The Sacred Feminine

[Limbo]

I'm interested in different views of the Sacred Feminine in the Abrahamic religions.

Sacred Feminine, feminine aspect of Divinity, Goddess, Mother, however you think of Her...how is she represented in your religion and what is Her name?

[dauer]

It depends, but the most frequently spoken of Divine Feminine in Judaism is the shechinah, which represents immanence and receptivity. She is associated with the Torah and Shabbat among other things, personified as queen, bride, princess, mother.

[wil]

Found a link referencing Dauer's discussion he may be able to comment.
http://www.adishakti.org/pdf_files/shekinah--the_divine_feminine_(jps.net).pdf

To me the Divine Feminine has to be sought out in Christianity...for ages and still now for many the woman at the well was a harlot, a prostitute, the scholarly thought of the day however is that they were mixing passages. I contemplate, what if she was? Does that make her less divine. The woman with the alabaster jar, anointing Jesus with oil, who will be remembered anytime Jesus is spoke of, who was she, we have only conjecture.

To me Christianity has a divine feminine and her name is G!d, and she is in all her creations, all her children, it is upto us to find and celebrate the divine feminine in ourselves and others.

[Impqueen]

I have been reading Ronald Hutton's Witches, Druids and King Arthur and apparently there was a period in Christianity when the planets and the Roman gods were seen as divine helpers of God, in particular the goddess Natura was the intermediary between God and earth.

I'd go and look up a specific quote but the cat is really comfy on my lap ...

[farhan]

I'm interested in different views of the Sacred Feminine in the Abrahamic religions.

Sacred Feminine, feminine aspect of Divinity, Goddess, Mother, however you think of Her...how is she represented in your religion and what is Her name?

I for one think that God is above & beyond anysuch thing as sex. Sex is a trait that he gave his creations. From Islamic pov, male & female were once one. Lateron thay were separated from eachother, & so due to their inherent nature, they want to merge back. They cant actually merge back so they try to achieve this on psychological level (love) & a little bit on a physical level (having sex). God uses this tendency so that his creations will keep on creating more & more copies of themselves (procreation)

God is God, the unique. He has no counterpart, no opposite, & obviously has no need to procreate.

Having said that, Quran begins with the verse

b ism illahi arehman arheem

b=with
ism=name
allah=The God

Both arahman & araahman are superlative nouns from the root word R-H-M, which literally means womb. A superlative noun made on rahman's formula gives the characterisce of might, power, grandousity, intensity etc (all male characteristics). While a superlative noun on raheem's formula gives the menaing of gentleness, continuity, smoothness, sublimity etc.

So literally , the first verse of Quran means

With the name of The God, the grandously wombly, the gently wombly

To me this verse is like tao of God's love, the yin & yang of his compassion.

[Limbo]

Farhan, would you be willing to read and comment on this article?

Islam and the Divine Feminine

Here is an excerpt:

"So often has Islam been portrayed as an exclusively masculine, patriarchal faith that many have never suspected the central importance of the Feminine in Islam and would be astonished to realize that it has been there from the beginning. Perhaps in part due to the metaphysical interiority of the Feminine, this aspect of Islam has lived a largely hidden existence — but it is no less vital for that. In recent years there has been much discussion and controversy over how to reshape Christianity to include the Feminine on the divine level, but in Islam that has never been an issue, for the feminine element in Islam has always been present, especially in Sufism.

Although both masculine and feminine equally have their origin in the Divine, I would like to take a special look at the feminine in Islam to help redress the balance because the feminine side of Islam has been mostly overlooked so far. Moreover, in the sources of Islam and in the Sufi tradition growing from there, we find a distinct, explicit preference for the feminine aspect of Allah, especially the nature of ultimate Divine Reality as essentially feminine."

[Thomas]

Originally Posted by wil

To me the Divine Feminine has to be sought out in Christianity...for ages and still now for many the woman at the well was a harlot, a prostitute, the scholarly thought of the day however is that they were mixing passages. I contemplate, what if she was? Does that make her less divine. The woman with the alabaster jar, anointing Jesus with oil, who will be remembered anytime Jesus is spoke of, who was she, we have only conjecture.

To me Christianity has a divine feminine and her name is G!d, and she is in all her creations, all her children, it is upto us to find and celebrate the divine feminine in ourselves and others.

That last is quite a poetic reading, Wil, and thoroughly orthodox, I believe. Thank you.

If I may be the philosopher, in response to the inspiration your post evoked...

The Fathers sought the Universal in the data of Revelation, not the particular ... for that reason, folowing their Jewish inheritance, God, as the Absolute Universal Nature, comprises all modes of particularity and distinction, and gender is a primary distinction of the universal human nature.

Thus God says: "And God created man to his own image: to the image of God he created him: male and female he created them" (Genesis 1:27).

So 'man' in this instance is used in the traditional sense, signifying human nature ... 'male and female' signify a first order determination of that nature.

In a Christian context, the whole engagement between creature and Creator is at the level of the universal — the universal Divine nature to the universal human nature, so above gender.

Having said that, in the engagement, the human soul is always regarded as feminine, regardless of the gender of the individual, hence Christ's reference to Himself as the groom, and the soul (and in the tradition, the Church) as His bride.

Likewise, as you so eloquently indicated, the Presence of the Divine is immanent (a feminine quality) in all things ... but most of all, and most immediately, and most fully, in the rational soul.

So if one was to speculate, one can read the woman at the well (and indeed every personage in Scripture) as a type — her words are her own, but her wors tell us something of our human nature, and thus she speaks for all humanity ... and Our Lord's response has a universal significance, in the words He said to her.

+++

Secondary thoughts ...

God is seen as male because God acts, He is the First Cause, the Creator, and so forth ... a masculine action. God in His interiority is 'female' not only in the sense of containment, but in that He is unchanging.

The masculine is active, in his issue, the feminine is receptive in her reception, nurturing and creating ... yet there is a mystery here, that in the feminine there is a necessary 'rupture' of her perfection in receipt of the issue ... her 'glory' in her pain is that she is the vessel of the Mystery of Life, and this makes her pain bearable and (hopefully) brings her (and her partner) joy.

Perhaps in God it is reversed, that His act of creating life, He knew it would be the cause of His sorrow ...

+++

To deify the Blessed Virgin (as some Russian Orthodox sophiologists tried) is an error ... the Immaculata "heard all these things, and cherished them in her heart" (Luke 2:19 & 2:51)...

... but God knows all things ...

Our Lady must have impressed Luke with this, as he refers to it twice. She is the Seat of Wisdom, the font of all theology ... God 'releases' that which He wishes to make known.

Thomas

[Thomas]

Farhan ... thanks for that.

Thomas

[flowperson]

Yes ...thanks Farhan, very useful to know.

flow....

[China Cat Sunflower]

Our Lady must have impressed Luke with this, as he refers to it twice. She is the Seat of Wisdom, the font of all theology ... God 'releases' that which He wishes to make known.

The bold part is sweet Thomas! God releases that which he wishes to make known- love that!

I see the Divine Feminine as a truly scary thing. She suffers no fools, and she absolutely obliterates all useless and inefficient forms. She is not to be messed with. We come to the Father because he is the friendly and generous one.

Chris

[Thomas]

Ah, my dear Chris ...

Allow! as my daughter is want to cry, (we said 'far out' in my time).

If I were to be irreverend for a moment, can one imagine The Lord saying ... actually, I can't bring myself to do it ... but something along the lines of "you might fear me, but you ain't seen nothing! Heaven help you if the wife finds out what you've been up to!"

Oh well, to the confessional again ...

... then again ...

"And Jesus saith to her: Woman, what is that to me and to thee? My hour is not yet come. His mother saith to the waiters: Whatsoever he shall say to you, do ye." (John 2:4-5)

... which if I were being doubly irreverend, recalls a conversation I had with someone at work about (of all things) how to make a cup of coffee, which ended with "Tom, I am a woman. I think you'll find I'm right."

Just about sums it up.

Thomas

[AndrewX]

Two thoughts, from The Finger of God:

I attest that the Power adorning Our Universe is confirmed as Our Mother of the World—the Feminine Origin. (Infinity I, 156)

I have already told you that the Mother of the World conceals Her Name. I have already shown you how the Mother of the World veils Her Face. I have already made mention about the Mother of Buddha and Christ.
Indeed it is time to point out that the one Mother of both Lords is not a symbol but a Great Manifestation of the Feminine Origin, in which is revealed the spiritual Mother of Christ and Buddha.
She it was Who taught and ordained Them for achievement. From time immemorial the Mother of the World has sent forth to achievement. In the history of humanity, Her Hand traces an unbreakable thread.
On Sinai Her Voice rang out. She assumed the image of Kali. She was at the basis of the cult of Isis and Ishtar. After Atlantis, when a blow was inflicted upon the cult of the spirit, the Mother of the World began to weave a new thread, which will now begin to radiate. After Atlantis the Mother of the World veiled Her Face and forbade the pronouncement of Her Name until the hour of the constellations should strike. She has manifested Herself only partly; never has She manifested Herself on a planetary scale ...
The Mother is Beauty; the world is self-sacrifice. Precisely by these two fundamentals are the Gates opened.
The bridge between the planets, and the shortening of race cycles, rests upon these two fundamentals. (Leaves of Morya's Garden II, pp 131-132)

[China Cat Sunflower]

Hey Andrew,

Could you talk a little about the last two lines:

The Mother is Beauty; the world is self-sacrifice. Precisely by these two fundamentals are the Gates opened.
The bridge between the planets, and the shortening of race cycles, rests upon these two fundamentals

Chris

[China Cat Sunflower]

Funny stuff Thomas!

The women of the Bible are an interesting lot. From Sarah to Haddasah, Ruth to Deborah, Rahab the harlot heroine of the Jericho seige to Mary M. there seems to be a theme of women becoming the "handmaiden of the Lord." under various circumstances. Maybe this symbolizes in various ways the relationship of the Shekinah in exile with her lordly, if estranged, Consort.

Chris

[AndrewX]

Originally Posted by China Cat Sunflower

Hey Andrew,

Could you talk a little about the last two lines:

Chris

Chris,

Here are my thoughts ... roving as usual, yet gathered into one place.

The race cycles spoken of refer to astrological, and fore-ordained epochs - Divine Aeons, even ruled by various *beings* bearing this same name, in Gnosticism. In the broadest brushstrokes, a Plan has been provided, and this is what determines these cycles. Humanity may be off track, yet there are possibilities to accelerate our progress, and this is what Master M. is speaking of.

Initiation may have been a way to understand this toward the close of Pisces (especially via Theosophy, and early 20th Century teachings), yet Aquarius opens the door to Group Advancement, and to the shortening - not just of *my evolution* and *your evolution*, but also, Wonderfully, Beautifully, of the Whole of Humanity's evolution. This does not suggest the sudden filling of an empty room with 60 billion souls, all blissfully chanting, "We are ONE" - overnight. But it does mean something like the movement, or SHIFT, of our Planetary Logos an important step forward ... in {His} evolution.

This is something so inclusive, that it also automatically moves the three lesser kingdoms forward, it reorganizes our relationship (as Humanity, as a Kingdom) to the `Kingdom of Souls, or of Heaven' ... and it even means a new appreciation of our Working, Conscious, Growing relationship with `God.' The latter only represents, or *suggests* to us something of -- the true nature of the Planetary Logos.

Maybe *you* could tell me something more about that last sentence, because this would be very helpful to me, maybe to others. It is where the Divine Feminine enters in, as such, imho or understanding.

I mean, I'm only an egg ... yet if we are non-gendered (because gender-resolved, or at-one'd), as SOULs, then on one level, a certain `Christ-Sophia' is a duality we can already start to imagine (and aspire toward) as a Whole. This might be one way to understand the Mother of the World, and the Beauty of Her expression - including as it does the reality of the bridge between the planets *already existent* within the higher worlds ... but as yet needing completion within *our own* human consciousness - collective.

For this to occur, our own self-sacrifice, which in its highest expression is the emulation, or even the very - literal - *embodiment* ... of the Soul, is necessary. And we have observed this, born witness to it as a planet, as a Race (singular), through the Arhat Initiation of even thousands who have already achieved. It is the Liberation of the Soul, and this provides the Mother of the World in the greatest sense I can imagine Her, with her needed vehicles of expression in the outer world, even within Humanity ... and the lower kingdoms.

Harmony, Peace and Divine Cooperation in the fullest, truest sense, is the Destiny for our own, Planet Earth. This cannot easily be extended (or bridged) between, or among, other Humanities - both within and outside our own System of 7/10/3 Schemes - until our own planet has demonstrated its readiness to bear the Light, to lift it, to Shine it ... and to move on to Lovingly Serve, and fulfill, her every obligation and Karmic DUTY (Dharma!) - which the Plan records, as this has been laid before us.

{We may easily, a lot of us, quote the where in exoteric teachings, a thousands times and ways, yet we do not always know, appreciate, understand or accept the WHY! And then, there's a few - like me - who get well caught-up in the latter, and almost forget the former altogether! But these, both, need each other, and this, too, has everything to do with feminine and masculine.}

The Messengers of the New Era are, overwhelmingly, WOMEN. They bear a Standard, and there is a Spiritual Lesson which is ahead of us ... involving equality - between every race, every nation, every group, every church, and every religion. The various dualities, which are sometimes reduced to `positive/negative,' or `masculine/feminine,' even `black/white,' despite the non-PC overtones of two of these polarity-sets, especially ... shall, and must, become somewhat resolved within our awareness, as we move toward Soul-Consciousness - and THIS is something which I think the World Mother is teaching us, FAST.

The Opportunity before us, and this has ESPECIALLY to do with the varous cataclysms, in their connection with race-cycles, is one of re-attuning all of Humanity to something we are, truly - MEANT to hear, to feel, to know, to BE ... ie, to manifest - and there is no LAW which says that we may not apply ourselves, reduce *unecessary* suffering for ourselves and the masses ... and reach the Goal, even ahead of schedule. The Sagittarian disciple will even say, *and then set forth to reach another*.

Yet our tendencies have often been to slow our progress, to resist these very Opportunities, and to show an UNwillingness to sacrifice what we MUST sacrifice, as people (individuals), as groups (we compose so many!) ... and as a One Humanity.

So that is what the shortening of race-cycles is about, somewhat, and how it is not a matter of just linear progress, from Humanity forward, or even a question of `Divine Descent' - or manifestation ... but both of these, and also integration, Synthesis.

The most beautiful visions, or experiences, which I have ever had, all involved a TOGETHERNESS, a JOINING, a COOPERATION, even the overcoming of adversity, resulting in a Peace & a Harmony. The World Mother is Who ... makes this possible. If She is capable of giving birth to Galaxies okay, and overseeing the "coordination of the starry Heavens," as it is said ... and if she may also birth a Solar System, which and Who in turn gives birth to the trillions upon trillions of evolving jivas therein ... then would we dare to doubt Her ability, Her Dharma, to bring - our little planet, too, into closer cooperation with God?

Maybe she is showing one of the Seven before the Throne (one whom & which might have wandered a good bit) ... how to reach that goal, how to bow and kneel, at the Feet of the Master ... and to take up a position of Service which has long been foreordained. It is a Divine appointment, and an admittance to a closer relationship with our Logos. Solar to Planetary, Planetary to the evolving spark, or jiva ... the logos-in-miniature Who indwells our every, human heart.

I must sometimes try to work upwards, and you know I don't do well with short answers. There is a Wisdom, and a Knowing, which comes best from DOING, and undoubtedly that leads to more spontaneity, and to something which may resonate more immediately with our HEART.

The Wisdom which provides me with my own inspiration, though having more to do with the Buddha, than the Christ, serves also the same PLAN ... so although our various paths of arrival may be different (converging here & there), it confounds me sometimes to consider - that for some people, Togetherness, Joining, Cooperation and the overcoming of our weaknesses seems to be *undesirable*. Here, I can only admit *my own* shortcomings, and accept that my presentation often lacks the ONE, most convincing element of all.

Then again, we are our own harshest critics - and even as Mary showed us in the manger, or CAVE of that allegorical, and historical, event ... Christ IS born.

Every one of us may affirm that. A phrase that comes to me from the teachings is "acting as if." Not unlike WWJD ...

If Jesus had not faced, struggled with, and overcome adversity, He would not have become Who is essentially was, and is. If the struggle was not real, as the thinking Christians realize and accept, then the example provided would be meaningless. You don't have to push me out in front of a bus for me to accept that I don't want to make that mistake, or have that accident.

For Mary to have a Son, and for that Son to be the Redeemer, is a message of hope for us all ... and for me, that suggests that the Mother has open arms, welcoming us all into closer relationship with God, just as we, too, progress in the growth of Consciousness (Soul) - from the stages of infant, to child, to youth, maturity and adulthood. The fully matured Conscious Soul, is the Christ.

Christ must leave the mother behind, only in one sense of our understanding of dualities ... and of the domination of Spirit by matter (mater).

Makes me think of the old album, Child is Father to the Man, which may as well be Child is Mother to the Woman.

I guess what I'm really trying to say is, Time sucks.