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.Â
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–Â
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.
There is nothing worse than the need to overstate the obvious. To avoid this, one simply has to identify the origin of the scripture and go from there.
Katia, corrections cannot be made by individuals who tailored the scripture to give themselves a position of authority, etc. Until we are able to make the transition from patriarchal to ” inclusive society”, I am afraid your plight will remain unanswered.
The crux of the problem lies in being able to get out of the current theological box we are in. The ancients used to look into the mystery religions as one answer to the above. But as you know, the current theological dogma was very successful in wiping them out, and driving them into near historical non-existence.
I think this is a good out of the box starting view point.
Carlo