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by Brother Ryan Those of you who were, as I was, brought up in one of a number of paternalistic religious traditions may well be asking yourselves if this Dar' Shem thing is really the thing for you. It all sounds terribly witchy, some may think. Who is the Goddess, anyway? Well, as in most things spiritual, the highest truths simply cannot be put into words. Also, the terms of initiation are secrecy in some things. However, one can point a finger in the general direction, and I will tell things that can be read by the earnest seeker in published books. On that note, let me recommend Caitlin Matthews' excellent study, Sophia: Goddess of Wisdom. It should top the list for one who earnestly wishes to connect with the Goddess. The Goddess has been worshipped or at least respected in nearly all of the religious traditions of the world. She has had many names, including Sophia, Isis, Maat, Diana, Kali...all of these names refer to at least one aspect of the Goddess. Christians may know Her as the Virgin Mary or the Holy Spirit. Those inspired by Native American and environmental spirituality may know one aspect of Her as Mother Earth. I personally believe that there is no God but All That Is, so the conception of God as a male and Goddess as female is somewhat limited. But an Infinite mind such as the Universal is hardly knowable by our limited human brains. Nothing can be outside the Infinite, so the Goddess cannot be separate from the One. So one way of thinking of the Goddess is as an aspect - and a very powerful aspect She is. The Masculine aspect is the projecting consciousness, that which is the germ for creation. The Feminine aspect is that which actually brings forth all creation. But Masculine and Feminine are simply polarities of the same thing. That said, the Goddess polarity has been terribly unbalanced, at least in Western thought, based partly on the misunderstanding of certain scriptures. But things are changing for the better. Part of knowing the Goddess is being respectful of females, but also all of creation, as Sophia/Isis/Diana is the Mother of all. This is something I believe is very much needed in our society to balance our relationship with the cosmos. This is not to say there is no longer any room for the Masculine aspect - only that there needs to be a rebalancing of the two polarities. Now, what has all this to do with healing? I'll leave it to you to figure that out. |
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