Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: The divine feminine in a Christian society
From: s3raph...@yahoo.com [FairfieldLife] FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com What you say about the Langudedoc is suggestive. I'm aware of the attempts to link the Cathars with the rise of the troubadours and involvement of Eleanor and her daughter with the development of the courtly love tradition. But the fact that the graft didn't *take* suggests that Christianity is at heart a patriarchal set-up. Trying to feminise it ends up emasculating it and it loses its power. It's as silly as trying to masculinise a cult of Isis - you'd just end up with a butch and unappealing goddess. (Yes, I'm aware of Durga and Kali and of Minerva and other female goddesses that kick butt but it's the nurturing-mother goddess archetype we need.) Ahem. Don't you mean that *I* need? How is pigeonholing the image of women as nurturing mother-goddess archetypes instead of kick-asses any less chauvinistic than what Christianity does? The most kick-ass woman I know has multiple high-degree black belts in the martial arts, and is the loving, nurturing mother of two. No conflict whatsoever. I would suggest that considering her (or any woman's -- live or mythical) kick-ass side as butch and unappealing sounds more like your problem than hers. Just sayin'... ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, punditster@... wrote : On 6/27/2014 9:01 PM, s3raphita@... [FairfieldLife] wrote: Why try to make Christianity more feminine? It is surely a lost cause - even women priests don't have the nerve to call themselves priestesses which is an honourable name and calling. Isn't it more promising to *supplement* the Christian faith with a goddess cult with its own rituals? Astarte on Fridays and Christ on Sundays makes one a whole human being. There is the Languedocian legend of the 'Queen of the South', (Reine du Midi), the title of the countess of Toulosue, the protectrix, identified with the Syrian goddess Anath who in turn is closely linked with Isis and the bird-footed Lilith. Yet another legend is the Meridiana to whom was conveyed the secrets of alchemy to Gerbert d'Auriliac. The name Meridiana is derieved from 'Mary-Diana' thus linking the Magdalene legends in the South of France. Lagudedoc was also home to the Knights Templers in Europe. It's interesting that Bernard of Clairvaux, the founder of the Templers Rule, was devoted to the Magdalene and to the Black Madonna. Bernard commended the knights to the 'obedience of Bethany', the castle of Mary and Martha. Bernard is also noted as the founder of the Blessed Virgin Mary at Notre Dame (Our Lady), i.e., Magdalene. The Templers oath was to 'God and Our Lady', not to the Virgin, but to the Magdalene. The Templers were preoccupied with the idea of the feminine mystery! Olivia Robertson (who died last November) was high priestess of the Fellowship of Isis, a spiritual organisation devoted to promoting awareness of the feminine aspect of the divine. This trailer is for a documentary (which I've seen and recommend) on her life. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1PFYQOn4DI
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: The divine feminine in a Christian society
On 6/27/2014 11:13 PM, s3raph...@yahoo.com [FairfieldLife] wrote: What you say about the Langudedoc is suggestive. I'm aware of the attempts to link the Cathars with the rise of the troubadours and involvement of Eleanor and her daughter with the development of the courtly love tradition. But the fact that the graft didn't *take* suggests that Christianity is at heart a patriarchal set-up. Trying to feminise it ends up emasculating it and it loses its power. It's as silly as trying to masculinise a cult of Isis - you'd just end up with a butch and unappealing goddess. (Yes, I'm aware of Durga and Kali and of Minerva and other female goddesses that kick butt but it's the nurturing-mother goddess archetype we need.) Stoyanov thinks that the one single local Langudocian notion in Catharism was the theology of the belief that Mary Magdalene was the concubine of Jesus - knowledge that was reserved for the inner circle of Cathars: The teaching of Mary Magdalene as the wife or concubine of Christ appears moreover, an original Cathar tradition which does'n not have any counterpart in Bogomil doctrines. Work cited: 'The Hidden Tradition in Europe' by Yuri Stoyanov Penguin Books, 1995 pp. 222-223 ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, punditster@... wrote : On 6/27/2014 9:01 PM, s3raphita@... mailto:s3raphita@... [FairfieldLife] wrote: Why try to make Christianity more feminine? It is surely a lost cause - even women priests don't have the nerve to call themselves priestesses which is an honourable name and calling. Isn't it more promising to *supplement* the Christian faith with a goddess cult with its own rituals? Astarte on Fridays and Christ on Sundays makes one a whole human being. There is the Languedocian legend of the 'Queen of the South', (Reine du Midi), the title of the countess of Toulosue, the protectrix, identified with the Syrian goddess Anath who in turn is closely linked with Isis and the bird-footed Lilith. Yet another legend is the Meridiana to whom was conveyed the secrets of alchemy to Gerbert d'Auriliac. The name Meridiana is derieved from 'Mary-Diana' thus linking the Magdalene legends in the South of France. Lagudedoc was also home to the Knights Templers in Europe. It's interesting that Bernard of Clairvaux, the founder of the Templers Rule, was devoted to the Magdalene and to the Black Madonna. Bernard commended the knights to the 'obedience of Bethany', the castle of Mary and Martha. Bernard is also noted as the founder of the Blessed Virgin Mary at Notre Dame (Our Lady), i.e., Magdalene. The Templers oath was to 'God and Our Lady', not to the Virgin, but to the Magdalene. The Templers were preoccupied with the idea of the feminine mystery! Olivia Robertson (who died last November) was high priestess of the Fellowship of Isis, a spiritual organisation devoted to promoting awareness of the feminine aspect of the divine. This trailer is for a documentary (which I've seen and recommend) on her life. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1PFYQOn4DI
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: The divine feminine in a Christian society
Shortly after posting this, I ran across this link, which expresses my thoughts in a different (and very entertaining) way. It's not that I have anything against the image of nurturing mother-goddesses; it's just that I reserve the right to revere more kick-ass goddesses (and princesses) as well. Or a combination of the two, because the two traits are, after all, not mutually exclusive. Rejected Princesses Rejected Princesses Women too awesome, awful, or offbeat for the movies. Updated Wednesdays. View on www.rejectedprinc... Preview by Yahoo Re the Cathars, they *are* one of the only religions in Western history who treated women well. There were equal numbers of men and women Cathar priests (and they used the same word for both, even in the old Provençal language, where it was gender-free). The 13th century in the south of what is now France was a rare island of gender equality in Europe. Women could own property in their own names in that area at that time, a basic right that didn't happen in the rest of France until De Gaulle. As you suggest, there definitely *was* a Cathar influence on the Troubadours, but it might not have been as romantic as you might think, because the Cathars were a dour lot who didn't believe much in earthly love and pleasure. The Troubadours probably picked up more of their notions of earthly romantic love from North Africa and the Muslim culture than they did the Cathars. The latter, however, might account for the unrequited-love-at-a-distance meme in Troubadour poetry. As for Isis, I still prefer this vision of her: Bob Dylan - Isis (1976) Bob Dylan - Isis (1976) View on vimeo.com Preview by Yahoo From: TurquoiseBee turquoi...@yahoo.com [FairfieldLife] FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Sent: Saturday, June 28, 2014 10:48 AM Subject: Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: The divine feminine in a Christian society From: s3raph...@yahoo.com [FairfieldLife] FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com What you say about the Langudedoc is suggestive. I'm aware of the attempts to link the Cathars with the rise of the troubadours and involvement of Eleanor and her daughter with the development of the courtly love tradition. But the fact that the graft didn't *take* suggests that Christianity is at heart a patriarchal set-up. Trying to feminise it ends up emasculating it and it loses its power. It's as silly as trying to masculinise a cult of Isis - you'd just end up with a butch and unappealing goddess. (Yes, I'm aware of Durga and Kali and of Minerva and other female goddesses that kick butt but it's the nurturing-mother goddess archetype we need.) Ahem. Don't you mean that *I* need? How is pigeonholing the image of women as nurturing mother-goddess archetypes instead of kick-asses any less chauvinistic than what Christianity does? The most kick-ass woman I know has multiple high-degree black belts in the martial arts, and is the loving, nurturing mother of two. No conflict whatsoever. I would suggest that considering her (or any woman's -- live or mythical) kick-ass side as butch and unappealing sounds more like your problem than hers. Just sayin'... ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, punditster@... wrote : On 6/27/2014 9:01 PM, s3raphita@... [FairfieldLife] wrote: Why try to make Christianity more feminine? It is surely a lost cause - even women priests don't have the nerve to call themselves priestesses which is an honourable name and calling. Isn't it more promising to *supplement* the Christian faith with a goddess cult with its own rituals? Astarte on Fridays and Christ on Sundays makes one a whole human being. There is the Languedocian legend of the 'Queen of the South', (Reine du Midi), the title of the countess of Toulosue, the protectrix, identified with the Syrian goddess Anath who in turn is closely linked with Isis and the bird-footed Lilith. Yet another legend is the Meridiana to whom was conveyed the secrets of alchemy to Gerbert d'Auriliac. The name Meridiana is derieved from 'Mary-Diana' thus linking the Magdalene legends in the South of France. Lagudedoc was also home to the Knights Templers in Europe. It's interesting that Bernard of Clairvaux, the founder of the Templers Rule, was devoted to the Magdalene and to the Black Madonna. Bernard commended the knights to the 'obedience of Bethany', the castle of Mary and Martha. Bernard is also noted as the founder of the Blessed Virgin Mary at Notre Dame (Our Lady), i.e., Magdalene. The Templers oath was to 'God and Our Lady', not to the Virgin, but to the Magdalene. The Templers were preoccupied with the idea of the feminine mystery! Olivia Robertson (who died last November) was high priestess of the Fellowship of Isis, a spiritual organisation devoted to promoting awareness of the feminine aspect of the divine. This trailer is for a documentary (which I've
[FairfieldLife] Re: The divine feminine in a Christian society
Thanks for the Isis link. It's one of my fave Dylan songs and curiously isn't available on YouTube despite there being lots of cover versions. Very odd. ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, turquoiseb@... wrote : Shortly after posting this, I ran across this link, which expresses my thoughts in a different (and very entertaining) way. It's not that I have anything against the image of nurturing mother-goddesses; it's just that I reserve the right to revere more kick-ass goddesses (and princesses) as well. Or a combination of the two, because the two traits are, after all, not mutually exclusive. Rejected Princesses http://www.rejectedprincesses.com/ http://www.rejectedprincesses.com/ Rejected Princesses http://www.rejectedprincesses.com/ Women too awesome, awful, or offbeat for the movies. Updated Wednesdays. View on www.rejectedprinc... http://www.rejectedprincesses.com/ Preview by Yahoo Re the Cathars, they *are* one of the only religions in Western history who treated women well. There were equal numbers of men and women Cathar priests (and they used the same word for both, even in the old Provençal language, where it was gender-free). The 13th century in the south of what is now France was a rare island of gender equality in Europe. Women could own property in their own names in that area at that time, a basic right that didn't happen in the rest of France until De Gaulle. As you suggest, there definitely *was* a Cathar influence on the Troubadours, but it might not have been as romantic as you might think, because the Cathars were a dour lot who didn't believe much in earthly love and pleasure. The Troubadours probably picked up more of their notions of earthly romantic love from North Africa and the Muslim culture than they did the Cathars. The latter, however, might account for the unrequited-love-at-a-distance meme in Troubadour poetry. As for Isis, I still prefer this vision of her: Bob Dylan - Isis (1976) http://vimeo.com/61341838 http://vimeo.com/61341838 Bob Dylan - Isis (1976) http://vimeo.com/61341838 View on vimeo.com http://vimeo.com/61341838 Preview by Yahoo From: TurquoiseBee turquoiseb@... [FairfieldLife] FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Sent: Saturday, June 28, 2014 10:48 AM Subject: Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: The divine feminine in a Christian society From: s3raphita@... [FairfieldLife] FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com What you say about the Langudedoc is suggestive. I'm aware of the attempts to link the Cathars with the rise of the troubadours and involvement of Eleanor and her daughter with the development of the courtly love tradition. But the fact that the graft didn't *take* suggests that Christianity is at heart a patriarchal set-up. Trying to feminise it ends up emasculating it and it loses its power. It's as silly as trying to masculinise a cult of Isis - you'd just end up with a butch and unappealing goddess. (Yes, I'm aware of Durga and Kali and of Minerva and other female goddesses that kick butt but it's the nurturing-mother goddess archetype we need.) Ahem. Don't you mean that *I* need? How is pigeonholing the image of women as nurturing mother-goddess archetypes instead of kick-asses any less chauvinistic than what Christianity does? The most kick-ass woman I know has multiple high-degree black belts in the martial arts, and is the loving, nurturing mother of two. No conflict whatsoever. I would suggest that considering her (or any woman's -- live or mythical) kick-ass side as butch and unappealing sounds more like your problem than hers. Just sayin'... ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, punditster@... wrote : On 6/27/2014 9:01 PM, s3raphita@... mailto:s3raphita@... [FairfieldLife] wrote: Why try to make Christianity more feminine? It is surely a lost cause - even women priests don't have the nerve to call themselves priestesses which is an honourable name and calling. Isn't it more promising to *supplement* the Christian faith with a goddess cult with its own rituals? Astarte on Fridays and Christ on Sundays makes one a whole human being. There is the Languedocian legend of the 'Queen of the South', (Reine du Midi), the title of the countess of Toulosue, the protectrix, identified with the Syrian goddess Anath who in turn is closely linked with Isis and the bird-footed Lilith. Yet another legend is the Meridiana to whom was conveyed the secrets of alchemy to Gerbert d'Auriliac. The name Meridiana is derieved from 'Mary-Diana' thus linking the Magdalene legends in the South of France. Lagudedoc was also home to the Knights Templers in Europe. It's interesting that Bernard of Clairvaux, the founder of the Templers Rule, was devoted to the Magdalene and to the Black Madonna. Bernard commended the knights to the 'obedience of Bethany', the castle of Mary and Martha. Bernard
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: The divine feminine in a Christian society
On 6/27/2014 11:13 PM, s3raph...@yahoo.com [FairfieldLife] wrote: What you say about the Langudedoc is suggestive. I'm aware of the attempts to link the Cathars with the rise of the troubadours and involvement of Eleanor and her daughter with the development of the courtly love tradition. But the fact that the graft didn't *take* suggests that Christianity is at heart a patriarchal set-up. Trying to feminise it ends up emasculating it and it loses its power. It's as silly as trying to masculinise a cult of Isis - you'd just end up with a butch and unappealing goddess. (Yes, I'm aware of Durga and Kali and of Minerva and other female goddesses that kick butt but it's the nurturing-mother goddess archetype we need.) The early Gnostic Gospels have no hesitation describing the relationship between Mary Magdalene and Jesus. It's unlikely that the Lagudedoc townsfolk would have access to the Gnostic Gospel, so how do we account for the presence of Magdalene legends at Beziers, Maxim, and Provencal? It must have been a powerful legend to cause the entire Catholic Inquisition to be formulated just to root them out. Catharism was apparently the State religion of Languedoc. Herein lies a secret - what is the secret knowledge of the Magdalene? Baphomet? ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, punditster@... wrote : On 6/27/2014 9:01 PM, s3raphita@... mailto:s3raphita@... [FairfieldLife] wrote: Why try to make Christianity more feminine? It is surely a lost cause - even women priests don't have the nerve to call themselves priestesses which is an honourable name and calling. Isn't it more promising to *supplement* the Christian faith with a goddess cult with its own rituals? Astarte on Fridays and Christ on Sundays makes one a whole human being. There is the Languedocian legend of the 'Queen of the South', (Reine du Midi), the title of the countess of Toulosue, the protectrix, identified with the Syrian goddess Anath who in turn is closely linked with Isis and the bird-footed Lilith. Yet another legend is the Meridiana to whom was conveyed the secrets of alchemy to Gerbert d'Auriliac. The name Meridiana is derieved from 'Mary-Diana' thus linking the Magdalene legends in the South of France. Lagudedoc was also home to the Knights Templers in Europe. It's interesting that Bernard of Clairvaux, the founder of the Templers Rule, was devoted to the Magdalene and to the Black Madonna. Bernard commended the knights to the 'obedience of Bethany', the castle of Mary and Martha. Bernard is also noted as the founder of the Blessed Virgin Mary at Notre Dame (Our Lady), i.e., Magdalene. The Templers oath was to 'God and Our Lady', not to the Virgin, but to the Magdalene. The Templers were preoccupied with the idea of the feminine mystery! Olivia Robertson (who died last November) was high priestess of the Fellowship of Isis, a spiritual organisation devoted to promoting awareness of the feminine aspect of the divine. This trailer is for a documentary (which I've seen and recommend) on her life. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1PFYQOn4DI
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: The divine feminine in a Christian society
From: s3raph...@yahoo.com [FairfieldLife] FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Thanks for the Isis link. It's one of my fave Dylan songs and curiously isn't available on YouTube despite there being lots of cover versions. Very odd. I know. I searched for it first on YouTube, and found only takedown notices. This one showed up on Google. ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, turquoiseb@... wrote : Shortly after posting this, I ran across this link, which expresses my thoughts in a different (and very entertaining) way. It's not that I have anything against the image of nurturing mother-goddesses; it's just that I reserve the right to revere more kick-ass goddesses (and princesses) as well. Or a combination of the two, because the two traits are, after all, not mutually exclusive. Rejected Princesses Rejected Princesses Women too awesome, awful, or offbeat for the movies. Updated Wednesdays. View on www.rejectedprinc... Preview by Yahoo Re the Cathars, they *are* one of the only religions in Western history who treated women well. There were equal numbers of men and women Cathar priests (and they used the same word for both, even in the old Provençal language, where it was gender-free). The 13th century in the south of what is now France was a rare island of gender equality in Europe. Women could own property in their own names in that area at that time, a basic right that didn't happen in the rest of France until De Gaulle. As you suggest, there definitely *was* a Cathar influence on the Troubadours, but it might not have been as romantic as you might think, because the Cathars were a dour lot who didn't believe much in earthly love and pleasure. The Troubadours probably picked up more of their notions of earthly romantic love from North Africa and the Muslim culture than they did the Cathars. The latter, however, might account for the unrequited-love-at-a-distance meme in Troubadour poetry. As for Isis, I still prefer this vision of her: Bob Dylan - Isis (1976) Bob Dylan - Isis (1976) View on vimeo.com Preview by Yahoo From: TurquoiseBee turquoiseb@... [FairfieldLife] FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Sent: Saturday, June 28, 2014 10:48 AM Subject: Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: The divine feminine in a Christian society From: s3raphita@... [FairfieldLife] FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com What you say about the Langudedoc is suggestive. I'm aware of the attempts to link the Cathars with the rise of the troubadours and involvement of Eleanor and her daughter with the development of the courtly love tradition. But the fact that the graft didn't *take* suggests that Christianity is at heart a patriarchal set-up. Trying to feminise it ends up emasculating it and it loses its power. It's as silly as trying to masculinise a cult of Isis - you'd just end up with a butch and unappealing goddess. (Yes, I'm aware of Durga and Kali and of Minerva and other female goddesses that kick butt but it's the nurturing-mother goddess archetype we need.) Ahem. Don't you mean that *I* need? How is pigeonholing the image of women as nurturing mother-goddess archetypes instead of kick-asses any less chauvinistic than what Christianity does? The most kick-ass woman I know has multiple high-degree black belts in the martial arts, and is the loving, nurturing mother of two. No conflict whatsoever. I would suggest that considering her (or any woman's -- live or mythical) kick-ass side as butch and unappealing sounds more like your problem than hers. Just sayin'... ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, punditster@... wrote : On 6/27/2014 9:01 PM, s3raphita@... [FairfieldLife] wrote: Why try to make Christianity more feminine? It is surely a lost cause - even women priests don't have the nerve to call themselves priestesses which is an honourable name and calling. Isn't it more promising to *supplement* the Christian faith with a goddess cult with its own rituals? Astarte on Fridays and Christ on Sundays makes one a whole human being. There is the Languedocian legend of the 'Queen of the South', (Reine du Midi), the title of the countess of Toulosue, the protectrix, identified with the Syrian goddess Anath who in turn is closely linked with Isis and the bird-footed Lilith. Yet another legend is the Meridiana to whom was conveyed the secrets of alchemy to Gerbert d'Auriliac. The name Meridiana is derieved from 'Mary-Diana' thus linking the Magdalene legends in the South of France. Lagudedoc was also home to the Knights Templers in Europe. It's interesting that Bernard of Clairvaux, the founder of the Templers Rule, was devoted to the Magdalene and to the Black Madonna. Bernard commended the knights to the 'obedience of Bethany', the castle of Mary and Martha. Bernard is also noted as the founder of the Blessed Virgin Mary at Notre Dame (Our Lady), i.e., Magdalene
[FairfieldLife] Re: The divine feminine in a Christian society
RE Are you guys telling me that you don't own a copy of Bob Dylan's Desire album : I have it (one of Dylan's best - just before his bizarre turn towards born-again Xtianity) - but it's useful to have good music on your YouTube Favourites list so you can listen in while at the keyboard.
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: The divine feminine in a Christian society
On 6/28/2014 9:05 AM, TurquoiseBee turquoi...@yahoo.com [FairfieldLife] wrote: As you suggest, there definitely *was* a Cathar influence on the Troubadours, but it might not have been as romantic as you might think, because the Cathars were a dour lot who didn't believe much in earthly love and pleasure. The Troubadours probably picked up more of their notions of earthly romantic love from North Africa and the Muslim culture than they did the Cathars. We do not really know very much about the Cathars since they were stamped out as heretics during the First Crusade. According to Wasserman, twelfth-century enemies of the Cathars believed their rites included ritually kissing the anus of a cat, in which form Lucifer was said to appear. Toward the end of the twelfth-century, the Cathars were also slandered by the term /bougre/, from Bulgaria, known to be the source of their heresy - the root of the British slang /bugger/ and /buggery/. Work cited: /The Templars and the Assasins/ by James Wasserman Inner Traditions, 2001 p. 193
[FairfieldLife] Re: The divine feminine in a Christian society
Re kissing the anus of a cat: Count me out then - you've got to draw the line somewhere. ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, punditster@... wrote : On 6/28/2014 9:05 AM, TurquoiseBee turquoiseb@... mailto:turquoiseb@... [FairfieldLife] wrote: As you suggest, there definitely *was* a Cathar influence on the Troubadours, but it might not have been as romantic as you might think, because the Cathars were a dour lot who didn't believe much in earthly love and pleasure. The Troubadours probably picked up more of their notions of earthly romantic love from North Africa and the Muslim culture than they did the Cathars. We do not really know very much about the Cathars since they were stamped out as heretics during the First Crusade. According to Wasserman, twelfth-century enemies of the Cathars believed their rites included ritually kissing the anus of a cat, in which form Lucifer was said to appear. Toward the end of the twelfth-century, the Cathars were also slandered by the term bougre, from Bulgaria, known to be the source of their heresy - the root of the British slang bugger and buggery. Work cited: The Templars and the Assasins by James Wasserman Inner Traditions, 2001 p. 193
[FairfieldLife] Re: The divine feminine in a Christian society
What you say about the Langudedoc is suggestive. I'm aware of the attempts to link the Cathars with the rise of the troubadours and involvement of Eleanor and her daughter with the development of the courtly love tradition. But the fact that the graft didn't *take* suggests that Christianity is at heart a patriarchal set-up. Trying to feminise it ends up emasculating it and it loses its power. It's as silly as trying to masculinise a cult of Isis - you'd just end up with a butch and unappealing goddess. (Yes, I'm aware of Durga and Kali and of Minerva and other female goddesses that kick butt but it's the nurturing-mother goddess archetype we need.) ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, punditster@... wrote : On 6/27/2014 9:01 PM, s3raphita@... mailto:s3raphita@... [FairfieldLife] wrote: Why try to make Christianity more feminine? It is surely a lost cause - even women priests don't have the nerve to call themselves priestesses which is an honourable name and calling. Isn't it more promising to *supplement* the Christian faith with a goddess cult with its own rituals? Astarte on Fridays and Christ on Sundays makes one a whole human being. There is the Languedocian legend of the 'Queen of the South', (Reine du Midi), the title of the countess of Toulosue, the protectrix, identified with the Syrian goddess Anath who in turn is closely linked with Isis and the bird-footed Lilith. Yet another legend is the Meridiana to whom was conveyed the secrets of alchemy to Gerbert d'Auriliac. The name Meridiana is derieved from 'Mary-Diana' thus linking the Magdalene legends in the South of France. Lagudedoc was also home to the Knights Templers in Europe. It's interesting that Bernard of Clairvaux, the founder of the Templers Rule, was devoted to the Magdalene and to the Black Madonna. Bernard commended the knights to the 'obedience of Bethany', the castle of Mary and Martha. Bernard is also noted as the founder of the Blessed Virgin Mary at Notre Dame (Our Lady), i.e., Magdalene. The Templers oath was to 'God and Our Lady', not to the Virgin, but to the Magdalene. The Templers were preoccupied with the idea of the feminine mystery! Olivia Robertson (who died last November) was high priestess of the Fellowship of Isis, a spiritual organisation devoted to promoting awareness of the feminine aspect of the divine. This trailer is for a documentary (which I've seen and recommend) on her life. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1PFYQOn4DI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1PFYQOn4DI
