MatriTalks 72
INVOCATION
Questions
& Answers
with
Han Marie Stiekema Sermes
SUMER
Inanna
"Begetting Mother am I,
within the Spirit I abide
and none see me
In the word of An I abide
And none see me
In the word of Enlil I abide
and none see me
In the word of the holy temple I abide
and none see me"
Inanna, Great Mother Goddess of Sumer
Mother Greeting
The Mother Greeting comes from Sumer 2300
years ago. It is called "AMARGI", which means "Freedom" or
"Returning to the Great Mother"
BABYLON
Prayer to Ishtar
Unto the queen of
the gods,
into whose hands are committed the behest of the great gods,
unto the lady of Nineveh,the queen of the gods,
the exhalted one, unto the daughter of the moon-god,
the twin sister of the sun god, unto her who ruleth all kingdoms,
unto the goddess of the world who determineth decrees,
unto the Lady of heaven and earth who recieveth supplication,
unto the merciful goddess who hearkeneth unto entreaty,
who recieveth prayer, who loveth righteousness,
EGYPT
"I am all that has been,
that is, and that will be"
Mother Goddess Nuth
Hymn to Isis
"Praise
to you, Isis, the Great One, God’s mother,
Lady of Heaven, Mistress and Queen of the gods".
From the temple of Isis at Philae
SONG OF SOLOMON
(Part of the Bible. Song dedicated to
Asherah)
Whither has your beloved gone, O fairest among women? Whither
has your beloved turned, that we may seek him with you?
My beloved has gone down to his garden, to the beds of spices, to pasture his flock in the
gardens, and to gather lilies.
I am my beloved's and my beloved is mine; he pastures his flock among the lilies.
You are beautiful as Tirzah, my love, comely as Jerusalem, terrible as an army with
banners.
Turn away your eyes from me, for they disturb me--Your hair is like a flock of goats,
moving down the slopes of Gilead.
Your teeth are like a flock of ewes, that have come up from the washing, all of them bear
twins, not one among them is bereaved.
Your cheeks are like halves of a pomegranate behind your veil.
There are sixty queens and eighty concubines, and maidens without number.
My dove, my perfect one, is only one, the darling of her mother, flawless to her that bore
her. The maidens saw her and called her happy; the queens and concubines also, and they
praised her.
"Who is this that looks forth like the dawn, fair as the moon, bright as the sun,
terrible as an army with banners?"
I went down to the nut orchard, to look at the blossoms of the valley, to see whether the
vines had budded, whether the pomegranates were in bloom.
Before I was aware, my fancy set me in a chariot beside my prince.
Return, return, O Shu'lammite, return, return, that we may look upon you. Why should you
look upon the Shu'lammite, as upon a dance before two armies?
TAOISM
Tao Te King
These two (mystery and
manifestations) spring
from the same source but differ in name;
this appears as darkness.
Darkness within darkness.
The gate to all mystery. (1)
The valley spirit never dies;
It is the woman, Primal Mother.
Her gateway is the root of heaven and earth.
It is like a veil barely seen.
Use it; it will never fail.(6)
Everyone else is busy.
But I alone am aimless and quiet.
I am different.
I am nourished by the Great Mother. (20)
Something mysteriously formed,
Born before heaven and earth.
In the silence and the void,
Standing alone and unchanging,
Ever present and in motion.
Perhaps it is the Mother of the ten thousand things.
I do not know its name.
Call it Tao.
For lack of a better word, I call it great.(25)
The beginning of the universe
Is the Mother of all things.
Knowing the Mother, one also knows the sons.
Knowing the sons, yet remaining in touch with the Mother
Brings freedom from the fear of death.(52)
HINDUISM
Adi-Maya-Shakti
Let me meditate on the Great
Mother Who is existence itself, whose Womb contains time and space, Who embodies cosmic
energy, Who holds in Her hands the implements of life and the instruments of death, Who
spins the cycle of existence as She creates and destroys all that is, was and will be and
Who empowers and enriches her devotee with the ability to accept and appreciate the
unfathomable universe.
"Om Mani Padme Hum"
Light (Jewel) out of the Womb (Lotus)
"Here, Mother,
take Thy sin; here, take Thy virtue. I don't want either of these; give me only real
bhakti. Here, Mother, take Thy good; here, take Thy bad. I don't want any of Thy good or
bad; give me only real bhakti. Here, Mother, take Thy dharma; here, take Thy adharma. I
don't want any of Thy dharma or adharma; give me only real bhakti. Here, Mother, take Thy
knowledge, here, take Thy ignorance. I don't want any of Thy knowledge or ignorance; give
me only real bhakti. Here, Mother, take Thy purity, take Thy impurity. Give me only real
bhakti"
Sri Ramakrishna
BUDDHISM
The Great Mother is the empty state of all
the dharma's, which we call Mother of all Creation. The Mother is the Mother of the
Buddha's, the Dharmata of Absolute Nothingness, beyond all obstructions.
Tara
The Ultimate Sutra
I, a Fully Awakened One
King of Innumerable Heavens
pay reverence and prostrate Myself to
The Great Mother
the Non-Dimension beyond the Absolute
Unknowable Nothingness beyond Nothingness
Bottomless Womb of the Eternal
Primordial Matrix in Which the Unborn Absolute
evolves and disappears
without cessation
ANTIQUITY
Who then is the Mother of the
Gods? She is the source of the intellectual and creative Gods, who in their turn guide the
visible gods: She is both the Mother and the spouse of the mighty Zeus; She is in control
of every form of life, and the cause of all generation.
Emperor Julian
CHRISTIANITY
From the Litany of
The Blessed Virgin Mary
Holy Mother of God,
Mother of Christ,
Mother of the Church,
Mother of divine grace,
Mother most pure,
Mother of our Creator,
Mother of our Savior,
Seat of wisdom,
Cause of our joy,
Spiritual vessel,
Vessel of honor,
Singular vessel of devotion,
Mystical rose,
Tower of David,
Tower of ivory,
House of gold,
Ark of the covenant,
Gate of heaven,
Morning star,
Queen of angels,
Queen of patriarchs,
Queen of all saints,
Queen conceived without original sin,
Queen assumed into heaven,
Queen of peace
Litany of Loreto
MIDDLE
AGES
Daily prayer of the
Knights Templar
"Our Lady, who was there at the
beginning of our religion, in Her,
and in Her Honor shall be, if it pleases God, the end
of our lives and the end of our religion, whenever it
shall please God that they end".
Fortune, Empress of the World
From The Carmina Burana
O Fortune, like the moon
you are changeable, ever waxing and waning:
hateful life, first oppresses and then soothes as fancy takes it;
poverty and power it melts them like ice
Fate - monstrous and empty, your whirling
wheel, you are malevolent,
well-being is in vain and always fades to nothing,
shadowed and veiled you plague me too;
now through the game I bring my bare back
to your villainy.
Fate is against me in health and virtue.
PAGANISM
Great Rite/Gardnerian Wicca
"O Circle of Stars,
Whereof our father is by the younger brother,
Marvel beyond imagination , soul of infinite space,
Before whom time is ashamed, the mind bewildered, and the understanding dark,
Not unto Thee may we attain unless Thine Image be Love.
Therefore by seed and root, and stem and bud,
And leaf and flower and fruit do we invoke thee,
O Queen of Space, O Jewel of Light,
Continuous one of the heavens;
Let it be ever thus
That men speak not of Thee as One, but as None;
And let them not speak of Thee at all, since Thou art continuous."
FURTHERMORE
It is because he (God) was foolish by not
knowing his Mother, that he said: "I am God, and apart from me there is no one".
The Mother hearing him talking like that, exclaimed "Don't lie, Jaldabaoth..."
Valentinus in E.Pagels "The
Gnostic Gospels"
"Cybele, the Great Mother is being considered
by Emperor Julian as the Ultimate, giving birth to the Gods, which in their turn are
begetting the visible world"
J.Bidez "La Vie de l'Empereur Julien"
"Jean Gerson, chancellor of the
University of Paris (around 1400) denounced images of the Madonna, symbolizing the entire
Trinity as being the fruit of Her Lap"
L. Huizinga "Herfsttij der Middeleeuwen"
"Consciously or unconsciously, Marian
theology is moving toward a significant re-interpretation of the original Christian
concept of the Godhead as consisting of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit"
S. Benko "The Virgin Goddess"
"Darkness precedes the Light"
Inscription in the altar of Salerno
Cathedral
"The Black Madonna's are in direct
lineage with the Great Mother: the African Black Mother, Kali, Cybele, Isis and Artemis.
F.e. in 679 ACE! the Merovingian King Dagobert II established the cult to "the one
which today receives the name of Our Lady and who is our Eternal Isis"
Sermes
"The biblical "Sophia" is the
Mother of the Universe, the highest deity in Heaven, "equal to God". In the
Russian Orthodox Rites She is still considered to be the All-Embracing One, the
personification of the "Eternal-Feminine"
Sermes
"One of the most popular tales in Russia
is "The Visit of the Mother of God to Hell". This "proof" of Her
limitless compassion (to visit the victims of eternal punishment) is directly linked with
the archaic myth of Inanna going to the Underworld searching for Her Lover"
Sermes
"The title "Mother of God"
(Theotokos) for the Madonna was exacted from by the people (431, Efese), who wanted to
restore the status of the Original Great Mother. Hence, the concept of the
"Mother of God" has to be taken literally"
Sermes
"The Holy Grail as Vessel of Abundance
is symbolizing nothing
but the Cosmic Womb"
Sermes
God didn't create the world out of
nothingness, but rather Nothingness
is giving birth to both "God" and the world. The Eternal Feminine
is the Ground of Existence.
Sermes
"The Madonna as "Queen of
Heaven" - as expressed in countless sanctuaries, patronesses, churches, religious
orders and festivals - has always played a dominant role in popular devotion. Christ
really comes second"
Sermes
"My body is
masculine; my soul is feminine,
while my Spirit is Divine. Altogether I am
a child in the Womb of the Mother"
Sermes
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