| Just try to imagine yourself in this situation. You’re going about your ordinary day, doing whatever you ordinarily do, when suddenly—from out of the blue—a glorious goddess robed in light appears before you and … And what?
This is exactly what many seemingly normal people claim has happened to them, from time immemorial up to the present day. In fact, more people claim to be seeing her now than ever. Apparitions of the Virgin Mary provoke intense reactions from believers and sceptics alike, drawing crowds whether sighted among window stains in office buildings in the US, on the rooftops of Cairo, or by such institutional mainstays of Marian Catholicism as St. Bernadette of Lourdes.
This is hardly a modern phenomenon, or even especially uncommon. These visions were already prevalent at the very dawn of the Christian era. Although Marian Christianity has traditionally claimed all visions of this female image for its own, packaging the particulars in the language and symbolism of the institutional church, there is something much older and infinite going on here. Where the Virgin appears, she exposes the cracks, the juxtapositions, and the continuities, between the imposed and imported Christianity, and the underlying ancestral beliefs of Christendom. These visions are a clear window into our past, and our spiritual heritage, where the great goddesses of the ancient world beckon to us, only partially concealed within the Virgin’s image.
Closer examination of modern apparition sites usually reveals a long history of similar appearances, along with unique local practices that incorporate popular pre-Christian elements, like holy hills, healing springs, and sacred trees, with a mother goddess who just won’t go away. Her worship doesn’t simply endure, it thrives. In the parishes, in the prayer life of the Church, and in the hearts of the common people, she commands love and devotion in a way that no masculine concept of God can inspire. The worship of the mother goddess is alive and well in any parish on the planet. The culture and creed may have changed dramatically, but the emotions and archetypes are the same.
That’s why I wanted to write this book—to re-introduce readers to the Heavenly Mother as she is worshipped by millions of devotees worldwide, but also to present her in a more universal, and truly “catholic” context. Ironically, the very word catholic, which means universal, broad, and all-inclusive, originated as an astrological term. According to Franz Cumont in Astrology and Religion Among the Greeks and Romans, it was introduced to distinguish between local, tribal gods, and celestial, planetary gods. A catholic planetary deity was not limited in influence to any particular place or people, but ruled over activities or experiences that affected the entire Earth and the whole human race. The introduction of this term represented a philosophical step forward from the pettiness of warring tribal gods to a more all-encompassing concept of divinity and order.
Even more ironic is the realization that the word catholic has, through the ages, come to signify its own opposite in the pursuit of orthodoxy and the persecution of heresy. I would like to use this potent word in that older, expanded sense, and with all its astrological implications intact. For in examining the astrological forces underlying these Marian apparitions, we encounter truly catholic influences, not limited by place or local beliefs, but reflecting that larger, universal order which links us all together in time within the vast beauty of the cosmos.
Astrology actually provides some distinct advantages when examining the complex and confusing subject of mystical experiences. Astrology lifts us above cultural and religious boundaries, elevating the mind to contemplate human behavior within a more cosmic framework. Astrology alone charts those fundamental forces within our being that have animated human consciousness from the beginning, revealing the dominant themes, both natural and supernatural, in any given moment. Consequently, the charts for the visions and visionaries not only reveal recurring planetary patterns, but the archetypal imagery associated with the astrological components. For example, the Moon, Venus, and the sign Virgo all neatly correspond with the mythological dramas playing out in these fascinating apparition stories.
I know astrology can get very complicated very quickly, but I’ve tried to write about it in a way that any reader can understand. Even if you know absolutely nothing about astrology, by the time you finish this book you will know quite a lot. Still, it’s all done in context, with riveting stories that demand to be told, introducing visionary characters you will never forget. But most of all, the stories unfold under the loving guidance of a most tender mother goddess who keeps showing up and reaching out to anyone who has an eye to see, or an ear to hear. |
