Mary Goddess Mother

No other woman has been a greater threat to patriarchal power than Mary, Mother of Christ. The Church denounced her but people were unwilling to let Mary go. The Church finally embraced her and included her in worship. Mary was the bridge between the old and the new. Even though the patriarchs continued to reduce the female’s role from leader to bystander, they were forced to find a way to make Mary worthy of adoration. There are other goddesses who bear a striking similarity to Mary; virgin birth, child dies and is reborn.  Myrrha, mother of Adonis predates Mary, as does Isis, mother of Osiris. But Mary is still taking her place in Christian worship today.

Women continue to turn to her for strength in all matters of motherhood.  As with all goddesses she has a lesson to impart.

Mary gave birth.  Virgin birth aside, she had a child she adored. As with all children mothers raise, mothers will tell you every child is special in their own way.  Mothers have an abundance of love for their children, no matter how many they tuck under their hearts.  I remember thinking when I first found out I was going to have a second child; how will I ever have enough love to go around?  I was simply head over heels in love with my first son, and could not fathom having enough love to sustain my second son.  But my heart simply enveloped that second son the instant our eyes made contact.  Mary had other children and loved them all equally.  A mother's heart expands to meet all needs.

Mary lost track of Jesus during one of the journeys taken to the big city and nearly lost her mind.  When she finally found him, her anger melted to relief when she found him safe.  I would feel such a panic any time one of my sons wandered out of my reach and that panic never subsided no matter how old they were.  Mary worried.  Mothers do that.

When Mary realized she could not keep Jesus from doing things so dangerous for the time, she did what most mothers do when their kids have become adults who have to make their own way in the world....she prayed...a lot.

I lost a child many years ago.  He was grown and making really reckless decisions.  It cost him his life. I am still grieving the loss of that precious child. Mary lost a child, too.  In fact she was right there as they tortured and killed him.  She stayed to receive the body, clean the body, anoint the body, shroud the body, and bury the body.  I can't imagine how difficult that must have been for her; remembering how tiny he was at birth, how funny he was when he was learning to walk and talk, and how proud he made her every single day of his life.  You think you can't go on, that the pain will simply kill you, but it doesn't. You live and remember and grieve.  

Mary forgave those who killed her son just as I chose to forgive the one who killed my son. 

Maybe this is why mothers for centuries have knelt before her shrines and poured their hearts out to her.  Because Mary had a son she lived to bury.  

Crying out to Mary finally validated the voices of women in the church, even as they suffered under the harsh attitudes towards women in every other area of life for them. Faithful women had a goddess worth her weight.  Because women gained a few inches up the ladder by demanding patriarchs submit to their demands, women were encouraged to continue that climb up the ladder. Female solidarity would not be denied.  The patriarchs had met their match.

Women continue to struggle to have their voices heard. It's an on going battle to find equal footing in a man's world.  But we keep going. It’s the solidarity of all women, world wide in one voice, that will finally force men to not just hear, but rather, listen to us!  

We can change the world with just one voice. We have women in parts of the world today who have all but lost their voices to the cruelty of patriarchal mandates.  Women are being tortured and killed because husbands want out of the marriage and no one will question the truth of their statements that the woman was unfaithful.  Women are being raped for daring to walk to a market without a male relative as an escort.  Their reasoning; she asked for it. The women of the free world have to stand in solidarity for these sisters and demand changes in the treatment of women world wide.  One voice.  

Mary had a son.  Her grief was no greater than the grief of any mother who loses a child or has to endure knowing her child is being mistreated some where 'out there'.  Women must be heard if there is any hope for the survival of mankind.  

Happy Birthday, Adam.  Mommy misses you as much today as she did twenty years ago when she had to let you go. You were my joy for twenty one years and you are and will always be in my heart.