• Choose a category
• All
• Classic-Fiction

By Root 1228 0

is the mandorla or vesica piscis, an almond-shaped symbol representing the female genitalia and used to frame images of Jesus, the Virgin Mary and assorted other Christian saints.A, Likewise the rosary is an ancient symbol of the Goddess, the Queen of Heaven, as roses represent female genitalia.27 In addition, female figures displaying oversized yonis were common on churches and cathedrals throughout Europe but were later obliterated by prudish church officials.28 In reality, behind the scenes of the patriarchal cults, feminine symbolism is common, but it does not express an admiration for female humans; rather, Christian female symbolism is an attempt to usurp the supernatural powers of the "Goddess," or female aspect of creation. In fact, so obsessed was the patriarchy to "destroy the works of the female" that it declared an all-out war on them, the results of which were as tragic as they were absurd, as hundreds of thousands of "wise women" were tortured and murdered in the centuries that followed. Walker relates another result of this warfare:

Suppression and concealment of the female sexuality is always a primary goal of patriarchy. Christian Europe even officially denied the existence of a clitoris and forgot the words for it, which is why the ancient Greek term is still in use. The church taught that women should not feel sexual pleasure, so the female organ of sexual pleasure became unmentionable. 2'

The Sacred Prostitute/Harlot

Prior to the demise of the matriarchal cultures and degradation of sexuality thus brought about by the patriarchy, priestesses of the Goddess frequently were teachers of love and sex; hence, they were given the moniker "sacred prostitutes." Ancient cultures often believed that the way to "God" was through the Woman, and they also knew that sexual repression was a social timebomb, such that they considered sexual expression an initiation into not only the mysteries but also society itself. Echoing this wisdom, St. Thomas Aquinas said, "Take away prostitutes from the world, and you will fill it with sodomy."30 For such essential duties, sacred harlots were considered holy women, the role, as we have seen, of Mary Magdalene. As Walker relates:

Ancient harlots often commanded high social status and were revered for their learning. As embodiments of the Queen of Heaven, in Palestine called Qadeshet, the Great Whore, the harlots were honored like queens at centers of learning in Greece and Asia Minor. Some even became queens. The empress Theodora, wife of Justinian, began her career as a temple harlot. St. Helena, mother of Constantine, was a harlot before she became an empress-saint. . . . Temple prostitutes were revered as healers of the sick. Their very secretions were supposed to have medical virtue.31

Like their Jewish predecessors, the Christians denigrated this sacred sex practice, turning the Goddess's priestesses into "whores." As Walker further states:

Because whores occupied a significant position in paganism, Christians vilified their profession. Churchmen didn't want to stamp out prostitution altogether, only amputate its spiritual meanings.32

In reality, some of the most exalted biblical women were sacred harlots. Indeed, the lineage of Jesus himself is traced to these priestesses and holy women:

The four female ancestors of Jesus who are enumerated in the genealogies of Matthew are not only non-Hebrew, they are all four forms of the harlot. Thamar plays the whore with Judah to become the first female ancestor of Jesus, or the Lion of Judah. Rahab of Jericho is frankly designated the harlot, and she is the second female ancestor. Ruth, the Moabitess, whose history is so tenderly told, is the third. The fourth is Bathsheba, wife of Uriah the Hittite, the prostitute of David.33

The degradation of the sacred harlot and prostitution has taken a tremendous toll on the status of women over the centuries, reducing them to servants, babymachines and sex slaves. For example, Walker states:

Outside the Judeo-Christian tradition, prostitution often became a fully legitimate lifestyle.