativity, itself. She is the vital essence of vitality. Her numinous
vitality is creatively generating across the parallel dimensions, evolving
realities. We *are* Her vitality, Her mercy, Her creativity, Her ever-evolving
reality -- every organism, every *thing*; not only the animate but the
inanimate. She is the If of yet-to-be, the ineffable, the wholly free... She is
Living Eternity... & even to be but momentarily aware of this, as light*spark
dancing within Her veil of because, brings a brightening of awe in the Presence
of Her mystic splendors, Her radiant darkness, enwombing the Cosmos..
English translations usually translate the feminine "Sophia" into the abstract
"Wisdom". Although the Greek and Hebrew words were fully feminine, the English
is not.
“Martin Luther, the originator of the Protestant movement, was not ashamed to
think of the Holy Spirit in feminine terms. We often miss this in Luther studies
because his feminine terminology is translated into English masculine terms, but
if his German is translated without such a gender bias, his sense of the Holy
Spirit being feminine shines out like a beacon.”
Even the famous Church Father Origen speaks of the Holy Spirit as
being feminine, when saying:
Paidiske de kypias tou hagiou Pneumatos he psyche.
The soul is handmaiden to her mistress, the Holy Spirit. Another
illustration is found in the now lost Gospel of the Hebrews (cf. The
Lost and Hostile Gospels by Rev. S. Baring-Gould, London, 1874, pp.
130-1), probably one of the first ever written by Christian hands,
extracts from which have survived in the writings of Origen and
Jerome. This particular passage is quoted by Origen and runs as
follows:
Arti elabe me he meter mou to hagion pneuma, hen mia ton trichon mou,
kai anenenke me eis to horos to mega thabor.
Straightway my mother the Holy Spirit took me in one of my hairs and
bore me to the great mountain Thabor. -- Homily xv, on Jeremiah and
on John. Similarly Jerome, another Church Father, wrote (Micheas,
vii, 6):
Modo tulit me mater mea Spiritus Sanctus in uno capillorum meorum.
Then my mother the Holy Spirit took me in one of my hairs.
The fullest development of her is in the so-called "Wisdom Books" of the
apocryphia in the Greek Pentateuch that were canonized into Christian Scripture
and are still used by the Roman Catholic and English Orthodox churches.
Sophia dominates the first nine chapters of Proverbs and is found in both the
Old and New Testaments.
There was no attempt in the West to maintain the integrity of the original texts
until Jerome produced the Latin Vulgate at the request of the papacy in the
fourth century. Zuntz, by using the standard practice of textual comparison, in
his detailed analysis of the oldest Pauline manuscript, notes, in his book, The
Text of the Epistles, numerous places where the text has been altered. Jerome,
himself, in letters to his colleagues, bewails the fact that he has so many
variant texts to select from for the compilation of a standardized version. At
one point before him he has the old Hieronymian text and its revision. He says,
“The differences throughout are clear and striking.” In his writings he does
leave us a clue to the subject at hand. At one point he has before him the
gospel of the Hebrews used by the Syrian Christians which, as some now say,
predated the four canonical gospels. In it, Jerome says that the Holy Spirit is
expressed in the feminine gender and is considered the mother in law of the
soul. (Library 11, commentary in Isaiah, chapter 11: Library 2, commentary. in
Micah 7.6:) So here is some additional external evidence from an unrelated
source that the Holy Spirit was originally considered feminine. In Judaism, the
medieval writers of the Kaballah concentrated on the masculine aspects of the
sefiroth (the 13 aspects of God) and relegated Sophia to an inferior sphere than
that she had heretofore occupied. Roman Catholicism explicitly associated Old
Testament Sophia texts with Mary or the Mother Church. In the Eastern Church,
Sophia survives and is often associated liturgically with the Holy Spirit and
sometimes with Christ, himself. Further, the church fathers of the Patristic Age
preferred the male "Logos" when describing Christ in order to avoid gender
confusion. Philo, who at first equated Sophia with Logos, "substituted Logos for
Sophia, until the masculine person of the Logos has taken over most of Sophia's
divine roles including the firstborn image of God, the principle of order and
the intermediary between God and humanity. Sophia's powers are restricted and
she is limited to Heaven.
In both Greek and English, "Spirit" is a neuter noun. And we think of a neuter
noun as an "it" rather than a he or she. Thus we think of the Holy Trinity of
orthodox theology in a peculiar way. God the Father we visualize in warm,
personal terms. God the Word (i.e., Logos) we more often speak of as God the Son
and think of personal images ranging from Bethlehem to Nazareth to Jerusalem.
Not so, however, with the Holy Spirit. Both the neuter noun and the biblical
images of fire and anointing tend us away from personal to impersonal imagery,
from Spirit as divine personality to Spirit as divine emanation. How
unfortunate. In the Gospel of John, Jesus invites us to know about, expect, and
experience the Holy Spirit. And he speaks of the third member of the divine
family in terms that are personal. In fact, he challenged his original followers
to think of the Holy Spirit in the same personal ways they had experienced him.
John’s concept of the Logos, the Word that was God and became flesh (John
1:1-14) was derived from the Old Testament understanding of Wisdom as much,
probably more, than from the Greek idea of Logos. And yet Wisdom, the one before
whom are riches and honor and righteousness (Proverbs 8:18) and who shared with
God in the creation of all things (Proverbs 8:27-31) is consistently given a
female gender in Proverbs and by Jesus (Proverbs 1:20; 4:6; 8:1,11; 9:1; 14:33;
Matthew 11:19; Luke 7:35). "Jesus and Sophia came to be associated through a
process that took place during the first two centuries of our era. The apostle
Paul said it clearly: 'We are preaching a crucified Christ . . . who is the
Wisdom of God' (1 Corinthians 1:23; see also 1 Corinthians 2:6-8). Others, the
author of John 1:1-18, for example, describe Sophia clearly but only imply that
the person they are describing is Jesus. Elsewhere, such as in the Gospels of
Matthew, Luke and Thomas, Jesus speaks the words of Sophia as if he were Sophia.
Yet others, among them the authors of Ephesians, Colossians, and James depend
heavily on their readers' knowledge of Sophia in communicating who they thought
Jesus really was. Finally, the literature that came to be called gnostic
includes a wide range of stories in which Jesus and Sophia exchange roles in a
variety of earthly settings.
In the Hebrew tradition, Sophia was considered to have been with God from the
beginning of Creation. In Proverbs 8:27-51, Sophia says:
When God set the heavens in place, I was present,
Sophia is found throughout the wisdom books of the Bible. She is Wisdom
Incarnate, the Goddess of all those who are wise. 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). Paul explicitly identifies Jesus with Sophia in 1st
Corinthians 1:23-25,30 "By God's action, Jesus Christ has become our Sophia."
Then following, in 2:6-8, "But still we have a Sophia to offer those who have
reached maturity: not a philosophy of our age, it is true....The hidden Sophia
of God which we teach in our mysteries is the Sophia that God predestined to be
for our glory before the ages began...." John more directly incorporates Sophia
scriptures into his description of Jesus. Sophia's statement (Ecc. 24:8) "Then
the creator of all things instructed me...'Pitch your tent in Jacob, and make
Israel your inheritance'" ... becomes John 1:14, "The Word was made flesh, and
pitched his tent among us." Extensive references in Paul, John and the Synoptic
Gospels are given.
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!
Most New Testament (better rendered, new covenant) translations, by naming and
renaming of places, people and movements, have changed identity and position to
pass distinctly as Christian, and not as another Jewish faction.
The dissociation of the New Covenant as a Jewish book begins with the mutation
of Semitic names into Greek names. The messianic (christian) belief itself is
not a new concept. Avraham (Abraham) himself was a messianic. He believed in a
messiah bringing salvation; he simply looked forward while we look back. In the
New Covenant, members of the messianic movement are referred to using largely
Greek or seemingly Greek names. The Greek name most often is but a vague
reference to the original Hebrew name in sound and association.
Considering these things, it should come as no surprise that in Hebrew writings,
God had no singular epithet. S/He was at once, nameless, but with a secret sign
that could not be uttered, and so took on one name that meant itself, which was
HaShem, which means "The Name".
A not often remembered image of God is one in which Yahweh is described by an
analogy to the action of a female bird protecting her young (Ps. 17:8; 36:7;
57:l; 91: 1,4; Isa. 31:5; etc.). The sustaining care of Yahweh for Israel is
represented in Dent. 32:11-12 by the words: "Like an eagle that stirs up its
nest, that flutters over its young, spreading out its wings, catching them,
bearing them on its pinions, the LORD alone did lead him, and there was no
foreign god with him." In a similar reference in Matt. 23:37 (Luke 13:34) Jesus
says: "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem ... ! How often would I have gathered your
children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would
not!" Other passages compare the love of God with the love of a mother for her
child, or the loyalty and affection of a wife for her husband (Dent. 32:18; Isa.
46:3; 51:1; 49:14-15; Ps. 131: 2).70 We need to remind ourselves of the
importance of three words used in the femine gender in Hebrew tradition which
stress feminine attributes of God: Shekinah or the glory of the presence of God
on earth; Torah or the guidance of God; Chokmah or the pre-cosmic divine wisdom
. In the New Testament, Jesus is associated with all three of these attributes,
Thus in Matt. 18:20 we read: "For where two or three are gathered together in my
name, there am I in the midst of them." With this we may compare the saying in
PirkeAbo ' th: "When they sit together and are occupied with the Torah, the
Shekinah is among them. " In I Cor. 1:24, 30, Paul calls Christ the Wisdom of
God . From this we can conclude that both feminine and masculine characteristics
play a part in the description of Yahweh and Christ. In the Bible when God has
to be described metaphorically, both male and female imagery is used. "Now will
I scream like a woman in labor", says God in Isaiah. "Gather her brood under her
wings", says Jesus to the people. "Having ten pieces of silver and losing one",
is the Woman who seeks diligently for the lost soul. "As a nurse cherisheth her
children", says the evangelist in the epistles. In Proverbs and elsewhere the
female figure, 'Wisdom' personifies the Divine.
" How beautiful Sarah is!
Her long soft hair her bright eyes and her radiant face,
her full breasts and her delicate hands,
her round hips and her thighs!
There is no woman more beautiful than Sarah,
no woman who ever stood under the canopy to be wed to a good man.
Excellent is her beauty,
fair is she under the wide sky. Yet this is not why she attracts our love: it is
her wisdom,
her prudence, and the graceful way she moves her hands."
~Genesis Apocryphon and Jubilees
The Hebrew matriarch Sarah is one of the most renowned of the heroines of the
Jewish nation. She is the inspiration for the wise and virtuous woman of the
proverbs. She was nearly a century old when she bore her child, who transformed
that nation into Israel. But it was not her motherhood that made her great and
beloved. It was her wisdom, based on inner strength and knowledge.
Wisdom is a quality that is not, today, often acknowledged. Yet in ancient times
a woman's wisdom - gained through years of watchful awareness and inner
searching - was important for the health and happiness of all her family and,
beyond that, of her entire people. Sophia retains this place which she holds in
the Old Testament Apocrypha with the Gnostics, and as we know from a fragment of
the Gospel According to the Hebrews, the Holy Ghost is regarded as the wife of
God the Father, for there Jesus uses the expression "My Mother the Holy Ghost,"
as quoted by Epiphanius (Haeres LXII, 2).
In India, a dove was uniformly the emblem of the Holy Spirit or Spirit of God. A
dove stood for a third member of the Trinity, and was the regenerator or
regeneratory power. Compare this with Titus (3:5): regeneration and renewing of
the Holy Ghost. A person being baptized under the Brahminical theocracy was said
to be regenerated and born again, or, they were born into the spirit, or the
spirit into them—the dove into or upon them. In Rome a dove or pigeon was a
legendary spirit, the accompaniment of Venus, the emblem of female procreative
energy. It is therefore appropriately shown as descending at baptism in the
character of the third member of the Trinity. The dove also fills the Grecian
oracles with their spirit and power. A dove was, in several ancient religions,
the Spirit of God (Holy Ghost) moving on the face of the waters at creation
(Gen. 1:2), a pigeon was often substituted. The dove and the pigeon were used
interchangeably. In the ancient Syrian temple of Hierapolis, Semiramis is shown
with a dove on her head, the prototype of the dove on the head of the Christian
messiah at baptism.
the Eastern Orthodox Church has women deaconesses, married priests, and the
Feminine Principle is recognized in Sophia, the Wisdom of Christ.
The Holy Ghost was the third member of the Trinity in several Eastern religions
as well as the Gothic and Celtic nations. This notion of a third person in the
the godhead was diffused among all the nations of the earth. Father, Son and
Holy Ghost, or Father, Word and Holy Ghost (1 John 5:7) express the divine triad
of which the Holy Ghost was the third member. The Holy Ghost was the Holy Breath
which, in the Hindu traditions, moved on the face of the waters at creation, and
imparted vitality into everything created. A similar conception appears in the
scriptures. In Psalms 33:6 the Word of the Lord made the heavens, and all the
host of them by the breath of his mouth. The Brahminical conception of creation
by the Divine Breath, the Holy Ghost, which was breathed into Adam to make him a
living soul. The Prana or principle of life of the Hindus is the breath of life
by which the Brahma, the Creator, animates the clay to make man a living soul.
Holy Ghost, Holy Breath and Holy Wind were equivalent terms for the sigh from
the mouth of the Supreme God, as laid down in pagan traditions. The Holy Wind is
suggested by the mighty rushing wind from heaven which filled the house on the
day of Pentecost (Acts 2:2). The Holy Wind is an accepted term for the Holy
Ghost in ancient religions. The doxology, reported by a missionary, in the
religious service of the Syrian church runs thus:
Praise to the Holy Spiritual Wind, which is the Holy Ghost; Praise to the three
persons which are one true God. The Hebrew Ruh Elohim, translated Spirit of God
(Gen. 1:2) in our version, is literally, Wind of the Gods.
The word Pneuma, of the Greek New Testament, is sometimes translated Ghost and
sometimes Wind, as suited the fancy of the translators. In John 3:5 the word is
Spirit, in verse eight both Wind and Spirit, and in Luke 1:35 the term is Holy
Ghost—all translated from the same word. In the Greek Testament the word Pneuma
is used for Spirit, Holy Ghost, breath and Wind so that in the Christian
Scriptures they are synonymous. An unwarranted license has been assumed by
translators in rendering the same word different ways. The Holy Ghost appears
also as a tongue of fire, which sat upon each of the apostles in Acts 2:3.
Buddha, an incarnate God of the Hindus over two thousand years ago, is often
seen with a glory or tongue of fire upon his head. The visible form of the Holy
Ghost as fire was accepted among the Buddhists, Druids and Etrurians. The Holy
Ghost, or Holy Spirit when visible, was in the form of fire or a bird and was
always accompanied with wisdom and power. The Hindus, Persians and Chaldeans
made offerings to fire, emblem of the Holy Ghost or Holy Spirit as the solar
fire. The Gospel of the Hebrews is known only through quotations from it given
in the writing of early church fathers. In one such, a feminine Holy Spirit,
descending upon Jesus at his baptism, says: "My Son, in all the prophets was I
waiting for you that you should come and I might rest in you." Another quote,
this time from Jesus: "Even so did my mother, the Holy Spirit, take me by one of
my hairs and carry me away to the great mountain Tabor." The Acts of Thomas, a
legendary account of the apostle Thomas’s travels to India, contains prayers
invoking the Holy Spirit as, among other titles, "the Mother of all creation"
and "compassionate mother." In the Secret Book of James,Another Nag Hammadi
discovery; Jesus refers to himself as "the son of the Holy Spirit." The Gospel
of Thomas was composed at about the same time as the biblical Gospels. Ron
Cameron of Wesleyan University agrees. In The Other Gospels, a collection of 16
apocryphal Gospels,the Gospel of the Hebrews dates as circa 100 AD. or earlier,
and the Secret Book of James in the first half of the second century. However,
all three could have been written as early as the middle of the first century
(about the time of Paul). Congregations founded by Paul used a baptism ritual
which reunified the male and female in each new believer. The key verses are in
Galatians, the much-quoted 3:27-28: "For as many of you as were baptized into
Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither
slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ
Jesus." The early Christian groups thought of themselves as a new genus of
mankind, or as the restored original mankind. The Christian baptismal initiation
reversed the division of male and female, returning to the gender unity found in
Adam before Eve and in God. Paul also uses reunification language in I
Corinthians and Colossians, but without specific reference to male and female.
The androgynous concept received expanded treatment from Gnostic Christians,
some of whom developed the sacrament of the bridegroom chamber to reunite the
two halves in the believer. (In the Second Epistle of Clement, a second century
sermon, appears a saying not inconsistent with Galatians 3:28: "When the Lord
himself was asked by someone when his kingdom would come, he said, ‘When the two
become one, and the outside as the inside and the male with the female neither
male nor female.’") That rite’s imagery can be linked with the imagery of Jesus
as the reappearing Primal Man, the androgynous Anthropos, or, as Paul expressed
it, the "Last Adam" (I Cor. 15:45). Also, Jesus urged his followers to become
his equal -- Luke 6:40, the Gospel of Thomas 13, 108, and in the Secret Book of
James. "Make yourselves like the son of the Holy Spirit," Jesus says in the
latter text; and again, "If you . . . do his [the Father’s] will, I [say] that
he will love you, and make you equal with me."
Teaching attributed to Jesus might challenge any thoughts that God the Father is
much more important than the Holy Spirit. The synoptic Gospels all have a
version of the saying, admittedly mysterious, that no blasphemy against the Holy
Spirit is ever forgiven, unlike sins or blasphemies against sons of men (Mark)
or the Son of Man (Matthew and Luke). Thomas 44 says it more strongly:
blasphemies against Father and Son will be pardoned, but those against the Holy
Spirit will not be forgiven on earth or in heaven.
The New Testament is that the one used by the Western Churches is a Greek
translation of the original Hebrew, a language evolved within a pagan context as
opposed to the Hebrew of the Old Testament which was, The original divine
language and which evolved within the context of a divine theocracy (Israel).
the New Testament was originally written in Hebrew and subsequently translated
into Greek. Therefore in terms of defining the gender of the Holy Spirit,
Christians are more disposed to the Hebrew Old and New Testament witness of the
Bible which overwhelmingly reveals the Holy Spirit to be feminine. Recent
studies of the original Hebrew New Testament, before it was translated into
Greek, show conclusively that the Holy Spirit is feminine in both Old and New
Testament.
In other passages, too, Philo speaks of God as "the Father of all things ... and
the Husband of Wisdom, who sows the seed of eudaemonia in the good and virginal
earth."' These lines speak of a marriage to a Mother Wisdom, who constantly
renews the mystery of her virginity. Hence, she is at once both a virgin bride
and a mother-an image that will again appear in highly significant contexts in
Kabbalistic symbolism. Wisdom likewise appears as God's daughter, in an image
fusing allegory and archetype in an interpretation of the biblical name Bethuel:
"because she is the true daughter [i.e., of God] ( bath el) and eternally
virginal (bethulah)."' But in the same passage we immediately find a statement
that negates any archetypal understanding of this image:
Other feminine attributes within God are the "Daughter Voice" (Bath Qol),
through whom God's will was made audlble on earth; Zion, regarded as the mother
of the people; and her counterpart, the Daughter of Zion, who represented the
Mother's children, the people of Israel.' All of these were personafied, all
were female and all partook, to a greater or lesser extent, of the feminine
numina who, in one period or another, played a role in the history of Hebrew and
Jewish religion.
The ancient Greek words for soul and spirit were Psyche and Pneuma.
Historically, the early Greek imagination used psyche for both spirit and soul,
but later dropped psyche as spirit, in favor of pneuma. This occurred at the
time when mythological and poetic imagination was transformed to philosophy and
rhetoric. However, the difference between soul and spirit is not one of
substance but of operation. Man's immaterial aspect is represented in Scripture
by the single terms (psyche) spirit, or (pneuma) soul, or both of them together.
Both psyche and pneuma in their pristine condition pictured "breath" or "wind"
The Greek word psyche also means butterfly Psyche was said by Plato to be in
form, winged, and that its proper prophetic, poetic, erotic, and philosophic
function is "to fly" (Matt 3:16). . The analogy between psyche and pneuma are
remarkable; both form the active visualization of breathing or blowing, as the
wind. However, the origin of the concept of Psyche as 'collective soul' is the
same as that which developed into the Oriental concept of Tao ( the Spirit's way
) Within the writings of the 'Tao' the female traits are not hidden but clearly
manifest. Also, in the early Greek language Psyche is feminine.
The only "holy spirit" that can be found in Judaism is the female holy spirit,
often called Pneuma, or the Holy Soul.
In Judaism, the medieval writers of the Kaballah concentrated on the masculine
aspects of the sefiroth (the 13 aspects of God) and relegated Sophia to an
inferior sphere than that she had heretofore occupied. Roman Catholicism
explicitly associated Old Testament Sophia texts with Mary or the Mother Church.
In the Eastern Church, Sophia survives and is often associated liturgically with
the Holy Spirit and sometimes with Christ, himself.
it flowered in the writings of the Jewish Kabbalists of medieval Spain and
southwestern France. In Kabbalah, religion ceases to be a matter of worship and
collective belief. It becomes a direct path of communion between the individual
and the Divine. In the imagery of the Shekinah, Kabbalah gives us the cosmology
of the soul and the relationship between the two aspects of the godhead that has
been lost or hidden for millennia. The mythology of the Kabbalah is so
gloriously rich, so broad in its imaginative and revelatory reach, and so
intensely nourishing to a world that lacks any awareness of the Divine Feminine,
that to discover this tradition is immensely exciting. The Shekinah reveals the
missing imagery of God-as-Mother that has been lost or obscured in both Judaism
and Christianity. Whereas the Old Testament is the written tradition of Judaism,
Kabbalah offers the hidden oral tradition, wonderfully named as "The Voice of
the Turtle" (turtledove). This mystic knowledge or mystic tradition of the
direct path to God was described as the Jewels of the Heavenly Bride. The Bronze
Age imagery of the Great Goddess returns to life in the extraordinary beauty of
the Kabbalistic description of the Shekinah and in the gender endings of nouns
that describe the feminine dimension of the godhead. But the Divine Feminine is
now understood as cosmic soul, the intermediary between the godhead and life in
this dimension who, as the Shekinah brings together heaven and earth, the divine
and the human in a resplendent vision of their essential relationship. The
mythology of this tradition restores the image of the sacred marriage in the
union of the Divine Father-Mother in the ground of being. There is not a Mother
and a Father but a Mother-Father who are one in their eternal embrace: one in
their ground, one in their emanation, one in their ecstatic and continuous act
of creation through all the invisible dimensions they bring into being and
sustain. No other tradition offers the same breathtaking vision, in such
exquisite poetic imagery, of the union of male and female energies in the One
that is both. The Song of Songs was the text most used by Kabbalists for their
contemplation of the mystery of this divine union. Yet one has the feeling that
this way to union with the Divine may descend from some unknown source that
nourished Egypt, Sumer, and India. The Kabbalistic tradition describes the
feminine image of the godhead as Mother, Daughter, Sister, and Holy Spirit,
giving woman what she has lacked throughout the last two and a half thousand
years in Judeo-Christian culture - an image of the Divine Feminine in the
godhead that is reflected at the human level in herself. The Shekinah is Divine
Motherhood, Mother of All Living. Women can know themselves, in their role as
mothers, in their care and concern for the well-being of their loved ones, as
the instinctive custodians of her creation. The thirteenth-century "Zohar, The
Book of Radiance or Splendor" that was the principal text of Kabbalah,
contemplates the mystery of the relationship between the female and male aspects
of the godhead expressed as Mother and Father, and their emanation through all
levels of creation as Daughter and Son. The essential conception of this
mystical tradition expresses itself as an image of worlds within worlds. Divine
Spirit (Ain Soph or Ein Sof) beyond form or conception is the light at the
center, the heart, and moves outward as creative sound (word), thought and
energy, bringing into being successive spheres, realms, veils, or dimensions
imagined as veils or robes that clothe and hide the hidden source yet at the
same time transmit its radiant light.
As the upper Shekhinah of the Sefirah of Binah, femininity is the full
expression of ceaseless creative power-it is receptive, to be sure, but is
spontaneously and incessantly transformed into an element that gives birth, as
the stream of etemally flowing divine life enters into it. One might almost say,
to use the terms of Indian religion, that the upper Shekhinah is the Shakti of
the latent God; it is entirely active energy, in which what is concealed within
God is externalized. In the division of the Sefirotic world into the three upper
and seven lower Sefiroth-a division generally accepted since Sefer ha-Bahir-the
upper Shekhinah stands at the edge of the seven Sefiroth or seven primal days,
emitting them from herself and realizing her strength in them (this is the
inner, theogonic side of Creation!). In the same way, the lower Shekhinah stands
at the edge of the external Creation, formed during the temporal seven days of
Creation. Insofar as each of the two Shekhinahs is, so to speak, the "mother" of
one of the two aspects of the process of God's self-manifestation or
extemalization (the esoteric and exoteric aspects, respectively), the two
necessarily share many features in terms of this structure. But the difference
between them is equally plain. The process of emanation, through which the
Kabbalists represented their conception of God as an expanding life (one doubts
whether the Neoplatonic image of emanation adequately expresses their actual
intention), achieves its richest expression in Binah, the "upper mother," while
it ends in the "lower mother," the final Sefirah. That which flows out of Binah
still belongs to the realm of Godhead, and is identical with God in His
unfolding oneness. But this is not true of the lower Shekhinah: the divine
potency in all its purity flows from it only back into itself; what emerges from
the lower Shekhinah is no longer God, but Creation. This Sefirah can only
receive the Divine, not transmit it. Thus, the active side of the female energy
in God, the strength by which He eternally gives birth to Himself and emerges in
His attributes as a personal God, is realized in the upper Shekhinah, while the
passive side is realized as the lower Shekhinah. One must realize however that
the whole process is a circit or hoop. This circut has been applied to both the
Zodiac and Christian symbols by gnostic mystics.
While the Bible does not mention the name Shekhina directly, she is nevertheless bound to
extremely old traditions, and closely relates to the ancient goddesses.
Particularly significant is the Canaanite goddess Ashera who, at the beginning
of the Israelites' settlement in the land of Canaan, was often referred to as
Yahweh's Consort. The literature also calls her the "Holy Spirit"(Chokma) which,
in Hebrew, is also a feminine form. The feminine nature of the Shekhina is so
easy to establish in Hebrew, because the gender of the subject plays an
important role in the sentence structure. In English, you can say "The Glorious
Shekhina returned to bless us" without mentioning gender. In Hebrew, both verbs
and adjectives have a male or female forms, and many names suggest gender to
anyone who understands the language. The simple sentence above indicates three
times that the Shekhina is female, and the fact sinks easily into the
consciousness of the reader.
From the first covenant, Yahweh presented an image of a harsh, daunting God. His
character almost demanded the birth of an entity like Shekhina. Also, He could
not be seen by human eyes, and only a few prophets heard His voice. Yet almost
every religion shows that human nature seeks intimacy with a deity. The
manifestation of a loving maternal entity, ready to defend her people even from
God Himself, brings a feeling of comfort that a paternal, invisible entity like
Yahweh cannot bestow upon His worshipers. Shekhina represented compassion in its
purest form, and despite being, officially, the female side of God, she was
visible and audible as a feminine entity in her own right. A beautiful being of
light, whose most important function was to intercede with God on behalf of her
children. Such an entity had to come into being to soften the harshness of the
original Judaism.
But how did such a complex entity develop? It started with the changing of God's
dwelling. During Biblical times, people assumed God dwelled in the clouds. When
the Israelites built the desert Tabernacle, and later, Solomon's Temple, Yahweh
descended in a cloud and dwelt there. The word Shekhina, in Hebrew, is derived
from the Biblical verb shakhan, meaning "the act of dwelling" but taking the
feminine form. Therefore, at the beginning of the Talmudic era, the word
Shekhina meant
the aspect of God that dwelt among people and could be apprehended by the
senses. For example, one Talmudic verse said: "Let them make Me a sanctuary that
I may dwell (ve'shakhanti) among them." However, in a later version, the
translation said "Let them make Me a Sanctuary so that My Shekhina will dwell
among them." In other words, a separate entity.
Slowly, the manifested entity became stronger. A complete distinction appears in
a Talmudic quotation from the end of the 1st century BCE: "...while the Children
of Israel were still in Egypt, the Holy One, blessed be He, stipulated that He
would liberate them from Egypt only in order that they built him a Sanctuary so
that He can let His Shekhina dwell among them... As soon as the Tabernacle was
erected,
the Shekhina descended and dwelt among them." Another quotation from early 3rd
century says: "On that day a thing came about which had never existed since the
creation of the world. From the creation of the world and up to that hour the
Shekhina had never dwelt among the lower beings. But from the time that the
Tabernacle was erected, she did dwell among them."
Another tradition claimed that she had always dwelt among her people, but their
sins drove her, on and off, into Heaven. However, she was drawn back to her
children and tried to save them, over and over. By that time, her image was so
ingrained into real historical events, that when the Jews were exiled to
Babylonia, she transferred her seat there, and appeared alternately in two major
synagogues. She often made herself visible to the congregations there,
particularly in one synagogue, which was built of stones and dust taken from a
holy place in Jerusalem.
As the Jews dispersed further, sightings occurred in Italy, Spain, Germany,
Poland, Russia - in every town where Jews lived. Shekhina comforted the sick,
the poor, the suffering, and had a particular concern for repentant sinners
"These are accepted by the Shekhina as if they were righteous and pious persons
who never sinned. They are carried aloft and seated next to the Shekhina...he
whose heart is broken and whose spirit is low, and whose mouth rarely utters a
word, the Shekhina walks with him
every day...".
The paradox of dwelling in one place, and being in various places and with many
people at the same time, had to be resolved. The Talmud reconciled the two ideas
beautifully in a well-known anecdote. "The Emperor said to Raban Gamaliel: ‘You
say that wherever ten men are assembled, the Shekhina dwells among them. How
many Shekhinas are there?' Thereupon Raban Gamaliel beckoned a servant and began
to beat him, saying: ‘Why did you let the sun enter the Emperor's house?'
‘Have you gone mad?' said the Emperor, surprised at the violence of the usually
gentle Raban Gamaliel, ‘the sun shines all over the world!' ‘If the sun,'
answered Gamaliel ‘which is only one of a thousand myriad servants of God,
shines all over the world, how much more so the Shekhina of God!"
As time went by, her position strengthened. An interesting Medieval anecdote
shows the Shekhina as a total separate entity, in her most important role -
interceding on behalf of her children. "The Shekhina comes to the defense of
sinful Israel by saying first to Israel: ‘Be not a witness against thy neighbor
without a cause' and then thereafter saying to God: ‘Say not: I will do to him
as he hath done to me..' " This is obviously a conversation taking place among
three distinct entities - Israel, God, and the Shekhina. Another significant
passage from the 11th century, describes Rabbi Akiva (a second century sage)
saying: "When the Holy One, blessed be He, considered the deeds of the
generation of Enoch and that they were spoiled and evil,
He removed Himself and His Shekhina from their midst and ascended into the
heights with blasts of trumpets..."
Like any good mother, she could punish too. When she behaved violently, her
character came closer to her powerful aspect of the great Asherah, Yahweh's
Canaanite Consort. She descended to Earth to punish Adam, Eve, and the Serpent
when they sinned at the Garden of Eden. She confused the builders of the Tower
of Babel. She drowned the Egyptians at the Red Sea crossing during Exodus. When
needed, she even killed righteous people. Since the beginning of time, six
people -- Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Aaron, and Miriam -- could not be taken
by the Angel of Death because of their perfect purity. Someone had to bring
their souls to Heaven, and only Shekhina could do that. By kissing them, she
released their souls from bondage to this world. In a particularly touching
story, after kissing
and releasing Moses' soul, she carried his body for a long distance on her
wings, to his secret grave. This myth connects Shekhina to another ancient
goddess, Anath. According to the legends, Moses had to live apart from his wife
so that he would always be pure enough to communicate with the Shekhina. This
gave rise to the curious myth, later elaborated on in the Kabbalah, that Moses
and Shekhina
lived as husband and wife. The image of Shekhina, carrying the dead body of her
husband to his final resting place, resembles the myth of Anath, carrying the
body of her husband Baal to his burial place.
Nor is this the end of her development. The Kabbalah greatly elaborated on the
theme of the feminine aspect of God. She would appear as the powerful Matronit,
the controversial Lilith, and finally, as the glorious figure of Shabbat Hamalka
- Queen, Bride of God, celebrated every Saturday by Jews all over the world as
they light the Sabbath candles. And by tradition, the candles must always be lit
by a woman. Naturally -- Ashera, too, was served chiefly by priestesses. The
cycle
is very neatly completed.
Shekinah is the Supreme Spirit
devoted to the good of all people . .
She shines bright in the bloom of ignorance;
She is unfading;
She is easily seen by those who love Her;
easily found by those who look for Her,
And quickly does She come to those who seek Her help.
One who rises early, intent on finding Her, will not grow weary of the quest--
For one day he will find Her seated in his own heart.
To set all one's thoughts on Her is true wisdom,
And to be ever aware of Her is the sure way to perfect peace.
For Shekinah Herself goes about in search of those who are worthy of Her.
With every step She comes to guide them;
in every thought She comes to meet them . . .
The true beginning of spiritual life is the desire to know Shekinah.
A desire to know Her brings one to love Her.
Loving Her enables one to follow her will.
Following Her will is the sure path of immortality.
And immortality is oneness with God.
So the desire to know Shekinah leads to God
and His Kingdom - - a never-fading Kingdom.
With all your thrones and scepters you may rule the world for a while,
But take hold of Shekinah and you will rule the world forever.
~ The Wisdom of Solomon (50 BCE)
Wisdom is another name for the Goddess. ‘Wisdom’ is translated from the feminine
Hebrew word Hochmah. [Strong’s 2451, 2452 and 2454] Hochmah has the –ah feminine
suffix. The equivalent name in Greek is Sophia. [4678]
Although the word ‘wisdom’ definitely is equated with good judgment and
astuteness, in several Scripture passages, Wisdom is also unmistakably a Divine
Personage. Wisdom is feminine, and consistently referred to by feminine
pronouns. “Say to Wisdom, You are my sister.” [Proverbs 7:4]
The Messiah also referred to Wisdom as a person. He said: “Wisdom is proven by
Her children.” [Luke 7:35] He also quoted19 a declaration made by Her. “The
Wisdom of God said, ‘I will send them prophets and apostles…’” [Luke 11:49]
“How blind and impenetrable are the understandings of the children of men; for
they will not seek Wisdom, neither do they desire that She should rule over
them.” [Mosiah 8:20 (5:85)]
In a number of passages of scripture, Wisdom is described and adored by writers,
and also speaks on Her own behalf. This is particularly true of the 8th chapter
of Proverbs, the 24th chapter of Ecclesiasticus, and the 7th chapter of the
Wisdom of Solomon20.
Wisdom announced that She was brought forth before the creation21. She also
assisted in the creative process, alongside Yahweh. “Yahweh created Me,
first-fruits of His fashioning, before the oldest of His works. From everlasting
I was firmly set – from the beginning, before the earth came into being. The
deep was not when I was born, nor were the springs with their abounding waters.
Before the mountains were settled, before the hills, I came to birth; before He
had made the earth, the countryside, and the first elements of the world. When
He fixed the heavens firm, I was there; when He drew a circle on the surfaces of
the deep, when He thickened the clouds above, when the sources of the deep began
to swell, when He assigned the sea its boundaries (and the waters will not
encroach on the shore), when He traced the foundations of the earth. I was
beside22 the Master Craftsman, delighting Him day after day, ever at play in His
presence, to play everywhere on His earth, delighting to be with the children of
men. ¬[Proverbs 8:22-31]
Within the apocryphal books of Ecclesiasticus [also known as Ben Sirach], and
the Wisdom of Solomon [sometimes known simply as Wisdom], the Feminine Deity is
quite evident. It is apparent that the following passages refer to much more
than mere personifications of the attribute of wisdom, but actually represent
statements by and about Eloah. {The surviving originals of these manuscripts
exist only in Greek. However, based upon translation in the Septuagint, we can
extrapolate the original Hebrew equivalent of certain words.}
“Wisdom [Sophia] speaks Her own praises in the midst of Her people She glories
in Herself. She opens Her mouth in the assembly of the Most High {El Elyon}; She
glories Herself in the presence of the Mighty One {Abi’ir}: I came forth from
the mouth of the Most High, and I covered the earth like mist. I had My
tabernacle in the heights, and My throne was a pillar of cloud. Alone I have
made the circuit of the heavens, and walked through the depths of the abyss.
Over the waves of the sea and over the whole earth, and over every people and
nation I have held sway. Among all these I searched for rest, and looked to see
in whose territory I might pitch camp. Then the Creator of all things instructed
Me, and He who created Me fixed a place for My tent. He said, ‘Pitch your tent
in Jacob; make Israel Your inheritance.’ From eternity, in the beginning, He
created Me, and for eternity I shall remain. In the holy tabernacle I ministered
before Him, and thus became established in Zion. [Ecclesiasticus 24:1-10]
“And so I prayed…I entreated, and the spirit of Wisdom came to me. I esteemed
Her more than scepters and thrones; compared with Her, I held riches as nothing.
I reckoned no precious stone to be Her equal, for compared with Her all gold is
a pinch of sand, and beside Her silver ranks as mud. I loved Her more than
health or beauty; preferred Her to the light since Her radiance never sleeps. In
Her company all good things came to me, and at Her hands incalculable wealth.
All these delighted me, because Wisdom brings them, though I did not then
realize that She was their Mother…” [Wisdom of Solomon 7:7-12]
“And now I understand everything, hidden or visible, for Wisdom, the designer of
all things, has instructed me. For within Her is a spirit intelligent, holy,
unique, manifold, subtle, mobile, incisive, unsullied, lucid, invulnerable,
benevolent, shrewd, irresistible, beneficent, friendly to human beings,
steadfast, dependable, unperturbed, almighty, all-surveying, penetrating,
all-intelligent, pure and most subtle spirits. For Wisdom is quicker to move
than any motion; She is so pure, She pervades and permeates all things. She is a
breath {ruach} of the power of God {Elohim}, pure emanation of the glory of the
Almighty {Shaddai}; so nothing impure can find its way into Her. For she is a
reflection of the eternal light, untarnished mirror of God’s active power, and
image of His goodness.” [Wisdom of Solomon 7:21-26]
“Although She is alone [only one power, but] She can do everything. Herself
unchanging, She renews the world, and, generation after generation, passing into
holy souls, she makes them into God’s friends and prophets; for God loves only
those who dwell with Wisdom. She is indeed more splendid than the sun; She
outshines all the constellations. Compared with light, she takes first place;
for light must yield to night, but against Wisdom, evil cannot prevail. Strongly
She reaches from one end of the world to the other and She governs the whole
world for its good.” [Wisdom of Solomon 7:27-30]
Solomon prayed to Yahweh regarding Wisdom. “With You is Wisdom; She Who knows
your works, She Who was present when You made the world. She understands what is
pleasing in Your eyes, and what agrees with Your commandments. Dispatch Her from
the holy heavens, send Her forth from Your throne of glory to help me and toil
with me, and teach me what is pleasing to You. Because She knows and understands
everything, She will guide me prudently in my actions, and will protect me with
Her glory.” [Wisdom 9:9-11]
In the Divine, there is neither male nor female yet there is both. To argue
which is first or which is superior is, quite literally, a chicken and egg
argument. The feminine gives birth to the son who espouses the feminine as bride
who again gives birth to the son in the eternal heiros gamos. The feminine is
maid, mother and spouse, as the masculine is son, father and spouse. There is
unity in this duality, but there is not eternal dominance. "AGAIN Jesus taught
them saying, God hath raised up witnesses to the truth in every nation and every
age, that all might know the will of the Eternal and do it, and after that,
enter into the kingdom, to be rulers and workers with the Eternal, 2. God is
Power, Love and Wisdom, and these three are One. God is Truth, Goodness and
Beauty, and these three are One. 3. God is Justice, Knowledge and Purity, and
these three are One. God is Splendour, Compassion and Holiness, and these three
are One. 4. And these four Trinities are One in the hidden Deity, the Perfect,
the Infinite, the Only. 5. Likewise in every man who is perfected, there are
three persons, that of the son, that of the spouse. and that of the father, and
these three are one. 6. So in every woman who is Perfected are there three
persons, that of the daughter, that of the bride, and that of the mother and
these three are one; and the man and the woman are one, even as God is One 7.
Thus it is with God the Father-Mother, in Whom is neither male nor female and in
Whom is both, and each is threefold, and all are One in the hidden Unity. 8.
Marvel not at this, for as it is above so it is below, and as it is below so it
is above, and that which is on earth is so, because it is so in Heaven. 9. Again
I say unto you, I and My Bride are one, even as Maria Magdalena, whom I have
chosen and sanctified unto Myself as a type, is one with Me; I and My Church are
One. And the Church is the elect of humanity for the salvation of all. 10. The
Church of the first born is the Maria of God. Thus saith the Eternal, She is My
Mother and she hath ever conceived Me, and brought Me forth as Her Son in every
age and clime. She is My Bride, ever one in Holy Union with Me her Spouse. She
is My Daughter, for she hath ever issued and proceeded from Me her Father,
rejoicing in Me. 11. And these two Trinities are One in the Eternal, and are
strewn forth in each man and woman who are made perfect, ever being born of God,
and rejoicing in light, ever being lifted up and made one with God, ever
conceiving and bringing forth God for the salvation of the many. 12. This is the
Mystery of the Trinity in Humanity, and moreover in every individual child of
man must be accomplished the mystery of God, ever witnessing to the light,
suffering for the truth, ascending into Heaven, and sending forth the Spirit of
Truth And this is the path of salvation, for the kingdom of God is within."
Gospel of the Holy Twelve Lection 66: 1-12
Further, the church fathers of the Patristic Age preferred the male "Logos" when
describing Christ in order to avoid gender confusion. Philo, who at first
equated Sophia with Logos, "substituted Logos for Sophia, until the masculine
person of the Logos has taken over most of Sophia's divine roles including the
firstborn image of God, the principle of order and the intermediary between God
and humanity. Sophia's powers are restricted and she is limited to Heaven.
The "Word," (feminine) who also had a Greek counterpart in Logos; (In the
beginning) The same can also be said of the Spirit which is spoken of in Hebrew
by a word of feminine gender, ruach ("wind" or "breath"), and translated into
Greek in the neuter gender as pneuma .
+
"For the Hebrew scriptures Sophia was, first of all, part of the creative
process. She created the world with God. She was present in the birth of
individuals. She was described as ordering all things and making them new. "With
this central aspect of Sophia in mind, listen to the way the author of the
Gospel according to John (1:1-3) introduces Jesus: In the beginning was the
Word: and the Word was with God And the Word was God. He was with God in the
beginning. Through him all things came to be, not one thing had its being but
through him. "The description of Jesus as Word in John corresponds to the
description of Sophia in the Hebrew scriptures.
In English, the Holy Spirit is conventionally referred to as "He", because the
Latin word for "Spirit" is spiritus (masc.). In Greek, "Spirit" is pneuma (neut.),
leading to references as "It" (e.g., Romans 8:16, "The Spirit itself...) In
Hebrew/Aramaic, "Spirit" is ruach (fem.), leading to references as "She". In the
"Odes of Solomon'; the oldest surviving Christian hymnal, the Holy Spirit is
female.
Ode 36
(Odist speaks)
1. I rested on the Spirit of the Lord,
And She¹ lifted me up to heaven;
2. And caused me to stand on my feet in the Lord's high place,
Before His perfection and glory,
The "Odes of Solomon" is the earliest known Christian book of hymns, psalms or
odes. It probably dates from before 100 A.D. It has been reconstructed from
manuscripts in the British Museum, John Rylands Library and Bibliothèque Bodmer.
It contained 42 Odes.
The original tounge of the Hebrew or Aramaic would translate 'Holy Spirit' as
female. Also, Greek would translate 'Holy Spirit' as either female or more
likely 'neuter in reference to the subject' and it only became 'He' in Latin and
English bibles. Yet, even Milton, in his writing of Paradise Lost, refers to the
Holy Spirit and Divine Reason as his celestial patroness!
Syriac, a dialect of Aramaic written with rounded letters
reminiscent of modern Arabic. Syriac was the language of people living in
northern Mesopotamia, from at least 300 BC until the time Arabic became dominant
in the region, around 1000 AD. Most of the Syriac documents available today were
produced by a Monophysite branch of Christianity, today known as the Syrian
Orthodox Church (monophysitism is the belief that Christ had but one nature).
One striking puzzlement of the texts, at least to me, was the constant reference
to the Holy Spirit as "she". I was aware, of course, that in Aramaic (and hence
in the dialect known as Syriac) the natural gender of the word "spirit" was
feminine; however, I was surprised to discover that this accident of grammar had
resulted in a whole theology constructed around the femininity of the third
person of the Godhead.
An example of Syriac theology is found in the apocryphal Acts of Thomas; it is
usually assumed that this particular work was influenced by speculative gnostic
Judaism because it contains the notion, that associated with God was a wisdom,
or creative power - a spirit - which was feminine. In an invocation accompanying
baptism, Thomas calls for the Holy Spirit:
Come, holy name of Christ that is above every name;
Come, power of the Most High and perfect compassion;
Come, thou highest gift;
Come, compassionate mother;
Come, fellowship of the male;
Come, thou (f.) that dost reveal the hidden mysteries;
Come, mother of seven houses, that thy rest may be in the eighth house.
(Acts of Thomas 2:27)
Come, silence that dost reveal the great deeds of the whole greatness;
Come thou that dost show forth the hidden things
And make the ineffable manifest;
Holy Dove that bearest the twin young;
Come, hidden Mother;
Come, thou that art manifest in thy deeds
and dost furnish joy and rest for all that are joined with thee;
Come and partake with us in this Eucharist
Which we celebrate in thy name,
and in the love-feast in which we are gathered together at thy call.
(Acts of Thomas 5:50)
Mother in Heaven
Eloah is the Heavenly Mother. She is the Father’s partner and spouse, the true
Queen of the Universe. In language similar that used by Job, the Heavenly Mother
is mentioned in Ecclesiasticus 40:1. “A hard lot has been created for human
beings…from the day they come out of their [earthly] mother’s womb, they day
they return to the Mother of them all.”
In the gnostic book of Sophia, we read, “The great Sophia is [the Father’s]
spouse…[She is the] Begetress Sophia, Mother of the Universe…” [3:104] The word
used in some Greek texts in reference to Goddess is koinonos, which means
[equal] partner. In common use, it meant ‘spouse’, or ‘consort’, particularly in
the sense of the wife of the king, or the husband of the queen. This is not
precisely the same as human marriage, but mortal marriage is a reflection of the
hierosgamos – or sacred cosmic union of El sand Eloah.
Yahweh commanded Moses to have sculptures of two cherubim placed atop the Ark of
the Covenant. When Solomon built the Temple, images of cherubim were embossed
upon the walls, carved in relief into doors and panels, and were incorporated
into tapestries and other furnishings. According to a few historical accounts,
the two cherubim were male and female, representing the Divine Male and the
Divine Female – El and Eloah.
Several first or second-century Christian documents discovered at Nag Hammadi,
Egypt, plainly identify the Holy Spirit as feminine – as the Mother figure
within the Godhead. In the Apocryphon of John, Elohim appeared to John and said,
“I am the Father, I am the Mother, I am the Son. I am the undefiled and
uncorruptible One.” In the Gospel According to the Hebrews we read the phrase
“my Mother the Holy Spirit”. Regarding this phrase, Jerome commented around 400
AD, “No one should be offended by this, because ‘spirit’ in Hebrew is feminine,
while in our language [Latin] it is masculine, and in Greek it is neuter.
[Commentary on Isaiah 11]
In the Acts of Thomas, written around 200 CE, an invocation includes: “Come,
compassionate Mother; come She that revealeth the hidden mysteries.” [2:27]
Another prayer, referring to the Holy Spirit as the “Holy Dove”, invites “Come,
hidden Mother.” [5:50] “We glorify and praise thee [Messiah], and thine
invisible Father, and thine Holy Spirit, the Mother of all creation.” [3:39]
The Holy Spirit gives new birth to the Elect. The believers are ‘born again’ of
the Heavenly Mother. The sons and daughters of God/dess are the assembly of
believers. The New Testament epistles often speak of the fellowship of believers
as ‘brethren’. The covenant members of the church or synagogue are spiritual
brothers and sisters, born of the same spiritual Mother. The Greek word for
‘brethren’, adelphos, literally means “of the same womb” [delphos meaning
‘womb’].
Not the Goddesses of the Gentiles
The apostle Paul wrote that people give honor to many different gods and
goddesses. [1 Corinthians 8:5-6] We acknowledge the same to be true today –
adherents to a variety of religions worship many gods and goddesses. Although
people worship “many gods and many lords”, for the People of the Covenant, there
is only one true God – Elohim. Those whom the Scriptures call Gentiles24
generally worshipped other gods or goddesses. This means that they worship gods
or goddesses that have been invented within their own imagination, or are
misinterpretations of the true El and Eloah. Instead of worshiping the true
Elohim, they worship gods and goddesses that were created within human minds.
[Romans 1:25] Elohim consistently and plainly banned worship of Gentile gods and
goddesses.
Contrary to modern pluralistic thinking, this means that there is a difference
between Elohim and the gods and goddesses of other nations. Plainly said, Baal
is not the same as Yahweh, just as Ashtoreth is not the same as Eloah25. Inanna,
Isis and Lilith are not Eloah called by other names – they are truly “other
gods”.
Throughout the history of Israel, the nation waxed and waned through cycles of
the worship of “other gods”.
A major consideration in the discussion of the femininity of the Deity must be
found in the many, many references to the "Spirit" of God. In Hebrew, the word
is actually "Breath" and similar roots are present in both the Latin and Greek
words used to translate it. In Hebrew, this "Breath" is most often mentioned
using the feminine form of the word. There are those who proclaim that the Holy
Ghost is the focus of femininity in the Trinity. The orthodox would argue that
all members of the Trinity are equally male and female – indeed that they
radically transcend the whole dynamic. A female Holy Ghost, however, receives
further reinforcement from the "Wisdom" literature in the Old Testament. There,
"Wisdom" is portrayed as lover and spouse of humanity. In Proverbs 5:17&f she is
presented as: "the wife you married in your youth, fair as a hind, graceful as a
fawn, Let hers be the company you keep, hers the breasts that ever fill you with
delight, hers the love that ever holds you captive.” Indeed, the next verse
reveals a very, very frequent theme of the prophets too, that turning from
proper worship to false gods is adultery. Now if the "son" commits adultery when
committing idolatry, then it stands to reason that God is the true wife!! Isaiah
54:6: "Yes, like a forsaken wife, distressed in spirit, / YHVH calls you back."
This kind of rhetoric has led to the building of churches like Hagia Sophia
(Holy Wisdom – now the great mosque of Istanbul). It has also led to the cult of
Sophia as the Bride of God which is popular among neo Gnostic strains of
Christian Esotericism. In Classic Gnosticism, Sophia is often the emanated
entity who forgets the true source and engenders the demiurge!
Liberty of consciousness brings human liberty. In the great drama of Calvary,
there is one fact that stands out very clearly; the men failed, the women did
not.
It is important to speak of the Holy Spirit, the Comforter and Reconciler, with
a feminine pronoun. The functions of the Holy Spirit as characterized in
Biblical texts are often, but not exclusively, those which have been associated
with women: consolation, eschatological groaning in travail of childbirth,
emotional warmth, and inspiration.
Clearly the ancient church traditions refer to the Holy Spirit in feminine
rather than masculine terms. "Syriac theology (and sometimes Orthodox Theology)
often regarded it as an archetype of femininity and hypostatic union
The Hebrew word for spirit (ruwach) is feminine. Furthermore, in the Old
Testament the wisdom of God (Sophia) is portrayed as a female spirit (Proverbs,
chaps. 8 and 9). Finally, in John's Gospel, the Holy Spirit which Jesus promises
his disciples serves the feminine function of comforting and reassuring
Christians whose faith is threatened by persecution. There is clear evidence
that early Christians believed that the Holy Spirit was a female entity. The
Gospel of the Nazarenes, used by Jewish-Christians in the post-apostolic age,
contained a quotation of Jesus in which he speaks of "my mother, the Holy
Spirit." The Acts of Thomas, a product of either early Syriac or Egyptian
Christianity, includes hymns or liturgical prayers of invocation to the Holy
Spirit addressed to "the compassionate mother ... the Feminine who reveals
hidden mysteries ... and darling of the Most High's compassion. In the Gospel of
Mani, we find a trinitarian doxology, derived from some ancient Christian group,
which praises the power of the Father, the blessing of the Mother and the
goodness of the Son.
What ultimately emerges from this conspectus is that, contrary to the generally
held view, the religion of the Hebrews and the Jews ( including the first
Christians ) was never without the feminine in its God-concept. At times, as in
the Tahnudic and even more so in the post-Talmudic periods, the female element
in the deity was pushed into the background. At others, as in the Biblical and
again in the Kabbalistic eras, it occupied an important place in popular
theology, occasionally even to the extent of overshadowing the male deity or the
male component of the godhead. Only in the most recent times, after the
Kabbalistic upsurge had subsided, was the female element eliminated from the
God-concept among Reform, Conservative, and non-Hasidic Orthodox Jews,
The Shekinah, in the everyday tradition of Judaism, denotes the presence of God
- the name is derived from the Hebrew word meaning 'to dwell'. She is the
dwelling place of God, his presence, and she shines in glory. Although her name
is feminine, most mainstream rabbis did not stress this but often identified the
community of Israel with her. Sometimes she was understood as God's Holy Spirit.
However, in the strong mystical - and for a very long time, secret - tradition
within Judaism, named the Kabbalah, the Shekinah assumes her divine female form.
She is the central presence in the Tree of Life, she is partner to God, and is
the channel of His glory; She is in direct line with ancient Hebrew goddesses.
She was understood to be a personified female, she accompanied the dispossessed
Jews and mourned with them in their troubles and persecutions, and she is
believed to be an intermediary between God and the world. There are many
similarities between her and descriptions of Wisdom.
The relation of the Holy Spirit to the Father and Son is not precisely defined
in the New Testament. The first Christians were plainly more concerned with
God's presence among them than with meticulous theological formulations. Later
Church councils defined the Holy Spirit as the third person of the triune God.
There is no distinct term for spirit in the languages of the Bible;Recognizing
that the renewal of God's people could come only from God, the prophets came to
look for a general outpouring of his spirit (Isa- 32.15)- In no case is the
fulfillment of this hope ascribed to the mediation of an expected messianic
king; but in the portrayal of this figure in the prophecy of *Isaiah, he is to
be the permanent bearer of the spirit (Isa. ii.2; 6i.i)-perhaps in contrast to
the charismatic leaders of Israel, such as Saul, from whom the spirit departed.
The distinctive mark of the messianic era will be the bestowal of God's spirit
on all, high and low, old and young, male and female (Joel 2.28). The
designation "holy spirit" occurs only in Psalm 51-1 i and Isaiah 63-10-11- The
New Testament announces the fulfillment of the eschatological hope of the spirit
proclaimed by the prophets. Two elements are emphasized: the coming of the one
who is the permanent bearer of the spirit and the outpouring of'the spirit on
"all flesh"; and both are linked. Jesus is identified as the promised one on
whom the Spirit will remain (John 1-33). This identification took place at his
baptism by the visible descent of the Holy Spirit on him in the form of a dove.
The story need not imply that the association of the Spirit with Jesus began at
his baptism and that he was at that moment adopted as Son of God; John
especially saw in the baptism of Jesus the epiphany of the preexisting Son (John
1.'29-34), the one in whom the prophetic hope was fulfilled. According to Luke
(4-16-21), Jesus explicitly claimed this identity in his sermon at Nazareth; and
it is indicated in the nativity stories, where the emphasis is on the conception
by the Holy Spirit rather than on the virginity of Mary (Matt. 1.18; Luke 1.35).
Jesus left to prepare our place in heaven; The Spirit has come to empower us to
continue freeing the hearts of others.
The name which best communicates the reality of the Spirit’s relationship to
Christians is simply "Mother" because those who know the Spirit know her as the
Mother. Those who experience the Trinity in their hearts know that "a family
must be complete. We must have a Father, Mother, and Spouse." God [Christ] is
even our dear husband, his Father is our dear Father, and the Holy Spirit is our
dear Mother, The family-idea, the oldest, the simplest, the most respectable,
the most endearing idea among all human ideas, and which is the true biblical
idea. This is language that even a child can comprehend. It is the best language
to communicate spiritual reality for all people because it does not depend on
abstract reasoning or speculation on unfathomable realities.
Certainly one is "born" of a female, not of a male. That is the most potent
oversight of the patriarchs & points clearly to the femininity of the Holy
Spirit.
The word for "dove" in Greek is peristera, and it carries
the feminine gender. ...
The Gospel to the Hebrews likewise has Jesus speak of 'my
Mother, the Spirit.' In the Gospel of Thomas, Jesus contrasts his earthly
parents, Mary and Joseph, with his divine Father—the Father of Truth—and his
divine Mother, the Holy Spirit... According to the Gospel of Philip, whoever
becomes a Christian gains 'both father and mother' for the Spirit (ruah) is
'Mother of many.' ... Besides being the 'first universal creator,' who brings
forth all creatures, she also enlightens human beings and makes them wise."
"If the experiences of the Holy Spirit are grasped as being a ‘rebirth’ or a
‘being born anew’, this suggests an image for the Holy Spirit which was quite
familiar in the early years of Christianity, especially in Syria, but got lost
in the patriarchal empire of Rome: the image of the mother. If believers are
‘born’ of the Holy Spirit, then we have to think of the Spirit as the ‘mother’
of believers, and in this sense as a feminine Spirit. If the Holy Spirit is the
Comforter, as the Gospel of John understands the Paraclete to be, then she
comforts ‘as a mother comforts’ [cf.. John 14.26 with Isa 66.13). In this case
the Spirit is the motherly comforter of her children. Linguistically this brings
out the feminine form of Yahweh’s ruach in Hebrew. Spirit is feminine in Hebrew,
neuter in Greek, and masculine in Latin and German."
Jurgen Moltmann, The Source of Life (1997) p. 35
There are more pages in the Hebrew scriptures about Sophia than about Abraham,
Isaac, Jacob, Solomon, Isaiah, Sarah, Miriam, Adam, or Noah. But we do not know
her. Churches and synagogues insure that children can recite the storeis of
Aaron or Joseph, but they never even allude to Sophia. Literature classes in
schools and colleges examine the epics of Abraham or Solomon or even the story
of Ruth, but Sophia, who stands taller than any of them, is ignored.
Sophia, then, is an eternal Being, which before all creatures, with the Holy
Trinity, is eternal, and remains forever in eternity. She is above all the
Angels; the eternal wisdom has her root alone in the Godhead itself, and through
her Being it reveals itself. Sophia is not a Person outside the Trinity; the
spirit of Jesus and the spirit of Sophia are not separate. The eternal Sophia
urges men through being reborn to return to completeness in Paradise, to which
she will lead them. Sophia leads man back to the wholeness of Paradise. As
Wisdom consubtantials with Christ, Sophia is the breath of the spirit within the
Scriptures; and we come into contact with her only after we have undergone
metanoia. No one is permitted to make the error through reasoning that another
were to have written the testimonies found in Scriptures. Since above, one must
remember, the spirit of Wisdom and the spirit of Jesus are essentially one, so
one comes to one by what was said by the other; and no one may try to separate
them. But one ought not to rely only on the letter of the Scripture, for "Wisdom
ought not be sought only in letter; and hence not only in written works, without
effective struggle and prayer in oneself. One ought not gape after things
outside oneself, but rather look toward the inward ground, for there she is
first glimpsed, where the will is descended and sunken in her. This looking
within brings about the metanoia, or inward regeneration
Pentecost is second only to Calvary in importance to the Christian, for
Pentecost is the complement of Calvary. Without Pentecost, Calvary would have
been ineffective to redeem lost mankind. It required the dynamic of the Spirit
as well as the sacrifice of the Saviour to bring the benefits of salvation to a
waiting world, for all Christian experience revolves around the twin centres of
Calvary and Pentecost. Calvary opened the fountain from which all the blessings
of Pentecost flowed. Pentecost made available to men all that Calvary made
possible.
Doth not wisdom cry? and understanding put forth her voice? She standeth in the
top of high places, by the way in the places of the paths. She crieth at the
gates, at the entry of the city, at the coming in at the doors. Unto you, 0 men,
I call; and my voice is to the sons of man. For my mouth shall speak truth; and
wickedness is an abomination to my lips. Counsel is mine, and sound wisdom: I am
understanding; I have strength. By me kings reign, ... and nobles, even all the
judges of the earth. ... I love them that love me; and those that seek me early
shall find me. Riches and honour are with me; yea, durable riches and
righteousness. My fruit is better than gold, yea, than fine gold; and my revenue
than choice silver. The LORD possessed me in the beginning of his way, before
his works of old. I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the
earth was. ... When he prepared the heavens, I was there: when he set a compass
upon the face When he gave to the sea his decree, that the waters should not
pass his commandment: Rejoicing in the habitable part of his earth; and my
delights were with the sons of men... Now therefore hearken unto me, 0 ye
children: for blessed are they that keep my ways... For whoso findeth me findeth
life, and shall obtain favour of the LORD.
Advocate/Paraclete. "The term occurs in one of the fullest descriptions of the
nature and function of the Holy Spirit and is therefore more important than its
limited use would suggest. If John was the last gospel written, as was suggested
early by Clement of Alexandria (150-215 C.E.), then it is not surprising to find
there a fuller expression of the nature of the spirit than was usually present
in the OT or the synoptic Gospels (including Acts). In the Gospel and Letters of
John, the spirit is described as being sent from the father to be in and with
the believers, teaching them, and reminding them of Jesus’ words and deeds (John
14:15-26). The paraclete is identified with Christ (1 John 2:1) and with the
spirit (John 14:26), is said to proceed from the father as “the spirit of
truth,”
Paraclete comes from the Koine Greek word παράκλητος (paráklētos,
that can signify "one who consoles or comforts, one who encourages or uplifts;
hence refreshes, and/or one who intercedes on our behalf as an advocate in
court").[1] The word for "Paraclete" is passive in form, and etymologically
(originally) signified "called to one's side". The active form of the word,
parakletor, is not found in the New Testament but is found in Septuagint in Job
16:2 in the plural, and means "comforters", in the saying of Job regarding the
"miserable comforters" who failed to rekindle his spirit in his time of
distress.
In the New Testament the word seems to appear only in
Johannine writings. 'Paraclete' appears in the New Testament in the Gospel of
John (14:16, 14:26, 15:26, 16:7) where it may be translated in English as
"counselor", "helper", encourager, advocate, or "comforter".[8] The early church
identified the Paraclete as the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:5,1:8,2:4,2:38) and
Christians continue to use Paraclete as a title for the Spirit of God. In the
Gospel of Matthew, chapter 5 v. 4 Jesus Christ uses the verb παρακληθήσονται,
paraclethesontai, traditionally interpreted to signify "to be refreshed,
encouraged, or comforted". The text may also be translated as vocative as well
as the traditional nominative.[9] Then the meaning of 'paraclethesontai', also
informative of the meaning of the name, or noun Paraclete, implicates 'are going
to summon' or 'will be breaking off'... The Paraclete may thus mean 'the
summoner' or 'the one, who, or that which makes free.
There are two popular spellings of this word, the one
parakletos and the other periklytos. Jesus did not use the word Periklytos, but
Paracletos/Parakletos as the following citations demonstrate:
"And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor (allon
parakleton) to be with you forever - the Spirit of truth. The world cannot
accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he
lives with you and will be in you." John 14:16-17
"But the Counselor (de parakletos), the Holy Spirit (pneuma to hagion), whom the
Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of
everything I have said to you." John 14:26
"When the Counselor (ho parakletos) comes, whom I will send to you from the
Father, the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father, he will testify about
me." John 15:26
"But I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go
away, the Counselor (ho parakletos) will not come to you; but if I go, I will
send him to you." John 16:7
Furthermore, there is a noun that is related to the word
Parakletos, namely paraklesis, that means comfort, consolation, exhortation, and
entreaty. It is used on 29 occasions and is translated as "comfort" 20 times.
The verbal form, parakaleo, meaning "to beseech, call for, comfort, desire,
exhort, and entreat" is used 107 times and was translated 24 times as to
comfort.
The following NT citation helps us see the possible range of meaning these terms
have depending upon the context:
"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of
compassion and the God of all comfort (paraklesis), who comforts (parakaleo) us
in all our troubles, so that we can comfort (parakaleo) those in any trouble
with the comfort (paraklesis) with which we ourselves are comforted (parakaleo)
of God." 2 Corinthians 1:3-4
It is quite obvious that within this particular context that the only plausible
meaning of these two words are "comfort" and "comforter". This point will become
essential later on in our rebuttal since this helps us to see that Paracletos,
and these other related terms, can have different meanings in different
contexts.
As is the case in most pieces of literature, it is
dangerous to read any verse or phrase without looking at the context first.
In these four verses, the word "comforter" is translated
from the word "Paraclete" ("Ho Parakletos" in Greek). Parakletos in Greek is
interpreted as "an advocate", one who pleads the cause of another, one who
councils or advises another from deep concern for the other's welfare (Beacon
Bible commentary volume VII, p.168). In these verses we are told that once Jesus
(pbuh) departs, a Paraclete will come. He will glorify Jesus (pbuh), and he will
guide mankind into all truth. This "Paraclete" is identified in John 14:26 as
the Holy Ghost.
It must be pointed out that the original Greek manuscripts speak of a "Holy
pneuma." The word pneuma {pnyoo'-mah} is the Greek root word for "spirit." There
is no separate word for "Ghost" in the Greek manuscripts, of which there are
claimed to be over 24,000 today. The translators of the King James Version of
the Bible translate this word as "Ghost" to convey their own personal
understanding of the text. However, a more accurate translation is "Holy
Spirit." More faithful and recent translations of the Bible, such as the New
Revised Standard Version (NRSV), do indeed now translate it as "Holy Spirit."
This is significant, and will be expounded upon shortly.
All Bibles in existence today are compiled from "ancient manuscripts," the most
ancient of which being those of the fourth century C.E. Any scholar of the Bible
will tell us that no two ancient manuscripts are exactly identical. All Bibles
in our possession today are the result of extensive cutting and pasting from
these various manuscripts with no single one being the definitive reference.
Greek has a complex system of genderizing nouns as male,
female or neuter, like German. The noun parakletos is male, while the noun holy
spirit is neuter. In European languages it is perfectly understandable to refer
to synonyms by their gender, ie in French you have the ‘sea’ which is female,
and ‘ocean’ which is male. All pronouns in Greek must agree in gender with the
word to which they refer and the pronoun “he” is used when referring to the
parakletos. The NT uses the word pneuma, which means “breath” or “spirit,” the
Greek equivalent of ruah, the Hebrew word for “spirit” used in the OT. Pneuma is
a grammatically neutral word and is always represented by the pronoun “it.”
John 14:26 is the only verse of the Bible which
associates the Parakletos with the Holy Spirit.
The word parakletos is peculiar in the NT to the
Johnannine literature.
The author of John was a Greek master of literature.
The "comforter" is a euphemism - a figure of Greek speech and rhetoric. It is a
literary device used to defamiliarize the concept of the Holy Spirit; to awaken
the reader to look at the concept afresh.
What the translators of the Bible have done when presented
with such discrepancies is to do their best to choose the correct version. In
other words, since they can not know which "ancient manuscript" is the correct
one, they must do a little detective work on the text in order to decide which
"version" of a given verse to accept. John 14:26 is just such an example of such
selection techniques.
Does the Holy Spirit "speak" or "inspire": The Greek word
translated as "hear" in the Biblical verses ("whatsoever he shall hear, that
shall he speak") is the Greek word "akouo" {ak-oo'-o} meaning to perceive
sounds. It has, for instance, given us the word "acoustics," the science of
sounds. Similarly the verb "to speak" is the Greek verb "laleo" {lal-eh'-o}
which has the general meaning "to emit sounds" and the specific meaning "to
speak." When we look for the meaning of a word we go to the Semitic source not
Greek, and the Hebrew word which is underneath the text of the Greek is "Shma"
which actually means to establish something in ones heart by listening and
understanding that can only be brought from above. Everyone has an ear but not
everyone can understand unless that understanding is granted and the one of the
things the Ruach Kadosh (Holy Spirit) does is bring understanding of things in
our life.
Furthermore, II Isaiah has many references to the
comforting of Israel, so the "comforter" ideology was already prevelent in
Isaiah-influenced Jewish thought. The oldest Isaiah manuscript carbon-dates to
200BC. Furthermore, Paul elaborates on Isaiah's comforting in his writings, and
these were all written before John's gospel.
Read carefully what the text says, the world cannot
receive the Holy Spirit because she lives inside you. Ruach Kadosh is the
feminine side of Yahweh not masculine. There is the Father the Mother the mama
or Ema and the Son. Totally nonsensical hellanistic philosophy of those people
who do not know Hebrew culture and thought or the Bible to equate two He's with
a one Son when it is perfectly clear to be a family of three.
We must remind ourselves that Christian theology does not
believe God to be a person. It believes Him to be such that in Him a trinity of
persons is consistent with a unity of Deity.
But, the reader may be wondering, what about Yahweh? Isn't
he God the Father? No, "He" isn't, though that is a common misconception. Yahweh
is the common mispronunciation of the Ineffable Name given to Moses, YHVH. YHVH
is not the Father God, but represents the whole Godhead. El is but one aspect of
that Godhead, the chief aspect, the Y. Sometimes he is called Yah, from the YH
(first two letters of the tetragrammaton), but that's a rare name for him, hard
to find although many mystical Jews today worship him as Yah.
El's Bride, or Consort, Asherah can be seen as the early form of the Goddess,
the first H. His Foster-Son, Ba'al, can be seen as the early form of the Son
God, the V, who later incarnated as Yeshua. [Again, remember that Ba'al was not
necessarily a "fake" or "bad" because the prophets of El beat Ba'al's prophets -
they had to beat Ba'al's prophets, because El was the King of the pantheon].
Finally, Ba'al's Sister-Consort, Anat, can be seen as the early form of the
Daughter Goddess, the second H. Many similarities exist between the old
Canaanite pantheon and the Judeo-Christian pantheon, and fragments of the old
worship still exist today. Shekinah is the evolved form of Asherah, just as
Matronit contains remnants of Anat. Yeshua does share similarities with Ba'al,
including His subordinance to the Father, El, and the fact that he was killed
and resurrected in Springtime.
To conclude, El has always been in Judeo-Christianity, but He existed long
before that. He was known as El to all three of the patriarchs - Abraham, Isaac,
and Jacob - and to the twelve sons of Jacob. He was known to the Jews in
captivity in Egypt, and to Moses who came to meet the full Godhead - YHVH - on
the mountain. And now, El in His original form is known to us today, as the
distant but still caring Chief of our Godhead. And we still speak to Him through
our Mediatrix - who was known as Asherah to all six of the Israelite matriarchs
- Sarah, Rebekah, Leah, Rachel, Bilhah, and Zilpah - and to Dinah their
daughter. Asherah was certainly known to the Jews in captivity in Egypt, and
later evolved into Shekinah. Asherah in Her original form is known to us today
in yet another incarnation, the form of Mary, our Mediatrix, who takes our
prayers before El, King of the Gods.
Since we know the Ruach to be a conscious, living bein g, the manifested power
of YHWH capable of leading us, guiding us, and of instructing and teaching us in
the Way of all truth; Yochanan 14:26, Luka 12;12; we can determine from the
tense of the Hebrew and Aramaic words that the Ruach HaKadosh is feminine tense,
and therefore, “female in gender.
Yahushua is the Paraclete (Advocate) in Heaven while the
Ruach Kadosh unseen (Holy Spirit) mother or mama is the "helper" or in Hebrew
Ezer for us in the earth. It is the mum or mother figure to teach the children
at home. The Father is the overpowering figure and the mother is the opposition
or balancer at home. The mother in the Bible is described as chokmah (wisdom)
spoken of in proverbs 8:1.
Proverbs 8:1 Does not wisdom [motherly figure] cry out, and understanding lift
up her voice?
There is absolutely no contradiction or selective translation. The idea of "Parakletos"
mentioned in 1 John 1:2 is also correct since Yahushua is also our advocate in
heaven.
The text is clear that the world cannot receive what they
cannot see but the Holy Spirit dwells in you meaning that since the Christians
or all those who receive the words of Yahushua they also receive the Ruach
Kadosh.
This point is entirely lost in the Greek which has no feminine tense for spirit,
but only a neuter tense, which is why “Spirit” is always presented as a “He” in
the Greek (neuter words are given male attributes in translation), which error
has been erroneously transferred over into the English. In the Aramaic the word
for Spirit is Feminine as well with the word Ruacha, confirming the Hebrew
understanding of the word Ruaah.
In Western Christian tradition Adam and Eve were created in every sense equal,
however, Eve became subject to Adam due to the fall. Also in the Western
Christian tradition, Christ is a new Adam and Mary a new Eve. If as 'born
again'Christians we are to conform to the image of Christ, then are not we
called to live in the manner of a new Adam? Would not this mean that we are
called again into a condition of equity and equality with the new Eve? Would not
this paradisal state be ordained by God, as it was in the beginning?(Matt 10:6)
If this is so, then are we not required by Christian conviction to admit a
Divine decree of gender equality in the heavens? Does not nature teach us the
same? Surely, St. Clare was right to teach the equality of the brothers and
sisters in all.
Clearly, for a time in early Christian worship, the Holy Spirit was imaged in
feminine terms (symbolized, as it would be later as well, by a dove), and was
sometimes referred to as the divine Mother; which mirrors the cultural and
biological role of women is seen in the use of bird imagery in the Scriptures.
Here God's concern for humanity is expressed in imagery that possibly is drawn
from the representation of female goddesses with sheltering wings. The people of
Palestine associated El with the title Ia-hu; hence, "Jehovah". Ia-hu ,
translated "Exalted Dove", seems to have been associated with the Cyprus Dove
Goddess; and is the preform of the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove. However,
over time, the Holy Spirit was conceived rather in more general and impersonal
terms as a mysterious and numinous power, whose intensity seemed to have
radically diminished as time grew more distant from the generation of the first
apostles, and whose continuing presence, activity, and authority were lodged
chiefly in the institutional Church.
Having become aware of this previously hidden mystery of Eloah, many will wonder
about their own personal relationship to Her. The Scriptures naturally provide
guidance in this regard.
It is appropriate to pray to Eloah. For example, Job wrote: “My desire is that
Shaddai would answer me.” [Job 31:35] “Oh that I might have my request, and that
Eloah would grant me the thing that I long for!” [Job 6:8] “He will pray to
Eloah who has restored him to favor.” [Job 33:26] “I shall say to Eloah, ‘Do not
condemn me; tell me what Your case is against me.” [Job 10:2] My friends scorn
me, and my eyes pour out tears unto Eloah. [Job 16:20] “I want to speak to
Shaddai; I wish to argue my case in front of El.” [Job 13:3] “Seek El, and plead
with Shaddai.” [Job 8:5] “[The Wicked say] ‘What is the point of serving Shaddai?
What shall we gain from praying to Her?’” [Job 21:15] “Then Shaddai will be all
your delight, and you shall lift your face to Eloah. You will pray and She will
hear.” [Job 22:26-27] “I am one who calls on Eloah and expects an answer.” [Job
12:4]
Attributes of the Goddess are signified through Her titles. She is El Shaddai,
having many comforting, nourishing spiritual breasts. All who desire can come to
Her and suckle and find security and sustenance, just as children, regardless of
gender, find comfort at their mother’s breasts. "The Divine power, though
exalted far above our nature and inaccessible to all approach, like a tender
Mother who joins in the inarticulate utterances of Her babe, gives to our human
nature what it is capable of receiving; and thus in the various manifestations
of God to humanity, God both adapts to humanity and speaks in human language."
[Gregory of Nyssa, late 4th century] The Ruach ha Kodesh [Holy Spirit] trait of
Goddess is associated with the breath. The word ruach means ‘breath’ or ‘wind’.
We can deliberately increase our breath when we like, or stifle it at will. In a
like manner, we can willfully influence the degree to which we fellowship with
the Ruach ha Kodesh, or Holy Spirit – and we can also suppress the degree of
communion with Her. As breath or wind is normally only noticed when it is in
motion, it is common for people to only notice the Holy Spirit when She is
moving. When She is still, She cannot be perceived.
The Hagia Sophia
Hagia Sophia or Holy Wisdom is the mother church of all
Eastern Christians of the Byzantine liturgical tradition both Orthodox and Greek
Catholic. Early accounts suggest that the site of this, the grandest church in
Christendom, in the first millennium had been the site of a pagan temple
appropriated for the service of the new religion. Hagia Sophia underwent two
phases of construction before attaining its present state. Documents indicate
that the first Hagia Sophia was built by Emperor Constantius, son of Emperor
Constantinos I, and was opened for services in 360 AD. Although very little is
known about this church, it is assumed that it was a basilica-type structure
with a rectangular floor plan, circular apse and timbered roof. It was similar
to St.Studios, a basilica in Istanbul, the ruins of which still exist. Ancient
sources emphasize that the eastern wall was circular. Constantius donated gold
and silver as well as religious objects to his church, but these were vandalized
by Arians during the Council of 381 AD.
Hagia Sophia was first named "Megale Ekklesia" (The Great Church) as it was the
largest church in Constantinople. The historian Socrates indicated that the
church was named Sophia during the reign of Emperor Constantius. The name given
to the church symbolized the second divine attribute of the Holy Trinity.
Originally, Sophia, which means "Holy Wisdom", was a name given to Christ by 4th
century theologians. Both names, Megale Ekklesia and Hagia Sophia are used
today.
This approach to the Trinity is very old. Some early Christians did in fact
countenance the Spirit as Mother. For example, both Origen and Jerome
favorably quoted a passage from a second-century Jewish Christian Gospel (the
Gospel of the Hebrews) in which Jesus referred to the
Holy Spirit as his Mother. Up until the fifth century, the Syriac church used
the feminine pronoun of the Holy Spirit, regarding her as
"our Mother." The idea of a Father-Mother-Son Trinity was popular enough in the
fifth century to draw the criticism of Augustine (De
Trinitate XII.5).
However, the sacred feminine ideal in the early church was not limited to
Motherhood. For example, Methodius of Olympus (260 - 312
C.E.) explored Paul's image of the Spirit-indwelled Church as the Bride of
Christ, comparing the relationship of Christ and the Spirit with the
relationship of Adam and Eve. Using biblical terms, we can actually use sacred
feminine language of each of the three "persons" of the Trinity. For example, we
can say that the feminine divine is God as Mother and God (Wisdom)-in-Christ, as
well as the indwelling God (the Spirit). This expanded Trinitarian formula
images each of the three "persons" using feminine metaphors that actually
complement masculine metaphors like "Father" and "Son."
Why can't more churches incorporate these biblical terms into their liturgies
and worship? Wouldn't it help to restore the rightful place
of women as equal partners with men in the task of building up the Church?
Wouldn't it also signal a willingness to consider seriously
the criticism that churches have historically suppressed women? This approach to
the divine feminine also holds promise for addressing another difficult
Trinitarian question: The humanity and divinity of Christ. Some oversimplify the
issue by depicting the divinity of Christ as a doctrine of fourth-century
political expedience. But the problem goes deeper than that, since Christ was
considered divine long before the fourth-century Council of Nicea. A more
profound problem, at least for Christians, is how to recover an appreciation for
the humanity of Christ without denying his divinity.
The question is particularly poignant since the Church Councils articulated
their ideas in the philosophical language of their day
(neoplatonism), and the ideas and terms they used are all outmoded. Posing the
question afresh, what does it mean to say that Jesus was
"human"? The humanity of Jesus is emphasized most vividly by the contention that
Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene. A fully human Jesus could very well have
married and fathered children. That many Christians are troubled by the thought
arguably reveals a deep-seated reluctance to think of him as truly human.
Nevertheless, again, there are more substantial considerations that force the
question of Jesus' humanity even more acutely.
How could a divine being -- the omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent Creator of
all things, "become" truly human? If "humanity" isn't just
a "substance" but a collection of experiences of uncertainty, limitation, and
mortality, how could a divine Jesus truly have been
"human"? Could Jesus have been imperfect? Wrong about anything? Uncertain? If
not, he could hardly have been human. And in actual fact, there is a strong
tradition in the New Testament that Jesus was human in those very ways. For
example, Jesus "grew in wisdom" (Luke 2:52) and "learned obedience" (Hebrews
5:8). He admitted when he was wrong, as illustrated by his encounter with the
Syrophoenician woman (Mark 7:24-29). But if Jesus was that authentically human,
how could he also have been the very incarnation of God?
One compelling answer is, again, that what Jesus incarnated in his life was the
Word or Wisdom of God -- that is, the personification of
God's own character. That which was "pre-existent" in Christ was God's Wisdom.
To put the question differently, when John 1:14 states that "the Word became
flesh," should we propose that Jesus became flesh, or that the
Word became Jesus? Many Christians tend toward the former notion, but that makes
it much more difficult to think of him as truly human. The
latter interpretation, however, could very well accentuate Jesus' humanity. A
fully human Jesus who incarnated the very character and love of God could still
suffer as we do and sympathize with us, And why do we neglect the fact that the
Church of Christ is the 'elect lady'; Heavenly Jerusalem, the 'bride' (Rev
22:17) of the 'bridegroom' which is Christ? Would not the Spirit within the
Church and the Spirit within God's people be The same Spirit? And would not this
be the Holy Spirit? If God's Wisdom, Kingdom, and People are expressed as
female, it can be seen that the Holy Spirit; from which we are spiritually born,
is also best represented as a ' female aspect' within the trinity symbol of the
Godhead (John 3:6).
In Iranian Sufism, Sophia is Perfect Nature, the object of ecstatic vision. She
is also called: the philosopher's Sun, the Daena—the visionary organ of the
soul"; personal master and suprasensory guide, sun of the heart, etc. She is the
guide in exile, the watcher and shepherd, and paradoxically, the essential
individuality and the "pre-terrestrial vision of the celestial world." Perfect
Nature was described in an 11th century text as '"the philosopher's angel,' his
initiator and tutor, and the object and secret of all philosophy, the dominant
figure in the Sage's personal religion. She has been equated with the Purple
Archangel of Supreme Illumination in the writings of the Persian Neoplatonists.
Socrates declared Perfect Nature to be the sun of the philosopher, the "original
root of his being and at the same time the branch springing from him." The
philosopher's Angel is the Form of light, the heavenly Sophia "conjoined with
his star, which rules him and opens the doors of wisdom for him, teaches him
what is difficult, reveals to him what is right, in sleeping as in waking."
(Corbin, 1978, 17) : (Thunder Perfect Mind; 2 Sophias, higher & lower—Sophia
Achamoth, the generative wisdom of the world).> Alchemy (Sapientia, moon, tree,
ogdoad, alchemical salt—the psychic form of the body, the ash remaining that
serves to fix the 'volatile' spirit.)
The Holy Spirit is a real person who came to reside within Jesus Christ's true
followers after Jesus rose from the dead and ascended to heaven (Acts 2). Jesus
told His apostles... "I will ask the Father, and She will give you another
Helper, that She may be with you forever; the Spirit of truth, whom the world
cannot receive, because it does not behold Her or know Her, but you know Her
because She abides with you, and will be in you. I will not leave you as
orphans; I will come to you." (John 14:16-18) The Holy Spirit is not a vague,
ethereal shadow, nor an impersonal force. She is a person equal in every way
with God the Father and God the Son. She is considered to be the third member of
the Godhead. Jesus said to His apostles... "All authority has been given to Me
in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,
teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always,
even to the end of the age." (Matt. 28:18-20) God is Father, Son and Holy
Spirit. And all the divine attributes ascribed to the Father and the Son are
equally ascribed to the Holy Spirit. When a person becomes born again by
believing and receiving Jesus Christ (John 1:12-13; John 3:3-21), God resides in
that person through the Holy Spirit (1Cor. 3:16). The Holy Spirit has intellect
(1Cor. 2:11), emotion (Rom. 15:30), and will (1Cor. 12:11). A primary role of
the Holy Spirit is that She bears "witness" of Jesus Christ (John 15:26, 16:14).
She tells people's hearts about the truth of Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit also
acts as a Christian's teacher (1Cor. 2:9-14). She reveals God's will and God's
truth to a Christian. Jesus told His disciples... "The Helper, the Holy Spirit,
whom the Father will send in My name, She will teach you all things, and bring
to your remembrance all that I said to you." (John 14:26) "When He, the Spirit
of truth, comes, She will guide you into all the truth; for She will not speak
on His own initiative, but whatever She hears, She will speak; and She will
disclose to you what is to come." (John 16:13) The Holy Spirit was given to live
inside those who believe in Jesus, in order to produce God's character in the
life of a believer. In a way that we cannot do on our own, the Holy Spirit will
build into our lives love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness,
faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Gal. 5:22-23). Rather than trying to
be loving, patient, kind, God asks us to rely on Her to produce these qualities
in our lives. Thus Christians are told to walk in the Spirit (Gal. 5:25) and be
filled with the Spirit (Eph. 5:18). And the Holy Spirit empowers Christians to
perform ministerial duties that promote spiritual growth among Christians (Rom.
12; 1Cor. 12; Eph. 4). The Holy Spirit also performs a function for
non-Christians as well. She convicts people's hearts of God's truth concerning
how sinful we are -- needing God's forgiveness; how righteous Jesus is -- She
died in our place, for our sins; and God's eventual judgment of the world and
those who do not know Her (John 16:8-11). The Holy Spirit tugs on our hearts and
minds, asking us to repent and turn to God for forgiveness and a new life.
The idea that the Holy Spirit was female is a basic from the Hebrew language and
from Old Testament scriptures. The Holy Spirit or 'Rauch'(rawach) , was feminine
in all of Solomon's writings as the divine presence that was feminine, in both
Proverbs and other writings of Solomon.
The early Palestinian Jesus movement used this Wisdom theology in its
understanding of Jesus. For them, Jesus is Sophia's messenger, and the earliest
Christian theology is Sophialogy. This communal understanding is rooted in the
biblical writers' understanding of Jesus as the prophet and child of Sophia. The
Christian missionary movement, saw Jesus as divine Sophia herself. Jesus as
Christ-Sophia, is enthroned as ruler of the whole cosmos, and this is the
foundational myth of the Christian community.
Sophia is not derivative or secondary to Yahweh, but rather existed in her own
right before creation -- indeed, that Yahweh needed her to begin the creative
process. As alternative reading of Proverbs 8:22 ("Yahweh created me") is
"Yahweh acquired me," which also hints at her status as an autonomous divine
figure. Again, in Wisdom 10, Sophia is depicted as the divine saving figure in
history, guiding Noah to safety, calling Abraham, and leading Moses and the
Hebrew people to safety through the sea. In fact, Sophia and God seem to be
fully interchangeable ..."
It is clear that the life went out of 'Psyche' as Occidental thought moved from
myth to philosophy. It is also clear that this movement from myth to philosophy
coincided with the rise of Babylon's dualism and Western Christian dogma adopted
pneuma as a neuter, never feminine, grace. As a result, rather than
investigating the resourceful living imagery of life and nature, the Christian
tradition is limited by a 'disassociate' concept for spirit. Yet Daphne is not
so easily forgotten or captured, and from the wilderness she whispers, "I am
dreams, I am butterfly, I am woman.
The Mother Church of the first century worshiped the Holy Spirit both as female
and as part of the Godhead. So the "Holy Spirit," is rediscovered; closely akin
to, yet in some characteristics distinct from, the Shiekhina; This concept not
entirely unknown even today, and may be discovered within some of the eastern
Christian churchs of the Byzintine Empire. Why does the Holy Spirit remain
poverty stricken in Her symbolic life within the Church? Unless theology can be
reinvested with psychology, in the manner prescribed to Nicodemus, there can be
no true spirituality in the Church. Since the Christian religion is pregnant
with multi-vocal images of the inner universe of mind, what has hindered this
development for so long? Is it because of the orthodox view of a split between
our soul and our spirit; Psyche and Pneuma? You cannot separate Humanity from
the love of the Creator.
The Spirit is vital, quick, and alive, winged, subtle, and beautiful. She cannot
abide a gilded age, no matter how extravagant. This is why the Spirit went out
of dogmatic religion after Pentecost If we are to discover paradise we must look
within. We must look up from our books of philosophy. We must break the cords of
apathy and despair forever and hear the sound of enlightenment; which is the
'Word of God'. If you listen, you can hear it now; the song your spirit has been
singing from the moment of your birth. The words of Christ contain the dynamic
of the Holy Spirit; they cause upheaval in our habitual preoccupation with
apathy and despair. We must allow the words of Christ to accomplish their
transforming work. The heart of the universe is still perfect love.
I am my beloved's and his desire is for me.. Song of Songs
So definitely , the Holy Spirit is Female. She moves in mysterious ways.
The image of Mary has inspired some of the loftiest architecture, some of the
most moving poetry, some of the most beautiful paintings in the world. She has
filled women and men with deep joy and fervent trust; she has been an image of
the ideal, inspiring women and men to their noblest emotions of love and awe. In
Her will be realized the final glorification of the human community and the
creation of a new heaven and a new earth, in cooperation with the redemptive
work of God in Christ.
As told in the Gospels, Mary was a virgin, probably in her teenage years, when
she conceived Jesus through the intercession of the Holy Spirit ( Luke 1:26-35
). Mary was greeted by the Archangel Gabriel as "full of grace, the Lord is with
you." This is a unique phrase, in that it reflects the holiness of the person
addressed. This occured just prior to her choosing to accept her mission in
Christ's birth. This reveals the pre-existing holiness given to her by the grace
of God.
In the Gospel of Luke, chapter one, verse thirty five, we read, 'And the angel
answered and said to her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of
the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also that Holy One who is to be
born, will be called the Son of God." Why is God spoken of as Holy Spirit 'and'
Highest? Is this dramatic speech by the angel or is it something more? Is it
perhaps to be seen as two elements of the Divine, joining in union? What is the
meaning of the usage of 'upon' and 'overshadow'? In the ancient Greek, 'come
upon' derives from the words epe' erchomai, meaning, upon 'and operating in' a
person. The ancient Greek term for overshadow is epe' skiazo, meaning, upon yet
over. Is there a deeper implied meaning or nuance within the words 'therefore,
also that Holy One who is to be born'? 'Therefore, also' can also be read as
'for that reason'. For what reason? Is it only because of supernatural agency
being involved, or is it also because the miracle spoken of was to be seen as a
nuptial union, resulting in birth? By understanding the Holy Spirit as female
this scripture becomes clear.
By understanding the Holy Spirit as female and operating within her chosen
vessel, Mary; we can understand one of the great mysteries of the Church. Namely
that, Mary is the mother of Jesus, Jesus is God, therefore She is the Mother of
God. As the chosen vessel of a female Holy Spirit this is not an impossibility.
It is not blasphemous to speak of Holy Spirit as being the Mother of God; and
although Mary is a creature like the rest of God's creatures, and all her
dignity comes from God, through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, Mary is
become a second Eve and the spiritual mother of all humanity; and this by the
grace of the Spiritual Mother of all creation. And just as Jesus is the image of
his Heavenly Father, Mary is the image of her Holy Mother. The Holy Spirit Who
is the Love of God, will descend into her, and He that will be born of Her will
be the Son of God. If God's wisdom is female cannot God's love be also seen as a
mother's love. This is also a theologically correct interpretation of the text.
the Gospel of Philip, a Valentinian writing, says "The Father united with the
Virgin who came down (i.e. descended)"; and states that Mary did not conceive
*by* the Holy Spirit, since it is feminine as herself, but *in* the Holy Spirit,
being part of her own nature..
The idea that the Holy Ghost intervened in Jesus' virgin birth is met with open
hostility in the gospel of Phillip, where Phillip the Apostle even says: "when
did a woman ever conceive of another woman?", which is a clear reference to the
Ruach, or Holy Spirit. This is the one time in the Christian scriptures where
the Holy Ghost is refered to clearly and directly as a 'woman'. It is no wonder
that Phillip's gospel is excluded from the patriarchal canon, which was
organized by the Pauline School. Phillip, who walked with the historical Jesus,
was in fact adamantly rejecting the view of the Pauline School and other
Christians on the Holy Ghost and the fathering of Jesus by this agent, because
Ruach is a female.
The term 'Ruach', which is the word used by Jesus to refer to the Spirit, is a
feminine Aramaic term translated as the Holy Spirit or Holy Ghost in English,
which came through Latin as the Spiritus Sanctus. The (Pauline influenced)
Romanization of Christianity brought about the masculinization of the Ruach,
whose feminine gender is central to the Christian mystery.
The Gospels of Mary," calls this a reliance on "Peter's
story," which he describes as "a line through a male God to a man named Jesus to
a man named Peter." In contrast, Gnostic texts and a certain 21st-century novel
purport to tell "Mary's story" one in which gender doesn't matter, and sexuality
is a natural, even a celebrated, part of life.
In the Secret Gospel of John (Codex II, pages 3 - 5) of the Nag
Hammadi Texts,
"For the Perfect One beholds itself in the light surrounding it.
This is the spring of the water of life that gives forth all the
worlds of every kind. The Perfect One gazes upon its image, sees it
in the spring of the spirit, and falls in love with the luminous
water. This is the spring of pure, luminous water surrounding the
Perfect One."
"It's Thought became active, and she who appeared in the presence
of the Father in shining light came forth. She is the first power:
she preceded everything, and came forth from the Father's mind as
the Forethought of all. Her light resembles the Father's light; and
the perfect power, she is the image of the perfect and invisible
virtin Spirit. She is the first power, the glory, Barbelo, the
perfect glory among the worlds, the emerging glory."
"She glorified and praised the virgin Spirit, for she had come
forth through the Spirit."
 During
the early centuries scholars and believers already understood Mary, the mother
of Yesu, to be a saint of very special character. As a woman and human being in
first century Palestine, to be chosen and called by God to be the one woman on
earth fit to bring the Saviour into the world - to give birth to this boy, to
suckle him and dry his bottom, to care for him physically and care after his
education, to sit with him nights and tell him stories and impart motherly
wisdom.
God chose Mary in the beginning to bring forth are
Redeemer (Gen. 3:15). Mary mother of Jesus gave us a picture of holiness in her
obedience to the Lord. Mary was the first Christian to say yes to Jesus, and he
loved Mary as his mother and as one of his special children. Mary, a beautiful
humble child of God, bore the perfect gift to mankind. She was Mary the mother
of Jesus our Lord. She was a humble servant that God gave a special task to do.
Our Father God trusted Mary enough to bring his only Son into the world and to
raise him. Mary nurtured are Lord from birth and had a big influence on him.
Mary held a unique place in the early Christian Church. God came into Mary not
once, but twice. God came into Mary the first time when the Holy Spirit created
Jesus Christ in her (Luke 1:35). God came into Mary the second time at
Pentecost. The Holy Spirit filled her with the Spirit along with all her
Christian brothers and sisters (Acts 2:1–4). Jesus loves his mother, Mary, with
a special love, and she is are sister in Christ. The Scriptures say that she’s
blessed. I am sure that she holds a high place in the Kingdom of Heaven, because
she is the King’s mother. Moses and the profits gave us the Word in the OT. The
desciples wrote the Word in the NT. Mary gave us Jesus, the True Word of God.
Woman was created in the image of God along with man. Women are baptized with
the Holy Spirit as well as men. The revolt of woman against her inequalities
with man is at bottom a protest against the restraints of a culture without
faith, one that has chained her God given talents. One of the most beautiful
lessons in the world emerges from the Annunciation, namely, the vocation of
woman to supreme religious values.
Jesus is quoted at the wedding at Cana and also at his crucifixtion as
referring to his mother as "Woman". This is parallel to referring to himself as
the "son of man"; and implies 'Genesis 3:15' in which God promised salvation
through the woman's offspring.
Mary seemed to be the hostess at the marriage party, the one in charge, the one
responsible for the entertainment of the guests. It was she who recognized the
need for more wine, who sought to replenish the supply, who directed the
servants to follow whatever instructions Jesus gave. Considering the customs of
the day, it is a virtual certainty that one of Mary's children was being
married.....Jesus also had a close personal interest in and connection with the
marriage and the subsequent festivities which attended it. He and apparently at
least five of his disciples (John, Andrew, Peter, Philip, and Nathaneal) were
"called" to attend. Since the short age of wine occurred near the close of the
festivities, and since these commonly lasted from seven to fourteen days, it is
apparent that Jesus' party was remaining for the entire celebration. Seemingly,
also, he had some personal responsibility for entertaining the guests and felt
an obligation to supply them with added refreshments.
For a Jewish feast wine was essential and hospitality in the East is a sacred
duty. For the provisions to fail at a wedding would be a terrible humiliation
for the bride and bridegroom. So Mary came to tell Jesus that it was so. The
Authorized Version of the translation of Jesus's reply makes it sound
discourteous. It makes him say: "Woman, what have I to do with thee?" That is
indeed a translation of the words but it does not in any way provide the tone of
those words. The phrase, "What have I to do with thee?" was a common
conversational phrase.
This phrase is also the question, "Who am I? addressed from God to Woman
universally. To us the word 'Woman' sounds to us as a very rough and abrupt way
to address one's mother. However, it is the same word as Jesus used on the cross
to address Mary as he left her in the care of John. (John 19:26) In Homer it is
the title by which Odysseus addresses Penelope, his well loved wife. It is also
the title by which Augustus, the Roman Emperor, addressed Cleopatra, the famous
Egyptian Queen. In all cases this title represents the divine feminine; one
religiously, one mythically, and one to a queen revered as a goddess by her
royal birth
A civilization that does not kneel before God in reverence is also a
civilization that has denounced the dignity of woman; she struggles as the most
beautiful of unfinished symphonies, contending for spiritual understanding and
human recognition.
It is a terrible thing for individuals, either male or female not to know their
own image as made in the image of God. We pay lip service to being above the
limitations of words when it comes to speaking of the sex of God; but are we? Do
we not rather continue our prejudes by enslaving people with words? This is
tyranny and ungodly blasphemy. It is a historical fact, that whenever the world
has been in danger of collapse, there has been re-emphasis of devotion to the
Woman. Calvary was the greatest crisis the world has ever known, and women did
not fail. May not She also be the strength of heart we need so desperatly today?
VeriIy,I tell you She is!
Christian are fond of telling unbelievers that, "there are no atheists in a fox
hole." Will we also admit that the last word's on nealy every soldiers lips is
love and devotion to wife or mother? In the sanctuary of her arms life takes its
first breath, and in her arms is the sanctuary where life wants to flee in
death. In the arms of our angel.
Equity goes beyond equality by claiming superiority in certian aspects of life.
Equity is the perfection of equality and should be the basis of feminine claims.
She is also the protector and defender of all life. Our lady of Equity. The
choice before women today is whether to equate themselves with men in rigid
exactness or to rally to equity, to mercy and love; giving light, life, and
grace in a cruel and lawless world. This liberty is something that a sterile
equality can never truely achieve.
In Catholicism there is a tradition that Mary is the Mediatrix, who takes
prayers before Yeshua and El. This continues an ancient tradition,
Theologically, Mary is the personification of the Church, the New Israel, the
hope of mankind. Her true essence as the Church cannot be found in its earthly
institution but must be sought in the spiritual life. This takes place in the
heart; for it is within the Heart that Christ reveals Himself. Thus, it is
within Her, the Holy Church, { that is in truth and spirit } that heaven and
earth meet and communion with God begins.
In the first century Church, the idea of Mary and the Saints as mediators
expressed a Christian concept of the solidarity of the Church as community.
Salvation was mediated by relation of Christ to God, and by Christians'
relationship to one another. The community created a 'cloud of witnesses,' not
only among the living, but also with those of past generations, who are in
solidarity with one another and us in communicating grace. In this manner the
Church extends from the Saints in Heaven down to the faithful here on earth. As
the representative of humanity in its original goodness, Mary becomes the
anticipation of its restoration and fulfillment at the end of history.
Cultural influences also might explain why the Arch Angel Gabriel was
historically seen as female, yet is now seen as sexless or male. Gabri-el is the
ruler of the Cherubim. Gabri-el is unique amongst an otherwise male or
androgynous host, for it is certain that this great Archangel is female. She is
the only angel mentioned in the Old Testament by name, except for Michael, and
is said to sit on the left hand side of God which is further evidence of her
being female.
[Gabriel's] attributes are a lily and a scroll inscribed with "Ave Maria Gratia
Plena." She is sometimes shown with a scepter or an olive branch as a symbol of
peace on earth.
In Judeo-Christian lore she is the Angel of the Annunciation, Resurrection,
Mercy, Revelation and Death. As ruler of the first heaven, she is closest to
Man. According to the testimony of Joan of Arc it was Gabri-el who persuaded the
Maid of Orleans to help the Dauphin. Gabriel appears to Daniel in order to
explain the prophet's, awesome vision of the fight between the rain and the
he-goat (the oracle of the Persians being overthrown by the Greeks). She appears
again to Daniel to tell him of the coming of a messiah, a message which half a
millennium later she repeats to Mary in the Annunciation.
So then God's angel is also female, and is it curious that she should appear at
conceptions. Before Mary she had just announced to Zacharias the coining of John
the Baptist.
To Mohammedans, Jibril/ Gabriel is considered the angel of Truth.
Although devout Moslems will hardly agree to her female sex, sufi Ruzbehan Bagli
spoke of a vision in which he says, "In the first rank I saw Gabriel, like a
maiden, or like the moon among the stars. His hair was like a woman's, falling
in long tresses... the most beautiful of angels.
Sophias presence is also found in Islam. Fatimah is a prominent female in the
Islamic tradition. Muhammad revered Fatimah as if she were a divine being,
saying "Allah, The Most High; is pleased when Fatimah is pleased. He is angered;
whenever Fatimah is angered!" Whenever Fatimah would go to the house of
Muhammad, he would stand up out of respect for her and honour her by giving her
a special place to seat herself in his house. He regarded her as a sort of
primordial woman, a symbol of divine womanhood giving her many holy names, such
as: Siddiqah; The Honest, The Righteous; Al-Batool, Pure Virgin; Al-Mubarakah,
The Blessed One; .Al-Tahirah, The Virtuous, The Pure, Al-Zakiyah ;The Chaste,
The Unblemished ;Al-Radhiatul Mardhiah, She who is gratified and who shall be
satisfied; Al-Muhaddathah, A person other than a Prophet, that the angels speak
to; Al-Zahra, The Splendid; Al-Zahirah, The Luminous.
Shias revere the person of Fatimah, Muhammad's daughter and mother of the line
of inspired imams who embodied the divine truth for their generation. As such,
Fatimah is associated with Sophia, the divine wisdom, which gives birth to all
knowledge of God.
Sunni Islam has also drawn inspiration from the female. The philosopher Muid
ad-Din ibn al-Arabi (1165-1240) saw a young girl in Mecca surrounded by light
and realised that, for him, she was an incarnation of the divine Sophia. He
believed that women were the most potent icons of the sacred, because they
inspired a love in men which must ultimately be directed to God, the only true
object of love.
Even more surprising is the Koran’s reverence for Mary, mother of Christ.
Muhammad (and also in later Islamic theological scriptures) regarded Mary as the
most marvellous of all women, a high adept and living example of the pure and
holy life. Later Koranic c ommentaries describe Mary as an intervening force
between God (Allah) and humanity. This intervening force is characterised by
Allah’s mercy, forgiveness, sweetness and humility- the embodiment of Allah’s
love for creation.
Rev 14:4 - virgins--spiritually (Mat_25:1); in contrast to the apostate Church,
Babylon (Rev_14:8), spiritually "a harlot" (Rev_17:1-5; Isa_1:21; contrast
2Co_11:2; Eph_5:25-27). Their not being defiled with women means they were not
led astray from Christian faithfulness by the tempters who jointly constitute
the spiritual "harlot."
Rev 14:4 - These are they which were not defiled with women,.... With the whore
of Rome, and her harlots, she is the mother of; while the kings and inhabitants
of the earth were drunk with the wine of their fornication, or committed
idolatry with them, which is spiritual fornication, and is here meant by being
defiled with them, these were free from such pollutions, or idolatrous
practices: for they are virgins; for their beauty and comeliness in Christ,
chastity, sincerity of their love, uncorruptness in doctrine and worship, and
for the uprightness of conversation; See Mat_25:1;
Mary occupies ten times as much of Our Lord's life then do the other apostles.
The years of subjection young Jesus lived honoring his mother are associated
with his growth "in wisdom and favor with God." The very fact that He makes
himself subject endows Her with the power of the Spirit.
Nowhere is the gulf which divides Christian church's wider than on the subject
of Mary. Those who in principle balk at a serious consideration of Marian
doctrines are inconsistent, for example, in accepting the doctrine of the
Trinity, a word which nowhere appears in the Bible and the very concept of which
is by no means obvious there. The strong anti-Marian reaction of the Reformation
period has frozen later Protestants into a permanent state of aversion to taking
Mary seriously, except in marginal ways. Thus the fear of exaggerating Mary's
importance causes her to be denied even an ordinary mothers recognition. A major
obstacle to Marian devotion for Fundamentalists is the idea that devotion to
Mary "competes" with devotion to Jesus. Once we realize that Mary is the Mother
given to us by the Holy Trinity and that we turn to her as we would to an
earthly mother without "competing" with the worship we owe to God, many of the
Fundamentalist misconceptions problems would evaporate. And once we realize that
Jesus honors Mary as His mother we who are His followers can do no less.
Why do some think that any reverence paid to the Mother of Jesus detracts from
His Divinity? Mary does not prevent our honoring Our Lord, and nothing is more
cruel of false than to say She takes souls away from Christ. The less we think
of Him, the less we think of Her; the more we adore His Divinity, the more we
venerate Her. Never will it be found that anyone who really loves Our Lord as a
Divine Savior dislikes Mary. Those who dislike any devotion to Mary are those
who deny His Divinity or find fault with Our Lord because of what he says about
life, equality and liberty. Coldness toward Mary is a consequence of
indifference to Christ. Any objection to calling her the Mother of God is
fundamentally an objection to the Deity of Christ.
This idea of the Goddess or maternal womb is embedded in history. It was and is
symbolized by the ceremonial bowl. When used in the Egyptian temples as the
temple basin it was called the shi. In Biblical times it became the brass sea in
Solomon's temple (1 Kings 7:23-26). Such bowls or vassals were used for
illustrations, baptisms and various purification ceremonies. Although the
Christians often fail to disclose that the holy water fount still symbolizes the
womb. This symbolically is true since the water is to bestow blessings or grace
upon the one which it is sprinkled upon, or who sprinkles it upon himself, and
this grace supposedly comes from Jesus Christ who came from the womb of Mary.
Although, in the ancient maternal temples this womb-vessel was very much
respected for its inherent fertile power. Its holy waters were revered as they
were considered spiritual representing the birth-giving energy of the Goddess.
Throughout the history of Goddess worship, witchcraft, and currently in
Neo-pagan witchcraft the cauldon has been a feminine symbol associated with the
womb of the Mother Goddess.
All Christian sects have not thought of God as just masculine. This is
especially true of the Gnostics. It is in the Apocryphon of John one sees the
apostle John grieving after the crucifixion. John was in a "great grief" during
which he experienced a mystical vision of the Trinity:
the [heavens were opened and the whole] creation [which
is] under heaven shone and [the world] trembled. [And I
was afraid, and I] saw in the light...a likeness with multiple
forms...and the likeness had three forms.
To John's question of the vision came this answer: "He said to me, 'John, Jo[h]n,
why do you doubt, and why are you afraid?...I am the one who [is with you]
always. I [am the Father]; I am the Mother; I am the Son.'"
To many this description of the Trinity is shocking, but it need not be. What so
many forget, or do not realized is that the New Testament was written in Greek;
whereas, the Old Testament was written in Hebrew. The Hebrew word meaning spirit
is ruah having a feminine gender, but the Greek word for spirit is pneuma having
a neuter gender. Thus the Greek language, or to be more specific a change in
language when writing the New Testament, virtually made the Holy Spirit, the
third person of the Trinity, asexual. It also, when accepted by the orthodox
Christian Church, eliminated any femininity concept of God. Also Mary is held to
have remained a virgin by Catholics and some Christians because Matthew in his
gospel used the Greek word parthenos, meaning "virgin," instead of almah when
referring to the virgin birth of Jesus.
The term 'Theotokos' Mother of God, contains the whole mystery of the
Incarnation. The mystery of the incarnation begins with God's asking a woman
freely to give him a body; showing that the particular person whom he chose to
consult was a woman. Woman gave Our Lord His human nature that he might give us
a rebirth in freedom and love. It was through Her that He became the bridge
between the Divine and the Human. No one, therefore, who thinks logically about
Christ can divide Son and Mother. The relation of Mary to Christ extends beyond
Bethlehem and Calvary even to His Mystical Body the Church. Since Mary is the
mother of Christ, She is also the Mother of everyone whom Christ redeemed. Born
of the virgin Mary; this is a true statement not only of Christ but also of
every Christian who is 'born again'. In virtue of Our common Baptism did we
become children of Mary. If Christ is a Mediator between God and humanity; Mary
is the Mediatrix between Christ and us. In this one Woman are virginity and
motherhood united, as if God willed to show us that both are necessary for the
world. Things seperated in other creatures are united in Her; and so are we
united to God in Her. The love of God would so inflame her heart , her body, her
soul that when Jesus was born the world could say of Him; "This is a child of
Love." Mary is here recapturing woman's vocation from the beginning, namely, to
be to humanity the bearer of the Divine; every mother is this when she gives
birth to a child. The mother in the order of the creation brings the spirit that
issues from the Hand of God to the cradle of the earth. Can religion do without
motherhood? It certainly does not do without fatherhood. She is the image of the
eternal within the temporial for she is the giver of life. She thus becomes
co-worker with Divinity; she bears what God alone can give.
And to those who would discount the labour of Mary's womb, it should be pointed
out that without the labour of Mary's hands, there would be no blessed Saviour,
either.
ary's last recorded words in the Gospels are at a wedding in Cana, where Jesus
performs his first miracle. She said, "Do whatever he tells you." This is a
statement of complete faith in the ability of Jesus to perform miracles, and
shows her to be his first true disciple. The human race became incorporated to
the first Adam by being born of the flesh; incorporation to the new Adam,
Christ, is by being born of the Spirit. This spiritual birth is symbolized in
Christ's life by a virgin birth. This is also symbolic of the pristine earth in
the spring when she brings forth new life. Mary, the woman, presided at the
three great moments of life: at a birth on the occasion of the Visitation, at a
marriage at the Marriage Feast of Cana, and a Death, or surrender of Life, at
the Crucifiction of Her Divine Son.
Father, Mother and Child (often a Savior-Son) is an ancient trinity, naturally
reflected in the world around us. Just as Mary is strongly linked to Isis, so
the Holy Family, Joseph, Mary and Jesus, is linked to the trinity of Osiris,
Isis and Horus. In Christianizing the pagan world, this family trinity was
familiar and, therefore, effective in encouraging conversion to a religion that
seemed so similar to native worship In the process of the Hellenistic world's
adoption of Christianity, many essential features of the pagan mystery religions
now found successful expression in the Christian religion: the belief in a
savior deity whose death and rebirth brought immortality to man, the themes of
illumination and regeneration, the ritual initiation with a community of
worshipers into the salvational knowledge of cosmic truths, while some of the
mystery religions emphasized the evil imprisonment of matter, which only
initiates could transcend, early Christianity heralded Christ as inaugurating
the redemption of even the material world. Jesus Christ was not a mythical
figure but an actual historical person who fulfilled the Judaic messianic
prophecies and brought the new revelation to a universal audience, with
potentially all of mankind as the new initiates rather than a select few. What
was to the pagan mysteries an esoteric mythological process-the death-rebirth
mystery-had in Christ become concrete historical reality, enacted for all
humanity to witness and openly participate in, with a consequent transformation
of the entire movement of history.
From this viewpoint, the pagan mysteries were not so much an impediment to the
growth of Christianity as they were the soil from which it could more readily
spring. But unlike the mystery religions, Christianity was proclaimed and
recognized as the exclusively authentic source of salvation, superseding all
previous mysteries and religions, alone bestowing the true knowledge of the
universe and a true basis for ethics. Such a claim was decisive in the triumph
of Christianity in the late classical world.
Now let's address your questions on the Biblical support of the Trinity. You are
right in stating there is no one verse that explicitly defines the Trinity.
However, in order to consistently interpret the Bible, the Trinity is the only
logical solution. We can build this argument on three bases: the Bile's claim to
who God is, what God's attributes are, and what our actions toward God should
be.
This means that Jesus incarnated both his "Father" (God) and his "Mother"
(Wisdom) in his own person (cf. also Luke 7:35). If we add to this the fact that
God's Wisdom and God's Spirit are closely linked or even equated in biblical
literature (cf. Wisdom 7:22ff) and the fact that the Spirit is an archetypal
image of the feminine divine, we may think of the Spirit as (in a sense) Jesus'
Mother.
While there is no explicit statement in the Old Testament affirming the Triunity,
we can confidently say that the Old Testament not only allows for the Triunity,
but also implies that God is a triune Being in a number of ways:
(1) The name Elohim, translated God, is the plural form of El. While this is
what is called a plural of plenitude pointing to the power and majesty of God,
it certainly allows for the New Testament revelation of the Triunity of God.
(2) There are many instances where God uses the plural pronoun to describe
Himself (see Gen. 1:26; 3:22; 11:7; Isa. 6:8).
(3) In the creation account, both God the Father and God the Holy Spirit are
seen in the work of creation. It is stated that God created heaven and earth
(Gen. 1:1), but that it was the Holy Spirit who moved over the earth to infuse
it with life in the sense of protecting and participating in the work of
creation (Gen. 1:2).
(4) Writing about the Messiah, Isaiah reveals Him to be equal with God, calling
Him the “Mighty God” and “Eternal Father” (Isa. 9:6).
(5) Several passages reveal a distinction of Persons within the Godhead.
In Psalm 110:1, David demonstrates there is a distinction of Persons between
“LORD,” the one speaking, and the one addressed called by David, “my Lord.”
David was indicating the Messiah was no ordinary king, but his own Lord, Adoni
(my Lord), one who was God Himself. So God the first Person addresses God the
second Person. This is precisely Peter’s point when He quotes this Psalm to show
the resurrection of the Messiah was anticipated in the Old Testament.
The Redeemer (who must be divine, Isa. 7:14; 9:6) is distinguished from the Lord
(Isa. 59:20).
The Lord is distinguished from the Lord in Hosea 1:6-7. The one speaking here is
Yahweh, the Lord, yet, note the statement in verse 7, “I will have compassion …
and deliver them by the Lord their God.”
The Spirit is distinguished from the Lord in a number of passages (Isa. 48:16;
59:21; 63:9-10).
(6) In the Messianic prophecy of Isaiah 7:14, God made it clear that the One who
would be born of the virgin would also be Immanuel, God with us.
(7) Two other passages which imply the Trinity are Isaiah 48:16 and 61:1. In
Isaiah 48:16 all three Persons are mentioned and yet seen as distinct from each
other. See also Gen. 22:15-16.
New Testament Scriptures
The case for the Triunity of God is even stronger in the New Testament. Here it
can be unequivocally demonstrated the Father is God, the Son is God, and the
Holy Spirit is God. Furthermore, the New Testament teaches us that these three
names are not synonymous, but speak of three distinct and equal Persons.
(1) The Father is called God (John 6:27; 20:17; 1 Cor. 8:6; Gal. 1:1; Eph. 4:6;
Phil. 2:11; 1 Pet. 1:2).
(2) Jesus Christ, the Son is declared to be God. His deity is proven by the
divine names given to Him, by His works that only God could do (upholding all
things, Col. 1:17; creation, Col. 1:16, John 1:3; and future judgment, John
5:27), by His divine attributes (eternality, John 17:5; omnipresence, Matt.
28:20; omnipotence, Heb. 1:3; omniscience, Matt. 9:4), and by explicit
statements declaring His deity (John 1:1; 20:28; Titus 2:13; Heb. 1:8).
(3) The Holy Spirit is recognized as God. By comparing Peter’s comments in Acts
5:3 and 4, we see that in lying to the Holy Spirit (vs. 3), Ananias was lying to
God (vs. 4). He has the attributes which only God can possess like omniscience
(1 Cor. 2:10) and omnipresence (1 Cor. 6:19), and He regenerates people to new
life (John 3:5-6, 8; Tit. 3:5), which must of necessity be a work of God for
only God has the power of life. Finally, His deity is evident by the divine
names used for the Spirit as “the Spirit of our God,” (1 Cor. 6:11), which
should be understood as “the Spirit, who is our God.”
Ryrie writes: “Matthew 28:19 best states both the oneness and threeness by
associating equally the three Persons and uniting them in one singular name.
Other passages like Matthew 3:16-17 and 2 Corinthians 13:14 associate equally
the three Persons but do not contain the strong emphasis on unity as does
Matthew 28:19.”18
The New Bible Dictionary, adds to this the following evidence:
The evidence of the NT writings, apart from the Gospels, is sufficient to show
that Christ had instructed his disciples on this doctrine to a greater extent
than is recorded by any of the four Evangelists. They whole-heartedly proclaim
the doctrine of the Trinity as the threefold source of redemption. The
outpouring of the Spirit at Pentecost brought the personality of the Spirit into
greater prominence and at the same time shed light anew from the Spirit upon the
Son. Peter, in explaining the phenomenon of Pentecost, represents it as the
activity of the Trinity: ‘This Jesus … being … exalted at the right hand of God,
and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has
poured out this which you see and hear’ (Acts 2:32-33). So the church of
Pentecost was founded on the doctrine of the Trinity.
In 1 Cor. there is mention of the gifts of the Spirit, the varieties of service
for the same Lord and the inspiration of the same God for the work (1 Cor.
12:4-6).
Peter traces salvation to the same triunal source: ‘destined by God the Father
and sanctified by the Spirit for obedience to Jesus Christ’ (1 Pet. 1:2). The
apostolic benediction: ‘The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God
and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all’ (2 Cor. 13:14), not only
sums up the apostolic teaching, but interprets the deeper meaning of the Trinity
in Christian experience, the saving grace of the Son giving access to the love
of the Father and to the communion of the Spirit.
What is amazing, however, is that this confession of God as One in Three took
place without struggle and without controversy by a people indoctrinated for
centuries in the faith of the one God, and that in entering the Christian church
they were not conscious of any break with their ancient faith.19
From the above evidence, it should be clear that the Scripture teaches God is
one and three.
The most difficult thing about the Trinity is that there is no way to adequately
explain it. The Trinity is a concept that is impossible for any human being to
fully understand, let alone explain. God is infinitely greater than we are,
therefore we should not expect to be able to fully understand Him. The Bible
teaches that the Father is God, that Jesus is God, and that the Holy Spirit is
God. The Bible also teaches that there is only one God.
Some have tried to give human illustrations for the Trinity, such as H2O being
water, ice and steam (all different forms, but all are H2O). Another
illustration is an egg having a shell, egg yolk and egg white, but this egg
illustration shows that there would be "parts" to God, which isn't the case. God
the Son (Jesus) is fully, completely God. God the Father is fully, completely
God. And God the Holy Spirit is fully, completely God. Yet there is only one
God. In our world, with our limited human experience, it's tough to understand
the Trinity. But from the beginning we see God this way in Scripture. Notice the
plural pronouns "us" and "our" in Genesis 1:26 -- 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."
Though we can understand
some facts about the relationship of the different persons of the Godhead to one
another, ultimately, it is incomprehensible to the human mind. However, this
does not mean it is not true. Keep in mind when studying this subject that the
word "Trinity" is not used in Scripture. This is a term that is used to attempt
to describe the triune God, the fact that there are 3 coexistent, co-eternal
persons that make up God. Understand that this is NOT in anyway suggesting 3
Gods. The Trinity is 1 God made up of 3 persons. There is nothing wrong with
using the term "Trinity". It is shorter to say the word "Trinity" than to say "3
coexistent, co-eternal persons making up 1 God." If this presents a problem to
you, consider this: the word grandfather is not used in the Bible either. Yet,
we know there were grandfathers in the Bible. Abraham was the grandfather of
Jacob. So don't get hung up on the term itself. What should be of real
importance is that the concept that is REPRESENTED by the word "Trinity" does
exist in Scripture. With the introduction out of the way, verses will be given
in discussion of the Trinity. 1) There is one God: Deuteronomy 6:4; 1
Corinthians 8:4; Galatians 3:20; 1 Timothy 2:5. 2) The Godhead consists of three
Persons: Genesis 1:1; 1:26; 3:22; 11:7; Isaiah 6:8; 48:16; 61:1; Matthew
3:16-17; Matt 28:19; 2 Corinthians 13:14. In the passages in the Old Testament,
a knowledge of Hebrew is helpful. In Genesis 1:1, the plural noun "Elohim" is
used. In Genesis 1:26; 3:22; 11:7 and Isaiah 6:8, the plural pronoun for "us" is
used. That "Elohim" and "us" refer to more than two is WITHOUT question. In
English, you only have two forms, singular and plural. In Hebrew, you have three
forms: singular, dual, and plural. Dual is for two ONLY. In Hebrew, the dual
form is used for things that come in pairs like eyes, ears, and hands. The word
"Elohim" and the pronoun "us" are plural forms - definitely more than two - and
must be referring to three or more (Father, Son, Holy Spirit). In Isaiah 48:16
and 61:1, the Son is speaking while making reference to the Father and the Holy
Spirit. Compare Isaiah 61:1 to Luke 4:14-19 to see that it is the Son speaking.
Matthew 3:16-17 describes the event of Jesus' baptism. Seen in this is God the
Holy Spirit descending on God the Son while God the Father proclaims His
pleasure in the Son. Matthew 28:19 and 2 Corinthians 13:14 are examples of 3
distinct persons in the Godhead. 3) The members of the Godhead are distinguished
one from another in various passages: In the Old Testament, "LORD" is
distinguished from "Lord" (Genesis 19:24; Hosea 1:4). The "Lord" has a "Son"
(Psalm 2:7, 12; Proverbs 30:2-4). Spirit is distinguished from the "LORD"
(Numbers 27:18) and from "God" (Psalm 51:10-12). God the Son is distinguished
from God the Father (Psalm 45:6-7; Hebrews 1:8-9). In the New Testament, John
14:16-17 is where Jesus speaks to the Father about sending a Helper, the Holy
Spirit. This shows that Jesus did not consider Himself to be the Father or the
Holy Spirit. Consider also all of the other times in the Gospels where Jesus
speaks to the Father. Was He speaking to Himself? No. He spoke to another person
in the Godhead - the Father. 4) Each member of the Godhead is God: The Father is
God: John 6:27; Romans 1:7; 1 Peter 1:2. The Son is God: John 1:1, 14; Romans
9:5; Colossians 2:9; Hebrews 1:8; 1 John 5:20. The Holy Spirit is God: Acts
5:3-4; 1 Corinthians 3:16 (The One who indwells is the Holy Spirit - Romans 8:9;
John 14:16-17; Acts 2:1-4). 5) The subordination within the Godhead: Scripture
shows that the Holy Spirit is subordinate to the Father and the Son, and the Son
is subordinate to the Father. This is an internal relationship, and does not
deny the deity of any person of the Godhead. This is simply an area which our
finite minds cannot understand concerning the infinite God. Concerning the Son
see: Luke 22:42; John 5:36; John 20:21; 1 John 4:14. Concerning the Holy Spirit
see: John 14:16; 14:26; 15:26; 16:7 and especially John 16:13-14. 6) The tasks
of the individual members of the Godhead: The Father is the ultimate source or
cause of: 1) the universe (1 Corinthians 8:6; Revelation 4:11); 2) divine
revelation (Revelation 1:1); 3) salvation (John 3:16-17); and 4) Jesus' human
works (John 5:17; 14:10). The Father INITIATES all of these things. The Son is
the agent through whom the Father does the following works: 1) the creation and
maintenance of the universe (1 Corinthians 8:6; John 1:3; Colossians 1:16-17);
2) divine revelation (John 1:1; Matthew 11:27; John 16:12-15; Revelation 1:1);
and 3) salvation (2 Corinthians 5:19; Matthew 1:21; John 4:42). The Father does
all these things through the Son, who functions as His agent. The Holy Spirit is
the means by whom the Father does the following works: 1) creation and
maintenance of the universe (Genesis 1:2; Job 26:13; Psalm 104:30); 2) divine
revelation (John 16:12-15; Ephesians 3:5; 2 Peter 1:21); 3) salvation (John 3:6;
Titus 3:5; 1 Peter 1:2); and 4) Jesus' works (Isaiah 61:1; Acts 10:38). Thus the
Father does all these things by the power of the Holy Spirit. None of the
popular illustrations are completely accurate descriptions of the Trinity. The
egg (or apple) fails in that the shell, white, and yoke are parts of the egg,
not the egg in themselves. The Father, Son and Holy Spirit are not parts of God,
each of them is God. The water illustration is somewhat better but still fails
to adequately describe the Trinity. Liquid, vapor, and ice are forms of water.
The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are not forms of God, each of them is God. So,
while these illustrations may give us a picture of the Trinity, the picture is
not entirely accurate. An infinite God cannot be fully described by a finite
illustration. Instead of focusing on the Trinity, try to focus on the fact of
God's greatness and infinitely higher nature than our own. "Oh, the depth of the
riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and
his paths beyond tracing out! Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has
been his counselor?" (Rom 11:33-34)
Definition of the
Trinity (Triunity) of God
Trinity: Webster’s dictionary gives the following definition of trinity: “The
union of three divine persons (or hypostases), the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
in one divinity, so that all the three are one God as to substance, but three
Persons (or hypostases as to individuality).” Synonyms sometimes used are
triunity, trine, triality. The term “trinity” is formed from “tri,” three, and “nity,”
unity. Triunity is a better term than “trinity” because it better expresses the
idea of three in one. God is three in one. Hypostases is the plural of
hypostasis which means “the substance, the underlying reality, or essence.”
The three Persons are the same in substance, i.e., in essence or in their
essential nature, but distinct in subsistence which describes God’s mode or
quality of existence in three Persons. By mode of existence we do not mean one
God acting in three different ways, but one Divine Being existing in three
distinct Persons within one Divine Substance or Essence. Again, this is not
exactly three individuals as we think of three personal individuals, but one
Divine Being who acts and thinks as one within a three-fold personality. This is
incomprehensible to our finite and limited minds, but it is the teaching of the
Scripture. “In the Being of God there are not three individuals, but only three
personal self distinctions within the one Divine Essence.”
(5) 1 Corinthians 8:4-6 “Therefore concerning the eating of things sacrificed to
idols, we know that there is no such thing as an idol in the world, and that
there is no God but one. For even if there are so-called gods whether in heaven
or on earth, as indeed there are many gods and many lords, yet for us there is
but one God, the Father, from whom are all things, and we exist for Him; and one
Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we exist through Him.”
(6) Ephesians 4:4-6 “There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were
called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God
and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all.”
Church doctrine regards the Holy Spirit as a person, not a force like magnetism.
The writings of the Catholic fathers, in fact, preserve the vision of the Spirit
encapsulating the "peoplehood of Christ" as the Bride or as the "Mother Church."
Both are feminine aspects of the Divine. In the Eastern Church, Spirit was
always considered to have a feminine nature. She was the life -bearer of the
faith. Clement of Alexandria states that "she" is an indwelling Bride.
Amongst the Eastern Church communities there is none more clear about the
feminine aspect of the Holy Spirit as the corpus of the Coptic-Gnostics. One
such document records that Jesus says, "Even so did my mother, the Holy Spirit,
take me by one of my hairs and carry me away to the great mountain Tabor [in
Galilee]."
The 3rd century scroll of mystical Coptic Christianity, The Acts of Thomas,
gives a graphic account of the Apostle Thomas' travels to India, and contains
prayers invoking the Holy Spirit as "the Mother of all creation" and
"compassionate mother," among other titles. The most profound Coptic Christian
writings definitely link the "spirit of Spirit" manifested by Christ to all
believers as the "Spirit of the Divine Mother." Most significant are the new
manuscript discoveries of recent decades which have demonstrated that more early
Christians than previously thought regarded the Holy Spirit as the Mother of
Jesus.
According to Professor Neil Q. Hamilton at Drew University School of Theology,
the Gospel of John shows us how "the Holy Spirit begins to perform a mothering
role for us that is unconditional acceptance, love and caring." God then begins
to parent us in father and mother modes.
A Catholic scholar, Franz Mayr, a philosophy professor at the University of
Portland, also favors the recognition of the Holy Spirit as feminine. He
contends that the traditional unity of God would not have to be watered down in
order for scholars to accept the feminine side of God . Mayr, who studied under
the renown German theologian Karl Rahner, said he came to his view during his
study of the writings of St. Augustine (AD 354-430) who saw that a significant
number of early Christians must have accepted a feminine aspect of the Holy
Spirit such that the influential church father of North Africa castigated this
view.
It is often suggested that the Egyptian triad was the model for the Christian,
though the Christian concept of a total unity does not correspond to the
Egyptian concept.
The concept of the Christian Trinity is not defined from the New Testament,
rather it belongs to the times of the first Christians. Its background was the
troubled disunity of a God acting on earth as a distinct figure without God's
omnipotence (i.e. Jesus) and a third emanation of God, a spirit acting within
the community of the first Christians (i.e. Holy Spirit). Still, the concept of
the Trinity would take centuries to develop, and with many controversies.
Before arriving at the final definition of trinity, the early church went
through a numer of development stages. The need to safeguard monotheism was the
main motive in the debates. One early explanation of the three emanations was to
define Jesus as subordinate to God. A second theory was to define the three as
modes of the disclosure of God, all being part of the same being.
It was first late in the 4th century, that the final definition of trinity was
set down. At the Council of Nicaea in 325 a hard-to-get definition of Jesus made
him both distinct from God, yet of the same substance. At this time, the Holy
Spirit still came out as little defined. A long process involving Athanasius and
the Cappadocian Fathers (Basil of Caesarea, Gregory of Nyssa, and Gregory of
Nazianzus) would eventually come to define trinity as it ever since has been
understood.
Christianity has a second trinity, which is weaker in its formulation, yet
important with many cults: Jesus, and his mother Mary and father Joseph. The
latter, rarely plays much of a role, but the link between Mary and Jesus has
many interesting similarities with Isis and Horus of Ancient Egyptian religion.
In both religions, the father is a detached figure, Joseph appears not very
different from Osiris in many ways.
Sophia, one of humanity’s oldest deities, is often described as the Threefold
Goddess--the Maiden, Mother, and Crone--who represents three phases of women’s
spiritual power: independence, creativity, and wisdom. It was Her Divine
guidance that was invoked when life-altering decisions were to be made. Sophia
is the archetypal Divine Feminine wisdom of the past brought into the present to
direct and manifest the future.
Thus, Holy Wisdom is a female image for the whole of the “triune” God—for “[the
eternal] Mother, her beloved Child, and the Spirit of their mutual love”; she is
Wisdom’s transcendent Vitality, Wisdom’s immanent Word, and Wisdom’s radiating
Energy. So, Mother-Sophia, Child-Sophia, and Spirit-Sophia; Wisdom’s
Transcendent Depth, Wisdom’s Immanent Word, and Wisdom’s Radiating Energy. When
spoken of in these ways, the symbol of the “triune” God is depicted in a female
metaphor as “a threefold reality [that is] hidden in the fullness of her power,
eternally uttering the distinct word of herself, and pouring forth her personal
love.” (Ibid., p. 215) So, People of God! Let us: “Laud and magnify God, the
everlasting Wisdom, the holy, undivided … Trinity[, worthy of adoration].…”
(Sayers, p. 114) Let us pray: O Holy Wisdom, Triune God, You are Sacred Three
and Blessed One. We pray to You, O Mother-Sophia, that we may give forth new
life. We pray to You, O Christ-Sophia, that we may be rooted deeply in this
life. We pray to You, O Spirit-Sophia, that we may soar beyond all present
possibilities. To You, O Holy Wisdom, Triune God, be all honor and glory, now
and forevermore. Amen.
There are three fundamental ways in which Ultimate Reality is defined: personal
being (a personal and loving God), impersonal being (as origin and target of all
personal beings) or an eternal truth or principle that governs the universe. Are
these three possibilities mere manifestations of the same Ultimate Reality?
In Buddhism, we take refuge in Three Jewels -- Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha. These
refuges are a very deep practice. They are the Buddhist trinity:
I take refuge in the Buddha, the one who shows me the way in this life. I take
refuge in the Dharma, the way of understanding and love. I take refuge in the
Sangha, the community that lives in harmony and awareness.
The three gods-Brahma, Vishnu and Siva together form the Hindu Trinity. Brahma
creates the world, Vishnu sustains it and Siva destroys it. Hindus are divided
into three main groups based on the deity they worship. The worshippers of Siva
are known as Saivas, worshippers of Sakti (consort of Siva) as Saktas and
worshippers of Vishnu as Vaishnavas. Each of these gods has a consort, and the
gods and their consorts have many manifestations. Each god also has a vehicle on
which they ride, and a symbol. Brahma Brahma, the creator, from the cosmological
point of view is the Golden Embryo (Hiranyagarbha), the ball of fire, from which
the universe develops. The icon of Brahma has four heads facing the four
quarters and they represent the four Vedas, the four Yugas (epochs of time), and
the four Varnas (divisions of society based on nature, nurture and vocation).
There are four arms holding different objects and in different poses. The
objects usually shown are Aksamala (rosary), Kurca ( a bunch of Kusa grass),
Sruk (ladle), Sruva (spoon), Kamandalu (water pot) and Pustaka (book). The
rosary represents time, and the water pot; the casual water, from which all
creation has sprung. The Kusa grass, the ladle and the spoon being sacrificial
implements, represent the system of sacrifice which means to be adopted by the
various creatures to sustain one another. The book represents knowledge, sacred
and secular. The poses of the hand (Mudras) are Abhaya (assuring protection) and
Varada (granting boons). Saraswati is his consort. She is the goddess of
knowledge and music. Hamsa (goose/swan) is his vehicle. The temples dedicated to
Brahma are rare. One of them is at Puskar in Rajasthan. Vishnu Vishnu is also
known as Mahavishnu, represents Sattvaguna and is the centripetal force as it
were responsible for sustenance, protection and maintenance of the created
Universe. Another name of Vishnu is Narayana. Vishnu is always described as
Nialamegahasyana, of a dark blue hue like than of the rain-bearing cloud.The
icon of Vishnu has one face and four arms each one holding Sankha (conch),
Chakra (discus), Gada (mace), Padma (lotus) and wears a necklace with the famous
gem Kaustubha dangling on the lock of hair Srivatsa, on the left chest. He also
wears a garland (of gems or fragrant flowers) Vaijayanti by name. The Sankha
represents the five elements like the earth, water etc; chakra stands for the
cosmic mind, Gada indicates the cosmic intellect and the Padma points to the
evolving world. The curl of hair, Srivatsa, represents all objects of enjoyment,
the products of nature. The gem Kaustubha, resting on it, stands for the
enjoyer. The garland Vaijayanti is symbolical of the subtle elements. Vishnu's
consort is the beautiful Lakshmi, who came from the sea and is the goddess of
wealth, prosperity, honour and love. Vishnu's vehicle is the half man,
half-eagle known as the Garuda. Vishnu is supposed to have 10 incarnations (Dasavatara).
SIVA Siva, last deity of the Trinity is responsible for the dissolution of the
Universe. Literally, Siva is one in whom the Universe 'sleeps' after destruction
before the next cycle of creation. Iconographically Siva may have two, three,
four, eight, ten or even thirty-two hands. Some of the various objects shown in
the hands are :Trisula (trident), Chakra (discus), Parasu (battle axe), Damaru
(drum), Aksamaba (rosary), Mrga (deer), Pasa (noose), Danda (staff), Pinaka or
Ajagava (bow), Khatvanga (magic wand), Pasupata (spear), Padma (lotus), Kapala
(skull-cap), Darpana (mirror), Khadga (sword) and soon. The icon of Siva is
never worshipped as the Mulamurti (original, installed in the sanctum
sanctorum), but only as an Utsavamurti (the icon used during festivals for
taking out in a procession). Lord Siva is a great master of dance (Nataraja). It
is believed that all the 108 modes of dancing known to the treatises on dancing
have come from him. Siva's consort is Parvati (also known as Uma, Sati, Kali and
Durga). His vehicle is bull (Nandi). Ganapati and Subrahmanya are his son's.
If we can call God "our Father", then we can call the Holy Spirit, "our Mother."
As she who is Mary formed Jesus in her body, so She who is Holy Spirit forms
Jesus in our souls. As Eden was the Paradise of Creation, Mary is the Paradise
of the Incarnation. Through Mary we entered once again into possession of the
Tree of Life. Since all creation is in perfect balance, Mary was the
co-mediator, the Second Eve, and the reconciler between woman and God. It does
not take anything away from Christ. If you stop to think about what Mary must
have gone through, it's mind boggling. Knowing she had served the Lord every
moment of her life and then to watch her child suffer and be nailed to a cross -
knowing his spirit was free and yet she was appointed to continue living. Can
you imagine a loving mother that wouldn't plead to die in her child's place or
one that would want to continue living after suffering that kind of loss? Jesus
shed his blood as an atonement for our sins, but it was also a sacrifice for
Mary, as well as God, who each gave up their son for the world's sake.
Holy Spirit, Holy Breath, becomes the Mother of God, the theotokos, The meaning
of the Word { almighty FATHER MOTHER GOD (El-Shaddai) } in Genesis as "Our." LET
US MAKE THEM IN OUR IMAGE!
he Holy Spirit is the breath of God’s life, the flame of his glory, and the
stream of his love. In Her elusiveness She is God’s mystery. In Her liveliness,
beauty, and grace, She is God’s poetry. In Her compassion She is God’s comfort.
Through Her we come to know God most intimately. In the Holy Spirit of love we
learn that the heart of God is Infinite Joy. From the Holy Spirit we come to
understand that all of Creation springs from this Divine Joy. It is the
celebration of sharing God’s interior happiness, or as it used to be called,
beatitude. It is She who begins to interpret for us what Jesus did; and does in
us subjectively all that Jesus Christ did for us objectively.
The "Godhead" has always been understood by Christian theologians to refer to
the divine Trinity--Father, Son and Holy Spirit: one God manifest in three
Persons. The Greek word itself does not mean "trinity," but simply
"Godhood"--the nature of God: God as He has revealed Himself. But that is the
point; He has revealed Himself as a triune God. He is one God (Deuteronomy 6:4;
James 2:19), yet not as the ineffable, unapproachable unitary God of the Muslims
but as invisible omnipresent Father and as visible , approachable Son, and also
as indwelling, guiding Spirit. This remarkable structure of God, like His
eternal power, is clearly reflected in His physical creation, which could almost
be said to be a model of the Godhead. That is, the created universe is actually
a tri-universe of space, matter and time, with each permeating and representing
the whole. However, the universe is not partly composed of space, partly of
matter, partly of time (like, for example, the three sides of a triangle). A
trinity is not a trio or a triad, but a tri-unity, with each part comprising the
whole, yet all three are requ ired to make the whole. Thus, the universe is all
space, all time, and all matter (including energy as a form of matter); in fact,
scientists speak of it as a space-matter-time continuum. Furthermore, note the
parallels between the tri-universe and the divine Trinity in terms of the
logical order of the three components. Space (like the Father) is the invisible,
omnipresent background of everything. Matter (like the Son) reveals the univer
se (like the Godhead) in visible, understandable form. Time (like the Spirit) is
the entity by which the universe (like the Godhead) becomes applicable and
understandable in events and experience. But that is not all. Space is a
tri-unity comprised of thr ee dimensions, with each dimension permeating all
space. The reality of any portion of space is obtained by multiplying the three
dimensions together (the "mathematics of the Trinity" is not 1 + 1 + 1 = 1, but
rather 1 x 1 x 1 = 1). Further, space is identified in one dimension, seen in
the second dimension, experienced in the third dimension. Similarly, time is
future, present and past. The future is the unseen source of time, manifest
moment-by-moment in the present, experienced and understood in the pa st.
Finally, matter is unseen, omnipresent energy, manifesting itself in various
forms of measurable motion, then experienced in corresponding phenomena. For
example, light energy generates light waves which are experienced in the seeing
of light. Sound energy generates sound waves which we experience when we hear
sound. Thus the physical universe is a great "Trinity of trinities," with the
inner relationships of each element beautifully modeling the relationships of
Father, Son and Holy Spirit. All of this does not prove that God is a Trinity,
but it certainly is a re markable fact. It is an amazing effect which can be
explained on the assumption that God is a triune God, and has made His creation
to reflect Himself, but it is very hard to explain any other way.
In Mary it becomes quite clear to us that God reverses this world's scale of
values. The proud, the mighty, the violent are scattered, deposed from their
thrones, made ineffective. The lowly--to whom Mary belongs--the poor, the
powerless who expect everything from God are raised to high places, becoming a
blessing for others. That is why the Church should open herself to the might God
has shown, and reject pride, vanity. Thus, in a world of so much violence and
oppression, she can be a sign of hope for the poor, for those who are powerless,
oppressed and persecuted. Mary stands for the hungry who, in the poverty and
barrenness of life, long for God's promise, for his peace, his word and his
salvation. The promise that God gives every good thing to the hungry is
fulfilled in her. It is fulfilled in us too if we do not have a satiated heart,
but are hungry and thirsty for God's justice; if, in a world of hunger, we seek
to relieve the bodily hunger of those in need and their hunger for God's
promises. Mary is linked with Abraham, the forefather of Israel, the father of
the promise. In the coming of the Messiah, in Jesus Christ, God's faithfulness
is sealed conclusively and in an unparalleled way. The Mother of the Savior
becomes the sign of the Lord's faithfulness. The People of God can depend on
their God. In hope, calmness and fearlessness they can rest assured in the
company of his Son on life's path. Mary's very existence points to God and to
her Son. In her response to God's initiative, through her faith, she sets the
pace for the Church, for the faithful. That is how Mary's song, the Magnificat,
becomes the song of the Church, our song.
In the beginning of Christ's misson on earth Mary was filled with the Holy
Spirit. Thirty-three years later the Mystical Body of Christ, His Church, will
be filled with the Holy Spirit, as Mary too, will be in the midst of the
Apostles abiding in prayer.
To pray for her Heavenly intercession with Our Lord Jesus Christ dates back to
the earliest day of Christianity. In some of the earliest catacombs going back
to the very first Century, we find images of Mary and inscriptions pleading her
intercession for the souls of the dead.
Christianity has always been suffused with the old ways, especially in England
and France. In England the old ways are still present in superstitions, sayings
and beliefs. People still believe in fairys and magic, there is heresy, but
fusion. Many people believe that God is a woman and that she was the Virgin Mary
and that the Virgin is the Bride of God
The biblical image of Mary expressed as Goddess can be found in Revelations 12:
1-17
A woman, whose dress was the sun and who had the moon under her feet and a crown
of twelve stars on her head...
The presence of Mary in the Woman clothed with the Sun
A reflective analysis of Revelation 12:1 and following versicles can come upon
certain deductions: The woman is a mother for she is about to give birth. The
fact that she is clothed with the sun, symbol of light, warmth and life, can
very well represent her divine essence. What other visions contained in the
Bible concede these attributes to another person? The moon beneath her feet
could very well indicate the triple goddess and that she has conquered and
surpassed the seven spheres of the planets like Christ overcame the world. And
as a crown upon her head, twelve stars that can symbolize both : The twelve
tribes of Israel and the twelve apostles of Jesus.
Further, much of
the poetical rhetoric of the scripture about Sophia was applied quite early to
Mother Mary.
'''The spirit of Wisdom is intelligent and holy. She is of one nature but reveals
herself in many ways. She is not made of any material substance, and She moves
about freely. She is clear, clean, and confident; She cannot be harmed. She
loves what is good. She is sharp and unconquerable, 23 kind, and a friend of
humanity. She is dependable and sure, and has no worries. She has power over
everything, and sees everything. She penetrates every spirit that is intelligent
and pure, no matter how delicate its substance may be. 24 Wisdom moves more
easily than motion itself; she is so pure that she penetrates everything. 25 She
is a breath of God's power-a pure and radiant stream of glory from the Almighty.
Nothing that is defiled can ever steal its way into Wisdom. 26 She is a
reflection of eternal light, a perfect mirror of God's activity and goodness. 27
Even though Wisdom acts alone, she can do anything. She makes everything new,
although she herself never changes. From generation to generation she enters the
souls of holy people, and makes them God's friends and prophets. 28 There is
nothing that God loves more than people who are at home with Wisdom. 29 Wisdom
is more beautiful than the sun and all the constellations. She is better than
light itself, 30 because night always follows day, but evil never overcomes
Wisdom. Her great power reaches into every part of the world, and she sets
everything in useful order. ''''
Wisdom of Solomon: 7;22-30, 8;1
You were given the most understanding, the most self-sacrificing, the most
loving of mothers. God created in her heart a love for us of infinite
tenderness, of undying devotion, and of profound affection. Her mother's heart
is merciful, understanding, vigilant, and unchanging in its love for each of us.
Of all the children of Eve, our Blessed Lady most perfectly fulfills the
function of motherhood. Thus when we call Mary, "Mother"-in a very true sense we
have said everything that can be said to her! She is physical mother of Christ
and spiritual mother of all Christians. She mothers spiritually all men called
to share in the life that her Son came to pour out so abundantly. What should
your response be to the truth of Mary's spiritual motherhood? You should
approach her with the heart and spirit of a child. The humility, the spirit of
confident trustfulness, the dependence (here in the spiritual realm) of a child
should characterize our love. Each of her children will express his love in
accord with his nature, of course, but the interior love must be there. This
devotedness should be a persistent and habitual thing. Mary is not our spiritual
mother now and then - she is ALWAYS our spiritual mother. True devotion to our
Blessed Mother is more than an occasional "Hail Mary." It's not just rattling
off a prayer in times of a spiritual or temporal crisis. True devotion to Our
Blessed Mother means a permanent state of mind and an habitual manner of acting.
It's something that fills every hour of every day - just like a child's
relationship to his mother! You should turn to her always, depend on her with
confidence, and lean on her wise guidance. The words of the great Apostle St.
Paul sum up perfectly the function of Our Blessed Lady in your life. He said:
"My little children, for whom I am in labor until Christ be formed in you." If
this be so true of the Apostle Paul, how much more true it is of the Mother of
Christ. She is in constant and perpetual labor, as it were, to bring forth even
more perfectly, the likeness of Christ, her divine Son in our hearts and lives.
St. Bernard sums up the great spiritual advantage of true devotedness to our
Blessed Mother in the following consoling sentences:'
"By following her, you will not go astray.
By praying to her you will not despair.
By thinking of her you will not make a mistake.
Supported by her, you will not fail.
Under her protection, you will no longer be afraid.
Guided by her, you will never grow weary.
Having her benevolence, you are assured of salvation."
~~*~~
The nativity of our Lord is a picture of the resurrection of Christ. Everything
is arranged in the providence of God. No one could have cunningly devised such a
"fable." It was all in the good providence of God! What is the account of the
birth of our Lord? And how does this story anticipate the resurrection of Jesus
from death? The nativity of Jesus is a story about a miracle. Here is a Child
who is coming forth from the womb of a virgin, a womb where "no man had lain."
This Child comes forth from the womb of a virgin. What child ever came forth,
could ever come forth from the womb of a virgin? It could never happen in the
natural world. A womb where no man had lain! And so they took that Child, when
He was born, and they wrapped Him in swaddling bands. They wrap His body up
entire in swaddling clothes. And they laid him in a manger. Now to see what the
manger represents you have to understand that mangers in the ancient Orient were
made of hollowed out limestone block. They weren't the wooden mangers that we
see in our manger scenes. They were hollowed out limestone. So Mary and Joseph
took this Baby and wrapped Him up like a mummy and set Him in this hollowed out
stone box. What does that look like to the eyes of faith? And consider the
story. Who is it that's doing that? This is a story about a Mary and a Joseph.
Mary of Galilee and Joseph of Bethlehem care for this Baby is such a manner,
just before He must receive the bloody wound of circumcision. Moreover, the
nativity story is the account of those who come from the East, the Magi, who
bring gifts of frankincense and myrrh, the spices and oils that represent death.
Why death at a time of birth and celebration? And it is a time when the angels
come to earth and they celebrate God's goodness in giving this Son. They teach
us to sing for joy for the news that the Son of God has been born into the
world. What is God intending in this story of the nativity of Christ?
"""he
first statue I saw of the Virgin Mary was on the campus of Fordham University in
New York. I was startled that a college would have a statue, not of Einstein or
Newton or Plato, but, instead, of a robed figure, half-child, half-woman, doing
nothing except extending her palms upward in a gesture of receptivity. As I got to know Catholic men, I was amazed at the attachment they
had for the mysterious Mary. My godfather could not pass a picture of Mary
without tears filling his eyes. Tough Catholic boys carried rosaries in the
frayed pockets of their jeans next to their knives. Why? Reflecting on the words
of the rosary prayer, ". . . blessed is the fruit of your womb .... holy Mary,
mother of God ... pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death . . . , "
I came to understand that man, who has no womb, was yet born from a womb and
ever seeks the protective warmth of the feminine. He turns to the women in his
life and to his heavenly mother to heal the wounds the world has inflicted on
him. The feminine teaches him to put love before the competitiveness he falls
into in pursuing his role as provider. The figure of the heavenly mother on the
altar draws him out of weariness into the hope of the promises of the kingdom
where there will be for all, women and men, no more toil and tears, only joyl
Paintings of Mary have played a crucial role in my life. I love the famous
Botticelli Annunciation, where the angel starts the dance and Mary bends
backwards in ecstasy. I love the flaming Grunewald Madonna, with her flowing
blondish-red hair, in a brilliant red velvet gown, her eyes gazing down in
utterly peaceful joy at the gift of God held in her long slender hands. Most of
all, I love the unfinished sepia-colored Da Vinci Nativity. 1, an untamed
sensual girl, first discovered the beauty of purity upon gazing at the simple,
girlish outline of this virgin Madonna in a museum in Florence, Italy, and shed
the tears that began the cleansing of my heart. At Fordham University, Father
Donceel, the well-known Jesuit theologian- philosopher, used to begin the class
with the Our Father followed by the phrase, "Seat of Wisdom, pray for us." I was
perplexed. What was the seat of wisdom? Oh, that woman, Mary. How could a
village girl with no graduate degrees be the seat of wisdom?l Then I learned
about contemplation. I had never heard of the word before. I was told that the
lyrical, poetic side of me, with its luminous images hidden deep in my heart,
this soft blissful innerme, counted as much, if not more, than the me who
churned out term paper after term paper of well-organized concepts. Deep within
me was the source of wisdom. joy, joy, Joyl Your title Our Lady, Star of the Sea
also attracted me. I have rarely been at sea, but the name Our Lady, Star of the
Sea on churches in beach towns has always moved me: the contrast between the
raging waves and the still, silent woman -the image of strong men in small boats
rowing towards the harbor, towards the waiting woman, glowing in the darkness,
hands outstretched in welcome. The feminine is the refuge. This universal need
for refuge and comfort, is She to be scomed as weak, whining self-pity? I think
not. Self-pity is nurtured in lonely brooding. The one who acknowledges her
vulnerability and fear and feels reassured in the fact that there are mothers to
tend her wounds, is far less prone to whining. I resented She when the often
sentimental statues of Mary were pitched out of the churches, to be replaced by
jagged, triangular glass shapes, coldly beautiful, but chilling for the child in
man. Then Mother Mary came back to me personally in the form of the women of the
prayer groups, encircling the heaving, battered forms of each other with
embraces of compassion. I became mother over and over again kissing the cheeks
of women whose tears had smeared away their cosmetic masks and of men whose
stoicism cracked at the miraculous touch of sisters and brothers who were
unafraid to be tender. Soothed, they were ready to join us in the circle to
rescue the next supplicant. I thought at the time: Oh, I wish we had a queen.
And so we do in you, Mary. "To the queen of hearts is the ace of sorrows," goes
the ballad. And so I wonder what I would have seen in your face and form as you
were crowned Queen of Heaven and Earth. Would there be some sorrow lingering in
your eyes still, souvenirs of old wars? A compassion and a depth that would draw
the beholder? Are you different as queen than you were as girl, as bride, as
woman of sorrows? I would like to paint you if I could, or bring you flowers on
a rainy day. I would stand a long time on a corner to see you smile and wave
your hand. Why is feminine power so beautiful? Liquid grace and ease and warmth,
freedom and flow, earth, air, and fire reflected on the water that is woman. The
water mirrors them all - light and movement, buoyancy, containment, floating,
floating- all the sea's movement and power evoke the queenly hand. No wonder we
hasten to call you Star of the Sea, fire reflecting on water. I read that our
ancestor's pre-ancestors came from the sea, that the fluid in our veins has the
same salts as those in the seas. When I look at the sea and throw to her my
confusion and fear, she takes them as my mother and hides them in her faithful
ebb and tide which soothes me with its receding roar. The sea is queen, and I am
strengthened by bathing in the reflection of her waters. Are you, as Queen of
Heaven, the sea become person; are you the waters from above become separate for
the waters below? I am comforted that you are my queen and mother; like the sea,
you will not fail. I, too, will not fail, but endure all the tides and seasons,
all the elements of earth, air, fire, and water, for as you were made of heaven
and for heaven and brought full circle crowned with sorrow and with glory, so I
am made not only of sea salts, but made of heaven, for heaven. "Our life, our
sweetness and our hope," we sing in the Salve moaning over the "0 mild, 0
devout, 0 sweet Virgin Mary." Oh, we who are in the valley of tears are pulled
from its darkness by the thought of you who passed through the dark, help me to
know to whom I pledge my loyalties, whom I serve, whose colors I wear.
Let me bow down before the glory of the feminine, willing to wear her liquid
graces.
Reign, O Mother and Queen, by showing us the path of holiness, and by guiding
and assisting us that we may never stray from it.
In the heights of Heaven, thou doth exercise thy primacy over the choirs of
Angels, who acclaim thee as their sovereign, and over the legions of Saints who
delight in beholding thy radiant beauty. """"
~~*~~
Much of Judeo-Christian theology is actually based on the Divine Feminine.
Divine Harmony, Wisdom and Truth. The Divine Feminine archetype is also related
to the process of purification, transformation and illumination of matter. By
its very essence, this archetype is the printing and the implementation of
spiritual ideas in the material world. The Christ-Sophia (principle of
love-wisdom and masculine-feminine) the divine feminine in balance with the
divine masculine The divine eternal feminine took the shape of woman. Just like
the Verb of God (Christ/Sophia) became flesh in Jesus, the Divinity could also
adopt, in order to manifest its feminine side, the shape of a woman, blessed
amongst all women of all times, and "full of grace". Those words belong to
Gabriel, one of the High spirits that assist God, according to the Gospel of
Luke (Luke 1:28 and 30).
Maybe it serves to transcribe here a surprising version of how Mary was seen by
the early followers of Jesus: "At this time the mother of Jesus died and was
buried in the same place were He had been crucified, and a stone was erected on
the site. On that stone, the relatives of Jesus wrote these words: "Behold that
here is a ladder erected upon the land that reaches heaven, and upon She the
angels of God ascend and descend, and the Mother rejoices here with Her
children". (Memoirs of Heggesipus quoted by Eusebius/Acts of the Nazarites by
Julius Africanus)
The word matter comes from the same word as mother... parts of a document called
the "Gospel of the Hebrews" has been quoted by the Church Fathers Origen and
Jerome, writing in the 3rd and 4th centuries CE. This document explicitly
identifies Mary with the Holy Spirit. This strongly suggests that the Christian
sect which accepted this early Gospel believed that
Mary was divine, and part of a Trinity.
As the result of new findings in the Dead Sea Scriptures, the Coptic Nag Hammadi
and intertestamental texts of Jewish mystics found side-by-side the writings of
the early Christian church, scholars are recognizing the Holy Spirit as the
"female vehicle" for the outpouring of higher teaching and spiritual rebirth.
The Holy Spirit plays varied roles in Judeo-Christian traditions: acting in
Creation, imparting wisdom, and inspiring Old Testament prophets. In the New
Testament She is the presence of God in the world and a power in the birth and
life of Jesus.
The Eastern Church places the Holy Spirit as the Second Person of the Trinity
with Christ as the Third, whereas the Western Church places the Son before the
Holy Spirit.
In the Old Testament and the Dead Sea Scrolls the Holy Spirit was known as the
Ruach or Ruach Ha Kodesh (Psalm 51:11). In the New Testament as Pneuma (Romans
8:9). The Holy Spirit was not rendered as "Holy Ghost" until the appearance of
the 1611 Protestant King James Version of the Bible.
Ruach Ha Kodesh was considered a voice sent from on high to speak to the
Prophet. Thus, in the Old Testament language of the prophets, She is the Divine
Spirit of indwelling sanctification and creativity and is considered as having a
feminine power. "He" as a reference to Spirit has been used in theology to match
the pronoun for God, yet the Hebrew word ruach is a noun of feminine gender.
Thus, referring to the Holy Spirit as "she" has some linguistic justification.
Denoting Spirit as a feminine principle, the creative principle of life, makes
sense when considering the Trinity aspect where Father plus Spirit leads to the
Divine Extension of Divine Sonship.
It is becoming clear in re-examining the first 100 years of Christianity that an
earlier Christianity was closer to the "Feminine Spirit" of the Old Testament,
the Ruach or the beloved Shekinah. The Shekinah, distinct from the Ruach, was
seen as the indwelling Divine Presence that activated the "birth of miracles" or
the anointed self. Accordingly, the growth of traditional Christianity made
alternative adjustments of the original position of the "birth of gifts" as
Christendom compromised for the privilege of becoming an establishment.
The new directions of spiritual and scientific studies are showing that it is
now possible that the Holy Spirit, Ruach Ha Kodesh, can be portrayed as feminine
as the indwelling presence of God, the Shekinah, nurturing and bringing to birth
souls for the kingdom.
The Keys of Enoch tell us that the Divine Trinity is beyond the anthropo-morphic
forms of male and female. Here our own masculine or feminine natures are only
symbols of the Divine and our Life's manifestation in the Universe. And herein
we understand who we really are, as we both male and female make our own
preparation for the rebirth of our "Christed Overself," unified as the
peoplehood of Light, the "Bride," for the coming of the "Bridegroom"- - the
Christ.
Within the analytical tradition of Carl Jung and the work of mythologists such
as Joseph Campbell, there is much evidence to support the existence of the
feminine principle (anima) within the human psyche alongside that of the male
principle (animus). Jung's definition of spiritual growth within the individual
in large part relates to the development and integration of those male and
female components of the human psyche.
We must create and express a vision of connectedness in order to move beyond the
unequal power relations that are tearing our world apart. Yet the symbol systems
with which we understand reality are often essentially patriarchal. We lack
alternative images with which to transform ourselves and creation. In too many
cases the great religions of the world have built up rather than dismantled our
vision of inequality and disconnection. The angry father God in heaven raining
down punishment upon disobedient children reinforces destructive human behavior.
But traditional religion still exerts a great influence on many hearts and
minds. "Sophia bridges the gap between feminist spirituality's need for
transforming images and the demand of the biblical traditions that such images
be congruent with their history and experience. Sophia can serve as the image,
the "role model" a the heart of feminist spirituality, symbolizing as she does
the connectedness between all beings.
The God and the Goddess represent two
aspects of our identity, regardless of whether or not we are male or female."
Perhaps most surprising, however, is that the stories of women we thought we
knew well are changing in dramatic ways.
I am that Goddess. I am the force of the universe in the shape of a woman.
Nothing exists that is not me, and nothing but me exists. All women are but
manifestations of me. And I am the manifestation of all women.
The evolution of a new feminist spirituality stands at the heart of the
process of human transformation.
The Eastern religious traditions have for millennia observed that if you fail to
show respect to the female principle within and without, the results can be
awesomely destructive.
The New Testament Gospels, written toward the last quarter of the first century
CE, acknowledge that women were among Jesus' earliest followers. From the
beginning, Jewish women disciples, including Mary Magdalene, Joanna, and
Susanna, had accompanied Jesus during his ministry and supported him out of
their private means (Luke 8:1-3). He spoke to women both in public and private.
Certainly he learned his mother's wisdom, and according to the Gospel story, an
unnamed Gentile woman persuaded Jesus to declare that the ministry of God is not
limited to particular groups and persons, but belongs to all who have faith
(Mark 7:24-30; Matthew 15:21-28). Jesus was a frequent visitor at the home of
Mary and Martha, and was in the habit of teaching and eating meals with women as
well as men. When Jesus was arrested, women remained firm, even when his male
disciples fled, and women accompanied him to the foot of the cross. It was women
who were reported as the first witnesses to the resurrection, chief among them,
Mary Magdalene. It is certain that God created Man and Woman as companions and
equals from the beginning; Yet, two thousand years after the birth of Christ the
Southern Baptist Convention voted to add a clause to the denomination's
statement of beliefs affirming that a wife is to submit herself to the
leadership of her husband; and the Vatican warned that those Catholics who
continue to argue in favor of woman's ordination would be subject to penalty.
Why is this so? What does the Bible say about the roles of men and women?
Time and again Jesus
demonstrated his respect for women as persons, not possessions.
In the Judean society of Jesus' day a man was not to speak with
a woman in public; sometimes even is she was a wife or daughter,
and never to converse with a Gentile woman. Nor was a man to
touch any woman other than his wife or daughter, however
innocent the purpose. Certainly a man was not to teach women.
Nonetheless, Jesus defied every one of these rules! The
genealogy of Jesus as reported in Matthew is remarkable because
it includes references to several female ancestors, something
not done in Jewish genealogies at the time. Not only are five
women mentioned, but all of these women are associated with some
form of less then ideal sexual behavior. Jesus, for his time and
place, was notably unsexist. In Samaria, when he talked with the
woman at the well—this is the longest personal exchange he has
with anyone in the Bible—his disciples “marveled”; a Jewish man
did not, in public, speak to a woman unrelated to him. In
another episode, in Luke, Jesus is dining with Simon the
Pharisee when a “woman in the city,” a “sinner”enters the house,
washes Jesus’ feet with her tears, dries them with her hair,
kisses them, and then anoints them with balm from a jar. Simon
says to Christ that if he can accept that tribute from such a
person then he is surely not a prophet. Christ answers that the
“sinner” has shown him more love than Simon has.
What is the Christian view on a woman's
conduct or place? Is it what the Pope says it is? Is it what Billy Graham says
it is? Is it what Al Sharpton says it is? Or Jerry Falwell or James Kennedy or
Robert Schuler? You see when we pose the issue this way, we discover that there
is no consensus, and when the various defenders of Christianity discover that,
when each defines what he or she believes Christianity to be, there is no
consensus. There are some who believe that the way is only found in the New
Testament. There are those who believe the same of the Old. Some hold that if
the New has no word on a particular subject then the word of the Old stands.
Still other believe that where the Old and New conflict, the New supercedes the
Old. This is just a few of the variations. You know what, all of them are each
convinced that their way is the 'right' one. If you add to that the fact that
the Bible is composed of various writings of people from all walks of life and
from all points of view, you soon realize that it is not strictly a literal
account, but the interpretation of the facts by the individual writers. Lets
look at the way Jesus spent his time here and the values he lived his life by.
He spent time with sinners. He was kind, understanding, gentle, forgiving in
most cases. The few things he did get angry about were issues that still hold
true today. He was tolerant of those who did not follow his way, and his love
was not in any way conditional on belief in him. He tried to better the lot of
those he touched, irrespective of their belief. He never made conversion a
condition of healing - he simply did his mission and let others come to him if
they felt him in their hearts by their own free will. I believe that a true
Christian would try and emulate the values of his Saviour.
Even as the epistles exist in the Bible today they were once
sentiments that even a feminist would hail in the ancient world
of gentile patriarchy. Careful consideration of the teachings
which concern women in the epistles show that the early
Christian Church was in fact pro-feminist struggling within a
culture that wasn't. The tensions became only more acute as
Christianity became part of a Greco-Roman world, whose
underlying gender template defined women.
This may become clearer if one considers that women were not
treated much better then cattle in the dark ages of Europe and that a man could murder
his wife without consequence in China until 1950; nearly two
thousand years later.
Does the Bible in fact say that God cares equally for men and women and that
they have equal responsibilities under Christ's authority; And 'that it is all
worth nothing without love'? What part did Jewish women have in the movement
that grew up around Jesus of Nazareth? Is there any evidence that Jesus married
Mary Magdalene? How do we know what the earliest Christians really believed
about these questions? What are The Gospel of Philip and The Gospel of Mary
Magdalene?
Since the Gospels do not leave these women anonymous but
identify them by name, it is obvious that they must have played
an important role in the Christian movement in Palestine. Their
leader appears to have been Mary of Magdala. All four Gospels
transmit her name, whereas the names of the other women vary.
She has, moreover, a position equaling that of Peter in the
apocryphal gospel literature. Thus, according to the Gospel
traditions, women were the primary apostolic witnesses for the
fundamental events of the early Christian preaching: they were
witnesses of Jesus' ministry, his suffering and death, his
burial and his resurrection. They were moreover, sent to
proclaim the message of the resurrection. Not only does Paul
repeatedly mention the prophets directly after the apostles but
he even values the gift of prophecy higher than that of speaking
in tongues. Luke asserts that the Spirit of prophecy is given to
women as well as to men (Acts 2:17). He specifically mentions
the four daughters of Philip as renowned Christian prophets
(Acts 21:9). Paul takes it for granted that women prophesy and
have liturgical functions:
Chief among these is Mary Magdalene, a woman infamous in Western
Christianity as an adulteress and repentant whore. Discoveries
of new texts from the dry sands of Egypt, along with sharpened
critical insight, have now proven that this portrait of Mary is
entirely inaccurate. She was indeed an influential figure, but
as a prominent disciple and leader of one wing of the early
Christian movement that promoted women's leadership.
Christianity was the next major cultural wave of systemic,
systematic Western airbrushing of History. Just as the Male
Shamans - High Priests - of the Jews hid the reality of Yahweh's
other, feminine half - so the Male Shamans of Christianity were
laying the foundations of Male Power in Western societies. They
have achieved an almost complete cover-up of the Feminine,
illustrated so well in the airbrushing of Mary Magdalene, whose
true identity was not just hidden, but cleverly presented as its
opposite.
We may pause here to ask if this did not happen to Eve - and
Lilith before her? Are these "Goddesses" the real place to begin
the story of Jewish and Christian history-tampering around
Feminine Power? For both Eve and Lilith belong in some form or
other to the Sumerian legends which are agreed now to be the
origins of the Jewish Bible - the Torah that Christians like to
appropriate by calling the "Old Testament".
However, for the moment, let us look at Mary Magdalene. This
Mary was not only clearly an intellectual woman to whom Jesus
confided knowledge he withheld from his jealous male disciples,
but she was likely his wife just as Asherah was the wife of
Jehovah...The persecution of the Gnostic tradition in
convulsive, repeating cycles of Christian history up until the
mass extermination of the Cathars in the 13th century A.D. was
aimed at many heresies, but chief among them was the persistent
reverence for Mary Magdalene, the understanding of the sacred
marriage of Jesus and Mary and "the Magdalene's" status as a
divinely inspired, indeed divinely appointed, teacher.
The non-biblical image of Magdalene as a repentant prostitute is
an image that had been officially sanctioned by the Roman
Catholic Church in the sixth century. And it's that image that
has been perpetuated by dozens of Christian paintings and movies
ever since. The misreading of Mary Magdalene, is almost as
ancient as the Gospels of the New Testament themselves, if only
because there are up to five Marys in the Gospels and seven in
the New Testament as a whole. Mary, Mother of Jesus Mary of
Magdala Mary, mother of James and Joses Mary, wife of Clopas
Mary of Bethany Mary, mother of John Mark Mary, of church at
Rome. 1 Six Marys 1 Six Marys are to be distinguished in the N.T.:
(1) the mother of Jesus; always clearly identified by the
context. (2) Mary Magdalene, a woman of Magdala, " out of whom
went seven demons" Luke 8:2 She is never mentioned apart from
the identifying word "Magdalene." (3) The mother of James
(called "the less," Mark 15:40) and Joses, the apostles. A
comparison of ; John 19:25; Matthew 27:56; Mark 15:40
establishes the inference that this Mary, the mother of James
the less, and of Joses was the wife of Alphaeus (called also
Cleophas), John 19:25 and a sister of Mary the mother of Jesus.
Except in ; Matthew 27:61; 28:1 where she is called "the other
Mary (i.e. "other" than her sister, Mary the Virgin); and John
19:25 where she is called "of Cleophas," she is mentioned only
in connection with one or both of her sons. (4) Mary of Bethany,
sister of Martha and Lazarus, mentioned by name only in Luke
10:39-42; John 11:1,2,19,20,28,31,32,45; 12:3 but referred to in
; Matthew 26:7; Mark 14:3-9. (5) The mother of John Mark and
sister of Barnabas Acts 12:12. (6) A helper of Paul in Rome
Romans 16:6. 2 of whom was born 2 The changed expression here is
important. It is no longer, "who begat," but, "Mary, of whom was
born Jesus." Jesus was not begotten of natural generation.
However, in reality there are only two Mary's in the gospel
story, and three at the cross, the Mother and the Magdalene and
Mary (Jerusalem)Salome.
The Jesus group did not accept the values and institutions of
their Jewish society and milieu but often stood in opposition to
them. Jesus and his disciples, for example, did not live an
ascetic life-style like John the Baptist and his followers. The
Jesus group rejected the religious purity laws and attracted the
outcasts of their society as well as those who were for various
reasons ostracized from their religious community. In
distinction to the community at Qumran or the Pharisees, the
Jesus movement in Palestine was not an exclusive but an
inclusive group. Woman were prominent among the people who made
up much of Jesus's circle. Jesus defied oppressive customs
concerning women.
The New Testament gospels tell us that Mary was a Jewish woman
who followed Jesus of Nazareth. Apparently of independent means,
she accompanied Jesus during his ministry and supported him out
of her own resources (Mark 15:40-41; Matthew 27:55-56; Luke
8:1-3; John 19:25). Now if Mary was a prostitute, how is it that she supported
Jesus?
When we read the Bible, we need to look
at the context in which each book was written. If we don't do that, it's easy to
misinterpret what a particular book or chapter is really saying. When that
happens, we can easily come to wrong conclusions, which can then cause a lot of
misunderstanding about the work of Christ on our behalf. One example of this is
that many people believe that although their sins have been forgiven prior to
salvation, after salvation it is up to them to obtain forgiveness through their
confession. Others believe that all their sins have been forgiven at the cross,
however, they cannot experience forgiveness unless they confess each time they
sin. The verse both parties use to defend their belief is I John 1:9. Let's read
the first chapter of 1 John, and keep in mind two important questions: "Who was
John's audience?" and 'What was he trying to accomplish in this letter?" The
audience was a confused church in Asia. The pastor there asked John to write a
letter to help clear up some major doctrinal heresy called "Gnosticism."
The Synoptic Gospels (Mt, Mk, Lk)describe Mary Magdalene as a
woman of Galilee who assisted our Lord and his disciples and who was present at
the crucifixion and burial of our Lord. The Gospel of St. John records that Mary
Magdalene as the first witness of the Risen Lord Himself. St. Luke records that
“seven demons had gone out of her” and just prior to this note is the account of
the sinful woman who tenderly anointed our Lord with her tears and dried them
with her hair. While Luke does not make an explicit connection between these two
figures, from Patristic times until the present there is a strong tradition of
associating Mary of Magdalene with the sinful woman who anointed our Lord:
7:36 One of the Pharisees asked him to eat with him, and he went
into the Pharisee's house, and took his place at table. 7:37 And behold, a woman
of the city, who was a sinner, when she learned that he was at table in the
Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster flask of ointment, 7:38 and standing
behind him at his feet, weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears, and
wiped them with the hair of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them
with the ointment. 7:39 Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw it, he
said to himself, "If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what
sort of woman this is who is touching him, for she is a sinner." 7:40 And Jesus
answering said to him, "Simon, I have something to say to you." And he answered,
"What is it, Teacher?" 7:41 "A certain creditor had two debtors; one owed five
hundred denarii, and the other fifty. 7:42 When they could not pay, he forgave
them both. Now which of them will love him more?" 7:43 Simon answered, "The one,
I suppose, to whom he forgave more." And he said to him, "You have judged
rightly." 7:44 Then turning toward the woman he said to Simon, "Do you see this
woman? ed your house, you gave me no water for my feet, but she has wet my feet
with her tears and wiped them with her hair. 7:45 You gave me no kiss, but from
the time I came in she has not ceased to kiss my feet. 7:46 You did not anoint
my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment. 7:47 Therefore I
tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much; but he who
is forgiven little, loves little." 7:48 And he said to her, "Your sins are
forgiven." 7:49 Then those who were at table with him began to say among
themselves, "Who is this, who even forgives sins?"
The few details told us of the encounter between Mary Magdalene
and our Lord in the Garden seen of the Resurrection inclines one to imagine that
this may be the same woman, who was so grateful for having been set free of sin
and who once again weeping and sought to touch our Lord:
20:11 But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb, and as she wept
she stooped to look into the tomb; 20:12 and she saw two angels in white,
sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the feet.
20:13 They said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping?" She said to them, "Because
they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him." 20:14
Saying this, she turned round and saw Jesus standing, but she did not know that
it was Jesus. 20:15 Jesus said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping? Whom do you
seek?" Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, "Sir, if you have
carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away."
20:16 Jesus said to her, "Mary." She turned and said to him in Hebrew, "Rab-bo'ni!"
(which means Teacher). 20:17 Jesus said to her, "Do not hold me, for I have not
yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brethren and say to them, I am
ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God." 20:18 Mary
Mag'dalene went and said to the disciples, "I have seen the Lord"; and she told
them that he had said these things to her. (John)
Beyond associating Mary Magdalene with the unnamed sinner who
anointed Jesus, there is a tradition going back to the Patristics which
associates her with Mary of Bethany, sister of Martha and Lazarus. Such a link
is suggested by the other anointing episode which occurred at Bethany by Mary,
as described in Mt, Mk, and John:
12:1 Six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where
Laz'arus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. 12:2 There they made him a
supper; Martha served, and Laz'arus was one of those at table with him. 12:3
Mary took a pound of costly ointment of pure nard and anointed the feet of Jesus
and wiped his feet with her hair; and the house was filled with the fragrance of
the ointment. 12:4 But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (he who was to
betray him), said, 12:5 "Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred
denarii and given to the poor?" 12:6 This he said, not that he cared for the
poor but because he was a thief, and as he had the money box he used to take
what was put into it. 12:7 Jesus said, "Let her alone, let her keep it for the
day of my burial. 12:8 The poor you always have with you, but you do not always
have me."
Those who hold that this is Mary Magdalene regard the episode of
anointing with tears as an earlier foreshadowing of this more perfect anointing
more immediately associated with the burial of Christ, by the same woman.
ere is a fact that few people seem to know: The Bible never
explicitly says that Mary Magdalene was ever a prostitute at any point in her
life. By comparison with the other women in Jesus'following, Mary Madalene
"alone stands out undefined by a designation attaching her to some male as wife,
mother, or daughter and she is the only one to be identifiable by her place of
birth".
It is, however, that in the gospel of John, that Mary Magdalen
appears as one of the several women of faith, and Unequivocally as the first
witness of the Empty Tomib and of the Risen Christ, the cornerstone of Christian
belief the first recipient of all apostolic commission, she becomes not only the
herald of the "New Life," but also the first apostle.
"And it came to pass afterward, that he went throughout every
city and village, preaching and shewing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God:
and the twelve were with him, And certain women, which had been healed of evil
spirits and infirmities, Mary called Magdalene, out of whom went seven devils,
And Joanna the wife of Chuza Herod's steward, and Susanna, and many others,
which ministered unto him of their substance." The Greek version says "them"
inferring the 12 were also supported by the women
They are also referred to in Mark (I 5:40) "There were also
women looking on afar off: among whom was Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of
James the less and of Joses, and Salome; (Who also, when he was in Galilee,
followed him, and ministered unto him;) and many other women which came up with
him unto Jerusalem.
When Martha had complained for serving help Jesus indicates she
has a pivotal role to play Luke 10:41: " Jesus answered and said unto her,
Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things: But one thing
is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away
from her." This could be interest in his teachings, but sounds also like the
role of partner.
In the ancient world nearly everyone had two names and often
titles or aliases as well. Greek was the universal language and nealy everyone
had a name in his 'or her' own native tounge. Thomas was the Aramaic and Didymus
the Greek for 'a twin'. Tabitha was the Aramic and Dorcas the Greek for 'a
gazelle'. When Jesus saw Simon, as he was then called, he said to him; "Your
name is Simon; but you are going to be called Cephas, which means a rock." Peter
and Cephas are not different names; rather, the same name in a different
language. In the Old Testament names were given by God and a change of name
often denoted a change in relationship to God. For example, Abram became Abraham
, Jacob became Israel. Sarai became Sarah, which means princess; for "She shall
be a mother of nations, kings of people shall be of her." Also, James and John
became the "Sons of thunder", so named by Jesus. Daniel became also Belteshazzar,
so named by the king of babylon. Saul became Paul. All of these people are
called by their various names at different times and places throughout the
scriptures. The name Magdalene means 'tower of the flock'. Mary of Bethany, Mary
the sister of Martha, and Mary Magdalene are the same woman. Further, this woman
is the Samaritian woman Jesus met at the well of Jacob and the woman with the
alabaster jar which annonted the Messiah. 'Messiah' means 'the annointed one'
and Mary knew something of the Lord's coming temptation in the final week which
the other disciples seemed ignorant of.
"Mary Magdalene had her surname of Magdala, a castle, and was
born of right noble lineage and parents, which were descended of the lineage of
kings. And her father was named Cyrus, and her mother Eucharis. She with her
brother Lazarus, and her sister Martha, possessed the castle of Magdalo, which
is two miles from Nazareth, and Bethany, the castle which is nigh to Jerusalem,
and also a great part of Jerusalem, which, all these things they departed among
them." - Legenda Aurea (published in Genoa in 1275)
nd being in Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he sat
at meat, there came a woman having an alabaster box of ointment of spikenard
very precious; ans she brake the box, and poured it on his head. And there were
some there that had indignation within themselves, and said, "Why was this waste
of ointment made?" For it might have been sold for more than three hundred
pence, and have been given to the poor, and they murmered against her. And Jesus
said, "Let her alone; why trouble ye her? She hath wrougth a good work on me.
For ye have the poor with you always, and whensoever ye will ye may do them
good; but me ye have not always. She hath done what she could.; she is come
aforehand to annoint my body to the burying. Verily, I say unto you, Wheresoever
this gospel shall be preached throughout the whole world, this also that she
hath done shall be spoken of for a memorial of her."
This anointing of Jesus is, 'by an express command of Jesus', to
be recorded whenever the gospel is preached [Mt 26:13]. Therefore, because the
only anointing Luke records is the one by that "woman of the city," we must
conclude that this is the same anointing as we see recorded in the other
gospels. Note what the other accounts add: The anointing is in the house of
Simon the leper of Bethany and the box contained "very precious" ointment [Mt
26:6-13]. This anointing of Jesus is followed by Judas betraying Jesus, implying
a direct link between the anointing and Judas' decision [Mt 26:14-15]. Mark adds
the fact that this ointment in Simon's house was of a very precious substance
called "Spikenard"; but someone complains, "Why was this waste of the ointment
made? For it might have been sold for more then 300 pence."[Mk 14:3-5] That
equals a YEAR'S WAGES in those days, or several thousand dollars in modern
terms, such as oil used to anoint someone KING. John, at last, completes the
story: The woman who anoints Jesus is none other than Mary of Bethany, the
sister of Martha and Lazarus. So the woman was named Mary after all. And because
she and her sister are supposed to serve guests in this house, a house we can
now identify as the house of Simon the Pharisee, a "leper", Simon perhaps is
Cyrus the father of Mary, Martha and Lazarus, or perhaps Simon is Lazarus. Now
it becomes clear why these three siblings are living in the same house; it is a
family estate. We know that Lazarus is wealthy when we are told of the huge
crowds that gather when Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead. Bethany was on the
eastern slope of the Mount of Olives; prime real estate. Simon is a wealthy man
who owns choice property near Jerusalem with a house big enough to sleep several
adult men and women. It is his daughter who anoints Jesus with royal ointment,
and his daughter who helps support Jesus and his apostles out of her means as
Mary Magdalene.
urther, the names of Mary and the Apostles, and Lazarus and/or
Simon, may have been changed to protect the innocent and the royal house of
David. The Scriptures never said that Jesus was not married; we have seen from
history that the physical danger to his family and followers would have been
reason enough to remove Jesus' marriage from the record. The Mother Church had
been lost with Jerusalem and the latter destruction of Israel itself. The Jewish
Christian Church disappeared as the Jewish people were killed or sold into
slavery. After Jesus's death, the messianic political revolutionary movements
led by the Zealot party continued among the Jews against the Romans, reaching a
critical peak a generation later in a widespread Palestinian revolt. In the
ensuing war, Roman troops crushed the rebellion, captured Jerusalem, and
destroyed the Jewish Temple (70 A.D.). The Christian community in Jerusalem and
Palestine was thereby dispersed, and the closest link of the Christian religion
to Judaism-maintained and symbolized by the Jerusalem Christians-was severed.
Christianity thereafter was more a Hellenistic than a Palestinian phenomenon.
From Paul, at the start of Christianity, to Augustine, its most influential
protagonist at the end of the classical era, the character and aspirations of
the new religion were decisively molded by its Greco-Roman context. How many
records were lost or censored? The physical documents avalible to us today date
'several' years after the life of Jesus. Early doucments speak of Jesus'
relation to Mary as romantic and her being most devoted of his disciples.
Romantic Love was killed by the established traditions of Patriarchy; and
dismissed when the church became an arm of Rome. Suffice it to remember that his
beloved sat at his feet drinking in his every word (Luke 10: 39) and that she
anointed his feet with her tears and dried them with her hair (John 12:3).
In John, Mary the sister of Martha and Lazarus is portrayed in a
different light. She lives in Bethany of Judea and she calls on Jesus to return
there to save her brother: 1 1:1 "Now a certain man was sick, named Lazarus, of
Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha."saying, Lord, behold, he whom
thou lovest is sick. Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus." Jesus
delays ceremonially for two days. Lazarus dies and is 'stinking'. Martha goes
out to meet him. In almost ritual style Jesus has Martha declare 1 1:27 "Yea,
Lord: I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, which should come into
the world."
"And when she had so said, she went her way, and called Mary her
sister secretly, saying, The Master is come, and calleth for thee. As soon as
she heard that, she arose quickly, and came unto him." This term is used again
by Magdalene at the burial - Rabboni.
Sarah also called her husband Lord.; Sitting Shiva ( an ancient
engagement custom ) explains the mystery of why she waited before coming
quickly.
When Jesus Calls on Lazarus, he groans. This very act of
'miracle work' with well known associates, sets the stage for his own demise, a
life for a life, because the priests plot because of this miracle, that he
should become the sacrifice ; Did they know he was the atonement king?
"Nor consider that it is expedient for us, that one man should
die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not." John then tells a
story in which the foot anointing leads to Jesus'demise: 12:2 "There they made
him a supper; and Martha served: but Lazarus was one of them that sat at the
table with him.
Then took Mary a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly,
and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair: and the house
was filled with the odour of the ointment.
Then saith ... Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, which should betray
him, Why was not this ointment sold for three hundred pence, and given to the
poor? ... Then said Jesus, Let her alone: against the day of my burying hath she
kept this ." Mary is thus acclaimed by Jesus as the only one who has
foreknowledge of the inner mystery that is about to take place, unlike his
disciples.
There are in each gospel three women attending the crucifixion
the consistency, despite variation of the characters, suggests that the three
women are part of the sacred drama: Mark 15:40 has them as follows: "There were
also women looking on afar off: among whom was Mary Magdalene, and Mary the
mother of James the less and of Joses, and Salome (Who also, when he was in
Galilee, followed him, and ministered unto him;) and many other women which came
up with him unto Jerusalem
Matthew 27:55 has: "And many women were there beholding afar
off, which followed Jesus from Galilee, ministering unto him: Among which was
Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James and Joses, and the mother of
Zebedees children." Luke 23:49 is less specific at the Crucifixion "And all his
acquaintance, and the women that followed him from Galilee, stood afar off,
beholding these things.", but reverts to the three-fold pattern at the tomb.
John 19:25 has a slightly different set of muses: "Now there
stood by the cross of Jesus his mother, and his mother's sister, Mary the wife
of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene." The only satisfactory explanation of
two'sisters' being Mary is that they are sisters in law, but this idea was
developed later. It is extremely unlikely these repeated motifs concerning the
Marys and the women would have been included in all four gospels, given the
already established patriarchal heritage that followed Paul, had not it had a
basis in history and a truth to be discovered in the Gospel.
From his controversial sermon at Galilee, we note that mother
Mary is'the mother of James and Joses': Mark 6:3 "Is not this the carpenter, the
son of Mary, the brother of James, and Joses, and of Juda, and Simon? and are
not his sisters here with us? And they were offended at him." And in each of,the
gospels it was the women, and particularly Mary Magdelene who were first to see
the risen Christ, for which she receives the title Apostola Apostolorum -
apostle of apostles: Mark 16:9 "Now when Jesus was risen early the first day of
the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had cast seven
devils." Now unfortunately this section of Mark is missing from the Codex
Sinaiticus recovered from St. Catherine's monastery and is thus beilived to be a
later addition, however Luke 24:1 0 confirms "It was Mary Magdalene and Joanna,
and Mary the mother of James, and other women that were with them, which told
these things unto the apostles." and of course they are not believed "And their
words seemed to them as idle tales, and they believed them not. There is an
earthquake and angels everywhere. Discounting the angel and the earthquake, we
still however have these two female participants. 27:61 "And there was Mary
Magdalene, and the other Mary, sitting over against the sepulchre." : 28:1 "In
the end of the sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week,
came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre. And, behold, there
was a great earthquake: for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and
came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it. His countenance
was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow." In John 20:1 it is Mary
Magdalene who calls [the risen] Jesus'Rabboni'and who afterwards utters the
exhaltation to the others: "Thefirst day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene
early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulchre, and seeth the stone taken away
from the sepulchre. When she goes to get Peter the disciples did not understand
the Resurrection John 20:8 "Then cometh Simon Peter ... then went in also that
other disciple, which came first to the sepulchre, and he saw [the empty
napkins] and believed. For as yet they knew not the scripture, that he must rise
again from the dead." They depart but Mary waits. Mary then utters the searching
cry : 20:13 "And they say unto her, 'Woman, why weepest thou? 'She saith unto
them,'Because they have taken away my LORD, and I know not where they have laid
him'." Compare with the Song of Songs "I opened to my beloved-, but my beloved
had withdrawn himself and was gone: my soul failed when he spake: I sought him,
but I could not find him".
Immediately she turns and he is there! 20:15: "Jesus saith unto
her, Woman, why weepest thou? whom seekest thou? She, supposing him to be the
gardener, saith unto him, Sir, if thou have borne him hence, tell me where thou
hast laid him, and I will take him away. Jesus saith unto her, Mary. She turned
herself, and saith unto him, Rabboni; which is to say, Master. Jesus saith unto
her, "do not cling to me; for I am not yet ascended to my Father:" In Greek this
reads 'Do not continue embracing me'." Jesus then tells her to tell his
"brethren," "I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your
God."" ' Are the few accounts in the gospels tell is all we can claim to know
about Mary Magdalene?
The woman in the passage is called "O Magdal-eder, watchtower of
the flock" and the title "Magdalene" is like saying "the great" or "elevated,
magnificent." She was "First Lady."
The whole "priestess"/harlot idea was imputed to her because of
the similarities with ancient rites of the bridegroom/King with the Gospel
anointing, passion and resurrection stories.... but that doesn't mean that this
Mary was a "priestess." Anointing had ancient associations with marriage
thoughout the region...and identified her as Bride. Since it was the prerogative
of the Bride to anoint and to meet the King resurrected in the garden, she can
be easily identified as Mary "called Magdalene" by these actions, although John
identifies her as Mary, the sister of Lazarus (John 11:2 and 12:3). Mary and
Jesus EMBODIED the ancient mythology of the archetypal Bride and Bridegroom --
they weren't just doing a ritual--they were living it!
Mary Magdalene in The Dialogue of the Savior
The Dialogue of the Savior, also written in the second century
A.D., is a dialogue between the Savior (never called Jesus or Christ) and some
of his disciples, including Mary. The disciples ask questions about esoteric
religious things, and Jesus gives equally esoteric answers. Although Mary is one
of the frequent interrogators of the Savior, at one point she makes an
observation. The text explains, "This word she spoke as a woman who knew the
All" (Section 139, trans. Harold Attridge). In other words, Mary has special
knowledge of spiritual reality.
The Pistis Sophia is a Gnostic gospel and is a revelation of
Christ in which Mary plays a prominent role, asking the majority of the
questions about all measure of esoteric matters.
Mary is praised in The Pistis Sophia as one "whose heart is more
directed to the Kingdom of Heaven than all [her] brothers" (Chapter 17, trans.
Carl Schmidt and Violet MacDermott). Jesus says that she is "blessed beyond all
women upon the earth, because [she shall be] the pleroma of all Pleromas and the
completion of all completions" (section 19). In other words, Mary will have the
fullness of knowledge and therefore spiritual life within her. So impressed is
Jesus with Mary's spiritual excellence that he promises not to conceal anything
from her, but to reveal everything to her "with certainty and openly" (section
25). She is the blessed one who will "inherit the whole Kingdom of the Light"
(section 61).
The Gospel of Mary, written in the second century, goes even
further than The Pistis Sophia in portraying Mary as a source of secret
revelation because of her close relationship to the Savior. At one point Peter
asks, "Sister, We know that the Savior loved you more than the rest of women.
Tell us the words of the Savior which you remember--which you know but we do not
nor have we heard them" (section 10, trans. George W. MacRae and R. McL.
Wilson). So Mary reveals what the Lord made known to her in a vision.
The Gospel of Mary reports that several of the disciples were
none too impressed by Mary's purported insights into heavenly things. Andrew
responded to her revelation by saying "I at least do not believe that the Savior
said this. For certainly these teachings are strange ideas" (section 17). Then
Peter asked, "Did he really speak privately with a woman and not openly to us?
Are we to turn about and all listen to her? Did he prefer her to us?" But Levi
speaks up for Mary, "Peter, you have always been hot-tempered. Now I see you
contending against the woman like the adversaries. But if the Savior made her
worthy, who are you indeed to reject her? Surely the Savior knows her very well.
That is why he loved her more than us" (section 18).
She is the recipient of his secret revelations and private
speeches. The Savior, who is not called Jesus in The Gospel of Mary, even
preferred Mary to the other disciples, loving her more than them. Mary's
relationship with Jesus has clearly entered a new dimension we have not seen
before.
Finally we come to The Gospel of Philip, the last of the
extra-biblical gospels to mention Mary Magdalene, and the one that excites
proponents of her marriage to Jesus more than any other ancient document. The
Gospel of Philip is one of the latest of the non-canonical gospels, The first of
these passages reads, "There were three who always walked with the Lord: Mary
his mother and her sister and Magdalene, the one who was called his companion"
(section 59). The second passage in The Gospel of Philip that concerns Mary is
the most suggestive: "And the companion of the Savior is Mary Magdalene. But
Christ loved her more than all the disciples and used to kiss her often on her
mouth. The rest of the disciples were offended by it and expressed disapproval.
They said to him, 'Why do you love her more than all of us?' The Savior answered
and said to them, 'Why do I not love you like her?' When a blind man and one who
sees are both together in darkness, they are no different from one another. Then
the light comes, then he who sees will see the light, and he who is blind will
remain in darkness" (sections 63-63).
Although it is barely mentioned in the Bible, Magdala was among
the larger of the cities around the Sea of Galilee at the time of Jesus.
According to Jewish historian Josephus Flavius it had a population of 40,000 at
the time of the first Jewish revolt (66-70 AD)
Magdalene; this name was coined by Christ's disciples after Pentecost, as it makes reference literally to "migdal," which means tower, and to In other words, it was their wish to express that Magdalene is the
one who has been magnified,
The Fourth Gospel was authored by an anonymous follower of Jesus
referred to within the Gospel text as the Beloved Disciple. In the Fourth
Gospel's community, the now "anonymous" Beloved Disciple was known to be Mary
Magdalene.
Mary Magdalene is the author of the Fourth Gospel in the sense
in which antiquity defined authorship The author is the person whose ideas the
book expresses, not necessarily the person who set pen to papyrus The Gospel
went through several phases of modification. The end result of these
modifications was the eventual suppression of her role as author of this Gospel
and leader of their community.
One fact is very clear: For some reason, the writer of the
Gospel of John wanted to keep the identity of the Beloved Disciple a secret.
This disciple was obviously an extremely important figure in the history of
their community. Why, then, is the name of this disciple concealed? Was the goal
to protect this disciple from persecution? Is it possible that the writer of the
final draft had forgotten the name of their beloved founder? Not very likely.
This is, indeed, an interesting mystery.
Mary Magdalene remains a most elusive and mysterious figure.
Speculation about her role in the development of early Christianity is not new.
. this woman who is cited by all four Gospels as being present at both the
Crucifixion of Jesus and the Empty Tomb on the morning of the Resurrection.
The identification of Mary Magdalene as the disciple whom Jesus
loved is reflected in the Gnostic Christian writings of Nag Hammadi -- e.g., the
Gospel of Philip and the Gospel of Mary.
The evidence which links authorship of the Fourth Gospel to Mary
Magdalene is found in the Gnostic writings of the Nag Hammadi Library. Of
particular interest are the Gospel of Philip and the Gospel of Mary (referring
to Magdalene).
These manuscripts belonged to Gnostic Christians. Most scholars
cite the mid-second century as the earliest plausible date of composition for
these documents. However, a few of the documents are said by some to have been
written as early as the late first century -- making them contemporary with the
New Testament Gospels
Let's look at excerpts from the Nag Hammadi Library. This first
passage comes to us from the Gospel of Philip:
** And the companion of the [Savior is] Mary Magdalene. [But
Christ loved] her more than [all] the disciples [and used to] kiss her [often]
on her [mouth].
Another passage from the Gospel of Philip reads as follows:
**There were three who always walked with the Lord: Mary his
mother and her sister and Magdalene, the one who was called his companion. each
a Mary
Orthodox Tradition teaches us that the Holy Virgin Mary was the
only child of Saints Joakhim and Anna, but at John 19:25 we read, "Standing near
the Cross of Jesus was His mother, and His mother's sister, Mary of Klopas, and
Mary magdala." If our Church history is correct, how could Mary have had a
sister? The first clue to our answer is that both women are named Mary. ! No
family has two daughters and gives them both the same name! Therefore it is
evident that the relationship between the two women has to be something
different than our modern English concept of "sister".
The Gospel of Mary (referring to the Magdalene) says the
following:
**Peter said to Mary, "Sister, we know that the Savior loved you
more than the rest of women. Tell us the words of the Savior which you remember
Clearly, these passages establish as indisputable fact that, at
least in some ancient gnostic communities, Mary Magdalene was thought of as
having been the "Beloved Disciple" and the companion of the Lord. She is
repeatedly singled out as the disciple whom Jesus loved the most. This would
seem to contradict the assertion in the Fourth Gospel that the male founder of
the Johannine Community is "the disciple whom Jesus loved" (John 13:23). How can
there be two strong traditions each identifying two different people as the
disciple whom Jesus loved the most? This begins to make sense if we explore the
possibility that, in reality, both of these traditions are referring to the
juxtaposition of John and Mary as one and the same disciple.
There is no doubt that the Beloved Disciple in the canonical
version of the Fourth Gospel is an anonymous male disciple. Yet, as we have
seen, the writings of the Nag Hammadi Library reflect a strong tradition
repeatedly naming Mary Magdalene as the disciple whom Jesus loved. How do we
explain this contradiction? They made references in the text to a "Beloved
Disciple," but turned the disciple into an anonymous male. In two passages of
the text, the Beloved Disciple and Mary Magdalene seem to be two different
individuals by having them appear together in the same scenes. Perhaps they did
this because they knew that the Greek-Roman gentile church leaders would not
accept the authenticity of a Gospel written by a woman.
The Gospel apparently chose not to confuse or to offend its
readers, to arouse suspicions or to strengthen prejudices, by explicitly
identifying the witness behind the Gospel as female and by unreservedly
presenting female disciples. Instead, it chose to leave both anonymous, making
them male, in order to be able to present the thoughts and stories of Mary
Magdalene, as the one behind the Gospel, in an acceptable manner.
The Gospel of Mary was discovered in 1896 by a man named Dr.
Carl Reinhardt. Due to a series of unfortunate events, a translation wasn't
published until 1955, when it appeared first in German. It first appeared in
English along with the texts from the Nag Hammadi Library in 1977.
The Gospel of Mary is, sadly, missing several pages, so our
understanding of the text is somewhat incomplete. Enough survives, however, to
draw the conclusion that at least one sect of early Christianity, sometimes
classified as "gnostic," held Mary Magdalene in high esteem as a visionary,
apostle, and leader.
There is "abundant evidence of familiarity with Johannine
ideas" in the Gnostic writings of Nag Hammadi. Enough to show that there was
obviously much contact between the Johannine Community and Gnostic groups very
early on. Therefore, it cannot be mere coincidence that Mary Magdalene is cited
in the Gnostic writings as the "disciple whom Jesus loved" in much the same way
as the anonymous male disciple is cited as such in the Fourth Gospel.
The passage from the Fourth Gospel which has Mary Magdalene and
the Beloved Disciple together at the foot of the Cross reads as follows:
Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother's sister,
Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother there,
and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said... (John 19:25ff)**
The Gospel of Philip makes reference to the same group of women
that are standing by the Cross in the Fourth Gospel. However, the Gospel of
Philip clearly cites Mary Magdalene as the "companion" of Jesus.
When did Mary Magdalene return to the tomb? There is a broken
trail in the travels of Mary Magdalene from one place to another Mary Magdalene
is abruptly portrayed as remaining behind weeping at the tomb. However, there is
no account of her returning to the tomb in this scene after telling Peter and
the "other disciple" that the body of Jesus was missing.the account of Peter and
the Beloved Disciple running to the tomb together is "sandwiched between" Mary
Magdalene's initial discovery of the Empty Tomb and her first encounter with the
Risen Jesus. This "contrivance" let the Gospel retain the tradition that Mary
Magdalene was the first to discover the Empty Tomb while still giving the
Beloved Disciple prominence as the first person to reach the Empty Tomb and
believe that Jesus has risen
Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also
went inside. He saw and believed. (They still did not understand from Scripture
that Jesus had to rise from the dead.) (John 20:8-9)
The contrast between "he saw and believed" in v. 8 and "they
still did not understand" in v. 9 is peculiar. Verse 9 is clearly making
reference to verse 8. However, the reference is contradictory. This appears to
be an attempt to blend two different traditions: one in which the disciples did
not immediately understand, or believe in, the Resurrection (Matthew 28:17; Mark
16:11,13; Luke 24:11), and another in which Mary Magdalene, changed here to the
"other disciple," instantly perceives the truth (Matthew 28:1,8; Mark 16:9; Luke
24:10).
If anonymity in the case of the disciple Jesus loved was so
important to the author of John, would indeed the use of masculine gender not
guarantee the anonymity in a better way than the use of feminine gender, which
would obviously reveal to the readers at least one important feature of the
disciple, namely that she is a woman?
a woman being referred to as male perhaps was not so strange at
the time, as it would be to us now. spirituality in early Christianity gradually
became identified with maleness. She gives several examples of the fact that
‘women whose spirituality was beyond question were described as honorary males’.
With regard to Mary Magdalene there is a tradition which speaks of her maleness.
In the Gospel of Thomas Jesus promises Peter that he will lead Mary Magdalene in
order to make her male ‘so that she too may become a living spirit resembling
you males. For every woman who will make herself male will enter the Kingdom of
Heaven.’ In the Acts of Philip the Savior praises Mary Magdalene for her manly
character. Because of this he gives her the task of joining the weaker Philip on
his mission journey. But she is not to join him as a woman. ‘As for you, Mary,’
he says, ‘change your clothing and your outward appearance: reject everything
which from the outside suggests a woman.’
this leaves open the possibility that this figure could be a
woman, in spite of the masculine grammar. Perhaps the final proof that the
disciple must be male, is not the grammar, but the circumstance that the
disciple is called ‘son’? However, John’s Jesus does not address the disciple as
‘son’, and uses no other masculine address, which would have completed the
parallelism: He said to his mother: ‘Woman, behold your son.’ Then he said to
the disciple ‘behold your mother.’ By leaving out any masculine address, and by
only saying ‘Behold your mother’, he instead declares the disciple to represent
him as a son; both John and Mary were at the cross. This kind of representation
does not necessarily mean that the disciple has to be only a male. A woman may
fulfill the function of a son to a mother as clearly seen from the story of Ruth
and Naomi. The female neighbors praise the way Ruth cared for her mother-in-law,
by mentioning her to Naomi as: ‘she, who has been more to you than seven sons’
(Ruth 4,15). Moreover, the word ‘son’ in John 19,26 does not in any way
primarily refer to the disciple Jesus loved, but rather refers to Jesus himself.
For the reader who does not know the flow of the story beforehand, the word
‘son’ directed to the mother of Jesus designates her own son: the dying
crucified Jesus. The reader thoroughly relates with Mary when hearing Jesus’
words towards her: ‘Woman, behold your son.’ It is only after Jesus’ words to
the disciple ‘behold your mother’ that the reader suddenly turns to this second
person and begins to grasp that Jesus is inviting his mother to understand the
meaning of his death and to join his followers. Turning to the disciple Jesus
loved, and hearing those words ‘behold your mother’ the reader is reminded of
earlier farewell words of Jesus:
I will not leave you desolate; I will come to you. Yet a little
while, and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live,
you will live also. In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in
me, and I in you. /He who has heard my commandments and keeps them, /he it is
who loves me; and /he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love
/him and manifest myself to /him. (14,18-21)
This reference to both Marys is to Both the Mother and the Holy
Spirit. It is in fact, addressed to both the Spirit and the Bride.
Obviously, after Jesus died, he can be found in those who keep
his words and as a consequence are loved by him. His father and he himself will
come to them and live in them (14,23). The ultimate importance of the scene in
19,26-27 lies in Jesus’ invitation to his mother to look away from her dying son
to find him, alive, in the disciple he loved. At the same time Jesus’ words are
a solemn declaration to this disciple: he or she may act on Jesus’ behalf, as if
he or she were Jesus himself. To the reader, who remembers Jesus’ prayer to his
Father for all those who followed him, and who in their turn will attract new
followers - ‘... that the love with which thou has loved me, may be in them, and
I in them…’ (17,26) -, the disciple Jesus loved is the first of a vast number of
those disciples yet to come. Both Jesus’ mother and the disciple react to Jesus’
words. The disciple by taking Jesus’ mother to him (or her) and the mother by
accepting this. Jesus’ words to his mother and the disciple he loved, together
with their reaction to them, constitute the beginning of the growing ‘koinonia’
of those who follow Jesus. In this interpretation of 19,26-27 the word ‘son’ in
19,26 does not say anything about the gender of the disciple Jesus loved. The
‘son’ is the dying Jesus, who, alive, can be found in the disciple he loved as
the one who may represent him.
Further, there is an ancient tradition that John, Mary
Magdalene, and Mother Mary go to Ephesus and live together
The Johannine attitude toward women was quite different from
that attested in other first-century Christian churches. The unique place given
to women (as proclaimers) in the Fourth Gospel reflects the history, the
theology, and the values of the Johannine community. Mary Magdalene as author of
the Fourth Gospel does not challenge its apostolic origin. If Mary Magdalene was
the leader and hero of the Fourth Gospel's community, then she was probably
recognized as an Apostle within that community. Indeed, in recognition of the
fact that she was the first to proclaim the Resurrection of Christ, the Roman
Catholic Church has honored her with the title apostola apostolorum which means
"the apostle to the apostles."
At the last supper the beloved disciple is reclining on Jesus;
is this Mary? (John 13;23 )
Now there was leaning on Jesus' bosom one of his disciples, whom
Jesus loved.
It is obvious that Peter recognizes the fact that the disciple
Jesus loved is closer to Jesus than he himself (13,23-24 and 21,7.20-23). In the
Synoptics there is no disciple closer to Jesus than Peter. In the later
non-canonical sources, such as the Gospel of Thomas, the Gospel of Mary and
Pistis Sophia, Peter and Mary Magdalene appear together, Peter denying rather
than recognizing Mary Magdalene’s closeness to Jesus. [59] In these writings
Mary Magdalene indeed has a special position. In the Gospel of Philip and the
Gospel of Mary she is the only person to whom the other disciples refer to as
the one loved by Jesus more than the others and as the one who has a greater
insight. [60] In the Gospel of John the two are held in balance, Peter receiving
the authority to care for Jesus’ followers in a pastoral way (21,15-19), [61]
whereas Mary Magdalene receives and understands the crucial message of the
Gospel (20,17; cf. 1,12). At the ressurection Mary and Jesus are reunited
lovers. This is the best of all love stories; a story of love reaching beyond
death.
It has always been thought to be a high distinction when God has
called a man by his name. When he spoke and said, “Moses, Moses;” then it was a
sign that he had found favor in his sight. When Jesus said “Mary,” I can imagine
that the word brought up all her history before her mind; her bad days, when her
distracted mind was tossed on fiery billows; her happy days, when she sat at her
Master’s feet and caught his blessed words; the times when she had seen his
miracles amid wondered; when she had given him of her substance, and been too
glad to minister unto him. If we love Jesus much, and cannot be content without
him, we too may expect to hear him in the secret of our soul, calling us by our
name. He will say, “I have called thee by thy name: thou art mine.” Then Mary
Magdalene had such a manifestation of Christ’s glory us no other woman ever
had.
Mary Magdalene, then, is the beloved disciple and the prototype
of the perfected soul because, through her favored and unique relationship with
Christ, she has entered into the perfect of Adam/Eve, then by becoming a
perfected human being, Mary becomes, like Christ, androgynous, a true spiritual
being. The Magdalene myth recapitulates the fall of both Sophia and Helen; and
in rediscovering her divinity, she becomes a model for the soul who seeks to do
the same. Mary Magdalene is the true founder and hero of what has come to be
known as the Johannine Community (i.e., Mary Magdalene was one of the original
apostolic founders and leaders of the early Christian church).The Fourth Gospel
(the Gospel of John) in the New Testament was composed in the Mother Church in
Jerusalem and written in Ephesus. This gospel was penned by the disciples of
Mary Magdalene and Mother Mary with the Co-authorship of John and the other
Apostles.
In many societies a man is not considered to be fully adult
until he is married. He would be excluded from full participation in "adult"
institutions such as tribal or village councils. This has caused many problems
for Catholic missionary priests both past and present. In fact, the Catholic
Church in Canada has several times unsuccessfully petitioned the Pope for an
exemption from the rule of priestly celibacy for those priests serving in the
far North. The Jewish attitude at the time of Jesus was similar and is
dramatically summarized by the first century rabbi, Eliezar Ben-Asai, who wrote
"Whoever renounces marriage violates the commandment to increase and multiply;
he is to be looked upon as a murderer who lessens the number of beings created
in the image of God." These are strong words indeed! Of the several hundred
rabbis known to us from that time only one is known to have been unmarried. More
correctly this rabbi had been married, lost his wife and refused to remarry. He
was severely criticized for this by his fellow rabbis. It is also worth noting
that the anti-sex, anti-female pro virginity attitude that quickly developed in
the Gentile branch of the early church was the product of the strong influence
of Greek philosophy and not the result of any authentic teaching of Jesus
himself. The Jewish tradition, then and now, is strongly family centered and has
even been described as somewhat "earthy". Of course the traditional presumption
has been that Jesus was unmarried. This really is a presumption since, of
course, the Bible says nothing definite whatsoever one way or the other on the
issue. However, considering the very strong views the Jews held on marriage, it
is strange indeed that there is no record that he was ever criticized or
questioned on this account. He was accused of being a glutton and a wine biber
and of associating with low life. Why not an accusation regarding his unmarried
state. The very silence of the Bible on this point is, in my view, highly
suggestive that perhaps he was married. We also know that there were a number of
female disciples of Jesus - Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, the
sisters Mary and Martha, Joanna, Susanna and Salome are all named. Whenever the
female disciples are mentioned in the Bible, Mary Magdalene is always the first
named. In the literary tradition of the time the first named is always the most
important. Mary Magdalene is even named ahead of Mary his mother. Even the name
Mary Magdalene may be informative. Mary "of Magdala" seems not to be correct
since there is no solid historical or archaeological evidence that there ever
was such a town. Another possible interpretation of the word "Magdalene" is that
it is derived from an Aramaic word meaning roughly "the most important". Early
Christian writers have sometimes referred to her as "Mary the Great". Why should
such importance be attached to this woman? Christian, particularly Catholic
tradition, has been very unkind to Mary Magdalene. She has been variously
identified as the woman taken in adultery or the woman who washed Jesus' feet
with her tears and dried them with her hair or possibly both. She is portrayed
as a great sinner who became a great saint. The Gospel of John says that Jesus
cast seven demons from her. Some might jump to the conclusion that demonic
possession is indicated here. However, we must examine this in the context of
the times. Scripture does indicate that she should be ranked on a level with the
apostles among the disciples of Jesus. She was the first to the tomb to do what
a wife was expected to do for a deceased husband. When she encountered the risen
Jesus and finally recognized him, she called him "Rabboni" and "Lord". "Rabboni"
is the familiar or affectionate form of "Rabbi", and "Lord" or "Master" is how a
Jewish wife would have addressed her husband in that very patriarchal age. Many
people believe that the Bible says Jesus also warned her "do not embrace me".
However, this is totally inaccurate and in fact, the original Bible text quotes
Jesus as saying" "do not continue embracing me." All this is certainly
suggestive of a close relationship between the two but stops short of anything
definitive.
It is obvious that Peter recognizes the fact that the disciple
Jesus loved is closer to Jesus than he himself (13,23-24 and 21,7.20-23). In the
Synoptics there is no disciple closer to Jesus than Peter. In the later
non-canonical sources, such as the Gospel of Thomas, the Gospel of Mary and
Pistis Sophia, Peter and Mary Magdalene appear together, Peter denying rather
than recognizing Mary Magdalene’s closeness to Jesus. [59] In these writings
Mary Magdalene indeed has a special position. In the Gospel of Philip and the
Gospel of Mary she is the only person to whom the other disciples refer to as
the one loved by Jesus more than the others and as the one who has a greater
insight. [60] In the Gospel of John the two are held in balance, Peter receiving
the authority to care for Jesus’ followers in a pastoral way (21,15-19), [61]
whereas Mary Magdalene receives and understands the crucial message of the
Gospel (20,17; cf. 1,12). At the resurrection Mary and Jesus are reunited
lovers. This is the best of all love stories; a story of love reaching beyond
death.
It has always been thought to be a high distinction when God has
called a man by his name. When he spoke and said, “Moses,
Moses;” then it was a sign that he had found favor in his sight.
When Jesus said “Mary,” I can imagine that the word brought up
all her history before her mind, when her distracted mind was
tossed on fiery billows; her happy days, when she sat at her
Master’s feet and caught his blessed words; the times when she
had seen his miracles amid wondered; when she had given him of
her substance, and been too glad to minister unto him. If we
love Jesus much, and cannot be content without him, we too may
expect to hear him in the secret of our soul, calling us by our
name. He will say, “I have called thee by thy name: thou art
mine.” Then Mary Magdalene had such a manifestation of Christ’s
glory us no other woman ever had.
Mary Magdalene, then, is the beloved disciple and the prototype
of the perfected soul because, through her favored and unique
relationship with Christ, she has entered into the perfect of
Adam/Eve, then by becoming a perfected human being, Mary
becomes, like Christ, androgynous, a true spiritual being. The
Magdalene myth recapitulates the fall of both Sophia and Helen;
and in rediscovering her divinity, she becomes a model for the
soul who seeks to do the same. It is Mary who performed the
opening rites of Heiros Gamos by publicly annointing Jesus
before His followers. Mary Magdalene is the true founder and
hero of what has come to be known as the Johannine Community
(i.e., Mary Magdalene was one of the original apostolic founders
and leaders of the early Christian church).The Fourth Gospel
(the Gospel of John) in the New Testament was composed in the
Mother Church in Jerusalem and written in Ephesus. This gospel
was penned by the disciples of Mary Magdalene and Mother Mary
with the Co-authorship of John and the other Apostles.
The State Church renamed the Gospel of Mary to the Gospel of
John. So the exploits of John was in fact the exploits of Mary
Magdelene. Another Gnostic Gospel called Pistis Sophia (Sophia
was the Goddess of wisdom) is about a dialogue between Jesus and
Mary Magdelene whom he calls, "dearly beloved. In one dialogue
Peter complained to Jesus that Mary Magdelene dominated the
conversation with Jesus but Jesus rebukes him. In another
Gnostics text called "Dialogue of the Saviour" she is portrayed
as a very wise Woman who understood Jesus completely unlike the
rest of Jesus's disciples. So it seems that Mary Magdelene was a
very important member of early Christianity. To the degree that
some modern scholars have suggested that She and Jesus were
married. It is assumed by most Christians that Jesus was a
follower of the Jewish faith at the time. But if one of his
closest and important followers was a priestess who were hated
so much by the priests of Israel. To the degree she could of
been murdered if she was discovered.
The Tetragrammaton, or the four-lettered Name of God, written
thus ????, is pronounce Jehovah.
The first letter is ?, Yod, the Germ, the Life, the Flame, the
Cause, the One, and the most fundamental of the Jewish phallic
emblems. Its numerical value is 10, and it is to be considered
as the 1 containing the 10.
In the Qabbalah it is declared that the a Yod is in reality
three Yods, of which the first is the beginning, the second is
the center, and the third is the end. Its throne is the Sephira
Chochmah (according to Ibn Gebirol, Kether), from which it goes
forth to impregnate Binah,
which is the first ?, He. The result of this union is Tiphereth,
which is the ? Vau, whose power is 6 and which symbolizes the
six members of the Lesser Adam. The final ?, He, is Malchuth,
the Inferior Mother, partaking in part of the potencies of the
Divine Mother, the first He.
3444. yeshuw'ah, yesh-oo'-aw; fem. pass. part. of H3467;
something saved, i.e. (abstr.) deliverance; hence aid, victory,
prosperity:--deliverance, health, help (-ing), salvation, save,
saving (health), welfare.
In the unfolding of the Lord's sacred name which is YHWH,
Yod-He-Vau-He, the First Yod was masculine meaning God the
Father, . The second He was the Holy Spirit and female which is
the point of this post..... While the third letter Vau
represents the Son and of course is Jesus the Messiah which
makes the Trinity, yet all are one, the three are one. But the
Lord is not complete without the Bride , the people that love
the Lord with all their heart and soul, and mind. These comprise
the last /He, and she becomes ONE with the Trinity (John 16,
Revealtions, Isaiah, etc. etc.) and the Holy Family and Holy
Name is complete. This is called the unspeakable and holy
TETRAGRAMMATON, which could only be spoken out loud by the High
Priest once a year inside the Holy of Holies on the Day of
Atonement, for the hoped for remssion of all sins of the people
for the whole year.
Y - God the Father (Supreme YHWH:Creator Gen 1:1, Ex 13:21)
H - Goddess the Mother (Supreme Holy Spirit/Shekinah-Sophia:Creatrix
Pro 8:30-31)
W - Lord the Son (The Christ:Savior/Messiah/Jesus Jn 1:34)
H - Lady the Daughter (The Holy Spirit:Lover/Spouse/Counselor-Pro
5:17,8:1, Jn 14:26)
"Originally, these four consonants [in YHWH] represented the
four members of the Heavenly Family:
Y represented El the Father;
H was Asherah the Mother;
W corresponded to He the Son; and
H was the Daughter Anath.
In accordance with the royal traditions of the time and region,
God's mysterious bride, the Matronit, was also reckoned to be
his sister. In the Jewish cult of the Cabbala God's dual
male-female image was perpetuated. Meanwhile other sects
perceived the Shekinah or Matronit as the female presence of God
on Earth. The divine marital chamber was the sanctuary of the
Jerusalem Temple, but from the moment the Temple was destroyed,
the Matronit was destined to roam the Earth while the male
aspect of Jehovah was left to rule the heavens alone.
It must continually be emphasized that the Sephiroth and the
properties assigned to them, like the tetractys of the
Pythagoreans, are merely symbols of the cosmic system with its
multitude of parts. The truer and fuller meaning of these
emblems may not be revealed by writing or by word of mouth, but
must be divined as the result of study and meditation. In the
Sepher ha Zohar it is written that there is a garment--the
written doctrine-which every man may see. Those with
understanding do not look upon the garment but at the body
beneath it--the intellectual and philosophical code. The wisest
of all, however, the servants of the Heavenly King, look at
nothing save the soul--the spiritual doctrine--which is the
eternal and ever-springing root of the law
It is written that Mary went to the tomb to anoint Jesus with
aloes and spices, this very act was a traditional custom
assigned only to mothers, or wives, it was never allowed in
those days, indeed, even today in that same part of the world,
it is still not allowed, and women today die from honour
killing, for talking with a man who is not a relative, so in
those days, she would not have been allowed to be part of Jesus'
entourage, only wives, and relatives or the wives and relatives
of the other apostles.
The Hebrew shâkhan is a root that translates into words such as
abide, reside, or dwell. Some examples from Exodus — [24: 16]
And the glory of the Lord abode upon mount Sinai... [25: 8] And
let them make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them.
[29: 45] And I will dwell among the children of Israel and will
be their God. [40: 35] And Moses was not able to enter into the
tent of the congregation, because the cloud abode thereon, and
the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. Numbers —
[9: 17,18] And when the cloud was taken up from the tabernacle,
then after that the children of <st1:country-region Israel
journeyed; and in the place where the cloud abode, there the
children of Israel pitched their tents. At the commandment of
the Lord the children of Israel journeyed, and at the
commandment of the Lord they pitched: as long as the cloud abode
upon the tabernacle they rested in their tents. [35: 34] Defile
not therefore the land which ye shall inhabit, wherein I dwell:
for I the Lord dwell among the children of Israel «» That root
term, with a Divine Name appended, becomes Shekhinah — the
Presence of God. In Jewish tradition, whenever God is immanent
(perceptible as present) rather than utterly transcendant, this
is the Shekhinah. The Shekhinah is characterized as feminine. According to much rabbinical
commentary, the Shekhinah dwells inherently in a woman; but in a
man, only through marriage — his enjoyment of the Divine
Presence depends upon his relationship with a woman. And the
Torah specified that a man could function as a Priest only if he
was married.
Jewish tradition points out that although God started Creation,
it was left to mankind to finish it, to produce a kingdom of
priests, and that Abraham was the first to really sense this,
covenanting with God to that end. But that co–creative
(procreative) aspect can be overemphasized, to the neglect of
other considerations. The traditional Christian notion that
procreation is the only valid purpose for sexual relations is a
concept alien to the scriptures. The Torah requires that a
husband cater to the sexual gratification of his wife, with his
failure to do so constituting grounds for divorce. That
obligation is distinct from his duty to reproduce. Jewish
tradition regards the passion of a sacred bond as holy and
meritorious in its own right. From a process viewpoint, that
makes considerable sense: God delights in the prehension of
intense, harmonious feeling. Promoting such unity of feeling is
God’s work, and contributes to God’s Glory. In a very real
Eternal sense, priesthood might be best used to describe the
glory inherent in the Eternal bond of man and woman. The common
spirit through which they act and feel greatly magnifies the
character of their being, far beyond simply the sum of the two.
Considering the wealth of feeling, and consequent glory, that
can derive from a sacred marriage bond, the dynamics of such a
holy union of genders is something that God would want to
validate with Eternal Life. It could be argued that, given God’s
nature, God might necessarily do so. Should degree of
“exaltation” be equated with degree of procreative success?
Might it be that qualitative factors are of equal, if not
greater ultimate value than the quantitative?
Although Hebrew scripture and Jewish tradition may support some
unique concepts of marriage, they do not support blatant
antifeminism and repressive patriarchalism, errors which are
common to most fundamentalist religious groups. Perhaps the
notion that a woman can pass through the veil, into the Presence
of God, only if she is escorted by a man should be reconsidered,
with a twist — for it might well be that a man cannot pass
through the veil, into the Presence of God, unless accompanied
by a woman.
 he is Christ's helper! She is the one who sought to comfort
Jesus before his tribulations; without being concern with her
own glory as the other apostles were. She is the one who loved
most; She is the one who chose wisdom, She is the one who
remained in the garden searching for Her beloved Jesus, She is
the one to which our risen Lord first said, "Go tell...". this
truth needs to be maintained!
The Greek original is better represented by a
translation of 'cease from holding on to me',
In the ancient world of the Middle East it was the Goddess who
descended through the seven nether spheres to revive God. This
was common to myths describing what is known as the mystical
year or the death and rebirth of nature annually.
From earliest times, people have been fascinated by the moon.
They realized the vital connection between a woman's monthly
menstrual (from mensis, Latin for "moon") cycle, and the waxing
and waning of the moon. They also recognized that the moon
controls the tides, whose ebb and flow parallels the organic
rhythms of female fluids. Because of these connections, the moon
has been universally associated with femininity and women's
procreative power. In popular ancient Israelite belief, too, the
moon was thought to influence fertility; the women wore
moon-shaped pendants, as discovered in archaeological finds and
as mentioned by Isaiah in his admonition: "On that day, my Lord
will strip off the finery of the anklets, the fillets, and the
crescents."
Jewish woman have long celebrated the special female symbolism
of the moon. From the talmudic period to our day, Rosh Hodesh,
the minor festival of the New Moon, has been especially sacred
to Jewish women. According to legend, the women in the
wilderness refused to contribute their jewelry to make the
Golden Calf, and were rewarded for their faithfulness by being
granted the New Moon as a day off from work. For many centuries,
Jewish women refrained from doing heavy work on this day.
Among the Kabbalists, the moon has traditionally represented the
Shekhinah, God's feminine aspect, whose exile is symbolized by
the moon's monthly waning. Thus, for them, the blessing of the
new moon and the anticipation of Rosh Hodesh, marking the moon's
return, came to symbolize the renewal of hope in the restoration
of Divine Unity. In a contemporary reading of this midrash,
Jewish women will acquire full equality within the tradition.
"In this orientation," "Rosh Hodesh becomes a renewal both of
God's presence in the world — the Shekhinah, a female aspect of
God — and of the female side of the human race and the human
soul."
The moon is exactly the same size as the sun in appearance in
the heavens; It is 400 times smaller in its diameter and 400
times closer in proximity to the earth than the sun is. In an
eclipse they are perfectly matched, there is no scientific
explanation for this. It is the moon goddess that descends
through the seven orbits in the heavens; the triple goddess of
the ancients. It is the moon that weds the sun in the
mythologies, nature and God! She is the Pearl! Jesus and Mary
are this myth embodied and this dream come true!
Her very body commits her to the drama of existence and links
her with the rhytm of the Cosmos. In relation to Mary's
receptive aspect, the Church was viewed as the "bride of
Christ," to be united in Sacred Marriage with Christ when
humanity would receive the full divine influx at the end of the
age.
Here is a mystery; an ancient Hebrew legend speaks of pearls as
being the tears Eve wept upon being banished from the Garden; a
Medieval Christian tradition saw the pearl as a sign of hidden
wisdom; what color are the pearls the sea has given to princess
Anima?" How is it that we seem to have forgotten these things
only to replace them with the destructive dualism of Babylon.
And why is it that thousands of years later, Helen's story still
has the power to haunt us? Is it not that we long to believe
that beauty could really do that; That there really might be
someone worth launching a thousand ships to regain and someone
willing, out of passionate love, to launch those ships?
The reason we identify with fairy tales in some deep part of us
is that they rest on the true that the hero or heroine really
does have a heart of gold and the beloved really does possess
hidden beauty.
Jesus' Feminine Complement As the first human to witness the
resurrection of Christ, Mary Magdalene clearly occupies the
pivotal position at the very origin of Christianity. Just as
Jesus was the Bridegroom, Magdalene is the true bride of the
Church - the feminine physical principle which complements the
transcendental Christ. It is to her if anyone that the chruch
should turn as a physical embodiment of the Shekina in history.
Her time of penitence is ended.
The name Mary wether it is Mary the mother, or Mary the wife, or
Mary Jerusalem; whensoever it is employed in the Bible is the
name of those who bore the image of our (Female Holy Spirit)
'Goddess' expressing Herself through humanity.
Did you notice Mary (Sophia) in this
picture?
A Jewish priest was required to marry. If Jesus
fulfilled all the law as the Bible says, he must have married. It is more
probable that Jesus was married then not; and that this information was not
recorded in the Gentile church, for if Jesus was not married, this information
would most likely have been used to uphold monastisism and patriarchy. As it
was, the information was either removed or ignored, by monastisism and
patriarchy.
Beyond the speculation though, what
evidence do we have of either the celibate or married Christ? And why can't Jews
accept that the Messiah could be excluded from the commandment to wed? To the
Jews, their human Saviour, would be an embodiment of the laws of God, he would
typify them rather than being exempt from them. Just as Jesus was baptized "to
fulfill all righteousness", and said that he had not "come to destroy," the law,
"but to fulfill" it (Matt. 3:15, 5:17). They also expected a married Messiah,
because the prophets of their Tanach (the Hebrew Bible) predicted his marital
state as a feature of his life: In speaking of Israel's expectant deliverer in a
passage Paul identifies as referring to Jesus, David wrote, "Kings daughters
were among thy honourable women", or wives as the 1599 version of the Geneva
Bible, and a 1636 Church of England Bible puts it (Ps. 45:6, see Heb. 1:8) Of
him having children, Isaiah predicts, "he shall see his seed", and asks, "Who
shall declare his generation?" (Isa. 53:8, see Luke 23:27-28 & Isa 53:10, see
Acts 8:33 and Heb. 2:16)
Some Christian readers may be troubled by the implication of David's prophesy of
the Messiah having several "honourable wives," as one of the features of pagan
Roman religion that remained after its adoption of Christianity was that of
monogamy, and the laws restricting one woman to one man. The Old Testament
however contains many examples of righteous prophets who lived in such manner,
such as Abraham, Jacob, Moses, and David. The father of the Protestant movement,
Martin Luther, declared that "for a man to have two wives at once" was not
"contrary to the divine law" and himself authorised a nobleman (Philip the
Landgrave of Hesse) to marry a second wife, and is recorded as stating, "The
Gospel hath neither recalled nor forbid what was permitted in the law of Moses
with respect to marriage." (Thelyphthora 1:212, Rev. Martin Madan)
Of course other interpretations have been made of references to Jesus in the
role of father, husband, and some have supposed the Church was his symbolic
bride, and that its members are his `children', as he is the `father' of their
salvation. Indeed, the Catholic Church marries it's Nuns to Jesus, representing
their lifelong commitment to him. Whilst such concepts have great meaning to
those who believe in them, they neither rule out the possibility of Jesus being
married nor explain every passage in the Old and New Testaments that seem to
suggest he was. In fact, it is the four Gospels themselves that may hold the
answers to whether, when, where, and who Jesus married.
Some deny that Jesus was married based upon the supposed silence
of the Scriptures and doctrinal problems which were inconsistent with the
Church's dogma (e.g. a celibate priesthood, the ritual defilement of seminal
emissions, etc.). Yet, it much more reasonable to assume that Jesus, like the
overwhelming majority of other males that have ever lived, had female
companionship and children. To assume otherwise is to assume the exceptional
without any correspondingly exceptional evidence. One might as well assume, with
an equal absence of evidence, that Jesus was lactose intolerant. There was a 2nd
Century tradition among various heretical sects which taught that Jesus was
married. In their dispute with Augustine, the Celtic Pelagians argued that the
Atonement of Christ cancelled Original Sin. If Original Sin was, as Augustine
argued, a sexually transmitted disease of the soul, then Christ has reversed the
process and made it a transmitter of healing, health, and virtue.
Jewish customs of Jesus' day required
married Rabbis. Unmarried men were considered a curse to Jewish society. Jesus
would not have had much credibility as a leader had He not been married.
Although Jesus was a non-conformist and had many conflicts with Jewish
tradition, His parents, Joseph and Mary, were not. The Bible says that they were
careful to perfectly obey the laws of their people. It also says that Jesus was
"subject unto them". Since Jewish culture practiced arranged marriages and early
marriage, as well (a Jewish boy was marriageable at age 16), it is reasonable to
assume that Jesus' parents would have performed their parental duties faithfully
and arranged a bride for the young Jesus. There are 18 silent years in His life
(12 - 30). The Gospel of John tells us that there were many other things which
Jesus did which have not been recorded. Given the cultural milieu in which Jesus
lived and the supporting Biblical evidence, the burden of proof lies with those
who do not believe Jesus was married. They must show why Jesus and His parents
would have been derelict in their civic responsibilities and not contracted a
marriage. According to Josephus, descendants of the House of David felt a moral
obligation to perpetuate their line, never knowing which one among their
descendants would be the chosen Messiah. Jesus may or may not have known who He
was, but regardless, He lived as a normal person until called by the ministry of
John the Baptist. Hippolytus, a Christian leader from the late 2nd Century, was
followed by Origen in the 3rd Century in saying that the Song of Solomon was a
prophecy of a marital union between Christ and Mary Magdalene. Although they
believed Mary was symbolic of the Church, nevertheless, the notion presupposed a
real, marriage between Mary and Jesus. There are hints scattered in the Gospels
of a special relationship between Jesus and Mary. If she is the same Mary of
Bethany in John 11, then we can explain why Martha arose to greet Jesus and not
Mary. Some scholars say she was sitting sheva according to Jewish custom. "Sheva"
was when a woman was in mourning. Married women were not allowed to break-off
from their mourning unless called by their husbands. In this story, Mary does
not come to Jesus, until He calls her. At the Resurrection, when Mary meets
Jesus in the Garden, there is a degree of intimacy (see the Aramaic here) which
one would expect between lovers, not friends. The Greek word for "woman" and
"wife" is the same. Translators must rely upon the context in deciding how to
translate it. Sometimes, the translation is arbitrary. When Mary is referred to
as a "woman" who followed Jesus, it can just as easily be translated as "wife".
The story of Mary with the alabaster jar anointing the feet of Jesus is cited by
some scholars as the most direct witness to their marriage. It is in all four
Gospels and was a story in which Jesus gave express command that it be
preserved. This ceremony was an ancient one among many royal houses in the
ancient world, which sealed the marital union between the king and his priestess
spouse. We find it mentioned briefly in the Song of Solomon. Although we may not
understand its significance, Jesus and Mary knew exactly what they were doing.
To be the valid Messiah, He had to be anointed first by the Bride. They were
by-passing the corrupt Jewish establishment. It was the custom among the Jews
for their young men to marry at an early age, generally between the years of
sixteen and eighteen. "Men married at sixteen or seventeen years of age, almost
never later than twenty: and women at a somewhat younger age, often when not
older than fourteen. The Bible teaches that the enemies of Christ spent their
time: "Laying wait for him, and seeking to catch something out of his mouth,
that they might accuse him" (Luke 11:54). It is almost universally agreed among
all scholars and denominations that Jesus Christ did not begin his ministry
until his early 30's. If Christ were unmarried at this age, then his enemies
could have proven that he did not obey the laws and customs of his day
The Samaritans are unique among the many religious groups
described in the Bible apart from traditional Judaism and Christianity: the
others have long passed into oblivion, but the Samaritans still survive in our
own day, as a community preserving its ancient rites on its holy site, Mount
Gerizim, near the ancient site of Shechem and the modern city of Nablus. Samaria
occupies the geographical center of the Holy Land. On the west, the mountains of
Samaria descend to the Plain of Sharon, "I am the rose of Sharon, the lily of
the valleys." (Song of Songs 2;1 )
Shechem, which has been called "the uncrowned queen of
Palestine," lies in almost the exact center of the land. A broad valley here
separates the twin limestone massifs of Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal One day,
while camped at Shechem, Abraham, the ancestor of the people of Israel, knew
that he was in the presence of the Lord. During this transcendent experience he
heard the divine promise, never to be forgotten, "To your descendants I will
give this land" (Genesis 12:7).
Jewish pilgrims from Galilee on their way to Jerusalem for the
annual festivals usually avoided the direct route through Samaria and detoured
by way of the far side of the Jordan. Jesus, however, used the road through
Samaria at least three times (Luke 9:52; 17:11; John 4:4). As has already been
mentioned, on one occasion he conversed at length with a Samaritan woman and
dealt with the chief problem dividing Jews from Samaritans. This conversation
took place at Jacob's well at Sychar not far from the site of ancient Shechem.
According to the Fourth Gospel, "many Samaritans from that city believed in him
because of the woman's testimony" (John 4:39).
Now Jacob's well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied with
his journey, sat thus on the well, and It was about the sixth hour. There cometh
a woman of Sama'ria to draw water. Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink. 8
(For his disciples were gone away unto the city to buy meat) 9 Then saith the
woman of Samaria said unto him, How is It that thou, being a Jew, askest drink
of me, which am a woman of Samalria? for the Jews have no dealings with the
Sa-marl-tans. 10 Jesus answered and said unto her. It thou knewest the gift of
God, and who it Is that saith to thee, Give me to drink thou wouldest have asked
of him, and he would have given thee living water. The woman saith unto him,
Sir, thou bast nothing to draw with, and the well Is deep: from whence then bast
thou that living water? 12 Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us
the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle? 13 Jesus
answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thrist again
But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall nev er thirst;
but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water sp up Into
everlasting life. 15 The woman saith unto him, Sir, give me this water, that I
thirst not, neither come hither to draw. 16 Jesus saith unto her, Go, call thy
husband, and come hither. 17 The woman answered and said, I have no husband.
Jesus said unto her, Thou hast well said, I have no husband: 18 For thou hast
had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast Is not thy husband, In that saidst
thou truly. 19 The woman saith unto him, Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet
20 Our fathers worshipped In this mountain; and ye say, that In Jerusalem Is the
place where men ought to worship. 21 Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me,
the hour cometh, when ye shall neither In this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem,
worship the Father. 22 Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for
salvation is of the Jews. 23 But the hour cometh, and now Is, when the true
worshippers shall worship the Father In spirit and in truth: for the Father
seeketh such to worship him. 24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must
worship hhn in spirit and In truth. 25 The woman saith unto him, I know that
Mes-silas cometh, which is called Christ: when he Is come, he will tell us all
things. 26 Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee am he. 27 And upon this
came his disciples, and marvelled that he talked with the wonmw yet no man said,
VVhat seekest thou? or. Why talkest thou with her? 28 The woman then left her
waterpot, and went her way into the city, and saith to the men, 29 Come, see a
man, which told me all things that ever I did. Is not this the Christ? 30 'Men
they went out of the city, and came unto him 31 In the mean while his disciples
prayed him, saying, Master, eat. 32 But he said unto them. I have meat to eat
that ye lmow not of. 33 'Iberefore said the disciples one to another, Hath any
man brought him ought to eat? 34 Jesus saith unto them, My meat Is to do the
will of him that sent me. and to finish his work. 35 Say not ye, There are yet
four months, and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes,
and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest 36 And he that
reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal: that both he
that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together. 37 And herein Is that
saying true. One soweth, and another reapeth. 38 I sent you to reap that whereon
ye bestowed no labour- other men laboured, and ye are entered into their labours.
39 And many of the Samaritans of that city believed on him for the saying of the
woman, which testified, He told me all that ever I did. 40 So when the
Samaritans were come unto him, they besought him that he would tarry with them
and he abode there two days. 41 And many more believed because of his own word;
42 And said unto the woman, Now we believe, not because of thy saying for we
have heard him ourselves, and know that this Is indeed the Christ, the Saviour
of the world.
In chapter three of the gospel of John, just prior to this
report about Jesus and the woman at the well, John is speaking of himself as the
friend of the Bridegroom (John 3:29)Jesus then has a conversation with a
Samaritian woman and their conversation turns to her marital status.
Point blank; Jesus tells this woman what he has not confessed
openly to anyone else! That he is the Messiah. This is similar to Mary later
having the wisdom to anniont his head with oil before his crucifiction; a
knowledge that none of the male apostles knew.
Further; this is the longest discourse by Jesus to another
person in the Gospels. She immediately proceeds to enter in to the Lord's labour
of harvesting souls; And many believed her (John 4:29-42), while the male
apostles are still asking about bread. This is similar to Mary remaining in the
garden seeking the Lord while the others did not and then being the first to say
she found the risen saviour.
The woman speaks of "our father Jacob"; the Samaritians claimed
that they were descended from Joseph, the son of Jacob, by way of Ephraim and
Manasseh. The Jews of course have strenuously denied that Jacob was the father
of the Samaritans. Samaritan women were the only other ethnic group of people a
Jewish priest could choose a wife from. This is a suprising fact due to what it
says about the relation of the Samaritains to the Jews.The well was a gathering
place for women.;the symbol of marriage and woman in the Bible. Abraham, Issac,
Jacob, recieved the first covenant as well as their wives at a well. Moses found
his wife at a well. All these women were distant relatives to the men, very
similar to the relationship between the Jews and The Samaritians. The well and
water is Archetype of woman. Further, this is not only the longest discourse by
Jesus in the Bible; it is also the giving of the second covenant.
The Jews had another way of using the word water. They often
spoke of the thirst of the soul for God. The Rabbis identified this living water
with Wisdom and the Holy Spirit, both female. All Jewish pictorial religious
language was full of the idea of the thirst of the soul which could be quenched
only with this living water which was the gift of God. The promise is that the
chosen people would draw water with joy from the wells of salvation. (Isaiah
12:3) The summons was that every one who was thirsty should come tho the waters
and freely drink. (Isaiah 55:1) It is the Lord who is the fountian of living
water. (Jeremiah 17:13) When Jesus spoke about bringing the water which quenches
thirst forever, he was doing no less than stating that he was the Anointed One
of God who was to bring in the new age. To worship God in spirit and in truth is
the heart of the Gospel; hence, the New Testament, and is the Second Covenant.
We all feel the longing for eternity that God has put in every persons soul.
There is a thirst which only the Holy Spirit can satisfy. This is God speaking
to His Church. The five husbands mentioned make this story not only an incident
but also an allegory. The original people of Samaria were exiled and transported
to Media, people from five other places were brought in. These five different
people brought in their own gods. ( 2 kings 17:29 ) The womans five husbands are
like the five false gods to whom the samaritans, as it were, married themselves.
The sixth husband stands for the true God, but, they worship him not truly, but
in ignorance; and therefore they are not married to him at all. Being married to
God in truth, is the seventh husband; and is Jesus!
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The chief city of Samaria was noted for its towers. Magdalene
means tower of the flock. If Jesus married a Samaritan princess priestess, many
prophicies of the uniting of the north and south kingdoms of Judah and Israel
ascribed to the coming Messiah would be fulfilled. Also in this manner, Jesus
not only fulfills the Hebrew prophicies, but also fulfills the Archetype of the
ancient myths of the mystical years king and queen. Jubilee is seven years and
pagan religions had a annual marraige of priestesses to celebrate the mystical
year.
Jesus, then, was not just a man, nor even a great prophet, but
was the Messiah himself, the Son of God, ( Psalms 45 ) the long awaited divine
savior whose passion and death had inaugurated the world's redemption and the
birth of a new aeon. The Judaic biblical prophecies could now be properly
understood: The Messiah was not a mundane king but a spiritual one, and God's
Kingdom not a political victory for Israel but a divine redemption for humanity,
bringing a new life suffused with God's Spirit. Thus the bitterly disappointing
event of their leader's crucifixion was mysteriously transformed in the minds of
his disciples into the basis for a seemingly unlimited faith in the ultimate
salvation of mankind, and an extraordinarily dynamic impulse to propagate that
faith. Jesus had challenged his fellow Jews to accept God's saving activity in
history, an activity visible in his own person and ministry.
"primitive" Christianity found in the Nag Hammadi scrolls, has
led many to the supposition that the chief disciple of Jesus, as far as Jesus
himself was concerned, was Mary Magdalene, not only his wife and mother of his
children (or child), but also called by him to head a far more feminist church
than what was eventually manifested as "Christianity."
Mary Magdalene is associated in many old paintings and church
iconography with towers partly because the town she's from, "Magdala" or Migdala,"
means "tower" in Hebrew, but of course this has taken on religious connotation
as well, as the watch tower of the faith from which shines the beacon of hope].
Why do you think they ignore the Anointing part of the Anointed
One's story? Surely the Messiah would have to be anointed at least one time in
his
life, or how else could he hold the title? Why in the heck is
this never pointed out to us?
Imagine if they had not ignored it, and if, as it oft appears,
women had held the spiritual center of the new religion. It could be we would be
approaching equality from a far different reality.
This ‘life’ was extremely influential in shaping medieval
devotion to Mary Magdalen. In 1260 Jacobus de Voragine, an Italian dominican,
wrote a standard legendarium, the Legenda Aurea. The genre of these
hagiographical compendia was not new, but the order that Jacobus brought to the
large number of rival vitae and legends that had up to then been haphazardly
available, that order was certainly new. The hunger for storytelling will
certainly have contributed to the great success of this legendarium. In the
Legenda Aurea, as in the other legendaria, elite sources and popular stories are
welded together and theological speculations about Mary Magdalen are reconciled
with popular devotional practices.‘The literary and the iconographic image of
Mary Magdalen’ by R. Baert, Alma Mater Magazine.
“Mary Magdalene has the name Magdalene which was originally a
fortress (Magdalum). She was of noble birth, in fact of royalty. Her father's
name was Syrus, her mother's Eucharia. She, her brother Lazarus and her sister
Martha owned the castle two miles from the Sea Genezareth as well as the village
of Bethany near Jerusalem, plus a considerable part of the city of Jerusalem,
but they distributed their treasures so that Mary Magdalene owned the castle
which also appears in her name while Lazarus owned part of Jerusalem and Martha
Bethany.
When Christ preached in the country she came—by God's
providence—into the house of Simon the leper for she had heard that Christ was
going to eat there. Not daring to sit among the just because she was a sinner
she walked straight up to the Lord, washed His feet with her tears, dried them
with her hair and anointed them, for it was the custom that the people used
ointments for the heat of the sun was great. Simon the Pharisee thought 'If this
were a prophet he would scarcely allow himself to be touched by a sinner.' But
the Lord punished him because of the superficiality of his justice and forgave
the woman for all her sins.”
“This is the Mary Magdalene upon whom God bestowed such great
grace and to whom he made evident so many signs of love. He expelled seven evil
spirits (wraths) from her and inspired in her the love for Him. He made her a
special friend, a great hostess and a help on His road. He excused her at all
times with great love, defended her against the Pharisee who had called her
impure, against her sister who had accused her of idleness, and against Judas
who had called her a spendthrift. And whenever He saw her weeping He wept, too.
The Lord loved her so much that He awakened her brother from death even though
he had been in the grave for four days, and He cured her sister Martha of
hemorrhages that had made her suffer for seven years. Out of love for her He
blessed Martilla, the maiden of her sister that she raised her voice and said
the sweet words of St. Luke 11, 27 'Blessed is the womb that bare thee and the
paps which thou has sucked.' For when Ambrose spoke the hemorrhaging woman was
Martha and the woman who spoke these words was her servant. However, Magdalene
was the woman who washed the Lord's feet with her tears, dried them with her
hair and anointed them with ointment. In the time of grace she did her first
penitence. She elected the best part, she sat at the feet of the Lord to hear
His word, she anointed His head, she stood near the cross when He died, she
prepared the ointment for His corpse, she did not leave the grave when the
disciples did leave the grave. She was the one to whom the Lord appeared first
when He was resurrected and she was the woman whom the Lord made the Apostle of
the Apostles.”
“When our Lord ascended to heaven after His sufferings in the
fourteenth year, when Stephanus had long before been stoned by the Jews and the
other disciples had been expelled from Judea, the disciples went into many lands
in order to spread the word of God. With these apostles was Maximinus, one of
the Lord's seventy--two disciples to whose guardianship St. Peter had commended
Mary Magdalene. When the disciples were scattered St. Maximinus, Mary Magdalene,
her brother Lazarus, her sister Martha with her servant Martilla and Cedonius
(who was born blind but who had been cured by the Lord) and many other
Christians were gathered on a ship by the heathens which was then pushed into
the ocean so that they would all perish. By God's providence, however, they
arrived in Massilia. They found no one who wanted to give them hospitality and
therefore remained in the vestibule of the heathens’ temple.”
The Legenda Aurea then tells us how Mary Magdalene induced a
prince to put them up in his house; how she made it possible for the wife of the
prince to become the mother of a son; how the princely couple made a pilgrimage
to Rome and Jerusalem; how the princess died on the ship while her son was born,
and how the dead princess was returned alive to the prince and his son by the
miraculous help of Mary Magdalene. Then the Legend continues:
“Mary Magdalene desired meditation and went into the forest
wilderness where she lived incognito for thirty years in a place prepared for
her by the hands of angels. In this place there were neither fountains nor trees
nor grass. This indicates that our Lord did not want to sustain her with earthly
food but with heavenly nourishment. Every day she was led to the heavens by the
angels—seven times for the seven hours of prayer—and with her own ears she heard
the chants of the heavenly hosts. And every day she was taken back to earth with
this sweet nourishment so that she never needed earthly food.”
According to this legend Mary Magdalene died in Aix in Southern
France and was buried there by the Bishop Maximinus. Some of her remains later
were taken to the French monastery of Vezelay, the church of which carried her
name. The Legend continues
“In the time of Charlemagne, approximately in 769, there was in
Burgundy a Duke called Gerhard. His wife bore him no son. He therefore gave all
his belongings to the poor and built many churches and monasteries. When he
founded the monastery of Vezelay he and the abbot sent a monk with a worthy
following to Aix and commissioned him to bring the remains of St. Mary Magdalene
to Vezelay. The monk found that Aix had been completely destroyed by the
heathen. However, he found a tomb hewn entirely from marble and the tombstone
indicated that St. Mary Magdalene was buried there, and in fact her history
could be read because it was chiselled into the stone. When night came he opened
the grave, took the remains and brought them to the place where he stayed. And
it was then that Mary Magdalene appeared to him that same night saying to him
that he should not be afraid but should complete the work which he had started.
The monk started home but one mile before he had reached the monastery it seemed
that the remains became so heavy that he could no longer carry them. Then the
abbot with the monks of the monastery appeared in solemn procession and they all
took St. Mary Magdalene's remains to their domicile with the greatest of
honors.”
According to the Legend,the adoration of St. Mary Magdalene in
the French monastery of Vezelay was accompanied by many miracles. She is
supposed to have awakened a dead knight to life, to have aided the sailors, to
have returned vision to a blind pilgrim when he had asked her for help in front
of the church of Vezelay. She is supposed to have released a prisoner from
chains and to have shown the path of virtue to a sinful priest. No wonder, then,
that a Saint so generally worshipped was offered many patronages. The cities of
France in particular, such as Antun, Marseilles and Vezelay, looked upon her as
their patron saint. In fact the whole Provence respects her as such. She is also
the patron of the coiffeurs, gardeners, winegrowers, sawers and weavers. Mothers
turn to her when they pray for their children who find it difficult to learn how
to walk. Above all, of course, she serves as the great model for all sinners
eager to convert to virtue.
The gardener metaphorically is God's son, Adam. Just as Inanna's
descent and the resurrection of Attis took three days, so did that of Jesus,
following on from Jonah: Matt 12:40 "For as Jonas was three days and three
nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three
nights in the heart of the earth." "St Paul says that Christ' descended into the
lower parts of the earth' (Eph. 4:9). St Peter writes that Christ' preached unto
the spirits in prison (1 Pet. 3:19) and also that' the gospel was preached to
them that are dead' (1 Pet. 4:6). The Apostles' Creed states explicitly that
Christ' descended into hell"'
"There is still the question of why it was to her Christ
appeared after his resurrection, and why, if a fundamental part of the Christian
kerygma (preaching) is based on the witness of Mary Magdalene and other women,
its importance and meaning has been played down in the Christian tradition"
Although other information about her is more fantastic, she is
repeatedly portrayed as a visionary and leader of the early movement.( Mark
16:1-9; Matthew 28:1-10; Luke24:1-10; John 20:1, 11-18; Gospel of Peter ). In
the Gospel of John, the risen Jesus gives her special teaching and commissions
her as an apostle to the apostles to bring them the good news. She obeys and is
thus the first to announce the resurrection and to play the role of an apostle,
although the term is not specifically used of her. Later tradition, however,
will herald her as "the apostle to the apostles." The strength of this literary
tradition makes it possible to suggest that historically Mary was a prophetic
visionary and leader within one sector of the early Christian movement after the
death of Jesus. The newly discovered Egyptian writings elaborate this portrait
of Mary as a favored disciple. Her role as "apostle to the apostles" is
frequently explored, especially in considering her faith in contrast to that of
the male disciples who refuse to believe her testimony. She is most often
portrayed in texts that claim to record dialogues of Jesus with his disciples,
both before and after the resurrection. In the Dialogue of the Savior, for
example, Mary is named along with Judas (Thomas) and Matthew in the course of an
extended dialogue with Jesus. During the discussion, Mary addresses several
questions to the Savior as a representative of the disciples as a group. She
thus appears as a prominent member of the disciple group and is the only woman
named. Moreover, in response to a particularly insightful question, the Lord
says of her, "´You make clear the abundance of the revealer!'" (140.17-19). At
another point, after Mary has spoken, the narrator states, "She uttered this as
a woman who had understood completely"(139.11-13). These affirmations make it
clear that Mary is to be counted among the disciples who fully comprehended the
Lord's teaching (142.11-13). In another text, the Sophia of Jesus Christ, Mary
also plays a clear role among those whom Jesus teaches. She is one of the seven
women and twelve men gathered to hear the Savior after the resurrection, but
before his ascension. Of these only five are named and speak, including Mary. At
the end of his discourse, he tells them, "I have given you authority over all
things as children of light," and they go forth in joy to preach the gospel.
Here again Mary is included among those special disciples to whom Jesus
entrusted his most elevated teaching, and she takes a role in the preaching of
the gospel. In the Gospel of Philip, Mary Magdalene is mentioned as one of three
Marys " who always walked with the Lord" and as his companion (59.6-11). The
work also says that Lord loved her more than all the disciples, and used to kiss
her often (63.34-36). The importance of this portrayal is that yet again the
work affirms the special relationship of Mary Magdalene to Jesus based on her
spiritual perfection. In the Pistis Sophia, Mary again is preeminent among them.
The woman who anointed Jesus in the days
before the crucifixion was actually Mary Magdalene, and she was re-enacting an
old fertility ritual called the hieros gamos, or "sacred marriage." In older
sacred marriage rituals, a woman who represented the "goddess" and the land was
wedded to the king. Their union symbolized many things, depending on the time
and place such a ritual was practiced, including the blessing of ongoing
fertility, the rejuvination of the land and the community soul, and the
connection between humans and the Divine. Some of these old ceremonies included
a ritualistic slaying of the king, either symbolically or literally, after he
was married to the priestess/goddess. In the symbolic slayings, he would then
rise again in a mystical resurrection echoing the cycles of death and rebirth
evident in nature. the Gospel accounts of the anointing and the events that
follow reflect hieros gamos-like practices. If Mary Magdalene was the woman who
performed the anointing, she would have been the woman filling the symbolic role
of priestess/goddess, and therefore would have been married to Jesus.
It was Mary Magdalene who anointed Jesus as the Messiah, an
action whose symbolism was lost on the men of the group but that moved our Lord
to say, "Wherever the good news is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has
done will be told in remembrance of her." This sacred anointing was directed by
God; and beware if you as a Christian preach that it was not! It places Mary on
a greater or equal basis with the most noteworthy of Old Testament Prophets.
What right does such a one have to be compared to the high priest. Only the high
priest, the holiest man in Israel, can look behind the veil and then only to see
the type, not the reality. But Mary is enabled to see the reality, the fullness,
the Ark of the Covenant! Don't you see, the tomb is the reality that the Ark of
the Covenant foreshadowed. It is in the tomb, that place of corruption, where
our Lord Christ reigns over death. The Ark had represented the throne of God. So
it is in the tomb where our Lord reigns over death and hell. This is the vision
that is given to Mary. What a love, what an honor and a grace that is put upon
her! That would be enough honor, wouldn't it? Just to see the reality of what
all the priests of Israel had anticipated if in faithfulness they had entered
behind that veil. For Mary to see that would be sufficient honor.
Mary the apostle, prophet, and teacher had become Mary the
repentant whore. This fiction was invented at least in part to undermine her
influence and with it the appeal to her apostolic authority to support women in
roles of leadership
It is clear from the four canonical Gospels that Mary Magdalen
enjoyed special precedence in the community of believers, since she was the
first person to see and speak to Jesus on Easter Sunday, having hurried to his
tomb at first light to perform embalming rites for his dead body. There are
seven lists in the four Gospels that name the women who accompanied Jesus. In
six of the seven, the name of Mary Magdalen is given first--ahead of Mary, the
mother of Jesus, and ahead of the other women mentioned. The Gospel writers,
beginning with Mark, are most likely reflecting the status of the Magdalen in
the Christian community--that of First Lady.
Jesus' lineage and marriage were concealed from all but a select
circle of royalist leaders. To protect the royal bloodline, this marriage would
have been kept secret from the Romans and the Herodian tetrarchs, and after the
crucifixion of Jesus, the protection of his wife and family would have been a
sacred trust for those few who knew their identity. All reference to the
marriage of Jesus would have been deliberately obscured, edited, or eradicated.
Yet the pregnant wife of the anointed Son of David would have been the bearer of
the hope of Israel--the bearer of the Sangraal, the royal bloodline. It is
probable that the original references to Mary Magdalen in the oral tradition,
the "pericopes" of the New Testament, were misunderstood before they were ever
committed to writing. I suspect that the epithet "Magdaleri" was meant to be an
allusion to the "Magdaleder" found in Micah, the promise of the restoration of
Sion following her exile. Perhaps the earliest verbal references attaching the
epithet "Magdala" to Mary of Bethany's name had nothing to do with an obscure
town in Galilee, as is suggested, but were deliberate references to these lines
in Micah, to the "watchtower" or "stronghold" of the Daughter of Sion who was
forced into political exile. The place name Magdal-eder literally means "tower
of the flock," in the sense of a high place used by a shepherd as a vantage
point from which to watch over his sheep. In Hebrew, the epithet Magdala
literally means "tower" or "elevated, great, magnificent.."2 This meaning has
particular relevance if the Mary so named was in fact the wife of the Messiah.
It would have been the Hebrew equivalent of calling her "Mary the Great," while
at the same time referring to the prophesied return of dominion to "the daughter
of Jerusalem" (Mic. 4:8).
Sevens abound in the Bible and
throughout Jewish life. The world was created in seven days, and marriage is a
seven days a week act of creation. There are also seven wedding blessings. The
seven wedding blessings or 'sheva b'rachot' mention the beginning of time in
Eden, when life was wholeness, and the end of days when that wholeness will be
restored. Since Eden the world has been in exile from the experience of
unfragmented existence, an exile that extends from earth to heaven. The Garden
was lost, the Temple destroyed, even God was not whole. Shekhinah, God's
feminine self, wanders the earth, cut off, bereaved. God and Shekinah are
reunited on Sabbath, the day that offers a taste of paradise, as bridegroom and
bride. Both heaven and earth long for redemption from this exile, a restoration
to Edenic harmony to the whole of creation. Since Judaism has no concept of
individual redemption, the wedding provides the whole community with a glimpse
into the blessing of the wholeness that was once and is to come again.
The ancients counted seven planets, thus arranged; the Moon,
Mercury, Venus, the Sun, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. There were seven heavens and
seven spheres of these planets; these corrospond to the seven lamps of the
golden candelabrum in the temple. To return to its source in the Infinite, the
human soul, the ancients held, had to ascend as it had descended, through the
seven spheres. From Egypt and Persia the new Platonists borrowed the idea, and
the Gnostics recieved it from them, that man, in his terrestrial career, is
successively under the influence of the Moon, of Mercury, of Venus, of the Sun,
of Mars, of Jupiter, and of Saturn, until he finally reaches the Elysian Feilds;
an idea again symbolized in the Seven Seals. And circling is thought of as the
way the bride enters the groom's s'ferot; the mystical spheres of his soul that
correspond to the seven lower attributes of God. In the ancient world these
orbits correspond to the seven spheres in the heavens and likewise are reflected
in the seven nether spheres of the sea. The two most famous divisions of the
Heavens, by seven, which is that of the planets, and bv twelve, which is that of
the signs, are found on the religious monuments of all the people of the ancient
world. There is no more striking proof of the universal adoration paid the stars
and constellations,than the arrangement of the Hebrew camp in the Desert, and
the allegory in regard to the twelve Tribes of Israel, Joseph in a dream
associated twelve stars to the patriarchs; and the twelve tribes bore the twelve
signs of the Hebrew zodiac on their standards. Heavenly Hosts" includes not only
the counsellors and emissaries of Jehovah, but also the celestial. luminaries;
and the stars. Seven Heavens, in the East to be animated intelligences,
presiding over human weal and woe, were identified with the more distinctly
impersonated messengers or angels, who execute the Divine Justice and in each of
which were certain Powers that opposed the souls return to Heaven, and often
drove them back to earth, when not sufficiently purified. ( Luke 11:26 ) The
last of these Powers, nearest the luminous abode of souls, was a serpent or
dragon.
Mari is associated with seven nether spirits of the ocean. The
person who anoints Jesus' feet is a 'sinner' reminiscent of the'seven devils'of
Magdalene associated the descent of Inanna: Also the Seven Bridal Orbits and the
Seven deadly sins.
There is another point that needs to be considered. The number
seven in Scripture often refers to completeness. For example, the creation of
the world occurred in six days with God resting upon the seventh. Consequently,
Israel was told to work for six days and to rest on the seventh because this was
the pattern set by creation.
Six days you shall labor and do all your work. But the seventh
day is a sabbath to the LORD your God; you shall not do any work-you, your son
or your daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the alien
resident in your towns. For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea,
and all that is in them, but rested the seventh day; therefore the LORD blessed
the sabbath day and consecrated it (Exodus 20:9-11).
Seven days completes the creation and work week. In the same
manner the reference to the seven Spirit refers to the completeness of the
Person and work of the Holy Spirit
THE MYSTERY OF SEVEN; SEVEN FOR EVIL, SEVEN FOR GOOD
(REVELATIONS 15:1) AND I SAW ANOTHER SIGN IN HEAVEN, GREAT AND
MARVELLOUS, SEVEN ANGELS HAVING THE SEVEN LAST PLAUGES; FOR IN THEM IS FILLED UP
THE WRATH OF GOD.
NOTES: [1] This story is the sixteenth tablet of a series called
the "Evil Demon Series," of which we have an Assyrian with a parallel Sumerian
text. Presumably, therefore, it was a very ancient legend. [2] The Imkhullu
appears also in the Creation Epic. [3] Adad is god of storm, Anu of heaven,
Enlil of storm, Sin of the Moon, Shamash of the Sun, and Ishtar of love and
fruitfulness. The meaning of Massu is unknown; but Ea was long the chief ruler.
[4] The evil gods darken the moon by an eclipse, Shamash helping them by
withdrawing his light from the moon, and Adad by sending cloudy weather. [5] A
name for Ea.
Son of a prince, the gleaming Sin has been sadly darkened in
heaven, His darkening is seen in the heavens, The seven evil gods,
death-dealing, fearless are they, The seven evil gods, like a flood, rush on,
the land they fall upon, do they, Against the land, like a storm, they rise, do
they, Before the gleaming Sin, they set themselves angrily; The mighty Shamash,
Adad the warrior, they brought on their side."
DESCRIPTIONS OF "THE SEVEN"
I Destructive storms and evil winds are they, A storm of evil,
presaging the baneful storm, A storm of evil, forerunner of the baneful storm.
Mighty children, mightv sons are they, Messengers of Namtar are they,
Throne-bearers of Ereshkigal. [1] The flood driving through the land are they.
Seven gods of the wide heavens, Seven gods of the broad earth, Seven robber-gods
are they. Seven gods of universal sway, Seven evil gods, Seven evil demons,
Seven evil and violent demons, Seven in heaven, seven on earth.
SATURN = KRONOS = TIME = DEVOUR = DRAGON = SATURN AS 7 TH SHPERE
= DRAGON GUARDIAN OF SEVENTH SPHERE (Ancient Mythologies)
(MATTHEW 12:22-45) "Then it goes out and brings seven other
spirits even worse".
(REVELATIONS 12:3:) There was a huge red dragon with seven
heads.. Saturn, "The hidden one," so, whatever other aspect this name had, as
applied to the father of the gods, it is to Satan, the Hidden Lord of hell,
ultimately that all came at last to be traced back; for the different myths
about Saturn, when carefully examined, show that he was at once the Devil,
Also.. there are.. The Seven deadly sins...
A Different View of Adam and Eve
William Blake, the Gnostic poet of the early nineteenth century, wrote of the
differences between his view and the mainstream view of holy writ: 'Both read
the Bible day and night; but you read black where I read white." The same words
could have been uttered by Gnostic Christians and their orthodox opponents in
the first three or four centuries A.D.
The orthodox view then regarded most of the Bible, particularly Genesis, as
history with a moral. Adam and Eve were considered to be historical figures, the
literal ancestors of our species. From the story of their transgression,
orthodox teachers deduced specific moral consequences, chiefly the "fall" of the
human race due to original sin. Another consequence was the lowly and morally
ambivalent status of women, who were regarded as Eve's co-conspirators in the
fateful deed of disobedience in paradise. Tertullian, a sworn enemy of the
Gnostics, wrote to the female members of the Christian community thusly:
. . . you are the devil's gateway. . . you are she who persuaded him whom the
devil did not dare attack. . . . Do you not know that you are each an Eve? The
sentence of God on your sex lives on in this age; the guilt, necessarily, lives
on too.
The Gnostic Christians who authored the Nag Hammadi scriptures did not read
Genesis as history with a moral, but as a myth with a meaning. To them, Adam and
Eve were not actual historical figures, but representatives of two intrapsychic
principles within every human being. Adam was the dramatic embodiment of psyche,
or soul, while Eve stood for the pneuma, or spirit. Soul, to the Gnostics, meant
the embodiment of the emotional and thinking functions of the personality, while
spirit represented the human capacity for spiritual consciousness. The former
was the lesser self (the ego of depth psychology), the latter the transcendental
function, or the "higher self," as it is sometimes known. Obviously, Eve, then,
is by nature superior to Adam, rather than his inferior as implied by orthodoxy.
Nowhere is Eve's numinous power more evident than in her role as
Adam's awakener. Adam is in a deep sleep, from which Eve's liberating call
arouses him. While the orthodox version has Eve physically emerge from Adam's
body, the Gnostic rendering has the spiritual principle known as Eve emerging
from the unconscious depths of the somnolent Adam. Before she thus emerges into
liberating consciousness, Eve calls forth to the sleeping Adam in the following
manner, as stated by the Gnostic Apocryphon of John:
I entered into the midst of the dungeon which is the prison of the body. And I
spoke thus: "He who hears, let him arise from the deep sleep." And then he
(Adam) wept and shed tears. After he wiped away his bitter tears he spoke,
asking: "Who is it that calls my name, and whence has this hope come unto me,
while I am in the chains of this prison?" And I spoke thus: "I am the Pronoia of
the pure light; I am the thought of the undefiled spirit. . . . Arise and
remember . . . and follow your root, which is I . . . and beware of the deep
sleep."
In another scripture from the same collection, entitled On the Origin of the
World, we find further amplification of this theme. Here Eve whose mystical name
is Zoe, meaning life, is shown as the daughter and messenger of the Divine
Sophia, the feminine hypostasis of the supreme Godhead:
Sophia sent Zoe, her daughter, who is called "Eve," as an instructor in order
that she might raise up Adam, in whom there is no spiritual soul so that those
whom he could beget might also become vessels of light. When Eve saw her
companion, who was so much like her, in his cast down condition she pitied him,
and she exclaimed: "Adam, live! Rise up upon the earth!" Immediately her words
produced a result for when Adam rose up, right away he opened his eyes. When he
saw her, he said: "You will be called 'mother of the living', because you are
the one who gave me life."
In the same scripture, the creator and his companions whisper to each other
while Adam sleeps: "Let us teach him in his sleep as though she (Eve) came to be
from his rib so that the woman will serve and he will be lord over her." The
demeaning tale of Adam's rib is thus revealed as a propagandistic device
intended to advance an attitude of male superiority. It goes without saying that
such an attitude would have been more difficult among the Gnostics, who held
that man was indebted to woman for bringing him to life and to consciousness.
The Western theologian Paul Tillich interpreted this scripture as the Gnostics
did, declaring that "the Fall" was a symbol for the human situation, not a story
of an event that happened "once upon a time." Tillich said that the Fall
represented "a fall from the state of dreaming innocence" in psychological
terms, an awakening from potentiality to actuality. Tillich's view was that this
"fall" was necessary to the development of humankind.
WHAT HAPPENED TO STEVEN, (ACTS: 6; TO 8; 1-5) LEADER OF THE
SEVEN (FULL OF THE HOLY SPIRIT AND WISDOM (ACTS: 6;3); HAPPENED TO THE ORIGINAL
GODDESS BELIEVING CHURCH; AND PAUL STOOD BY AND CONSENTED ; JUST AS ROME'S
CHRISTIANS WOULD DO WITH THE GODDESS BELIEVING JEWISH CHRISTIAN CHURCH AT THE
DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM, AND AT THE START OF THE INQUISITION IN SOUTHERN FRANCE,
AND CONTINUE TO DO.
The confrontation of Mary with Peter, a scenario also found in
The Gospel of Thomas, Pistis Sophia, and The Gospel of the Egyptians, reflects
some of the tensions in second-century Christianity. Peter and Andrew represent
orthodox positions that deny the validity of esoteric revelation and reject the
authority of women to teach. The Gospel of Mary attacks both of these positions
head-on through its portrayal of Mary Magdalene. She is the Savior's beloved,
possessed of knowledge and teaching superior to that of the public apostolic
tradition. Her superiority is based on vision and private revelation and is
demonstrated in her capacity to strengthen the wavering disciples and turn them
toward the Good.
The Gnostic cosmology held that the Earth is the center of the
universe, surrounded by air and seven concentric heavenly spheres (the moon and
six of the planets). Beyond Saturn, the last of the concentric spheres, resides
Leviathan -- a snake coiled in a single circle, devouring its own tail. Beyond
the spheres which are inhabited by the demonic entities called archons and
beyond Leviathan lies Paradise, with the Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge
of Good and Evil at its center.
The Divine Feminine--Sophia, the Goddess who presides over the
sacred convergence of time and space, destiny and choice, spirit and
nature--stands watch.
Sophia, one of humanity’s oldest deities, is often described as
the Threefold Goddess--the Maiden, Mother, and Crone--who represents three
phases of women’s spiritual power: independence, creativity, and wisdom. It was
Her Divine guidance that was invoked when life-altering decisions were to be
made. Sophia is the archetypal Divine Feminine wisdom of the past brought into
the present to direct and manifest the future.
In the dominant Western religions--Christianity, Judaism, and
Islam--the Divine is exclusively male, served by male prophets and clergy who
interpret the will of a Father/Son God. And biblical dogma is both source of and
reinforcement for the exploitation of the earth and the oppression of
women--from Eve’s responsibility for the "downfall" of humanity to the murderous
Witch craze ordered by Pope Innocent VIII in the Malleus Malifacraum, which
condemns women as tools of the Devil, liars, filled with carnal lust, and in
constant need of male supervision because
"When a woman thinks alone, she thinks evil."
The three biblical religions also share a common transcendental
theology in which God created the world, but is not present in it. Two thousand
years of Western civilization have been built on the conviction that the Divine
is absent from the world in which we live.
In other words it is a theism completely
divorced from pantheism and denying the biblical truth of pan 'en' theism.
This existential separation of
humanity from divinity is the most profound condition of alienation imaginable.
It is a deep wound at the heart of Western culture and it is precisely why our
social crises so precisely parallel the self-destructive behavior of neglected
children, particularly in terms of violence and addictions to alcohol, drugs,
sex, and rampant materialism--all intended but unable to fill our spiritual
emptiness.
But a new vision is emerging, springing from feminism’s
challenge to patriarchal religions. Women will never be completely free as long
as a culture's image of the Divine is exclusively male. At the crossroads, women
have found a home in the ancient religions of the Goddess. Retrieving and recreating the spirituality of their foremothers,
women have rediscovered Sophia.
Perhaps Her greatest gift to us at this crucial moment is Her
role as a shamanic guide through the three realms of divine reality--the
"underworld" of ancestors and spirits (the past or unconscious), the "middle
world" of daily life (the present moment of choice or ego), and the "upper
world" of divinity (our future and our spirituality). Only Sophia has the power
to travel between all three realms of being, and it is She who guides our
collective journey from an underworld of greed, destruction, and death, to a
world of rebirth and divine revelation.
Ancient and modern Goddess religions--particularly that of
Sophia--incorporate shamanic practices that enable us to experience direct,
personal, ecstatic communion with the Divine, to discover the sacred within
ourselves and to see it manifest in the world around us. All of the practices,
the arts of Sophia, are varieties of active meditations conducted in the
presence of nature, enabling us to transform and empower ourselves through our
connection to this sacred source of being. Among these techniques are ritual,
meditation, (similar to prayer), energy raising, dancing, visualization, and
journeying. These are all means of enabling us to experience all aspects of
creation as embodiments of Divine energy, and to experience the interconnection
and oneness of life created by that energy.
The world is a paradise that we have never left. With the
shamanic practices and insights of Old, we can transform our culture by
restoring the lost feminine. Sophia is the magic of the moment--the infinite
made visible in the miracle of life--the Divine presence whose wisdom and magic
await us at the crossroads, guiding our choice.
Mary is linked to ancient Triple Goddesses through much of the
symbolism associated with her. The Protoevangelium of James, which describes
Mary's girlhood, portrays Mary as spinning in the Temple. This links her with
the triple Fates, the three Goddesses known as the Moerae or "Marys" who spun
out the destinies of those on earth. Cyril of Jerusalem, in his Coptic
Discourse, linked the three Marys at the foot of the Cross (Mother Mary, Mary
Magdalene, and Mary Salome) with these same triple Fates. A striking similarity
occurs in Nordic mythology where the three Fates stand at the foot of Odin's
tree of sacrifice. Welsh mythology links Mary with their triple White Goddess,
Brigit. Even today, Mary is called The White Mary
The concept of the Triple Goddess is found in many cultures and
belief systems. In fact, this triple-goddess has appeared in the history of
virtually every known culture around the globe.
As a Maiden (whole unto herself-symbolized by the moon), (The
Seventh Sphere) Saturn appears in our astrological chart for the first time.
Saturn returns to our natal chart when we are around thirty-two years old to
signal the commencement of the second season, Mother (creatix-full moon). And
like the waning of the moon, the third Saturn return occurs around the age of
fifty-five, ushering in the time of the Crone (knower of mysteries). (SEE REV
12;1-9)
In all religions of antiquity the number twelve, which applies
to the twelve signs of the zodiac, are reproduced in all kinds and sorts of
forms. For instance, such are the twelve great gods; the twelve apostles or
Osiris; the twelve apostles of Jesus; the twelve sons of Jacob; the twelve
tribes; the twelve altars of James; the twelve labors of Mars; the twelve
brothers of Arvaux; the twelve gods Consents; the twelve governors in the
Manichean System; the adectyas of the East Indies; the twelve asses of the
Scandinavians; the city of the twelve gates in the Apocalypse; the twelve wards
of the city; the twelve sacred cushions, on which the Creator sits in the
cosmogony of the Japanese; the twelve precious stones of the rational, or the
ornament worn by the high priest of the Jews, etc. The Jews of Syria and Judea
were the direct precursors of Gnosticism; and in their doctrines were ample
oriental elements. These Jews had had with the Orient, at two different periods,
close relations, familiarezing them with the doctrines of Asia, and especially
of Chaldea and Persia. The prophet Daniel was Chief of the college of the Magi
at Babylon.
"Grace and peace to you from him who
is, and who was, and who is to come, and from the seven spirits before his
throne. (Rev 1:4 ) can also be translated ' the sevenfold spirit'.
In Revelations 1:12-15; we see Jesus standing in the midst of
seven golden candlesticks holding seven stars in his hand. Scripture makes it
very clear that these seven candlesticks represent seven church's which Jesus
walks among, and the seven stars the angels of the seven church's which Jesus
holds in his hand. Scripture always refers to the Church in the feminine gender.
The number seven is associated with Christ's Bride!
The ancient Hebrews aligned their calendar reckonings with the
phases of the moon, attributing to each month and its phases with the powers and
teachings of animals, plants, and spirits. But the moon herself was Mari.
Before the calendar measured time, we marked the year by
observing the planets in their stately parade across the night sky. We noted the
tides and the moon's phases and the length of days. We attuned ourselves to the
seasons. We did not grow angry when there was snow in winter or rain in summer.
We recognized that nature is more powerful than we are, and we honored her
strength. Now we live indoors, our lights shine at night; we mark the days and
weeks and seasons on our dayminders and calendars. We have lost the sense of
connection to the currents of time as they flow through our world. In the
process, we have lost our sense of connection to that world. Honoring the lunar
goddess was a daily part of ancient tradition in Ireland and Scotland, where
bowing to the full moon and praising her beauty was a monthly ritual. Even when
we do not see her, the moon still pulls the tides; she pulls as well on our
inner tides, drawing forth .womanly blood as she moves through her own phases.
To honor the moon is to honor the primal connection between womanhood and
nature's feminine force.
She was worshipped by the Semites as Mari-Anath; in consort as
an Elohim, Mari-El. "Is the Moon named Miriam among you?" "The moon has many
names among our poets."
Her blue robe and pearly necklace were classic symbols of Maria
"the Seas", edged with pearly foam.. She appears prophetically as the "water of
life" in Revelation 22:1.
the Latin word for ocean ("mar") is nearly identical to "Mary".
In English we might miss the connection, but in the romance languages of
Spanish, French, or Italian, the connection is obvious. Coincidence?
Notre Dame," is French meaning "Our Lady
Myth is built on metaphor so what is the metaphor of the Jesus
story? What are the similes between this story and other stories and situations
that this group may have wanted to send down the stream of time? Taking this
thought experiment to its logical conclusion we must begin top speculate on what
is similar and metaphorical about the myth. First off there is the metaphor of
the son and the sun. Jesus in Hebrew means Jesse or 'Fire'. Let us -- for a
moment assume that instead of 'son' they are referring to the 'sun'. Then let us
consider the twelve apostles. Do they represent more than just twelve men? For a
moment let us consider that this actually refers to the twelve signs of the
Zodiac. Now for a moment let us consider Jesus' mother Mary. Mary in Hebrew
means sea or seawater, she is also associated with a crescent moon. It is well
known that the moon controls the tides and therefore seawater. Is it possible
that Mary is a metaphor for the moon? So let us consider what we have here. We
have Jesus, or Fire, moves through the twelve men or signs. Just as our sun
moves through the twelve signs of the zodiac. What is the missing astrological
element? The moon of course. And along comes Mary to fill this void. Does this
mean that the story of Jesus, Mary and his band of disciples is the story of
some kind of astrological situation? Is it possible that this is what is
happening -- at least on a metaphorical level? I think so. This is what I mean
by re-thinking these myths in a metaphorical way. This is in no way meant to
denigrate the Christian religion or anyone's belief in Jesus, Mary and the
disciples as real men. The point that is being made is that there are
metaphorical links to this story that are just as important as the human links.
The names, and the numbers of their names, of these people involved in this
story are important. Actually they are too important to be ignored -- for it was
within the names and the numbers inside the structure of these myths that a true
understanding of what they are about can actually occur.
"In Proverbs 9, Wisdom sends out her handmaids to invite
everyone to her feast of wisdom. These seven virgins, inherited perhaps from
Manichaean cosmology, are the assessors of Wisdom. The Middle Ages transformed
them into the daughters of Sophia, the Sophianic examining board of the Seven
Liberal Arts. It was the English cleric Alcuin (735-804) who associated Wisdom's
house with seven pillars as analogous to the Seven Liberal Arts. These consisted
of the trivium: Rhetoric; Dialectic (logical thought) and Grammar, and the
quadrivium; Music; Arithmetic; Astronomy and Geometry. These formed the basis
for Western academic education up until the sixteenth century. These handmaidens
of Sophia are depicted on the right hand doorway of the Portail Royal at
Chartres. The central image is of the Black Virgin, copied from the original
pagan statue in the crypt, for according to Albert the Great (1200-1280), Mary
herself was the possessor of the Seven Liberal Arts. As Black Virgin of Wisdom,
Mary is surrounded by seven female figures representing the Liberal Arts who are
accompanied by seven historical exponents of each art: This is the Classical
Klimax Heptapulos, the seven-fold ladder which underlay the Mysteries of Mithras,
and the many Gnostic sects, elements of which passed into alchemical usage. The
purification of the soul through the seven planetary experiences was common to
many cultures and traditions. This spiritual journey became a mundane study; an
ascent through the seven academic studies necessary for complete wisdom."
The concept of the Triple Goddess associated with the Seventh
Spheres found in the Virgin Mother can be seen in our Lady of Sorrows
Mary has been worshiped as Our Lady of Sorrows since or before
the 3rd Century although the Catholic Church did not formalize this as one of
Mary's titles until the 14th Century. The Church has formally recognized The
Seven Sorrows of Mary as: 1. The prophecy of Simeon that her heart would be
pierced with swords (Luke 2:34-35); 2. The Flight into Egypt when her infant
son's life was threatened by Herod (Matthew 2:13-21); 3. The Loss of Jesus for
Three Days when he was a twelve-year-old boy (Luke 2:41-50); 4. Jesus' Ascent to
Calvary bearing the cross (John 19:17); 5. The Crucifixion and Death of Jesus
(John 19:18-30); 6. Jesus Taken Down from the Cross (John 19:39-40); 7. Jesus
Laid in the Tomb (John 19:39-42). However, people (especially women) around the
world throughout the ages have been happy to share their sorrow with Mary and to
identify their sorrow with hers.
Then there is the possibility that
Mary was a harlot of sorts in that she was a Samaritan who had been married to
other men and was currently living with a man outside of marriage when she meet
Jesus. This could easily be associated with seven devils to the Hebrews. If
Jesus married such a woman it would be enough to send Judas to the high priest
and good reason not to include it in the gospel stories. But it is exactly what
God was saying throughout the Old Testament about his relationship with City
Zion. This is illustrated in the book of Amos where God commands Hosea to take a
harlot for his wife.
A portion of The Gospel of Mary Magdalene describes a soul's
journey after death and the challenges it overcomes. These passages are much
like The Tibetan Book of the Dead which reveals the Peaceful and Wrathful
Dieties a soul encounters during its journey after it has separated from the
body at death. This is very similiar to this portion of the Gospel of Mary
Magdalene, " When the soul had overcome the third power, it went upwards and saw
the fourth power, (which) took seven forms. The first form is darkness, the
second desire, the third ignorance, the fourth is the excitement of death, the
fifth is the kingdom of the flesh, the sixth is the foolish wisdom of flesh, the
seventh is the wrathful wisdom. These are the seven {powers} of wrath."
Seven in reference to Mary Magdalene means that rather then
being just a lost nobody once riddled with demons; She is at once both the
historically fallen and now redeemed Church (Bride), without spot or blemish and
in fact complete in perfection and full of grace, she is Apostle to the Apostles
and the true Bride!She is Queen!
Wisdom hath builded Her house, she hath hewn out her seven
pillars. PROV 9:1 CHRIST CASTS OUT THE SEVEN DEMONS OF ISRAEL(THE PHARISEES) BY
WISDOM/WOMAN AND CASTS OUT THE SEVEN DEVILS FROM THE CHURCH/WOMAN (LUKE 8:2) If
Jesus cast out the seven unclean spirits then the one unclean spirit is cast
out, hence this is a statement of Mary's attaining to a pure state.(MATTHEW
12:22-45, LUKE11;26)
MARY TRANSCENDS THE SEVEN SPHERES TO PERFECTION THROUGH
CHRIST/SOPHIA (filled with wisdom and grace (MARY HAS CHOSEN THE BETTER PART;
LUKE 10:42, PROVERBS 9:1)) THROUGH THE SEVEN BRIDAL ORBITS (Matthew: 26;13,
Mark: 14;9 John 12;3) OF THE S'FEROT OR MYSTICAL SHPERES OF THE SOUL THAT
CORRESPOND TO THE SEVEN ATTRIBUTES OF GOD. (JEREMIAH 31:22)
ALSO SEVEN IS USED IN REFERENCE TO BRIDES OR GROOMS
The Seven Spirits of God
The interpretation of the "seven Spirits" in the book of
Revelation is a reference to the Holy Spirit. John refers to the "seven Spirits"
in Revelation 1:4; 3:1; 4:5 and 5:6. The Jews "talked of the seven angels of the
presence," 1 Enoch 90:21. John refers to seven angels of the seven churches
(1:20). The reference to the "seven Spirits" is a reference to seven holy angels
before the throne of God. Since seven is often used as a number of completion,
or perfection, in the Bible (and in the book of Revelation in particular) it is
thought that the "seven" churches are representative of all churches, each of
which has a share in God's Holy Spirit in order to carry out its ministry to the
world.
Isaiah 11:2. The Greek translation of this verse in the
Septuagint reads: "The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him, the spirit of
wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of
knowledge and piety; by this spirit He shall be filled with the fear of God." In
this view, the "seven Spirits" of Revelation refer to this sevenfold ministry of
the Holy Spirit, particularly evidenced in the life of Jesus.
The Seven Archangels In postbiblical Judaism -- especially in
apocalyptic literature, which describes God's dramatic intervention in history
-- seven angels, sometimes called archangels, lead the heavenly hosts that in
the Talmud (an authoritative compendium of Jewish law, lore, and commentary) are
viewed as countless. These seven, noted in the noncanonical First Book of Enoch
(chapter 20), are: Uriel (leader of the heavenly hosts and guardian of sheol,
the underworld); Raphael (guardian of human spirits); Raguel (avenger of God
against the world of lights); Michael (guardian of Israel); Sariel (avenger of
the spirits, "who sin in the spirit"); Gabriel (ruler of paradise, the seraphim,
and the cherubim); and Remiel, also called Jeremiel (guardian of the souls in
sheol). Of these, two (Michael and Gabriel) are mentioned in the Old Testament
and two others (Raphael and Uriel) in the Apocrypha, a collection of
noncanonical works...
REVELATIONS 8:1 WHEN THE LAMB BROKE OPEN THE SEVENTH SEAL THERE
WAS SILENCE IN HEAVEN FOR ABOUT HALF AN HOUR. THEN I SAW THE SEVEN ANGELS WHO
STAND BEFORE GOD, AND THEY WERE GIVEN SEVEN TRUMPETS.
THE SEVEN SORROWS OF MARY (PROVERBS: 9;1 WISDOM HAS BUILT HER
HOUSE, SHE HAS HEWN OUT HER SEVEN PILLARS;
REVELATIONS 1:20 "AS FOR THE MYSTERY OF THE SEVEN STARS WHICH
YOU SAW IN MY RIGHT HAND, AND THE SEVEN GOLDEN LAMPSTANDS: THE SEVEN STARS ARE
THE SEVEN ANGELS OF THE SEVEN CHURCHES, AND THE SEEN LAMPSTANDS ARE THE SEVEN
CHURCHES.
Revelation 1:4 John to the seven churches which are in Asia:
Grace be unto you, and peace, from him which is, and which was, and which is to
come; and from the seven Spirits which are before his throne;
5 And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the
first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him
that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood,
6 And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to
him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.
Revelation 3:1 And unto the angel of the church in Sardis write;
These things saith he that hath the seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars;
Revelation 4:2 And immediately I was in the spirit: and, behold,
a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne.
3 And he that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine
stone: and there was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an
emerald.
4 And round about the throne were four and twenty seats: and
upon the seats I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment;
and they had on their heads crowns of gold.
5 And out of the throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings and
voices: and there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are
the seven Spirits of God.
Revelation 5:6 And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne
and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had
been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of
God sent forth into all the earth.
LUKE 17:4 "AND IF HE SINS AGAINST YOU SEVEN TIMES A DAY AND
RETURNS TO YOU SEVEN TIMES, SAYING, 'I REPENT,' FORGIVE HIM."
THE SECRET OF SABBATH
The Secret of Sabbath: She is Sabbath! United in the secret of
One to draw down upon Her the secret of One. The prayer for the entrance of
Sabbath: The holy Throne of Glory is united in the secret of One, prepared for
the High Holy King to rest upon Her. When Sabbath enters She is alone, separated
from the Other Side, all judgments removed from Her. Basking in the oneness of
holy light, She is crowned over and over to face the Holy King. All powers of
wrath and masters of judgment flee from Her. Her face shines with a light from
beyond; She is crowned below by the holy people, and all of them are crowned
with new souls. Then the beginning of prayer to bless Her with joy and beaming
faces: Barekbu ET YHVH* ha-Mevorakh, "Bless ET YHVH, the-Blessed One," ET YHVH,
blessing Her first.
Revelation talks about the seven Spirits of God in four places.
These are found in Rev.1:4, 3:1, 4:5, and in 5:6. One of the places it speaks of
the Seven Spirits is in the 4th Chapter the 5th verse. tells us that the seven
lamps of fire burning before the throne are the seven Spirits of God. Then in
the 5th chapter the 6th verse the seven horns and seven eyes on Jesus, who is
portrayed as a lamb, are the seven Spirits of God.
God is referred to as a Spirit many times in the Old Testament.
The power of God to replicate himself as Seven Spirits or Eyes that "go forth
into the Earth" as stated in Rev 5:6 (the last mention of the 7 Spirits) comes
straight from the Book of Zechariah ...
"This is The Word of the LORD to Zerub'babel ... Not by might,
nor by Power, but by my Spirit, says the LORD of Hosts ... These Seven are the
Eyes of the LORD, which range through the whole earth" (Zech 4:6,10). Seven
spirits = seven lamps = seven eyes. The only other biblical text where seven
lamps, seven eyes and the Spirit are connected is Zechariah 4! Revelation 11
provides evidence that John knows this passage and has appropriated the
symbolism of the two olive trees. This strengthens the consideration that John
might be alluding to Zechariah 4 when he mentions the seven spirits. What is
John's description of the Holy Spirit as seven spirits trying to tell us? First
of all, seven is the number of fullness in Scripture. Thus, John may be
referring to the fullness of the Spirit at work. But he actually wants to say
more than that. He wants to lead his readers to consider Zechariah 4 as the
proper context for the understanding of their current situation. Zechariah 4 is
well-known to many readers because of the famous quote: "not by might, nor by
power but by my Spirit" (v. 6).
7 GIFTS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
Isaiah 11:2: And the spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the
spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit
of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD;
Isaiah 11:2 - Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit: Wisdom,
Understanding, Counsel, Fortitude, Knowledge, Piety and Fear of the Lord.
1st Cor 12:8 - Wisdom, Knowledge, Faith, Healing, Miraculous
Powers, Prophecy, Discernment, Tongues and Interpretation of Tongues.
Proverbs 8:12 I wisdom dwell with prudence, and find out
knowledge of witty inventions.
13 The fear of the LORD is to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy,
and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate.
14 Counsel is mine, and sound wisdom: I am understanding; I have
strength.
15 By me kings reign, and princes decree justice.
16 By me princes rule, and nobles, even all the judges of the
earth.
Isaiah 11:2 And the spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the
spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit
of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD;
3 And shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the
LORD: and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after
the hearing of his ears:
4 But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove
with equity for the meek of the earth: and he shall smite the earth: with the
rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked.
other biblical references also include : the spirit of grace,
the spirit of supplications, the spirit of judgment, the spirit of holiness, the
Spirit of adoption, the spirit of meekness, the spirit of faith, the spirit of
power, the spirit of love, the spirit of a sound mind, the spirit of glory, the
spirit of truth, the spirit of prophecy.
These are the seven facets or manifestations of the Holy Spirit
in the believer's life:
1. The Spirit of Justification: "...you were justified in the
name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God." We are all justified
because of God's grace and by our faith, and it is the Spirit of God who draws
us and empowers us to acknowledge Jesus as our Lord and Savior (1 Corinthians
12:3). This is the first work of the Spirit when one is born again.
2. The Spirit of Sanctification: 2 Thessalonians 2:13, "...God
from the beginning chose you for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit
and belief in the truth." Sanctification is the process of God's grace by which
the believer is separated from sin, purified by life lived in the Spirit.
(Galatians 5:16, 25 and Romans 8:1-14) The fruit of the Spirit will begin to
manifest as we yield to the process of sanctification.
3. The Spirit of Life: Romans 8:2, "For the law of the Spirit of
life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death." This is
the Spirit of adoption (Romans 8:15) which makes us the sons of God (Romans
8:16-19). We can now live in the resurrection power of Christ where the
operation of the gifts of the Spirit cause our lives to become supernatural. The
Spirit will give life to our mortal bodies. Healing and strength will come into
our bodies of flesh (Romans 8:11) as well as giving us a glorified body in that
day.
4. The Spirit of Truth: John 14:17 "The Spirit of truth, whom
the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you
know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you." The truth will set us
free. The truth will bring revelation knowledge as we are taught by the Holy
Spirit. The Spirit of truth will reveal Jesus to us (John 15:26). Vision will be
given to lead us into all truth and reveal the kingdom to us. Deception will be
removed, and the lies destroyed.
5. The Spirit of Wisdom: Ephesians 1:17, "That the God of our
Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and
revelation in the knowledge of Him." Not only will the Spirit give us a
knowledge of Jesus, but it will give us insight into His mind and what He is
doing (1 Corinthians 2:6-16). The Holy Spirit is our teacher (John 14:26).
6. The Spirit of Deliverance: Matthew 12:28 "But if I cast out
demons by the Spirit of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you." It is
by the power of the Holy Spirit that we are delivered from sin and by that same
Spirit demons are cast out and the powers of darkness are defeated.
7. The Spirit of Prayer: Romans 8:26, "Likewise the Spirit also
helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought,
but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be
uttered." Ephesians 6:18 tells us that all prayer should be done in the Spirit.
Seven Spirits of the Lord – Expressions of the Anointing Isaiah
11 1There shall come forth a Rod from the stem of Jesse, And a Branch shall grow
out of his roots. 2The Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon Him, The Spirit of
wisdom and understanding, The Spirit of counsel and might, The Spirit of
knowledge and of the fear of the LORD. A branch shall grow out of his roots.
Spirit of the Lord (1) Spirit of wisdom (2) and understanding (3) Spirit of
counsel (4) and might (5) Spirit of knowledge (6) and fear of the Lord (7) 7
Spirits of God: Revelation 1 4 John, to the seven churches which are in Asia:
Grace to you and peace from Him who is and who was and who is to come, and from
the seven Spirits who are before His throne... Revelation 4 5And from the throne
proceeded lightnings, thunderings, and voices. Seven lamps of fire were burning
before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God. These seven spirits of
God describe the different kinds of expression of the anointing. We as
believers, who have the anointing upon us by the Spirit of God, should be
expressing that anointing in all of these ways. As described in John 7:38, there
are different rivers of the anointing that flow out from us, represented by the
spirits of God which flow out from the throne of God. We need to let each of
these expressions flow out of our lives to others: Spirit of the LORD The breath
of life of the LORD. Represents the total authority and rule of God, and the
very life of God, the essence of who God is. We need to express God and pour out
the life of God by the anointing, with the authority he has given us Wisdom An
ability to discern by the Spirit of God. An understanding of the right course of
action. Skill in carrying that action out. We can discern the ways of God and
the actions He desires and perform them with His skill. Understanding A thorough
acquaintance with the ways of God. Expertness in the practice of God’s works. We
can be totally familiar with the way God operates and be able to cooperate
expertly in that operation because we know it and are familiar with it. Counsel
Having consulted with God, knowing His plan of action, and having the ability to
give right advice to others concerning it. We can, by the anointing, be so
thoroughly understanding of God’s character and ways, that we can correctly
instruct and advise others on plans of action. We also can receive God’s counsel
on issues in our own lives. Might Strength, boldness, intensity, energy. The
power, authority, and resources of God. Also, skill in battle. Believers by the
anointing have as a tool of the Spirit the might of God to accomplish God’s
desires. The Holy Ghost is a man of war, and believers can be skilful in
spiritual battle, exercising the might of the Spirit. Knowledge Knowledge,
perception, skill. Knowing God and His ways with familiarity gained through
experience. We as anointed believers can know the things and secrets of God. We
can have an intimate, familiar knowing of Him through His word and by His
Spirit. Fear of the LORD Awesome respect and reverence of the person of God. We
as believers by the anointing will develop a profound adoring awed respect for
God, and instill that in others through the expression of the anointing Make him
of quick understanding Isaiah 11: 3And shall make him of quick understanding in
the fear of the LORD: and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes,
neither reprove after the hearing of his ears: 4But with righteousness shall he
judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: and he shall
smite the earth: with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips
shall he slay the wicked. A. Quickens the mind by the anointing By the anointing
our minds are made sharp and discerning B. Not judge after eyes By the anointing
we will be able to rightly judge and discern with God’s wisdom, even when the
facts are difficult or deceptive. C. Not reproving after hearing of the ears By
the anointing we can lovingly correct, not being judgmental or critical from
what we’ve heard from others, but knowing God’s heart for each person. D. With
righteousness shall he judge the poor By the anointing we will have a right
attitude toward those experiencing hardship. E. Reprove with equity By the
anointing we will be able to discern and act according to God’s law of justice,
free from bias or favoritism of the flesh – judging rightly with the mind of
God. D. Seeing and Hearing by the Spirit John 5 30I can of Myself do nothing. As
I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will
but the will of the Father who sent Me. Jesus did not go by what he heard and
saw in the natural (Isaiah 11:3). He was motivated and supplied by the anointing
to know what God desired to do, desire to do it, and carry out that work
effectively in the power of God. He heard and saw what God wanted to do, and did
it. So should we. We need to exercise the seeing of the Spirit, and the hearing
of the Spirit, in our lives. We can hear from God, know what He wants to do,
know how He wants us to do it, and be confident to carry it out. E. Feeling the
Anointing John 8 48 Then the Jews answered and said to Him, "Do we not say
rightly that You are a Samaritan and have a demon?" These Jews had no feeling
for the anointing – they could not even tell the difference between the Spirit
of God and the devil. We can feel after the anointing, and know and discern the
presence and the direction of God. As a result of the anointing: Isaiah 11
5Righteousness shall be the belt of His loins, and faithfulness the belt of His
waist. As a result of the anointing, we will live lives that are right before
God. We will be faithful to all His desires and ways. We will be Spirit-filled
and Spirit-taught! We can express the anointing of God in every one of these
areas!
The Seven Healings We hear in the Gospels about many healings,
indeed, of crowds of the sick and needy gathering to receive Jesus' healing
touch or glance.(2) Only with Mary Magdalene do we hear of seven demons ejected
from one person. Usually people have concluded, "She sinned more deeply, so she
had more demons to eject." We have a different point of view. The number seven
gives the clue. Since ancient times, spiritual science has understood that human
beings have seven energy centers through the body. These "wheels of energy" are
called "chakras" in Sanskrit. One can trace this understanding from the earliest
teachings in India, into the cultures of Babylon and Assyria, then into the
culture of Egypt. From thence, it came through the traditions of the Hebrews --
one can see many references to the seven-fold structure of spiritual worlds in
Hebrew scriptures and thought, which they picked up from their captivities in
Babylon and Egypt.(3) "Wisdom (Sophia) has built her house; she has hewn her
seven pillars" (Proverbs 9) refers directly to the seven-fold foundations of our
being. Today this awareness is the focus of the spiritual science of various
healers who work with the seven chakras and seven levels.(4) You can see this
notion of the seven levels in the Hebrew menorah, where the six arms of the
candle-holders come up and around the central light of spirit. The fact that
Mary Magdalene was released of seven devils makes her unique in Christian lore.
Yet, how was this fact dealt with? With suspicion, fear, and scorn. The stigmata
of her past -- having had seven devils in her -- became more important than her
cleansed state. And she seemed to gather up the sins of other women named in the
Bible, i.e., Luke's 'sinner' and the woman accused of adultery. Around the year
600, Pope Gregory "the Great" declared that Mary Magdalene was the same as the
unnamed prostitute in the Bible, therefore one ought to hold her as the penitent
whore. In his Homily 33, similar to the Executive Orders used by Presidents to
define policy, he stated: She whom Luke calls the sinful woman, whom John calls
Mary, we believe to be the Mary from whom seven devils were ejected according to
Mark. And what did these seven devils signify, if not all the vices?... It is
clear, brothers, that the woman previously used the unguent to perfume her flesh
in forbidden acts.(5) In this he designated Mary Magdalene the whore, which he
amended to become the "penitent whore," the woman in tears seeking forgiveness
for her sins. This designation has shrouded her in a cloak of shame, and kept
her wisdom hidden from us. However, a strong case can be made about the value
her "repentance" has had through the centuries in inspiring women (and men) to
find hope when they were truly down and out. Note that the Greek word
interpreted as "sinner" in this Gospel was "harmartolos". It can be translated
to mean one who has transgressed or placed herself outside the law-or quite
simply, one who was not Jewish. And it was used in that manner elsewhere in the
scriptures. The word itself does not imply a street walker or a prostitute. One
of the first big realizations to occur when researching this story is that there
is no direct reference anywhere in the Bible to Magdalene as a prostitute. Only
in 1969 did the Catholic Church officially repeal Gregory's labeling as "whore,"
admitting their error, though Mary Magdalene as the penitent whore has remained
in public teachings of all Christian sects. Like a small error notice in the
back pages of a newspaper, the Church's correction goes unnoticed, while the
initial and incorrect article continues to influence the readers. But let us
remember that she was healed by Jesus Christ of the seven demons, the aspects
that cloud our vision and energy at each of our seven centers. Presumably, she
no longer had the seven deadly sins -- pride, lust, envy, anger, covetousness,
gluttony, and sloth. In their place she had the corresponding virtues.(6) She
had cleared the way for "the seven virgins of light."(7) This purification makes
her the most thoroughly sanctified person mentioned in the New Testament.
Imagine this for a moment: completely cleansed of prejudice and old grudges,
fogs of illusion, hereditary obstacles to health, all desires.... If she had
tears after these healings it was because she could now truly see the spiritual
truth that worked in all things. She could see the barbarity of other human
beings, as well as the transcendent beauty of Jesus Christ's healings and
teachings. In modern terms, her "heart was open." Mary's elevated state may
explain why she took on such a strong role in the early century texts of the Nag
Hammadi library, the Dead Sea Scrolls, and the Pistis Sophia. The latter text
was found in Egypt, where the secret teachings of Mary Magdalene took refuge
from the political decisions being made about the form of the Christian Church.
According to that doctrine, in the forty-days teaching after the resurrection,
Magdalene took the lead in the conversations with the risen Christ. Indeed, at
one point, she alone follows Christ's questions, while the others have fallen
into a stupor, overwhelmed by the power of the spiritual teachings being given.
There exists a remarkable similarity between Ancient Egyptian theology and the
text of the Pistis Sophia. Perhaps there is more to the mystery of her identity
than meets the eye. The alabaster jar and the anointing of Jesus' head and feet
"As he sat at table, a woman came with an alabaster jar of very expensive
perfume, made of pure nard. She broke it open and poured the perfume on his
head." (Mark 14:3) Our naïve reporter would look at this scene and might wonder,
"How is it that someone whose audience is sought by so many lets this woman into
his presence? What is she doing? Oh well, he teaches about sinning, so let's go
on to the next words of Jesus." Yet in this act, Mary Magdalene shows much about
her identity. The first key has to do with the substance alabaster. These
vessels were carved from a soft form of calcium carbonate from old ocean
deposits. Typically white and partly translucent, these jars were costly, as it
takes time to carve the interior of a stone jar. They were used in the funerary
rites of Egypt for hundreds of years to carry unguents as well as the organs of
the high priests and royalty. The Gospel of Thomas supplements that of Mark to
help fill in some of the blanks. Jesus Christ makes it very clear that, in this
act of anointing, Mary Magdalene "helps prepare me for my burial."(8) From this
we begin to see a pattern emerge -- an integration with the funerary practices
that had become highly developed in Egypt, especially in the mystery centers of
Heliopolis and Alexandria, which were quite active at the time of Jesus Christ.
[Recall he had spent his childhood in Egypt, and some say he studied in
Heliopolis.(9)] There was then a science of anointing with special substances to
assist the spirits of true kings to pass through the seven veils of death to the
Father-Ground. Indeed, these included seven (and sometimes fourteen, or twice
seven) ointments to assist in this transition. In the case of Mary Magdalene, we
see in the surviving gospels only two of these, once at Simeon's house and also
what she carries to the tomb on the morning of Resurrection. How can it be that
Christians have ignored the fact that the word "Christ" means "anointed one,"
and have pushed the female minister of this rite into a dark corner?
Interestingly, in Mark 14:9, Jesus remarks, "Verily I say unto you, wheresoever
this gospel shall be preached throughout the whole world, what she has done here
will be told in remembrance of her." How is it that all Christians do not hold
and revere this memorial, so clearly marked by their Teacher? Why do most people
know her as the reformed prostitute, rather than for her deep understanding of
the thresholds of the spirit world? And the following question must also rise to
the surface: By what authority did she have the right to anoint him? Modern
Christians will find it strange to consider that Mary Magdalene may have acted
within the tradition of the priestesses of Isis, who for centuries had assisted
in the passages from spirit into life through birth and back into spirit through
death. Might the gold, frankincense, and myrrh brought to Jesus' birth have come
from this tradition? Might the spikenard have been one of these substances meant
to smooth the transition to death? The Isis tradition was alive and well at this
time in Palestine, as was that of the Hebrew forms of the divine feminine, in
the form of Asherah and Ishtar.(10) Look also at the importance of healing oil
in modern Christian practice, which picks up on the older traditions which have
funneled through it. Jesus Christ taught how to make and use these oils, and
this continues today in various denominations of Christianity.(11) Oils are well
known to receive and carry the impress of special aromas, and, in the case of
healing oils, the impress of healing thoughts
The concept of the Triple Goddess associated with the Seventh
Spheres found in the Virgin Mother can be seen in our Lady of Sorrows
Mary is equivalent to the Virgin daughter of the Father, in
other words, the Higher Sophia. The other aspect is the Lower Sophia or redeemed
prostitute/sister as embodied by Mary Magdalen, the beloved disciple.
Mary has been worshiped as Our Lady of Sorrows since or before
the 3rd Century although the Catholic Church did not formalize this as one of
Mary's titles until the 14th Century. The Church has formally recognized The
Seven Sorrows of Mary as: 1. The prophecy of Simeon that her heart would be
pierced with swords (Luke 2:34-35); 2. The Flight into Egypt when her infant
son's life was threatened by Herod (Matthew 2:13-21); 3. The Loss of Jesus for
Three Days when he was a twelve-year-old boy (Luke 2:41-50); 4. Jesus' Ascent to
Calvary bearing the cross (John 19:17); 5. The Crucifixion and Death of Jesus
(John 19:18-30); 6. Jesus Taken Down from the Cross (John 19:39-40); 7. Jesus
Laid in the Tomb (John 19:39-42). However, people (especially women) around the
world throughout the ages have been happy to share their sorrow with Mary and to
identify their sorrow with hers.
Seven in reference to Mary Magdalene means that rather then
being just a lost nobody once riddled with demons; She is at once both the
historically fallen and now redeemed Church (Bride), without spot or blemish and
in fact complete in perfection and full of grace, she is Apostle to the Apostles
and the true Bride! She is Queen!
Let's consider how God made the first woman for the first Adam.
This account will tell us something about how God will provide a bride for the
last Adam, for Jesus. So how does the Father make the bride? What is the wisdom
of God in creating the woman? He takes Adam, who has been made perfect and whole
and brings upon him a profound, a deep sleep, a deathlike sleep. Although Adam
is still innocent, he has committed no crime, he's broken no law, he is
innocent, nonetheless in his innocence he is wounded by Father God. Father God
pierces his side and takes from his side that substance with which He creates
the bride of Adam's delight. He creates the woman in all of her loveliness and
purity and perfection. Then He heals Adam of his wounding, and awakens him to
behold his bride in all of her beauty and innocence and loveliness. That is the
wisdom of God in creating the woman for man. And in doing that in Eden, Father
God was showing His Son in glory, the Son destined to become a man how He would
provide a bride for Him. And how does He do that? John tells us that Father God
brought the New Adam to a cross. And this New Adam too was innocent, yet He too
must be wounded. And Jesus too had to endure the sleep of death and a fearful
wounding. And so He willingly surrendered Himself. He knowingly bowed His head
in death, lowered His head in death, knowing that after Father God had brought
upon Him the sleep of death, His side too must be opened. And out of that
wounding will come the water and the blood. Father God will take the blood for
the bride's purchase. The water will be for her purity. And God will fashion a
community that will be the bride of Christ from the wounding of His innocent
Son. And so God will put His Son into a garden again. And He will heal His Son
of His wounding. And then He will raise Jesus, the New Adam, to life again in a
garden. The first Adam made a garden into a grave but this Adam will make the
grave into a garden. And so all of heaven is saying on resurrection morning,
"Who is she that will be chosen by Father God to represent the new Eve? Who is
the one who for beauty and for purity can represent Eve as a type and an
anti-type? Who is it that Father God in His wisdom will select to represent Eve
in all of her purity, one made suitable for the New Adam in all His glory? And
when the Lord awakens from death, His side, having been healed so that his bride
like Eve can recognize Him by His scar, when Jesus awakens from death and comes
forth from the earth like Adam of old, the woman that He sees, the one selected
to represent the bride of Christ, the new Eve, is Mary Magdalene. And Jesus
calls her by that glorious name that Adam had used of Eve when he first saw her.
"She shall be called woman," said Adam. And Jesus says, "Woman, why do you
weep?" And Mary recognizes Jesus when He calls her by name. And she embraces him
and wants to cleave unto him, but it is not yet the appointed time. Our Lord
Christ will respect all of the provisions of the law. It is not His wedding day.
And it is a spiritual marriage to the entire body of the elect to which He has
been given. He looks ahead to that day yet future when all of us have been
cleansed of our defilements and, as one great body, one glorious bride, we with
Mary will be given by Father God to the hand of His beloved Son, to the nail
pierced hand, of our precious Lord. That is the second portrait of Mary,
according to the evangelist. Mary is a new Eve. The evangelist has already shown
us how Mary is like the high priest by the way the evangelist frames his gospel.
Mary is the one who is like the high priest. He likewise frames her portrait
again, and she is like the new Eve, like Eve before the fall. Her virginity and
her purity have been restored to her, don't you see? In the natural that would
be impossible. But the God of the supernatural can accomplish the impossible.
What an amazing portrait, two amazing portraits actually, of Mary Magdalene and
her role in the history of redemption! But the evangelists' picture of Mary is
still not yet finished. There are other frames to show you how they regarded
Mary Magdalene. This morning I only have time to share one of them, one final
frame. One other picture of Mary Magdalene! And what is that? God in His
providence had ordained that the birth of our Lord would pre-figure His
resurrection. At the resurrection, at our
Lord's new birth, He comes forth from a tomb where "no man had lain." It is a
"virgin" tomb. Jesus had been wrapped in the cloth bands of death, the linen
wrappings of burial, having received the bloody wound of the cross. This time it
is the women who bring Him spices. Our Lord had said to the disciples, "When you
see this happening, you will lament and weep like a woman when her labor comes
upon her. But then of a sudden your weeping will be turned to joy for delight
that a boy is born into the world." That's how our Lord described the sorrow and
joy that would attend His death and resurrection. What is the picture at the
garden tomb? Consider the account of the tomb on resurrection morning. There are
angels announcing good news to men. Here is Christ coming forth from the virgin
tomb, laying aside His grave clothes. It is a story of Joseph of Arimathea, most
particularly, and of Mary Magdalene. And Mary is bringing spices. And Mary comes
in great sorrow. She comes with many tears and with anguish of soul. But then
the word of the angels comes to Mary, "Mary, He has no need of spices, and you
have no need of tears!" Mary's great sorrow suddenly turns to great joy when she
sees her Lord, when she sees her precious Jesus given to her. What a redemption!
The Magdalene is the new Mary of Nazareth! Three pictures! These are but three
of the pictures drawn by our evangelists to show us various aspects of the role
of Mary in the history of redemption. Mary Magdalene is given the honor of the
high priest of Israel. That is her place and her privilege. All the defilements
of the devil are done. She is made into the image of one who wore on his
forehead not the shameless brow of the whore, who had forgotten to blush for
shame, but rather "holiness to the Lord!" That is Mary Magdalene! She is given
the privilege of representing the bride of Christ for the new Adam. All of this
is to speak again of a great purity restored to one who had been greatly
defiled. And lastly, she is given the great privilege of being the Galilean Mary
who witnesses the new birth of our Lord from the tomb where no man had lain.
Once again, speaking of a spiritual virginity that was like Mary before her, and
that had, in God's good providence, been restored. That was but some of what
Mary Magdalene witnessed on that first Easter morning. These are but three of a
number of such frames the Gospel writers use to tell us her story.
IF IT SEEMS OUTRAGEOUS TO CLAIM THAT JESUS THE KING SHOULD MARRY
A USED WOMAN, REMEMBER THAT THE POINT IS NOT WHAT MAN DESIRES BUT WHAT GOD HAS
SUFFERED IN RELATION TO HIS BRIDE THE CHURCH.
So then Mary is both the fallen and redeemed church; the apple
of God's eye.
Wisdom hath builded Her house, she hath hewn out her seven
pillars. PROV 9:1
Is the feminine element lacking in our perception of the Divine
because we fear so great a beauty? A beauty which so exasperates, as to be
overwhelming (Song of So)? Solomon is renowned for the splendor of his reign,
his wisdom, the power of the magic of the Key of Solomon, and his appreciation
for and understanding of nature. "And Solomon's wisdom excelled all the wisdom
of all the children of the east country and all the children of Egypt. For he
was wiser than all men ... Solomon's beautiful black bride the Shulamite, ( Song
1:5 ) reflects the Goddess of the mystic darkness at, the fertile
garden-paradise of the Oriental kings. "Now when the Queen of Sheba heard of the
fame of Solomon concerning the name of the Lord, she came to test him with hard
questions. She came to Jerusalem with a very great retinue, with camels bearing
spices, and very much gold, and precious stones; and when she came in to
Solomon, she told him all that was on her mind. And Solomon answered all her
questions; there was nothing hidden from the king which he did not explain to
her. (1 Kings 10:8) "And King Solomon gave to the queen of Sheba all that she
desired, whatever she asked besides what was given her by the bounty of King
Solomon. So she turned and went back to her own land, with her servants" (I
Kings 10: 1 3).
The song of songs, which is Solomon's. ( So 1:1-7 )
Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth: for thy love is
better than wine. Because of the savor of thy good ointments thy name is as
ointment poured forth, therefore do the virgins love thee. Draw me, we will run
after thee: the king hath brought me into his chambers: we will be glad and
rejoice in thee, we will remember thy love more than wine: the upright love
thee. I am black, but comely, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, as the tents of Kedar,
as the curtains of Solomon. Look not upon me, because I am black, because the
sun hath looked upon me: my mother's children were angry with me; they made me
the keeper of the vineyards; but mine own vineyard have I not kept. Tell me, O
thou whom my soul loveth, where thou feedest, where thou makest thy flock to
rest at noon: for why should I be as one that turneth aside by the flocks of thy
companions?
Observe the sweet titles with which the heavenly Solomon with
intense affection addresses His bride (The Church, as the body of Christ --
which mirrors the possession of Wisdom/Shekhina by Yaweh. ) "My sister, one near
to me by ties of nature, partaker of the same sympathies. My spouse, nearest and
dearest, united to me by the tenderest bands of love; my sweet companion, part
of my own self. My sister, by my Incarnation, which makes me bone of thy bone
and flesh of thy flesh; my spouse, by heavenly betrothal, in which I have
espoused thee unto myself in righteousness. My sister, whom I knew of old, and
over whom I watched from her earliest infancy; my spouse, taken from among the
daughters, embraced by arms of love, and affianced unto me for ever. " ~
Beautifully paraphrased by Charles Spurgeon See how true it is that our royal
Kinsman is not ashamed of us, for He dwells with manifest delight upon this
two-fold relationship. We have the word "my" twice in our version; as if Christ
dwelt with rapture on His possession of His Church. Wisdom, the Female Presence
of God states: "My delights were with the sons of men," (Proverbs 8:31) because
those sons of men were His/Her own chosen ones. He, the Shepherd, sought the
sheep, because they were His sheep; He has gone about "to seek and to save that
which was lost," because that which was lost was His long before it was lost to
itself or lost to Him. The church is the exclusive portion of Her Lord; none
else may claim a partnership, or pretend to share Her love. Jesus, your church
delights to have it so! Let every believing soul drink solace out of these
wells. Soul! Christ is near to you in ties of relationship; Christ is dear to
you in bonds of marriage union, and you are dear to Him; behold He grasps both
of your hands with both His own, saying, "My sister, my spouse." Mark the two
sacred holdfasts by which the Lord gets such a double hold of you that He
neither can nor will ever let you go. Be not, O beloved, slow to return the
hallowed flame of His love. What a beautiful Mystery uncovered--God and His
Shekhina; Christ and His Church!
Though there is a scripture stating it's "best" to remain alone ''Paul'' says that
is of HIMSELF, not of God.... therefore, it worked for him due to his *gift* of
celibacy and it is his opinion. We were created to be married from the
beginning. The Bible even refers to us being prepared for Christ as a bride. It
is clear that we were created By God, FOR God, to be in relationships with Him
and others! It is also clear that this teaching ascribed to Paul was meant for
brotherhoods and monastic orders.
In the parable of the wedding banquet in Matthew chapter 22 Jesus says, "the
kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding banquet for his
son". If the kingdom of Heaven is a wedding and to be without a wedding garment
(MT 22:12-14) is something to be cast out over, how is it that celebicy is
considered a badge of merit among the priesthood? Certianly to give up marriage
is a great sacrife, however, for most it is also impossible. When Jesus said
that "some men are made eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven sake" he was not
saying that this was a lifetime sentence placed upon a person by the will of
man.
'Paul' clearly states in any matter regarding his opinions on marriage that he has
no commands from the Lord. He states that his reasons for declaring not to marry
are because the time is short; that was two thousand years ago. Further, no one
knows what questions he was replying to!
Church members should help by being personally involved in the lives of singles,
through both effectual prayers and thoughtful set-ups. Throughout ecclesiastical
history, individuals have stepped in to assist single people where parents
failed.
Paul taught that Christian wives could continue to live with their pagan
husbands if the husband consented. It was thought that the wife's spirit of
obedience would win over the husband. However; the language used (...*...if both
parties agree) in the original text does not mean that a believing spouse must
be subject to an unbelieving spouse if that spouse chooses to lord it over the
spouse and posses the the spouse only as an object of gratification or someone
to dominate. Both Peter and Paul preached the obedience of the wife to the
husband; but we must remember that the apostles were in no position to change
the whole social system. Neither did they preach law, but rather, grace. How
much more grace exists when the husband loves the wife as Christ the church;
when the two shall be one? We are called to freedom. Love must be nourished or
it will die, and the death of love is not God's will. Jesus was very strict on
divorce because of the woman's welfare and because of upholding the ideal of a
holy and loving marriage.
The ancients counted seven planets, thus arranged; the Moon,
Mercury, Venus, the Sun, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. There were seven heavens and
seven spheres of these planets; these correspond to the seven lamps of the
golden candelabrum in the temple. To return to its source in the Infinite, the
human soul, the ancients held, had to ascend as it had descended, through the
seven spheres. From Egypt and Persia the new Platonists borrowed the idea, and
the Gnostics received it from them, that man, in his terrestrial career, is
successively under the influence of the Moon, of Mercury, of Venus, of the Sun,
of Mars, of Jupiter, and of Saturn, until he finally reaches the Elysian Fields;
an idea again symbolized in the Seven Seals. And circling is thought of as the
way the bride enters the groom's s'ferot; the mystical spheres of his soul that
correspond to the seven lower attributes of God. In the ancient world these
orbits correspond to the seven spheres in the heavens and likewise are reflected
in the seven nether spheres of the sea. The two most famous divisions of the
Heavens, by seven, which is that of the planets, and by twelve, which is that of
the signs, are found on the religious monuments of all the people of the ancient
world.
Because the ancients believed in the real existence of the great
sphere of the stars, its various parts-- such as its axis and poles-- played a
central role in the cosmology of the time. In particular, one important
attribute of the sphere of the stars was much better known in antiquity than it
is today: namely, its equator, known as the "celestial equator. Just as the
earth's equator is defined as a circle around the earth equidistant from the
north and south poles, so the celestial equator was understood as a circle
around the sphere of the stars equidistant from the sphere's poles. The circle
of the celestial equator was seen as having a particularly special importance
because of the two points where it crosses the circle of the zodiac: for these
two points are the equinoxes, that is, the places where the sun, in its movement
along the zodiac, appears to be on the first day of spring and the first day of
autumn. Thus the celestial equator was responsible for defining the seasons, and
hence had a very concrete significance in addition to its abstract astronomical
meaning.
The Metamorphosis is casting out the seven
devils~! This is explained by the 'unjust judge' parable and the 'austere man'
parable, also the 'waiting servants' parable... it is an organic process....
Ianna mythology.... story of Job...
It is a spiritual metamorphosis, just like the
cells in the body of a butterfly do it; You also do it for something unseen &
bigger then yourself~!
The Goddess is to be understood through nature
not the law. We rise through the 7 levels of understanding.......
Understanding the 7 levels of God.. descending in
omni potent present nescience.......
1.. monopole.. abiding, passive, primary being principle, ocean of love light, nirvana,
heaven.. sun
2.. dipole.. becoming, primary active principle, tao
te yin yang, not all powerful, but most powerful.. lakes & seas of love light, gods.. moon
3.. trinity.. mobius strip, general space transformation.. rivers & streams of
love light, angels.. archetypes... stars
spirit becomes material spark..
4.. rose.. vesica pices.. flower of life.. droplets of love light, avatars male
& female.. winds clouds.. meteors
5. penta..
spirit guides.. intuition & decrement...
6. hexi... saints.. empathy & endurance..
7. mythologies... morals & ethics (which is the lower level of the goddess wisdom)
....
all set against a background of shadows, dragons, darkness and ignorance
god is not a man or made in the image of man
She is the Gift.
THE SABBATH
The Sabbath, to which we now turn
our attention, is an exceptional figure among the female divinities of Judaism.
All the numerous images (Asherah, Astarte, Anath, Lilith, Naamah) were
originally either foreign goddesses and demons or had their beginnings in Jewish
divine attributes which were conceptualized and personified (Shekhina, Matronit).
As against them, the Sabbath is a unique example of a day of the week-or more
precisely, the name and idea of such a day-having been developed into a female
numen and endowed with the character of virgin, bride, queen, and goddess.
The Biblical name Sabbath (Shabbar), designating the seventh dav
of the week, seems to have had some connection with the Akkadian shabattu or
shapartu, the name for the feast of the full moon. Yet neither in Akkadian nor
in any other ancient Near Eastern religion was there a weekly feast and day of
rest in any manner comparable to the Sabbath.
Following the end of the evening prayers, the men would return
home to be received by their wives-the wife in this instance became for the
husband the earthly representative of the Shekhlna, with whom he was about to
perform that night the sacred act of cohabitation in imitation of, and in
mystical sympathy with, the union between God the King and His wife, the
Matronit-Shekhlna-Sabbath.
Now the husband would approach the table and pick up two bunches
of myrtle, each consisting of three twigs, prepared for the bride and the groom,
and then circle the table-all rites imitative and symbolic of observances
performed at actual weddings-and sing welcomling songs to the two angels of
peace who were believed to accompany him home from the synagogue.
The chanting of Chapter 31 (Verses 10-31) of the Book of
Proverbs, which followed, had a double significance. It was meant as a paean to
the "woman of valor," the good wife and mother whose very presence in the house,
quite apart from all the care she lavished on her family, made it possible for
the husband to live a complete Jewish life, in accordance with the teachings of
the Kabbala about the blessed state of male-female togetherness.
Beyond that, however, there was a deeper meaning: the "woman of
valor" whose excellence is described in the twenty-two alphabetically arranged
verses was interpreted as being none other than the Shekhlna herself, the divine
Matronit, whose image thus was mystically merged with that of the man's own
wife.
Next came the recitation of an Aramaic poem containing an
invitation addressed to God the King to take part in the festive Sabbath meal.
At some time during that meal or following it, the husband chanted another
mystical Aramaic poem written by Isaac Luria and describing the union of God the
King and his bride, the Sabbath-Shekhina.',' The first six stanzas read as
follows:
Let me sing the praises of Him who enters the gates Of the
orchard of apple trees, holy are they.
Let us invite her now, with a freshly set table, With a goodly
lamp which sheds light on tfie heads.
Right and left, and the bride in between Comes forth in her
jewels and sumptuous raiments.
hus, for the Jew reared in the great mystical tradition of his
faith, the Sabbath was a day whose pleasures, both physical and spiritual, amplv
compensated him for the drabness, narrowness, and frequent sorrowfulness of the
weekdays.
With the Sabbath, a queenly visitor entered even the humblest
abode, which, due to her presence, was transformed into a royal palace, with the
table set, the candles burning, and the wine waiting. The mistress of the house
became mysteriously identified with the Queen Sabbath, who was also identical
with the Shekhlna, the divine Matronit, God's own consort.
As for the master of the house, he felt his chest swell and his
consciousness expand due to the "additional soul" which came down from on high
to inhabit his body for the duration of the Sabbath. All these supernal
presences made man and wife feel part of the great spiritual world order in
which every act and word was fraught with cosmic significance, and in which the
supreme command of the day was "Rejoice!" When midnight came, and the
fulfilhnent of the commandment to rejoice on the Sabbath found its most intense
expression in the consummation of the marital act, this was done with the fiill
awareness not only, of obeying a divine injunction, but also of aiding therebv
the divinity himself in achieving a state of male-female togetherness which God
is just as much in need of as man.
The mystically oriented and privately observed celebration of
marital sex in honor of the Sabbath, the divine queen and consort of God... is
certainly very far removed from the ancient Canaanite mass orgiastic festivals
performed in honor of Astarte, the goddess of sexual love and fertility.
After nearly two thousand years, it is time to set the record
straight, to revise and complete the Gospel story of Jesus to include his wife.
We believe in our King; let us also believe in our Queen!
There is, unquestionably, a feminine aspect within Elohim, the
God of the Hebrews. The Divine Feminine is known as Eloah, El Shaddai, Wisdom
[also Hochmah or Sophia], and the Holy Spirit. She is the Goddess ‘concealed’
within the Scriptures. She is part of the One True God [Who is beyond our
ability to fully comprehend]. Spiritual Israel has justifiable reason to
worship, praise and give honor to Eloah, the Holy Spirit, Who, with the Father
and Son, are One God. The People of the Covenant are not permitted to honor
other goddesses, such as Ashtoreth or Asherah, but should give praise and
worship to El Shaddai – the Goddess of the Scriptures - the Feminine within
Elohim.
In the Gospel to the Hebrews, Jesus speaks of "my Mother,
the Spirit." Again, in the Gospel of Thomas "Jesus contrasts his earthly
parents, Mary and Joseph, with his divine Father--the Father of Truth--and his
divine Mother, the Holy Spirit." And, in the Gospel of Philip, "whoever becomes
a Christian gains 'both father and mother' for the Spirit (rurah) is 'Mother of
many.'"
In a writing attributed to Simon Magus it states:
Grant Paradise to be the womb; for Scripture teaches us that this is
a true assumption when it says, "I am He that formed thee in thy mother's
womb" (Isaiah 44:2)...Moses...using the allegory had declared Paradise to
be the womb...and Eden, the placenta...
"The river that flows forth from Eden symbolizes the navel, which nourishes the
fetus. Simon claims that the Exodus consequently, signifies the passage out of
the womb and the 'the crossing of the Red Sea refers to the blood.'" Sethian
gnostics explain that:
heaven and earth have a shape similar to the womb ...and if...anyone wants
to investigate this, let him carefully examine the pregnant womb of any living
creature, and he will discover an image of the heavens and the earth.
In scriptural writings we find standing at the foot of the cross at the time of
the crucifixion three Marys: the Virgin Mary, the dearly beloved Mary Magdalene,
and a more shadowy or mysterious Mary. "The Coptic 'Gospel of Mary' said they
were all one. Even as late as the Renaissance, a trinitarian Mary appeared in
the Speculum beatae Mariae as Queen of Heaven (Virgin), Queen of Earth (mother),
and Queen of Hell (Crone)."
Within modern culture these roles of Goddess and Mother are seen to be
reemerging. While the psychanalyst Sigmund Freud saw the emergence
devotion to the Goddess as infantile desires to be reunited with the mother, his
theory was challenged by C.J. Jung who described this emergence devotion as "a
potent force of the unconscious."
Jung theorized that "the feminine principle as a universal archetype, a
primordial, instinctual pattern of behavior deeply imprinted on the human
psyche, brought the Goddess once more into popular imagination."
The basis of Jung's theory rested on religious symbolism extending from
prehistoric to current times. His archetypical concept is that it is not "an
inherited idea, but an inherited mode of psychic functioning, corresponding to
that inborn 'way' according to which the chick emerges from the egg; the bird
builds its nest;...and eels find their way to the Bermudas."
The biological evidence of Jung's archetypical concept indicates the
psychological meaning. Although the psychological meaning cannot always be as
objectively demonstrated as the biological one, it often is as important or even
more important than the biological one. It lies deep within the levels of
personalities, and can elicit responses not possible by mere abstract thinking.
These responses energize and deeply effect persons. "Jung believed all religions
rest on archetypical foundations."
This does not necessarily mean that all or every religion originated from an
archetype, but rather the archetype on which most, if not all, religions were
and are based is the deep felt (italics are the author's) need within the people
for their particular religion. This need is what brought forth the religion.
There are various views on the causes this need arouse, but "Jungians have
espoused the Mother Goddess as an archetype, a loadstone in the collective
consciousness of both men and women to be minded of psychological wholeness."
Many men have expressed the need to return to the Goddess, indicating that this
is not only a woman's search or desire. "English therapist John Rowan believes
that every man in Western culture also needs this vital connection to the vital
female principle in nature and urges men to turn to the Goddess. In this way men
will be able to relate to human women on more equal terms, not fearful of
resentful of female power. Perhaps this is how it was in prehistoric times when
men and women coexisted peacefully under the hegemony of the Goddess."
When one studies the Bible in English, only, and when an
individual is limited to what preachers and rabbis teach, it
seems that there is no ‘real’ goddess for the People of the
Covenant to worship. Centuries of cultural bias have resulted in a modern exodus of
those feeling the call of Goddess in their spiritual lives. Those who study the Bible can easily
discover that other people worshipped goddesses, and that God’s
prophets condemned such practices. But it was not the worship of
the true Goddess of Israel that was condemned, but the worship
of other goddesses – just as the worship of other gods is
forbidden.
This has left people who have felt drawn to relate to Goddess in
quite a dilemma. If they have a Scripture-based spiritual
background, it would seem that their worship of the Goddess is
incompatible with the very Scripture on which they base their
faith. If they voice their feelings to a pastor, they are almost
universally discouraged. The reason is that most priests,
pastors, and rabbis are graduates of theological seminaries that
teach that there is no rightful Goddess in the Bible. The
doctrine of churches and synagogues is deeply influenced by
denominational dogma, by culture, and by the pressure of
committees within their congregations. Therefore, congregants
who inquire about a Divine Feminine are usually dismissed out of
hand, and are dissuaded from pursuing Her. As the result, the
majority of those who became seekers of the Divine Feminine feel
compelled to exit Judaism or Christianity in order to pursue
their quest. Many in the present are being drawn away from their
spiritual heritage and millennia of tradition, attracted to the
pantheon of gods and goddesses found in Wicca, or related
Neo-pagan religions, because it seemed to them that the belief
in Goddess was contrary to Christianity or Judaism.
If traditional interpretations have neglected female imagery for
God, they have also neglected females, Similarly, the sacrifice of the daughter
of Jephthah documents the powerlessness and abuse of a child in the days of the
judges (Judg. 11). No interpretation can save her from the holocaust or mitigate
the foolish vow of her father. But we can move through the indictment of the
father to claim sisterhood with the daughter. Retelling her story, we emphasize
the daughters of Israel to whom she reaches out in the last days of her life (Judg.
11:37). Thus, we underscore the postscript, discovering in the process an
alternative translation.Traditionally, the ending has read, "She [the daughter]
had never known man. And it became a custom in Israel that the daughters of
Israel went year by year to lament the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite four
days in the year" (11:40). Since the verb become, however, is a feminine form
(Hebrew has no neuter), another reading is likely: "Although she had never known
a man, nevertheless she became a tradition [custom] in Israel. From year to year
the
daughters of Israel went to mourn the daughter of Jephthah the
Gileadite, four days in the year." By virtue of this translation, we
can understand the ancient story in a new way. The unnamed
virgin child becomes a tradition in Israel because the women with whom she
chooses to spend her last days do not let her pass into oblivion; they establish
a living memorial. Interpreting such stories of terror on behalf of women is
surely, then, another way of challenging the patriarchy of Scripture
~*~
Other women appear in later literature as well. One of the most famous woman
apostles was Thecla, a virgin-martyr converted by Paul. She cut her hair, donned
men's clothing, and took up the duties of a missionary apostle. Threatened with
rape, prostitution, and twice put in the ring as a martyr, she persevered in her
faith and her chastity. Her lively and somewhat fabulous story is recorded in
the second century Acts of Thecla. From very early, an order of women who were
widows served formal roles of ministry in some churches (I Timothy 5:9-10). The
most numerous clear cases of women's leadership, however, are offered by
prophets: Mary Magdalene, the Corinthian women, Philip's daughters, Ammia of
Philadelphia, Philumene, the visionary martyr Perpetua, Maximilla, Priscilla (Prisca),
and Quintilla. There were many others whose names are lost to us. The African
church father Tertullian, for example, describes an unnamed woman prophet in his
congregation who not only had ecstatic visions during church services, but who
also served as a counselor and healer (On the Soul 9.4). A remarkable collection
of oracles from another unnamed woman prophet was discovered in Egypt in 1945.
She speaks in the first person as the feminine voice of God: Thunder, Perfect
Mind. The prophets Prisca and Quintilla inspired a Christian movement in second
century Asia Minor (called the New Prophecy or Montanism) that spread around the
Mediterranean and lasted for at least four centuries. Their oracles were
collected and published, including the account of a vision in which Christ
appeared to the prophet in the form of a woman and "put wisdom" in her (
Epiphanius, Panarion 49.1). Montanist Christians ordained women as presbyters
and bishops, and women held the title of prophet. The third century African
bishop Cyprian also tells of an ecstatic woman prophet from Asia Minor who
celebrated the eucharist and performed baptisms (Epistle 74.10). In the early
second century, the Roman governor Pliny tells of two slave women he tortured
who were decons (Letter to Trajan 10.96). Other women were ordained as priests
in fifth century Italy and Sicily (Gelasius, Epistle 14.26).
Bishop Irenaeus (ca. 140 - 203 AD) noted that women especially were attracted to
Gnostic groups. ‘Even in our own district of the Rhone valley,’ he said, the
gnostic teacher Marcus had attracted ‘many foolish women’ from his own
congregation, including the wife of one of Irenaeus’ own deacons. Professing
himself to be at a loss to account for the attraction that Marcus’ group held,
he offered only one explanation: that Marcus himself was a diabolically clever
seducer, a magician who compounded special aphrodisiacs to ‘deceive, victimize,
and defile’ his prey. Whether his accusations have any factual basis no one
knows. But when he describes Marcus’ techniques of seduction, Irenaeus indicates
that he is speaking metaphorically. For, he says, Marcus ‘addresses them in such
seductive words’ as his prayers to Grace, ‘She who is before all things ‘, and
to Wisdom and Silence, the feminine element of the divine being. Second, he
says, Marcus seduced women ‘by telling them to prophesy’ - which they were
strictly forbidden to do in the orthodox church. When he initiated a woman,
Marcus concluded the initiation prayer with the words ‘Behold, Grace has come
upon you; open your mouth, and prophesy.’ Then, as the bishop indignantly
describes it, Marcus’ ‘deluded victim ... impudently.utters some nonsense’, and
‘henceforth considers herself to be a prophet!’ Worst of all, from Irenaeus’
viewpoint, Marcus invited women to act as priests in celebrating the eucharist
with him: he ‘hands the cups to women’ . to offer up the eucharistic prayer, and
to pronounce the words of consecration.
Irenaeus, Adversus Haereses, Book I, ch. 13, § 1 - 7; Hippolytus, Refutationis
Omnium Haeresium, 6.35
Anoher gnostic leader, Marcion, appointed women on an equal basis with men as
priests and bishops. The gnostic teacher Marcellina traveled to Rome to
represent the Carpocratian group, which claimed to have received secret teaching
from Mary, Salome, and Martha. The Montanists, a radical prophetic circle,
honored two women, Prisca and Maximilla, as founders of the movement. Among such
gnostic groups as the Valentinians, women were considered equal to men; some
were revered as prophets; others acted as teachers, traveling evangelists,
healers, priests, perhaps even bishops. It is more than likely that Mary
Magdalen was hailed as a model for such feminine ministers.
The [Montanist] movement was conservative, claiming to return, to what were the
practices and beliefs of the primitive Church, and also asserting that a new or
at least renewed dispensation of the Spirit had arrived. At his baptism the Holy
Spirit spoke through Montanus in tongues, thus reviving the charismatic
emotionalism and practices of such churches as that of New Testament Corinth and
reacting against the coldness and formalism which were creeping into
contemporary Christianity
Their movement fell as the result of a few wicked men securing power and
spreading heresies, at which time some unknown author spoke against women
speaking in the church and altered Paul's epistle to the Corinthians.
Women were also prominent as martyrs and suffered violently from torture and
painful execution by wild animals and paid gladiators. In fact, the earliest
writing definitely by a woman is the prison diary of Perpetua, a relatively
wealthy matron and nursing mother who was put to death in Carthage at the
beginning of the third century on the charge of being a Christian. In it, she
records her testimony before the local Roman ruler and her defiance of her
father's pleas that she recant. She tells of the support and fellowship among
the confessors in prison, including other women. But above all, she records her
prophetic visions. Through them, she was not merely reconciled passively to her
fate, but claimed the power to define the meaning of her own death. In a
situation where Romans sought to use their violence against her body as a
witness to their power and justice, and where the Christian editor of her story
sought to turn her death into a witness to the truth of Christianity, her own
writing lets us see the human being caught up in these political struggles. She
actively relinquishes her female roles as mother, daughter, and sister in favor
of defining her identity solely in spiritual terms. However horrifying or heroic
her behavior may seem, her brief diary offers an intimate look at one early
Christian woman's spiritual journey.
Sibylline Oracles were "a collection of oracular prophecies in which Jewish or
Christian doctrines were allegedly confirmed by a sibyl (legendary Greek
prophetess); In the Oracles the sibyl proved her reliability by first
'predicting' events that had actually recently occurred; she then predicted
future events and set forth doctrines peculiar to Hellenistic Judaism or
Christianity. The Jewish apologist Josephus and certain Christian apologists
thought the works were the genuine prophecy of the sibyls and were greatly
impressed by the way in which their doctrines were confirmed by external
testimony. Both Theophilus of Antioch and Clement of Alexandria, 2nd-century
Christian theologians, referred to the sibyl as a prophetess apparently no less
inspired than the Old Testament prophets."
"Scholars are unsure if there ever really was a 'Sibyl' who inaugurated this
tradition. Collections of 'Sibylline' oracles appeared in a variety of centers
in the ancient world. These collections enjoyed considerable prestige in the
Roman Empire and allowed Jews and Christians to communicate their religious
views....The collection...now makes up part of the Pseudepigrapha."
Study of works by and about women is making it possible to begin to reconstruct
some of the theological views of early Christian women. Although they are a
diverse group, certain reoccurring elements appear to be common to women's
theology-making. By placing the teaching of the Gospel of Mary side-by-side with
the theology of the Corinthian women prophets, the Montanist women's oracles,
Thunder Perfect Mind, and Perpetua's prison diary, it is possible to discern
shared views about teaching and practice that may exemplify some of the contents
of women's theology:
Jesus was understood primarily as a teacher and mediator of wisdom rather than
as ruler and judge.
Theological reflection centered on the experience of the person of the risen
Christ more than the crucified savior. Interestingly enough, this is true even
in the case of the martyr Perpetua. One might expect her to identify with the
suffering Christ, but it is the risen Christ she encounters in her vision.
Direct access to God is possible for all through receiving the Spirit.
In Christian community, the unity, power, and perfection of the Spirit are
present now, not just in some future time.
Those who are more spiritually advanced give what they have freely to all
without claim to a fixed, hierarchical ordering of power.
An ethics of freedom and spiritual development is emphasized over an ethics of
order and control.
A woman's identity and spirituality could be developed apart from her roles as
wife and mother ( or slave), whether she actually withdrew from those roles or
not. Gender is itself contested as a "natural" category in the face of the power
of God's Spirit at work in the community and the world. This meant that
potentially women (and men) could exercise leadership on the basis of spiritual
achievement apart from gender status and without conformity to established
social gender roles.
Overcoming social injustice and human suffering are seen to be integral to
spiritual life. Women were also actively engaged in reinterpreting the texts of
their tradition. For example, another new text, the Hypostasis of the Archons,
contains a retelling of the Genesis story ascribed to Eve's daughter Norea, in
which her mother Eve appears as the instructor of Adam and his healer. The new
texts also contain an unexpected wealth of Christian imagination of the divine
as feminine. The long version of the Apocryphon of John, for example, concludes
with a hymn about the descent of divine Wisdom, a feminine figure here called
the Pronoia of God. She enters into the lower world and the body in order to
awaken the innermost spiritual being of the soul to the truth of its power and
freedom, to awaken the spiritual power it needs to escape the counterfeit powers
that enslave the soul in ignorance, poverty, and the drunken sleep of spiritual
deadness, and to overcome illegitimate political and sexual domination. The
oracle collection Thunder Perfect Mind also adds crucial evidence to women's
prophetic theology-making. This prophet speaks powerfully to women, emphasizing
the presence of women in her audience and insisting upon their identity with the
feminine voice of the Divine. Her speech lets the hearers transverse the
distance between political exploitation and empowerment, between the experience
of degradation and the knowledge of infinite self-worth, between despair and
peace. It overcomes the fragmentation of the self by naming it, cherishing it,
insisting upon the multiplicity of self-hood and experience.
These elements may not be unique to women's religious thought or always result
in women's leadership, but as a constellation they point toward one type of
theologizing that was meaningful to some early Christian women, that had a place
for women's legitimate exercise of leadership, and to whose construction women
contributed. If we look to these elements, we are able to discern important
contributions of women to early Christian theology and praxis. These elements
also provide an important location for discussing some aspects of early
Christian women's spiritual lives: their exercise of leadership, their ideals,
their attraction to Christianity, and what gave meaning to their self-identity
as Christians.
Women's prominence did not, however, go unchallenged. Every variety of ancient
Christianity that advocated the legitimacy of women's leadership was eventually
declared heretical, and evidence of women's early leadership roles was erased or
suppressed.
This erasure has taken many forms. Collections of prophetic oracles were
destroyed. Texts were changed. For example, at least one woman's place in
history was obscured by turning her into a man! In Romans 16:7, the apostle Paul
sends greetings to a woman named Junia. He says of her and her male partner
Andronicus that they are "my kin and my fellow prisoners, prominent among the
apostles and they were in Christ before me." Concluding that women could not be
apostles, textual editors and translators transformed Junia into Junias, a man.
1 and 2 Timothy and Titus were definitely pseudonymous (written by a unknown
person, passing the writings off as Paul's.) They were written 35 to 85 years
after Paul's death. Although such a writer would be considered a forger today,
the practice was quite common in the 1st century CE, and was considered
acceptable behavior.
What can clearly be ascribed to Paul's hand is his praise of Timothy's Mother
Eunice and Grandmother Lois, both referred to as women of unfeigned faith.
Certain episodes in the Acts of Paul, such as the 'Journeys of Paul and Thecla',
exist in a number of Greek manuscripts and in half a dozen ancient versions.
Thecla was a noble-born virgin from Iconium and an enthusiastic follower of the
Apostle; she preached like a missionary and administered baptism. It was the
administration of baptism by a woman that scandalized Tertullian and led him to
condemn the entire book.
Theodora, Episcopa
Perhaps the most accessible example of female apostolic succession is an ancient
mosaic still visible in the Church of St. Praxedis in Rome. This ninth century
portrait honors four women leaders who pastored the community, beginning with
Mary of Nazareth who was often venerated by early Christians as the first
apostolic woman leader. St. Praxedis and St. Pudentiana (on whose ancestral land
the Church is thought to have been built) were endangered female leaders of
house churches before Christianity was legalized in 313 AD. While these two and
Mary have round halos in the mosaic, the fourth woman, Theodora, has a square
halo showing that she was alive when the portrait was made. Inscribed above
Theodora is the word Episcopa, with the feminine ending, meaning a bishop who is
a woman. Just as contemporary churches, cathedral offices and seminaries
frequently display photographs of previous pastors, bishops and rectors; the
mosaic at St. Praxedis reveals the succession of female pastors and bishops from
Mary of Nazareth though Praxedis and Pudentiana to Theodora. Like her
predecessor, St. Praxidis 700 years earlier, Theodora wears an episcopal cross
attesting to her service as bishop of the titular church of St. Praxedis.
In addition to Theodora and Praxedis, Ute Eisen believes: “Other Latin
inscriptions from Italy and Dalmatia make it probable that women were active
there as bishops in the fifth and sixth centuries. This is supported by the
epigraphically attested women presbyters of the fourth to sixth centuries in the
West, as well as by literary evidence from a later period that attacks, and
thereby confirms, the sacerdotal activity of women. [Eisen p. 208]
Sofia, the Deacon.
In 1903 bible scholars found a fourth century tombstone on the mount of Olives
with a Greek inscription which read: “Here lies the minister and bride of
Christ, Sofia the deacon, a second Phoebe. She fell asleep in peace on the 21st
of month of March...” The Christian community in Jerusalem understood Sofia’s
ministry to be part of a three hundred year old tradition dating back to the
Phoebe of Romans 16 which was validated by none other than the apostle Paul who
said: “I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a deacon of the church at Cenchreae”
Notable is the fact that for both Phoebe and Sofia, the Greek word diaconos is
used a masculine ending with the feminine article. Diaconos is the same word
Paul used to describe his own ministry. Clearly, the Jerusalem community saw
Sofia’s ministry in apostolic succession to that of Phoebe. There is ample
evidence of other female deacons who ministered from the first to the sixth
centuries in Palestine, Asia Minor, Greece, Macedonia, Rome and France.
About Evidence for Women Priests
Formerly, archeologists and scholars took references to female priests, deacons
and bishops to be honorary titles for the wives of these officeholders, rather
than a female title for the office. Recent scholarship rejects this
interpretation. In the ancient world, titles were legal identification since no
system of family surnames yet existed. If a woman is described by a title such
as presbytera (woman priest) it means that she held that office herself. If her
husband had the office, the title is attached to his name (not hers) and she is
named as his wife without a title. As Dorothy Irvin points out: “The word
presbytera is not the word that was used for a woman priest of any Greek or
Roman religious cult. Presbyter, a Greek word meaning “elder” was one of the New
Testament designations of ministry that became normative, together with deacon
and bishop. In the Latin -speaking areas of the early church, a feminine ending
was added to form the title of women holding this office.” In English the word
was shortened to “prester” and eventually to “priest” [Irvin calendar 2003
(July-Aug)].
Ute Eisen’s careful study of tombstone inscriptions and literary attestations
reveals widespread evidence for women priests and presiders (presbytera,
presbytides, presbiterissa) who functioned in both the eastern and western
churches from the third to the ninth centuries.
What about young women casting of their first faith? ( 1 Tim 5:12 )What does
this passage really mean in respect to serving God?
What about young men burning with youthful lust? These statements cannot be
ascribed to the Church houses started by the first Christians. These additions
come from a desire to provide rules for established monastic
brotherhoods.("taken into the number.") How did this statement about rules
governing monastic brotherhoods and some woman's particular bad habit of gossip
enter into the question of serving God?
This passage should be understood as referring to the goodness of marriage and
perhaps as a blessing in disguise for young women by discouraging a life lived
in monastic orders, while still maintaining an opening for devote widows. We
must never, never, forget factors of place, time, and culture when examining
these statements about social order.
For example, in the past women were often dumped in convents by families who did
not want to care for them. Martin Luther, in his lifetime, rescued dozens of
such women from cloisters and arranged for their marriages. During eras when
dowries were mandatory, Christian charity stepped in where families failed,
wishing to spare these women spinsterhood.
During the 4th and 5th century, the Christian church gradually extinguished
women's access to positions of power in the church: Council of Laodicea (352
CE): Women were forbidden from the priesthood. They also were prohibited from
presiding over churches. They decided that "One ought not to establish in the
church the women called overseers (presbutidas)....women must not approach the
altar." (Forbidding something implies a practice already in use--this
prohibition tells us there were female priests at that time and the CATHOLIC
church removed and subjugated them! Fourth Synod of Carthage (398 CE) "A woman,
however learned and holy, may not presume to teach men in an assembly...A woman
may not baptize." Obviously holy women were teaching and baptizing at that time.
Council of Chalcedon (451 CE). Canon #15 of the Council states: "No woman under
40 years of age is to be ordained a deacon, and then only after close scrutiny."
Apparently, the council wanted to start restricting the ordination of
deaconesses, which must have been a common practice at the time. And, of course,
anyone ordained to the Holy Order of Deacon would be eligible for later
ordination to the priesthood as well. Younger women in their midst might tempt
the brethren to lust and to sin against God--rather than addressing the problem
by telling these men to repent and get victory over their flesh, they instead
forbid younger women with a call on their lives to fulfill that call--t hus
compounding the transgression against both their sister co-workers and God.
There were many women recorded in the Bible who exhibited religious leadership.
Their stories appear in both the Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament) and Christian
Scriptures (New Testament): *Exodus 15:24: Miriam, the daughter of Aaron was a
prophet and one of the triad of leaders of Israel during the Exodus from Egypt.
* Judges 4 & 5: Deborah, a prophet-judge, headed the army of ancient Israel. * 2
Kings 22:14; 2 Chronicles 34:22 Huldah, a prophet, verified the authenticity of
the "Book of the Law of the Lord given through Moses" - the Book of Deuteronomy.
Like Miriam, she triggered a religious renewal. * Luke 2:3638- Anna, a
prophetess who recognized the Messiah on sight when he was brought into the
temple to be dedicated to the Lord. She glorified God and blessed Jesus- -and
prophesied over him to all that were in the temple. *Acts 9:36 The author of
Luke referred to a female disciple of Jesus by her Aramaic name Tabitha, who was
also known by her Greek name Dorcas. She became sick had died; St. Peter brought
her back to life. *Acts 21:8: Philip the evangelist had four unmarried daughters
who were prophets. *Philippians 4:2: Paul refers to two women, Euodia and
Syntyche, as his co-workers who were active evangelicals, spreading the gospel.
*Romans 16:1: Paul refers to Phoebe as a minister or deacon of the church at
Cenchrea. The Greek word which describes her function is "diakonos" which means
literally "official servant." She is the only deacon in the Bible to be
identified by name. Some translations say deaconess; others try to obscure her
position by mistranslating the Greek as a simple "servant" or "helper". Paul
later refers to Phoebe as a woman, calling her "our sister." This prevented
later church leaders from hiding her gender as they did with Junia in Romans
16:7 below - by changing her name and implying that she was a man. * Romans
16:3: Paul refers to Priscilla as another of his "fellow workers in Christ
Jesus" (NIV) Other translations refer to her as a "co-worker". But other
translations attempt to downgrade her status by calling her a "helper". The
original Greek word is "synergoi", which literally means "fellow worker" or
"colleague." 1 It is worth noting that Paul refers to Priscilla and her husband
as "Priscilla and Aquila" in this passage and as "Aquila and Priscilla" in 1
Corinthians 16:19. It would appear that the order is not important to Paul. As
in Galatians 3:28, he apparently believed that there is no distinction among
those who have been baptized into Christ between male and female. *Romans 16:7:
Paul refers to a male apostle, Andronicus, and a female apostle, Junia, as
"outstanding among the apostles" (NIV) Every Greek and Latin church Father until
Giles of Rome (circa 1000 CE) acknowledged that Junia was a woman. 2,3 After
that time, various writers and translators of the Bible resorted to deceptions
in order to suppress her gender. For example: The Amplified Bible translates
this passage as "They are men held in high esteem among the apostles" The
Revised Standard Version shows it as "they are men of note among the apostles".
The reference to them both being men does not appear in the original Greek text.
The word "men" was simply inserted by the translators, apparently because the
translators' minds recoiled from the concept of a female apostle.
*Many translations, including the Amplified Bible, Rheims New Testament, New
American Standard Bible, and the New International Version simply picked the
letter "s" out of thin air, and converted the original "Junia" (a woman's name)
into "Junias" (a man's). Again, it was probably inconceivable to the translators
that Paul would recognize a woman as an apostle.
Female Leaders Mentioned in Early Christian Writings
There are many Gospels and other early Christian writings that never made it
into the official canon. Some shed light of the role of women in various early
Christian groups: The Christian Gnostic tradition represented one of the three
main forms of early Christianity - the others being Jewish Christianity and
Pauline Christianity. Gnostic texts show that women held senior roles as
teachers, prophets and missionaries. They conducted rituals such as baptism and
the Eucharist. They performed exorcisms. The Gospel of Philip, was widely used
among early Christian congregations. It portrayed Mary Magdalene as the
companion of Jesus, in a position of very high authority within the early
Christian movement. The Gospel of Mary described Mary Magdalene as a leader of
Jesus' disciples. She is seen delivering a passionate sermon to the disciples
after his resurrection. This raised their spirits and inspired them to
evangelize the known world. Philoumene, a woman, headed a Christian theological
school in Rome during the second century CE.
Examples of Female Christian Leaders from the Archeological Record
"Archaelogical Discoveries" cites:
*An ancient mosaic which shows four female figures. One is identified as Bishop
Theodora. The feminine form for bishop (episcopa) is used. *A 3rd or 4th century
burial site on the Greek island of Thera contains an epitaph referring to
Epiktas, a "presbytis" (priest or presbyter). Epiktas is a woman's name. *A 2nd
or 3rd century Christian inscription in Egypt for Artemidoras, whose mother is
described as "Paniskianes, being an elder" (presbytera) *A memorial from the 3rd
century for Ammion the elder (presbytera) *A 4th or 5th century Sicilian
inscription referring to Kale the elder. (presbytis) Prohibition of Women from
Positions of Power by the Early Church During the 4th and 5th century, the
Christian church gradually extinguished women's access to positions of power in
the church: Council of Laodicea (352 CE): Women were forbidden from the
priesthood. They also were prohibited from presiding over churches. They decided
that "One ought not to establish in the church the women called overseers (presbutidas)....
women must not approach the altar." (Forbidding something implies a practice
already in use-- this prohibition tells us there were female priests at that
time and the CATHOLIC church removed and subjagated them! Have we forgotten the
many women ministers who spread the truth in the early days of the Pentecostal
revival??) Fourth Synod of Carthage (398 CE) "A woman, however learned and holy,
may not presume to teach men in an assembly...A woman may not baptize."
Obviously holy women were teaching and baptizing at that time. Council of
Chalcedon (451 CE). Canon #15 of the Council states: "No woman under 40 years of
age is to be ordained a deacon, and then only after close scrutiny." Apparently,
the council wanted to start restricting the ordination of deaconesses, which
must have been a common practice at the time. And, of course, anyone ordained to
the Holy Order of Deacon would be eligible for later ordination to the
priesthood as well. Younger women in their midst might tempt the brethren to
lust and to sin against God--rather than addressing the problem by telling these
men to repent and get victory over their flesh, they instead forbid younger
women with a call on their lives to fulfill that call--thus compounding the
transgression against both their sister co-workers and God. Islam solved the
problem by circumcising women and thereby depriving them of meaningful sexuality
for life--and then by enclosing them in the voluminous robes of the Chador. The
first removed the lust of the flesh--the second the lust of the eye and lifted
responsiblity for their own actions and thoughts from the shoulders of men and
placed them on the backs of women.
Jesus said, "Come to me all ye who are heavily laden; Take my yoke upon you, for
my yoke is easy and my burden light" .... shouldn't the men who claim to
represent Him stop piling their burdens on the backs of the women God intended
for them to protect, cherish, and provide for?
In claiming church tradition doesn't allow women to be ordained priests, Vatican
and Catholic officials would do well to consider the history of their tradition.
The traditional Christian church had women priests and the archaeological
evidence of this is preserved for us to see today.
In the Church of St. Praxedis in Rome there's a mosaic depicting four women
leaders. One woman, Theodora (ca. 820 A.D.), has the title Episcopa above her
head, which means a bishop who is a woman.
In a cathedral at Annaba, in what is now Algeria, is a mosaic covering the tomb
of a woman. Along with her name, Guilia Runa, is her title "presbiterissa,"
which means female priest. The same title is on women's tombs in Rome. Two read,
"Veronica presbitera daughter of Josetis" and "Faustina presbitera."
Additionally, a fourth-century fresco in Rome's Catacomb of Priscilla shows a
woman being ordained. She's wearing an alb under her chasuble, which is first
worn at ordination. Only priests and higher church leaders could wear it. Next
to her, with his right hand on her shoulder, is a bishop, identified by his
chair and his pallium, also worn during ordination.
Although tradition is a key argument used to oppose women's ordination, another
cites the fact the 12 disciples were all male. It contends if Christ wanted
women to be church leaders, some of his twelve would have been women.
While initially convincing, the rationalization crumbles when another pivotal
distinction of the day is considered: ethnicity. The disciples were also all
Jewish. Does this mean when we choose church leaders today, only those with
primary Jewish ancestry can be considered candidates?
Every argument the Vatican and other denominational officials give to block
women's ordination can be biblically and theologically challenged. Saying "no"
to women priests and pastors is nothing more than the "good old boy" system at
work in a sacred institution, and remnant survivalism of the sub-Christian
thought that leached into the early church influencing the way men and women
were perceived.
Some elements of ancient gnostic and ancient pagan thought systems saw women as flawed,
problematic, and more susceptible to malfeasance than men. The early church
failed to adequately challenge and eradicate these permeating cultural
distortions and in time scripture was interpreted through the contaminated lens
of women's ontological inferiority.
This is reflected in the statements of great early church leaders such as Thomas
Aquinas, "Woman is defective and misbegotten"; Gratian, "Woman is not made in
God's image"; and St. Augustine, "What is the difference wither it is in a wife
or a mother; it is still Eve the temptress that we must be aware of in any
woman.... I fail to see what use women can be to man, if one excludes the
function of bearing children."
While the inferiority argument is considered heretical in the church today, the
unbiblical prejudicial constructs it upheld still exist. Replaced and repackaged
with expressions like "equal in essence, but unequal in function" and "different
roles," the dismissal and diminishment of women has a modern home in the modern
church.
Very early church tradition had women serving in all areas of ministry. Women's
restriction in the church did not derive from tradition, but from the gradual
importation of sub-Christian thought from outside the church, into the church.
Until the Vatican and other denominational leaders acknowledge women's call to
full discipleship and reinstitute the tradition of women's ordination, they will
continue to perpetuate constructs of the heretical thought that diminished and
dismissed half the redeemed based on an innate fleshly distinction: femaleness
Women were ordained just like men in the ancient church, were leaders of
communities, were called elders (presbyterae), and fulfilled the duties of
preaching, directing, and teaching.
"And there was Anna, a prophetess . . . which departed not from the temple, but
served God with fastings and prayers night and day" (Luke 2:36, 37).
No doubt by praying we learn to pray, and the more we pray the oftener we can
pray, and the better we can pray. He who prays in fits and starts is never
likely to attain to that effectual, fervent prayer which availeth much.
Great power in prayer is within our reach, but we must go to work to obtain it.
Let us never imagine that Abraham could have interceded so successfully for
Sodom if he had not been all his lifetime in the practice of communion with God.
Jacob's all-night at Peniel was not the first occasion upon which he had met his
God. We may even look upon our Lord's most choice and wonderful prayer with his
disciples before His Passion as the flower and fruit of His many nights of
devotion, and of His often rising up a great while before day to pray.
If a man dreams that he can become mighty in prayer just as he pleases, he
labors under a great mistake. The prayer of Elias which shut up heaven and
afterwards opened its floodgates, was one of long series of mighty prevailings
with God. Oh, that Christian men would remember this! Perseverance in prayer is
necessary to prevalence in prayer.
Those great intercessors, who are not so often mentioned as they ought to be in
connection with confessors and martyrs, were nevertheless the grandest
benefactors of the Church; but it was only by abiding at the mercy-seat that
they attained to be such channels of mercy to men. We must pray to pray, and
continue in prayer that our prayers may continue.
Christianity has changed throughout history dramatically. There was a time when
the Pope was married, when the church taught that to invest money for interest
was a sin, when slavery was allowed, and when critical thinkers were burned at
the stake. The Church did not develop the doctrine of the Incarnation until the
fourth century and the doctrine of the Holy Trinity was not fully developed
until the fifth century. We once taught that Adam and Eve were real people, that
Moses wrote the Torah and that David wrote the psalms. None of these ideas still
has credibility in the great academies of Christian learning. We now know that
the Virgin Birth entered the Christian faith in the 9th decade of the Christian
era that neither Paul nor Mark had ever heard of it. All of this leads me to
assert that Christianity is not a fixed system that was born at the first
Pentecost and might die in the 21st century. Christianity is a way people
journey into the mystery of God. It is a process not unlike the ocean, it never
changes its substance but it ever changes its form. People who want to defend or
protect Christianity have always defined it in such a way as to make an idol out
of their definition. An idol always dies. A channel through which the living God
is ever revealed never does. Christianity may be transformed but it will not
die. Its forms, its creeds, its doctrines, its dogmas, all of which are the
products of human creativity, are always mortal. There is no ultimate unchanging
truth that anyone possesses. There is only subjective experience to which people
apply explanatory words. So enter the stream of history that has been called
Christianity and allow it to carry you in ways you cannot imagine into the
mystery of God but don't expect the forms of Christianity, developed in human
history, to be immortal.
The birth of a new religion is a profound event in any culture,
arising when old religious models no longer explain reality or satisfy people's
spiritual needs. During the last 20 years, a spiritual movement led largely by
women, has emerged like Persephone from the Underworld and it is now the fastest
growing religious movement in the United States.
Our God language is always symbolic and our liturgical language must also live
within the symbolic definition. There are certainly some symbols that are
clearly more negative than others, and sometimes more revolting than others when
they are literalized. I think of the cannibalistic language so often employed in
the Eucharist, such as eating the flesh and drinking the blood of Jesus, which
came originally out of the Passover celebration. In that liturgical action,
after the blood of the paschal lamb had been placed on the doorposts of the
Jewish homes to break the power of death, the "Paschal lamb" was roasted and the
family would feast on "the body of the Lamb of God." When we employ this
primitive language and view the Eucharist as a re-enactment of the sacrifice
Jesus made on the cross, when he "died for our sins" or "to take away the sins
of the world," we are using the language of Yom Kippur or the Jewish Day of
Atonement. There is also an abundant amount of sadomasochistic language present
in our worship. We speak of God punishing Jesus instead of those of us who
actually deserve the punishment. These images are shaped by the Servant Songs of
II Isaiah (40-55), in which it is said that God has laid upon him "the
iniquities of us all," and "by his stripes we are healed." Liturgies also use
guilt-producing language which calls us to "live for Jesus, since he died for
us," which is a product of that kind of Christianity that was designed to keep
worshipers in a childlike dependent state. In the baptismal formula, the old
language of fall and rescue, which was started by a literal mis-reading of the
Adam and Eve story, suggests that every child born was born in the sin of Adam
and needs to be cleansed in Baptism or that child will perish. Many forces shape
liturgy over history and its language emerges from those unique moments in our
religious tradition. It is employed to keep lives under the domination of a
powerful religious institution. Liturgical reform is the process of bringing
those concepts to consciousness and redirecting their emphasis. We do this by
separating the experience of God from the way human beings in various times and
places, have explained that experience. The experience of God can be both holy
and eternal. The explanation of that experience is always finite, time bound and
time warped.
Liturgy is a love song we sing to the reality that we call God who gives to our
lives the dimension of transcendence, wonder and mystery. Love songs always
employ excessive language. It is the nature of the language of love to be
ecstatic Creedal development began in the third century as baptism formulas.
They varied from community to community and only slowly evolved into the form
that we now know as the Apostle's Creed. That creed, however, was deemed
inadequate to guard the Christian faith from error by the fourth century's
Council of Nicea in 325 and the Council of Constantinople in 387. Both of those
councils were filled with political wheeling and dealing, with compromise and
negotiation. To suggest in later history that this process was somehow divinely
inspired or that it somehow captured eternal truth for all time would have come
as a great surprise to the delegates of either convention. For the Church
centuries later to persecute and even to burn at the stake those who might
question or challenge a particular tenet of these creeds simply demonstrates how
the uncertainty of faith and the insecurity of life can combine to create a
hostile, demonic and killing response.
The Feminine has thus been constrained,
by social conventions and often by real irons, to a life of silence, her Power
hidden from a Masculine World. Some people denounce biblical faith as hopelessly
misogynous, although this judgment usually fails to evaluate the evidence in
terms of Israelite culture. Some reprehensibly use these data to support
anti-Semitic sentiments. Some read the Bible as a historical document devoid of
any continuing authority and hence worthy of dismissal. The "Who cares?"
question often comes at this point. Others succumb to despair about the
ever-present male power that the Bible and its commentators hold over women. And
still others, unwilling to let the case against women be the determining word,
insist that text and interpreters provide more excellent ways. Discerning within
Scripture a critique of patriarchy, certain feminists concentrate upon
discovering and recovering traditions that challenge the culture. This task
involves highlighting neglected texts and reinterpreting familiar ones. Over
centuries, however, translators and commentators have ignored such female
imagery, with disastrous results for God, man and woman. To reclaim the image of
God female is to become aware of the male idolatry that has long infested faith.
The most important belief we possess is true knowledge of who God is. To take a superficial reading of the
scripture as justification for making God in the image of man is idolatry and
blasphemy. To create a monotheistic anthropomorphic all powerful judgmental god who sits a king
on a throne with his beard and scepter and who watches everything people do
creates a god that is to be despised. This god is an unjust judge and an austere
man unworthy of your respect. This is still worshipping Zeus. Often the holy
people are kept powerless by waiting on a god in the sky for their justice. If you are ever
questioning how God can allow evil in the world is it perhaps that you are you still thinking of god as a man on a
throne? This also is still worshipping Zeus. It denies the
paradox and mystery within life and this misunderstanding leads to enslavement of your soul
to a god who isn't there and
is a source of pain. God and the Goddess are not answerable to men and their
ways are often surrounded in mystery and paradox.. Sometimes their ways only
start to begin to become clear after years have passed. Neither is there a
dichotomy between the creator and the creation. In fact; they themselves
are in many ways unfathomable and not to be thought of in anthropomorphic terms
and images at all. They are also the supernatural forces of life, love and light.
To say that Jesus was a 'man' .. meaning
male.. as an excuse
to practice misogamy and prejudice totally ignores the scripture that says "in God we
live move and have our being". It rejects the idea that God is surpassing
a mortal state and one who is invisible and also above us knowing fully in our
present condition. And for that reason that viewpoint is contrary to the meaning of
the scriptures. When it is said that Jesus is the image of God what is being
spoken of is the mystery of the incarnation and biblical pan'en'thesim.
What are the sins of the Roman Catholic
Church? How many? They have burned at the stake the voices of truth. They have
sold children. They have sold indulgences and placed a curse of celibacy on the
priesthood. What are the sins of the Fundamentalists? Continual division and
blame. Continued subjection of women. The Bible needs to be rescued from them. What are the sins of Patriarchy?
Ages of war and slavery and destroying the environment. Often a misguided and
broken home. Who are they to decide the merit of a person based on gender? Who
are they to tell someone they cannot marry and be a priest or prophet?
The Goddess Herself, who has survived in her many forms outside Judaism in pagan
spirituality, was ruthlessly hunted down by Christianity in the form of the
Catholic Church, possessed as it was of the instrumental power of the Roman
State from 325 A.D. onwards.
Wherever found, under whatever name, the
Goddess was covered over by smashing Her images and temples, or turning Her
temples, sacred places and names into shrines and "faces" of Mary, mother of
Jesus. For this Mary, the chaste, retiring, modest Mother of "the real God", was
now all that was to be tolerated, even visible, of the Feminine, in the
Christian world. Only those who swore chastity and betook themselves to convents
and cloisters to tell their beads silently by the hour, could be endured as the
Face of Woman.
Why is it that a woman can be seen as a
Saint, a Doctor of the Church, or even an Apostle but is still denied the
priesthood? This is wrong. The ordination to the priesthood is a fuller
participation in baptism's sacrificial and prophetic gifts.
Christ replaced a priesthood based on the sacred by a priesthood based on
grace; a
universal priesthood shared by all the baptized. This priesthood is given
through the sacrament of baptism, and baptism is the same whether for a man or a
woman. We have also seen that there is no moral or biblical reason to deny
marriage in the priesthood. In fact the Bible says that to forbid marriage is
evil, so why should the priesthood be an exception? Christ never applied the word priest to his
followers or himself. He would not have wanted his followers to establish a
celibate male priesthood. The subsequent growth of a separate clergy class, with
its sacred vestments, special status and privileges would have troubled him. It
is also to profane the sacred to tell a man he can deny himself of taking part
in the way of nature, and this by serving God. That also is blasphemy. It
is time to denounce those teachings.
Teaching attributed to Jesus might challenge any thoughts that
God the Father is much more important than the Holy Spirit. The
synoptic Gospels all have a version of the saying, admittedly
mysterious, that no blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is ever
forgiven, unlike sins or blasphemies against sons of men (Mark)
or the Son of Man (Matthew and Luke). Thomas 44 says it more
strongly: blasphemies against Father and Son will be pardoned,
but those against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven on earth
or in heaven.
Is it blasphemy to teach that there is a
Goddess?
Certainly not! The Scriptures, in their original language, proclaim it to be
true. We have clearly seen
evidence in the Bible of stories and traditions about a Divine Feminine that
have been lost to us. Removing Her from the liturgy is not a victimless crime,
it is against everything that is noble and true. Denying Her authority is a
dragon devouring the virgin hearts of our young women; It is resisting the
spirit of truth and that is blasphemy
against the Holy Spirit.
In conclusion;
Biblically;
The Holy Spirit, 'Spirit of God's wisdom', is our Holy and Divine Mother.
Our souls in communion are the Holy Church & 'Ecclesia'; Bride of Christ,
Daughter of Zion.
Mother Mary and Mary Magdalene personify a female Holy Spirit and the
Bride of Christ.
She is our Christian Goddess~!
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