{"id":21149,"date":"2022-03-18T11:01:19","date_gmt":"2022-03-18T15:01:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=21149"},"modified":"2022-03-18T11:01:19","modified_gmt":"2022-03-18T15:01:19","slug":"the-earth-is-at-the-same-time-mother","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=21149","title":{"rendered":"The Earth Is at the Same Time Mother"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Father Richard\nrecognizes the divine feminine has been at work at all times and in all places,\neven when she has not been affirmed or even recognized: <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today on many levels, we are witnessing an immense\nlonging for the mature feminine at every level of our society\u2014from our politics\nto our economics, in our psyche, our cultures, our patterns of leadership, and\nour theologies, all of which have become far too warlike, competitive,\nmechanistic and non-contemplative. We are terribly imbalanced.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Like the Christ Mystery itself, <\/strong>the\ndeep feminine often works underground and in mysterious ways, and\u2014from that\nposition\u2014creates a much more intoxicating message. While church and culture\nhave often denied women roles, offices, and formal authority, the Divine\nFeminine has continued to exercise incredible power at the cosmic and personal\nlevels. Feminine power is deeply relational and thus transformative, bringing\nnew life from both the womb and the symbolic tombs where we have locked away\nour hurt and pain. [1]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hear this magnificently\ncourageous poem from the Book of Proverbs 8:30\u201331:<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was by God\u2019s side, a master craftswoman, delighting\nGod day after day, ever at play in God\u2019s presence, at play everywhere in God\u2019s\nworld, delighting to be with the children of humans.\u201d [Father\nRichard:<\/em> Read Proverbs 8:22\u201331 to be both enthralled and shocked by this notion\nof Sophia as the feminine side of creation from the very beginning. Who had the\ncourage to talk this way in a monotheistic religion?<\/em>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The mystic and Doctor of the\nChurch Hildegard of Bingen (1098\u20131179) proclaimed the feminine aspects of God,\nchallenging both church and culture. Author and spiritual teacher Mirabai Starr\nconsiders Hildegard\u2019s relevance for our time: <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although Hildegard was recognized as a saint among her\nown people . . . over the ages, her teachings faded into obscurity. It has only\nbeen since the twentieth century, in light of a renewed interest in feminine\nspirituality, that Hildegard\u2019s transmission has been revivified. Her\nrecognition of nature as sacred and her outstanding musical gifts directly\naddress our contemporary hunger for a spirituality that is both socially\nrelevant and passionately alive. [2]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Starr explores Hildegard\u2019s\nvisions:<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hildegard was smitten with the creator and enamored by\nevery element of creation. Her mysticism is intimate\u2014erotic, even. She coined\nthe term viriditas <\/em>to evoke the lush, extravagant, moist, and\nverdant quality of the Divine, manifesting as the \u201cgreening power\u201d that\npermeates all that is. This life-giving energy is imbued with a distinctly\nfeminine quality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The earth is at the same time
\nmother,
\nshe is the mother of all that is natural,
\nmother of all that is human.
\nShe is the mother of all,
\nfor contained in her
\nare the seeds of all. [3]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Hildegard, the Son may be the incarnation of the Holy\nOne [in human form], but the Mother forms the very stuff from which the Word of\nGod issues forth into the world. [4]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Father Richard recognizes the divine feminine has been at work at all times and in all places, even when she has not been affirmed or even recognized: Today on many levels, we are witnessing an immense longing for the mature feminine at every level of our society\u2014from our politics to our economics, in our psyche, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21149"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=21149"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21149\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21150,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21149\/revisions\/21150"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=21149"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=21149"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=21149"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}