Godde was in Her House
Posted by Joan Norton at 11/15/2009 6:48 AM 
Categories: Goddess and the Sacred Masculine, Starting A Magdalene Circle, Events and Premieres
Tags: 14 Steps To Awaken the Sacred Feminine Women in the Circle of Mary Magdalene Mary Magdalene
Categories: Goddess and the Sacred Masculine, Starting A Magdalene Circle, Events and Premieres
Tags: 14 Steps To Awaken the Sacred Feminine Women in the Circle of Mary Magdalene Mary Magdalene
GODDE. That's the experience I had at Rev. Stacy Boorn's HerChurch in San Francisco last weekend. Both the Sacred Masculine and the Sacred Feminine were there. When Rev. Boorn introduces a passage from the Gospel in her Sunday morning service she prefaces it this way, "Jesus and Mary Magdalene were teaching together and .....". The idea of this sacred partnership as a teaching couple is more and more acceptable, and I think that means their Sacred Marriage can't be too far behind. Maybe they're in a courtship phase in our collective mind. At least they get to spend time together.
It was an amazing feeling to me when I heard those words from Rev. Boorn as I sat in her Lutheran Church with it's beautiful , Scandinavian-feeling sanctuary with it's graceful blonde wooden cup shaped ceiling and pastel banners of doves hanging from side walls. She is a courageous pastor because she has changed not just the gender identification of the service, but the whole philosophy of the service so that it reflects the loving relational values of the Sacred Feminine. We sang hymn after hymn of familiar melodies but with words like this:
Praise Wisdom in our hearts; Come, rejoicing, praise Her!
True freedom She imparts; Come, rejoicing, Praise Her!
The words to so many familiar hymns sung in churches every Sunday can now carry the message that there's a feminine face of Godde. These words were written by Jann Aldredge-Clanton, Ph.D., who is herself a minister, teacher, author , and chaplain. She's written a book of hymns which honor the Sacred Feminine, called Inclusive Hymns for Liberating Christians, and you can click here to see her website.
My part of things was to talk about creating Magdalene Circles in a small group workshop, which is my favorite because I get to hear interesting stories about Mary Magdalene's appearances in our everyday lives. Christy Michaels, who does public work on the Course of Miracles and it's alignment with the gnostic text called The Gospel of Mary Magdalene, told stories about the synchronicities which followed her everywhere as she visited the sacred sights of the Templars and the holy places in Celtic lands. For instance, the number 153 seemed to follow her everywhere, giving her the constant sense of support and reassurance that she was "on the path". We all look for that, don't we? I want to thank Margaret Starbird for continually reminding us in her public lectures that the number 153 is identified with Mary Magdalene in the same way the number 888 has always been associated with Jesus the Christ. He was refered to as "the fullness of 8's", these numbers being an ancient way to express spiritual philosophy. This business of Mary Magdalene's 153 number identification is so important because it brings her beyond the role of being only a teacher-partner and gives her back her bride dress. Margaret's written a good shorter version of the story of the 153 here on her website.
And speaking of Mary Magdalene having her bride dress stolen from her, I had a moment at St. Mary's Cathedral in San Francisco where I felt the theft in my stomach. Margaret and I went for a visit there late in the day and were walking around the huge sanctuary looking at the Gospel stories depicted in bas relief wall plaques. First of all, they were so grim that it made me sad and afraid. What a scarey religion Christainity has become. We were standing looking at a carved picture of Jesus as a huge figure with people crouching down around him. In front was a woman supplicant with long, loose hair and I thought it was "our Magdalene". But no, Margaret told me it was his Mother. I couldn't believe it! They'd stolen Magdalene's hair and gave it to his Mother! It was a moment of "rage against the machine", that helpless feeling of the vast power of institutions to "brand" a story. Rage is probably a too-strong word, but it did get me in the pit of my stomach. I want to walk into a cathedral in 2020 and see Magdalene and Jesus' wedding cake like the one we had here in L.A. at our conference with Margaret. And a wedding dress on Magdalene too.... and while I'm at it.... a hairstyle for the bridegroom's mother that's appropriate to her age and wisdom.
There's really no other way to put love of our earth and love of ourselves and love of our bodies and love of our hearts in the story except through a love story between the Beloveds in the Garden. She's simply got to have a wedding dress as one of her mantles. If she doesn't get to wear her wedding dress when she wants to , she's confined to
co-teaching without recognition of the magnitude of her title the Magdalene. When she is "the Magdalene" she is the Holy Grail itself, and then we have a worthwhile christian spiritual quest.
Conferences like the one at HerChurch are important, just like the small Magdalene Circles are important, because they're like quilting bees. The word gossip originally meant women's wisdom. Everyone shares tidbits of the goings-on in their families and communities. Passing on learning and stories is easy this way and we seed each other's spiritual creativity. We support each other and we support the growing creation of a spiritual story which will better serve us in the coming centuries, one which has a divinely human love at it's center.
Click here to see some pretty new chaplets
It was an amazing feeling to me when I heard those words from Rev. Boorn as I sat in her Lutheran Church with it's beautiful , Scandinavian-feeling sanctuary with it's graceful blonde wooden cup shaped ceiling and pastel banners of doves hanging from side walls. She is a courageous pastor because she has changed not just the gender identification of the service, but the whole philosophy of the service so that it reflects the loving relational values of the Sacred Feminine. We sang hymn after hymn of familiar melodies but with words like this:
Praise Wisdom in our hearts; Come, rejoicing, praise Her!
True freedom She imparts; Come, rejoicing, Praise Her!
The words to so many familiar hymns sung in churches every Sunday can now carry the message that there's a feminine face of Godde. These words were written by Jann Aldredge-Clanton, Ph.D., who is herself a minister, teacher, author , and chaplain. She's written a book of hymns which honor the Sacred Feminine, called Inclusive Hymns for Liberating Christians, and you can click here to see her website. My part of things was to talk about creating Magdalene Circles in a small group workshop, which is my favorite because I get to hear interesting stories about Mary Magdalene's appearances in our everyday lives. Christy Michaels, who does public work on the Course of Miracles and it's alignment with the gnostic text called The Gospel of Mary Magdalene, told stories about the synchronicities which followed her everywhere as she visited the sacred sights of the Templars and the holy places in Celtic lands. For instance, the number 153 seemed to follow her everywhere, giving her the constant sense of support and reassurance that she was "on the path". We all look for that, don't we? I want to thank Margaret Starbird for continually reminding us in her public lectures that the number 153 is identified with Mary Magdalene in the same way the number 888 has always been associated with Jesus the Christ. He was refered to as "the fullness of 8's", these numbers being an ancient way to express spiritual philosophy. This business of Mary Magdalene's 153 number identification is so important because it brings her beyond the role of being only a teacher-partner and gives her back her bride dress. Margaret's written a good shorter version of the story of the 153 here on her website.
And speaking of Mary Magdalene having her bride dress stolen from her, I had a moment at St. Mary's Cathedral in San Francisco where I felt the theft in my stomach. Margaret and I went for a visit there late in the day and were walking around the huge sanctuary looking at the Gospel stories depicted in bas relief wall plaques. First of all, they were so grim that it made me sad and afraid. What a scarey religion Christainity has become. We were standing looking at a carved picture of Jesus as a huge figure with people crouching down around him. In front was a woman supplicant with long, loose hair and I thought it was "our Magdalene". But no, Margaret told me it was his Mother. I couldn't believe it! They'd stolen Magdalene's hair and gave it to his Mother! It was a moment of "rage against the machine", that helpless feeling of the vast power of institutions to "brand" a story. Rage is probably a too-strong word, but it did get me in the pit of my stomach. I want to walk into a cathedral in 2020 and see Magdalene and Jesus' wedding cake like the one we had here in L.A. at our conference with Margaret. And a wedding dress on Magdalene too.... and while I'm at it.... a hairstyle for the bridegroom's mother that's appropriate to her age and wisdom.
There's really no other way to put love of our earth and love of ourselves and love of our bodies and love of our hearts in the story except through a love story between the Beloveds in the Garden. She's simply got to have a wedding dress as one of her mantles. If she doesn't get to wear her wedding dress when she wants to , she's confined to co-teaching without recognition of the magnitude of her title the Magdalene. When she is "the Magdalene" she is the Holy Grail itself, and then we have a worthwhile christian spiritual quest.
Conferences like the one at HerChurch are important, just like the small Magdalene Circles are important, because they're like quilting bees. The word gossip originally meant women's wisdom. Everyone shares tidbits of the goings-on in their families and communities. Passing on learning and stories is easy this way and we seed each other's spiritual creativity. We support each other and we support the growing creation of a spiritual story which will better serve us in the coming centuries, one which has a divinely human love at it's center.
Click here to see some pretty new chaplets
Hi Joan...glad to hear that you had a wonderful time at the conference.
I'm in the camp that believes in a huge change of consciouness coming in 2012. Maybe that's the year we will all reclaim our mantles at last.
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Hi Fran, thanks for being here... I hope all's well with your upcoming spiritual journal issue... Iris and the Swan ? did I get it right? Hope so. Be sure and let us all know when it's out.
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