I.
“Mother Thrice Admirable” is a rare but fitting title for a discussion of the Divine Feminine as mother, bride and origin of the human soul, following the Christian, Gnostic and Hermetic currents which underpin the Johannite patrimony. On 22 July 2008, the Feast of Holy Mary of Magdala, the Johannite patriarch addressed a letter entitled Ecce Mater Tua ("Behold, Thy Mother") to our communion and to all people of good will which stated in part, that:
For all the emphasis that we place on early stories of the Holy Saints John and the Holy Saints Mary, these three words often times go without comment, and yet they stand hand in hand with the stories and origins of our traditions.
Over the course of the year that has passed since Ecce Mater Tua was circulated, each of us has no doubt attempted to further apprehend the significance of the Divine Feminine in our own, necessarily diverse spiritual lives. In a brief review of literature, scriptures, life experience and discussions with other Johannite clergy, it seems that there is a healthy and vibrant process of self-questioning as it relates to the Holy Marys. This brief discussion is meant to begin a sensus fidelium to the extent possible.
This encyclical draws our attention to both the symbolic nature of the Saints Mary and meaning of the Divine Feminine in our myths, traditions and perhaps most importantly, in our lives. Mariology is of course not a new topic of theological discussion, indeed it is one of the oldest themes contained within the various traditions and spiritual perceptions of our forbears, be they of the esoteric, orthodox, gnostic or mystical strains. It would be nearly impossible to open a comprehensive study of the Divine Feminine, and maybe more importantly, such a study would merely cover ground which has already been well noted by centuries-worth of meticulous Marian and Sophianic scholarship. Accordingly, the purpose of this reflection is to simply point out the continuous presence and recapitulation of the Divine Feminine throughout the ages and traditions which form the basis of the Johannite Catholic spirituality today.
In lieu of attempting to piece together the various Marian and Sophianic constructs, it might be a better use of energy to commit ourselves to discovering the deeper meaning of the feminine within us all. It is well known to those who have read a bit about Alchemy that the Sun and the Moon are the images used to describe the spiritual and physical distinction between the sexes. In some esoteric circles, it has long been a commonly held belief that each of us has the masculine and feminine attributes, animus / anima, etc. In every tradition that touches the roots of Johannite spirituality these symbols remind us that the concept of the Syzygy and indeed the nature of the divine are manifested in both genders, ultimately being united in the fullness. This is true not only of the ancient Christian and Gnostic scriptures, but also of the Hermetic schools of the west, including the medieval embellishments passed down through the Royal Art of Alchemy.
Both Holy Mary, declared Theotókos, or “God-bearer” by the Council of Ephesus in 431, and Holy Sophia, the Wisdom of God, stand squarely at the convergence of Fall and Redemption, Death and Rebirth; the hierarchies of the spiritual and physical planes, and the literal and figurative Restoration. The mystery of the Divine Feminine is the degree to which the roles of mother, bride and the human soul seemingly overlap.
Largely owing to the cumbersome nature of anthropomorphic ideas of the two Saints Mary, a certain degree of conditioned thought has entered into the exercise of grasping the Marian Mystery. Whether we look at Mary Magdalene as the personification of Sophia or the Blessed Virgin Mary as the literal Mother of the God-Man Jesus, we are still working within the usual limitations of that portion of us which is mortal. It might disturb the sensibilities of the mortal aesthetic if we were to put forward the concept that they are the same entity. Saint Clare of Assisi, companion of Saint Francis, described the tripartite roles very clearly: “See now. You are held tightly in His embrace. Now, you are His beloved, His mother, His sister. For He is your Lover, Your Son, Your Brother.”[1]
One way of looking at this mystery is to remember that in order for nature (including us) to be restored to the fullness, she must first give birth to a creature wholly human and yet also truly divine. As the canticle goes: “Alleluia! Light burst from your untouched womb like a flower on the farther side of death. The world-tree is blossoming. Two realms become one.”[2] This is the reason why to be a Marian is to be a profound Christian, as no doubt the author of that song felt very strongly. But by the same token, to be a Marian is also to be the most strident humanist.
II.
When the Archangel Gabriel bids Our Lady “Hail, full of grace” this is the herald of an inner truth that shines as brightly towards the future as it is legendarily remembered to have done over Bethlehem. The liturgical and epigraphic synthesis of the complex and overarching role that the Divine Feminine has come to represent may be best described through a painting. Die Krönung Mariae Durch die Dreieinigkeit, by the unknown French master cryptically remembered as “J.M.”, painted in 1457, rests in the Basel Museum in Switzerland. Appearing to be something of a western version of a mandala, the picture illustrates:
[T]he crowning of the Virgin by the Holy Trinity is the final divinization of nature, of the created or manifested universe, so that the Trinity becomes in some sense the Quaternity. The central scene is surrounded by an inner ring of angels, and an outer ring of apostles, prophets, martyrs, virgins and other saints. The four corners are occupied by the Tetramorph, the symbolic figures of the four evangelists and the four fixed signs of the Zodiac.[3]In each of the paths that have diverged and merged again into contemporary Johannite Theology, the power and presence of the Holy Mother is unmistakable. There are rich cross references for the study of Mariology within each of the tributaries that feed into the Johannite world of ideas and devotion: Christian, Gnostic and Hermetic. The idea of the “divinization of nature” mentioned in the context of this painting is actually articulated in the Gospel of Mary in which she recounts the secret knowledge that she shared with Jesus about the nature of the divine, the One, and how “All nature, all formations, all creatures exist in and with one another, and they will be resolved again into their own roots. For the nature of matter is resolved into the roots of its own nature alone.”
III.
Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, founding patron of the Templars and by far the most prolific exponent of medieval Marian devotion, undoubtedly felt the tug of both forms of the Divine Feminine: the Marian and the Sophianic. In his writings we can see that the Burgundian Abbott perceived the Blessed Virgin Mary to be the bridge between two places that were never truly separated.
And do not be surprised to hear that it was by means of Mary’s faith that the Word was united to flesh, because it was from Mary’s flesh Christ’s flesh was taken. Nor is it any objection to this interpretation that, according to the Gospel, “the kingdom of heaven is like to leaven.” (cf. Ps. 105:23) For as it seems to me, the faith of Mary may also be likened to the kingdom of heaven, since it was by her faith the kingdom of heaven has been restored.[4]
If we compare the action described by St. Bernard as the means of Mary’s faith to the indwelling Sacred Flame as it was described by the 19th century Johannites, then the drama of theosis through gnosis clearly appears. Not only is the Divine Feminine necessary to complete the cycle of Redemption, or the “divinization of nature” (and thus, ourselves), Her symbols are to be found pouring out from every corner of our tradition. Saint Hildegard wrote:
O how wondrous is Your love! You gazed on your fairest daughter as an eagle focuses its eye upon the sun; You, the eternal Father, saw her radiance and the Word became flesh in her. [5]
The importance of those words pierce straight through the Marian Mystery to the very symbol which represents the Johannite communion today: the seal or vesica piscis of the Apostolic Johannite Church. The eagle of Saint John’s eye is transfixed on the Sun; beneath him the Sacred Flame burns brightly. All this surrounded by the vesica piscis which is created from the number 153; the number of fish mentioned in John 21:11. “Simon Peter went up, and drew the net to land full of great fishes, an hundred and fifty and three: and for all there were so many, yet was not the net broken.” 265:153 is the ratio of the width and height measurements of the sacred fish shape, and a holy number of the Pythagoreans. The vesica, which when emptied appears in the very obvious shape of a mother’s womb, constitutes the sacred geometrical pattern that is ubiquitous in Gothic architecture. Quite literally the symbols of Our Lady give birth to the forms, stamps and edifices of Western devotion, echoing St. Bernard’s refrain: “Such is the will of God, who would have us obtain everything through the hands of Mary.”[6]
Thus, the perception that Holy Sophia and the Theotókos have been muddled by social and ecclesiastical misogyny and ignorance may not be true at all. Although institutional and social sexism have been and continue to be serious systemic errors in some quarters of the Catholic Church, it is likewise demonstrable that the tripartite nature of the Divine Feminine is nothing more nor less than the trichotomy of human existence as body, mind and spirit. In our own spiritual work we recognize the need to empty ourselves to receive the Divine, and thereby to think and experience with the Divine. In our contemplations of “nothingness” we can find fulfillment of a different type. Thomas Merton was not being derogatory towards the Divine Feminine when he wrote:
Mary’s chief glory is in her nothingness. To know her thus is to find Wisdom. Qui me inveniet vitam et hauriet salutem a Domino. He that shall find me, shall find life, and shall have salvation from the Lord (Cf. Prov. 8:35).[7]
The imagery of the Sun and the Moon shines an uninterrupted light for us, so that we can experience our “Mother Thrice Admirable” in the inspirational disciplines of Christianity, Gnosticism and Hermeticism, and most importantly illuminating our inner paths as we look through the veil and drink from the Graal of Undefiled Wisdom.
Post Script
After reviewing this commentary it occurs to me that I have omitted an important, if not alternative strain of Gnostic speculation, attributed to the Johannites by Eliphas Lévi among others, and that is the legend of Pandera (Panthera). In this story, Miriam becomes pregnant with Jesus after being raped while betrothed to her fiancé. Joseph, in stead of her fiancé, accepts her to be his wife and adopts Jesus upon his birth, then taking him to Egypt where Jesus rises as an adept in the Temple of Osiris. After returning to Judea, Jesus is rejected by the jealous priests of that country, who use this story against him. Not having learned of his true father, Jesus first reacts by asking Miriam "What, woman, have you and I in common?" But afterwards Jesus defends his mother as being pure and holy in every intention and capacity. What began as an attempt to publicly humiliate Jesus became an opportunity for him to extol the virtues and purity of his Holy Mother. You can access the entire account (in French) on page 275 of Éliphas Lévi´s Histoire de la Magie. I'm fairly certain an English translation has been made.
D.D. - 11 Oct. 2011
[1] Saint Clare of Assisi: Her Prayers, Poor Clares of Arundel.
[2] Hildegard of Bingen. Alleluia Verse for the Virgin, Spiritual Writings on Mary. Skylight Paths Publishing, Woodstock, VT, 2005, p.96.
[3] Watts, A. Myth and Ritual in Christianity, Beacon Press, Boston, 1968. Pp. 230.
[4] St. Bernard of Clairvaux, Second Sermon for Christmas Day on the Three Principal Works of God and the Special Virtue Conspicuous in Each. (Honey and Salt: Selected Spiritual Writings of Saint Bernard of Clairvaux.) J. Thornton & S. Varenne, eds. Vintage Books, 2007, p. 319-320
[5] Hildegard of Bingen. Spiritual Writings on Mary. Skylight Paths Publishing, Woodstock, VT, 2005, p.224
[6] In Vigil Nat. Domini, Sermon 3, no. 10, p. 415
[7] Thomas Merton, New Seeds of Contemplation, New Directions, (1961) 2007, p.170.
