Mysteries of the Bridechamber thoughts by Margaret Starbird

Mary Magdalene and Jesus depicted as married by an artist in 1910 in a Dervaig, Scotland church
Mary Magdalene and Jesus depicted as married. Stained glass window of a Dervaig, Scotland church, circa 1908

I endorsed this book [Mysteries of the Bridechamber: The Initiation of Jesus and the Temple of Solomon ] for ITI when it was published last year. I thought the book was remarkable in many ways– but I was sad that Victoria LePage couldn’t fully embrace Mary Magdalene as “true Bride”—In my view, she missed a golden opportunity to celebrate the “Sacred Marriage” at the heart of the Gospels. 

Apparently that “leap of faith” is too difficult for many people — We’ve all been taught to honor the “spiritual” as “high” and the “physical” as “low”–not understanding that they are ONE/ warp and woof of the same tapestry of Life.

I believe we were all “brainwashed ” by the early Gnostic Christians “denial” of the “divinity” of the physical body / flesh as “counterpart” and “consecrated vessel” of the “Spirit.” As my friend Mary Beben so succinctly states, “Spirit fell in love with Matter and united with Her to create the “Cosmos”—it’s a bit like “wave and particle” theory… the “unseen” is “ONE” with the visible. The word for mother in Sanskrit is “matr”–the root of “material,” “mater” (mother), “matrix” et alia….

This is the ultimate “integration of opposites” which we celebrate at the core of the “Sacred Union” in all mythologies…and at the heart of the Christian story.

It is the real meaning of the “nativity” of Jesus, “the Divine became Flesh”— the doctrine of “incarnation.” The sad thing is that we all were taught that the “Divine” became flesh ONLY in Jesus (a one-time event). We fail to grasp that Jesus came to show us that the “Divine” takes flesh in each of us… that We are called to be the incarnation of “Godde.” So our “earthen vessels” (our bodies, fearfully and wonderfully made!) are consecrated containers– 

I believe that one of the reasons that Mary Magdalene carries a “precious box of perfumed ointment” is to remind us of the “sacred container” for which she is the “personification”—model of our own physical “union” of flesh and divinity….

So I wish Victoria LePage could have made that last “leap” –to embrace the “incarnation” of “God in us” (Emmanuel!)….to include Mary Magdalene as “Bride” and “Divine Counterpart.”

The Dervaig window at the “Church of Mary” shows Jesus with a halo, his Bride without a halo. The artist was showing that Mary was “human”– Jesus was Divine. But, in fact, She, too was “Divine”–the “incarnation” of the “Feminine Face of God”—THIS is the doctrine I feel needs so desperately to be corrected in our time….

love and blessings,

Margaret

To read the discussions that ensued after this post, please visit our GoddessChristians forum starting with Message 20898.

NOW by Peter Marjason

Now             

 

The past is a present idea

 

The present doesn’t slip

Into the past at all

It remains totally present

Because there is no past

There was no past

 

There is no time to waste

 

This now moment that you seek

Has you in its jaws

Why wait for enlightenment?

Why not go off half-cocked

Which is now

And already out of your control

 

This is all space right here

Where could you get leverage

To affect this?

This is all time right now

When could you even attempt

To change this?

 

When you comment on life

It’s already too late

And also too late to withdraw

The above comment

And this one also

And so on

The present moment is not

Just a moment

Among other moments

 

The present moment is as subtle

As an express train

 

It was already over

Before you started

That which you want to improve

Is happening now

 

Thought does never move

From the present

 

This moment is smooth

And continuous

And eternal

The past is also now

 

To think you have to remind yourself

To be in the now

Is absurd

 

When observed closely

Nothing lingers at allIn the present moment

No time exists

 

The absolute power of this now

Is completely overlooked

 

It’s too late to do anything

About now

There is no cause and effect

Because this is it

There is nothing else to cause this

And nothing else for this to affect

 

Truth is before you think about it

Behind this present clear moment

Is not even a trail of ashesEverything changes

Except now

 

 

The present isn’t an instant

It’s everything

 

The result of change is always nowAny attempt to

Change what occurs

Is what occurs

 

You will never learn from experience

Because experience is

Only now

 

There is only what is occurring

Right now

Change does happen

But there is no past

  To cause it

Every attempt to reach oneness

Is oneness already attempting

 

By Peter Marjason

From http://www.advaitanotebook.com/index.html

 

If the poem above “clicked” and you have not yet read Eckhart Tolle’s A New Earth, well then NOW is the time!  And/or give it as a gift, it is like giving a Bible, that’s how profound Eckhart’s teaching is:

  http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0452289963/esoterictheologi