3 10 42 https://filianicstudies.org/cms/files/original/59a818e5dd2ed566af684a0882754cc3.pdf 972b0ff8a24a1810db2fbb07978b489b Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Madrian Literature Circle Description An account of the resource Documents issued by the Madrian Literature Circle between 1973 and 1982. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Madrian Literature Circle Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1973-1982 Language A language of the resource English Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data loose leaf, typewritten (3pp.) Text Any textual data included in the document The Story of Hera Pellegrina Many years ago, when the fair land of Italia lay under the hand of priests of a false god, who, being more confident of their worldly power were yet more barbarous in their ways than they now are – in that time, be it said, there lived a maid who surpassed all the children of her village in beauty of body and soul. Now the mother of this maid had it in mind that she should become a nun – which is to say a votary, not consecrated by sacred rites to our dear Lady, but bound to the servitude of the false god. This maid had read but little, and the books of that time contained nothing but the falsehoods of the priests; but a guiltless heart is always the surest guide, and in her heart she knew that what her mother wanted was not good. But when she said this, her mother replied: "If you will not become a nun, you must marry the man I choose." "Oh, no," replied the maid, "for I must find my way, and then I shall be loyal and obedient. But first I must seek my true path." At this, her mother flew at her and beat her. But the maid spoke bravely through her tears, and said: "If you treat me so ill, I shall flee to the forests, and dwell among my sisters, the beasts of the wood." And her mother became frightened, and decided to try another method; for she knew of an old woman noted for her wisdom and power of persuasion. "This maid," she thought, "will be able to change the heart of my daughter." And so she sent for her to become the governess and attendant of her daughter, and the woman, being poor, agreed. The daughter and the governess became the firmest friends, and neither one spoke of the nunnery even once. Instead, the governess taught her to love the forest and its creatures, which was for her an easy lesson; she taught her the names and the uses of the herbs, and how to heal the ills of both body and soul, and a hundred other arts that seem sheer miracle to the uninitiated. And all this time, the mother grew more impatient. Now it happened that the maid was in the habit of lying awake at night to listen to the song of the nightingales, and at these times she had often heard her governess in the next room arise and go out on to the great balcony. And one night she decided to follow her. When she arrived, she saw the older woman kneeling beneath the great midsummer moon, speaking words in a low voice that she had not heard before. And she was filled with a great wonder, though she knew not why, and could not move from that spot. Thus, when the governess had finished her prayers, she turned around and saw the maid. She was not angry, but said simply: "So, you are here. I have expected you. I knew that our Lady would bring you when you were ready." "Mean you Maria?" asked the child. "She is called by many names, and that is one of them. But those who call Her by it know Her least!" A thrill passed through the soul of the girl, for she realised that her true path lay before her. With trembling voice, she asked: "And who, then, know Her most?" "I could tell you much," said the older woman, "but these are wicked times, and you would be in constant danger of a cruel death." "For Her sake I shall fear nothing," said the girl. The older woman made the Pentacle upon herself in thanks. "I had hoped you would speak thus," she said. "I have taught you all the arts of a priestess in this land, excepting the most important of them all – the art of loving the Goddess. What I have already taught you, no priest would believe, for though they prate endlessly of their gods and their devils, they have no true belief in anything beyond the material. But now you must work as you have not worked before; for my time on this earth grows short, and there must be one to take my place." In the weeks that followed, the maid learnt truths that had been known since the dawn of time – the Truth of the Goddess. And she became consecrated to Her as Her priestess. But her mother became seized with impatience, and expelled the old woman from the house, and locked her daughter in a tower room with nowhere to sleep save the bare stone floor, and neither food nor drink. "There shall you stay," she cried, "until you are ready to become a nun." But the young priestess said to herself: "Here shall I have silence and time to fast and pray, and when I am ready, my Lady shall release me." And for three days she prayed without ceasing. And on the third night, her mother came to berate her and left, forgetting in her rage to lock the door. And the girl left the house in the hour before dawn. And donning a pilgrim's robe, she travelled about the country, preaching and teaching the religion of the one Goddess. The people adored her and were converted in their hundreds, and they called her la bella pellegrina – the beautiful pilgrim. And many travelled miles that they might fall on their knees and worship her, but she would say: "Not I, but She who is greater; not matter, but spirit; not mortality, but Life eternal." But at last her mother found her and had her arrested, and asked in an evil temper whether she would become a nun, and she replied: "That cannot be, for I belong to the one true Goddess, and I have died to the world and all its false gods, and so too will you, if you have wisdom to know the Truth when you have heard it." But the mother gave her up to the priests to put her to torture and death, as they did to all who would not agree with them or who left their religion. The people were seized with pity and anger and would have stormed the house where she was held, but it was guarded by many soldiers, and she was watched night and day. But they prayed as she had taught them, and she prayed also, and on the morning of the day that she was to be tortured and killed, a great wind arose in the heavens, a wind such as had not been seen before, and it overthrew the house so that not one stone was left standing upon another, and all were thrown into terror and confusion. But Hera Pellegrina walked away with calm dignity, and was taken by her people into the forests; and never again did the profane lay hands on her, but she lived to a great age teaching the Truth of the Goddess and guiding the faithful both in body and soul. But ill luck followed all who tried to rebuild the great house that had been destroyed, and in the end the priests grudgingly gave it over to the people as common land, and on it the affairs of all who loved the Goddess prospered as though a charm were upon them. And this land was ever called La Casa al Vento – The House of the Wind. * First published in The Coming Age No. 1 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Story of Hera Pellegrina Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Personal collection of David Kay. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Madrian Literature Circle Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource c. 1980 Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Text https://filianicstudies.org/cms/files/original/fd1bc62686dc81772598db32c0279f44.pdf 2ad583bbe369daa2692ee2d7bcd2085e Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Madrian Literature Circle Description An account of the resource Documents issued by the Madrian Literature Circle between 1973 and 1982. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Madrian Literature Circle Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1973-1982 Language A language of the resource English Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data loose leaf, typewritten (3pp.) Text Any textual data included in the document Ecology as a Spiritual Quest In recent years there has been a positive yearning in many hearts to return to a more natural way of living, and to protect – in all her forms – against the ravages of human greed and exploitation. Very much of this has been based on sound economic and ecological reasoning. Yet often one feels that these reasons are only rationalisations of a motive more difficult to express but far more profound. A feeling that beyond considerations of human self-interest, or even compassion for other creatures, there is something in nature that is intrinsically sacred. As a Madrian, I find this a quite natural attitude. Matriarchal religion is closely bound up with nature. It is not a question of nature-worship (as is sometimes suggested by those who wish to see nothing but "primitive" superstition in our matriarchal past), but a recognition that nature is not only a creation of God, but has a special "purity" in that it has fallen less far from the primordial unity with Her than has maidkind. In the Scriptures of the Goddess we read very freuqently that all physical things are the outward expression of Spirit. In their perfect state, they correspond to themis [thamë], the Divine Order or Pattern. For example, in The Way of Simplicity, we read: "All nature is a vast and subtle music, to which the innocent soul is close attuned", but evil can disrupt the music of themis: "The profane assay to sever themselves from this music, fixing new laws of gain and self-advantage against the law of universal love." From the point of view of the earth plane, it is only humanity which can do this. Animals, stars and flowers all move within the natural harmony of themis. Physical nature is not perfect (animals prey on one another, plants may be parasitic, disease and death exist), but at its own level, it is a shadow of the primordial Perfection of God "from whence we came and whence we must return". Only Maid must make an act of will in order to conform to themis: "No tree may blossom out of season, nor any flower greet springtime with austerity, but a maid lacking inward control is broken from the rhythm." That is because only maid has the power of choice between good and evil, between harmony and discord. The present age is wholly profane in having cut itself off as far as possible from the rhythm of nature, building an artificial urban lifestyle which is insensitive to the subtle currents of the seasons and the moon. Ignoring the complex pattern of rights and duties which characterise maid's true relation with nature and substituting for it the evil and ignorant doctrine of "might is right", which allows humanity to plunder the earth without returning anything until it becomes a desert, to torture and brutalise our sisters of the animal realm without mercy and to exploit them as though they were insensate pieces of machinery. All this is tied up with the doctrine that nature is a mere "accident", a chance arrangement of physical matter without meaning or spiritual significance. As soon as one realises that nature is the expression of Spirit, the essential blasphemy of the exploitative attitude becomes apparaent. To truly experience nature is to revere her, and through her to revere She who has created her. Faced with the majesty of untamed nature, whether in the stars or in a forest, the human heart is overwhelmed with a feeling of wholeness and holiness – a feeling that here is something complete and as it should be – an earthly reflection of the awesome Perfectness of the Divine. But it is not only in rare "mystical" moments of nature-experience that the holiness of nature can be with us. Time and again, I have noticed how as a person practices the seasonal rituals handed down from the dawn of time, and meditates upon their inner significances, slowly she becomes at one with the seasonal rhythm. Her work, her thought and her devotion change with every turning of the cycle. Her inner life is not the same in autumn as it is in spring, but follows the pattern of themis [thamë]. This is how we were meant to be. I believe that it is this spiritual transparency of nature which so many modern hearts are yearning for amid the desert of technological/commercial materialism. I believe that ecology and the "natural life" movement are truly a spiritual quest; a pilgrimage back to the true homeland of the human soul. Yet there is a danger. So long as the spiritual significance is not recognised, but is hidden under "sensible" justifications in terms of health, conservation of resources, etc. there is nothing to prevent "common-sense" compromises with materialism which will leave the situation almost as bad as before. It also leaves us open to the charge (so intimidating in this "practical" age) that wherever we cannot find utilitarian justifications for our beliefs, we are mere sentimentalists. No, respect for nature must be based on the hard spiritual facts of life. We must show that it is the materialists, with the crass scientism, their irrational fear of the supernatural, living in their self-made sterilised universe – it is they who are the dreamers. When they jackboot over nature in their frenzied scramble for every last penny, they do not know it is their own souls they are bruising. Only those who can see the spiritual Reality behind nature can be called realists. First published in Action for Psychic Ecology No. 5 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Ecology as a Spiritual Quest Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Personal collection of David Kay. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Madrian Literature Circle Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource c. 1980 Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Text https://filianicstudies.org/cms/files/original/c9b1bb2517061a2771329568f17159c7.pdf 8bf3a99364caee7a6021a8615468f1db Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Madrian Literature Circle Description An account of the resource Documents issued by the Madrian Literature Circle between 1973 and 1982. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Madrian Literature Circle Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1973-1982 Language A language of the resource English Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data loose leaf, typewritten (11pp.) Text Any textual data included in the document The Daughter in the East When the Goddess was worshipped throughout the world, the division of cultures into "eastern" and "western" had not taken place. Only with the fragmentation of human society and religion caused by the decay of the matriarchies did such divisions occur. In the west it is well known how the image of the Goddess persisted through the semi-patriarchal and patriarchal periods right up to the present, first as a goddess with an inferior male consort (Isis, Cybele, Ishtar, etc.), then in the same form with the "god" slowly taking over, and finally in various supposedly non-Divine forms, chiefly the virgin Mary. It is also well known that however low Her "official" status may have sunk, She always returned to the central and predominant position in the hearts, minds and devotions of the vast majority of the people. This was universally true, whether in the late cult of the Roman Empire, where Osiris was more or less forgotten for most of the time, or in the Mary cult in mediaeval Europe, where dozens of popular legends, as well as the vast predominance of Her devotion testified to the supremacy of Mary over Christ and the male trinity everywhere except in the Church's official dogma. Above all, souls have always placed their hope in the Divine compassion of our Lady, as opposed to the vengeful and masculine aggression of the all-too-human gods "made in man's image". This is powerfully represented in the prevalent mediaeval picture of "the two ladders to heaven"; the red ladder of Jesus from which many fall off into the fires of Hell, and the white ladder of Mary upon which every soul reached its glorious destination in safety. At this time it was also commonly believed that once a soul had entered Hell, even Jesus was powerless to save her, yet she might still be rescued by the infinite compassion of Mary. All this is well known, but what is less well known in the west is that very much the same process has also taken place in the east. In China, for example, the worship of the Daughter under the ancient name of Kuan Yin was so prevalent that She was finally incorporated into Buddhist practice as a celestial bodhisattva, very much as Mary was incorporated into Christian practice as a saint, and quickly assuming the same predominant position. Her life-story as a bodhisattva comes far closer to the Truth of the Mythos than does that of Mary. It exists in various versions, but the essentials are always the same: incarnate on earth as a devoutly religious maiden, she defies her cruel father's wishes in order to enter a convent, whereupon he sets out to kill her. In many versions he has the convent surrounded by archers and then sets the building afire. Any nun seeking to escape is driven back into the inferno by a hail of arrows. Yet Kuan Yin (or Miao Shan, as she is sometimes called in this version) rises from death as a beautiful white bird, and the souls of the slaughtered nuns follow her into the sky, even as the souls in Hell follow the resurrected Daughter in the Mythos. In other versions, it is even clearer, and she actually descends into Hell to release the poor souls suffering there before entering into her ministry of compassion over all earth's children. Perhaps one of the most striking points about the Kuan Yin cultus is that She rules a Pure Land or paradise, situated in the west, to which those who have called upon Her in life are taken to rest in happiness for a period before continuing upon their journey through cycles of incarnation. The parallel with the western Madrian teaching about Avala could hardly be more complete. Just as the Daughter in the west is said to be "pure love" (Catechism 15), so Kuan Yin is the very embodiment of Divine compassion. She is constantly attentive to the prayers of humanity, so that one of Her most frequently-used titles is "regarder of the cries of the world", which again recalls the western epithet "Our Lady of Succour". Though perhaps Her most familiar and most expressive title is simply "Saviour". As with the Daughter in the west, Her sacred tree is the willow, and She uses a willow-branch to sprinkle water on the heads of Her votaries in a striking echo of the Rite of Initiation. Another mark of the worship of the Daughter in all cultures is the faith of the people in Her power to deliver them from danger and suffering. This faith in the mediaeval west was enshrined in the opening words of the Memorare: "Remember, O most loving Virgin Mary, that it is a thing unheard of, that anyone ever had recourse to Your protection, implored Your help... and was left forsaken." In the Far East, this same belief finds its expression in a lengthy passage from the Lotus Sutra, the principal text of Mahayana Buddhism, which has been called "the Gospel of half Asia": "...The echoes of Her sacred deeds Resound through all the world... Who hears Her Name, who looks to Her, Unceasingly remembers Her, Is freed from worldly sorrow. Were you by vicious felons cast Into a roaring furnace, Turn but your thoughts upon Kuan Yin, The flames will turn to water. Or driven by the raging sea With foul fiends close about you, Turn but your thoughts upon Kuan Yin, The waves shall turn their fury. Else from Mount Sumeru's towering peak Some enemy should hurl you, Turn but your thoughts upon Kuan Yin, Like the sun in the sky will She hold you. Or running fast from evil men The Iron Mountain bars your path, Turn but your thoughts upon Kuan Yin, No hair shall come to harm Encircled by a murderous band With sharp knives poised to strike, Turn but your thoughts upon Kuan Yin, Pity shall turn their hearts. Or victim of a tyrant power, The axe upraised to slay you, Turn but your thoughts upon Kuan Yin, It shall be dashed in fragments. Locked in a dank and filthy cell And bound with iron fetters, Turn but your thoughts upon Kuan Yin, And freedom shall be granted. Or, having drunk a venomed cup, The darkness closes round you, Turn but your thoughts upon Kuan Yin, And you shall wake refreshed. Or else beset by devil-fiends, Dragons and demons, things Hell-spawned, Turn but your thoughts upon Kuan Yin, They dare not touch Her servant. With fearsome beasts on every side Cruel tusks and keen-edged claws, Turn but your thoughts upon Kuan Yin, They flee in all directions. Fierce dragon-serpents bar your way, With fiery breath and poison fume, Turn but your thoughts upon Kuan Yin And instantly they vanish. Horrendous lightnings rend the sky, Prodigious torrents flood the earth, Turn but your thoughts upon Kuan Yin, The storm shall turn its wrath. Bound upon Moira's [Werdë's] iron wheel, All creatures suffer countless woes, Yet Kuan Yin's eyes see everything, Her help is always ready. Infinite Her Godly power And skilful in the care of souls She manifests in countless forms Throughout the wide-spread world. Though endless evils plague the earth, Demons and beasts and godless men, Birth and old age, disease and death, Kuan Yin will end them, one by one. True Kuan Yin! Pure Kuan Yin! Incalculably wise Kuan Yin! Compassionate to every creature, Eternally honoured and adored. O, Heavenly Light, pure and unceasing! O, Sun of Wisdom, dispelling the dark! O, Conqueror of fire and storm! Your glory fills the world! Your pity shields us from the lightning, Your compasion is like to a radiant cloud Dropping sweet rain of spiritual love, Quenching the flames of distress. Name of Kuan Yin, most holy Name, Voice of the sea-tide, voice of God, Surpassing every worldly sound, Let it always be on your lips. Call upon Her, never doubting, Saviour of all things, pure and serene, In pain or anguish, fear or death, She is our faithful and certain support. Resplendent in every supreme perfection, All-seeing eyes of eternal compassion, Boundless ocean-store of blessings, In deep adoration we kneel at Her feet. The belief in Kuan Yin's supernatural aid may seem far-fetched. After all, it is a simple fact of experience that "tyrant power" which now dominates China, manifesting the ultimate extreme of masculist materialism, has murdered and imprisoned many thousands of Her devotees in its cruel drive against all spirituality. We must take into account that on one level the physical dangers depicted in the Sutra are allegories of the spiritual dangers which confront the soul at every stage in her ascent toward perfection. On another level, the Sutra expresses the truth that all worldly sufferings are the result of inward attachment to the world of illusion, and that if our contemplation is wholly directed toward the Divine (all our thoughts turned upon Kuan Yin) earthly sufferings can no longer touch us. So long as we remain separate from the Mother, we are bound to Moira's [Werdë's] iron wheel, we are subject to birth, old age, disease and death and all the ills that flesh is heir to not once but endlessly, until we realise the Truth and act upon it. Only when we unite in contemplation with the Divine, "unceasingly remembering Her", do we transcend the endless evils that plague the earth. Even so, like all inspired words, these sacred verses contain Truth on many levels; and alongside the deeper spiritual strata of meaning, the simplest exoteric significance of the words contains profounder truths than the profane mine (whether openly anti-religious or trying to "rationalise" religion into a form acceptable to the prejudices of late-patriarchal materialism) would be happy to admit. Innumerable accounts exist – some well-attested by persons still living – of instances in which Kuan Yin has miraculously intervened to save some devotee from danger who has called upon Her. Many of the more modern instances involve hair's-breadth escapes from Communist persecutors. Sometimes help comes through "natural" means, extraordinary coincidnces or strokes of luck. At other times it is purely "miraculous": the attacker who suddenly found himself unable to move a muscle when his victim called upon Kuan Yin's name; the lost traveler led to shelter by a vision of Kuan Yin; the devotee who was simply ignored by the Red Guards who were searching for her as though she had become invisible. It is not only in China that Kuan Yin is honoured. She is known throughout most of South-East Asia. In Japan She is called Kwannon; in Tibet She goes by the name of Tara. In the introduction to Dr. Beyer's monumental study The Cult of Tara,* we read: "Tara was the principal superhuman being in Tibet who might be called divine without further qualification. She is prayed to by millions; her help in adversity is divine... "It does not help much to search for 'causes' to explain this trust in Tara and her eternity... She was real, she was divine. Tara was, had always been, and still is the almighty support of her devotees who address her. In fact she is mightier than Buddhas and Bodhisattvas... To understand something of her cult is to understand something of the mainstay of Tibetan culture and religion." The instruction to "unceasingly remember Her", to "Let Her name be always on your lips", is taken with the utmost seriousness wherever She is worshipped, and Her most ardent devotees spend many hours in recitation; sometimes simply repeating Her name thousands of times, sometimes reciting the Lotus Sutra verses, or the Dharani of Great Compassion, another important text in the worship of Kuan Yin, often using a Rosary. Sometimes the Name is recited unceasingly over a period of many days, until the revolving of the sound becomes a continual inward reality even in sleep or when engaged in other activities. This practice may eventually lead to a mystical experience or a vision, and certainly to a degree of detachment from wordly suffering corresponding to a higher level of consciousness. The effect is due not only to the psychological value of the exercise (in the fullest sense: psyche = soul, therefore true psychology is the science of the soul's laws), but also the particular spiritual quality of the sound of the Name itself (it is possible that the same effect would not be produced by a western pronunciation of the Chinese syllables, though there are western equivalents of the Name, most notably, of course, Inanna, which should be pronound short a's and a particular caressing quality about the n's). The Name is often incorporated within a short mantram. Certain rather more complicated mantric visualisation practices have also been used to great effect and might well be adopted by Madrians who feel drawn to this form of development. For this reason, an adaptation of one such method is included here. The main mantram employed is the famous OM MANI PADME HUM. This mantram has a long history, going back long before Buddhism and the practices with which it has been associated in more recent times. In being addressed to Kuan Yin, it is returning to its origins, for it is a primordial sound-form corresponding to the devout invocation of the Daughter. It is suitable for western usage, since it is from the Sanscrit [sic] which is close to the root-language of all western dialects. The fact that it is also effective in the Far East is a possible indication that it goes back beyond this to the universal root-language which preceded the division of east and west, and therefore remains unchanged in sound since the central matriarchal period. A rough translation would be "Hail (or behold) the jewel in the lotus". This refers directly to the Daughter, the lotus being the eastern equivalent of the rose, which symbolises the Mother, and the "jewel" within it the Daughter to Whom She gives birth. This symbolism occurs on the ring sometimes worn by priestesses with a pure crystal couched in the petals of a golden rose. Gold is the metal of the sun, symbolising the Mother, and crystal the jewel of the moon, symbolising the Daughter. The following practice has been used in both China and Tibet: Preparation Take a ritual bath, preferably scented with eucalyptus or some other lunar essence. Let the purification of your body symbolise the purification of your mind, and if any sin lie on you, do penance for it beforehand. Dress yourself with quietness and reverence, preferably in a white robe. Go to your shrine, whereon shall be an image or a statue of the Daughter and a censer for incense-sticks. Take in your left hand an incense stick, and with the finger and thumb of your right hand, form a circle. At the place where the tips meet, envision a white glow, representing the syllable OM (this is pronounced midway between OM and AUM). After a moment, this is transformed into a budding lotus wherewith you trace the letters OM AH HUM above the glowing incense. Thus will the smoke spread out to form a great cloud of purity. Reverencing, recite these words: "May this precious cloud form an offering to the Mother and to the Daughter and to Absolute Deity, an offering to the Geniae [Janyati] of the seven spheres, and to all the Geniae of Heaven, an offering to the saints and the heras [helati] that have walked this earth in the love of the Goddess through countless centuries, and having attained to perfect liberation are one with me in Her Ekklesia." Make the Pentacle in the four directions, and invoke the protection of the guardian daughters of the fourfold earth (as in the Rite of Sacrifice, but do not use the Name of Power). Place the stick reverently in the censer. First Stage Settle before the shrine, either in the Artemid posture or the Padmasana (Lotus Posture) or in any position that is comfortable and not disturbing. Breathe slowly and deeply. At the crown of your head, envision a white glow representing OM, at your throat a red AH, at your heart a blue HUM. These glowing centres throw out rays of their respective colors in all directions. by them all the evil of wrong choices and wrong deeds made since the dawn of time by your self and by all selves are expelled in the form of a black liquid which drains away into the earth until no drop remains. Thus, purged of evil, you are one with the Good, and your body, speech and mind are as the body, speech and mind of Kuan Yin. Unutterably beautiful and overflowing with compassion. Place your hands in the lotus position (thumbs and fingertips together with hands arching away from the centre, to form the "bowl" of the lotus). Recite the mantram OM MANI PADME HUM, centring your consciousness of each syllable in turn upon a specific part of your upper body, revolving the mind from one to the next, thus: OM, heart; MA, left shoulder; NI, throat; PAD, right shoulder; Me, navel; HUM, crown of hear (first rotation). [An illustration maps the syllables to the body for both the first and second rotation, and depicts correct formation of the lotus position for the hands.] After a time, rearrange the positions of the syllables into the following pattern: OM, crown of head; MA, throat; NI, right shoulder; PAD, navel; ME, left shoulder; HUM, heart. The more these rotations are repeated, the more wonderful will be the results. For a time it will be sufficient to practise only the first stage, attaining proficiency in this practice before passing on to the complete exercise. Second Stage Within your breast envision the moon's disk, bright and pure in brilliant white. Standing in space before you is a pink moon-disk manifesting the syllable TAM (the invocation-word of Tara). Suddenly this disk becomes a vision of Kuan Yin with a bright nimbus about Her head and a Rosary around Her neck made from pearls strung together. Upon the crown of her head appears a white glow within the numbus, manifesting the syllable OM; at Her throat a red AH, close to Her heart a blue HUM. The rays of these blend with those proceeding from the OM AH HUM upon your own body. She is seated in a posture of meditation. An opening develops in the crown of your head, and the rays are drawn into it. The image of Kuan Yin diminishes in size until it follows the rays into your head and you are one with Her. Now join the tip of your right thumb with the tip of the ring-finger. Trace the words OM AH HUM on your left hand. Envision a pearl before you, and with your left hand trace those syllables upon it, at the same time speaking them with intense concentration. Now visualise yourself holding the pearl before your breast with the thumbs and forefingers of both hands, and begin to recite the mantram OM MANI PADME HUM for a period. Third Stage Visualise a white glow manifesting OM upon the crown of your head, streaming out rays of splendid light, which illuminate all states of existence, hells and higher worlds, spirit-worlds, and every place in which souls still strive for liberation. By this light their sins and wrong-choices are purified away. Near your heart shines a blue HUM, filling all the earth with its rays, and comforting all the creatures that move upon it. Within the circle of the light shed by its rays are seen as many Pure Lands or heaven-worlds as one wishes to envision. Then the white and blue rays enter the crown of your head and penetrate to the lowest parts of your body. Adopt again the position of holding the pearl and recite again the OM MANI PADME HUM for a period. When this has been achieved, say the prayer of eternity and reverence the nymphs of the four quarters. (Note: the reverence consists of placing the hands together, fingertips pointing upward, before the breast and bowing the head). *Published by the University of California Press. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Daughter in the East Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Personal collection of David Kay. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Madrian Literature Circle Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource c. 1980 Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Text https://filianicstudies.org/cms/files/original/68c2fa6d0931182368faa0c3544403f7.pdf 31f198f00a6b2887e08ea43dd60c5858 https://filianicstudies.org/cms/files/original/89650508d37fc448ac943d0a8dc2fbb5.pdf 12d1c12fa04adc3b345674a7c7fb03e2 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Madrian Literature Circle Description An account of the resource Documents issued by the Madrian Literature Circle between 1973 and 1982. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Madrian Literature Circle Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1973-1982 Language A language of the resource English Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data loose leaf, handwritten (12pp.) Text Any textual data included in the document [This transcript reflects the handwritten version.] Conversations from Below: I The scene is set in a bedroom – well, of course, there are at least a hundred ways of looking at any scene; but since the most usual way is the physical, we will begin with that. The scene is set in a bedroom. A rather plain bedroom and not a particularly tidy one. It is littered with books and papers, shoes and slippers and various other appartenances of physical life. On the corner of the bed is a maid between twenty and thirty, if not rather older (or even, perhaps, a little younger). She appears to be deep in thought. If one were to look at the scene in another way – a way beyond the physical (not so much above it as below it) – one would see a snake. It slithered a little while ago into the room, and beginning at the ankles, it has wrapped its coils about the whole length of her body. She, of course, is quite unaware of it; and the snake seems only slightly aware of her. Its business is not exactly with her. But to understand that, we will have to look at our scene in another way again. If we see the scene as the snake sees it – a way much further below the physical – we will see that the snake is concerned with a little stream or trickle that seems to be flowing out of the heart of the maid. But as we look down the stream, we will see that it is flowing not into the room, but into a landscape: a dark and dreamy landscape, which seems heavy with a sort of dull laziness. And we see also that as the trickle flows on, it becomes a little river, overhung by strange trees which, in that twilight look something like willows, except that their outlines are not clean and clear, but strangely heavy and blurred, as though they had been moulded from some greasy black wax that would not set properly. But unlike other rivers, this one flows slowly and lazily where it is young and slender, meandering widely, first in one direction and then in another, seeming to have no particular destination and to care nothing for when or whether it arrives. But as it becomes older and broader, so its pace becomes faster and more determined, forcing a path through all obstructions with an urgency that rises towards the end to something like desperation. And the end? Why, at the end it flows not into the wide sea, but comes to a great weir, vast and terrible, where it crashes over the edge into the awful nothingness of a black and bottomless abyss. A picture that might have been conjured up in the imagination of those sailors of former times who belileved the earth to be flat, and feared that they might sail over the edge of the world. If we have talked of this river as thought it were a living creature, we have not been far wrong, for if we look at it in another way, it is a snake. And as soon as we have adjusted our vision so as to see it as a snake, why, the whole focus seems to swirl and flicker, showing it now as a snake, now as a man, now as a maid, now as a demon, all claws and lashing tail. For this creature or river is the false self of the maid, which seeks always to lead her by gradual degrees downstream, first this way and then that, but always away from the bright, bright light of perfection. There is one other place where the stream flows rapidly, and that is at the very beginning, where it is out in the open and exposed directly to the light. There it turns and twists, far more like a snake than a river, spurred to violent activity by its fierce determination to get back into the dark. For some time now, the maid has been making her way upstream, and now, as the false self (whose name, if it had a name, would be Shlitt) is explaining, she is coming dangerously close to those narrow rapids. But quiet! We have already missed some of its words: ...but I just don't understand it, Klagon. She has had every advantage. She has lived in a world absolutely dominated by materialism. Their "great issues" are all to do with money and politics and what they call "society". And she had perfect freedom – there was no need for treason. She could have been a capitalist or a socialist, an artist or a philistine, a humanist or a cynic – and all the time she would never have taken a step upstream. But she is questioning everything – everything. Klagon: Calm down, Shlitt, calm down. I hope you don't let her call it "questioning". When she questions religion, that is "questioning". When she questions the orthodoxies of materialism, she must be taught to call it "personal opinion", or better still, "wishful thinking". Shlitt: No, no, she is past that stage now. I can't befuddle her mind with verbal tricks any more. Klag: My dear Shlitt, humans are so made that their minds can always be befuddled by verbal tricks – or practically always. If our subject is past the particular stage I have mentioned, then rest assured, there will be dozens of subtler strategies suitable to whatever stage she has reached. Your trouble is that you having [sic] things too easily up till now, so you give up as soon as you run into a spot of difficulty. The battle isn't lost yet: it has hardly begun. Shlitt: But what must I do? Klag: Well, we must watch the situation carefully and adjust our strategy as we go along. It is important to keep the campaign going on several fronts at once. We can start by launching a heavy bombardment on the materialist front. Shlitt: But that's what I've been trying to do. Klag: Yes, but how? Shlitt: With arguments, of course – opening her up to all the arguments against the existence of any non-physical reality. Klag: Yes, I thought as much. Listen, Shlitt, arguments are sometimes all right for bolstering up materialism when it is already accepted – even then they are just a frill, a superfluous luxery. But when materialism is even slightly in doubt, clear thought is our worst enemy. You know as well as I do that there are no real arguments against non-physical reality. Let me give you a principle. It is one word that should be engraved over the gates of Hell in letters of granite. The word is fuzz. Never forget it. Shlitt: But what does it mean? Klag: It means that you must never let your subject's mind be clear. All her thoughts and arguments must be fuzzed. Succeed in that and your path is clear. Fail and you have not the smallest hope. Shlitt: How does that apply in this case? Klag: My dear Shlitt, fuzzing is the very essence of materialism. Materialism means making your subject believe that everything has its origin in physical matter, without ever asking where physical matter has its origin. Materialists believe that everything has a cause. Now either matter has no cause, in which case their system breaks down; or else it has a cause – in which case the cause must be outside matter (since nothing can be the cause of itself). So their system breaks down either way. Don't you see how fuzzed a mind must be if it fails to realise that? You wouldn't think it would work, would you? But it does. We've had some of the best human minds eating out of our hands just by a bit of fuzzing. Shlitt: But if they're really intelligent... Klag: Intelligence comes second. Don't you understand that? Once the false self is in control of a subject, the subject is fitted subconsciously with the correct feelings of terror and hatred towards the terrible light of the Divine. She will not be aware of it (and it is very important that she does not become so). But all her beliefs will be designed to shield her from that light. Her intellect, which is, after all, simply one of her many attributes, will be used like all the others in furthering that end. And that brings us to another all-important principle. Whether she believes in religion or not, you must never let her see its true importance. Always encourage her to think of it as a part of life, as one aspect or dimension of things. Never let her realise how every action on the physical plane has both causes and effects on the spiritual. It is easy enough, for incredible as it may seem, she is practically blind. All she can see are the physical things around her. Only occasionally does she get the tiniest glimpses of the rest of the world. And usually it is easy enough to convince her that they are just "imagination". If she is a materialist, never let her horror of the Divine become conscious. Let her believe that she "hardly gives religion a thought". Shlitt: But this doesn't apply to my case. Klag: It is important that you understand the basic principles. But you are quite right. Let us get down to practicalities. As I have said, there is not point in arguing for materialism, but there are plenty of other ways of going about it. You can simply take advantage of her near-blindness. Make her concentrate on the things about her, show her how real they are. And try to convince her that since she can't see spiritual things, they don't exist. Shlitt: But that's nonsense – it makes no sense at all! Klag: I know, I know. But you'd be surprised how often it works. A good blast of that trick at the right moment (timing is very important in these matters) can often succeed where months of patient work have failed. It isn't foolproof, but do keep trying it: – it takes no effort, and you never know when you might score a surprise hit. Shlitt: Good, I will try that. Klag: Now alongside that, you must work in some other tricks. One of the best is to pester her with the idea that religion is "out of date" that "you can't believe in that these days". When a really well-trained materialist hears about religion, she says (or thinks, if she has fallen into the deplorable habit of politeness) "But this is the twentieth century!" Of couse, that makes about as much sense as saying "But this is Tuesday morning". But keep fuzzing, and she will never notice. Now with your subject, you may not yet be able to fuzz the whole issue. She probably will ask exactly what that means. But you must still fuzz. Let the answer be something vague about "modern science" or a "more advanced civilisation". For Hell's sake, don't let her seriously start asking what particular proven facts of modern science contradict religion. If she does that, you're finished along those lines. Shlitt: For a little while, anyway. Klag: Quite right. You can often use their forgetfulness to your advantage, and reopen issues a little later that they have quite successfully dealt with before. Shlitt: But aren't there any specific examples I can give her? Klag: Well, again, try to be as vague and general as possible. There aren't any real scientific facts that support materialism, but there are individual scientists who happen to be materialists. Of course, that is nothing to do with the fact that they are scientists – they would have been materialists in any case. But provided you keep fuzzing, you can use them in a vague way to give the "authority of science" to materialism. But it is usually better to be more general than that. Her whole society is materialistic. Try to make her feel that a society which has moonflights and electric lights must know better in all things than ancient religious societies (the sort of history they teach her makes even the earlier patriarchal civilisations seem more primitive than they were). Don't let her consider the fact that just as a plumber probably knows little about metaphysical philosophy, so a society which is very proficient at technical and physical things is likely to be backward in spiritual matters. Fortunately we have long ago erased the knowledge of the ancient matriarchal societies, which were so far advanced in spiritual knowledge that they were able to produce all the benefits of material technology without machines and factories and laboratories. Only a tiny few of the them have the smallest fraction of that ability now, and they can easily be dismissed as fakes and frauds if they are so foolish as to make themselves public. She does still believe in what they call "progress", I take it? Shlitt: Yes, but she is becoming a little sceptical. Klag: Be very careful about that. You must keep her believing in "progress" – and keep it as vague as possible. The human race "coming of age" is a very good phrase – it suggests a vague analogy with their individual growth patterns and means nothing in practical terms. The less it actually means, the less it can be questioned and criticised. So long as you keep her hooked on the progress-myth, materialism is always in with a chance. But that's not all; you'll see later how it can be useful to us in all sorts of other ways, even if we can't get her back to materialism. Shlitt: You mean we haven't lost if we can't get her back to materialism? Klag: Lost? Not by a long shot! In the modern world, materialism just happens to be the handiest weapon – but there are plenty of others. We got on perfectly well for centuries without materialism, you know. Of course, it would be very nice if she could be converted back to materialism, but it doesn't really matter. The main purpose of the campaign on the materialist front is not that at all. Shlitt: Then what is it? Klag: Well, there are various purposes. Firstly, it will help to keep her mind off the real spiritual issues. Secondly, if we can keep her hovering on the brink through doubts and difficulties, never really choosing one way or another, she will grow weaker after a little while, and the current will gradually pull her back downstream. Thirdly, even if she does choose the religious path, we will be able to use the vestiges of materialism – or even her attempts to disprove materialism – to prevent it from being a real approach to that awful Light. I may have to go into that later, but I hope not. Shlitt: I think she will try some religious "experiment" in the near future. Klag: Yes, that is not unusual. If at all possible, direct her into some form of Christianity. If you can get her to worship God in a masculine form, that is half the battle. We brought about the present materialism in human societies by weaning them slowly from the Divine Image, to a masculine form of it, and then weaning them off that altogether. Fortunately, being half-blind, it is easy to confuse them about this. They cannot see the spiritual weakness of the masculine image, although they can sometimes feel it. Besides, we have had all of the Christian sects in our pocket now for a long time, and have guided them into a worldly mentality. In the last century we had them all on respectability and thrift and capitalism; now its all social justice and "liberation" and "personal relationships". A few slip through the net, of course, but for the most part they are all floating nicely downstream. Fix their hearts on transient things, and let them give no thought to the Eternal. That's the secret – then it doesn't matter whether they call it "religion" or not. But in the name of all that's unholy, keep her eyes turned from the dazzling image of the one Goddess. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Conversations from Below: I Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Madrian Literature Circle Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource c. 1980 Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Description An account of the resource A fictionalized account of the temptation of a soul. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Lux Madriana Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Handwritten copy donated by David Kay. Printed copy donated by Joey III. https://filianicstudies.org/cms/files/original/efc39e20af715691536ce9254b6a2ccc.pdf 1a2c2b4afb7a599a26f6e9a08ce502ce Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Madrian Literature Circle Description An account of the resource Documents issued by the Madrian Literature Circle between 1973 and 1982. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Madrian Literature Circle Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1973-1982 Language A language of the resource English Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data loose leaf, typewritten (11pp.) Text Any textual data included in the document The Madrian Literature Circle: A Child's Outline of World History INTRODUCTION FOR GROWN-UPS The following pages give a very broad outline of the course of the world's history from the beginning of the present world-cycle until the present time (and a little beyond). It may be read by children or to them, though its primary purpose is not either of these. The Outline is not primarily regarded as an end in itself, but rather as a basis for teaching and discussion. Ideally, each paper should be used as the foundation of a lesson around which discussion may be centred and project work organised. The project work can include pictures, compositions, maps, models etc. This individualised approach is particularly important since it allows the teaching to be adjusted to the age and ability of the children concerned. For example, to older children more detail may be gone into about the nature of the first people's coming from heaven to earth – how we mean not "people" travelling in space, but souls becoming incarnate in a material environment; and how the first ideal and archetypal creation was translated onto successively grosser and more consolidated levels of being until finally it reached the stage of physical matter. There are various levels on which these facts can be taught, ranging from the simplest forms of presentation (to which we have largely restricted ourselves in these papers) to the abstractions of philosophical metaphysics. Which level takes predominance in any given case will depend upon the child in question. Madrian education has always proceeded orally, without the use of textbooks, and these papers represent a step towards putting some of it in a form which can be used by those who have not grown up within a traditional Madrian community. What will be missed are the traditional stories and narratives, usually told by the fireside, which give so much warmth and vitality to the historical accounts. To some extent the place of these will be taken by the accounts of the lives of children living in the different periods of history which are to provide a companion-piece to the present work. Some of the traditional stories will also be written down, but nothing can replace the traditional telling in the fireside setting by an experienced story-teller. As new open Madrian communities are founded, it is to be hoped that every Madrian child will be able to have this experience at least occasionally. If any particularly interesting or difficult questions are asked, we would be grateful to hear of them. The answers to these questions may be compiled as a supplement to the Outline. [Illustration titled The Golden Age, depicting many small figures standing in a treed field beneath the sun and clouds. A robed figure on a cloud emits beams of light from her hands on the earth below. The caption reads: "Some of the first children strayed from Heaven... ...But INANNA made the earth for them"] Where did people come from? When God first made people, She did not put them on this earth, but kept them with Her in Heaven. It was so beautiful in Heaven, that I can hardly begin to describe it. But afer a time, some of Her children disobeyed Her, and wandered away from Heaven. Now Heaven is a place for perfectly good people, and because these children were disobedient, they could not find their way back. But God sent Her Daughter, Inanna, to help them, and Inanna created a new place for them to live, and this new place was called the earth. When She first created it, the world was so fresh and bright and beautiful that if you could see it, you would say that Heaven could not be any more wonderful than that (but if you had seen Heaven, you would know that it could!). When people first came to earth, it was called the Golden Age. People were not stuck in their physical bodies the way we are, they could just "step" out of them. They could travel to another place just by thinking about it. They could understand the language of birds and animals, and build a Temple in the air without wood or stones or any other physical material. [An illustration depicts figures standing among animals and flowers in a treed field beneath sun and clouds. The caption reads: "They could understand the language of birds and animals."] [A second illustration, titled The Silver Age, shows two impressive buildings, with a caption reading, "Great temples and palaces were built."] At the beginning of the GOLDEN AGE, people did not need to build houses at all, because they did not feel the cold, and for them, it was always like the warmest days of summer. It was not until the SILVER AGE that any houses were built, and then, at first, they were only little round wooden huts. The GOLDEN AGE lasted for many thousands of years – almost as long as all the other ages put together. People lived for a very long time then, and it was not unusual for a person to be several hundred years old. As time went on, lives became shorter. In the late SILVER AGE, people only lived 150 to 200 years. Today they usually live only 70 or 80. Toward the second half of the SILVER AGE, great temples and palaces were built in many places. These were very grand and beautiful, and full of wonderful works of art, but they showed that people had moved further away from God and were trying to make themselves at home on the earth instead of seeking the way back to their real home in Heaven. But they had not forgotten God, and all their works of art, their magnificent cities and palaces, their beautiful clothes and music, just as much as their Temples, were all made in Her honour. Great princesses ruled over the cities, and everyone was happy under their reign, because like true princesses, they did not rule according to their own likes and dislikes, but ruled in obedience to God and Her laws. These laws are so perfect that when maids live by them, they are always perfectly happy. [An illustration, entitled The Golden Chain of the Law, shows a series of linked figures, starting at the far left with "Our Lady", followed by "The Princess", "Heads of Households", "mothers", and lastly "husbands & children".] [A second illustration, entitled The Bronze Age, I, shows a large seated figure in a crown raising a goblet over three smaller figures carrying various containers. The caption reads, "Princesses grew greedy & selfish." To the right of this, another image shows a broken down wall surrounded by loose bricks, with a caption reading "A brick wall without any cement."] At the beginning of the BRONZE AGE, the great cities became larger and more magnificent, but now the great danger of these earthly glories was beginning to become a reality. People were starting to forget God, and lose themselves in worldly things. The great princesses forgot that they were God's servants and behaved as if they were only given their riches and power for their own enjoyment. The people did not see why the princesses should have wealth and power instead of themselves. And of course, if the princess is not God's servant, there is no reason. But when they put up maids from among themselves to be their rulers, it was even worse, because these rulers did not obey the divine Law either, but only slipped farther from it. The worse things became, the more people tried to find comfort in worldly things, but the more they did that, the worse still things became. Those days were very much like the present time in the profane world. In the end, the whole of that civilisation collapsed, because a society without God is just like a brick wall without cement. The golden chain of Her law holds society together, and when that chain is broken, it will soon fall to pieces. Through greed and quarrelling, and by upsetting the balance of nature with materialistic inventions (just as people are doing today), the great cities of the early bronze age fell into decay. People went off into the hills or the countryside and left the magnificent buildings to crumble away. [An illustration shows the ruins of great buildings being rained upon, while a caption reads "...left the magnificent building to crumble away."] [An illustration, entitled The Bronze Age, II depicts three angelic figures over the words "The sacred arts & crafts were brought from Heaven to earth..." On the right, a figure is shown holding something aloft at the mouth of a cave, while another sits by a fire; two smaller figures a little ways off appear to be carrying bows and are accompanied by a four-footed animal. The caption reads, "...maids guarded them in cave-days – men were sent out to hunt. They were REMEMBERED, not INVENTED." After the fall of the great cities, many people wandered the countryside, or lived in caves. Many profane people believe that these were the first people in the world. They call them cave-men and believe that they had just learned the simplest things, like making fire. Actually, of course, they only REMEMBERED these things, while they had FORGOTTEN most of the other things which they used to know. Profane people believe that these "cave-people" had developed from monkets only a little time ago, and the the whole human race is only about two million years old, and could not make simple things by hand until about twenty-five thousand years ago, but they have found the imprints of well-made rope sandals in places where they must be at least fifteen million years old. But they just ignore things like that, and pretend they do not exist. The cave-people are called "cave-men" by profane people because they pretend that men were in charge in those days, just as they are in the profane world today. Actually, the profane people who know most about it know that this is not true,* but most profane people pretend that it is. Actually maids were in charge of the cave-societies, were leaders in the communities and heads in the households, just as they had always been. It was not until much later and much darker times that men took over. The cave people were not stupid, as is sometimes said. Although they had forgotten many practical things, they still had a deeper spiritual knowledge than the profane world today, and their arts and crafts were rich in spiritual meaning. Profane people often talk of these arts and crafts being "invented" by the cave-people, but, of course, no true craft has ever been invented on this earth, for maid brought all the true sacred crafts with her when she came from Heaven. So when people say "invented", they should really say REMEMBERED. [An illustration, entitled WRONG IDEAS profane people say that... shows an ape swinging from a tree next to a maid in a robe. This is x-ed out over the caption "maid is descended from monkeys" and labeled "x wrong". To the right, a similarly x-ed out image shows a man in an animal skin with a large club dragging a maid in a robe by the hair beneath the caption "...fierce cave-men ruled over maids." This is also labeled "x wrong" and "0/10".] [Another illustration, entitled The Bronze Age III, shows the edge of a map. A protrusion of land dotted with trees and a large structure is labeled "LANTIS", with the edge of another letter to the left. Off the shore of the land four ships are shown in the ocean, with the caption "Basilea's ships set sail." To the right of this scene, a clock with a single hand is shaded and labeled for the four ages. The hand points to the very end of the Bronze Age. A caption reads, "the world is slowly running down like a clock."] So, the cave-maids had forgotten many things, and also rememebered many things. But not everybody had forgotten those things which had been forgotten. One the great continent of ATLANTIS, now sunken beneath the waters, lived a race of people who had not forgotten the old ways. Their ruler was called QUEEN BASILEA. Queen Basilea decided that it was her duty to help the other peoples of the world, and so she made ready a great fleet of ships which sailed all over the world. And wherever the red-haired Atlanteans landed, they taught the forgotten ways to the people, and helped them to build up magnificent civilisations centred upon love and obedience to God, just like those of the Silver Age. But they could not be quite like the Silver Age, for times change, and what is possible to our mothers is not possible to us. For the world is slowly running down, like a clock that has been wound up a long time ago. But the Bronze Age cities were very good places, ruled by good princesses who obeyed the Divine Law. The people were happy, and lived close to God. Beautiful clothes and buildings and pictures and music were made, all for the love of God. Wherever they went, the Atlanteans left four objects behind them: a golden chalice, a silver moon-axe, a bronze yoke and an iron plough. These symbolized the four ESTATES into which people were divided in the bronze age. Priestesses and scholars, queens and nobles, craftsmaids, and farmers. There was also a fifth estate, which was above the other four. This was the estate of those who gave up the world, and gave their whole lives to God in contemplation, often they went away to live in lonely places and later returned to give teaching and spiritual help to others. [An illustration shows a figure seated cross-legged in a robe. Above the figure a caption reads "The Contemplative Life," while below the figure is labeled "mystics". To the right, a caption spans four figures, reading "The Active Life". The first figure carries a chalice and is labeled "Priestesses & Scholars". The second wears a crown and carries a labrys, and is labeled "Princesses & nobles". A third appears to hammer the rim of a wheel, and is labeled "craftsmaids & artists". A fourth handles a scythe and is labeled "farmers".] [An illustration, entitled The Iron Age, I depicts a yelling figure seated in a throne with arms upraised and two other figures prostrating before it. This image is captioned "cruel warrior kings". To the right, another image shows a bearded figure in a crown immersed in a cloud sprouting lightning, and is captioned "made-up male gods".] Because the world is running down like a clock, the happy time which began in the early part of the Bronze Age could not last forever. It did last for thousands of years, but towards the end of the Bronze Age, things started to decline even more badly than at the end of the Silver Age. Cities got bigger and more greedy, and people became obsessed with money and possessions. At the beginning of the Iron Age, all sorts of false ideas were starting to creep into religion itself. First, people imagined that God had not a Daughter, but a son, and later they decided that God Herself was a man! Because religion is the centre of life, these ideas quickly started to affect other areas of life. In the end, kings took the throne away from the princesses, and fathers became the heads of households instead of mothers. This arrangement is called PATRIARCHY. The kings who took over were very cruel, they often burned towns and villages in their fight to take over power, and invented horrible ways of killing people who disagreed with them. All patriarchal governments, right up to the present [illegible, short and ends in 'y'] use horrible methods like these. Sometimes, in times of peace, they stop using them for a short while, but they quickly start again when it suits them. As the iron age wore on, people believed less and less in religious truths, until, in the end, the patriarchs did not even believe in their own invented male god. Instead, they plunged themselves into worldly things even more deeply than tthe Silver or Bronze Age people had done at their worst. They invented all sorts of machines and deadly weapons, and found out many things about nature and the world, but all in order to satisfy their own greed. The world war made more and more ugly, scarred by roads and railways, and huge sprawling cities dedicated to making money. [A chaotic illustration shows roads, railways, guns, grenades, advertisements, a television, an airplane dropping bombs, a tank, a skyscraper, and a factory belching smoke. The caption reads "the end of the age".] [An illustration, entitled The Iron Age II, bears a middle caption reading "Confused States". On the left, a woman is shown on a throne with a crown, while a crowned man stands behind her. The caption reads, "Queens ruled, but kings were powerful." On the right, a crowned man sits enthroned while a crowned woman stands behind. The caption reads, "Kings ruled, but only by the queen's permission."] At the end of the Iron Age, people even stood history on its head, and pretended that the Iron Age was BETTER than all the other times, and that because people in earlier ages did not spend all their time inventing new weapons and machines and ways of making money, they must have been stupider than people are now! This idea is called PROGRESS or EVOLUTION. It says "We started off as monkeys, and we have been getting better ever since. This modern patriarchal world is the best thing ever!" This idea is a very new invention, because even in most of the patriarchal times, people knew that things were getting worse. All the wisest people in every age have taught the opposite of progress; but the clever thing about the progress story is that the people who tell it don't have to take any notion of the wisest people of the past, because they were only stupid people who had not invented bombs and factories. Whenever you see a profane book about the past, you will always find this silly idea in it somewhere. We must not forget that from the beginning of the Iron Age to the present time, which is near to the end, was a very long time indeed. The whole of what the profane world calls history does not go back as far as the beginning of the Iron Age. Patriarchy as we know it today did not come in until quite late. There were lots of in-between periods. Periods when queens ruled, but kings had a lot of power, when kings ruled, but only by the queen's permission and all sorts of other complicated situations. In spiritual wisdom, the situation was equally confusing. Some bits of the truth were kept, others were lost, and different things happened in different places. For example, the western world lost that truth that we live many different lives, but the eastern world kept it. [An illustration shows a diverse crowd of people in varying costumes collectively yelling "No!" while pointing at a man in a suit next to a sign that reads "Progress, Atheism, Materialism, Monkeys to Maids, Evolution, People Are Machines". The caption reads "The profane world boastfully ignores all the wisest people of the east (even the patriarchal ones)".] [Transcript incomplete, ending on p. 9 of original] Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource A Child's Outline of World History Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Personal collection of David Kay. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Madrian Literature Circle Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource c. 1980 Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Text https://filianicstudies.org/cms/files/original/24e9ee8ab36ca95944f986815c616d1c.pdf 27814ab497ec2775d51954f963927b97 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Madrian Literature Circle Description An account of the resource Documents issued by the Madrian Literature Circle between 1973 and 1982. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Madrian Literature Circle Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1973-1982 Language A language of the resource English Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data loose leaf, typewritten (12pp.) Text Any textual data included in the document An Autumn Evening The dusk is settling over the hedgerows and out along the fields. The work of the day is accomplished, and all have eaten and gathered before the fire to say the evening's Rosary. As it is finished, the Pentacle is made, and little stools are gathered as everyone takes her place about the fire. It is done with a dance-like grace, there is no scuffle or confusion, for indeed, each movement of each person has been made an hundred times before. A movement out of place will be met with a sharp rebuke or a slap from an "elder sister", but this rarely happens. The response to such a reprimand is a curtsey from a maid or a reverence from a man. One disharmony is cancelled out by another, and themis [thamë] is restored. The inward response, even from the most adult person, is what the modern world would think of as childlike: intense mortification, which is quite forgotten within a few minutes. It was a crisp, smokey autumn evening, and already the dusk was thickening into night. The lady of the house, donna Marienna, seated in her arm chair beside the fire, called for an oil lamp to be lighted. The guests were conducted to the places prepared for them, each according to her estate. An owl hooted without. Often the night's tales and discourse began with a discussion of the events of the day – crops, weather, fairies, accidents and a thousand other things might set the spark to some piece of traditional lore; but this night it was the owl's cry which begun [sic] the talking. "Does that be [sic] a bad token?" asked a boy as pieces of embroidery, knitting or carving were brought out – idleness was not encouraged, at least, not until later in the evening. "Not unless she does enter the house," said donna Marienna, "though some do say that if owls do make noise about the house on three nights successively a death shall come, but that I credit not." "Perhaps she will be the baxter's* daughter," put in old Faith, who sat opposite the mistress in another arm chair. "Who was she?" asked one of the girls. "Most truly, I cannot tell you," said Faith, for it was the custom to refuse so direct a request the first time. "Mother, I would count it a blessing if you should instruct my little ones," said the mother of the girl. "Then so be it," answered Faith. "There once was a pleasant baxter maid that lived not so far from this; and she did have a daughter that was not so goodly a child as she. "One day there came to the door a poor travelling-maid with all the dust of a long highway upon her tattered clothes, and this one asked the girl an she would give her a piece of dough; so this girl gave her just a little bit and it was put in the over with the other loaves. But when it was ready, the little bit of dough had grown bvigger than all the loaves. Well, the girl wasn't about to let the travelling maid have this, so she gavce her another piece of dough, not half the size of the fdirst. And when this was baked, why, it came out even bigger than the first one. 'You can't have that, mother', says the girl, and gives her another bvit not the size of your thumb. Well, sure enough, when it's baked, it comes out as a great brown crusty loaf bigger than either of the other two. "By this time, the tight-handed girl is starting to think that things aren't as they might be, so she turns herself around to take another look at the travelling-maid, but now, the travelling maid has thrown off her old ragged cloak, and standing there, tall as the silver birch tree and shinging with the light of Heaven. Why, the greedy girl can't find her words at all, and the only thing she can stutter out is 'Who? ... Who? ... Who? ...' "'And that is all you shall ever say!' quoth the shining one, 'For your greed and hardness have troubled this world too long. And therewithal, she struck the girl with her staff, whereat she was transformed into an owl, and flew out into the night, crying 'Whoo, whoo, whoo.'" There was a shimmering silence, broken by donna Marienna: "You may stand, mistress Melissa." A tall fair girl rose to her feet. "If you cannot mind your work while you mind the telling, you must speak with Mistress Sally." Sally is the popular name for willow, and refers to the light willow switch or bundle of willow twigs used to keep discipline in a Madrian household. Melissa curtseyed deeply, and donna Marienna smiled. "You may take your place." She did so, bending diligently over her work. "Who, then, was the travelling-maid?" asked another girl. "Who shall I say?" answered Faith. "In the passed times, many great ones did come on the earth, and even, some do say, our Lady Herself." (Everyone made the Pentacle on herself.) "But I do think perhaps it was Lady Moira [Sai Werdë]." "Perhaps," said another, "she was not really trransformed directly, but was born in the form of an owl in another life." "That may be so," said Faith, "but don't'ee, my child, make too free to play fast-and-loose with the old traditions, just to render them conformable to what seems probable. When you live as long as I have, you'll have seen a strange thing or two, if you've not kept your eyes shut." "Who'd live with her eyes shut, mother?" asked a little one. "Most of the sheep out there on the mountain," answered Faith, meaning non-Madrians – the sheep who have strayed from the fold and are out on the mountain at night. "Even the darkest unbeliever has a strange tale to tell before she dies, ai [sic], one at the least. For all of them are shown the folly of their unbelief; but they do close their eyes and pretend they have not seen. Like olf hedgehog, they curl up tight on themselves and stick their prickles out and hope the Truth can't touch them. And no more it can, if they won't have it; not for this present life, at any rate, though it's a cold awaking-up when it does come." "Do the great ones come among us yet?" asked Melissa, full of romantic curiosity. "'Tis not so often as it was," said Faith, for the darkening days are on us, but most surely, it does still happen from time to time; and I shall tell you of it on a greater night than this." Certain special tales were reserved for the telling at festival times appropriate to them. "And are they the Geniae [Janyati] of Heaven, these great ones? pursued Melissa. This time answer was given by donna Marienna. "Sometime they are, and sometime not," she said. "Not so long ago, a saintly maid did walk upon the hillside, and did meet Queen Colwyn the Fair. Ai, tall she was, and comely of aspect, and the golden tresses of her hair did come down to the skirts of her dress. Noble her bearing, with shield and sword and tall shining helmet, that this maid was filled with reverence and awe, and like to hide herself. but Queen Colwyn said: 'Fear not, my child, for thy heart is most chaste and precious, and I would gladly talk with thee.' So they did walk upon the hillside and talk upon the state of the land in these times, and on many another thing, until Queen Colwyn said that she must go, and she said to the maid, 'Tell thou thy kinsfolk thou hast met with me.' "'It is like they will misbelieve me,' said the child. "'Clasp thy hands together,' said the Queen, and the maid did even as she was bidden. 'Now open them again.' Again, the maid obeyed, and as she did, a butterfly flew forth from her fingers. 'Henceforth, when ever you do this, a butterfly shall come forth.' And so it was, and ever afterward, this maid was known far and near as the butterfly maiden. And I need not tell you that none had the smallest difficulty in believing her tale of how she met Queen Colwyn the Fair upon the hillside." "Why does Queen Colwyn come among us?" asked another of the children. "'Tis said," replied donna Marienna, "that she comes once in every hundred years, that she may see if the time is ready when she will lead the People** in battle to drive the infidels from her land." "It is like that when she next comes will be the time, I think," said Melissa. "Then be sure your eye is true and your quiver well provided, for she may most likely come in your time, little one." A few moments ago, Gilrois, donna Marienna's man, had left the room, now he returns, carrying a large stone jug. He is a most welcome sight, for the ale brewed in donna Marienna's household is famous for many a long mile. Goblets are filled. "To whom shall we drink?" asks donna Marienna. "To Queen Colwyn," urges Melissa. "So then be it. Let us raise our goblets to Queen Colwyn the Fair of Brigantia; swift be her coming and her sword victorious, that the law of heaven may reign upon the earth at the end as it was in the beginning." "To Queen Colwyn the Fair!" "Haya Niké [Vikhë]!" As the ale is drunk, Melissa speaks to donna Marienna: "Domina, an it please you, can we hear a real tale of Queen Colwyn?" "Have you not heard a real tale this night, my child?" teased donna Marienna. "I know not how to make a tale more real than that one." "I mean one of the days when she reigned upon the earth." "I can tell you one of the days before she reigned upon the earth, if that will satisfy you." All those present expressed great satisfaction in this proposal, and so donna Marienna commenced thus: "It was in those days before Queen Colwyn won back her throne, and the fair land of Brigantia lay in the hand of tyrant infidels, even as it does this day; for her mother, Queen Dictynna, had been murdered by the infidel king Mider, whom she had trusted. In those days, the number of Queen Colwyn's followers was so small that if Mider's men could have found them, he would have put a swift end to all her hopes of bringing the land back within the law of themis [thamë]. "Upon one day the very thing happened that she was feared of, and a great troop of Mider's men came upon her little band at a time when they were far from the cover of the forest. "'Lay on and put them to the sword!' cried the captain of the troop. "Morrigan the Falconer, that was Colwyn's noble lieutenant, and dark as her mistress was fair, put her hand upon her sword; 'An it is battle they are thirsting for, so they shall drink it to the lees this day,' she cried. "'Nai [sic], nai,' said her mistress. 'Put up thy sword, black Morrigan, for they are too many and we too few, and the season is not yet come. Today we must run like the wild hare beneath Columbina's moon.' "Therewith the Brigantes fled and the tyrant's men gave chase, and feathered shafts, the swift-winged messengers of death, flew forth on either side. Yet the chase was not equal, for when a maid fell wounded among the Brigantes, she could not be left behind to be slain, and therefore must be carried with them; and so, as more maids fell, the flight of the Brigantes waxed slower. "At last, fair Colwyn, running at the front, led them to a long and narrow bridge that led across a wide and rushing river. Standing herself aside, she watched her children pass over and then took her station at the head of the bridge. Now this bridge was so narrow that only one person at a time could come up to her; and the captain of the tyrant troop sent to her a big man named Eldred, who said, 'Let us pass or most surely I will cut thee down.' "'Get thee home,' replied Queen Colwyn, 'for thou shalt not cross over this bridge until Colwyn of the Brigantes wills it so.' "Thereupon, Edlred drew his great sword, and called to his manservant to hold forth a stout bar of iron. Then, with one blow, he struck the bar of iron in twain. 'See what a sword it is that thou contend with!' he cried. "Then did Queen Colwyn take a fine lace kerchief, and holding it high in the air, let it float to the ground. But as it fell, she drew her sword, and with one stroke, she cut it clean in twain, and [it] fell in two pieces at her feet. 'See what a sword it is that thou contendest with,' quoth she. "Eldred marvelled at this stroke, but cried, 'Then if you wilt not move, maiden, lay on!' "'Tis a sad day has fallen on Brigantia when a maid must curb her menfolk with a sword and not a willow rod, but if thou'lt have it so, so be it then.' Angered by her words, Eldred rushed upon her. Queen Colwyn fixed her eyes upon his, smiling merrily, but moved not a hair. Eldred raised his great sword to deal her such a blow as should cleave her body in twain from the top of her head to her belly, but still she moved not. Then, just as the blow was but a finger's breadth from her, she leapt aside with the speed of a cat, and her sword flashed in the sunlight. Eldred's sword bit deep into the timber of the bridge, and his head fell beside it. "Queen Colwyn laughed aloud. 'There lies a loyal subject truly,' she cried, 'which man among you next will offer his head in tribute to his queen?' Then did many men come up to her, one upon another, and each one she felled as he tried to slay her, until at last the men grew afraid to approach her. But the captain of the tyrant's men was not dismayed. "'Truly,' he said, 'calling his men about him, 'we shall no longer send our warriors to fight her, but shall shoot her down with arrows where she stands.' But though their arrows darkened the skies, Queen Colwyn's enchanted bucklet did stay them all. "With renewed anger, the captain again sent his men against her in hopes she might grow weary; but again she cut them down as quickly as they came, until again they fell back in fear. At last the captain called his men about him. 'Surely,' he said, 'it is too late now for us to capture Colwyn's maids, even if we should cross the bridge this very moment. But we have caught ourselves a greater prize, for we have Colwyn herself. We shall send off riders to bring fresh men to watch the bridge, and others shall cross the river by another bridge and take her from behind. And even if she cannot be taken when she is attacked from both sides at once, she dare not step off the bridge, and she must starve, else fall asleep and be slain.' "Yet even as the captain was engaged in this talk, Queen Colwyn did whistle high and loud, like to a maid that whistles up the wind; and faster than the wind itself came Granya, Colwyn's white mare that had been waiting on the far side of the bridge. As Granya sped past, Queen Colwyn leapt upon her back. Roused by the clatter of hooves upon timber, the tyrant's men looked up, but already, in one leap, Granya was in their very midst, and the startled warriors scattered before Queen Colwyn's flashing blade. In another leap, Granya was beyond them, and in a third she had left them far behind, and was heading for the woodlands. When they recovered themselves, the tyrant's men gave chase, but there was not a steed in all the land that could come up with fiery-hooved Granya. "So it did pass that Mider found not his prey that day, nor any day thereafter, for 'the lawless wolf shall have his season, then shall the courteous hunting-hound have hers.'" "Would that season shall come soon again," said Melissa. "Would that it may," said donna Marienna, "but God knows best; for She will do what She will do, and blessed is Her Name." Everyone made the Pentacle upon herself, and thoughts turned towards the evening's prayers. "An apple shall be put by each child's bed for the morning who has worked well this day," said donna Marienna – child here really meant everyone, and the apples would be much prized as tokens of the mistress' favour. A whisper of excitement passed about the room. "Let each of you contemplate the meaning of the apple in this apple-season." "Contemplation is very difficult to me," said Marienna. "Then you must speak to Madria when she comes," said donna Marienna. "That will be very soon." "Truly the child's difficulty puts me in mind of a little tale," said Gilrois. "I bid you share it with us," said donna Marienna (it is not, of course, custom for a man to make refusal to his wife, even in the matter of telling a tale). "There was a priestess rode a fine horse with proud and shining harness. One day, she travelled away from her village and came upon a proud maiden that she knew not. 'Where did you come by that fine horse, Madria?' asked the maiden. "'Most truly, my daughter,' said the priestess, 'it was a gift to me from my children in the village wherein I dwell.' "'By my oath,' said the ungracious maid, 'I am full as pious as any priestess, and none hath given me a gift for it.' "'Well then,' said the priestess, 'perhaps I can put a remedy to that. If thou canst say the Silver Star with thy mind fully upon it and not divert thy thoughts once from the rememberance of our Lady, then I do declare that this horse shall be thine and I shall walk upon my way.' "'Why, that is an easy matter,' laughed the maid, and she knelt down there and then to say her prayer aloud. Well, she had just said the word 'splendour,' when she broke off, asking, 'And shall I have the saddle and harness also?' So she did lose her wager." Everyone laughed, until donna Marienna held up her hand. She arose, and went to kneel meekly before the statue of our Lady, and all the 'children' gathered about her. The moon was enthroned high in the heaven, shedding her pale light across the autumn fields. A reverent quietness settled on all the earth, as the mistress of the house called upon the Queen of Heaven, and all Her radiant Geniae [Janyati] to look down upon her little household and to grant their protection to all the shining souls that they had put into her care. *Baxter, the traditional feminine word for baker. The masculine is Baxteren. The term survives in the surname as do other traditional feminine craft names such as webster (weaver), brewster (brewer), etc. **Traditional Madrians often refer to the community of the faithful as the People. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource An Autumn Evening Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Personal collection of David Kay. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Madrian Literature Circle Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource c. 1980 Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Text https://filianicstudies.org/cms/files/original/9953ec16972f3512b2daff115070ef09.pdf 444a09dbf138781ab949d44e2f61df20 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Madrian Literature Circle Description An account of the resource Documents issued by the Madrian Literature Circle between 1973 and 1982. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Madrian Literature Circle Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1973-1982 Language A language of the resource English Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data loose leaf, handwritten (11pp.) Text Any textual data included in the document Apocalypse All the great prophetic traditions agree that we are now approaching the end of an age. The astrological calculation of the precession of the equinoxes tells us that we are passing from the era of Pisces into the age of Aquarius. Nostradamus, who in the sixteenth century predicted such things as the French Revolution, the rise of Hitler and both world wars, often in great detail, set the end of the epoch at about the year 2000. His prophecies, which cover 400 years, go no further than that time.* Dozens of lesser prophets, all of whom have predicted events of this century from former times, see the period around the end of the century as the end of the world or of some great world-era. A. Woldben has collected a number of these prophecies, and writes in an intrduction to them: "They are culled from a number of sources and on the whole reveal a striking similarity about the chief events which will take place at the end of the century... "According to all the prophecies, during the next thirty years the world will pass through terrible tribulations. The necessity of renewal will first lead to the destruction of everything we know in our present civilisation, to give way, in a second phase, to the building of a fundamentally different society."** The Four Ages Ancient Indian tradition going back to Madrian-matriarchal times speaks of a Great Year or Manvantara of 25,920 earthly years (this is equivalent to the astrological Great Year, since each zodiacal age lasts about 2,160 years and 2,160 x 12 = 25,420) divided into four ages or Yugas: Devpara-yuga, Tetra-yuga, Satya-yuga and Kali-yuga. We are now in the final phase of Kali-yuga. This division corresponds to the four ages set out by the Greek historian Hesiod at the opening of the present yuga. He described them as the Age of Gold, the Age of Silver, the Age of Bronze and Age of Iron. It is significant that Hesiod, of all patriarchal writers, knew most about the Madrian-matriarchal ages, and describes the Silver Age specifically as matriarchal. Both systems make it clear that the first age was the best and that each succeeding age saw a decline both in happiness and in spirituality. Robert Graves, writing on the Greek tradition, says: "The myth of the Golden Age derives from a tradition of tribal subservience to the ... goddess ... The myth of the Silver Age also records matriarchal conditions ... Silver is the metal of the moon goddess ... the third race adopted the cult of the goddess and her son." The four ages are not of the same length, but just as each age is inferior to its redecessor, so is each much shorter. The lengths are given as follows:– Devpara-yuga 10,386 years Tetra-yuga 7,776 years Satya-yuga 5,184 years Kali-yuga 2,592 years Kali Yuga: The Tightening Grip of Matter The primary tendency of our own era – Kali Yuga – is the dominance of matter over spirit, or to put it another way, of quantity over quality. In what is perhaps the best non-Madrian stufy of the condition of the modern world, Réné Guénon writes:– "... our period could almost be defined as being essentially and primarily 'the reign of quantity'. This characteristic is chosen in preference to any other ... because of its truly fundamental nature ... and also because it is the particular tendency in question that leads to the lowest point of the 'descent' which proceeds continuously and with ever-increasing speed from the beginning to the end of a Manvantara ... the lowest point takes on the aspect of pure quantity deprived of every qualitative distinction."*** Guénon makes it clear that the reign of quanitty is not just a doctrine or idea, but a real change both in people and in their surroundings:– "The materialist certitude, whether it be a question of explicit and formal materialism or of some simple 'practical' materialism necessarily imposes on the whole 'psycho-physiological' constitution of the human being a real and very important modification ... modern man (sic) has become impermeable to any real influences other than such as impinge on his (sic) senses."**** Guénon points out that this spiritual blindness in itself reinforces the profane point of view which created it in the first place. But beyond this, there is: "a sort of progressive 'materialisation' of the cosmic environment itself, and it is only when this 'materialisation' has reached a certain stage, by now very marked, that the materialistic concept can appear in man."***** Guénon's analysis coincides in its conclusions with the prophecies: that we are fast approaching "the end of a whole Manvantara, and so of the temporal existence of what may rightly be termed a humanity." This does not necessarily mean the end of the physical world (though the means of such destruction are certainly now available). But it certainly means the destruction of all the tendencies of the past several thousand years and the 'opening' of a completely new principle. Working from a different viewpoint, Elizabeth Gould David came to the same conclusion:– "The rot of masculist materialism has indeed permeated all spheres of twentieth century life and now attacks its very core ... "The ages of masculism are not drawing to a close. Their dying days are lit up by a final flare of universal violence such as the world has seldom before seen ... Any and all social reforms omposed upon our sick civilisation can be no more effective than a bandage on a gaping and putrefying wound. Only the complete and total demolition of the social body will cure the fatal sickness. Only the overthrow of the three-thousand-year-old beast of masculist materialism will save the race."****** Historically, then, Kali-yuga began about 600 years before the Christian era. At this time patriarchy was established in most parts of the world, and the first exclusively male-god religion was being developed by the Jews. Satya-yuga had seen a steady decline from the glories of the Silver Age, beginning with a decline in spirituality and the first signs of what we now call materialism. The masculine principle is the symbolic expression of the materialist tendency, therefore the image of a so-called 'son' of the Goddess was introduced into religion. As matter became more important than spirit, so physical strength and material "progress" came to be more highly valued than psychic power. In the Silver Age, according to Madrian traditions, people lived in co-operation with nature, providing for their material wants with a minimum of labour, exercising control over material things by sheer power of mind and spirit rather than by physical technology. (The feats of Indian yogis and recent experiments in telekinesis, among other things, reveal that remnants of this power still exist.) Being less obsessed with matter, maidkind was less dominated by matter, and the primary aim of life was not material acquisition but spiritual advancement. Through the course of Satya-yuga this situtation was lost. The human body became more and more dense and material, and the physical environment, as a result, more and more intractable. Towards the end of the Silver Age, cities grew up around the great temples, and the early part of Satya-yuga was the age of the great matriarchal cities, peaceful & satisfying all earthly needs by a mixture of physical and spiritual science. But as materiality increased, religion became adulterated by idolatrous 'son' and 'consort' cults, and a few patriarchal revolutions took place in remote areas. Wherever this happened, all the benefits of Madrian civilisation were lost, and the people degenerated into what is miscalled a "primitive" state. For the first time, physical force became a factor in human affairs, and soon a new phenomenon had appeared on earth – war. It is impossible to construct a calendar of degeneration. In different places the change happened at different times and in different ways. Some nations were reduced almost overnight to a "stone-age" condition. Others passed from a modified matriarchy to a modified patriarchy more or less intact. In some, a degenerate matriarchy continued even into Kali-yuga. But we can say that in the last millenium of Satya-yuga, patriarchy was almost universally established politically and was making deep inroads into religion. Dr. A. C. Bouquet writes: It is a commonplace with specialists in the history of religion that somewhere within the region of 800 B.C. there passed over the populations of this planet a stirring of the mind which ... produced in a number of different spots on the earth's surface prophetic individuals who created a new starting-point for human living and thinking."******* This was the great spiritual convulsion toward the end of Satya-yuga which began those wonderful and terrible anomalies, the masculist world religions. Religions which would provide comfort to millions and also be the cause, the justification and the driving force of wars, persecutions, genocide and torture. The stage was set for Kali-yuga – the dark age. If it is true that the end of the age is close upon us, we would expect some turbulence, some "stirring in the spiritual ether" as the movement of the future trembles into life. There has indeed been such a stirring. Perhaps at no time in recorded history have there been so many spiritual apparitions as during the past century, and nearly all of them have one thing in common – nearly all have been visions of a beautiful and awe-inspiring female figure. A Woldben writes:– "There has never been a time as the last hundred years in which the Virgin has revealed herself so frequently."******** At the end of his book, Miracles of the Gods, Erich von Daniken appends a "calendar of visions". It is not an exhaustive list, but contains all those which the author dealt with in the course of his research, and may be taken as a fair cross-section. Analysing the list, two facts emerge unmistakeably. Firstly, the visions increase dramatically after 1830. (The list from pre-Christian times takes up just under 7 1/2 pages; from 1830–1974 just over 7 1/2 pages.) Secondly, the predominance of the female figure is almost overwhelming. Out of the 107 post-1830 cases, 93 are of a magnificent or sorrowful female figure, usually, but not always, identified by the seers a "Mary". Of the remaining 14, 6 concern inanimate objects, 5 are of "jesus," 3 miscellaneous. Many of these cases represent more than one vision – in one, "four different females" had between them 160 visions of 'Mary'. Many of the visions were seen by several people at once – sometimes as many as 50 or 60. Sometimes the figure is with a child, very often Her appearance is strikingly majestic and awe-inspiring. At SIgny in 1890, She appeared "in a cloud of light, with a long veil held by angels, hands folded and silent." In the 160 visions at Allenstein, "Sometimes She was floating, sometimes sitting, but always surrounded by angels." Often, those who saw Her called Her "the Queen of the angels." The two most famous visions, of course, were those of Lourdes and Fatima. At Fatima the sun whirled and danced in the sky at the command of our Lady. It was witnessed by some 70,000 onlookers and sceptical newspapermen who had declared their intention of proving the whole thing a 'fake' were forced to admit that they had seen a miracle. Until recently, these events have usually been interpreted in a Christian context (despite the notable absence of Christ). Of course it is debatable to what extent the worship of Mary is Christian anyway. Protestants often rightly point out that this devotion leads the soul away from Christ to an independent Goddess-figure.********* Briffault writes that as early as the eleventh century, "the Holy Virgin ... had well-nigh replaced the male trinity in the devotion of the people ... She had, in fact, entirely regained her original position as the Great Goddess."********** Nevertheless there are already the stirrings of an entirely new and revolutionary interpretation. Olivia Robertson writes:– "Studying the Eleusinian Mysteries of Demeter and Persephone (i.e. God the Mother and Her sacrificed Daughter), to me the visions of Lourdes and Fatima are a portrayal of these dramas in actual human history." She adds: "When a Mystery is performed on the earth before an earthly audience, a new age is upon us."*********** Commenting upon the prophecies of Fatima, a Christian spokesman writes:– "A tremendous earthquake rocks the spiritual foundation of the universe, and from a ruins a new light is to shine, and a new civilisation is to arise when ... all the world feels the spiritual exhilaration of the Age of Mary and the triumph of Her immaculate heart. "Already, She has claimed the love and affection of countless millions not of the Christian faith. "The pilgrim statues that have traversed the world have been received with reverence and honor amongst Moslems, Hindus, Buddhists and other non-Christian faiths."************ Now let us be clear about this. There was very rarely any question of these people bring 'converted' to Christianity – so they were not revering Mary as Mother of God for the simple reason that they did not accept the divinity of Christ. At some level of consciousness they recognised the true Image of Deity, and worshipped Her in Her own right. If this is a foretaste of the Age of Mary, it will be very different from what most Christians would imagine. But as more and more people are turning to the direct worship of the Goddess in Her own Name, we may expect to see visions and miracles in which She is fully known and recognised. Indeed, the process has already begun. The vision at Lourdes was closely connected with healing waters, as are many places of Marian devotion. Olivia Robertson recently wrote to a sister of the Daughters of Artemis, telling of a well in Ireland consecrated to the Goddess by a priestess. This well has produced water which has brought supernatural healing to a number of people. A phial of the water was taken to England and was seen to emit rays of "brilliant silvery-white light." In recent years there have been several visions of the Goddess recognised as such, and we may expect this to increase in years to come, as Her children become more attuned to Her and to the ancient and universal religion which is beginning to re-emerge through the crumbling surface of the doomed patriarchal civilisation. First published in The Coming Age No. 3 *A Woldben, After Nostradamus, pub Neville Spearman 1973 p. 11 **The Prophecies of Nostradamus, ed Erica Cheetham, pub Neville Spearman 1973 ***Réné Guénon (trans. Lord Northbourne), The Reign of Quantity, Penguin Metaphysical Library, 1953, page 10. ****Ibid., p. 125. *****Ibid., p. 161. ******Elizabeth Gould Davis, The First Sex, Penguin, pages 338–334. *******A. C. Bouquet, Comparative Religion, Penguin, 1953, page 96. ********Woldben, After Nostradamus, Neville SPearman 1973, page 168. *********Examples: (1) "Mary has eclipsed her son. There has been another eclipse too. The devotion to Mary, in its operation, hides and virtuallty negates ... the fatherhood of God." (Prof. W. Smith in The Virgin Mary by Prof. G. Miegge, Lutterworth, page 9.) (2): "The evangelical has a strong suspicion that the deepest roots of the Marian cultus are not to be found in the Christian tradition at all. The religious history of mankind (sic) shows a recurring tendency to worship a mother goddess ... may it not be that what we have here is in reality an older religion ... whose ancient features persist under a thin Christian veil?" (Canon John de Satge in G. Ashe's The Virgin, R.K.P. 1976, pages 7–8.) **********R. Briffault, The Mothers, Grosset 1963, page 624. ***********Olivia Robertson, The Call of Isis, Cesara Pubns., page 125. ************R. Bergin, This Apocalyptic Age, Voice of Fatima International, 1971, pages 101–2. (The capitalised pronouns are the author's.) Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Apocalypse Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Personal collection of David Kay. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Madrian Literature Circle Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource c. 1980 Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Text decline of the ages eschatology Fatima Goddess Revival Lourdes Mary miracles Olivia Robertson prophecy Rene Guenon https://filianicstudies.org/cms/files/original/65317cd170fb59dd4d36449cfd265ab4.pdf 2a3ca71a267d516f6386de07f3ce4e5c Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Madrian Literature Circle Description An account of the resource Documents issued by the Madrian Literature Circle between 1973 and 1982. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Madrian Literature Circle Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1973-1982 Language A language of the resource English Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data loose leaf, handwritten (3pp.) Text Any textual data included in the document An Amazon Song "The Iron Ring" is a popular English Madrian song. It is said to be an English version of a song sung by the Amazons in early patriarchal times. The Iron Ring was a defensive formation employed by hand-picked groups of Amazon infantry. They would form into a circle, their outward-facing swords and peltae [sp?] (the light Amazon shield) forming a "ring of iron". Sometimes archers were stationed inside the Ring to fire out over their heads. The formation of a Ring to protect the wounded and the sisters attending to them is briefly described in Projection 6 of The Moira Handbook. Such was the strength of the formation and the prowess of the maids who formed it that it is said that throughout the whole of Amazon history (which covers several hundred years) the Ring was never once broken. In difficult times, the Iron Ring was often the key factos in preserving the safety of the Amazons' mountain fortresses. The verses are sung by a single singer, the chorus by the whole group of singers, and it has a faster and more robust rhythm than that of the verses. In the last four lines of the chorus everybody joins, and they are usually repeated. The Iron Ring O, the Temples are in ruins, There is treason in the town; The statues in the market-place Have all been broken down. Our dear Lady is forgotten Through the whole of Her fair land, For it languishes in darkness 'neath The tyrant's bloody hand. Chorus: But we love Her in the mountains Where the air is fresh and clear, For the bloody hand of tyranny Can gain no entrance here; [cont'd:] And we raid them and we mock them And we feast and we dance and we sing And if they want to stop us Let them break the Iron Ring [cont'd:] Let them break the Iron Ring, Let them break the Iron Ring, All the men from here to Hades Cannot break the Iron Ring. O the tyrant has made idols With his own unseemly face And has tortured our dear kinsfolk From our Lady's loving grace; And there's many a saintly priestess That has died by sword or flame For she would not call on any but Our Lady's precious Name. Chorus: But we love Her in the mountains... Let us praise our noble warriors That protect us from our foes, Let us praise their shining armour And their swiftly-arching bows; For their eyes are ever laughing And their lips forever sing. Let us praise the noble soldier-maids That make the Iron Ring. Chorus: For we love Her in the mountains... Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource An Amazon Song: The Iron Ring Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Personal collection of David Kay. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Madrian Literature Circle Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource c. 1980 Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Description An account of the resource A Rhennish song attributed to the Amazons, celebrating resistance to tyranny. https://filianicstudies.org/cms/files/original/7e564a2c102880b1e16b1f5b1405bead.pdf f2d7e709b7aa2ee4ae5a974fb3200254 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Madrian Literature Circle Description An account of the resource Documents issued by the Madrian Literature Circle between 1973 and 1982. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Madrian Literature Circle Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1973-1982 Language A language of the resource English Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data loose leaf, typewritten (3pp.) Text Any textual data included in the document The Femaleness of God: the image and essence of the Divine Perhaps the first thing we can say is that the Goddess is not passive. When images and symbols of Her persist through the ages, it is not by accident, but because She is flooding our unconscious with memories of Her and Her acts, stimulating our appreciation of symbols and guiding the hands of our artists. She is present and active within us, and increasingly so as we open ourselves to Her. It would be too much to expect that we could directly apprehend the nature of the Divine in this life. Our knowledge of the Goddess is shaped by the limitations of our understanding, and it is precisely because of these limitations that we must trust to Her revelations, rather than to any any 'rational' theorising. Each soul must seek to develop her own relationship with and understanding of the Goddess by every means in her power, and in this world the Goddess has revealed Herself to us most fully in myth. It is sometimes asked, "Can't we get at the truth behind the mythology directly? Must we have it in 'story' form?" I think of this question, or rather of the whole complex of attitudes leading up to it, as an appetite suppressant. It has been asserted that all our nourishment could be taken in the form of a few small pills. One of the pills would, of course, have to be an appetite suppressant. It is quite easy to image a person so bored by these pills, or finding them so hard to swallow that she only bothered to take the one which stopped her feeling uncomfortable – the suppressant. She would, of course, starve to death. It is quite possible to extract a dry theology from the myths.* Like the pills, it is hard to swallow and not particularly interesting. So most people take only the appetite suppressant, which is readily to hand, and become, for all practical purposes, atheists. We are not so 'advanced' as we like to suppose: like our ancestors, we must eat. The myths refer to Ultimate Reality, or the Absolute as "The Mistress of All Things." The further back in time we go, the more frequently we find the Goddess at the centre of the myths and as the subject of all religious art.** And this was in the highly sophisticated civilisations of the remote past as well as the less civilised societies introduced by early patriarchy. It is evident that the male god first made an appearance as the political tool of patriarchy, and he has been used as a political tool ever since. Yet the original image of the divine still reigned in the popular imagination. The frequent emergence of the Goddess as the central religious image in the face of prevailinig political ideologies is a striking testimony to the strength of the Divinely inspired archetype in the human soul. Our image of the Absolute as Goddess has two main aspects: the Personhood of Divinity and the perception of that Personhood as female. We can describe these aspects as symbols or metaphorical, just as in addressing the Goddess as "Rose of the World" or "Great Dove of the Waters" we are using symbols or metaphors. But we must also say that the symbol of the Absolute as Goddess is absolutely central to our understanding of Her. It is the best way that we are capable of perceiving Her, and thus it is the way in which She presents Herself to us. We see Her in human terms because the highest thing we encounter in this world is the human personality. We can only speak of things outside our experience in terms of our experience. Try to think of a six-dimensional universe, or existence outside time. Some people describe the Absolute as a 'power' or a 'force', thinking that they are getting 'behind' the myths; but of course, they too are using a physical metpahor – comparing Deity to a wind or magnetism or electricity. But these things are great only in a quantitative sense – they are bigger or stronger than human beings, but nor morally or spiritually superior. Any abstract thing, having no personality, is less than a person. The Goddess is more than a person. She does not lack any of the attributes of personality, but rather has them to an absolute degree which we can hardly appreciate. Her Personhood is infinitely more sublime, more intense and more complete than ours. We have seen that the femaleness of the Divine Person is not a human invention but a Divinely inspired image. The meaning of that image can be difficult for those brought up in a masculist environment to understand. Some may be unable to see any essential difference between the Goddess and the male god they have been driven to reject; others may want a 'balance' of femininity and masculinity in the Divine as a result of sensing a severe imbalance in the male god. I can sympathise with such difficulties; the issues worried me for a long time until I realised that my problem was simply a misunderstanding. I first began to see light when I realised that principles, not people, were involved: the feminine and the masculine principles, not maids and men. Maids and men are not very different from each other, but the ideas of masculinity and femininity have always been seen as very different. That is because they are the archetypal symbols of two principles which operate at every level of fallen creation. Both principles operate in both maids and men (thought the balance differs in each individual, and will tend to fall more heavily on the feminine side in maids). The whole subject as been obscured by the frequent use of the phrase "God is a woman." God is not a woman; She is God. In this context, God can be described as the embodiment of the feminine principle. The feminine and masculine principles have been explained more fully elsewhere,*** and I shall just cover the main points. The ancient symbols are strikingly appropriate. The female symbol [astronomical symbol of Venus within parentheses] shows the dominance of spirit (the circle) over matter (the cross); the male symbol [astronomical symbol of Mars within parentheses] shows matter (the cross or arrow) partially dominant over spirit. (This is the standard interpretation of the components of planetary symbols – see, for example, Teach Yourself Astrology, pages 29 and 31.) The feminine principle represents the dominance of spirit over matter, quality over quantity, while the masculine principle represents the reverse. Furthermore, the masculine or material principle is dependent on the beyond-matter, the feminine or spiritual principle, for its very existence is temporal and insecure – the cross/arrow cannot dominate the circle. On the other hand the feminine principle is absolute and self-sufficient. Now the Divine is defined as Asolute, spiritual, qualitative, and Self-existent – and therefore quintessentially feminine. The "male god" is a contradiction in terms. It is this forcing together of opposite and opposing ideas – masculinity and the Divine – which gives the image of the male god its fatal imbalance. The answer is not to add a feminine "aspect" to the masculine, but to eliminate the intrusive masculine and leave the naturally feminine God. As to whether the Goddess is in essence different from the male god, if anyone is still in doubt – well, one has only to experience Her to know that She is. Various lukewarm Christians and others have tried to persuade themselves that there is no significant difference, but, in the words of one of the most intelligent and clear-sighted Christian apologists:– "Without drawing on religion, we know from our poetical experience that image and apprehension cleave much closer here than common sense is prepared to admit; that a child who has been taught to pray to a Mother in Heaven will have a religious life radically difference from that of a Christian child."**** Having known only the parody, when faced with the original, we may say: "This is just like the other thing! Look at this bit, and this!" Our Lady is waiting for us to stop counting Her fingers and start looking into Her eyes. First published in The Coming Age No. 3 *Though in practise this would not be an 'adequate diet'. The myths are the perfect expression of religious Truth for creatures at our stage of spiritual development. Abstract theological stuctures are only an aid to understanding the myth. To have the theology without the myth is like have the binoculars without the scene. **The male god rarely figures prominently in religious art. Extreme masculist religions (e.g. Islam and extreme Protestantism) tend towards iconoclasm, one suspects for this very reason. Almost all the religious art of the Middle Ages and Renaissance centred on the Virgin Mary, the Christian 'goddess' figure. ***In "The Feminine Principle" by Camilla in The Coming Age, 2. ****C.S. Lewis, Undeceptions, London 1971, page 194. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Femaleness of God: The Image and Essence of the Divine Subject The topic of the resource femininity, thealogy, theology of religions Description An account of the resource An essay exploring the metaphysical evidences for, and devotional significance of, a feminine conception of God. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Personal collection of David Kay. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Madrian Literature Circle Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource c. 1980 Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Text andromorphism femininity metaphysics thealogy theology of religions https://filianicstudies.org/cms/files/original/b3f9ec4aae862007982b13051f3e201b.pdf f65b2c4890e732e99a099edeff8658c1 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Madrian Literature Circle Description An account of the resource Documents issued by the Madrian Literature Circle between 1973 and 1982. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Madrian Literature Circle Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1973-1982 Language A language of the resource English Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data loose leaf, typewritten (3pp.) Text Any textual data included in the document On Going all the Way To have adventures without taking any risks; to swim without getting wet. In a sense we all want to do such things, but in an imperfect world we will never be able to – no advance of science can ever allow us to. For these things do not simply happen to be impossible (in the sense that we happen not to have wings), they are contradictions (like two and two making five.) The very essence of the spirit of adventure is the consciousness of real danger of one sort or another. Nothing else can be called adventure. I mention this rather obvious fact partly because it is one of the many examples which make nonsense of the prevalent modern idea that all unpleasant things in the world are 'accidental' and that if enough scientists and politicians could be got together to sort them out, everything would be all right. In many of the most worthwhile things the pain or difficulty is quite inseparable from the pleasure, and one cannot get rid of one without getting rid of the other. People sometimes say that a heaven of pure happiness would be ghastly – and if they are thinking of anything that can be imagined in terms of this world, they are right. In this imperfect world, a life full of 'pleasures' and stripped of all difficulty and discomfort would lead merely to lethargy, decadence and depression. There can be no heaven on earth. Today, more and more people are coming to realise this. It is not just that the materialist's paradise on earth looks like becoming a techno-bureaucratic nightmare. In a far deeper sense, it is true that the more the consumer society gives us, the less we appreciate it. That is not because we are 'ungrateful'. It is because the very success of industrial-materialism (even a very limited success) gives us a sample of the goods. We see how limited, how sterile, how fundamentally unsatisfying material acquisitions are to the human soul, at least when they are the sole aim. When we don't have them, we can be talked into believing that they are the answer to all our wants – but once we can see them we can also see though them, and we know that even if material prosperity gave us the very most that it is capable of, it could not bring real satisfaction. As I have said, more and more people are coming to realise this and are seeking something beyond the purely material – something 'spiritual'. In recent years there has been a great deal of talk about 'spirituality'. Now, very obviously, this must be a step in the right direction; but I have always felt rather uncomfortable about the word. At first I wasn't quite sure why, but now I think I understand. The trouble is that in one sense the idea of 'spirituality' is just like the materialist world-view. It implies an anthropocentirc (human-centred) rather than a theacentric (Divine-centred) view of the world. People talk about 'my spirituality', or 'the spirituality of women'. They are putting in the centre themselves, or those around them – they are not putting the Goddess in the centre. I am not saying this cannot lead on to better things – very often it does. But all too often it is a sort of escape-route. It allows a little other-worldly perfume into the disinfected corridors of materialism while ducking the issue of a genuine religious commitment. What is wrong with this is that it is simply a circular detour which leads us in the end back to where we started. Materialism is not sterile because is is materialism. Materialism is simply one way of avoiding the overwhelming challenge of the Absolute – the love of the Goddess which demands not less than everything. The sterility comes from that avoidance. But when 'spirituality' just becomes a more roundabout way of making the same avoidance, it quickly returns to the same sterility. That is why vaguely 'spiritual' movements always have such a very high membership turnover and a very short active life. The utter anthropocentricity of much (though not all) the talk about 'spirituality' is epitomised in such phrases as "we should explore our spirituality" – as though spirituality were just another human attribute like, say, musicality. Not spirituality, if it means anything, means the faculty through which we perceive the Divine. Imagine coming upon a breathtaking and awe-inspiring view of a mountain range, and try to imagine a person who, instead of saying "Look at that!" would say "explore your eye-sight." All the attention is shifted from the perceived to the perceiver. The idea behind this is the view of spirituality as one small department of the whole human makeup, and 'religion' as one small department of the whole of life. Now to a Madrian, this is quite wrong. 'Religion' is not a small department of life – rather, the whole of human life as we know it is but one small department of the vast pattern of intelligent life, spanning the whole universe (both physical and non-physical) which is shaped and moulded solely by the varying levels of relationship to the Absolute Being Who is Creatrix of it all, and whose one true aim is to return to perfect union with Her. The word we humans give to the pursuit of this aim is 'religion'. You may disagree with this. You may reject all the claims of religion in general and Madrianism in particular. But there can be no doubt about what those claims are: religion claims to tell us about the origin, the meaning and the end of life – what the universe is, and what it is for, and to give real knowledge about the Absolute Principle of the universe and our relationship with Her. Those claims can only be one of two things. Either that are true, or they are worthless nonsense. They cannot be anything else. Either religion is the one most important thing on earth – or anywhere else, for that matter – or else it is completely unimportant. The vague idea that religion is all right, but one shouldn't carry it too far, is nonsensical. Religion is either all-important or unimportant. The one thing it cannot be is relatively important. The demand of our Lady is both beautiful and terrible in its simplicity: "Give your whole self to Me." She is the one true home of the human soul, and without Her we must suffer perpetual dissatisfaction. The only completion of the soul is union with Her. Because we have turned from Her at the dawn of time – the beginning of our stream of incarnations – we are imperfect creatures, mixed of good and bad, true and false. And the false self – that part of us which turns from Her (the word selfish means 'concerned with the false self') – has a real terror and revulsion from turning back to Her. To love the Goddess is continually to conquer the false self (literally 'self'-control) which is often very hard. Faced with the sterility of materialism, it is a very natural desire to wish to reject the sterility without making any real self-commitment – to have adventures without taking risks, to swim without getting wet. For the sterility and the lack of commitment are one, and the difficulty of disciplining the false self and the joy (far deeper than mere 'pleasure') are alike one, while we are still imperfect. Yet it is natural to try; and this is one of the innumerable subtle ploys which the false self will use to lead us back into the spiritual darkness in which it thrives. A recent letter from an intelligent and sensitive maid contained these words; it is very typical:– "The need for women to recognise and develop their spirituality is vital. What I can't go along with is worship – though I believe in a devout attitude to life." One can almost see the false self struggling with the true. What is this abstract 'life' to which we should have a devout attitude? And if we will not worship, what does being 'devout' mean? But behind these words we see the very understandable cry of the soul, torn between the true and false self: "I realise the need to seek the Divine and to love Her – but I want to keep my independence. I would feel so much more comfortable with vague abstractions about life than with the living Goddess and an absolute demand." Related to this is the temptation to which those groups have succumbed which began by seeking the Goddess, and have confined themselves to the study of ancient texts – they have reduced Her to an academic 'subject' and so side-stepped the issue of real commitment. I am not intending to attack anyone, for heaven knows, my own faults are great enough. But the pitfalls of which I have spoken are perhaps the most dangerous of all, for they do not merely hamper us on our way, they lead us down a side alley before we have even begun. The total relinquishment of the self to the all-consuming love of the Goddess is the most difficult and the most beautiful of all possible acts. Few of us will achieve it in this life, for few of us are heras [helati]. But once we have made the first few faltering steps towards Her, our whole view of the world must change. It must stop being human-centred and start being Divine-centred. For an anthropocentric religion is no religion at all, however much easier it is for our materialist-conditioned minds and more comfortable for our pride. Anyone who is looking for easy or comfortable religion would do better to go to any modern 'liberal' Christian church. That is why she will find it empty. First published in The Coming Age No. 3 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource On Going All the Way Description An account of the resource An essay concerning the absolute nature of religious claims in general, and the impossibility of "relative importance" in religious matters. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Personal collection of David Kay. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Madrian Literature Circle Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource c. 1980 Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Text materialism social criticism theology of religions vyasucri