Conception and Perception: The Truth Lost In Translation
Many know the basic premise of the story of the birth of the Jesus Christ having been from the "Immaculate" Mother Mary. There has been a common understanding that Mary was what we would refer to in the modern world a "genital virgin". This meant that Mary's immaculateness came from being a sexual virgin or rather to say that she had never partaken in a physical sexual union prior to becoming pregnant with Christ. Of course, in the true sense of science this makes little to no sense at all. It makes even less sense when you realize that Mary was married at the time. Many theologists over the years have come to realize that there was a grave misunderstanding and misinterpretation of what was meant in the reference to Mary's "Virginity" and the words "Immaculate Conception". It makes far more sense that Mary was probably not a virgin in the modern sense of the word.
Considering the importance of the Virgin Mary in most major religions, any researcher or historian is struck by the scarcity of supporting evidence to this fact within theological references. St Paul never speaks of the virginal conception and all we learn from him in the New Testament is that Jesus had a Jewish mother. The few gospel allusions to Jesus' family in the accounts of his public life describe him as the son of Joseph and Mary, who had four more sons and several daughters. James, head of the Jerusalem church, is called "the brother of the Lord" and "the brother of Jesus surnamed the Christ" by Paul and the contemporaneous Jewish historian Josephus.
Outside the infancy narratives, it is never suggested that Jesus was not Joseph's real son and the full brother of James, Joseph, Simon and Judas. Nor does the New Testament ever state that Mary remained a "virgin". In fact, Matthew seems to contradict this when reporting that Joseph abstained from "knowing" her until the birth of Jesus. The earliest source of Mary's lasting "virginity" is the legendary first gospel of James. From its late-second-century non-Jewish author derives also the tale that Joseph was old, a widower whose children from a former marriage were known as Jesus' brothers and sisters.
The doctrine of the "virginal pregnancy" is based on the accounts in Matthew and Luke. Mark and John ignore his infancy. Not even Matthew and Luke show any awareness in their chronicle of Jesus' public life of the details listed about his birth. The infancy narratives are best understood as late additions to Matthew and Luke.
In Luke the "virginal conception" was announced to a girl on the point of marrying Joseph. Mary was baffled. How could she become a mother before they had "known" each other in a ( no pun intended) "biblical sense" ? One may wonder whether her astonishment resulted from the knowledge that, not having reached the age of puberty, she was not yet ready for motherhood, for virgin in Jewish parlance could designate a girl too physically immature to conceive. The angel, in his answer, seems to argue that God could allow the pre-pubertal Mary to conceive just as he had caused the post-menopausal Elizabeth to become pregnant. Again in Jewish parlance, a married woman past child-bearing age was a virgin for a second time.
But what if it was not Mary's physical body or sexuality that was "virginal" in the modern understanding? When you look at the term conception as being synonymous to the word perception, especially with correspondence to its relationship with human consciousness, you can re-adjust to the more likely interpretation that Mary was a spiritual virgin or immaculate in her perceptions of the material world. In this way she was chosen by the universal God head to conceive and teach a child that would be born with their divine spirit intact and raised by a mother who would properly guide it toward the purposes of becoming a "Messiah".
What is important is to view the "virgin birth" of Christ metaphysically, beyond the literal. Mary represents the purity of consciousness necessary for us to become aware of our Christ nature. A dawning of "Truth" in our consciousness.
Considering the importance of the Virgin Mary in most major religions, any researcher or historian is struck by the scarcity of supporting evidence to this fact within theological references. St Paul never speaks of the virginal conception and all we learn from him in the New Testament is that Jesus had a Jewish mother. The few gospel allusions to Jesus' family in the accounts of his public life describe him as the son of Joseph and Mary, who had four more sons and several daughters. James, head of the Jerusalem church, is called "the brother of the Lord" and "the brother of Jesus surnamed the Christ" by Paul and the contemporaneous Jewish historian Josephus.
Outside the infancy narratives, it is never suggested that Jesus was not Joseph's real son and the full brother of James, Joseph, Simon and Judas. Nor does the New Testament ever state that Mary remained a "virgin". In fact, Matthew seems to contradict this when reporting that Joseph abstained from "knowing" her until the birth of Jesus. The earliest source of Mary's lasting "virginity" is the legendary first gospel of James. From its late-second-century non-Jewish author derives also the tale that Joseph was old, a widower whose children from a former marriage were known as Jesus' brothers and sisters.
The doctrine of the "virginal pregnancy" is based on the accounts in Matthew and Luke. Mark and John ignore his infancy. Not even Matthew and Luke show any awareness in their chronicle of Jesus' public life of the details listed about his birth. The infancy narratives are best understood as late additions to Matthew and Luke.
In Luke the "virginal conception" was announced to a girl on the point of marrying Joseph. Mary was baffled. How could she become a mother before they had "known" each other in a ( no pun intended) "biblical sense" ? One may wonder whether her astonishment resulted from the knowledge that, not having reached the age of puberty, she was not yet ready for motherhood, for virgin in Jewish parlance could designate a girl too physically immature to conceive. The angel, in his answer, seems to argue that God could allow the pre-pubertal Mary to conceive just as he had caused the post-menopausal Elizabeth to become pregnant. Again in Jewish parlance, a married woman past child-bearing age was a virgin for a second time.
But what if it was not Mary's physical body or sexuality that was "virginal" in the modern understanding? When you look at the term conception as being synonymous to the word perception, especially with correspondence to its relationship with human consciousness, you can re-adjust to the more likely interpretation that Mary was a spiritual virgin or immaculate in her perceptions of the material world. In this way she was chosen by the universal God head to conceive and teach a child that would be born with their divine spirit intact and raised by a mother who would properly guide it toward the purposes of becoming a "Messiah".
What is important is to view the "virgin birth" of Christ metaphysically, beyond the literal. Mary represents the purity of consciousness necessary for us to become aware of our Christ nature. A dawning of "Truth" in our consciousness.
The "Virgin" or "Christ" Consciousness
Many who speak of and on the topic of personal transformation do so in the context of an impactful experiences, a moment in life which "forced" them to "see the light". But experience in itself is never transformational. It all depends on how we respond to it and our perceptions of the world around us and on what is "happening". While losses, medical crises, sudden death or loss, spiritual experiences and many other things can lead to an awakening, this is far from an automatic regard for the divine. All can easily be ignored as we respond in our default , "auto-pilot" mode by returning to the status quo of an unspiritual life presence. Properly understood transformation always involves deep changes in two things – our identity and our consciousness. In terms of our personal spirituality, this involves much more than merely becoming like the Messiah(s). It involves nothing less than taking on the mind and heart, identity and consciousness that is held in the title of "Christ". It is not just "seeing" life as the Messiah(s) had but seeing through the same eyes of perception. It must also not be mistaken for just experiencing a relationship with the Messiah(s). It is allowing the consciousness in which we abide and that abides in us to be such a deep foundation of our identity that everything we experience is experienced through what we refer to as the "Virgin Consciousness" with an attempt at the immaculate perception and identity. St. Teresa spoke of transformation as finding one’s self in God and God in one’s self.
At the core of this discovery is taking on the mind and heart, identity and virgin consciousness that embodied Christ and many Messiah(s) after. In Christ consciousness, the boundaries between yourself and God will become somewhat blurry and this is as it should be. This is not a mental psychosis but unitive vision and is part of authentic spiritual transformation toward re-uniting with our divine soul center. As we move toward our center, our own being and the divine being become more and more mysteriously interwoven. Meister Eckhart speaks of a place in the depths of our soul in which God alone can dwell and in which we dwell in God. Meeting God in this place, we are invited to sink into the eternity of the Divine essence that fuels our spiritual flame and connects us to the unity of the cosmos. It is important to remember that we never "become" the Divine essence of Christ but are merely returning to ourselves. Christ consciousness does not, therefore, involve a confusion of us and God but it is showing us that God has always been a part of us and in turn, we have always been a divine part and crafter of creation within the Universe. In union with God, human personality is neither lost nor converted into a "separate" divine personality. This dance into a deeper awareness of ourselves in God (and in all things) may be part of the transformational journey of spirituality. That said, oneness with God is not supposed to be a private experience. It is not just "you" and God that are one, but all creation living, moving, experiencing and have their being in God because everything that exists is held in the unity that is consciousness, light and awareness.
The old joke about the mystic who walks up to the street food vendor and says, “Make me one with everything” misses the point. You are already one with everything and all that is absent is your perception or awareness of this. This awareness is the gift of the immaculate perception or Christ Consciousness and identity. Slowly we begin to see that both the one and the many are held together in The One – The Eternal Androgynous Godhead. As we come to know our self within this One, we also come to know our oneness with all that is held by the One. So doing, we see and recognize our self to be much more than the separate individual we normally take our self to be, the self that has been shaped and molded in your human ego by externally cultivated perceptions who and what you truly are. We know ourselves to be one with this immaculate perception and one with all that is which allows us to engage with all of creation in God’s transformational work and in crafting the world in which we dwell. This work must start with us but should never end there. The whole point of this work is Creation's love for all things in existence – a love that should now be ours as we have taken on not just the mind but also the heart of the Virgin Consciousness and are no longer bound by the dogmas and programs of fear and control which we have allowed to keep us separate from our divinity.
At the core of this discovery is taking on the mind and heart, identity and virgin consciousness that embodied Christ and many Messiah(s) after. In Christ consciousness, the boundaries between yourself and God will become somewhat blurry and this is as it should be. This is not a mental psychosis but unitive vision and is part of authentic spiritual transformation toward re-uniting with our divine soul center. As we move toward our center, our own being and the divine being become more and more mysteriously interwoven. Meister Eckhart speaks of a place in the depths of our soul in which God alone can dwell and in which we dwell in God. Meeting God in this place, we are invited to sink into the eternity of the Divine essence that fuels our spiritual flame and connects us to the unity of the cosmos. It is important to remember that we never "become" the Divine essence of Christ but are merely returning to ourselves. Christ consciousness does not, therefore, involve a confusion of us and God but it is showing us that God has always been a part of us and in turn, we have always been a divine part and crafter of creation within the Universe. In union with God, human personality is neither lost nor converted into a "separate" divine personality. This dance into a deeper awareness of ourselves in God (and in all things) may be part of the transformational journey of spirituality. That said, oneness with God is not supposed to be a private experience. It is not just "you" and God that are one, but all creation living, moving, experiencing and have their being in God because everything that exists is held in the unity that is consciousness, light and awareness.
The old joke about the mystic who walks up to the street food vendor and says, “Make me one with everything” misses the point. You are already one with everything and all that is absent is your perception or awareness of this. This awareness is the gift of the immaculate perception or Christ Consciousness and identity. Slowly we begin to see that both the one and the many are held together in The One – The Eternal Androgynous Godhead. As we come to know our self within this One, we also come to know our oneness with all that is held by the One. So doing, we see and recognize our self to be much more than the separate individual we normally take our self to be, the self that has been shaped and molded in your human ego by externally cultivated perceptions who and what you truly are. We know ourselves to be one with this immaculate perception and one with all that is which allows us to engage with all of creation in God’s transformational work and in crafting the world in which we dwell. This work must start with us but should never end there. The whole point of this work is Creation's love for all things in existence – a love that should now be ours as we have taken on not just the mind but also the heart of the Virgin Consciousness and are no longer bound by the dogmas and programs of fear and control which we have allowed to keep us separate from our divinity.
Mary Magdalene: The Divine Feminine of Christ Consciousness
When you understand that the universal Godhead is an androgynous being you also being to understand that Christ Consciouness required both a divine Masculine aspect as well as a Divine Femine aspect to be wholly ( or "holy") centered and balanced in it's perceptions. Many know of the woman who shared a special relationship with the Messiah known as Jesus Christ but who is Mary Magdalene really? The figure we meet in the dogmatic gospels is commonly referred to and spoken of as a "repentant whore", redeemed by her devotion to a male saviour. She is sometimes imagined as the consort of Jesus, or the beloved disciple. But in all cases she remains a woman, defined by her sexuality and her relationships. To understand the true divinity of Mary Magdalene and the part of the Virgin Consciousness her eternal spirit is held within as the divine feminine aspect of the Messiah we need to put all these images away and understand her as a figure symbolic of our deepest inner abilities. Mary Magdalene as an emanation of the Divine Feminine origins of the cosmos symbolizes one's ability to bring the stillness and silence of Divine Presence, and the creative power of the universe, to your Earthly form, You yourself are rooted in the Divine and have the latent capacity to bring Divine Presence, and the abundant creativity that flows from it, into the physical world.
Divinity is Beyond Gender
While we remark upon this sentiment multiple times on the journey of spirituality it is essential, and bares repeating, to fully understand that the original names of God – or the Creator and it's Divine attributes – that are given in all accurately translated scriptures are androgynous and beyond a single gendered identity. We have allowed ourselves to have been misled for thousands of years by the dogmatic and controlling ideas of a false and femininely vilifying patriarchal mindset that interprets the Divine as being only masculine in nature. How have we let ourselves be so severed from our Divine Mother of creation that dwells in and is God and us.
Here are a few of the most commonly used original and correctly translated Hebrew names of God, with their meanings:
Ehieh – I AM;
YHWH or Jahveh – To be-Presence – Fullness of Life;
Elohim – Absolute life, source of every living thing;
Shekinah – Presence.
All these titles or names denote the formless essence and unity of all that is, containing the potential of both our Divine Feminine and Divine Masculine aspects that make us whole and most accurately "made in the image of creation itself" as complete beings. Elohim most specifically appears in the first verse of Genesis as the "Creator of Heaven and Earth". The stillness of Divine Presence continually gives birth to the creative spiritual universe, which is the formless beginning of the space-time which we inhabit. Creation is not a past event: it is the ever-present here and now. which we are constantly existing and learning in on behalf of creation on a material plane of existance through the facsimile of what we are perceiving as time. Out of this formless creative movement that inhabits all consciousness and all things comes all the form and matter of the cosmos which we perceive on a daily basis.
To the unconscious mind matter appears fixed and solid. Through spiritual awakening, we begin to see the depths of the heavenly universe that underlies the material world. In other words – “the Kingdom of Heaven is here now.” Mary Magdalene represents the awakening of this realization within us. We begin to understand that Mary represents and embodied that feminine triune flame or trinity as the Triple Goddess of the Gospels. Mary is a re-working of those divine feminine aspects before her such as the Babylonian Inanna, Ishtar, Astarte and Isis: her aspects are the Mother, the Maiden (or virgin) and Grandmother (or Crone) – Intuition itself, inner wisdom, and the keeper and guardian of the material earthly flesh and bone world.
The Hebrew name Miriam (Mary) can be translated in various ways, but the letters taken as Hebrew ciphers mean; the flow of creative mutable power, containing as principles, the seeds of absolute life; Creative Presence in Space – as Space, which allows life to take form, and become all that we experience as the physical world, the Earth and the Cosmos. It is for this reason she is called the Divine Mother, the Womb of Space, and the Great fertile Ocean.” You see the Magdalia in all her wondrous and mysterious presence is the darkness of space itself. She is the spirit that looked upon the light and shaped it in their image within herself with the seed of the Divine Masculine aspect of the universe with is represented by pure light energy and "intelligence". In Hebrew the origin of "Magdalene" is "Migdal" which means “tower,” “fortress:” that is, a deepening awareness of inner creative strength and conscious presence that exists as your core or essence. In Aramaic (spoken Hebrew), “Magdala” means “tower” and “elevation, to grow great, and magnificent.” This means to grow great and to elevate consciousness in the spiritual sense. This is to say that the Magdalene symbolizes an elevated place of consciousness where you can see with clarity of vision ( immaculate perception or the virginal Christ consciousness) and the power and strength to hold space, in which creativity can take place in each moment. Magdalene represents the "divine darkness" of the central conduit of consciousness within the six directions of space, connecting I AM – presence with spirit (the formless), soul (form), and matter (the body). It is the darkness which exists so that the light may be seen and take shape.
The Seed of Life.
"As you begin to breathe consciously, the six directions of space, blossom from the central core of your eternal self."
Mary Magdalene, in the form of Cosmic Connectivity, represents your initiation into higher awareness just as her Divine Masculine Counter-part Christ does via "Light" and knowledge. As we have previously referenced this often comes as a result of changes taking place in your life that are not always comfortable or perceptively "desirable". However such changes are necessary as they open the way to the realization of a greater consciousness than the corporeal/ material mind, and deepening awareness of the universal creative powers of life flowing through you and all things. She is the path, or way, of unconditional love spoken about in various biblical stories. To give a metaphor that accurately encompasses the androgynous Virgin Consciousness would be to say that it is both the flowing river and its supporting banks.
Magdalene is the stillness behind all movement; supporting all life. When you silence the mind, you begin to notice that all movement continually emerges out of this stillness: the creative powers of the universe expressing themselves continuously through the diversity of all life. Through the conscious breath, you begin to feel that you are intimately connected to the whole of life. You begin to embrace the "darkness" from which all creation was shaped and born instead of fearing it.
This "cave" or "womb" is the darkness that nurtures and gives birth to true Inner Wisdom.
“The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure that you seek”
- Joseph Cambell
Mary the Wisdom Keeper – The Gospel of Mary
Little was known until recently regarding the Gospel according to Mary Magdalene, fragments have been found in the Nag Hammadi manuscripts and also some later texts, circa fifth century, that belonged to the Coptic Church. Her teachings focus on the dissolution of thought forms in which we are entrapped, the end of the illusions of separation from the One Eternal Thing that she and Christ understood to be both themselves and God. The teachings do not ask you to believe in anything but Instead you are asked to embody the virginal consciousness which ( in it's Divine Feminine aspect) speaks to awakening in yourself the ability to be still, silence your mind, and realize the creative space and Divine Spark that exists within you eternally as "Spirit" and that is always accessible to you and for you as a bridge to the cosmos. This is to be a conscious human being, taking responsibility for your inner world and what you do and say in the outer world. This is what makes the "Kingdom" here now. This is what decides whether your reside in "heaven" or "hell". You are your own lock and key to the Divine that resides within. You awaken from the dream of the ego that identifies itself with material form and has programmed you away from your true self out of fear. It releases and breaks the shackles of all that is bound by material "attachments" outside of love and truth.
In her story Mary Magdalene is referred to as someone who prostitutes herself. Although our sexuality and our creative spiritual life are one, it is not simply the sexual aspect of our creativity that the stories refer to. What Mary "prostitutes" as a young and naive woman are her creative powers. This is the condition of all spiritually unconscious humans – both men and women.
When we are unconscious of our spiritually we identify ourselves with our unobserved thoughts. We then become possessed by emotionally charged thought forms which we allow to enter our "kingdom" and give away our "power" as divine beings. This is the root of all our anxieties and fears and all our egotistical and uncontrolled behaviors. While we are in this non-spiritual state we give away our inner powers to those who would use us or take advantage of us.
The Feminine Face of the Christ Mary becomes aware of Jesus and then the title or "being" of Christ in herself, not as a separate person but as her own inner creative spirit. This is the end of a subject – object relationship with life; knower and known are realized as the One Eternal Thing. This correct version and understanding of Christ contains the essence of both female and male as a state of consciousness – the realization of your own Being. Jesus (Greek) Joshua (Hebrew) is the personification of the creative spirit of every human being. Mary as the feminine aspect of the Christ, and her inner commitment to the unity of all things, is an enlightened human being. As you yourself realize this you no longer give away or lose your creative powers, but contain, and use them with awareness (emotional alchemy). As a spiritually conscious being you can no longer be used or manipulated by your ego, or the unconscious egocentric people around you. You are then able to help others find this ability in themselves.
As an spiritually conscious awakened being you are aware of the world of forms in which you move. At the same time, there is increased awareness of the formless creative presence out of which all form continually emerges, and into which it continually returns.
At your core is the source of all consciousness, the Eternal Presence within humanity that gives space in which creative life unfolds.
Divinity is Beyond Gender
While we remark upon this sentiment multiple times on the journey of spirituality it is essential, and bares repeating, to fully understand that the original names of God – or the Creator and it's Divine attributes – that are given in all accurately translated scriptures are androgynous and beyond a single gendered identity. We have allowed ourselves to have been misled for thousands of years by the dogmatic and controlling ideas of a false and femininely vilifying patriarchal mindset that interprets the Divine as being only masculine in nature. How have we let ourselves be so severed from our Divine Mother of creation that dwells in and is God and us.
Here are a few of the most commonly used original and correctly translated Hebrew names of God, with their meanings:
Ehieh – I AM;
YHWH or Jahveh – To be-Presence – Fullness of Life;
Elohim – Absolute life, source of every living thing;
Shekinah – Presence.
All these titles or names denote the formless essence and unity of all that is, containing the potential of both our Divine Feminine and Divine Masculine aspects that make us whole and most accurately "made in the image of creation itself" as complete beings. Elohim most specifically appears in the first verse of Genesis as the "Creator of Heaven and Earth". The stillness of Divine Presence continually gives birth to the creative spiritual universe, which is the formless beginning of the space-time which we inhabit. Creation is not a past event: it is the ever-present here and now. which we are constantly existing and learning in on behalf of creation on a material plane of existance through the facsimile of what we are perceiving as time. Out of this formless creative movement that inhabits all consciousness and all things comes all the form and matter of the cosmos which we perceive on a daily basis.
To the unconscious mind matter appears fixed and solid. Through spiritual awakening, we begin to see the depths of the heavenly universe that underlies the material world. In other words – “the Kingdom of Heaven is here now.” Mary Magdalene represents the awakening of this realization within us. We begin to understand that Mary represents and embodied that feminine triune flame or trinity as the Triple Goddess of the Gospels. Mary is a re-working of those divine feminine aspects before her such as the Babylonian Inanna, Ishtar, Astarte and Isis: her aspects are the Mother, the Maiden (or virgin) and Grandmother (or Crone) – Intuition itself, inner wisdom, and the keeper and guardian of the material earthly flesh and bone world.
The Hebrew name Miriam (Mary) can be translated in various ways, but the letters taken as Hebrew ciphers mean; the flow of creative mutable power, containing as principles, the seeds of absolute life; Creative Presence in Space – as Space, which allows life to take form, and become all that we experience as the physical world, the Earth and the Cosmos. It is for this reason she is called the Divine Mother, the Womb of Space, and the Great fertile Ocean.” You see the Magdalia in all her wondrous and mysterious presence is the darkness of space itself. She is the spirit that looked upon the light and shaped it in their image within herself with the seed of the Divine Masculine aspect of the universe with is represented by pure light energy and "intelligence". In Hebrew the origin of "Magdalene" is "Migdal" which means “tower,” “fortress:” that is, a deepening awareness of inner creative strength and conscious presence that exists as your core or essence. In Aramaic (spoken Hebrew), “Magdala” means “tower” and “elevation, to grow great, and magnificent.” This means to grow great and to elevate consciousness in the spiritual sense. This is to say that the Magdalene symbolizes an elevated place of consciousness where you can see with clarity of vision ( immaculate perception or the virginal Christ consciousness) and the power and strength to hold space, in which creativity can take place in each moment. Magdalene represents the "divine darkness" of the central conduit of consciousness within the six directions of space, connecting I AM – presence with spirit (the formless), soul (form), and matter (the body). It is the darkness which exists so that the light may be seen and take shape.
The Seed of Life.
"As you begin to breathe consciously, the six directions of space, blossom from the central core of your eternal self."
Mary Magdalene, in the form of Cosmic Connectivity, represents your initiation into higher awareness just as her Divine Masculine Counter-part Christ does via "Light" and knowledge. As we have previously referenced this often comes as a result of changes taking place in your life that are not always comfortable or perceptively "desirable". However such changes are necessary as they open the way to the realization of a greater consciousness than the corporeal/ material mind, and deepening awareness of the universal creative powers of life flowing through you and all things. She is the path, or way, of unconditional love spoken about in various biblical stories. To give a metaphor that accurately encompasses the androgynous Virgin Consciousness would be to say that it is both the flowing river and its supporting banks.
Magdalene is the stillness behind all movement; supporting all life. When you silence the mind, you begin to notice that all movement continually emerges out of this stillness: the creative powers of the universe expressing themselves continuously through the diversity of all life. Through the conscious breath, you begin to feel that you are intimately connected to the whole of life. You begin to embrace the "darkness" from which all creation was shaped and born instead of fearing it.
This "cave" or "womb" is the darkness that nurtures and gives birth to true Inner Wisdom.
“The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure that you seek”
- Joseph Cambell
Mary the Wisdom Keeper – The Gospel of Mary
Little was known until recently regarding the Gospel according to Mary Magdalene, fragments have been found in the Nag Hammadi manuscripts and also some later texts, circa fifth century, that belonged to the Coptic Church. Her teachings focus on the dissolution of thought forms in which we are entrapped, the end of the illusions of separation from the One Eternal Thing that she and Christ understood to be both themselves and God. The teachings do not ask you to believe in anything but Instead you are asked to embody the virginal consciousness which ( in it's Divine Feminine aspect) speaks to awakening in yourself the ability to be still, silence your mind, and realize the creative space and Divine Spark that exists within you eternally as "Spirit" and that is always accessible to you and for you as a bridge to the cosmos. This is to be a conscious human being, taking responsibility for your inner world and what you do and say in the outer world. This is what makes the "Kingdom" here now. This is what decides whether your reside in "heaven" or "hell". You are your own lock and key to the Divine that resides within. You awaken from the dream of the ego that identifies itself with material form and has programmed you away from your true self out of fear. It releases and breaks the shackles of all that is bound by material "attachments" outside of love and truth.
In her story Mary Magdalene is referred to as someone who prostitutes herself. Although our sexuality and our creative spiritual life are one, it is not simply the sexual aspect of our creativity that the stories refer to. What Mary "prostitutes" as a young and naive woman are her creative powers. This is the condition of all spiritually unconscious humans – both men and women.
When we are unconscious of our spiritually we identify ourselves with our unobserved thoughts. We then become possessed by emotionally charged thought forms which we allow to enter our "kingdom" and give away our "power" as divine beings. This is the root of all our anxieties and fears and all our egotistical and uncontrolled behaviors. While we are in this non-spiritual state we give away our inner powers to those who would use us or take advantage of us.
The Feminine Face of the Christ Mary becomes aware of Jesus and then the title or "being" of Christ in herself, not as a separate person but as her own inner creative spirit. This is the end of a subject – object relationship with life; knower and known are realized as the One Eternal Thing. This correct version and understanding of Christ contains the essence of both female and male as a state of consciousness – the realization of your own Being. Jesus (Greek) Joshua (Hebrew) is the personification of the creative spirit of every human being. Mary as the feminine aspect of the Christ, and her inner commitment to the unity of all things, is an enlightened human being. As you yourself realize this you no longer give away or lose your creative powers, but contain, and use them with awareness (emotional alchemy). As a spiritually conscious being you can no longer be used or manipulated by your ego, or the unconscious egocentric people around you. You are then able to help others find this ability in themselves.
As an spiritually conscious awakened being you are aware of the world of forms in which you move. At the same time, there is increased awareness of the formless creative presence out of which all form continually emerges, and into which it continually returns.
At your core is the source of all consciousness, the Eternal Presence within humanity that gives space in which creative life unfolds.