We are meditating on the feminine dimension to Advent and winter and repose.
Two days ago we celebrated the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Poet Rafael Jesús González offered a poem fitting for that occasion that I am happy to share here.
It, too, speaks of the goddess and cosmic mother, the Mother of us all. Maybe it, too, is speaking of Godhead and the goddess.
Rafael introduces it this way:
One of many feast days of the brave woman who consented to be the Mother of God in Mexico & Central America associated with Mother Earth.
Prayer to Tonantzin
Tonantzin
Mother of all
that of you lives,
be, dwells, inhabits, is;
Mother of all the gods
the goddesses
Mother of us all,
the cloud & the sea
the sand & the mountain
the moss & the tree
the mite & the whale.
Spilling flowers
make of my cloak a reminder
that we never forget that you are
the only paradise of our living.
Blessed are you,
cradle of life, grave of death,
fount of delight, rock of pain.
Grant us, mother, justice.
Grant us, mother, peace.
Rezo a Tonantzin
Tonantzin
madre de todo
lo que de ti vive,
es, habita, mora, está;
Madre de todos los dioses
las diosas
Madre de todos nosotros,
la nube y el mar
la arena y el monte
el musgo y el árbol
el ácaro y la ballena.
Derramando flores
haz de mi manto un recuerdo
que jamás olvidemos que tú eres
único paraíso de nuestro vivir.
Bendita eres,
cuna de la vida, fosa de la muerte,
fuente del deleite, piedra del sufrir.
Concédenos, madre, justicia.
Concédenos, madre, la paz.
© Rafael Jesús González 2022
May the Cosmic Mother and Divine Mother hold us all, embrace us all, and remind us of the sacredness of all our relations, of all creation in which we live, move, and have our being. Especially in this quiet time of Advent and waiting and expectation.
See Matthew Fox, The Hidden Spirituality of Men: Ten Metaphors to Awaken the Sacred Masculine, pp. 231-248.
To read a transcript of Matthew Fox’s video teaching, click HERE.
Banner image: “Guru Guadalupe,” a painting by James Roderick, who often paints Our Lady of Guadalupe. Used with permission of the artist.
Queries for Contemplation
What does Rafael’s poem awaken in you? What prayer or poem do you want to address to the Cosmic Mother at this time in human history and Gaia’s history?
Recommended Reading
The Hidden Spirituality of Men: Ten Metaphors to Awaken the Sacred Masculine
To awaken what Fox calls “the sacred masculine,” he unearths ten metaphors, or archetypes, ranging from the Green Man, an ancient pagan symbol of our fundamental relationship with nature, to the Spiritual Warrior….These timeless archetypes can inspire men to pursue their higher calling to connect to their deepest selves and to reinvent the world.
“Every man on this planet should read this book — not to mention every woman who wants to understand the struggles, often unconscious, that shape the men they know.” — Rabbi Michael Lerner, author of The Left Hand of God
13 thoughts on “Our Lady of Guadalupe: Remembering Our Cosmic Mother”
Two days ago we celebrated the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Poet Rafael Jesús González offered a poem fitting for that occasion that Matthew is happy to share here. He says, “It, too, speaks of the goddess and cosmic mother, the Mother of us all. Maybe it, too, is speaking of Godhead and the goddess.” Rafael writes this poem to the brave woman who consented to be the Mother of God in Mexico & Central America associated with Mother Earth, Tonantzin, originally an Aztec Goddess but now is regarded as the Virgin Mary. He writes in part:
Mother of all
that of you lives,
be, dwells, inhabits, is;
Mother of all the gods
the goddesses
Mother of us all…
Grant us, mother, justice.
Grant us, mother, peace.
Rafael’s poem awakes in me a need for the Mother Goddess as a balance to the Father God. I have read this in a number of the comments over the past two days. And don’t you think that, that is the reason that the Church had the need to exalt Mary–to balance their whole patriarchal God and its all male priesthood? You ask us: “What prayer or poem do you want to address to the Cosmic Mother at this time in human history and Gaia’s history?” I’ve already done it, in that I have written a book titled, “The Way of the Earth”–with a woman as the Christ-figure who teaches the “Gospel of the way of the Earth.”
Beloved Cosmic Mother, Earth Mother
benevolent fullness of love and compassion
graciously and mercifully bestowed upon all.
Blessed is the fruitfullness of our one shared womb
gestating, bearing forth and giving birth
to the Holy Spirit of our true divinity
seeded and sealed within our humanity.
Fragrant Mother Goddess, anointing bearer
of frankenscence, rose, sandalwood and mhyrr
releasing from your alabaster jar the
gifts of healing to all people and all nations.
Mother of descent into the Mysteries of darkness
following the thread into the laberythn of the unknown
willingly surrendered in faith, hope and trust
to the midwifing of the Holy Spirit dwelling within.
Bless us with your living essence and presence
praying in all ways, for us, with us and through us
releasing creative thoughts, words and deeds
that give life to the truth and wisdom of your ways.
In the sacred moments of both our living and our dying
Beloved Mother, clothe us in the enfoldments of your mantle
hold us as we are, in the crucible passion of your consoling heart
setting us aflame to awakening and becoming whom we are.
Lift the veils of our forgetting, that we may remember and see
the unfolding, evolving emergence of our eternal belovedness
that lay hidden in the depths of our own hearts, minds and souls
awaiting to be discovered, reclaimed and resurrected from within.
Amen
Very beautiful Jeanette !!!
Most Holy Mother, Cosmic Mother, always remain constantly in our awareness so that we may reside in Your presence and be present to You and for You. — BB.
I know the goodness of God
I rejoice in the One who loves me
Because the Spirit lives in me
and in every part of creation
From this day forward
all will know that they are blessed
Great things have been done for us
Holy is our God
God’s love for us knows no bounds
With God we are all equal
and the Spirit of Love will prevail
Those who persecute will mend their ways
the persecuted will know justice
The hungry will be satisfied
because the rich will learn to share
There is enough for us all
God has created more than we will ever need
It has been so from the beginning
Our ancestors experienced
the mercy and patience of God
We too have been gifted
with the presence of Holiness
And our children will know
the wonder of their being
The love and care of the One who creates
Joan, A very beautiful poem !!!
God as Mother versus God as Father because some of us need this…
Dealing with that troublesome patriarchal word when it comes to Christianity—if you’ve experienced a loving, grace-filled father or grandfather it may not be a problem for you, but for many and the world itself it is… https://cac.org/daily-meditations/a-trinitarian-universe-2022-12-15/
And “God as Divine Mother” can also be problematic for those of us who had mothers who were not exactly “maternally inclined”. It’s just one of the reasons I’m ambivalent about projecting human genders onto God. For poets, “the Mother” opens up rich possibilities of much-needed balance to express the nuances of mystical experiences and women’s spirituality. It adds warmth, nurturing, creation, birthing, and love, counteracting detached statements of theology. On the other hand, assigning genders to God implies “human”, and often, “patriarchal gender roles.” The transcendent, nondualistic revelations of the One and the Logos have absolutely no gender of any type whatsoever in them, and are radically different from anything implying human forms. “Nondualism” has often been sidelined and trivialized into a mere footnote of theology. On the other hand, the mystical experience is also profoundly unitive (“becoming one with everything”…and more) AND is within a unitive theology/Path, which supports the Maternal symbology. Plus, humans have always expressed their profound experiences in symbology, especially in the case of nondualism, which is so completely outside ordinary human experience: intuitive use of analogy, poetry, and art are often the closest way mystics can express the inexpressible.
Thank you for your always thoughtful comments–I agree that we need to be careful about using gender related words as not all of us had a positive experience with either or both parents.
Melinda, Today you write of the fact that your mother did not provide you with an image of the Goddess or Divine Feminine. Then you write, “For poets, “the Mother” opens up rich possibilities of much-needed balance to express the nuances of mystical experiences and women’s spirituality. It adds warmth, nurturing, creation, birthing, and love, counteracting detached statements of theology.” This statement is absolutely true and Jeanette’s poem above is an example of that. On the other hand, you uphold a “non-dualistic” “God” as you write, “The transcendent, nondualistic revelations of the One and the Logos have absolutely no gender of any type whatsoever in them, and are radically different from anything implying human forms.” I absolutely agree with this as well. But many people need an image, whether male of female to make the Divine seem real for them. But I disagree that “’nondualism’ has often been sidelined and trivialized into a mere footnote of theology.” Matthew often writes about non-dualism and his book, NAMING THE UNNAMEABLE he has a whole section on the “Nameless God.”
This reminds me of the deep stillness, silence and timelessness one experiences near the full term of ones pregnancy about a week before you give birth. A blessed state that the Mother feels as the child floats in the darkness of her womb before being born into the light in its own time.
I dreamed there was a goddess statue
Revealed in the silt and sidewalk
On the edges of my childhood home.
Imagine my surprise to find her there
Unearthing a yearning
Her grainy, yellowish stone, the fragments of torso and head,
Inspiring a reverence for mystery. Thea, 2006
Theodora, Another beautiful poem for this day !!!