Men and The Goddess

We are in store for a beautiful weekend in Colorado. I hope you have a wonderful one wherever you are! On Sundays Rosemary and I host “Sundays at The Center“, a celebration of spirit. During our celebration this Sunday I plan to talk about Isis and some of what I’ve been reading which connects her to alchemy. It is also clear to me that she is connected to Inanna, Sumerian “Queen of Heaven” of whom I’ve written earlier in this blog.

The origin of the Egyptian Goddess, Isis, is unknown. But at some point in her history and associated stories it becomes clear that there is some linkage to the Sumerian Inanna and the Semitic Ishtar. First, along with Mari, Diana, Hecate, Pasiphae, Selene, Brigit, Cybele, the Shekinah, Lilith, and Persephone, they are Moon Goddesses (ref: Diane Wolkstein in Inanna, Queen of Heaven and Earth). And the three were also known as “Queen of Heaven.” How much cross-cultural exchange took place across the middle east from the Mediterranean area to Mesopotamia is unknown. But the parallels of myths, stories and religious rites and observances is highly synchronistic.

What are we dealing with here historically? Was there significant exchange across these civilizations or are we seeing an archetype at play? And does this archetype continue to play out in our lives today? One of the dominant religions of today, Christianity, has at its core a story which resembles the Isis/Osiris/Horus story with uncanny parallels. Yes, until recently, the patriarchy has driven much of the Isis story out of Christianity. But Mother Mary and Mary Magdalene are coming back into their own. Is this archetypal or cultural mixing of stories?

I did not realize before my deeper readings into the stories of Isis that her significance and recognition as the Queen of Heaven extended throughout the Mediterranean area, even reaching Britain, and lasted well into the first millennium AD! The last temple of Isis and Osiris continued in operation on the island of Philae in the Upper Nile into the 6th century. How much influence did the parallel worship of Isis have on the Christian mythos? We know that Christian churches and holy sites are built over more ancient spiritually significant sites throughout the world. The Church adopted calendars, saints and sites to fit as an overlay and displace what came before. How much of the story of Jesus, the whole basis of a dominant world religion, is nothing more than an overlay on stories which came before?

What did change in translating the stories of Inanna and Isis to Christianity was the loss of the Feminine as the Masculine worked to dominate and control. The various cults of Isis rose in the Egyptian Delta area; they varied from city to city; they rose in power above the cults of Ra, the masculine; but I find no evidence of a purge of all worship of Ra in order for the Feminine Isis to dominate. This displacement was a gradual shift from masculine to feminine influence. The Christian story is different: The Theodosian decree (in about 380 AD) required the destruction of all pagan temples. Control. The masculine approach to imposing rules on the population.

Marie-Louise von Franz describes the masculine this way: “With this development and increase in the sun cult came a development in law, science, geometry, the planning of fields, of buildings, and so on. There was an enormous progress in rational civilization and in organization and war, etc. That was a development of the masculine world, of the mind world and the world of order”. Sound familiar? It was after this “increase in the sun cult” (by a couple thousand years) that the “men became tired” and the cult of Isis rose – enantiodromia.

We are due for another episode of enantiodromia. We are watching the failing and fading of the current age of masculine dominance. We are in the middle of a swing away from rationalism and war. At least I hope we are! It is time for us to pay attention to the Queen of Heaven. She is due!

It was a lovely day in Colorado after our snow on Tuesday which was enough to cancel one of our scheduled meetings. The snow is all gone, soaking into my grass to green it. Perhaps we can say in Colorado at this time of year we are in a period of enantiodromia: the warm spring 60 and 70 degree temperatures bring about the spring snow, and then we bounce back to the warm spring…

Wikipedia says this:  “enantiodromia is a principle introduced by psychiatrist Carl Jung that the superabundance of any force inevitably produces its opposite. It is equivalent to the principle of equilibrium in the natural world, in that any extreme is opposed by the system in order to restore balance.” I encountered this word in my current book on alchemy by Marie-Louise von Franz which I’ve mentioned before in these posts. And what in particular caught my attention was her reference to the rise of Isis in Egypt as a central Goddess, even the most powerful of all the gods/goddesses.

She first tells the story of the rise of the cult of the sun god, Ra, around 3,000 to 2,800 BC; sun worship gradually exceeded that of the moon and bull worship (end of the Age of Taurus), an enantiodromia. This gave rise to a patriarchal social and political order. As Ra became old and senile, Isis, using a poisonous serpent or worm and then healing him, tricked him into giving her his secret name, and thereby all his power. “…at the end of the Egyptian civilization there was a similar enantiodromia. Suddenly Isis got everything into her hands and the male gods faded – and it is interesting that that was at the end of the Aries age and that now we are at the end of the Pisces, the astrological fish age, and again a woman is gathering the harvest and the men are a bit tired.” Wow! Von Franz said this in 1959!

Is the patriarchal political and social order under which we have lived our whole lives truly at an end? Are the men “a bit tired”? And where is our Isis, our Inanna, when we need them?

The Isis story is certainly a parallel with the Inanna story to which I’ve referred before. Her descent into the underworld gave her king and husband, Dumuzi, just the opportunity he needed to take charge; and of course he did! This was an enantiodromia. But Inanna was able to come back from the underworld to rule again; poor Dumuzi had to spend half of each year in the underworld in exchange for Inanna’s rise. (And his poor sister spent the other half of the year “down there” representing a nice balance).

Do these myths and archetypal examples of enantiodromia condemn us to forever shift from one extreme to another as we struggle as a humanity for power and control? I say in my title “we can hope so” that we are in a period of enantiodromia; that we are experiencing tired men and the rise of the Goddess, the power of The Feminine.  I say this not because I think a feminist, goddess dominated matriarchal society would be better but because I have lived with what the patriarchal, masculine, “god the father” dominated society has generated. I am looking for balance; and maybe, just maybe as we swing back from the extreme through this enantiodromia principle, we can somehow arrest the pendulum’s swing more toward the center.

Can the “new human” figure out a way to share power and control without regard to gender? Is there a balance between masculine and feminine principles we can apply to our social and political struggles so they become less struggle and more cooperation?

As we move toward a new astrological age, the Age of Aquarius, let’s hope we are in a new period of enantiodromia but that the opposites move to balance!

It’s Wednesday and my time to comment on The Divine Feminine’s Mystic Message which Rosemary channeled for this week. (www.wisdomconnections.net)  And the message reminded me of one of my earlier posts on a Korean Zen koan I often use when I need to pause and consider an idea or thought that pops into my head (www.menandthegoddess.com).

The koan question  is very simple: “What is this?”  When something arises in us, especially during mediation, this question is a perfect one for drilling into it, be it a thought, a sensation, a disturbance, even a doze or a dream. And when an answer comes drill down to a deeper layer: “What is this?” The question The Divine Feminine give us is: “What is the source of this thought?” This is more specific and more complicated. It addresses thoughts only and asks for the source. Where does that thought come from and what are the tests I need to apply to it?

The Divine Feminine urge us to a practice of examining our thoughts, testing them, determining not only their source, but also their worthiness compared to our current experiences. Did the thought come from a long held belief? If so, does that belief still have value in my life today? If not then perhaps the thoughts has no value either. When we are willing to examine and test the sources of our thoughts we move through life with open minds.

Creative thoughts need to be tested as well. These thoughts come from “connection to the All, to the Cloud of Knowable Things, to the Source within the Universe.”  But a clear channel to Source is required for clear and creative thinking. Marie-Louise von Franz said: “any kind of mental insight comes from the unconscious.” But the collective unconscious can be considered to contain all of the thoughts, images, dreams, concepts, ideas – good and bad – that humans have experienced across the millennia. The archetypes within this collective are the basis for structures which have been time-tested. I don’t mean to imply here that new archetypes don’t arise; however, existing archetypes can provide initial testing constructs to ensure creative thought is compatible with existing thought and not so outlandish as to be rejected from the beginning.

The Divine Feminine provides us with another test for our creative ideas: are they filled with light? “Learn about yourself by being in a curious state.  Wonder about the root of your current beliefs.” Clarity comes from this inner examination, this curious state. Ask, “What is this? What is the source of this thought?” Challenging ourselves and our beliefs open us to the cloud of knowable things and Source. Being curious about our ideas, thoughts, dreams, experiences and testing them using the archetypal structures of the collective unconsciousness can easily identify the Light-Filled thoughts.

Hold onto these Light-Filled Thoughts; write them down; nurture them; for they are the building material for the continuing evolution of consciousness.

Sorry to have been absent for the past couple of days. We were first in California; we left just before the rains, so experienced some beautiful days with lots of sun and highs in the 70s. We arrived in Maryland last night just after the rains; today we are experiencing lots of sun with highs in the 70s! (Perhaps my practice of alchemy is beginning to work magic on the weather around us!)

With Wednesday comes my commentary on the week’s mystic message from the Divine Feminine: “conversations from a Conscious Perspective” (wisdomconnectons.net). It seems the Nation is engaged in a “conversation” with a lot of energy but I don’t believe the vibration is very high. When the dialog degrades to name calling and invectives: high energy, low vibration. When the conversation turns to finger pointing and blaming: high energy, low vibration. When the emotional component of exchange turns to fear and panic: high energy, low vibration. Are we being conscious in our name-calling, finger-pointing and fear? Are we even aware that we are often repeating falsehoods and fabrications? Have we taken the time to fact-check and pause to consider alternative possibilities?

I’ve found most often that good dialog depends on good listening. Good conversation is not about how energetically you get your point across but how much exchange there is between, or even among, points of view. There are many views of the world; perhaps as many as there are people. That’s the beauty of human consciousness. Realizing there are differences in how we all perceive the world is the first point of departure in beginning to accept others as they are. The second point of departure is to consider the truth of others’ perspectives. They are at least true for them, even if their truth is not relevant to your own.

What if we all came at an issue by first listening to the other view, then accepting it as “the other view”, then listening for the “truth” of that view? Let’s just call this “the pause to consider.” When we pause to consider we can have considerate conversations. Whether discussing a philosophical issue or a personal problem listen deeply and then consider the issue, the question, the observation, the viewpoint. Then from a point of centeredness, from a position of “higher vibration” offer a response. Breathe into your offer, give it life, prana. Likewise if you are offering an observation, a point of view, asking a question or expressing a concern do so from that centered place we have discussed before and then listen carefully to the response from the other. Consider the “truth” of their response. Remember that even if it is not fully your truth, it is theirs assuming it is coming from their center, their heart.

It is not always possible to have a heart-centered conversation with some people. True dialog requires an acceptance on both sides that there is truth to be gained in conversation. Are you engaging in heart-centered conversations?

On Wednesdays I take the opportunity to provide my own comment on the Mystic Message of the week which is published in Rosemary’s Ezine on Fridays and then posted to her blog on Mondays. (You can sign up for the FREE Ezine to receive “guidance for conscious living” including the Mystic Message from The Divine Feminine at www.rosemarybredeson.com. And you can subscribe to www.wisdomconnections.net to receive the blog posts each week.) You can read this week’s message at:  www.wisdomconnections.com.

I hope you are in frequent contact with children. They do have a lot to teach us! I’m reminded of the old Art Linkletter phrase, and name of the segment of his TV show: “Kids say the darnedest things.” Yes, they do, and what made that show funny, and the things kids said priceless was the profound truth that so often underlay the cute answers coming from those young mouths. Listen to your kids, no matter their ages; and if you are as fortunate as I, listen to your grandkids; they have so much to teach.

But while we are listening for their “bon mots” it is also important to consider what we have to offer to our children and grandchildren. It starts with support and encouragement. In her Ezine and blog Rosemary referred to our granddaughter who sees fairies. Yes, she does. And whether we can see them or not is irrelevant both to us and to her. We’ve encouraged her to describe them, draw them, talk to them. She is also able to give messages to people from their spirit guides.  (Like Grandma-Mimi, like granddaughter!) Again, we’ve encouraged this and she has had fun with it; and her audience is always appreciative.

Dreams are also very important for kids to explore. Listen to their dreams with appropriate attention. Too often I’ve heard someone say: “it was only a dream.” Dreams are our Higher Conscious Minds speaking through our unconscious minds; and whether these come through children or adults, they are important messages. Yes, often these are personal and apply to the individual. But whether personal or profound they deserve attention and exploration. Listen for meanings and magic in children’s dreams.

We can also support the children by offering them a structure for their questions, explorations, and dream interpretations. “Why?” is a frequent question I hear from kids. And sometimes I also hear an adult become exasperated when the question is too frequently repeated in a spiraling fashion which seems to lead nowhere. But pay attention here; listen for the question which may lie beneath the “why?” And listen to your own answers – are they appropriate, or are they designed to get off the subject!

Our answers need to be genuine. And maybe our answers can be designed to draw from the child the motivation for the question in the first place. Again, listening for the motivation may provide the wisdom that is there to be gained by both child and adult.

Frequently the questions and answers dialog with kids can lead to stories. And the stories can be jointly created during the conversation, or the child may be interested in creating the story, or the adult may lead the dialog into a story to incorporate the question/answer or the subject under discussion. Stories offer wonderful teaching moments (remember I’m saying here that this teaching is bi-directional). First we listen to the children’s stories; then, if appropriate, we offer our own stories to reinforce or expand the teaching.

It is good to have a collection of stories to share in this way. One of my teachers, Martín Prechtel, teaches almost exclusively through stories and riddles; very powerful! This past summer I read one of his stories: “The Disobedience of the Daughter of the Sun” to our granddaughter at bed-time; she thoroughly enjoyed both the story and the conversation we had about its meanings. The myths of goddesses and gods survive today because they offer deep lessons from our collective unconsciousness.

Do you have a good repertoire of stories at the ready to join in significant conversations with kids?

Yes, I do live in Colorado. And at this time of year anything can happen, even well into Spring. So, we are expecting snow tonight and all day tomorrow, with winds, with falling temperatures, a regular “winter storm watch.” Oh, and there’s a “100%” chance of this happening! Fortunately I just received a new book to get me through the snow-bound stage (which will probably only last a few hours tomorrow!).

One of the good things about this blog is it gained the attention of Joseph Gelfer who is doing some really interesting work down in the Melbourne, Australia in the field of masculine spirituality. I just received his book, Numen, Old Men Contemporary Masculine Spiritualities and the Problem of Patriarchy. He warned in one of his comments to me that he takes apart the whole, so called “mythopoetic men’s movement” of which I’ve felt some kinship and even participated in from time to time. So, I am not surprised and full of anticipation to read his second chapter titled: “The Mythopoetic Movement: Getting it Wrong from the Start.”

Robert Bly, Michael Meade, Robert Moore and several others were at the forefront of this movement beginning in the mid-80s. I’ve been in workshops and read much material from these three men in particular and have enjoyed what they offer. In his preface Joseph writes: “I had a deep, intuitive feeling that I could identify a masculine spirituality that did not perpetuate patriarchy and homophobia…” Yes, exactly what I am looking for and what I am working to reveal in these random posts on “men and the Goddess.” During his research for his book Joseph discovers an underlying patriarchy within the men’s movement; he states: “All but a few…who articulated a ‘masculine spirituality’ were actually articulating a patriarchal spirituality.”

Yes, I can see that to an extent. And I did read critical reviews and commentary on the mythopoetic movement at the time of its zenith that stated much the same thing, that patriarchy was alive and well within the movement. But, for me at least, it was a beginning. And there was much good work done by some within the movement. I have moved on. Many have. And I hope that this new book by Joseph Gelfer helps advance this whole notion of masculine spirituality. I will keep you informed of my progress as I move through his research and findings.

Meanwhile I have been working for “the goddess.” Yes, I have revamped Rosemary’s website with a modest update to include a new video of her describing what she does. The site flows a bit better now, but stay tuned for a major overhaul in late spring as I shift her to a WordPress hosted website. Check out the video at www.rosemarybredeson.com.  And, for goddess sake, if you haven’t subscribed to her FREE weekly ‘ezine’ Wisdom Connections, each issue of which contains a new message from The Divine Feminine on how to live more consciously, do so when you visit the site.

Do you have a connection to the Goddess?

What a lovely St. Patrick’s day in Colorado; we were well into the 70s, so nice to be out and about! And by Friday we expect several inches of snow – just in time for Spring!

The Divine Feminine gave us another message to seriously consider this week; you can read it at: www.wisdomconnections.com.  One thing that comes to mind in reading this message is Buckminster Fuller’s concept that we are flying “Spaceship Earth.” We humans are the crew; we are not separate entities, each of us going our own way, doing what we wish. As The Divine Feminine point out: “An individual can no longer consider himself or herself to be a separate entity, one who can make choices without affecting the rest of humanity.  No human being is a totally separate entity.  In fact, no one ever has been, but the connections have not been as vast as they are in the 21st Century.” Neither as vast nor as complicated. And we are all flying a “spaceship” together!

I think if we look at the latest economic down-turn which we are still spinning through there seems to be little doubt how closely the world is connected and how “we are all in this together.” The Earth is not only a spaceship, it is a pretty small one; hopefully we will keep it from spinning completely out of control over the next years and decades.

What if we all realize how much we, each, as individuals, impact the planet? Can we get in touch with that? One place to do that is on the inside. Peace begins within. Understanding begins from the heart-mind connection; it begins with the right-left brain connection; it begins with the feminine-masculine connection. As Canfield,  Hansen and Hewitt say in The Power of Focus:  “The more you learn about yourself – how you think, how you feel, what your true purpose is and how you want to live – the more your life will flow.” And the more your life flows the steadier your hand on the helm of The Ship.

A second place to get in touch with our impact on the planet is in the wild, as we touched on in yesterday’s post. Gaia is waiting for us; she wants us to visit and to dialog with her. She reaches out in many ways. Yesterday a deer in our yard came to say “hello.” She looked right at us as if to say, “come play and enjoy the warm sun.” They were all over our community today munching on the freshly greening grass; we had to wait as two sashayed across the street at their leisure. Gaia’s voice can also be very stern as she throws winter storms at us and shakes our Ship as if to say, “wake up; it’s time to steer The Ship more steadily”!

We must know ourselves and we must know our Ship. How steady is your hand on the tiller of this mighty vessel?

Happy mid-week! And because it”s Wednesday I pause in my thread to comment on the Mystic Message from The Divine Feminine for the week. You can read the message at:  www.wisdomconnections.net.

The message is a provocative one: expanding consciousness in the midst of disaster! And maybe this is a good place to offer a comment on this particular message, sandwiched today between my two-part post on grief.

There is a lot of grief in the world right now, especially in disaster struck locations like Haiti and Chile. Last Friday night on the Bill Maher show, Sean Penn reported on the devastation in Haiti where he is focusing his philanthropic attention. Compounding the problems there, he reports, are the coming rains with hurricane season. With so many without shelter disease is expected to create the next wave of death to hit the island. And yet, these victims are out of the news and beyond our consciousness now. Have we processed the grief of so many dying humans or have we stuffed it?

The Divine Feminine tell us that these disasters are a way to open the heart of humanity to deeper love and compassion.  Yes, we all respond to these events, opening our pocket books with an outpouring of generosity, sharing our wealth and extending our thoughts and prayers. The attention of the world gets highly focused at these times and the power of that focus can help. But with any surge of power there is always a following relaxing of attention, like the need to take a deep breath after exerting ourselves. After the breath can we again focus back on the tragedy? Or, in the case of Haiti do we no sooner take our breath than new tragedy strikes Chile?

Is it my imagination or is the frequency of earthquakes on the rise? There have been ten greater than magnitude 6.0 earthquakes around the world in the past seven days. Is this “normal” or is Mother Earth sending us a message? And how do we deal with the devastation we are witnessing in the aftermath of these quakes? It seems we don’t have time to breathe between them. Yet, that is exactly what we must do, how we must react.

All of this requires process, inner process. Whatever comes up for us in the midst of natural disasters needs to be processed. If we feel fear, we need to process that fear; face it. If we feel anger we need to process that anger; feel it. If we feel grief, we need to process that grief; heal it. And with the process comes an opening which we can move into; that opening is compassion and love. And through this opening we experience expanded consciousness.

As The Divine Feminine conclude: “When Mother Earth offers an opportunity to expand the Love and Light within, as she does with every so-called ‘disaster’ of natural causes, then She is offering all of humanity an opportunity to open their heart and spread Love and Light around the Planet.  Every act of compassion increases the Love and Light available on Planet Earth.   Every disaster is an opportunity for the expansion of consciousness for all humanity.”

Do you have a process, an inner practice, to work with the fear/anger/grief, your initial response to disaster, so you can turn it into Love and Light?

It was a fine weekend. We got Rosemary off to LA safely where she is busy with a business coaching intensive. Meanwhile I stayed home to take care of business! I got to play with numbers from 2009, getting ready for tax time! What a joy…I finally gave up on QuickBooks after getting myself into trouble and turned it all over to our book-keeper this afternoon! Phew, that’s a load off!

We had a very nice Sundays at The Center Celebration yesterday with a great turn-out. It must have been the spring-like weather here in Colorado Springs; people seemed to be out everywhere! While Rosemary is away our friend and colleague, Finbarr Ross, offered the message and meditation at our Celebration. And his words were thoughtful and meaningful! One of his concepts especially stayed with me and I’m still giving it thought.

He began with “we are in the time of the woman.” I definitely subscribe to that; this is exactly what is motivating this blog! We are moving through a time of feminine energy ascendancy to begin to right the balance we are so desperate for now. He concluded that women need to show men the nurturing way. And this is the thought I continue to work with today.

I agree that men need to move toward a more nurturing approach to life. What I’m struggling with is placing the burden of showing men how to nurture on women. Is it their job to teach us this kinder, gentler way of life? As children we were all nurtured in some form by our parents, guardians, some of whom were likely women; many of the fortunate among us were nurtured by loving mothers. And as boys we had friendships with girls in school, teachers, aunts and girl cousins. Did we not learn anything from these associations, many of them loving?

Yet, we were not taught to be nurturing; there was no curriculum, no catechism of stories and myths of men nurturing and caring for others. Quite the opposite. So, while we may have seen many wonderful examples of nurturing, we were not encouraged to emulate those models.

But what can women do now to change this? If men are not taught and men have no motivation to become nurturing creatures, is there something to be done? At the close of yesterday’s Celebration we listened to a lovely piece of music by Catherine Wilson on her album, Seeds of Light; the song: The Answer Lies Within. I believe the answer to how men may become more nurturing lies within the hearts of men themselves. Yes, women can show the way, they can encourage us toward a gentler path, they can demonstrate compassion, they can lead by modeling. Men need to look inside, we need to search for better answers, and as the song goes: “The answer lies within, my friend.”

I have been fortunate through much of my adult life to look within. It was years ago I learned that in my astrology chart my North Node of the Moon is in the sign of Cancer. I don’t want to get technical here, but the North Node points to growth and potential; it points to your lessons. Now it happens that Rosemary is a double Cancer; both her ascendant and moon are in Cancer. Do you think it is coincidental that we have been together for nearly 30 years? And I sure hope I’m learning some of those lessons! Cancer is the sign of caring, of homemaking, of, yes, nurturing! Is it Rosemary’s job to teach me how to be a Cancer? No, it’s my job to learn how.

I have another pointer to my case. Rosemary and I are students of the Enneagram, a model of personality types (I’ve seen it labeled as a psychospiritual typology). Again, I don’t want to get technical here, but I am a type 1, “the perfectionist” – I like everything to work or I will try to fix it so it does work. Rosemary is a type 2, “the helper” – she sees people in need and wants to “nurture” them! Once again my lessons are in my face!

But it’s up to me to see them, to learn them. My nurturing self is inside of me. And with all the modeling, teaching, way-showing in the world at my disposal it is still up to me to find that nurturer with myself.

That nurture is the Divine Feminine energy working within me. Can you find it within yourself?