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Mayday, Mayday, Mayday
by Jeanne Leiter
cont. . .The month
of May was considered the first day of summer, named in honor of
Maya or Maia, the Virgin Goddess of Spring. So, May is a sacred
month for several reasons. On May first, each village would erect a
Maypole fashioned from a sacred tree. Sometimes, a pine tree which
had been decorated at Yule. The god’s phallus was lovingly planted
in Mother Earth–the Heiros Gamos (Sacred Marriage of God and
Goddess). White ribbons attached to the top represented the Virgin
Goddess, and red the Mother. Female dancers (ribbons in the right
hand), and male dancers (ribbons in the left hand) twine in and out,
weaving the ribbons, creating a birth canal embracing the phallic
tree. Males aid the virgin aspect of the Goddess to combine with the
Mother on the phallic pole.
Although the Maypole celebration has nearly become extinct in North
America, my friend remembers weaving one in grade school in the
1930's. When our 2010 Maypole was woven with multiple color ribbons,
the circular dancers sometimes wove under, instead of over. The
result was a unique weaving, never accomplished in the past, nor
will it ever be repeated in the future. And everyone, dancers and
spectators alike, ended up laughing, feeling the life force flowing
through us.
The traditional Beltane Fire symbolized the central hearth of the
community and represented the mystic divine fire at the center of
all things, whose spark of life Is carried in each of us. It was
traditional to jump the cattle over the fire (or at least to walk
the larger animals near the fire to be blessed by the smoke). Our
2010 celebration had everyone hold a handful of mixed herbs, putting
their intentions for the future into the herbs. Each stood before a
fiery iron cauldron, concentrating on their intentions. When ready,
they approached the Beltane Fire, tossed in the herbs and then
jumped over the fire and smoke of their intentions wafting into the
Universe. From the Beltane Fire to the Goddess’ ear.
So, the Maypole, the Fire, the flowers that surrounded us reminded
us that life is precious. This time of year we should think of what
we want to create in our lives. What we want to marry in our
relationships with friends, lovers, spouses, and children. What type
of actual or creative children we want to conceive for birthing in
the future.
Is there any connection of the life-affirming celebration of Mayday
and the distress call? Mayday is the English equivalent of the
French m’aidez (pronounced very close to mayday) which literally
means, “help me”. In 1927, the International Radiotelegraph
Convention of Washington chose “Mayday” as the radiotelephone
distress call. Proposing that a person, or pilot of the vehicle in
peril, state the word “Mayday” three times, then give their position
and name, then repeat “Mayday” again, three times.
Very straight forward. “Help me”, in French. What I propose is not
found in any factual articles, it is mere speculation on my part.
But, bear with me. May, named for the Goddess Maya, is a special
month. Mayday, itself, is the most life-affirming day in the yearly
cycle. We use the term, “Mayday” to ask for help. It is repeated
three times, the sacred number of the Goddess–Maiden, Mother, Crone.
I see the distress call as a prayer. Like any prayer, it can be said
(thought) anytime, not just when the boat is sinking. In fact, it’s
best utilized when you are first aware of the leak, before it takes
over and inundates the boat.
So, the next time you begin to feel overwhelmed, depressed,
forgotten–call on your mother, Maya, to come to your aid to help you
see that there are solutions to problems. Once you are aware of the
entirety of your problem, it’s no longer a problem, it’s just
something to handle. Do not be afraid to send out the signal,
“Mayday, Mayday, Mayday”. “Help me, help me, help me.”
“Dear Mother Maya, your daughter/son needs a little help with
_______.”
Mayday. Mayday. Mayday.
Man Made God
Excerpt from the "Foreword" of
Barbara G. Walker's
Man Made God
"Man is certainly stark mad; he cannot make a flea, and yet he will
be
making gods by dozens."
Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592)
I've known Barbara G. Walker for over a decade, after I contacted
her about
 using quotes from her books for my work The Christ
Conspiracy. She graciously agreed, we became friendly, and she has
continued to inspire me. Indeed, Barbara has been a muse for me all
these years, a living aspect of the Triple Goddess, a reflection of
the "Crone" in her purest sense. She has been not only a mentor and
muse but also a spiritual sister, whose wise ways should be emulated
while her sagacity is shared....
Barbara's previous texts concerning mythology, such as The
Woman's Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets and The Woman's
Dictionary of Sacred Symbols and Objects, provide a mass of
erudition compiled over decades
of research. Whenever I revisit these masterpieces, I am in awe of
how much information she has managed to record in those large tomes.
The essays here provide similar valuable knowledge, and are overall
a smooth read that will enchant and enlighten the reader at the same
time. Coming from a leader in the freethought community——and a
notable female voice therein as well——Walker's pearls of rationality
can be digested readily in this handy, portable format....
Life, Death and Bible Myths
In this collection, Barbara Walker recounts instances and epiphanies
from her own life, while exploring numerous important subjects
relating to the mysteries of human existence as a whole, including
our place in both life and death, as well as salient myths that
affect us to this day. For example, in discussing the influence of
Bible myths, Walker remarks:
We sing the hymn, "Morning Has Broken," which speaks of the Garden
of Eden "fresh from God's Word," and of God's literal footstep on
the first grass. We may think of it as a nice poetic metaphor,
though the writer of the lyric obviously thought of it as the truth.
But the story of Eden is not a nice poetic metaphor; nor is it true.
It is a lie born out of ignorance, and what’s more, it is a
pernicious lie that has caused an unimaginably huge amount of
unnecessary human suffering over the centuries. It is the source of
the doctrines of original sin, female inferiority and the damnation
of disbelievers.
The evils rooted in this myth still continue. There are still
millions of people willing to kill or to die for Old Testament lies.
There are millions of people who despise scientific enlightenment,
who forbid real education for their children, who hate their
neighbors if they disagree with Bible mythology. Battles are still
fought, and will go on being fought, over religious nonsense. This
is one of the greatest of human follies: Perhaps this is even what
might be called the real original sin.
In my experience over the many years I have been discussing these
subjects, Barbara G. Walker remains one of the few people I've
encountered with such a clear understanding of mythology and the
history of religious ideation——a comprehension without which we are
largely lost on many issues relating to religious beliefs.
In her deep grasp of comparative mythology, Barbara is bold in her
declarations and pronouncements concerning supposedly "historical"
biblical figures representing in reality ancient gods and goddesses
remade——and she is undoubtedly correct.
Gospel "Truths?"
...Barbara once said of my book Suns of God that she found
herself nodding in agreement on every page. In reading her book, I
found myself thinking about how alike our minds really are. Those
who enjoy my work will thus be delighted with this book, as it not
only demonstrates a pleasant and refreshing likemindedness but it
also reveals new and juicy information along the same fascinating
lines.
Barbara's analysis of the contents and history of the gospels rates
as one of the sanest around, making much more sense and based far
more on the evidence (and lack thereof) than is the received
Christian tradition. As audacious as I can be, Walker makes some
wonderfully direct comments that only she can "get away with," so it
has been with great glee that I have read and published them here!
Such as:
Today's more informed Bible scholars and theologians know perfectly
well that Jesus was never an identifiable single person, but rather
a composite figure drawn from numerous savior-god traditions. They
know that there never was a single coherent philosophy that could be
called Christian, dating from the early years of our era. But
today's theologians seldom dare to make this knowledge clear to the
general public. Why not?
The answer is money. If the real truth of "gospel truth" should
become widely revealed, the financial loss would be devastating.
...It is only when we sever knowledge of mythology, along with
goddess-worship symbolism and tradition——in other words, when we are
ignorant of a vast amount of human culture——that we can suggest
these various characters to have been "real" and "historical"
persons....
...[D]escribing the holocaust of the Native Europeans, Walker
remarks:
After the reign of Constantine I (272-337), as soon as the Church
attained political ascendancy in the Holy Roman Empire, it set about
destroying libraries and schools, burning books and outlawing
secular education. The contention of the Church fathers was that the
Last Days were at hand, and to waste time acquiring pagan learning
was futile and wicked. The old gods and goddesses were declared to
be devils, and a mighty effort was made to erase all records of
them. The only people permitted to be literate were priests, and the
only religious books permitted to be read were the Old Testament and
the few gospels selected to be part of the canon. Can anyone truly
fathom what a horror such a thing was?
During this centuries-long persecution, learning ground to a halt,
as temples and schools were destroyed, libraries burned and literacy
eradicated for centuries, in order for Christianity to be imposed
forcefully upon a more pliable——and ignorant——people. Ancient
cultures——our ancestors’ native cultures——were denigrated and
devastated, leaving a bad taste in our collective mouth for hundreds
of years.
Furthermore, with this intense anti-literacy atmosphere, there were
few writers to record history and opinion——one of the major reasons
this period is called the "Dark Ages" (c. 500 to 1000 AD/CE).
Between this social ill and the massive burning of books, very few
texts have survived from that era.
In addition to the forced ignorance, torture and genocide, the
sexism and misogyny of the organized Christian Church that Walker so
adeptly exposes here are breathtaking in their scope, breadth and
depth....
The Goddess and the Woman
Over the decades, Barbara Walker's work has helped to restore the
lost but long record of goddess worship, a subject both fascinating
and momentous. In reading her essays, I was struck by just how
impoverished in this regard are the current monotheistic faiths,
which utterly omit rich and feminine aspects of the world's lengthy
and vital religious and mythological history. As may be expected of
Walker's work, this book too brings out the lost, hidden and largely
forgotten history of the Goddess, the divine feminine and women's
sacred myths, traditions and secrets in general. And, as usual,
Barbara does an outstanding job of raising these important issues
and making them interesting to people of both genders. Indeed, men
in particular may be interested to know what they have been missing
all these centuries under patriarchal domination.
The tremendous disservice done to humanity by the destruction of
longstanding sacred icons and by the suppression of goddess worship
is still being felt in the enormous misogyny and sexism that
permeate today's patriarchal religions and cults. This fact is made
perfectly clear in this book, which hopefully will inspire many
impassioned discussions and debates about the blatant oppression of
and cruelty shown towards women over the past millennia of male
dominance.
This book's emphasis on the abuse of women by religious fanaticism
is understandable since Barbara is a woman and since such abuse has
been relentless over the last several thousand years in some places.
The
current climate is superior in certain areas, but, as Barbara says,
"Women who cling to the biblical worldview will never achieve their
full humanity." That assertion applies also to orthodox and
fundamentalist views in the holy texts of other religions and cults,
including and especially Islam.
Walker may well be right to suggest that a significant restoration
of knowledge about the divine feminine will go a long way in
bringing about peace on planet Earth...
As concerns my editing of this fine and enlightening work, I have
added all chapter subtitles, created a 300+-source bibliography and
a 24-page index, and included numerous additional citations and
annotations therein, which are appended as endnotes at the back of
the book and marked "EN." Moreover, all 120 illustrations were
handpicked and formatted by me as well....
Finally, as can be seen, the meaning of the title Man Made God
is clear enough: Rather than representing a set-in-stone reality,
the notion of God has changed over the millennia, depending on the
culture and perception by the human mind. Hence, it is man who makes
gods and God. Barbara G. Walker demonstrates that fact quite
abundantly in this series of insightful essays....
D.M. Murdock
U.S.A.
April 2010
Click here to order book through Temple of the Goddess Amazon Site
You are
sitting around a fire after a hard day of work. The air cools and
the sun sets, the frogs and crickets begin singing as the sky
darkens. Suddenly the person you have been eagerly awaiting leaps to
the center of the circle. Your Shaman begins her story. You have
heard the story a hundred times, but the antics of the animals and
the wisdom in the story never fail to give you pleasure. As she
weaves her tale, the knowledge that every thing is alive, carrying
its own power and wisdom, soothes your soul.
Let us join together, in this virtual circle, and share these Animal
Tales. Let us once again feel how the stories connect us to the
natural world and remind us that we are all part of a vast Circle of
Life. Listen now as the Shaman's animal stories whisper tales of
that power and wisdom in your ear.
Tonight it is a Spider tale. Spider Medicine
teaches us about being creative, they are the Master Weavers,
weaving stories and dreams.
How the Spider Taught Woman
to Spin
An Argentinean Tale
By Natalia Belting
Once upon a time, women did not know how to weave. They did not even
know how to spin thread.
Two old women went to Spider's house and hid themselves. Spider did
not see them. She did not know they were watching her. She began to
spin. At noon she hung her bag of thread up in the doorway and went
away.
The women came out of hiding. "Take the bag quickly," one of the
women said. They hurried away before Spider could return and find
them.
"Come see what we have," the women called when they got back to the
village.
Everyone came out. The women left their cooking pots. The men left
their talking. The children left their games. Everybody crowded
around.
"We have Spider's thread," one of the women said.
"What kind of wool did Spider use?" one of the men asked. "It is not
sheep's wool," another man said, looking at it.
"It is made from the pod of the yuchan tree," another man said.
"Well, then," someone else said, "let us gather the pods and spin
our own thread."
All the village went out to where the yuchan trees grew. The boys
climbed the trees and shook the branches. The women and girls
gathered the pods in baskets. The men watched to see that Spider did
not discover what the boys and women and girls were doing.
"When we have thread, we will weave cloth," one of the women said.
"We will make ponchos," another woman said.
They tried to spin the fiber from the yuchan pods. But they could
not make a strong thread. It broke. They could not even get a bag
full of thread.
"Spider did not use yuchan pods at all," one woman said.
"The men were wrong," another woman said. "Spider used sheep's
wool."
"Then we must get sheep's wool."
"How can we? Only Partridge has sheep. He is the Master of Sheep."
"And he will not give us any."
"He is greedy."
The women went back to the village. They called Fox, "We need
sheep's wool. Can you get Partridge to give us some?"
Fox swelled up. He was an important person. "Master of Sheep is my
friend. He will give me some sheep for you."
"I will not give you any sheep," Partridge said when Fox asked him.
"Just one sheep," Fox begged.
"No sheep. They are mine."
"A basket of wool, then."
"No sheep. No wool."
Fox did not go back to the village. He did not want the women to
know that Partridge would not give him any sheep.
The women called on Toad. And Toad called on Partridge.
"I will not give you any sheep," Partridge said.
"Well, for that I am sorry," Toad said. "Before I leave, let me have
a drink of water."
Partridge, the Master of Sheep, showed Toad the deep pool where he
kept his water. Toad drank. He drank all the water in the pool. He
looked at Partridge. "Let all the water in your jars disappear," he
said.
All at once there was no water anywhere. There was not even any
water for drinking or cooking.
Partridge was thirsty. Partridge was hungry. He had nothing to
drink. He could not cook his food.
"Please, Toad," Partridge begged, "Give me some water."
"No wool, no water," Toad said.
"Take my whole flock," Partridge said.
Toad called back the water. First it came in big drops out of the
sky. Then it crept back into the wells. Then it filled up the pools.
Partridge took a long drink. He filled his cooking jars with water.
He saw Toad herding his sheep down the path. He went on drinking
water.
Toad drove the sheep to the village. The women clipped the sheep
while the men watched to see that Spider did not come. The women
spun the wool into thread while the men talked about Toad. The women
wove the thread into cloth and made ponchos while the men talked
about Fox.
The women made ponchos for everybody, and the first poncho they gave
to Toad.
۞ ۞ ۞
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