My Own Personal Jesus ~ The EPIC Easter Post

"I'm no missionary; I don't even believe in Jebus." "Save me, Jebus!"

~Homer Simpson, "Missionary: Impossible" (Simpsons, season 11)


"There's only three men I'm'a serve my whole life
It's my daddy and Nebraska and Jesus Christ"

~Lady Gaga, "You & I"

Happy Easter! It's also Pesach (Passover); tonight will be the second seder night.

Some may think that because my blog is called Pagan Spirits, I must not celebrate Easter or believe in Jesus, but this is not the case. I was raised Catholic, you know. Now when I want to go to church, I go to Episcopalian services, because I kind of fell in love with the Church of England's American sister. Just 'cause I'm a witch doesn't mean I don't love Jesus.

No, really, you can do that - ask Joan Borysenko. She wrote a fabulous, amazing book called A Woman's Journey to God.



On pages 218-226 of this book, Borysenko writes the passage that gave me a new appreciation of Yeshua bar Yahosef (Jesus, son of Joseph, in Hebrew) as the mythological archetype of the Annually Dying and Returning Vegetation God, like Tammuz, Osiris or Dionysus. Based on the work of Margaret Starbird, the book Holy Blood, Holy Grail (the same book on which The Da Vinci Code is partially based) and her own imagination, Borysenko created "Jesus and Mary: Partners in the Hieros Gamos."



Heiros gamos, as readers of The Da Vinci Code know, is Greek for "sacred marriage," a sexual rite in which the woman represents the Goddess and the man represents a male God. Borysenko envisions Mary of Magdala (Magdala being Hebrew for "watchtower") as a zonah, a word that means both prophetess and "prostitute." Not "prostitute" literally in the sense that they took money, but they had sex with the various worshipers who came to the temple. In modern Hebrew usage, "zonah" also means Jewish woman who has sex with non-Jewish men.

Mary Magdalene was a priestess of the Mother Goddess. In Borysenko's telling, Jesus comes to the temple of the Goddess, called Esther. Esther is a form of the goddess-name Asherah, or Ishtar. When the young priestess Mary reached a mature age, she and Jesus made the sacred marriage. It's a beautiful story.

Jesus is the archetypal solstice-born male god who becomes the consort of the Goddess, delights her with lovemaking, dies and goes to the Underworld and then is reborn to start the whole process anew.

In The Woman's Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets, Barbara G. Walker links Esther/Asherah/Ishtar with other Near Eastern goddesses, including Egyptian Isis (called Star of the Sea, a title also applied to Mary the mother of Jesus - Key West has a Catholic church called Mary Star of the Sea), Indian Kali and Astarte. Astarte was called Queen of Heaven, where she kept the souls of the dead in the form of the stars. She is recalled in the Bible in Jeremiah 44:19:

"And," said the women, "when we were burning sacrifices to the queen of heaven and were pouring out drink offerings to her, was it without our husbands that we made for her sacrificial cakes in her image and poured out drink offerings to her?"

A beautiful image of Astarte by the artist Amanda Clark can be found here at Love of the Goddess blog.

"Esther" is the Hebrew word for "star," and Walker contends the Biblical Esther celebrated at Purim is a version of Ishtar; Mordecai is Ishtar's consort Marduk. In this version of the myth, rather than Marduk/Mordecai being personally sacrified, a proxy is accepted in his place - Haman.

The virgin form of the mother goddess is Mari, and it is no coincidence that the mother of Jesus and the bride of Jesus have the same name. In the ancient Near Eastern legend, the Goddess is both mother and lover, the young God both son and lover in a never-ending yearly cycle of sacrifice and rebirth. It's an extended metaphor for the yearly cycle of the seasons and the crops, so try not to be too freaked out by the incestuous implications. The son is the grain-seed that has to be buried in the earth (his mother) and "die" so he can sprout/be reborn and we can eat.



For an alternate literary version of the son-lover's sacrifice, see "The Sacrifice" in The Virago Book of Erotic Myths and Legends by Shahrukh Husain.



I said in a previous Easter post that the name of Ostara, a Germanic goddess said to be the origin of the name "Easter," may not be historically accurate. This is still true, although I will point out that Walker traces "Ostara" to "Astarte."

In a movie by A Douchebag Who Shall Not Be Named During Passover, this is Jesus.

http://pinterest.com/pin/46936021088155415/

This gorgeous Italian-American is Jim Caviezel, and he's who I'm imagining when I'm envisioning the sacred marriage of Jesus and Mary. (We won't get into the whole issue of why Hollywood likes Jews to be played by Italians; that's a rant for another day.) Your image of Jesus may vary.

It could be Christian Bale in Mary, Mother of Jesus. But it could be.

It probably won't be this.



Related songs in a Jesus groove:

"Personal Jesus," the Depeche Mode original

"Rock Me Sexy Jesus" from Hamlet 2

"Like a Prayer" - Madonna

"Jesus Walks" - Kanye West

"Crucified" - Army of Lovers

"Crucified" - cover by German Goth-rock band Atargatis - appropriately, named for the Syrian mother-goddess, the mother/lover of Mithras according to Husain

"Judas" - Lady Gaga as an Italian-American Mary Magdalene - wouldn't she go great with Jim Caviezel as Jesus?

PS Holiday Trilogy Concludes with Naw-Ruz and Purim

The Vernal Equinox on March 21 closes out a trio of holidays: first St. Patrick’s Day, then St. Marcus Day and now the coming of spring. The other day, I heard of Naw-Ruz for the first time. Naw-Ruz (which goes by a variety of alternative spellings) means “New Day,” occurs on or around the first day of spring, and is a cultural holiday to people in Iran and people all over the world of the Baha’i faith.

In Iran, Naw-Ruz begins the first day of Farvardin, the first month of the new year. It’s now a secular holiday observed by all religious groups. Although once associated with the Zoroastrian religion, Naw-Ruz likely has some Pagan origins. Zoroastrians observe only two official religious holidays, one at the spring equinox and the other at the fall equinox. (Indian Zoroastrians, the Parsis, have a different calendar and observe Naw-Ruz around August.)

Like the Christian Easter, Iranian Naw-Ruz (Norooz) may be celebrated by spring cleaning, wearing new clothes, coloring eggs and other symbols of new life and beginnings. A common Naw-Ruz observance is the “Seven S’s,” a display of seven items that start with S in the Persian language. They include lilies, apples, hyacinths, garlic, silver coins, vinegar, green grass, senjad berries...that's more than seven because there are various combinations.

The final Tuesday of the old year is celebrated with a bonfire. Jumping over the bonfire is a symbolic purification. The 13th day of the new year, Sizdah Bedar, has its own custom: unmarried women who want to get married go into the fields to tie knots in the grasses. Just like in the English language "tying the knot" symbolizes a wedding.

The Baha’i feast of Naw-Ruz is observed by taking a day off from work for prayer, celebration and a shared evening meal. Some Baha’i practitioners give gifts. The day also marks the end of a 19-day fast.

On March 20 and 21 this year, Jewish practitioners celebrate Purim, Judaism's spring festival. (The date on the Hebrew calendar in 14 Adar.) It has been compared to Christianity's Carnival/Mardi Gras and to Halloween. It involves feasting, noisemakers and costumes. Israeli kids bonk each other on the head with toy hammers.

Eden Aviv, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

The religious basis of Purim is the book of Esther (Megillat Esther), the ancient text in which a plot by the evil Haman (a Persian) to destroy the Jews is foiled by the righteous Mordechai and his brave niece, Esther. The commandment on Purim is to drink alcohol until one can't tell the difference between Mordechai and Haman. Many also give to charity as part of the celebration.

Purim has also contributed to the world of desserts hamantaschen, the delicious triangular pastries with poppyseed, fruit or chocolate filling in the middle. The name means "Haman's hats."

More:
Beyer, Catherine. "Naw-Ruz, The Baha'i and Zoroastrian New Year."
Bodazey Magazine. "Norooz, The Iranian New Year at Present Times."
"Purim 2011: What You Need to Know."
Walbridge, John. "The Baha'i New Year."
"What is a Hamantasch?"

Easter: Why the Egg?

Why is the egg the symbol of Easter?

Hens will only lay eggs when they've received at least 12 hours of light a day. Before electric lights, this meant hens only laid eggs in the six months of the year when the earth gets the most sunlight, from the spring equinox to the fall equinox. Fresh eggs were a natural sign of spring in the time when they were only available during the warm months of the year. Like seeds, the egg is also a symbol of the beginning of life.

According to some historians, the egg was adopted as the symbol of Easter because Christians traditionally abstained from eating eggs during Lent. On Easter, they could break their egg-fast and eat them again. Eggs, according to St. Augustine, are also a symbol of hope, because the egg, like hope, is something that has not yet come to fruition.

Another connection Christians make with the egg is the phoenix. This mythical bird builds a funeral pyre for itself and dies. From its ashes, an egg emerges, and the phoenix is reborn. Because of its death and resurrection, the phoenix became a symbol for Jesus.

Many cultures consider the egg a symbol of rebirth and reincarnation. In Asia, eggs dyed red are given at births and funerals. In some parts of Africa, and also in the Appalachian Mountains in the United States, eggs are buried near cemeteries to encourage the souls of the dead to be reborn.

The Easter egg hunt became popular in the United States only during the Civil War, when Abraham Lincoln brought the practice to the White House lawn. The practice of hunting hidden eggs in spring predates Lincoln by thousands of years, though. It originated in Asia, where the hunt for the icon of reincarnation symbolized the individual's personal responsibility for his or her own karma. It's emblematic of the hunt for new life for the soul.

In ancient Europe, the custom was to place eggs under the barn to increase the fertility of the animals...or under human beds to increase our own fertility. Planting eggs in a field or garden was also thought to make the plants more fruitful.

Eggs, in many ancient mythologies, played an important role in the creation of the world. In Hindu and Phoenician mythology, the world is formed from an egg which emerges from the primordial waters and splits in two. One half becomes the earth, and the other half becomes the sky. The Finnish creation story tells of the world forming from eggs laid in the lap of the water-mother. Hawaiians also have a legend about the big island of Hawaii forming from an egg laid on the water. It's unknown if there is any historical connection between these early creation stories and the Easter egg, though.

Eggs play a role in the Jewish Passover meal, the seder. They represent mourning for the destruction of the Temple. The Jewish celebration of the ancestors' escape from Egypt may have borrowed the symbol of the egg from Egyptian mythology.

Some European superstitions concern an egg laid by a hen on Good Friday (the Friday before Easter, commemorating the day Jesus died). It is said that such an egg is a powerful amulet against sudden death, or that it protects orchards from blight. The yolk of an egg laid on Good Friday, if kept for a hundred years, is said to turn into a diamond.

Other traditions say it's the Easter rabbit that lays the eggs. This custom supposedly arrived in the United States with Pennsylvania Dutch settlers. German children prepared a nest for the "Oschter Haws" (Easter hare) on Easter eve and found it filled with colored eggs the next morning. The association of Jesus with the Easter bunny may have come about because the rabbit emerges from its burrow in the ground like Jesus emerging from his tomb.

Some say the rabbit is also a form of the ancient Germanic goddess of the spring (sometimes called Eostre or Ostara, but this name may not be historically accurate), whose is a shape-shifter and can take on the form of any animals. Like the Greek goddess Artemis, the Roman Diana, or the Eastern European veela, she's the Lady of Wild Things, the huntress-goddess who serves as an intermediary between human beings and their game.

In Other News: Between now (April 3) and midnight, April 9, 2010, please help me out by stopping by http://www.coffeefuelederotica.blogspot.com/ [Link defunct - sorry.]. My entry is short story #3. Vote by leaving a comment. (You must leave a name; anonymous votes do not count.) Your help is appreciated!