{"id":10359,"date":"2019-04-17T12:52:52","date_gmt":"2019-04-17T18:52:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=10359"},"modified":"2019-04-20T13:42:22","modified_gmt":"2019-04-20T19:42:22","slug":"ave-maria-pagan-goddess","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=10359","title":{"rendered":"Ave Maria, Pagan Goddess"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/5Lr5RO34feg\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>This post started because I had the medieval Catalan song to the Blessed Virgin Mary, &#8220;Los Set Gotx&#8221; [The seven joys] stuck in my head. The tune requires someone who can sing in that high Mediterranean wail,((A sound that seems to connect all the way from Portuguese <em>fado<\/em> to Greek <em>rebitiko \u2014 <\/em>why is that?)) but we less-good singers can join on the refrain: &#8220;Ave Maria gracia plena Dominus tecum Virgo serena&#8221; [Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee, serene Virgin].<\/p>\n<p>It is on my very short list of tunes &#8220;that I could die while going forward with that song on my lips.&#8221;<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_10370\" style=\"width: 187px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-10370\" class=\" wp-image-10370\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/A_Virgem_de_Mont_Serrat.jpg?resize=177%2C259&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Virgin of Montserrat\" width=\"177\" height=\"259\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-10370\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Virgin of Montserrat<\/p><\/div>\n<p>&#8220;Los Set Gotx&#8221; comes from the <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Llibre_Vermell_de_Montserrat\"><em>Llibre Vermell de Montserrat<\/em><\/a> [Red book of Montserrat], a book compiled during the 14th century at a monastery in Catalonia where pilgrims came to worship the <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Virgin_of_Montserrat\">Virgin of Montserrat<\/a>.((One of the so-called Black Virgins,<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Virgin_of_Montserrat#Description\"> although not originally painted black as she is now<\/a>.\u00a0 Her feast day is April 27th.))<\/p>\n<p>Ever since I consciously turned Pagan at the age of 21, I have accepted her as a goddess\u2014not the one that I give the most attention to, but a goddess nevertheless. If we follow an <em>interpretatio<\/em> <em>romana<\/em>, which was pretty common in the ancient world generally, not just with the Romans, then perhaps we could say that Mary is another name for Isis.((The name may in fact <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Miriam_(given_name)\">have an Egyptian origin<\/a>.)) The polytheism of those days not was adamantine &#8220;hard.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>How did a Judean<sup><a href=\"#footnote_1_10359\" id=\"identifier_1_10359\" class=\"footnote-link footnote-identifier-link\" title=\"The Roman province was called Judea, not Palestine.\">1<\/a><\/sup>teenage bride named Maryam<sup><a href=\"#footnote_2_10359\" id=\"identifier_2_10359\" class=\"footnote-link footnote-identifier-link\" title=\"An Aramaic variation of the Hebrew Miriam.\">2<\/a><\/sup> get to be a goddess? There are several traditional ways.<\/p>\n<p>The Greeks had a word for one way <em>apotheosis<\/em>, the process by which a human is raised to divine level. <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Apotheosis\">There are examples of apotheosis from cultures all over the globe<\/a>. A well-known painting in the U.S. Capitol shows <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aoc.gov\/art\/other-paintings-and-murals\/apotheosis-washington\">the apotheosis of George Washington<\/a>.<sup><a href=\"#footnote_3_10359\" id=\"identifier_3_10359\" class=\"footnote-link footnote-identifier-link\" title=\"Have you lit some incense for him lately?\">3<\/a><\/sup> The idea of apotheosis shades off in early Christianity to the concept of &#8220;adoptionism,&#8221; in which a deity\u2014here the Hebrew God\u2014&#8221;adopts&#8221; an especially virtuous man\u2014in this case, Jesus of Nazareth\u2014and raises him to be his divine son. <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Adoptionism\">Adoptionism now considered a Christian heresy, but some early followers of Jesus believed that it explained his story.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Another way might be to say a person &#8220;carried,&#8221; incarnated, or for some time embodied a deity, while after death becoming sort of fused with that deity. Consider how people see the rock star Jim Morrison (1943\u20131971) <a href=\"https:\/\/paulsbench.wordpress.com\/2016\/07\/04\/jim-morrisondionysus-and-some-criticisms-of-monotheism-909\/\">as having incarnated or carried the god Dionysus<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Yet another, related to the idea of apotheosis and favored by some magic workers, is the &#8220;savings bank&#8221; notion of divinity; in other words, if you put enough energy into a &#8220;container&#8221; over time, you can make a deity.<\/p>\n<p>While she always received some honor from Christians, <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/History_of_Catholic_Mariology#Medi%C3%A6val_Mariology\">in the West a switch was thrown, so to speak, in the early Middle Ages<\/a>. A body of theology grew up around her, she was more celebrated in the liturgical year, and cathedrals were dedicated to her. I think that to many Catholics she became more important than God the Father, Son, or Holy Ghost. She certainly received many &#8220;deposits&#8221; of devotional energy over the past two thousand years.<\/p>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-10378 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/notre-dame.jpg?resize=200%2C266&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"200\" height=\"266\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/notre-dame.jpg?w=200&amp;ssl=1 200w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/notre-dame.jpg?resize=113%2C150&amp;ssl=1 113w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\" \/>I had this blog post cooking on a back burner in my mind, and then came the fire at Notre Dame cathedral. I see that the <em>Wild Hunt <\/em>posted its predictable &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/wildhunt.org\/2019\/04\/pagans-react-to-notre-dame-fire.html\">Pagans respond to . . .<\/a> &#8221; article yesterday.((I do not disagree with Jason Mankey, Byron Ballard, John Beckett, and anyone else quoted. I would like go a little farther though.)) (Like anyone else cares what we think.)<\/p>\n<p>I am glad to say that I have seen no Pagans celebrating this event. The people who do celebrate it <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/46029\/hard-left-celebrates-notre-dames-destruction-im-paul-bois\">seem to be the usual Marxists who hate anything spiritual<\/a>.((In fact, France had no overseas colonies in the 12th century when the cathedral was commenced.)) And, of course, t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/news\/article-6931361\/ISIS-fanatics-warn-future-attack-fire-ravaged-Notre-Dame.html\">he Islamic jihadists have to try to exploit the fire too.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>We Pagans could well see Notre Dame as the temple of an important goddess. So rebuild it!<\/p>\n<ol class=\"footnotes\"><li id=\"footnote_1_10359\" class=\"footnote\">The <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Judea_(Roman_province)\">Roman province was called Judea<\/a>, not Palestine.<span class=\"footnote-back-link-wrapper\"> [<a href=\"#identifier_1_10359\" class=\"footnote-link footnote-back-link\">&#8617;<\/a>]<\/span><\/li><li id=\"footnote_2_10359\" class=\"footnote\">An Aramaic variation of the <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Miriam_(given_name)#Variant_Maryam\">Hebrew Miriam<\/a>.<span class=\"footnote-back-link-wrapper\"> [<a href=\"#identifier_2_10359\" class=\"footnote-link footnote-back-link\">&#8617;<\/a>]<\/span><\/li><li id=\"footnote_3_10359\" class=\"footnote\">Have you lit some incense for him lately?<span class=\"footnote-back-link-wrapper\"> [<a href=\"#identifier_3_10359\" class=\"footnote-link footnote-back-link\">&#8617;<\/a>]<\/span><\/li><\/ol>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This post started because I had the medieval Catalan song to the Blessed Virgin Mary, &#8220;Los Set Gotx&#8221; [The seven joys] stuck in my head. The tune requires someone who can sing in that high Mediterranean wail,((A sound that seems to connect all the way from Portuguese fado to Greek rebitiko \u2014 why is that?)) [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[360,256,24,107,5],"class_list":["post-10359","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-catalonia","tag-catholicism","tag-christianity","tag-france","tag-paganism"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6xQTg-2H5","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1700,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=1700","url_meta":{"origin":10359,"position":0},"title":"The &#8216;Old Religion&#8217; of Pendle Hill","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"June 29, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"In the early 17th century, a condemned witch goes to the gallows, saying under her breath an incantation of the Old Religion. Only the incantation invokes the Virgin Mary, Ave, Regina Caelorum, and the old religion is Roman Catholicism, made virtually synonymous with treason during the reigns of Edward VI,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"England\"","block_context":{"text":"England","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=england"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1042,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=1042","url_meta":{"origin":10359,"position":1},"title":"Gallimaufry with Ink and Paper","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"July 23, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00b6 Zines live on. That was me once, even down to the hand-cranked mimeo machine many years ago. A poet friend told me -- in all seriousness -- that \"after the revolution\" I would still be able to do mimeograph reproduction with used, dirty motor oil. Of course there would\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"magick\"","block_context":{"text":"magick","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=magick"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1144,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=1144","url_meta":{"origin":10359,"position":2},"title":"Pomegranate 10.2 published","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"April 18, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"The new issue of The Pomegranate: The International Journal of Pagan Studies is now back from the printer. This issue, vol. 10, no. 2, is not yet on the Web site but will be soon.Table of Contents\"The Love which Dare not Speak its Name: An Examination of Pagan Symbolism and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Paganism\"","block_context":{"text":"Paganism","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=paganism"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3622,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=3622","url_meta":{"origin":10359,"position":3},"title":"Last Yuletide News Bits","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"December 24, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"\u2022 This is your brain. This is your brain on Christmas. \u2022 \"How the Lawyers Stole Winter\"\u00a0 \u2014 are we raising kids who can't cope? No, it's not Yule-related, directly. Indirectly, yes, I would argue. You have to embrace all of the wheel. \u2022 No matter how \"imagistic\" it may\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"childhood\"","block_context":{"text":"childhood","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=childhood"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/SantaPickuptruck1.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":729,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=729","url_meta":{"origin":10359,"position":4},"title":"An appointment in Del Norte","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"October 2, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Every time that I drive through the small southern Colorado town of Del Norte, I am annoyed. Still they have failed to erect a sign on US 160: \"Birthplace of Chas S. Clifton.\" I may have to make my own, I thought, and bolt it to a convenient post.But not\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":324,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=324","url_meta":{"origin":10359,"position":5},"title":"La Virgen as a Goddess\u2026","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"December 6, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"La Virgen as a Goddess Today's Denver Post dips a toe into the water with this story suggesting the the Virgin of Guadalupe might be a goddess--or at least a pop icon. \"Many of us are working to claim her larger cosmological meaning as earth mother,\" says scholar China Galland,\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10359","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10359"}],"version-history":[{"count":21,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10359\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10388,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10359\/revisions\/10388"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10359"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10359"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10359"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}