Mystical Metaphors From My Ancestors
What is more intriguing than the timeless stories passed down through the ages: mythologies, sacred texts, even fairy tales? Stories that feel like an ancestor tucked a message into a time capsule and is waiting for the right descendent to decipher its real meaning.
I love unpacking the symbols and metaphors of these stories, but for a long while I dismissed the sacred texts of my own ancestors. Catholicism runs deep on both sides of my family, and the sexual exploitation, misogyny, and hypocrisy of the church propelled me into exploration of other paths. So I traveled around the world and throughout time story by story until eventually recognizing that (of course!) Truth lives where global stories intersect and while any wisdom story can lead me to Truth, one from my own people has the added gift of reuniting me with the seeds of my own being.
For example, I was taught to interpret the Annunciation of Mary as a story encouraging woman’s submissiveness. Revisiting the text decades later, I finally saw right there in black and white that Mary thoughtfully ponders, boldly questions and then courageously chooses to birth Spirit into the world. In the next scene, she radically and poetically reveals what Spirit can do through her exclamation of the Magnificat.
The sacred Truth of how any of us can commune with Spirit and birth it into the world is right there for anyone to see. But timeless stories are prisms, esoteric, revealing different messages at different times in our lives, reflecting to us only what we’re ready to see. Plus, sacred texts have been interpreted by corrupt people and systems to manipulate compliance to evil, injustice and tyranny. Some interpretations have been repeated so many times for so long that we have become BLIND to the words themselves.
Finally seeing the sacred feminine revealed as a strong, daring and radical force in the texts of my own ancestors was astounding. I felt my great, great grandmothers rejoicing!
This Easter season I’m offering an online retreat series: Mystical Metaphors of Mary Magdalene & the Easter Stories to explore the sacred feminine as revealed by our Christian ancestors in sacred texts (both within and excluded from the New Testament), visual art and song. We’ll also tap into our own knowing through guided visualization and reflective writing and learn from one another through discussion. Join us!
