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Preface.. | Genesis.. Eve | Sophia.. | Holy Spirit..Proverbs.. | Holy Spirit..Mother Mary.. | Mary Magdalene.. | Beloved Disciple.. | A woman of Sama'ria.. | Jesus' Feminine Complement.. | Language.. | Symbols.. | Priesthood.. | Gnosticism.. | Dualistic dogma.. | Destiny.. | Arthurian stories.. | Templars, Troubadors and the Holy Grail.. | Archives of the Vatian.. | Sacred sexuality.. | Betrothed.. | Bride of Christ.. | To live with Christ..

THE LADY OF THE LAKE..

 

Lake Nemi is an ancient lake that is located east of Rome in the Alban Hills where the temple of Diana once stood, surrounded by her sacred grove. In ancient times the lake was known as "Diana's Mirror" because the reflection of the moon upon Lake Nemi could be perfectly viewed from the temple. A stream flowed into Lake Nemi from a sacred grotto nearby the temple. This stream was associated with the water nymph named Egeria. Both Egeria and Diana are early forms in the Lady of the Lake mythos. The Lady of the Lake was intimately connected with the guardian of the sacred grove of Diana. He was referred to as Rex Nemorensis, the King of the Woods, whose role it was to guard Diana's sanctuary at Nemi. It might be mentioned that the Irish word neimed that means "sanctuary" is uniquely similar to the word "Nemi" itself, which comes from the Latin nemus, meaning "sacred grove."
Arthur is at the same time the Horned God representative and the Christian King. Can they really be far apart or are they really one and the same thing? Arthurian legend also has a Lady of the Lake. Was this concept brought by Roman legions who were stationed in England, or was it already in place when they got there?

Ancient historical records show that Britain was never fully conquered by the Romans but retained its culture, its royal families intermarrying with the Caesars. With the coming of Joseph of Arimathea in A.D. 37, its kings became converts to Christianity and the island became the secret home of many of Jesus’ followers. Out of these crosswinds blowing from Rome and Judea emerged the Holy Kingdom that would eventually turn the whole Roman Empire to Christianity. Yet the destiny of the Holy Kingdom did not end with the conversion of Rome. It led to a resistance movement which for a century or more held back the forces responsible for the collapse of Europe in the Dark Ages. Two British kings, both named Arthur - one, Arthur I of Warwickshire, the fourth-century son of the emperor Magnus Maximus, the other his sixth-century descendant and a king of Glamorgan - stand out like beacons in a darkening world. Their careers rolled into one and elaborated upon by the medieval poets, they became the single King Arthur of myth and legend.

The Arthurian stories were part of the strange series of magical adventure, combining exalted religious idealism and knightly prowess, embodying Irish and Welsh myths, recast in contemporary guise by Breton minstrels and Aquitanian and German romancers and Cistercian monks, that comprised the Matter of Britain, including the stories of the Holy Grail, which had great appeal to the Norman-French and German ruling classes of late medieval Christendom. They remained popular, and Mallory’s 15th century version was amongst the first books to be printed in England.

Arthur’s adventures in the underworld, according to the medieval Welsh tale of The Spoils of Annwn, show some similarities to those surrounding labyrinths. He conquers a sequence of seven fortresses, including one which whirls around so that its entrance is hard to find. The refrain after the account of each encounter is that although accompanied by three times as many as required to crew his ship, only seven returned. The spoils he brings back are artefacts conferring invisibility and a cornucopia, or access to spiritual realms and material fertility and prosperity. In other tales his wife (soul) is kidnapped and has to be rescued from an otherworldly figure.

Several women, who are often blurred in the legends, all carry this title. Some names include Viviane, Eviene, Viviene, Nimue, and Nina. In Malory she is the woman who gives Arthur Excalibur and later takes it back when it is thrown into the water. In some works she is responsible for raising Lancelot, and sometimes curing his madness. She is also Merlin's downfall in Malory, the Vulgate Cycle and other various forms of the legend. She enchants Merlin with the magic he taught her. In Malory, she is killed in Arthur's court by Balin, but later reappears, which leads to the speculation that the Lady of the Lake is a sort of title. Marion Zimmer Bradley uses this idea to its full advantage in her feminist revision of the tales, The Mists of Avalon. The Lady of the Lake plays a crucial role in this text.

 

Several women, who are often blurred in the
legends, all carry this title. Some names include 'Dame du
Lac', 'Lady Nimue', 'Vivienne', 'Morgan le Fay', 'Lady of the
Fountain' and 'Raven'. An enchantress of Merlin. The
apparition of the goddess, also said to dwell in the middle of
the lake from which Excalibur appeared.

 

The Lady of the Lake was the foster-mother of Sir Lancelot and raised him beneath the murky waters of her Lake. She is, however, best known for her presentation to King Arthur of his magical sword Excalibur, through the intervention of the King's druidic advisor, Merlin (Myrddin) who was constantly worried that his monarch would fall in battle.

Merlin had met the Lady at the Fountain of Barenton (Brittany) and fallen so deeply in love with her that he agreed to teach her all his mystical powers. The lady became Merlin's scribe, who recorded his prophecies, as well as his lover. Unfortunately however, over the years, the Lady became so powerful that her magical skills outshone even her teacher and she imprisoned him in Glass Tower (or similar dungeon). To some extent she stepped into Merlin's role at King Arthur's side, but the old man's removal contributed considerably to the great monarch's downfall. The Lady of the Lake was eventually obliged to reclaim her sword when Arthur was fatally wounded at the Battle of Camlann and Excalibur was hurled back to misty waters. She was later one of the three Queens who escorted the King to Avalon.

The Lady of the Lake is usually referred to by various spellings of the names Nimue or Vivienne. Nimue is thought to be related to Mneme, the shortened form of Mnemosyne, one of the nine water-nymph Muses of Roman and Greek Mythology who gave weapons, not unlike Arthur's sword, to the heroic Perseus. Vivienne betrays the Lady's Celtic form, for "Vi-Vianna" probably derives from "Co-Vianna", a variant of the widespread Celtic water-goddess, Coventina. Remembering Latin pronunciation, this name probably relates to Merlin's original partner in early poetry, his wife Gwendoloena. Thus Gw-end(-ol)-oena = Cov-ent-ina. There have also been attempts to show Vivienne as a corrupt form of Diana or Rhiannon. Though possible, these theories seem unlikely.  

Water deities were extremely popular with Celtic Society for they controlled the essential essence of life itself. The spontaneous movement of springs, rivers and lakes clearly showed the supernatural powers of the goddesses who lived within; and offerings at such aquatic features were commonplace, especially of weapons and other valuables. The practice continues today at wishing wells across the country, and the Lady of the Lake is remembered as "Lady Luck"!

Her names clearly reveal this Lady to have been the Celtic Water-Goddess Coventina (presumably identified by the Romans with their Mnemosyne). This lady was worshipped throughout the Western Roman Empire, in Britain, the Narbonne area of Gaul and North-Western Iberia too. She is most celebrated for her shrine at Brocolitia (Carrawburgh) on Hadrian's Wall. Here a quadrangular temple surrounded a central pool fed by a sacred spring. Coin, jewellery and small bronze figurine offerings have been excavated as well as numerous altars dedicated by the local soldiers.

Since the Lady of the Lake's place as Merlin's student and lover was largely overtaken by Morgan Le Fay, a lady whose very name in Breton indicates a water-nymph, it seems that the two were aspects of the same character. Indeed, as both appear among the three queens who escort Arthur to Avalon, she no doubt had a third aspect making up the well-known theme of a Celtic Triple-Goddess.

 

 

 

Lying, robed in snowy white
That loosely flew to left and right--
The leaves upon her falling light--
Thro' the noises of the night
She floated down to Camelot:
And as the boat-head wound along
The willowy hills and fields among,
They heard her singing her last song,
The Lady of Shalott.

From The Lady of the Shallot by Lord Tennyson

 

Another interesting point is the many Lady of the Lake legends that are rife in folklore. There is one that revolves around White Rock lake in Dallas--many people have reported seeing her and some have even picked her up in their cars. She comes across as a damsel in distress in soaked clothing, weeping and crying for her fiance  who supposedly has had an accident of some kind. She is seen by the road trying to flag down someone to come and help him. If a thoughtful person stops, she gets in the car and rides for awhile, not talking, just weeping in the seat next to them, crying that she fears her love is dead. Then she disappears-- leaving a wet seat in the good Samaritan's car and sometimes weeds and other lake debris. She has been seen by hundreds of people over the years There are other spirits like this around the world and even here in the US--could she be some echo of an older spirit or tale? Maybe some kind of psychic image of another time and place--another reality that is still coming across to manifest itself thousands of years after the fact?

Maybe she is the feminine side of the ancient tale of the dying god and his consort--who knows? Hers is a pervasive legend and usually things that persist like that have a core of meaning which is deeper than we know.

 

According to Native American legends

Waterspirits that assume the form of human females are said to be extraordinarily beautiful. There was one, judging from her name Waktcexíwîka, "Waterspirit Woman," whose unparalleled beauty was particularly expressed in her singular red hair.

 The Mermaid




I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each.

I do not think that they will sing to me.

I have seen them riding seaward on the waves
Combing the white hair of the waves blown back
When the wind blows the water white and black.

We have lingered in the chambers of the sea
By sea-girls wreathed with seaweed red and brown
Till human voices wake us, and we drown.


— T.S. Eliot, "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock"




We tend to associate the equation of Christ and fish with the miracle of the loaves and fishes, or the fact that some of the disciples were fishermen (Christ as the fisherman of souls), but the symbol has an older origin connected with a more ancient myth. The Woman's Dictionary of Symbols and Sacred Objects notes that "Ichthys was the name of a son of the ancient Sea-goddess, Atargatis, also known as Tirgata, Aphrodite, Derceto, Salacia, Pelagia, or Delphine, whose name meant both 'womb' and 'dolphin'; all appeared in mermaid form. In a way, however, Jesus could be called the same Ichthys as the son of Sea-mother Mari, whose blue robe, pearle necklace, and much-varied name referred to the world's oceans: Maria, Marina, Marian, Mariamne, Myrrhine, Myrrha, Mari-Yamm, Mari-El, and Stella Maris, the Star of the Sea."


We tend to The word "mermaid" is usually read as "sea maid," but it is more properly glossed as "sea maiden" or "virgin of the sea." This is because of the many connections between the mermaid and the ancient Goddess, whose origin and power are associated with the sea. But if one happens to know French, the first syllable, "mer," takes on another significance, which is not merely an accident of etymology: mer is "sea," and it sounds much like mêre or "mother." Without going into the Indo-European origins for words that sound like "mare" or the prefix "mer" (ranging from the mother horse to the "mer" in "merry"), let it suffice to say that one of the underlying deep meanings of "mermaid" is "virgin mother," directly linking the term and the figure it names with the Virgin Mary.
 

THE BLACK MADONNA.

The most sacred icons of the Catholic Church are the Black Madonna and Christ child, which are found in Europe's most venerated shrines and cathedrals. Each year, hundreds of thousands of European pilgrims ritually humble themselves before the image of Black Mary and her child Jesus at Black Madonna sites throughout France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Belgium, Portugal and other Catholic countries. Many Black Madonna statues have the black paint literally kissed off of their hands and feet.

It appears that the festival of the Black Princess, Sara Kali, is in honor of this same symbolically black child. It is likely that those in later centuries who knew this legend and the identity of the Magdalen as the wife of Jesus equated her with the black bride from Canticles. She was the Sister-Bride and the Beloved. Her "blackness" would have been symbolic of her hidden state; she was the unknown queen--unacknowledged, repudiated, and vilified by the church through the centuries in an attempt to deny the legitimate bloodline and to maintain its own doctrines of the divinity and celibacy of Jesus. Her blackness is also a direct reference to the deposed Davidic princes of Jerusalem: "Brighter than snow were her princes, whiter than milk . . . now their appearance is blacker than soot, they are unrecognized on the streets" (Lam. 4:8). Fossils of truth remain buried in our symbols, our proper names of persons and places, our rituals and folk tales. This understood, it is plausible that the flight into Egypt was taken by the "other Joseph," Joseph of Arimathea, and the "other Mary," Mary Magdalen, to protect the unborn child of Jesus from the Romans and the sons of Herod after the crucifixion. The discrepancies in the story and the obvious generation gap can easily be understood in light of the danger to the bloodline--which required the utmost secrecy as to their whereabouts--and in light of the time that elapsed before the story was committed to writing. This seems to be another case of a myth being formed because the truth was too dangerous to be told. In summary, the two royal refugees from Israle, mother and daughter, might logically be represented in early European art as a dark-skinned mother and child, the hidden ones. The Black Madonnas of the early shrines in Europe (fifth to twelfth centuries) might then have been venerated as symbolic of this other Mary and her child, the Sangraal, which Joseph of Arimathea brought in safety to the coast of France. The symbol for a male of the royal house of David would be a flowering or budding staff, but the symbol for a woman would be the chalice--a cup or vessel contianing the royal blood of Jesus. And that is exactly what the Holy Grail is said to have been!

One prominent theory is briefly summarized by: "the Black Madonna is the ancient earth-goddess converted to Christianity." many goddesses were pictured as black, among them Artemis of Ephesus, Isis, Ceres, and others. Ceres, the Roman goddess of agricultural fertility is particularly important. Her Greek equivalent, Demeter, derives from Ge-meter or Earth Mother. The best fertile soil is black in color and the blacker it is, the more suited it is for agriculture.

 

In the journey to acquire gnosis of the Sacred Feminine and understanding of Sophia, according to many masters of the tradition, one must begin by seeking to know the Black Mother and Bride; hence the Dark aspects of the Divine Feminine.

Interestingly enough the word for "black" in Hebrew is the same as it is in the Hindu language: Kali. Thus, the name of the Dark Mother in our tradition is Kali Imma, and the name for the Dark Bride is Kali Kallah. The distinction between the Mother and Bride, in general, is the collective or transpersonal and the individual or personal, respectively - the Daughter or Bride is the individual manifestation and experience of that greater principle represented by the Mother. Thus, in truth, everything we might say about the Mother is equally true of the Daughter, and everything we might say of the Daughter is true of the Mother also - they are not truly separate at all.

The Black Mother is not easily understood - she is, perhaps, the most veiled or concealed aspect of Sophia. She is at the very heart of the creative process, and while she may be clearly experienced in the body and life process, yet she may also be experienced as completely disembodied rather than incarnate - completely transcendental. She is the primordial manifestation of the Divine Feminine - the Deep of the Void and Chaos from which all things arise and come into being. In her essence and nature she is unthinkable - completely inconceivable and incomprehensible; and yet she is the very primordial ground from which all being-consciousness-force emerges.

Although transcendental, and such things as beauty and horror are one and the same to her; yet, she is brooding and immanent, ever present in our experience of a constantly changing reality - and as the motivator of constant change or transformation, her immense power goes without saying. Equally, the Dark Mother is the Great Virgin, completely self-contained and hidden in herself, and though the very principle of change, often called 'Destruction,' which is the power behind all Creation, yet is she, in her essence and nature, never changed.

Chaotic and unpredictable, uncertainty and unknowing, dread and terrible - these are words that describe her; yet, so also are words such as sweet and all-giving, liberating and uplifting, and illuminating. She is the core of the Creative Process - the journey into Void and Chaos and Destruction from which a New Creation arise: Mother of the Apocalypse!

 

If
there is a God, we expect Him to be good, and this is difficult to
verify by experience

 

Instead, the second verse of the Torah is an apt
description of affairs: "And the land was chaos and desolation, and
darkness over the surface of the depths, and the spirit of God
hovering over the surface of the waters."

 

Anguish has ever been the lot of man, with pain,
frustration, and doubt, the spiritual components of relentless
entropy. The Talmud states that no man leaves this world with even
half of his desires fulfilled.

Instinctively, we protest: Not true! Life is meant to be
wonderful! We consider satisfaction our right, and looking around
us, we think we see it in others, or just beyond our reach. In fact,
this is an expression of man's religious nature, but life's
experience often brings disillusionment.
 

We must recognize our reality so we may come to terms with
it and achieve peace and satisfaction. Ignoring our situation
condemns us to remaining as we are.
 

We are
denied even the small comfort of resignation, and must respond to
this "divine" prodding by taking up the quest. Serious religion, and
especially Kabbalism, are (guided) explorations of reality in quest
of connection to God, and the accompanying harmonious meaning.
Mystical contemplation soon brings the discovery that chaos
and desolation are not limited to impingement on us by the world
outside of us. Within us, the stark, unbearable emptiness and utter
disarray are more profound, generally, than extrinsic disharmony.
One must go beyond conception to consciousness, refraining from
thoughts that divert one from clear, accurate perception. Not
meditating on anything, one merely dwells, at length, on what is
there, inside. Exploring one's inner world perceptively, determined
to learn the truth, one discovers this reality.
This process can be unbearable. The intensity of the void,
the anguish of the emptiness, unleashes profound, fiery, wild
emotions. Unable to resist this intensity, we are driven to find
refuge, solace, and means of containing and expressing this
overwhelming spiritual energy. It must not remain in the chaotic,
desolate state in which we discover it. Our isolation provokes
poignant desperation. Unable to cope with this extent of being
alone, we instinctively reach out beyond, for Something to give
meaning, goodness, purpose and order.
Merely knowing, in this manner, intuitively, that God must
be there is existentially unsatisfying. We require verification.
Therefore, if we are courageous, and the pain is intense, we take up
the quest to find God, to come to terms with the infinite and
ungraspable.
This is the deeper significance of the end of this
verse: "and the spirit of God hovers over the waters," present
despite, indeed, because of the chaos, but beyond reach. Creation is
not mere chaos and desolation; it is chaos and desolation impelling
us to search for God, for meaning. God is present, implicitly, in
the universe.
 

The sages implied this idea when
they said that in the beginning, the potential for everything was
created, and the continuation of creation merely expressed that
potential. Chaotic desolation, created at the beginning, was the
potential for faith and confidence in God, and, as we shall see,
with God's help, their positive expression, which is the entirety of
life.

Despite its root, deep in the soul, this connection to God
may not permeate one's being with trust in God, and the concomitant
confidence. Instead, faith may function only as a theoretical basis
for proceeding with life with greater confidence and energy.
Moreover, faith may be very general. Life is too complex
for this general fact to suffice. The specifics of the task of
refining the soul, to achieve mystical, intellectual, and emotional
harmony with God and His creation, remain. In fact, confidence may
only strengthen impulses and drives whose direct expression lead to
conflict, whereas doubt preserves, at least, superficial harmony
with one's surroundings. One is forced to refine one's approach, to
attain wholehearted, intellectual, emotional, and mystical
integration.
A problem confronts the soul. It is religious, knowing its
existence to depend on God, but it does not experience, nor express
Godliness. This remains implicit.
One discovers the reason for this through contemplation:
the soul is composed of a duality. Psalm 148 alludes to
it: "Hallelujah! Praise God from the heavens; praise Him from the
heights.... Let them praise God, for He commanded, and they came
into being." This higher, more spiritual aspect of soul
spontaneously experiences God and its dependence on Him.
A second, more mundane level of soul, feels that God is far
above it, inaccessible: "Praise* God from the land.... They shall
praise the name of God, for His name is exalted and alone. His glory
is above earth and heaven." The Godly level is too lofty to be
expressed directly, here. Rather, this second, less Godly level of
soul must deliberately mediate between dimly perceived, and
therefore, chaotic, spontaneous impulses of the Godly, and their
expression. This second level experiences a certain independence of
its Creator.
(Footnote: The praise comes with refinement of the soul.)
For most people, the aspect of soul which feels independent
of God and spirituality dominates. It has free will. Worldly
considerations influence it much more than spiritual ones. This is
disturbing. It is a state of golus, (of exile). Clinging to God, the
source of all good, through faith, we endure golus. However, if we
can not express this good practically, we remain spiritually
uncomfortable. The exile of the Shekhina (the Divine Presence) is
felt most intensely when all sense of good and spirituality have
withdrawn from the world, receding to a remote, inner point of
faith.
This point must be the base for extending outward, to bring
the creation into the rof the Godly. To permeate one's being, each
aspect of soul must become a vehicle for the Shekhina in its own,
unique manner, thereby bringing the Shekhina out of exile, and
extending the Divine Presence into the mundane creation.

The perspective that material is not the absolute standard
of reality yields the knowledge that it is created. Moreover, since
material does not exist absolutely, creation must be perpetual.
Reality is always new.

A mystic regards the basis of morality quite differently
from a rationalist. Relying on pure faith, the rationalist might
assert that God would not create us with intellect and free choice
without communicating what He wants us to do. We require values.
The mystic takes an experiential approach. How do we know
that murder is morally wrong, for example? For the mystic, this is a
God-given reality, emerging from objective contemplation, requiring
no other justification. This is not blind faith. Rather, it is in
the spiritual experience, issuing from the objectivity of
contemplation. Human beings simply have intrinsic value and sanctity.

The uncritical objectivity we are describing in
contemplation is an objectivity of the heart, not only of the brain.
To the extent it is perfected, one has achieved true harmony with
the creation; one's perceptions and actions are perfectly
appropriate in every situation. This does not mean that one is
always placid or happy. Rather, one responds selflessly and
spontaneously to good with pleasure, and to evil with loathing.
 

One's spontaneous emotional involvement with life, however,
generally does not express this inner reality.
On a slightly higher level, one is disturbed that inner
spiritual perception is not reflected in emotion and action. In that
case, the inner spirituality at least influences the outer level of
personality and emotion. However the influence is ind, not a direct
expression of the inner spirituality. It is the state of duality to
which we alluded.
The aspect of the soul which does not perceive or react to
spirituality naturally, does respond to contemplation. During
meditation, it feels forlorn and empty, instead of being totally
engrossed in materiality. This emptiness is the state of inner chaos
with which we began our essay, whereas the natural harmony of
spiritual perception, in the higher level of soul, directly reflects
the spirit of God hovering over the waters.
The forlorn feeling, as we said, is a response to
contemplation. Presented with spirituality, the natural (second
level of) soul feels its great distance from God, from spirituality,
and from the ideal of the first level. Feeling this weakens the hold
of materiality on the soul; physicality is no longer satisfying
enough to rivet the soul's attention.
However, the soul still can not attain the spontaneous,
harmonious expression of Godliness it craves. The result is
desolation, a passive, immobile state.
The first step to elevate desolation to harmony is to yearn
for connection with God. This fiery longing is true emotion. It does
not merely lodge in the inner recesses of the heart. Rather, it
mobilizes the body to do something about the unreachable distance.
This energy needs to be harnessed and directed, but the personality,
meanwhile, is unable to do
 

Yeshua says, "One must be reborn of the Holy Spirit to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven." This, in truth, is a mystical death - passing back into the womb of the Deep of Void and Chaos, those Bitter Waters (Marah), to arise as a child of Light. As any woman can bear witness, the fullness of the womb leads to an explosive and chaotic event of giving birth, so that with birth both mother and child pass through a great ordeal - in this the Black Mother is perfectly known by women. Indeed! She is innately known by women within their own deep and unspoken but natural and instinctual qualities.

Here, of course, we speak of the Dark Night of the Soul and the Cloud of Unknowing - which leads to the realization of the True Light. Yet, until there is a mystical death, and the embrace of the depth of Darkness, how shall the Bright Mother, the Queen of Heaven or Enlightement be known? "Those who say they know the Bright Mother, never having embraced her Dark Splendor, do not know her, and cannot unite with her in full until they are willing to the Darkness."

Rather than being a negative event, the dark night is believed by mystics and others to be a blessing in disguise where the individual is trained to grow from vocal and mental prayer, to a deeper contemplative prayer of the soul. Particularly in Christianity, it is seen as a severe test of one's faith.

 

Jam 1:3 Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.
Jam 1:4 But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.

 

A  mystic crosses the abyss of the collective unconsciousness and the formless matrix/matter to discover God/dess is a mystery and not really a monolith. The Elohim is plural and transcendent. The communion is ONE. The Kingdom of Heaven and the Angelic host is Elohim.

 

Kali Imma is black to those who do not know her, who gaze at a distance, but to her lovers she is white brilliance – the all-consuming Holy Fire that devours all that is not like unto the Divine, it is at one and the same time the Light of Divine Illumination? Sophia is Sophia, bright or dark; just as the nature of mind is the same, whether unenlightened or enlightened.

She is the Partzuf of the dark phase of the moon’s cycle; yes, death and rebirth, and passage through in-betweens, yet also presiding over initiation into deep mysteries of being and consciousness, and bearing a capacity to heal, regenerate and renew. She holds the keys to wild gnosis, my friend, with all her unpredictability, transcendental insight, and great passionate force.

Consider, perhaps, the Black Madonna and the many people who flock to her for comfort and healing.

Yes, she bears the attributes of the outcast, but then it is she who is swift to deliver the outcast from injustice and to receive and accept them as they are, though certainly seeking their enlightenment and liberation.

She is metadimensional and, yes, she is wild – no doubt she can be awesome and terrible, but also sweet and passionately loving. Who is looking?

She brings into Union.

She may reveal delights of the senses, yet also the error of grasping at them; she can guide through unseen spaces, revealing deep secrets, and lead us into new horizons; she can heal and nurture, and she can cut straight through our deepest delusions and shatter the bonds of our self-grasping – she becomes so many things to us, and yet she is none of them, for she is the Great Void itself! Can you separate out the new moon from the full moon? “She is repose in motion!” Indeed! She is the Supreme Trickster, operating quite outside of the confines of conventional wisdom and the dullness of unenlightened society – but how can one not love her ultimate ends, for her outcome is the perfect delight of liberation!


No explanation quite captures her, and she will not be bound by our concepts – she is pure experience at the primal core of being. It is on an experiential level that we must know and understand her, and here in this world she is quite immanent in our experience, though, indeed, we attempt to avoid her or ignore her in our culture and society. Kali Imma and Kali Kallah are not well accepted in our society and culture - rather they are ignored and avoided, demonized, as it were, because they cannot be defined and packaged by finite and linear reason, or controlled when invoked. Few women truly embrace her, and even fewer men - yet, it is she who brings about a true and full metanoia (spiritual transformation or conversion).

The difficulty is this - she is the honest truth of life, much of which is deemed unacceptible or undesirable. You see, the Black Mother/Bride is enigmatic, for while she brings into the Light, she also is among monstrous, horrific and demonic things. She is present in everything without exception, and empowers the entire play of cosmic forces - divine, admixed and demonic. There are two actions of both the Mother and Bride - purification and consecration, corresponding to the Dark and Bright aspects of Sophia. Purification implies the removal of all that distorts, perverts, corrupts, hinders or obstructs; consecration implies a dedication, something brought into alignment and harmony wih the Divine will and kingdom. Thus, purification precedes consecration, the two going hand in hand together.

I'm reminded of the truth that action of creation is at one and the same time the action of destruction. This is reflected in the transition of the Maiden to the Mother, for example. The state of the Maiden is shattered as she comes into being as the Mother - that which was passing away as that which shall be comes into being. This is the reality of the present moment, always. This seems directly connected to the twofold action of purification and consecration.

Indeed, it does seem that the Holy Bride is the Mother of the Apocalypse-Revelation; she who gives birth to the Second Coming - at least from a Sophian point of view. So then, She is the left hand of the Goddess.

 

"Life Is..."

Life is happening, love it.
Life is love, feel it.
Life is spirit, nurture it.
Life is laughter, enjoy it.
Life is happiness, strive for it.
Life is an opportunity, benefit from it.
Life is beauty, admire it.
Life is bliss, taste it.
Life is a dream, realize it.
Life is a challenge, meet it.
Life is a duty, complete it.
Life is a game, play it.
Life is a promise, fulfill it.
Life is sorrow, overcome it.
Life is a struggle, accept it.
Life is a tragedy, confront it.
Life is an adventure, dare it.
Life is luck, make it.
Life is too precious, do not destroy it.
Life is people, protect it.

Life is a song, sing it.
Life is life, just love it.
-- John Ahem
 

BABA YAGA THE BLACK GODDESS

  
The story of Baba Yaga is prime among many images of the Black Goddess. The Black Goddess is at the heart of all creative processes and cannot be so easily viewed. Men and women rarely approach her, except in fear. Women are learning of her through the strength and boldness of elder women who are not afraid to unveil her many faces.

Sophia as wisdom lies waiting to be discovered within the Black Goddess who is her mirror image. Knowing that, until we make that important recognition, we are going to have to face the hidden and rejected images of ourselves again and again.

As women, we are confronted throughout our lives with unavoidable body messages regarding the uniqueness of our form and the inevitable changes that characterize aging and the passage of time. Although aging presents difficult challenges for both men and women, women confront some specific difficulties because of their gender. In traditional narratives, the end of biological fertility has relegated women to the status of "Old Women" who are stereotypically viewed as poor, powerless, and pitiful in our sexist and youth oriented culture. Baba Yaga, often referred to as the Black Goddess, and Vasalisa, often representing Sophia are intrinsic to the psyche of girls and women because they shows us that the illusion of form can hide wonderful qualities within.

One of the cruelest of stereotypes that older women face is the "Menopausal Woman." These are accentuated by the very fact that younger women are often rejecting or distancing to older women in society, unwilling to identify with women older than themselves. These experiences are painful confirmations that the aging woman no longer meets the social criteria of a physically and securely attractive woman. The common result for most women is the activation of shame  as if becoming/looking older means that something is deeply and truly wrong with oneself.

Conscious femininity is a cyclic process and involves an awakened awareness of the triple form of the Goddess Mother, Virgin and Crone and how she exists simultaneously and continuously in all of our psyches, each taking center stage in awareness at different moments.

These archetypal patterns are considered intrapsychic modes of consciousness in the individual, and the primordial image of a powerful and integrated woman, crowned with wisdom gleaned through real experience, is again reemerging through both the individual and collective psyches of humanity. First, however, women must learn to embrace, respect and honor their changing bodies, abilities, capacities and WISDOM. We can learn a lot from Baba Yaga!

An archetype is a universal symbol, an inherited mental image to which humankind responds, and which is often acted upon as an unconscious reaction to human experience. These stories are no different and the story of Baba Yaga exemplify this phenomena. The female experience is symbolized by and archetypally corresponds with the ancient Triple Goddess as the creator and destroyer of all life "the ancient and venerable female divinity embodying the whole of female experience as Virgin, Mother, Crone" The archetypal figure representing the end of a woman's childbearing years, or the "Third Age" for women, is the third aspect of the Triple Goddess, the Crone.

At the climacteric or menopause, women are often forced to stand precipitously between the culmination of past experiences, to realize that youth is left behind, and prepare a new space within whereby a fresh image will coalesce as she envisions her future. This is real labor. The traditional constructs that are available to women are largely influenced by patriarchal standards of youth and beauty and we need fresh constructs that honor the diversity of life in all of its forms.

When a culture's language has no word to connote "Wise Elder Woman," what happens to the women who carry the "Grandmother" consciousness for the collective? Prejudicial (prejudged) attacks throughout history against older women symbolized patriarchy's feminization of fear the ultimate fear of annihilation, to be nonexistent. Centuries-long indoctrination limits our imagination so that we see this ancient aspect of the feminine only in her negative forms. We see her as the one who brings death to our old way of being, to our lives as we have known them, and to our embodied selves.

Our fear of the unconscious makes the Crone or Baba into an image of evil. The prevalence of paranoid masochism finds its expression through feminine perversion. Kristeva (1986) writes from "Stabat Matar" that "Feminine perversion is coiled up in the desire for law as desire for reproduction and continuity, it promotes feminine masochism to the rank of structure stabilizer"

Structure stabilizer! Natural death is to be feared, hidden away, certainly not recognized as part of the natural rhythm of cycles of birth, death and rebirth? Only when death becomes projected does it become a monster to be feared. There is an unconscious belief that a woman who has outlived her husband has somehow used up his life force. Walker (1985) claims that the secret hidden in the depths of men's minds is that images of women are often identified with death. Women have also bought into this mindset largely because of lost connection with their own spirituality and the natural cycles of nature!

To be sent to Baba Yaga was tantamount to being sent to one's death, but Vasalisa was actually helped by Baba Yaga. By facing her own worst fear death itself, Vasalisa became liberated from her previous situation and immaturity.

The myths of our society tell us much about the attitudes and world view of the myth-owners, and these attitudes are the products of women's roles within the wider society. Myth arises out of the collective level of humankind's experience, which is presented through images and symbols that resonate within our psyche. It is something we inherit from our ancestors and it is expressed through our genetic, racial memory.

The symbol of the Crone is unique to a feminine worldview where the face of the Virgin and the fecund Mother, the Virgin Mother Mary, was absorbed in Western tradition into Judeo-Christian imagery. Likewise, we see the image of Vasalisa embodied as this innocence. The Crone has retained much of her pre-patriarchial character where she has haunted the fringes of Western culture, largely ignored, unacknowledged and rejected one that often strikes fear into the hearts of men and some women because she has tremendous power and cannot be confined, literally seen as having the power of life and death. They symbolized maturity, authority, attuned to nature and instinct. They were women whom men could not bind by making pregnant.

That aspect of life that men would most like to control but against which they are powerless death. The Crone was healer, seer, medicine woman and, when death arrived with inexorable certainty, she was the mid-wife for the transition to another life

Over time, and in recent history the Crone became associated with the dark side of the feminine the withered old hag, the witch.  Ironically, the word "Hag" used to mean "Holy One" from the Greek hadia, as in hagiolatry, "Worship of Saints."

In deconstructing these familiar images of the older aging woman, we must first identify their symbolic roots and challenge them in order to allow for potent, vital images that energize women's potential creative spiritual evolution. In this quest it is crucial to find valued female images that present creative and spiritual power, that offer a paradigm of ongoing formation and integration. If we do not do so, we risk encountering images of women that reinforce stereotypical models and moreover, can only alienate us from our own truest selves.

The Crone is a figure who incorporates both dark and light, life and death, creation and destruction, form and dissolution. The doll [Vasalisa's doll, given to her by her dying mother] becomes the symbol of the Sibyl, a figure of inspiration and intuition. She acts as a guide through the great passages of life, leading a woman into her own inner knowing.

In the story of Vasalisa and Baba Yaga, the innocence of the maiden coming of age through a series of tasks. Baba Yaga forces Vasalisa to look within through intuition (the doll) and she awakens to the illuminating light that is carried in her heart. Within the simple limits of a folk story, the interactions of Sophia (Vasalisa) and the Black Goddess (Baba Yaga) are demonstrated  Baba Yaga or the Crone also embodies the inner archetype of Sophia, feminine wisdom.

Sophia is a Wise Woman, one who epitomizes feminine thought. This thought is of a particular kind. It is 'Gestalt' or whole perception. it synthesizes and looks at the overall pattern, it is logical but empathetic and combines acute observation with intuition. It is relational, taking account of the past in order to project forward into the future, and it arises out of care and concern for man and womankind. It uses both the left and right brain modes of thought. It is creative and concerned with vision and solutions attributes which are an integral part of the Wise Woman

Sophia plays, hides, adepts, disguises, and brings justice. Interestingly, we see these very same qualities attributed to the wise woman as being Vasalisa's, only not fully formed. Thus affirming the feminist perspective of the Goddess in all of her aspects and that all ways to wisdom are valid paths. Girls and women are encouraged to rely on their own subjective experience or on the communal experience of other women This is a very important point!

From a feminist perspective, the entry into the third phase of women's life is seen as a time of spiritual questing, renewal and self-development.  It is a time where women are encouraged to explore themselves through interaction with other females who are providers of friendship, support, love, even sexual satisfaction, rather than a woman's family.

Likewise, the young girl growing into maidenhood needs the guidance and wisdom that elder women can provide. She must receive the gifts that the wise ones can give her. Baba Yaga may appear as a witch, yet she is instrumental in folk traditions.  She aids heroes to find weapons, simplifying tasks and quests when she is treated with courtesy. Her transposed reflection is none other than Vasilisa the fair the young righteous maiden who defeats her opposite aspect by truth and integrity.

The older woman is the keeper of the wisdom and tradition in her family, clan, tribe, and community. She is the keeper of relations, whether they be interpersonal or with all of nature. Every issue is an issue of relationship. It is assumed that she has a deep understanding of the two great mysteries, birth and death.

Another quality is the ability to be mediator between the world of spirit and earth. She is emancipated from traditional female roles of mothering and is free to make a commitment to the greater community. As a result of this freedom, there is an abundance of creativity unleashed in this phase of life, often expressed through art, poetry, song, dance, and crafts and through her sexuality as she celebrates her joy.

This elder time must again become a stage of life revered and honored by others and used powerfully in service by women themselves. The elder "Wise-Woman" can represent precisely the kind of power women so desperately need today, and do not have the power to force the hand of the ruling elite to do what is right, for the benefit of future generations and of the earth itself.

Like Baba Yaga, the Crone must help us by her example and "Admonish us to revere all peoples and all circles of life upon this earth, not only important for the dignity and self-esteem of each woman, but vital for the countenance of life on our sweet Mother Earth".

Since men define power as the capacity to destroy, the Destroying Mother Crone must be the most powerful female image for them, therefore, the only one likely to force them (us) in any new direction.

A woman who denies her life process at any time in her development, clinging desperately to outmoded images, myths and rituals of her past, obscures her connection with Self, the Divine, and therefore, with her spiritual heritage, the natural universe. The same holds true for our daughters, maidens who are coming of age. There is a kind of internal balance and sense of holiness available to us when we accept ourselves as part of a world that honors cycles, changes, decay and rebirth. It is time for women to reflect and give form to the authentic self in its evolving, formative process.

The woman who is willing to make that change must become pregnant with herself, at last. She must bear herself, her third self, her old age with labor. There are not many who will help her with that birth. To Crone is to birth oneself as "Wise-Woman," and see the world through new eyes.

We have not had the safety valve of feminine metaphor in our spiritual understanding, consequently, the Feminine, both Divine and human, have appeared monstrously contorted, threatening and uncontrollable.

The Black Goddess lies at the basis of Spiritual knowing, which is why her image continuously appears within many traditions as the Veiled Goddess, the Black Virgin, the Outcast Daughter, the Wailing Widow, the Dark Woman of Knowledge.

The way of Sophia is the way of personal experience. It takes us into the realm of "Magickal Reality," those areas of our lives where extraordinary vocational and creative skills are called upon to manifest. Those treasures of Baba Yaga and Vasalisa lie deep within each of us, waiting to be discovered.

  


The female principle outlines an emerging movement during the Gothic Renaissance. In France, in the 12th century, there is a religious and knightly order surrounded by mysteries. The Order of the Priorate of Our Lady of Sion. It is passionately interested in the cult of the Goddess Mothers, now already in the Christianised figure of the Black Madonna. Her most important historical contribution was an amazing precedent in the struggle for the equal rights of women.

The Black Madonna became consistently present after the Crusades. Especially the Knight Templars, who brought to their countries small statues of black Virgins which were considered exotic pagan representations. The great celebration of the Knight Templars was Pentecost, day of the Holy Ghost and, as we have seen, the Dove belongs to Mother Earth as the Holy Ghost belongs to Mary.

The Black Madonna is a form of the Christian Virgin Mary, having deep roots into the pre-Christian religions of Europe. Some scholars trace her all the way back to black Artemis of Ephesus, located in present day Turkey.

The Black Madonna is symbol of all of the above and much more. She is Mary as Goddess and she is Eve, she is the prima materia and the black lands, she is alchemy and she is the mother of all of human creation. From the depths of the darkest of space and the from the primal blackness of the mud of the earth she was formed. Manifesting into all colors and realms she casts her light of compassion, love and forgiveness into the very being of humanity. She is what makes the spirit rise out of the animal form. She is the being who represents all of the aspects of nature which are rising up out of creation. She is the being who symbolizes the transcendent nature of all of life. It is through her suffering, her desire, her compassion and her willingness to teach that the human race can reach towards a less mundane role. She is all that is and all that shall ever be. Mary is the true manifestation of all that is good in humanity. She is the woman that lives inside all of women. She is the true being of worship for it is only through her ultimate martyrship that we as men can grow.

Pentecost was also the great Arthurian celebration of the Holy Grail, object of the sacred search which appears at this time.

The Knight Templars became part of history as the Grail's guardians. The Holy Grail protected the earth, nourished it and granted it fertility, powers similar to those of the Mother Earth and the Black Madonna.

The Templars brought with them the devotion to the Black Madonna from Ethiopia. The colors of their order was black and red symbolizing light and sacrifice. They even wore a double black and red cord around their necks that represented this and their flag also had black, white and red colors. For them, the Black Madonna also reminded them of the Queen of Sheba and her son Menelik, the first Emperor of Ethiopia when they were the guards of the Ark of the Covenant under Emperor St. Lalibela who developed the stone cross Churches of Lasta Province. But the Templars were devoted to the Mother of God specifically under her titles of "Our Lady of Light" and "Ark of the Covenant." For this reason, which is quite in keeping with the Eastern Church's theology and iconography, the Templar Madonnas were Black.

the images were darkened to illustrate a text from the Song of Songs: I am black but beautiful [Negra sum sed formosa]. In support of this theory, note that many of the black madonnas exist in France and date from around the time of the crusades, when Bernard of Clairvaux wrote numerous commentaries on the Canticles, comparing the soul to the bride, as well as many on Our Lady. He was also known to have visited several shrines of the Black Madonna, for example: Chatillon and Affligem. In the Gothic period texts explicitly interpreted the Bride in Canticles as referring especially to Mary. Once artistic precedent had been set, subsequent black madonnas may be explained by artistic convention rather than theological motivation. Based on historical correlations, Ean Begg speculates that the genre developed from an esoteric popular religion common among the Templars and Cathars, perhaps as a complement to the impetus from Bernard.

The first gentile baptized a Christian in the Bible is a man from Ethiopia, having great authority under Canddace, queen of the Ethiopians. Acts:8;26-40

The female principle is revealed in the Grail, as was also the cult to the worship of Love practiced by the Troubadours through their total dedication to the Lady.

Flower imagery from the scriptures and nature was applied to Mary in the writings of the Church Fathers and in the liturgy, providing the foundation in Tradition for the subsequent naming of hundreds of flowers for Mary's life, mysteries, virtues, excellences and divine prerogatives in the popular religious folk traditions of the medieval countrysides - as recorded by botanists, folklorists and lexicographers

Just as nuns wed Christ, so monks and priests wed Mary. Hopeful knights were known to place a ring on Mary's finger. If the statue gripped the ring firmly, the knight considered himself her Bridegroom and entered a religious order. In Greece, men who worshiped Venus performed the same ritual. Venus was also known to firmly grip the rings of the men she loved. One Friar, Alain de la Roche, claimed that many saints and angels witnessed his wedding to Mary who placed on his finger a ring made of her woven hair (a common love custom at that time.)

The 14th century, however, sets the end of the flourishing of this femininity with the first fires of the Inquisition, which burned for 500 years. This great fire burns and defames the Knight Templars and heads the "witch hunting", in an attempt to eliminate the female principle of pleasure, freedom and peace of Mother Earth.

The witches' pyres were only extinguished at the Age of Reason. Although they apparently did not correspond to the ideal of the Age of Reason, the small Black Madonna appeared as a symbol of a Formidable Strength, older and more powerful than any king or Pope.

They are a source of elementary and uncontrollable source of life as is freedom. They have their own spirit and wisdom: they did not submit themselves to any nationalist organization or law. The return of the female part of God lifts popular enthusiasm and mankind experiences the sacred directly through the apparitions of the Virgin of Lourdes and of the La Salete in the 19th century.

Around the world, women are working for justice, for healing, and the lives of these women reveal an unusual source of strength: the fiercemess of comapssion symbolized in ancient icons, images, and archetypes of the wrathful divine feminine. Known in India as Durga and Kali, in Nepal and Tibet as Tara, and in Europe and Latin America as the Black Madonna and Yemaya, it is the fierce divine feminine, which arises when the world is on the brink of destruction.

Y Ddraig Goch - The Welsh Dragon Y Ddraig Goch, The Red Dragon of Wales, is the symbol of resurgent Wales. The Red Dragon was originally a griffin on the standard of a Roman legion headquartered in North Wales, but early on came to be associated with the fighting dragons imprisoned by Lludd and Llefelys. The significance of these dragons was pointed out by Myrddin, the Merlin of Arthurian legend, in the time of Vortigern. The two dragons, one white, one red, had fought for many years. The white dragon at first prevailed but in the end the red dragon overcame the white. Myrddin explained that the Welsh would ultimately, after a long period of adversity, overcome the foreign invaders, and maintain their language, lands and freedom. St. David, Dewi Sant, is the patron saint of the Welsh, and March 1, his feast day, is celebrated as a patriotic and cultural festival by the Welsh in Wales and around the world. Dewi Sant was a Celtic monk of the sixth century. His mother was Non. The ruins of a small chapel dedicated to her memory may be seen near St. David's Cathedral. Its ruins remain there now. His father was Sant, a son of Ceredig, King of Cardigan. Little is known for certain about Dewi Sant, but he founded several religious centers in Wales and western England, was consecrated archbishop during a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, and led an ascetic life. An account of his life was written towards the end of the 11th century by Rhygyfarch, a monk at Llanbadarn Fawr near Aberystwyth. Many prophesies were said to have preceded the birth of Dewi Sant, and many miracles were attributed to him. One miracle often recounted is that once when Dewi was preaching to a crowd at Llandewi Brefi those on the outer edges could not hear, so he spread a handkerchief on the ground, and stood on it to preach, whereupon the ground swelled up beneath him, and all could hear. A short account of Dewi Sant has been given by Nona Rees in St. David of Dewisland. March 1, the date given by Rhygyfarch for the death of Dewi Sant, was celebrated as a religious festival up until the Protestant Reformation of the 16th century. In the 18th century it became a national festival among the Welsh, and continues as such to this day. The celebration usually entails singing and eating, which may mean a meal followed by singing, or much singing followed by a Te Bach, tea with teisen bach and bara brith. Y Ddraig Goch, the Red Dragon, is flown as a flag or worn as a pin or pendant, and leeks are worn, and sometimes eaten. In schools in Wales the boys take leeks to school, status being given to those who bring the biggest leeks, and eat them earliest in the day. The heraldic emblem of Wales is Y Ddraig Goch, the Red Dragon. The emblem of Wales is the leek, arising from an occasion when a troop of Welsh were able to distinguish each other from a troop of English enemy dressed in similar fashion by wearing leeks. An alternative emblem developed in recent years is the daffodil, used and preferred over the leek by the English government as it lacks the overtones of patriotic defiance associated with the leek. St. David's Day meetings are not boisterous celebrations of democracy and freedom in Wales, but rather the subdued remembrance allowed a captive nation under colonial rule.

Dewi is sometimes known, in Welsh, as 'Dewi Ddyfrwr' (David the Water Drinker) and, indeed, water was an important part of his life - he is said to have drunk nothing else. Sometimes, as a self-imposed penance, he would stand up to his neck in a lake of cold water, reciting Scripture. Little wonder, then, that some authors have seen Dewi as an early Puritan! It is claimed that Dewi lived for over 100 years, and it is generally accepted that he died in 589. His last words to his followers were in a sermon on the previous Sunday. Rhigyfarch transcribes these as 'Be joyful, and keep your faith and your creed. Do the little things that you have seen me do and heard about. I will walk the path that our fathers have trod before us.' 'Do the little things' ('Gwnewch y pethau bychain') is today a very well-known phrase in Welsh, and has proved an inspiration to many. On a Tuesday, the first of March, in the year 589, the monastery is said to have been 'filled with angels as Christ received his soul'. St. David's Day meal. After lunch we danced Welsh dances, sang Welsh folk songs and recited Welsh poems. The highlight of the day was the judging of the longest leek competition, but I never envied the winner because he was cheered on to 'eat some of your leek'. Again, Dewi would have approved, because as you probably remember, he was also a vegetarian.

Church leadership an enemy of mankind on earth. The Book of Revelations long said to be a closed book first by the Roman Church Leadership which is clearly a main villain, later echoed by every major denomination including first century Christian or "scriptural churches" It is a closed book they scream with one voice! Why do they scream this because everyone in church leadership knows they have failed to obey Christ's last written order! The Roman Leadership was so afraid of people knowing the scriptures they forbid them to be published in everyday languages and a copy of Revelations outside of a select few monasteries was punished by death in any language before 1500 and was one of the charges brought against Martin Luther. In a time of priest being the only ones able to read anything at all they feared any human knowledge of the truth about scriptures outside of the Vatican. The scriptural church copied the sins of the Harlot because they wanted wealth being Nicolaitions fooling themselves that Rome was the only villain in Church leadership. Rome was prophesied to be the main villain but the sins of Revelations all existed in the scriptural church first. The real enemy is the church leadership that love money more than God and they will spend one thousand years paying for that crime , and cannot cry out to the Christ, “But we did this in your name Lord”, he already told you once, “Get away from me I never knew you!”


All that Believe in the Name of God and call upon him are saved. All who walk with God and serve him by action are saved not by action but by the faith required to obey him by action. This covers all the religions of God whether any of the followers of the other religions believe it or not. The law is for lawbreakers, the last written book from the God of Abraham is an indictment against the Hirelings of the Vineyard that have taken the word of God and made a wonderful comfortable living off it for themselves and children and children’s children for nearly 2,000 years. They have taught the future generations to repeat pattern of behavior to insulate the exact same demons that nailed the Christ to a tree from being exposed to the daylight and have lived as vampires off the children of God. This hated Temple system condemned by Christ first calling them in the Gospel vipers making God’s house a den of thieves (for this the “scriptural Leviticus Priests”) sought to nail him to a tree not satisfied with just death but a criminals death because he dared to preach against their source of income. What does the scriptural church do, they sit back (in full dress of Sanhedrin pride and self righteousness) condemn all other Christians as well as Jews, and Islamic to Hell because they don’t have scriptural doctrines don’t prattle on in tongues. The Law brought us to Christ it is a school that we can never graduate from it doesn’t saves us spiritually but within the law we will find truths that if we follow will prolong our life. Does that mean you must eat Kosher, or follow the 2200 Laws of the Mishna or don’t eat Pork, shrimp or other creatures considered unclean, No it doesn’t... Am I under the law, no I am not under it, it brought me to the one who could fulfill it and I acknowledge him as my Lord and remember to keep asking him to forgive my sins, past present and future


 

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