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Two Spirits 1928
Hmmm, let’s talk about sexuality including incest, and homosexuality but... if you do get easily upset, this article may be too controversial for your liking. No offense is intended. All you need, is an open mind and acceptance of our fellow human beings. Thank you.
In part 2 of the battles of the sexes, I left you pondering on the ‘if’s and why’s’ to the adaptations made by the Jews to the Mesopotamian creation stories. I also left you pondering about the role of the serpent. Is the serpent a God or Goddess or not?
A passage of a Jewish myth about the birth of Abraham may throw some light on this:
Quote:
‘Thus Abraham was deserted in the cave, without a nurse, and he began to wail. God sent Gabriel down to give him milk to drink, and the angel made it flow from the little finger of the baby’s right hand, and he sucked it until he was ten days old. Then he arose and walked about, and he left the cave and went along the edge of the valley. When the sun sank, and the stars came forth, he said, “These are the Gods!” But the dawn came, and the stars could be seen no longer, and then he said, “I will not pay worship to these, for they are no gods.” Thereupon the sun came forth, and he spoke, “This is my God, him will I extol.” But the sun set and he said, “He is no God,” and beholding the moon, he called him his God to whom he would pay divine homage. Then the moon was obscured, and he cried out: “This, too, is no God! There is One who sets them all in motion.”UNQUOTE
Abraham (Later renamed Israel) is the father of the three mainstream religions, Judaism, Islam and Christianity. The myth suggests that prior to the birth of Abraham; the tribes were worshipping not one God but several and therefore the most likely explanation of the Serpent in the creation myth is indeed another God or Goddess and not as often explained an embodiment of the Devil or Evil.
Let’s have a look at a later passage about Adam and Eve in the book of Genesis. (Again, I would like to remind the reader as explained in my previous articles that this is a ‘free’ translation from Hebrew. The tree of Good and Evil is called in Hebrew: Tov wa-ra, correctly translated it means ‘Everything’, the Tree of the Knowledge of Everything).
QUOTE"And the man and his wife were both naked, and were not ashamed."The serpent tells the woman that she will not die if she eats the fruit of the tree: "When you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." So the woman eats and gives to the man who also eats. "Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves aprons."UNQUOTE
It is so easy to overlook the significance of ‘hiding’ the nakedness. It symbolises the realisation of sexuality. Let’s not forget that originally this man and woman (Adam and Eve) were one and the same. Prior to eating the fruit, you could compare them with a symbol of pure existence. The Garden of Eden a beautiful cage kept by Yahweh.
We could contemplate that without ‘knowledge’ the need to learn and gain life experience is an unnecessary past-time in paradise and ultimately this includes not having a need to ‘reproduce’. These are all the ingredients that are a necessity for living an ‘earthly’ mortal existence.
It also suggests that Adam and Eve still experienced each other as ‘United’ but separate. This could be compared with living as ‘brother and sister’.
If we would take the Adam and Eve creation story as fact (which some orthodox fragments do) we could conclude that the human race came into existence through incest.
And the practise of incest is again repeated in the book of Genesis 19:15:
QUOTE: “...the angels hastened Lot, saying, Arise, take thy wife, and thy two daughters, which are here; lest thou be consumed in the iniquity of the city.
(He got drunk and impregnated his virgin daughters).
Come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we may preserve seed of our father. And they made their father drink wine that night: and the firstborn went in, and lay with her father; and he perceived not when she lay down, nor when she arose. Behold, I lay yester night with my father: let us make him drink wine this night also; and go thou in, and lie with him, that we may preserve seed of our father. And they made their father drink wine that night also: and the younger arose, and lay with him; and he perceived not when she lay down, nor when she arose. Thus were both the daughters of Lot with child by their father.” Genesis 19:32-36
UNQUOTE
This all happened shortly after they had fled from Sodom and Gomorrah which was destroyed by God for its immorality.
If we take the biblical teachings as fact, we are being confronted with serious moral and ethical issues. It is only in the book of Leviticus that the practise of incest became forbidden.
There is however, when it comes to ‘sexuality’ one trait that has been condemned in each and every ‘Abrahamic’ religious scripture and that is homosexuality:
QUOTE: “God says not be bring any whore, sodomite, or dog into the house of the Lord. For "these things are an abomination to the Lord." (Sodomites and dogs are biblical names for homosexuals)”.UNQUOTE
The question to ask here is: why is it an abomination to the Lord?
Especially considering that in the older scriptures, he certainly had no problems, with incest or even the sacrifice of a first born son? (Another practise that in the later book of Leviticus became forbidden. These practises all suggest how much the early Judaic Religion had in common with many mythological stories. Archaeology to date has not been able to confirm genuine ‘child sacrifices’ and therefore may well be another ‘myth’.).
The answer we may find if we look back on how ‘God’ reacted on Adam and Eve having gained ‘knowledge’ of everything:
"Behold, the man has become ‘Like one of Us’, knowing good and evil..." (Genesis 3:22).
This reaction explains that ‘God’ doesn’t want for men to become like him. After all he’d separated the hermaphrodite ‘being’ into Adam and Eve.
A homosexual man or woman; is therefore the closest per
Lot and his daughters
sonification of the ‘Elohim’, the hermaphrodite God, Male and Female in one.
Homosexuality is something that we can find throughout time in the scriptures and myths in many different kind of cultures. The Greek God (Hermaphroditos) has lent its name to the word hermaphrodite and was a man that merged with a woman.
In China there is the God of Homosexuality called Hu Tianbao also known as the ‘rabbit’ God.
"Taoist homosexuals turn to the Rabbit God: The Rabbit Temple in Yonghe enshrines a deity that is believed to take care of homosexuals".
Amongst many Native American tribes you can find the term ‘Two Spirits’. Many of these two spirited people were believed to have ‘magical’ powers. The two spirit people also were known to cross-dress which should not be confused with cross-‘acting’.
The Two-spirit people were part of the tribe and Spanish explorers have reported seeing these people in almost every tribe. These people were treated as hetero-gender and were respected as well as feared. Many of these people were medicine persons. It is the European influence that changed the status.
Homo-sexuality was dealt with in different perspectives with each and every different culture.
In Western esotericism we 'could' describe homosexuality as the influence of the ‘middle pillar’, the neutral pillar known as the pillar of Mildness. This pillar has the most direct link with the emanations of ‘God’ or ‘the Source’. This would be in line with the association of strong magical properties given by the Native Americans to the ‘Two Spirit’ people.
Most esoteric traditions base evolution on Reincarnation.
The Spirit has no gender, but when spirit comes into manifestation it will be either as a man or a woman.
During many incarnations our evolutionary process may well change from many female incarnations into our first male incarnation and vice versa.
If one line of incarnations has been predominantly feminine the first incarnation as a man may well take place as a ‘transition time’ and results with homosexuality.
After all, the spirit that has experienced many female incarnations has to adjust and of course this is the same for the male spirit that will find themselves in a female body.
Myth and Religion has been influenced by politics and therefore human influence ‘man’.
It is predominantly a lore to explain human behavior, and how to contain chaos by implying rules and regulations that became ultimately ‘laws’ to uphold justice.
The prophets and wise men and women were the psychologists and lawyers of their time.
Religion has been adapted with their many scriptures to suit the emotional and mental evolution of the human being. Believe of existence of a supreme force in Western Esotericism is not in question here but the interpretation of the teachings by whomever is in charge of his or her people which claims that their people are the 'chosen' ones of God in order to put themselves above the rest. It abuses the names of God(s) in order to gain justification for their actions.
I’ll leave you to meditate on this, so let’s get back to the snake.
That the Serpent is a deity connected with sexual awareness was a commonly known aspect for the pre-Judaic and many other worldwide tribes.
To give an example how the serpent is associated with sexuality and awareness we can look in the Australian Aboriginal tribe the ‘Yolngu’ or also known as the ‘Murngin’ Tribe, the Greek mythological Snake priestesses of Knossos or Goddess Medusa, the Aztec Earth Mother wearing a ‘Serpent-woven’ skirt, The Hindu God Siva as Lord of the Cosmic Dance and of course you can find the serpent in many more world myths.
For example the Hindu God Siva performing his cosmic dance; he is depicted wearing bracelets, arm bands and ankle rings, these are however...living serpents. Siva’s cosmic dance is as explained by Heinrich Zimmer and Ananda K. Coomaraswamsy as follows:
Siva “made beautiful by the Serpent Power – the mysterious creative energy of God, which is the material and the formal cause of his own self-manifestation in, and as, the universe with all its beings.”
The aboriginal Yolngu tribe uses the ‘Great Father Snake’ for their circumcision rituals. Young boys are brought up that this snake can ‘smell’ their foreskin and will come after them. The boys believe this to be literally true and take refuge with their mothers. When the time comes for their circumcision it also affectively signifies the boy becoming a man. As this ritual will take away the need of the boy to seek refuge with their mothers who keep the snake away through their ‘wailing’.
The symbol of the serpent is associated with sexuality, reproduction, manifestation and wisdom. The properties of the snake being able to ‘renew’ itself by shedding its skin also gave it the symbol of ‘Health and Regeneration’ as can be found with Greek Goddess of Health, Hygeia or the God Asclepius.
And of course the most familiar one today is the Egyptian Caduceus which is a symbol of eternity. The serpent is also often depicted swallowing its own tail creating a perfect circle that is also the symbol for renewal, reincarnation and continuity.
Like any God, the snake has its dual nature and is taught in many of the old religions to be taken with fear and respect. The venom of a snake can have healing qualities if administered with care but can also quickly kill. The forked tongue is often a symbol of the duality of the words given by the snake as easily it can tell truth it is also seen as the weaver of deceit.
Does this come as a surprise?
Not if you look into the characteristics of all Gods and Deities. When we question their conduct as thoroughly as orthodox Christianity has done with the biblical serpent, then all deities, be it mythological or mainstream religion at times are the cause of duality, deceit as well as wisdom and healing.
The Abrahamic God is responsible through his favouritism of one ‘tribe’ to have created the largest family conflict in history. This is what I’ll write about in the next article:
The evil of Allah and JHVH; the largest family feud? Muslims, Jews and Christians.
Golden Flower
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