2009

There are cycles within cycles. This millennium is often called The Awakening, in 2008 we experienced what is termed The Wheel of Becoming, and in 2009 we move into the energy of Illumination.
2009 offers a higher vibrational level. Those with the Astrological signs of Leo or Aquarius significantly placed in their charts, those who have birthday dates on the 11th of the month, or those who have some other significant numerological 11, will feel the strength of this year's energy even more than others.
Throughout this year people will feel a strong urge to be receptive and to accept the vibrations surrounding them. When they do they can achieve a greater measure of growth. Throughout this year people are more sensitive which allows for more communication. However, the vibrations might be felt so intensely that acting normally can be a challenge. If the nervous tension becomes too great it is best to express harmony though cooperation and partnerships. Just remember that the word cooperation is mutual, no person or group will get to have another cooperate without expressing it, too.
2009 is a year for sharing new and exciting knowledge and feelings. It is also a great year for writing, even if it is a personal journal. Because insight will hit quickly there will be lots of poignant and wise thoughts being shared. This year will help everyone understand what it truly means to be human. There will be a greater amount of compassion and forgiveness of people's personal weaknesses. Without the need to approve of them so they can continue, past judgment errors and misguided actions are better understood and accepted.
The energy felt during the first half of this year will be in place to help create balance and to achieve what is necessary to experience the true purpose of living. The energy is a special gift that surrounds the world and offers an opportunity for people to discover or perhaps rediscover knowledge that moves us all towards enlightenment. Have no doubt this year will require people to cooperate with one another. And everyone needs to pay attention to their intuition because it will be very helpful in knowing when some relationship is not right or good and is therefore no longer to be continued.
In January the vibrations are strong for gaining awareness. Events and conversations are powerful. There will be a great deal of nervous tension. February brings forth greater awareness and criticism. It is a time of discoveries that are confusing and disturbing but necessary for balancing out the past. The month of March brings many changes that are more freeing, but also contain elements of restlessness and agitation. April will reflect some new awareness about individuals importance within family, love, and living situations that can bring an upset to the past order of things and ways. During the month of May there will be some difficulties related to communicating new ideas because people feel differently and those who have grown to expect past thoughts and actions will be disturbed by the changes. In June events occur for progress in work and business. July is a month of becoming aware about relationships that are stifling, but compassion is required to continue progress. During August there will be success, however, fearful people can intentionally slow down swift progress. September will see events occur that force a slower pace and patience will be needed as outcomes are awaited. In October people will feel the urge to look at the growth already achieved to become more creative. Expressions through art, music, and communication will be joyous and loving. Throughout November the energy is exceptionally powerful in its potential to make great strides of growth. There is a need for discipline and organization to resolve the confusion and criticism and prevent folly and delusions. December brings the ability to escape from the high emotionalism of the year. Life feels less restricted but it is important that all of the illumination grained throughout the year be used to construct a life that is based on new awareness.
2009 is a year for spirituality, philosophy, and metaphysics. The most import aspect of this year's energy is to balance out individual ideas that can be used as a foundation for sanctuary rather than continuing opposition.
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The award winning poet, Mason Clare, writes extensively about the ancient disciple of Numerology and is known throughout the United States and British Isles. All of her work is bases on extensive research and study of both ancient and modern philosophical teachings, where she has learned and continues to foster a merging of our physical, mental, and spiritual selves.

Interested in knowing your energies and those of your family and friends for the entire year? Go to www.Amazon.com and order Mason Clare's book Spiritual Years ISBN # 0-738-1167-X (Softcover) 0-7388-1166-1 (Hardcover)

Do You Feel the Fear?

For the past few days I've gone about my normal—that is not so normal lately—business and felt as though I could physically touch the fear in the air. All the people waiting for the elections to occur for both the Presidential and Vice-Presidential candidates and their cherished State Measures are really involved. Everyone is hopeful that changes will occur—changes that directly affect their personal lives.
Interestingly, there was a massive group of people, in the town where I live, who made up signs and stood on several corners of a major intersection making their thoughts known about voting down the "Marriage between one man and one woman" measure. Many of those people were afraid a riot would occur because they were going against the Christian Right!
I, myself, don't quite understand why people get so involved in what other people do in their private lives. I don't see us going back to burning witches, hanging Blacks (African Americans), buying and selling slaves, or forcing anyone to hide their sexual persuasions. I believe in our Constitution and Civil Rights for everyone.

The feelings found in history

In the early 1900s the well known historian George Malcom Young, noted "that the real, central theme of History is not what happened, but what people felt about it when it was happening."
We are certainly living in times that are offering up historical events and what people feel about them is paramount to whatever results will be achieved.
Perhaps I was hasty in concluding the ethnic and gender issues were safely resolved when Hillary Clinton conceded to Barack Obama. It hadn't occurred to me the Republican Party would attempt to open up that potential opposition again by bringing in a female dark horse running-mate for John McCain. Obama may have misread the high feelings of our national urge to have a woman step forward into our highest of offices. But then it also didn't occur to me that the Republicans would use their money as power to spin the issues, turning themselves into the protectors of family values, religious rights, and economic stability, just by saying they are.
Still, I will maintain my faith in the American people. I will continue to believe the vast majority are not willing to let any political group take our social, economic, religious, and political rights hostage by spinning the truths around when they are obvious to us.

Solidarity Continued

At first glance I thought the choice of a woman to run with McCain was going to bring divisiveness to this country, separating women, who are strongly or even moderately interested in feminist issues, from the Obama campaign. But, upon noting the political position of Ms. Palin it became apparent that only those who would vote for an "idea" without knowing the facts could possibly be willing to vote the McCain/Palin ticket. Rather than dividing, the action is actually a strong means of solidifying the citizens of this country who know cooperation is strength not a weakness.

Solidarity

You may not like Hillary Clinton or would have chosen her to be the next President of the United States of America, but come on, give her credit for being gracious in conceding to the majority in her political party. Both Hilary and her husband, the former President of our country, Bill Clinton did their part to unite the Democrats in their support of Barack Obama.

So now, maybe we won't have to experience the horror of the past when ethnicity and gender were used, by those who employed chaos to stay in power, against each other.

So Cute

A few days ago a young girl dressed in her cheerleader outfit knocked on my front door. When I opened it she asked if I would support the High School by paying her $10.00 to get my car washed. As I simply said, "No thanks," she turned on her heels in disgust. While closing the door I wondered if she was annoyed about me not succumbing to her cute little charms or whether it was because I didn't let her clean my obviously dirty car.
My husband asked me who was at the door and I told him some girl selling car washes, but also added what was going on in my mind. I declared that I don't mind the schools having sport activities and cheerleaders, but feel disturbed by the emphasis that continues to persist for young girls to be petite and cute. It just seems too much.
I am sure that some of my thoughts were connected to the movie my husband and I had watched the evening before the cheerleader showed up at our front door. We had watched the 2004 version of "The Stepford Wives" and I couldn't get over how the attitude, appearance, and demeanor of that young girl reminded me of the brain-altered women in the film.
Then a few days later I opened a copy of the Costco Connection magazine that came in the mail and my mind really got to whirling. One of the articles advised all of us older women to get with it and start wearing hip hugger jeans. Otherwise we are just, well, looking too old. I do wear those jeans, even though I don't have nor intend to get a belly button ring, and it took a few moments for me, one of those older women, to realize that the magazine article is there to sell those jeans that may not be flying off the Costco shelves. Thankfully I am wise enough to know the difference between wearing clothes that are the latest craze—based on my body type—and falling into some marketing trap. But, I'm still concerned about the hype that marketers use to create a contrived mind-set for the young—and perhaps not so wise—that being sexy makes you happier.
Well, should capitalism ever be held responsible for the life-styles it creates even when people are so often emotionally set-up to hate themselves when their bodies aren't the ideal depicted in the media?

Yes, it is okay to talk about politics

Just a few nights also I had a conversation with a couple of intelligent people who said that it is only right that all citizens of the United States of America support the George W. Bush administration since Mr. Bush was voted into his office as President by a majority of the people.
I was able to take their point, but responded back that what they suggest is: no matter what a person does once legally elected into office is…well, according to them, okay. As long as properly elected, all actions become right and just even if they include our President bending (and perhaps breaking) the laws to fit into his (and perhaps in future her) personal agenda.
I say no to that idea. It certainly sounds like a form of dictatorship to my ears.
When torture is authorized and then the word is bandied about with verbal hairs being split to determine what the term means there is a problem and I for one do not agree that all of us American loving citizens must support the current administration.
What say you?

Nostalgia vs Grief

You've got to wonder if there ever was a time when life was simply great. Has there ever been a time and place that deserves to be thought about in comfortable nostalgia? Was there ever a slow paced time where people were not sleep deprived and always being accused of doing or not doing their life right? Likely, no. It all depends on that half-full, half-empty thing. As each of us asks questions about our own lives it turns out that some of the time life is half-full, half-empty, and at others even over-filled.
Recently I spoke with a woman who is revolted by people who speak of incidents where prayer saved one of their loved one's lives. Her disgust comes from the feeling that her own prayers did not save her beloved. On hearing all of those platitudes she cannot get around her questions: Were my prayers not good enough? Were my prayers undeserving?
Perhaps we all need to be thoughtful before offering hope-filled condolences to a person who remains in the painfully unresolved grief of loss. That person is not in a safe emotional place and is unable to hear anything that smacks of sanctimonious clap trap, no matter how well meaning.
I am thinking there well may be only two prayers that can be justified, those of gratitude (thankfulness/praise) and guidance.

Numerology Page

We might think it’s silly, but most of us still take a peek at our horoscopes on the Astrology pages in Newspapers and magazines, right? Well, if you know of someone who is getting married this year have them check out the monthly “Numerology” page at www.prescottweddings.com where they can find out what energies can be expected on the day of their wedding. It isn’t even silly. I write the column under my nom de plum and can assure you it is all really real.

Beauty is really deep

Everyone has heard the old saying, “beauty is not just skin deep”, but what does that really mean? Of course it means that beauty comes from within. But, again, what does that mean?
A great deal of our physical body is affected by what we believe about the world in general and specifically regarding ourselves. People always know what it is they don’t want. They are often hard pressed to know what it is they do want. That is because we are always trying to fit into the world—as we know it.
Our history is not just about killing each other or looking hot. Fortunately, there are now more places to find out what else happened in our past. We can learn all sorts of interesting things that help us know about our world, making it simpler to discover who we are inside. Self-knowledge is a good way to know what we believe is beautiful.
A peacefulness inside is expressed as a warm character that others are attracted to and like to be around. So, is peacefulness beauty? Absolutely!

Is there more to history than killing each orther or looking hot?

There is certainly a wide range of topics along the grand pole of history. Likely the killing and destruction found in wars, which is not the only interest men have, is on one end while doing everything possible to be considered sexy, which is also not the only interest women have, is on the other.
But too often history about women is either found in Women’s History Departments of Universities or on what is called the “fringe” giving people the impression it isn’t very interesting or doesn’t affect their lives. Many people automatically connect the term feminism with violent beliefs about sexuality. Pro-Choice also includes having children outside the current legal boundaries and is not exclusively about exercising abortion. And all the men I know who are very much interested in equality for women, knowing full well it affects their ability to enjoy equality themselves, are turned off by the word feminism and what is available about the history of women in the main-stream market today.
I have taught private workshops on Dream Interpretation and Analysis from a Jungian perspective for a decade. Believe me, a person’s dreams are a reflection of what they believe about themselves. What we believe is based on what we are taught. A person’s well being or ill health is affected by self-esteem. We find ourselves experiencing physical pains caused by our fears until we make conscious choices. Knowing all history helps sort out our personal beliefs. Until then, women’s history continues to be thought of as “second class”.
Let’s face it, how many people are going to spend their highly limited free time reading “The Feminist Papers – Adams through Beauvoir”? Not too many, other than those required to read it when taking a course to get their college degree. Yes, there are some books that deal with the pioneering lives of women in our past. Most of it, however, continues to dwell on how women should be “super” achievers and be willing to over-achieve. The vast majority of non-fiction literature published about historical women during the past fifteen years is about the Goddess. There is certainly no problem with that—I used a great deal of it when researching my book, Infamous Eve, A History—other than it does not always attract the interest of the general reader.
Right now the history of women seems to fall into the perceived categories of: 1. Uninteresting, 2. A sales job on how women should continue to be everything to everyone, or 3. Goddess worship is the way for religion to be experienced so that everyone gets to be happy.
The biggest real problem is that most of the popular biblical history found in the main-stream is written about the men—heroes—even though those heroes were war mongers taking land belonging to others, murderers to get or keep their heart’s desires, and without a doubt control freaks. Other than the ones with a distinctly biased position, the religious histories written about women are few and far between. So much was ignored, suppressed, deleted, or plundered and re-written so that it appears to be about men instead that tenacity is required to actually write about it.
Too often exercising our free-will is still considered a bad option. Regardless of individual perspectives and beliefs about Equal Rights for Women, there is an undeniable existence of a barrier that keeps women on a level lower than men. As long as social customs and political laws bind women to men the biblical Eve will still be used to constrain women, especially regarding work, marriage, and children.
Past historical mistakes cannot be prevented from recurring over and over again when they remain unknown. When we do know what they are, the status quo, that keeps both women and men without equality, ends.

Is history being revisited?

Is the grand Universe offering us an opportunity to deal with a lesson in our history not previously understood? Are we re-living a version of the events that surrounded the ratification of United States Constitution’s 14th and 15th Amendments? Those events greatly concerned and involved two of our most important historical figures. Elizabeth Cady Stanton is the woman responsible for initiating women rights in this country and Frederick Douglass, who was born into slavery, is a major figure in the effort to release the United States of America from the horrors of slavery. They worked closely together, but in July, 1868 they had to face the fact that their primary objective of freedom for all did not survive when the legislators of the day banned together to block the powerful union of women and black people to only offer males the vote.

The 14th amendment said: “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude." The idea was to make sure freed slaves were not prevented from voting, but it only gave franchise to males rather than all citizens.

But then the Supreme Court case of Minor vs. Happersett allowed the individual states to determine which males got to vote anyway.

The cause of the amendments failure:
1. The rights of women were not included.
2. The Federal government did not prevent the individual states from initiating voter qualification laws like literacy tests and pole taxes.

Are we being beguiled into allowing the seemingly towering objective of gaining the highest office in the land by either a black man or a woman to deflect away from the primary objective and divide us so that no one really gains anything and those of us in this country who love it and care about equality are again torn apart in an attempt to undermine the power women and blacks exhibit together?

My gratitude is great

Publicity and marketing are extremely important to any author—known or especially unknown. Of course those who are well known have more publicity and thus free marketing. The rest must use whatever means are at our disposal to get our names and books known by an ever expanding audience.

Some of the groups who have given space on their web-sites to my book, Infamous Eve, A History are:

http://www.bookfetish.com/
http://www.wandakeesey.com/
http://www.mysteryfiction.net/
http://www.newbookreviews.org/
http://www.readerviews.com/
http://www.bookviews.com/
http://www.midwestbookreview.com/

I certainly am grateful to each and every one.

Hoorah for the internet

Information is a key element to freedom. One of the greatest events in our history is the ability for all sorts of knowledge to be available, to anyone interested, without the self-appointed watchers—meaning censors who generally have been made up of the wealthy because of the high costs involved in publishing, publicity, and marketing—preventing it.

The internet, although it can be abused, is one of the best ideas achieved on this planet! What I’ve found most interesting is that during the past 5 years it became possible to buy many more books from the traditional retailers than ever before then. Why is that occurring? Well, because the internet allows access to so much free information. Book stores and the libraries of colleges and universities are no longer in a position to block access to knowledge required by serious authors seeking facts and support for their own works. One of the most excellent out-comes is I no longer need to pay high shipping costs to get the books I need from Great Britain.

There are so many web-sites that with a small amount of effort previously little known works can be published and read. If one site says no, others will say yes. One of the sites that was pleased to publish my article on the Sacred Marriage is www.prescottweddings.com, which is one of the best places on the internet to get information about weddings—pre-history, history, and current.

March is Women's History Month

Last year the only program I saw about women on the History Channel during the month of March—Women’s History Month—was a documentary about pioneering on at 6AM on a single Sunday morning. I am hoping to see many more this year, but don’t forget there is a women’s radio program on the internet where topics of varied interest are aired on a regular basis throughout the year. Pat Lynch, Editor-in-Chief of http://www.womensradio.com is a great woman who uses her resources to speak with people who know there is more to history than killing each other or looking hot. I’ll be sure to let you know when I talk with her on “Speak Up!”.

The historical issue of health care in this country continues to be fraught with emotionalism, anger, and fear. It is very recent indeed that preventative health care options, like using herbs, have been considered so that wellness can be achieved without the direct intervention of those licensed by the American Medical Association.
I have spoken with lots of people over the past many years about their complaint: people who are illegal in this country or are on welfare get medical care when hard working people do not. The people voicing their opinions know that it is not a simple matter for them to show up at a doctor’s office or hospital to get medical attention because they, being employed, self-employed, under-employed, or with any form of asset, will be billed for all services rendered. They also know that is exactly why there are such high percentages of bankruptcies related to medical bills that are impossible for uninsured and even insured people to pay.
Those who do receive medical attention through some governmental, non-employed, circumstance have not and will not change. Rather than fighting the situation from that base and remaining in fear, it is high time that seeing the problem from the “them” perspective ends. The “them” stops as soon as everyone in this country becomes a “them” to get full health care benefits.

Where did the idea that information about our past—history—is “his story”? I find it amazing that knowledge of the past gets pigeon-holed into his and hers.

Okay, much of what was written over the past thousands of years was produced by men chroniclers. So what? Maybe it’s time to clarify why—it is either women or men—who get to tell the story.

I was recently told that my essay of the Sacred Marriage couldn’t be published on a “History” web-site because my degrees aren’t in History or Religious Studies. I do wonder why Metaphysics didn’t quality for Religious Studies because it certainly includes ontology, which means the theories about the nature of being and types of existence, as well as cosmology.

Any thoughts about that?

Thanks to all the publicity generated from Dan Brown’s fast-paced novel, The Davinci Code, millions have been introduced to the term, Sacred Marriage. However, his rather exciting description in the story is based on some unknown--very likely made-up--idea. Countless people have been stimulated by all the hype generated, yet I have not seen an article or main-stream book that truly gives the historical basis for the Sacred Marriage.

So here is mine: The Sacred Marriage by May Sinclair copyright 2006

Our historical knowledge of the Sacred Marriage has several renditions. The earliest known is from Mesopotamia, an area that is often indiscriminately called Babylonia or Assyria. In the ancient Near East super-natural powers were of an in-dwelling spirit, causing everything to be and to thrive. The spirit within a leafy or fruit-bearing tree or grove was female. In Babylon and Ugarit the Goddess of the tree or grove was called Ashratum, in southern Arabia she was named Atharath, while in Canaan the Goddess Asherah was depicted as “The Tree of Life”. Initially religions were based on fertility. One of the first people we know about in Mesopotamia, called Sumerians, were not local to the area, but, per their mythology, arrived from the Persian Gulf bringing knowledge of astronomy. The Sumerians worshiped a Sky-goddess, but merged their beliefs with that of the indigenous people venerating an Earth-goddess. They conducted a rite called the Sacred Marriage where a male consort was chosen annually by the Goddess incarnate to both protect and ensure abundances to her people. Without a doubt, the Sumerian Goddess was not part of an agricultural resurrection duo but was a solitary originating principle. Until sometime after the 4th millennium BCE (before current era), all of Mesopotamia was a theocratic Goddess worshiping, socialistic, matriarchal society. But that changed.
Mesopotamia was an area of great upheaval throughout several millennia. The agriculturists had enormous amounts of land dedicated to their Goddess. As pastoral peoples entered the area--peacefully or as invaders--with their herds, problems arose from differences in economic purposes. The nomads wanted open pastures and the Sumerians wanted enclosed lands to grow crops. To advance peace mercenaries were take-on from some of the semi-nomadic tribes and control was initially maintained over their hired warriors. But while retaining Indo-European traditions many of the newcomers also absorbed much of the Sumerian culture. In due course, becoming Mesopotamian kings themselves, the conflicts were between the earlier and later arrived nomadic groups.
The power held by the temples of the Sumerians was not usurped by secular or military authority for numerous centuries and only then because of the stress and anxiety caused by the ever increasing numbers of migratory groups all competing for the goods. Often the nomads moved into the area and simply accepted the traditions they found in place, but when there were religious difficulties efforts were made to have whatever deities they worshiped be added to the group of recognized goddesses and gods making up the Sumerian’s official pantheon. Or various aspects of their deities would be subsumed, meaning they were merged with those already present by using similar stories about each to integrate the newcomers.
Still, there is an important difference between the worship of gods in hunter societies who believed their priests, when in a trance, experienced transportation to the spiritual world and that of agricultural communities believing the Goddess entered into their priestess’ body when engaged in rituals. From the city of Uruk in southern Mesopotamia, Inanna, the Queen of Heaven was the astral deity linked to the planet Venus. Wearing a horned headdress signifying the moon, she was also symbolized by an eight pointed star and a ring post.
The Sumerian’s Sacred Marriage ceremony started with invocational singing as the Goddess descended into the High-priestess’ body. Once the Goddess entered the priestess a ritual bath took place as love songs were sung. Next the Goddess met her gift-bearing bridegroom at the gate and opened the door to him. Originally taking place in the abode of the Earth-goddess, a greenery adorned reed hut called a gigunu, the High-priestess, as the incarnated Goddess, declared the fate of her potential consort. Only when she favored the powerless priest, who had no authority of his own, was he next led to the wedding chamber where seated on a throne was crowned as her divine consort just before consummation of the marriage. The fertility of the entire area depended on the Sacred Marriage being correctly enacted at that holy place.
The Sumerians moved the gigunu atop the Temple ziggurat or stepped pyramid that represented the Cosmos, but much later the ziggurat was considered to be the home of a Mountain-god. Not until a strong male Nature-god was included in the ritual was the ziggurat considered a mountain top where the God was appeased and appealed to for preventing natural or man-made disasters. And it was only after the Akkadians moved out of Arabia into Mesopotamia in the mid-3rd millennium that the priestesses ultimately offered military and political advice received from the deities through oracles.
The Goddess was first worshiped as a solitary originating principle generating the gifts of life and abundance when incarnated into a woman priestess who expressed it through demonstrations of sex and birth. The Goddess, being a principle rather than a person, spread her abundance through sexual encounters with numerous virile young men. There are several legends of the Goddess and her lovers found in literature through-out the Near East. The stories suggest that the High-priestess chose a young lover who became her consort for the term of a year and was then sacrificed. The Sacred Marriage took place when the New Year Festival was celebrated at the Spring Equinox around March 21. Both human and vegetative seeds were sown. Parts of the festivities were enacted before the joyous people. The mystical part of the ceremony was conducted privately inside the gigunu. The Goddess exhibited her ability to bestow abundance through the sex act and its subsequent pregnancy. Throughout the summer the crops and baby grew. The harvested fields were celebrated at the Vernal or autumn Equinox on September 21, with the birth of the semi-divine child being rejoiced at the winter Solstice around December 21.
The mystical marriage and references to a bridegroom must not be confused with modern western ideas about marriage. The Goddess was not considered to be a wife nor mother figure. Rather, she was an originating principle that entered into a human priestess who then conferred abundance to her people as it was expressed through the sex act. Sex was a gift to humanity. It was sacred. The incarnation of the Goddess never had a long term husband. None of the rites performed in the temples were to show how marital relationships best work. They were expressions of the ever occurring seasons and a reassurance of the earth’s abundance. Attempts to alter that idea were made by the nomadic tribes insisting on their male God being an equal partner in creation. None-the-less, religious ideas and ideals are not easily over-turned--even by gods-of-might.
The earliest cities, Ur, Uruk, and Eridu found in the very southern part of Mesopotamia all grew up around a Temple. There were a number of titles for the priestesses and priests within religious orders of the ancient Sumerians, such as En and Naditu. One of the significant things about them is the women were not allowed to bear children although some were married. Like the Goddess Inanna, the priestesses remained childless. Yet, only after the Mesopotamian kings came from the nomadic tribes, was any child born to a priestess exposed to the elements and its fate.
Sargon of Akkad, who ruled during 2300 BCE, was rescued after being left to die at birth because his mother was a priestess at Kish. Other rulers born before and after Sargon claimed partial divinity from their goddess mothers, but were not exposed to infanticide. During Sargon’s period of history a priestess, as the incarnation of the Goddess, was only allowed to conceive a child during the Sacred Marriage to continue the hereditary rights of the reigning God-king. When Sargon obtained rites to divinity without being part of the reigning king’s family he raised a political challenge.
The Priest-kings were only incorporated into the Sacred Marriage, becoming the personification of a god between 2310-1651 BCE, when each king was deified during the ceremony to become divine throughout his lifetime. The Goddess was no longer solitary, ensuring abundances to her people during the Sacred Marriage, when her priestess was conferring divinity onto the king. During the altered ritual the Goddess Inanna, as an En, determined the qualifications of the aspirant ruler. Babylonian tables note Inanna had sexual intercourse with the king and through her cosmic power ensured his authoritative potency.
Originally the Sumerian religion indicated that all property, including land, belonged to the goddesses of the cities. Temple personnel were only the administrators and therefore nothing under their control could be bought or sold, only distributed. With the advent of gods-of-might, the concept of everything belonging to both the gods and goddesses remained, except the administrators were authorized to buy and sell everything on behalf of the deities. A city was theoretically the property of its main deity, so the Goddess had to be displaced for the God and his city to be identified together. The Temple was rededicated to the City-god while other shrines or smaller temples were built for his wife and children. Still, the Goddess continued to be the instrument used to secure kingship. On numerous Babylonian tablets there are inscriptions that clearly show the Goddess retained control of kingship__not the king.
All classes and cultures supplied daughters to the religious orders, including the Sumerians, Akkadians, and Assyrians. En, being either a male or female, was the spiritual head of the Temple, but holding the title involved more than participating in the religious rites of the Sacred Marriage. By the time the mystical marriage involved both religious and political functions the En was making decisions other than those of a spiritual nature. Certainly judgments were made at times other than when the Goddess incarnated into the High-priestess’ body. Eventually a female En was chosen because she was related to the reigning king.
It took thousands of years, but ultimately the priestesses were merely serving Nanna-Sin, the Moon-god as they represented the Goddess, Ningal, his wife and the mother of Utu or Samas, the Sun-god. Goddesses and gods living in the temples inside the cities were of the essence found within principles like truth and beauty, as well as cosmic phenomena such as the sun, moon, and earth. The Moon-goddess represented the power of creativity, but was superceded by a Sun-god when male power initiated the social move from a matriarchal to a patriarchal society. Property changed from being communal to personal--belonging to a god and king.
As often as the cities were sacked in Mesopotamia, they were rebuilt to allow business as usual for everyone. It was when the social structure went from a theocratic, socialist community to that of a hierarchical state, with a king at its head, that a change in the status of the goddesses and women are noted. Because the Goddess, called the “keeper of the storehouse” required constant protection, the Lugal, meaning great man, increased his standing to become a king. As military and economic powers were joined under the authority of the kings, the Lugal was inducted as an En priest, taking part in the Sacred Marriage. Ultimately accepting divinity for himself, the king succeeded in taking control of the temples’ earlier economic position and declared all lands belonged to the City-gods. His new power allowed him to take precedence over the Goddess and her priestesses. As the title and prerogatives of the Lugal progressed to permanent kingship it was inherited through dynastic royal succession with the palaces rivaling the temples’ wealth and influence. The Lugal, who controlled the judicial and military domains, when adding the obligations of an En that included the provinces of magic and ritual, took on the responsibilities for fertility and abundance of the harvests.
By then the New Year sacrifice included the king being held accountable for a good harvest. Sympathetic magic was correlated to the tears of the king bringing sufficient rain. A Babylonian tablet reports that if the king did not cry during the rituals it was a bad omen for the year. Eleven days prior to the Spring Equinox, as part of the New Year festival, the king, after being stripped of his insignia of office, was brought into the Temple’s inner sanctuary to be humiliated and struck. After his symbols of office were returned he was struck again. A tearful king signified that the deity was pleased. It was not until the first millennium BCE, at the point where the Sacred Marriage became only one phase of the New Year festival celebration, that the original separate rites of the Sacred Marriage and those specifically relating to the harvest were merged together.
Throughout three millennia the various law codes concerned the sacred women of the temples--their property, businesses, legal, and inheritance rights. As time progressed the laws became ever stricter for married women, yet worship of the goddesses and the sexual practices in their temples did not stop. Marriage to a man was separate from a woman’s sacred duty to perform sexual obligations in the Temple of the Goddess. The Goddess began as an originating principal. With the introduction of each male orientated or dominated society into Mesopotamia, her position was reduced until she ultimately ended up as a wife and mother figure supporting her consort and son by conferring semi-divine status to the kings.
Our second version of the Sacred Marriage--the one more or less referred to by Dan Brown--is quite different. It comes from the idea that males can only gain spirituality from females. In India we can look at the Kali and Shiva cult, which is a merger of yogic practices with the mysteries of the goddess concept connected to the cosmic eon, that included vulva and phallic worship along with human sacrifice. Sexual intercourse was believed to increase a god’s psychic powers so sages were trained to control their sexual actions__prolonging coitus without ejaculation. It was while participating in the Sacred Marriage that man gained renewal or immortality through the Goddess. The ceremony in India included the Goddess Kali placing a wreath of flowers on her bride-groom’s head or giving him an apple. Together the Kali priestesses and priests performed the Great Rite where the incarnated Kali initiated her consort Shiva into eternal union. Tantric poets said no man could know the Goddess until he also knew her death aspect, thus her consort, ritually slain, became the God incarnate--ever dying--ever-living.
Originally the Triple-goddess Kali was the creator, preserver, and destroyer, giving birth to time itself along with methods of measuring it: years, months, seasons, days of the week, twilight, night, dawn, and the lunar eons. With inclusion of the mathematically determined belief that earthly catastrophes are caused by planetary deviation, said to have originated by the Babylonians and Chaldeans, Indian conjecture established a version of its timing that equaled 12,000 years. The Great Year, originally based on the lunar cycle and its eclipse-predicting eon was changed to involve the earth in a universal apocalyptic revolution. The Goddess, thus altered, at a given point would protract into her dark and unformed aspect and the earth would be destroyed until she spoke the primal Word to create a new world. The change to a patriarchal position in India caused the female trinity to be superceded by a male one--Shiva. Kali first lost her Triple-goddess status to her consort Shiva, and then eventually her cosmic position to the Aryan Brahmin’s Brahma, successfully adjusting the Hindu trinity to become that of Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva.
That changed, too. By the mid-500’s BCE Buddhism took over. Buddha taught life is pain that comes from desire while wisdom is gained by halting all desire. Still, Buddhists believed a man could gain illumination by practicing Tantric rites because enlightenment resides in the sexual part of women. Unfortunately sexual desire was also considered evil because it leads to reproduction that stretches out the chain of life in reincarnation after reincarnation.
Another adaptation of the Sacred Marriage took place in the Jerusalem Temple. As in India, the Hebrews did now allow male priests to be unmarried because their invocations and spells would be ineffectual. Their wives provided them with spirit. The basic philosophy being that only through sexual union can either a God or a man gain contact to spirit and the reality of existence. An enlightened man gains apprehension through his feelings that are awakened by the awareness of his physical senses.
The palace and Temple in Jerusalem had all the splendors of Phoenician architecture along with the wisdom literature of Egypt and Arabia. Even having a serpent__the Jerusalem Temple was a vision of God’s paradise. Its doors and walls were decorated with palm trees, flowers, and Cherubim. There were twelve pairs of Cherubim: on the Ark, the veil separating the Holy of Holies, and on the ten sets of curtains. The location of the most sacred Holy of Holies within the Jerusalem Temple that housed the Cherubim-decorated Ark containing the images of Yahweh and his consort was called the Devir. Like the monarchs of the surrounding nations, the Davidic kings enacted the Sacred Marriage to ever restore fertility to the land. As in Mesopotamia the Goddess of the Hebrews initially held the cosmic power that she ultimately bestowed onto the king. And like the Great Rite in India, the merging of female and male in coitus, represented the Sacred Marriage of the Hebrew God Yahweh with Asherah__renamed Shekhinah__his female counterpart.
The Hieros Gamos, which is Greek for Sacred Marriage, was altered significantly when Alexander the Great opened up the East to the West. Western invasions brought wealth from the Orient, but constant war and its upheaval caused a desire for a personal religion that could supply inner peace. The state supported religions offered little to individuals, so there was a resurgence of mystery-religions that used the same methods developed by ancient shamans to bring individuals into a another state of consciousness. As early as the 10th century BCE, the mystery-religions introduced the cult of the Minoan Fertility-god, Dionysus into Greece. The Dorian’s Father-god Zeus also joined into the struggle for a piece of the mystery-religion’s action and fees. A number of stories were relayed about Zeus, Dionysus, and the Titans who were the human descendants of the Goddess Gaia and her consort Uranus. Sometime during the 5th century BCE, the Orphites moralized the myth that humans, being evil from the Titans and divine from Dionysus, had to be liberated from the evil of matter. The Orphic movement, as well as the Dionysian cults, practiced the Sacred Marriage rite, but there was a problem for the men who desired more intimacy with and equality from God. First some of the Gnostics and then later Christians said the stories were allegorical__meaning there was a hidden spiritual meaning surpassing the literal interpretation of the sacred message. Symbolism was developed to change the physical acts of the sacramental marriage into a union of the soul with God. The Sacred Marriage rite no longer belonged to the group; instead it was transferred to the soul, with the individual receiving the benefits previously offered to the community or city.
It must be added that the Sacred Marriage might not have completely disappeared into mere symbolic interpretation. On November 12, 1990 Japan’s Emperor Akihito, may have participated in the rite as part of his enthronement coronation ceremonies, Sokui Rei Seiden NoGi. In Shinto tradition the sexual union between the female and male is linked to the continuance of the fruitfulness of the earth. And it is the Goddess that legitimizes a new male ruler’s power while transforming him into a living God. Emperor Akihito’s coronation included a young women being placed within the inner sanctuary of the Shinto Shrine along with a Shinza-couch considered to be the resting place for the Sun-goddess.

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