RITUAL OF LOVE (part two)
by Sophia Breillat
part one http://www.susunweed.com/herbal_ezine/October05/goddess.htm

CHRISTIANITY AND RITUAL

The Healing Mother’s presence dwelt peacefully in the hearts of Goddess-centred societies long before Christianity’s belief in only one God came into being. Predating Christianity by thousands of years, Goddess worship revered and valued the natural healing powers of the feminine principle. The power of this most loved protectress was devotedly invoked in rituals embodying refined healing skills secretly passed from mother to daughter for many generations.

Christianity deemed ritual offerings to the spontaneous female spirits of earth and water as unclean. Labeled as malign devils, these playful spirits were seen as evil creatures wielding corrupt power. When Christianity forced the adoration of the Goddess and her rituals into seclusion, those who practised her sacred rites were named, or that which is hidden. The shining glory of this bountiful Earth Mother, so openly loved and revered since prehistoric times, was suddenly seen as sinful and shameful.

With the onset of Christianity, all who openly paid homage to the Goddess were punished as witches, tortured and burned at the stake. Many of her beautiful naked images that adorned pagan churches and temples were destroyed. Simple country women who performed homely rituals of cooking, weaving, herb gathering, singing, dancing, adorning tables and lighting candles were accused of worshipping the devil.

Medieval midwives were also persecuted for their association with pagan matriarchy and Goddess worship. Their substantial knowledge of female sexuality, birth control, breastfeeding, abortion and birthing rituals were threatening to Christian male authorities. All pagan holy days and festivities that escaped annihilation became Christianised. The repercussions of this almighty effort to subdue the immortal power of the pagan earth dwellers’ beloved Goddess wreak increasing havoc upon this planet.

Many Christian practices originated in early tantric rituals, including Christmas, which was taken from the Winter Solstice festival of the pagans where Christmas Eve was named ‘The Night of the Mother’. The celebration of Easter was also originally an early pagan ritual honouring the Goddess, Eostre. The original pagan myths of the Holy Grail also became Christianised. This mystic blood-filled vessel was an ancient womb symbol connected to the rebirth of the Goddess.

Fearing the mysterious presence contained within the Goddess’s holy woods and sacred groves, patriarchal priests destroyed these treasured places. As Christian authorities increasingly attempted to wipe out her feminine power, they declared her sacred rituals of fertility and sexual love barbaric, devilish and obscene. This brutal destruction of her natural sensuality sowed the seed of unworthiness and self doubt that now flourishes within the contemporary female psyche.


Ritualistic celebrations of Goddess worship were joyous occasions of food, festivity, offerings, singing and dance, symbolically awakening the blossoming abundance of nature’s magnificence. Worship of sun, moon, stars and planets were all an intrinsic part of the Goddess’s realm and rituals, where older pagan women were honoured for their power, experience and wisdom. The sacredness of woman’s profound ritualistic journey into maturity is sadly ignored in our culture.

Western civilisation is founded upon the collective lie and illusion that the Goddess is dead. Fuelled by a deep fear of her profundity, it races towards its own destruction, enveloped in a cloud of ignorance and denial. With an unhealthy focus upon politics, space travel and weapons of mass destruction, it employs drastic measures for escapingthe realm of the Earth Goddess.

For thousands of centuries farmers have ritualistically called upon this Mother of Earth when planting their new crops, and pagans have called upon her for everything they required for living a healthy, joyful and fulfilling life. Who calls upon her now? Who protects and honours her today? Who sees who she truly is? Who invokes her benevolence, her beauty, her bounty?

RITUALS OF PASSION

Many rituals of the Goddess were openly sexual, as spirituality, nature, sexual love and religion all merged as the oneness of life to the pagan people. Religion, as an immortal link between the essential facets of humanity, nature and the Mother Goddess, originally meant to rejoin or reunite. Many of her fertility rituals involved couples making love in freshly ploughed fields to encourage the fertility of abundant crops. Her most secret adoration involved sacred rites and mysteries where the yearning to return to the Source was practised through sexual worship.

These rituals involved ecstatic singing and dancing, sexual orgies, religious passion and fertility festivals. May was the month of sexual freedom where the God’s phallus was ritualistically planted in the earth’s womb. Many of the original May Day rituals involved sexual games and ritual love where couples entered the woods for passionate lovemaking. The May Pole was originally the phallic symbol of this religious festival that was also sacred to witches. A divine marriage was also consecrated, creating the magic of fertility for the earth through the sacred passion of sexual union.

The way of the Goddess evokes a timelessness that is deeper than the ocean, vaster than the skies, more mysterious than the night. Profoundly merging with the hidden secrets of the earth, it honours the wisdom of our pagan ancestors. Tread softly upon her grass, use her resources wisely, feel deep gratitude for her life-sustaining power and infinite beauty, and you will know the simple humility of ritual.

Copyright ~ Sophia Breillat ~ not to be reproduced without author’s permission ~ Sophia is a woman who lives, writes and paints from the heart ~ she may be contacted at: wullegurra@hotmail.com

www.wildheartwisdom.com

Roslyne Sophia Breillat
Within the womb of every woman glows the consciousness of Mother Earth. Wildheartwisdom is a web site for nurturing the truth of this powerful feminine spirit and offers support for the female psyche’s many cyclic transformations. Wildheartwisdom focuses upon the deeper joy and purpose of menstruation, lovemaking, pregnancy, childbirth, mothering, relationships, menopause and beyond. Find spiritual guidance for healing from eating disorders, sexual abuse, miscarriage and abortion. There are currently three galleries featuring Sophia’s art and a selection of her article excerpts. As wildheartwisdom evolves more art and articles will be added as well as an extensive resource section. Sophia’s beautiful art and illustrations are for sale and she is currently seeking a publisher for her two books.

 

Moon Days

Moon days: http://www.herbalmedicinehealing.com/store/item_view.asp?estore_itemid=1000061
a great collection of women's writings on menstruation, edited by Cassie Preemo Steele, twenty-six writers explore the "silent" parts of women's lives; reawakening menstruation memories of embarrassment and shame and transforming them to wonder, excitement, and laughter. 176 pages, illustrations.


read a review... http://www.susunweed.com/Book-Moon Days.htm

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