4 10 105 https://filianicstudies.org/cms/files/original/121ec956390c6b39aeb92212a729fc61.pdf 2195b2c2135194b50f07197c3cb7f073 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 Rosa Madriana Description An account of the resource Materials produced and/or used by Madria Olga and Rosa Madriana. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rosa Madriana Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Rosa Madriana Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource c. 1999 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, 4pp. 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 Making Daily Devotions Description An account of the resource Madria Olga's instructions for common daily devotional practice. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Madria Olga Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived From the personal collection of Georgia Cobb. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource n.d. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Donated by Sister Sophia Ruth. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource loose-leaf paper, 4pp. Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Text https://filianicstudies.org/cms/files/original/7351c2a687067252e43bd641dccc094e.pdf ebfc7688ef8148a2e5da208ad5a5ab60 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 (2pp.) Text Any textual data included in the document Making the Pentacle The Pentacle, sometimes called the Pentagram of Isis, is a powerful protective symbol; it is a variant of the five-pointed star of the Goddess and incorporates the number five which is central to our Lady's devotion (the Madrian Rosary, the archetype of the Rosaries now used by all the world religions, has one decade for each point of the pentacle, or for each petal of the Rose – hence its name). To form the pentacle over oneself, one should first touch the forehead, then, visualising a line of silver etheric light, bring the hand diagonally to touch the left hip, then draw another line to touch the right shoulder, and then the left shoulder, the right hip, and finally the forehead. Having practised it once to twice, one usually finds that the gesture comes surprisingly naturally, naturally. One of the most important symbolisms of the pentagram is that of the elements or seasons. The uppermost point represents Spirit or Moura, and the other elements are arranged around the remaining points in a clockwise direction in the order of the seasons. The forming of the Pentagram symbolises the Cosmic Drama – we touch first Spirit, which represents the purity of the first Creation; then Earth – the fall of humanity into matter; then Water (the Easter [sic] symbol) – the sacrifice of our Lady in coming to us; then Air – the star of Her coming and the bringing of Her light; she brings us to the consuming Fire of our Mother's love – 'the Rose that is a Flame and the Flame that is a Rose', through the divine Fire, we are purged of imperfection and return to our first purity, touching Spirit again. The pentacle should be made before prayer in order to banish evil influences and to attune oneself to the Goddess, and after prayer in order to 'seal' one' devotion. At other times, the making of the pentacle can form a barrier against harmful spiritual psychological influences, and can be a means of drawing to oneself spiritual energy. 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 Making the Pentacle 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/2c0cbb1198203e7763210b674d77a0fb.pdf 4524d5e22a43862311e1ad8e5dc34c6b 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 Matriarchy and the Nature of Ritual In choosing to discuss the subject of ritual, I feel as one who should attempt to pull a long blue thread from an intricate and many-coloured tapestry. For the subject of ritual is closely interwoven with every other subject of religion, and the subject of religion is interwoven with the whole of life. Even to say this is to say something of importance on the subject; for there has been an increasing tendency over the last four hundred years to regard ritual as something external to the real matter of religion – something which has been tacked on and which can, without difficulty, be altered or removed. The reason for this is not difficult to understand, and in understanding it, we will provide ourselves with a key to the whole phenomenon of masculist religion. It can be expressed in the following words: "If we are to have a religion, it must be a sensible system of rational propositions which do not interfere with the rationality of the world. If there is a God, She must remain neatly in Her heaven – there must be no point at which She makes real contact with the real world." But ritual is precisely such a point. It is an intersection between time and Eternity; between space and the Infinite. A meeting-place of cosmos and Creatrix. As malekind became more and more pleased with the sight of his own reflection in the shallow pool of his rationalism, he became less and less able to understand this absolute contact with the absolutely Other. There is a passage in The First Sex which is often quoted by Madrians and frequently greeted with surprise: "When man first resolved to exalt the peculiarities of his own sex, muscularity and spiritual immaturity, he adopted the policy that reality meant tangibility and that what could not be seen or touched did not exist... by crushing every manifestation of supersensory or extrasensory truth and worshipping only sensate matter, man made himself a mere biological organism and denied himself the divine ray that once upon a time woman had revealed to him." "But surely," it is said, "surely all the great masculist religions are a living contradiction of this". But to say this is to misunderstand the origin of masculist religion and society. It did not appear one morning, all complete and shining in the dew. It was the result of a long slow decline from the highest point of Madrian-matriarchal civilisation. Certainly patriarchy came into being through sudden and violent revolutions, but these could take place only when the Matriarchates had become sufficiently decadent to allow them to. Neither did the decline finish with the patriarchal revolution. It goes on to this day. Religion is the fundamental experience of humanity. If we could completely lose it, we would cease to be truly human. The whole drift of patriarchy is away from religion; but it has never been lost. The essential spiritual deposit inherited from matriarchal Madrianism has become more and more diluted as the patriarchal religions have 'progressed'; but it is only to the extent that they retain something of that deposit that they can continue to be called religions at all. The development of patriarchal religion and culture is not constant. Life the forces of nature, it ebbs and flows. It goes round in circles – or rather, it goes round in a spiral, for every time we arrive back at the same point, we are one a lower level. This decline takes two forms which are outwardly different, but inwardly are identical: the masculinization of religion, and the drift towards materialism and eventual atheism. In the beginning the one Goddess stood alone. She is One and She is Three. This is the fundamental fact of all religion. Her life, Her death, Her resurrection: these are the fundamental Mysteries of all religion. Here, in stark simplicity, in utter purity is the one Truth which lies behind all later religious formulations. The earliest deviations from this Truth may seem harmless enough; they involved usually the introduction of a son or consort of the Goddess, always in a very modest and unassuming capacity. Now the danger, and the destructive quality of these deviations was not their religious impurity. There is no innate tendency in the human soul to worship a male god; it is a highly artifical and unnatural form of worship which only comes about when all avenues to the Mother have been blocked off by force or by social conditioning. Even then, it is only a blind and desperate way of striving towards Her. Therefore, there was no danger of the spontaneous growth of an idolatrous cult of the son or consort. Except in the most arid spiritual climate, the son is not a religious motif. And it is precisely in this that the real danger lay. It is only into a religion that is becoming ossified that one can introduce an image totally devoid of real religious content. Further, the introduction of such images accelerates the ossification and creates a downward spiral; for those who have a genuine religious sensitivity and might have reformed the structure find themselves confused and alienated by the harsh and jarring notes which have become a part of the Faith. These tender and delicate souls will be among the first to be driven into a secular aestheticism or a private and uncommunicative mysticism, or any of a hundred other refuges. Increasingly, religion will pass from the hands of the religious into the hands of the religiose. It will become a 'civic religion'. It will represent 'social realities' rather than Absolute Reality. In the Dark Ages which followed upon the fall of the Roman Empire, Christianity very nearly perished altogether; and when the great Christian revival came at the dawn of the mediaeval period, it was spearheaded not by the cross of 'Christ', but by the holy image of the one Goddess, and the name of Mary. Elizabeth Gould Davis writes: "The church seemed doomed to failure, destined to go down to bloody death amidst the bleeding corpses of its victims, when the people discovered Mary. And only when Mary, against the stern decrees of the church, was dug out of the oblivion to which Constantine had consigned her and became identified with the Great Goddess was Christianity finally tolerated by the people." From this point, Christianity divided into a worldly and totalitarian civic religion on the one hand, and on the other, a vast popular devotion to our Lady, under the name of Mary and of certain other saints (such as the Irish St. Brigit or St. Bride, under whose name continued the Celtic cult of the Goddess Brighde). The final turn of the spiral began with the Protestant reformation. Again, a rigorous return to the cult of the Death and Resurrection, and an equally rigorous attempt to abolish the worship of Mary and the saints. But Protestanitsm was more than this: it was an attempt to adapt religion to the urbanism and hyper-rationalism of the modern period. Max Weber argued that Protestantism and the social spirit it engendered was the cause of industrial capitalism; others have suggested that incipient industrial capitalism and the social spirit it engendered was the cause of Protestantism. But nobody can deny that Protestantism goes hand in hand with urbanism, industrialism and materialism. This did not affect only the Protestant churches. At the Council of Trent, soon after the Reformation the Christian-"Catholic" church significantly Protestantised itself, and has continued the process ever since, following always a few steps behind the professing Protestant denominations (the Second Vatican Council has recently come close to completing the process). This is the final turn of the spiral, for the decline begins to approach its nadir. The religious movement cannot continue, but moves steadily toward materialism, atheism and alienation. The patriarchal religions, living on the borrowed spiritual resources of the ancient Matriarchal faith have finally run dry. Humanity flounders without hope or direction, clutching at straws. The old religions can do nothing to help. Either we will return to the ancient springs of the one fundamental Truth, or the Atomic Age will destroy us spiritually and probably physically as well. Either we will have a revival of the one ancient and (literally) catholic faith of the one Goddess, or we will have nothing. Now if this seems to have led us a long way from the subject of ritual, I can only say two things in my defence: firstly, that I feel it was necessary, and secondly, that it has at least led us right back to the subject of ritual. For if there was one thing which characterised the final (or Protestant) phase of patriarchal religion more than any other, it was the extreme dislike and misunderstanding of ritual which was mentioned at the beginning of this article. And the two reasons for this were the rationalism and materialism that have been developing ever since the decline of the great matriarchal civilisations. The rationalist, even if she believes in a religion, must believe that its essence is a series of rational propositions, and not a series of seemingly irrational acts. The person who is on the road to materialism can believe that her body is nourished by a little bread and wine, but she cannot believe that her soul is nourished by a Sacrament, even if she professes to believe that she has a soul. This, of course, is perfectly illogical. If one has decided, for emotional or cultural reasons, to give one's faith to the belief that there can be nothing beyond the material, then one is logically justified in believing that there can be no such thing as a supernatural event. We may quarrel about the first belief, and ask where it came from, but we cannot deny that the second belief came by a process of strict logic from the first. But if, on the other hand, one believes in the supernatural, and indeed in the Divine, then one cannot expect to tame Her – one cannot start making rules to circumscribe the areas in which She may manifest Herself. One cannot keep Her out of the living room. It may embarrass the scientists, or it may embarrass us in front of the scientists, but there it is. If there is a Power above and beyond the 'natural' world, we must accept that She is able to invade the world and to act upon the world. She will give us miracles and She will give us sacraments. Now there is one very typical objection to this which goes as follows: "But is not ritual a rule governing the manifestation of the Divine? Is it not an act by which you conjure up the Goddess?" It is a frequent objection and one which reveals a reasonable mind. But it also reveals a mind which knows nothing of the nature of ritual and has never participated fully in a real Rite of the Goddess. Anyone who has knelt in Her Presence at any Rite will know that ritual is not an act by which we conjure up the Goddess; it is an act by which She conjures up us. Every religion which understands the dual nature of ritual teaches that it is not just a Rite, but a duty. It is not just a means by which we come to the Divine, but a means by which we must come to Her. The recurring events of the month and of the year echo the call of the Mother, and we who are Her children obey it. Equally, every religion which understands the nature of ritual teaches that it is not a thing invented by maidkind for the sake of the Goddess, but a thing instituted by the Goddess for the sake of maidkind. Ritual is not artificial: it grows naturally (or rather supernaturally) wherever there is a genuine worship of the Goddess. Anyone who has truly experienced a ritual knows that it has an independent and indescribable power, far beyond anything which can be explained by the actions and words of the Rite itself. This is not to say that there cannot be artificial rituals. Every government ceremony is an artificial ritual, so, for the most part, are the rites of the masculist civic religions. But an artifical ritual is as much an anomaly as an artificial tree, and about as much use. When one begins to see ritual as a purely human creation which has no spiritual purpose beyond being a "commemoration" or a "communal expression of faith", then the most honourable thing is to do wihat the most extreme Protestants did: abolish it altogether. But the first patriarchs did not see ritual as a human creation which could be altered or modified at will. They altered the ancient Myths, they destroyed the ancient temples, they made idols to replace the image of the Goddess; but they dared not tamper with the rituals. They knew that these were their last contact with the divine. Sometimes, working on the masculist-materialist principle of 'bigger is better', they replaced the simple Sacrifice of a cake or flower with vast and bloody holocausts, but even this was rare and did not last. All the rites which have survived into the present era are taken from the Rites of the Goddess. If the patriarchs wanted a ritual of initiation and rebirth, they must use the sprinkling of water used by the Babylonian matriarhs in the name of Ishtar. If they wanted a sign of blessing, they must adopt the three-fingered blessing of the Phrygian Madrians, and named after the Amazon princess Myrine. If they wanted a rite of communion, they must copy the bread-and-wine Communion which was celebrated at Eleusis in honour of Demeter. Christians like Clement of Alexandria spread obscene slanders about the Eleusinian Mysteries. Christians from Paul onwards loathed even the most mildly independent woman, and would have shuddered at the thought of a conquering Amazon princess. But they dared not change the ritual acts. In the early years of patriarchy, priests wore the robes of a priestess and had false breasts, for they knew that a religious rite could only be celebrated by a woman. To this very day, the priests of ritualist religions wear flowing robes, and in the Roman "Catholic" church, they are not allowed to grow beards. The patriarchs did not do these things because they found them attractive, or because they could not devise for themselves any better "expression of communal faith". They did them because they knew that ritual was real; and they were still close enough to the true heart of religion to realize [sic] that the only genuinely efficacious rituals are the Rites of the Goddess. Inevitably, these rituals became more and more debased as patriarchy progressed; but the completely negative attitude toward them which has developed over the last few centuries is the surest sign that we have reached the last turn of the spiral: that we are rapidly approaching the point at which must either make a radical change of direction or decline into spiritual oblivion. The decline of ritual is a symptom of the general spiritual decline of humanity. But in a sense, it is also a cause of it, for all aspects of life and religion are closely interlinked, and a decline in any one will create decline in the others, which will in turn react back upon the first, creating a vicious cycle. But positive developments can also have the same cyclical effect; and the way in which we can bring about the necessary reversal of spiritual direction is by creating and nurturing this interreacting process of positive development, first in ourselves, and then in an increasing number of others who are becoming ready to turn to the Goddess. It is like kindling a fire. First we light one twig, and then another, trying to make the tiny flickering flames spread and combine and strengthen one another, sheltering them from the winds of the world that could so easily destroy them; often despairing of the possibility that they shall not be extinguished as soon as our breath stops blowing on the dying embers; often fearing lest our own tears should put them out. But slowly the fire grows, the twigs become bigger, and soon we are bringing logs and branches to feed the leaping flames. The little pile of glowing twigs becomes an all-consuming pyre which no force can withstand, lighting and warming the cold, dead world of the expiring patriarchy, and gathering up those who stand closest into the burning ecstasy of the Goddess. Now ritual is one of the first and most important areas – perhaps the most important area – in which we can begin the upward spiral. There are a number of reasons for this. One is that ritual provides a supernatural time-structure for our lives. By regular participation in ritual, we are delivered from the slavery of the lineal time of masculist-materialist culture. This time is endless in two senses; that it has no termination, and that it has no end in the sense of an aim or object of consummation. At its best it is idealised in the vaguely optimistic, but essentially aimless cultural motifs of 'progress' and 'evolution'; in reality it is epitomised by the unending tedium of the conveyor belt. The practice of ritual displaces this time-structure. Not only is the climax of a Rite a literal transcendence of time, but the regular experience of ritual structures the life of the psyche around the recurring events of the lunar and seasonal cycles; which are themselves the symbolic reflections of the Divine Events – the fundamental Mysteries of existence. The regular practice of ritual continually deepens the spiritual apprehension of the Timeless as it is reflected in the progression of time. Masculist-materialist time is a line attempting to extend itself into infinity. Madrian or ritual time is a circle attempting to transform itself into the perfect sphere of Eternity. And just as the masculist time-conception has provided late-masculist culture with the central element of its characteristic view of the world: progressivism or evolutionism; so the Madrian or ritual time-structure, as it grows within us, will give rise to a qualitatively different and characteristically feminist world-outlook. Another importance of ritual, which is closely related to this, is that it has its greatest effect on an unconscious level. This is important because, whether we like it or not, most of us have been so deeply indoctrinated by patriarchal culture that much of the time we are either unconsciously operating on its inbuilt assumptions, or (which is almost as bad) reacting directly against them. The process of ritual experience slowly permeated the deepest levels of our whole bein in a way that no rational formulation could ever achieve, so that even when the conscious mind cannot find its way through the tangled maze of patriarchal sophistry, the deeper levels of thought are able to cut a clear path to the Mother. Behind both these facts lies a third which is greater than either. It is the simple fact that ritual is. It works. It is real. It was instituted by our Mother in the beginning, and when we can be sure of nothing else, we can be sure of this. Some modern sects and cults have wanted to do away with 'stuffy rituals', stressing the importance of a simple, direct personal contact with Deity. In a way, they were right. The rituals to which they referred were, for the most part, artificial rites; and one can never say too much about the glories of a simple direct communion with the Divine. But one of the things that one should not forget to say is that it will not always be there. Everyone, however deep her faith, knows that there come times which we feel a million miles away from the Goddess. We have not ceased to love Her; we do not believe that She has ceased to love us; but somehow we feel a complete lack of contact, we feel as though a great gulf has opened up between ourselves and She. But however dissatisfied we may feel with our prayers, and even when we feel repelled by our personal devotions (as may occasionally happen even to the most spiritual), we can always be sure when we participate in a Rite of the Goddess that She is there, and that at some level of our being, Her grace flows within us. Not everybody experiences Divine rapture at Sacrifice, and nobody does on every occasion: but we can always be certain of the Rite. The mind may be unable to concentrate upon Her for a moment; the heart may lack all faith, but the soul has come before Her altar, and it is enough. She will receive us in the Rite, for She has promised; and we will know that She has received us, for we cannot doubt Her sacred vow. We may fail Her, but She will never fail us. 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 Matriarchy and the Nature of Ritual 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/cf25ae758ec8e73f2685c0d7e2a21b57.pdf c2da07ae0933b3024ac20b57cd58301e 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 (6pp.) Text Any textual data included in the document Meditations on the Love of Our Lady You have spread out your heaven, Lady, like a mantle, and in the heavens have set the stars that light our way this night, while the wild beasts of the forest are at large seeking to devour us. You have caused springs to rise in the mountains, from which You send down secret torrents to water the plain of our hearts, that they may bring forth flowers and fruits in abundance, tasting Your sweetness. My soul, an arid soul, a sterile and fruitless soul, thirsts for the sweet drops of this rain, longs for the nectar of heaven. May Your voice sound in my ears, dear Inanna, and tell me how my heart should love You, how my mind should love, how the deepest cavern of my soul should love You. May my inmost heart of hearts enclose You, my one and only treasure, my sweet and lovely joy. But what is love, Inanna? If I am right, it is a strange delight of the spirit, ever sweeter as it is purer, ever gentler as it is truer, ever more joyous as it is more generous; it is the ambrosia of the heart which You inspire, for You are sweet; it is a place that can contain You who are in all places. For she who loves You knows You, and as she knows You, so she loves You, for You are love, You are the love of the eternal sphere. Your lovers are made drunk, losing knowledge of themselves that they may come to You. How do they come but by loving You? By loving You with all their hearts and souls. O Lady, let some fragment of Your great sweetness fall upon my soul to sweeten the bread of my bitterness. Let it drink a drop of that which it yearns for, sighs for, desires so deeply in this desert place of its wanderings. Let it tast what it hungers for, even while it is still on the path to Avala, where you give us to eat and drink to our refreshment. Till then, Lady, I shall seek You, and seek You in love: for the soul that loves You is always seeking You, and the soul that loves You perfectly is the soul that has already found You. ----------------- No created thing creates itself, nor has beauty or goodness of itself, but from She Who is all, Who is wholly good and wholly beautiful; the goodness of all good things, the beauty of all beautiful things derives from She Who is the cause of all existence. And as She is Absolute Good, it is good for us to cleave to Her. And that we may cleave to Her with our minds She has given us three powers of nature, which make us able to partake of Her eternity, share Her wisdom and enjoy Her sweetness. These are memory, knowledge and love, or will. Memory can comprehend eternity, knowledge can comprehend wisdom, and love can comprehend sweetness. And these were given in the likeness of the Trinity, the Dark Mother, Mother and Maid, Whom our memory ever keeps, our knowledge ever knows without deception and our love embraces without desire of anything else. And thus it is in perfection. ----------------- As the ancient faith is once more reborn out of the darkness, and the truth again known on the face of the eart, we should now begin to reflect our Mother in perfection as we did before the beginning and shall do after the end. And yet – our memory is clouded by long forgetfullness, our knowledge darkened by error, our love tarnished by selfishness. When shall we be perfect? This peace, this calm, this happiness is to be looked for in our Mother's home: there when we live in eternity, there will be no room for forgetting, when we rejoice in truth there will be no deception by error, when we are swallowed up in Her love, there will be no impulse to selfishness. O eternal and true love, O true and lovely eternity, O eternal and true and lovely Goddess! Here will be peace and tranquil joy. ----------------- I think it is clear that the soul turns away from her Mother not in any physical sense, but because the mind diverts her love away from the highest good and, growing hardened in selfish pride, deforms in the soul the image of the Divine; and thus if in selfless humility she directs her love back towards our Lady, she is restored to the image of She who created her. For in this love is the secret of the health of souls, the stripping off of the hard crust of matter that surrounds the fallen maid, the renewing of the mind and the reforming of the soul to the divine image. Divine love flowing into our soul from above will dissolve by its heat our inborn inertia and draw us up on high, we shall put off the old and take on the new, the soul will gain the silver wings of a dove and fly up towards that sublime and pure goodness of which our nature had its being. For the rational soul is a mirror of the perfection of the Absolute and it is divine love which lifts up our soul to the heights from which we have fallen. ----------------- O wonderful created being, lower only than She Who created you, why do you make yourself so small? Do you love the world? Your being is higher than the world. Does the sun dazzle you? You are more dazzling than the sun. Do you speculate about the movement of the stars in the heavens? You are exalted above the heavens. Do you search for the mysteries of life's beginnings? No life began more mysteriously than yous. Reason if you will, but do not forget to love: and do not love reasoning, but She who has confronted you in all these things with Herself. She places them before you, neither to humble you nor to enrich you but that you may rise above them to the true Reality which shines through them. Why should you pursue the transient beauties of the material world, when your soul has a beauty which age cannot wither, poverty cannot mar, sickness cannot dim, death itself cannot destroy? Seek, but do not look for that which you are seeking there. Desire, but do not hope to have your desire fulfilled there, but only in eternity. ----------------- The heavy weights of worldly frivolity divorced from joy fetter her; she who loves the things of the world and turns away from divine love heedlessly does not know what divine love is. She seeks rest for her unhappy soul in all these things, but finds everywhere labour and misery, sorrow and affliction of the spirit. And she is shackled and held back from spiritual development; the chain of habit binds her, the claims and expectations of kin imprison her, and even the bond of love and friendship is a hindrance for it is the sweetest of the sweets of the earth. And yet in all these things sweetness is mixed with bitterness, sorrow with joy, calamity with good fortune. Friendship is pleasant to her, but she always fears a rift, and knows that some day parting must come. She sees her joys begin, watches how they progress, waits for their end; and knows that such joys cannot begin innocently, progress peacefully or end harmlessly. And always she lives in fear of death. And yet, when she opens her heart and You, Inanna, pour into it that precious gift, the gift of divine love, all is transformed. What joy there is in Your love, what peace in Your joy, what refuge in Your peace, no words can tell. Who chooses You cannot go astray, for there is nothing better than You; her hope cannot fail, for there is only blessing in loving You; she need not fear that she loves You too much, for no limit is set to loving you; she need not fear death, that severer of the bonds of earthly love, for You give eternal life which cannot die. She need fear no estrangement, for only the cooling of her own love will accomplish it; she need fear no misunderstanding, for You see into her heart and alone judge her truly. Here is the joy which shuts out fear; here is the peace which stills the fretful heart; here the safety which alone is certainty. ----------------- Those who long for love, listen and hear of love. She is the most loving who never wearies of loving, but always, whether sitting or standing, walking or resting, working or playing, thinks of her love; she puts her love first in all her thoughts and actions; and her one desire is that that love should be returned. Such is the love of maids. And Inanna Whose nature is pure Love seeks the love of all creatures. She asks nothing more of us than our love, for love contains all. The very least of those who love Her burns and is bright with love, seven times brighter than the sun compared with a candle, than the candle's beams compared with a star. But she who does not return Her love has shut the door of her heart and locked herself away from the light, in love's poverty. It is the highest sweetness to burn with the love of our Lady. As soon as your heart is touched by the sweetness of heaven, you will begin to have your joy and delight in the song of the heavens, and every melody, every rich thing, and every pleasure which all the maids on earth are able to devise will seem as the tawdry and cast-off toys of your childhood. The eye of your spirit is taken up into the bliss of heaven and is there illumined with grace and kindled with the fire of divine love, so that you shall truly feel love burning in your heart more and more and shall feel such great joy and sweetness and love that no sickness or anguish or sadness may afflict you, but all your life shall be turned into joy; and then, because your heart is so exalted, your prayers shall turn into joyful song and your meditations into melody. Then Inanna shall be all your desire, all your delight, all your joy, all your comfort; all your song shall be about Her and all your action and your rest shall be within Her. ----------------- 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 Meditations on the Love of Our Lady Description An account of the resource A collection of meditations on divine love. 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 Absolute beauty Dark Mother Daughter desire devotional literature Ekklesia hamartiology knowledge love soteriology thealogy virtue https://filianicstudies.org/cms/files/original/c50581e215fbbdb209a11b57cfde7c9b.pdf bcf1f13036bf612f4d9f333ba92590b9 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 Rosa Madriana Description An account of the resource Materials produced and/or used by Madria Olga and Rosa Madriana. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rosa Madriana Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Rosa Madriana Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource c. 1999 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, 2pp. 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 Meditations on the Love of Our Lady Description An account of the resource Meditations on the love of our Lady. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Unknown. Identified by the donor as Madrian Literature Circle material, but does not bear the insignia of the MLC. Authorship within Rosa Madriana is also a possibility. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Unknown Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource Unknown Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Donated by Joey McEvoy III, who received it from Madria Olga. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource loose-leaf, 2pp. Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Text https://filianicstudies.org/cms/files/original/ea82f9f0e6d818e09dcd768e9a80119c.pdf b2cbadcf39d205f24bd018fe9b9f56ad 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, 1p. 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 Moira Handbook Review Description An account of the resource A book review of the Moira Handbook. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Unknown Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Unknown Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource c. 1978/9 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Donated by Joey III, from effects found in the vacated Burtonport house in the early 1990s. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource loose leaf sheet Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Text 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 https://filianicstudies.org/cms/files/original/88577f7a15427e77d4399d4902f31391.pdf 9d9221a870387054d086f4af97012409 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 Obedience One could perhaps make a case for declaring that obedience is the first of all the virtues. At any rate, it is certainly true that if one renders true obedience to a mistress in themis [thamë] – that is to say, one who is God's indirect representative within the earthly order of things – one will, ipso facto be practising the other virtues also. All, it may be protested, with the exception of one, & that one, the virtue governed by Madria Tethys [Sai Sushuri]. For Love, it will be said, may never be commanded; and this, we will allow, is truly said – yet true obedience is the fruit of Love & wheresoever one is to be found, there most surely you find the other. That obedience which giveth what she must for fear or for advancement – this is what the profane call obedience, yet in truth, she is not more than a counterfeit and a false adulteress. For true obedience binds not the body only but the soul, & tho' we may like the task we are set to no better than the willow-rod that is set upon our shoulders, yet we would not have it any wise other than as our mistress wills it. For if we love our Lady, then we willingly obey Her, & in obeying Her, obey also the Ranya that She has set over us on the earth. Obedience is the chain that bindeth earth to Heaven, & tho' there be them that say they will love but not obey, yet in such case the love endures not long, & this is proven both by the words of holy Scripture & by the examples of maids & of nations. So truly we may say, if obedience be not the first among the vritues, yet Love is, & obedience is not the fruit of love merely, but her daughter – & like to God's own beloved Daughter [sign of pentagram], is not her child only, but her very self. Writ by the maid Alethea in loving obedience to her mistress. 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 Obedience Subject The topic of the resource Obedience Description An account of the resource A calligraphic composition by Sr. Alethea on the significance and importance of obedience to one's spiritual mistress. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Sr. Alethea 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 love obedience ranya virtue https://filianicstudies.org/cms/files/original/f56873d6c96a87225ba970eda4666588.pdf 7c75d79797a854408f1ca1dfff54e54e 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 Rosa Madriana Description An account of the resource Materials produced and/or used by Madria Olga and Rosa Madriana. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rosa Madriana Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Rosa Madriana Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource c. 1999 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, 7pp. 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 Prayers & Affirmations Description An account of the resource A collection of prayers and affirmations handwritten by Madria Olga. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Madria Olga Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Donated by Joey III, a former correspondent of Madria Olga. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource loose-leaf, 7pp. Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Text https://filianicstudies.org/cms/files/original/aa2e49a46df3605f3c11f00ab3e91a39.pdf a716555d5e53bc416cf2fc6cb0680004 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 Rosa Madriana Description An account of the resource Materials produced and/or used by Madria Olga and Rosa Madriana. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rosa Madriana Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Rosa Madriana Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource c. 1999 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 8pp., loose-leaf, five typewritten, three handwritten 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 Rosa Madriana Introductions to the Scriptures Subject The topic of the resource Scriptural commentary Description An account of the resource Rosa Madriana introductions to the Scriptures, as found with Madria Olga's manuscript copies. Attached additionally are a glossary to the Scriptures and title pages to sections of Scripture in what is purported to be Madria Olga's own calligraphy. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Madria Olga Lotar Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Private collection of Madria Olga's student JME, via donation by Sister Sophia Ruth. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource PDF Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Text