Kate writes (and I think it illustrates these illustrations):

ah, the joys of synchronicity…the Blogmaster neglects to mention our
discourse touched on judaism, witchcraft, and gnosticism.  Elaine Pagels
fascinating “The Gnostic Gospels” leads one to ponder the intriguing
case of the two Mary(s).  mother/madonna and partner/apostle.  the
latter recast as whore by the history-altering church.  one can hear the
bishop’s cry: ‘I want rewrite on that script dammit!  the messiah cannot
fall in love with a woman!  oy.  this will never do.’   from The Gospel
of Philip: “…the companion of the [Savior is] Mary Magdalene.  [But
Christ loved] her more than [all] the disciples and used to kiss her
[often] on her [mouth].  The rest of [the disciples were offended by
it...].  They said to him, “Why do you love her more than all of us?”
The Savior answered and said to them. “Why do I not love you as [I love]
her?” 

methinks the response was: ‘because the bed ain’t big enough for 14!’

perhaps the biggest threat to the church was the idea that human love
when it fearlessly delves into the spiritual realm is the true way to
approach G-O-D or whatever metaphor you choose for the cosmic force that
ties it all together.  the two Mary(s) undoubtedly taught Mister J a
thing or two about LOVE…
here’s an additional interesting tidbit from Pagels book that would be nice to include…

“Often in these gnostic texts, the creator is castigated for his arrogance–nearly always by a superior feminine power.  According to the ‘Hypostasis of the Archons,’ discovered at Nag Hammadi, both the mother and her daughter objected when:

“he became arrogant saying, “It is I who am God, and there is no other apart from me.”…And a voice came forth from above the realm of absolute power, saying, “You are wrong, Samuel” [which means, "god of the blind'].  And he said, “if any other thing exists before me, let it appear to me!” And immediately, Sophia (”Wisdom”) stretched forth her finger, and introduced light into matter, and she followed it down into the region of Chaos…And he again said to his offspring, “It is I who am the God of All.”  And Life, the daughter of Wisdom, cried out; she said to him, “You are wrong, Saklas!”

how interesting that my father and grandfather bear the name Samuel which my sister has also chosen as a name for her son.  I would like to have a daughter and name her “Sophia”

The femminist doors of perception I ask?

Posted on Wednesday, April 27th, 2005 at 12:10 am.
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