#deanism

God the Daugher🗡️👑

Hail Kwan Yin, Sovereign Maiden of Compassion.

The Holy Crone is with Thee and holds Thee in Her Mysteries.

Blessed Kwan Yin, Maiden who Hears the Cries of the World.

Most Blessed Fruit of our Sacred Mother's Womb.

Holy Kwan Yin, Maiden of Healing Herbs and Life Giving Waters.

Pour out Your Mercy upon us that we may tend to our wounds, heal our hearts, and become Whole in the Divine Light of Dea.

The Goddess LOVES YOU for being Queer.

The Goddess LOVES YOU for being nonbinary.

The Goddess LOVES YOU for being trans.

Inanna/Ishtar created trans people. Goddess cares for all Her children. I cant think of any other way to put this but- do you think the Goddess would make trans people and let queer people exist if she didn't love us?

As I have stated often here, one of the central subjects of this blog is Deanism/(De-an-ism). More specifically I plan to discuss a Neo / New Deanism, which is simply my vision of a Deanism which might actually develop real communities of devotion to Dea. The alternative in my opinion is the current passive status quo. In other words I want discuss a subject which is vital to my heart and which characterizes much of my own theological understanding and practice.

I have a problem when I try to write on a subject. I tend to think that when writing that I have to explain all that readers may not understand or have knowledge of regarding the subject on which I write. I am going to attempt not to do that here. I will assume that my readers have some knowledge of Deanism an alternative form of Madrianism, a religious faith of few numbers that was initiated in England in the early 1970s. It was a monotheistic religious faith dedicated to God the Mother also addressed in a various ways such as Lady, Queen, Creatress, etc.

The more developed form of this faith of the Mother was and is in its Filianic form in which Dea/God is worshiped in a as a trinity of Mother, Daughter, and Absolute Deity, beyond all forms. After a quite strange history, early in this century the dominant trinitarian form of the religion came to be called Filianism, the faith of the Daughter and in its more simple unitarian form it came to be called Deanism. The most obvious aspect of Deanic faith is the worship of Dea/God pure and simple. While not opposing faith in the Daughter, Deanists / Deani do not necessarily believe in her as being a individual divine person in the Godhead.

For those who know little of this religion I suggest that they go to the website called a "Chapel of Our Mother God" founded by persons, who had been among its most significant leaders in the first generation of the Madrians, as they came to call themselves at that time, to become familier with the religion in its orthodox form. They can also look up information on the internet to acquire information on the Aristasians the name by which these leaders had labeled themselves by 2005 when the "Chapel of Our Mother God" was created. Persons may also ask me any questions which they feel I might be able to answer. I will answerthese as I can.

What I plan to do is to discuss not the Deanism as it was originally formulated early in this century nor Filianism in its various forms. What I will do, instead, is summarize some of the major aspects of my own vision of a Neo-Deanism which differs in several ways from the original understanding of it by those who first coined the term.

Deanism was first defined in an article within the "Chapel of Our Mother God" as the worship, love, and obedience to Dea or God the Mother, exclusive of any belief in or worship of male/masculine deities, even if these deities are viewed as subordinate to or aspects of her. By this exclusive definition many of those who in spite of the fact that they center their worship on God the Mother and love her dearly would not be Deanists even if they view themselves as such. Nor could any male / masculine principle even be viewed as being within Dea because according to the "feminine essentialist" vision of the Aristasians, maleness is itself is a decline into a increasingly decadent earthly materiality.

During my several years of participation within the developing Independent Filianic movement (circa 2012- 2017) I never bought into that aspect of Filianic theology. And in fact during most of that time period the primary leaders of Independent Filianism thought that they were at least trying to make of the received religion of traditional Filianism / Deanism a religious home for many more people than the more rigid earlier form of orthodox Filianist theology allowed.

It seems to me that whatever dynamism or strength that the self proclaimed Independent Filianic movement had at that time, even then we were a very small group of persons whose public influence and communications existed only online. We made a lot of mistakes. I myself made a lot of mistakes. These mistakes are at least part of the reason the Filianic/Deannic movement has little public presence today beyond the private religious blogs of the few persons who still identify with the movement in any deep way. One of the reasons why the movement as it existed then and earlier during its earlier purely orthodox stage had been the excessive exclusivity of its doctrines. The excessive rigidity of these doctrines and the creation of creeds, confessions, and liturgies which by their very nature excluded many who initially might have been attracted to much that was very attractive within the religion.

One of the aspects of this exclusiveness of doctrine was the definition of Deanism as first described within the "Chapel of Our Mother God." which excluded all persons even those whose religious lives are centered on the worship and love of Dea by whatever name or title such as the Goddess, the Mahadevi, Isis, the Great Mother, etc. If they also worship male deities even if these are subordinate or include a male principle within their theologies. Thus, by strict Aristasian definition the primary poet and writer of many beautiful devotional psalms to Dea, the Daughter and the Janya during this century can not seen as Deanic or Filianic.

Inspired by the Avalonion tradition and their teachings shared with me by @ihearhercalling , I decided to make my own wheel of the year based on the archetypes of Mary Magdalene. This is a work in progress but this is what I have so far.

Imbolc - The Rose Child

Mary Magdalene is seen by many as part of the Rose Lineage, along with figures like Mother Mary, Inanna, Hathor and Venus. There is scarcely any legend regarding her birth or childhood, save for an oral tradition by Sophian Gnostics, who believe her birth was as foretold and celebrated by the mystics of the time, and that she showed great wisdom and compassion from her early years, that would lead to her Calling in the priesthood. It is theorised by many that she was born into a wealthy family, or was given special education and means to provide for herself. But money nor privilege did not corrupt her heart.

Spring Equinox - The Christ-Sophia (Anointer of Wisdom)

The Magdalene is central to the Easter story that takes place around Spring. While Yeshua is the anointed (Christos), it is She who anoints him, he cannot go forward with his sacrifice without her blessing. In my path I do not believe Yeshua thought himself God incarnate, but he was seen as the King and leader for his people, and Magdalene plays the role of the bestowing his Sovereignty. She has earned this right through her own training and redemption that has earned Her the title of Christ-Sophia. Just as Persephone rises to be reunited with her mother and rejuvenates the land, the Magdalene has ridden herself of seven demons that tried to bind her soul, with the help and love of her dearest friend and partner.

Beltane - The Sacred Bride

A title I have mixed feelings on but am learning to appreciate in the context of understanding the Sovereign Goddess archetype. Whether or not the Magdalene and Yeshua were officially married, they carry the Lovers or Union symbolism, that echoes throughout time and into stories like Simon Magus and Helen, Arthur and Guinivere, Robin Hood and Maid Marian, and so on. The Holy Bride is the Goddess within that our own soul seeks in union. Yeshua loved Mary more than all of his disciples, She was the first to receive the vision of his soul existing beyond death, She was the torch that lead him out from the tomb.

Christianity and some other faiths interpret the Bride as fallen humanity, a damsel in distress, awaiting completion in divine marriage, when in truth it is the Bride who is Co-Savior and Redeemer.

Midsummer - The Tower

Arguably the Magdalene's most renowned archetype. People remain split on whether her name Magdalene was simply to denote her being from the town of Magdala, or a title in itself similar to Messiah. After Yeshua's death and parting from this world, it is the Magdalene who is the first to stand among the distressed disciples. She becomes the tower of faith and wisdom to whom Yeshua wished for his church and the kingdom of Heaven to be built from. In Tarot, the Tower fittingly represents upheaval and change. No doubt this one change in particular was seen as too radical to accept for many of the early Christians, as is reflected in The Gospel of Mary when Peter and Andrew try to dismiss her. But Levi chastises them and reminds them of her importance and how Yeshus saw her worthy, who were they to question Her?

Lammas - The Holy Mother

There are a handful of legends where Mary Magdalene becomes a mother herself. The first that I was aware of was from a group of Gnostics in France who believe she had a daughter called Tamar. The more commonly known one popularised by the Da Vinci Code is that Saint Sarah is the daughter of her and Yeshua who arrived on a boat with her mother and Joseph of Arimathea. The Sophian Gnostics led by Tau Malachi believe she had a son, Michael. I personally go with the Saint Sarah legend, but honestly we may never know for certain, and it's possible that she may not have born children at all. But I do still believe she became a Mother in some way, even if it was in her role as teacher and leader of those who did believe Yeshua left his ministry to her. I believe there was a deep connection and relationship between her and Mother Mary, who is also a reflection of Heavenly Mother Sophia. The image of Mary Magdalene as a mother holding her own daughter is symbolic of the Rose Lineage continuing.

Autumn Equinox - The High Priestess

Having lived and been reborn through many experiences, Magdalene sits as High Priestess, leading but also serving her flock, imparting the wisdom she has gained through her years and her connection with the Lady Sophia. As the darkness of the year approaches, She encourages us to gather and harvest all that we have learned to prepare us for the unknown. The teachings of Yeshua live on through her, while also imparting her own teachings of introspection and shadow work. She encourages all of us to find the Rose Child within ourselves, our own Christ Consciousness. That which is hidden, She reveals.

Samhain - The Queen In Exile

While the disciples met rather gruesome deaths, Magdalene's story fades with a whimper as opposed to a bang. Facing persecution, even from those who once called her 'sister', she flees Palestine and is said to have travelled to France. There are other legends that say she went as far as Britain, to Glastonbury itself. The Magdalene is rejected and her legend and role in her male companion's story diminished. She becomes Christianity's own Woman In The Attic. They call her a prostitute and a sinner, merely another soul needing to be saved. But even in this scorned image, she remains at the forefront of Christian art and an inspiration of many who feel they are outcasts or deemed unworthy. While Mother Mary appeared in visions of beautiful white light and singing angels, the Magdalene came to those lost in shadow. She is Lilith and Eve reunited as one. She is Zoe Sophia, living wisdom, the snake whispering at our ear to consume the fruit of knowledge and regain our power.

Midwinter - The Hermit

What a title! But let's get down to it. One of the mysterious archivers from the Aristasian Preservation Project, the one who seemed to gather up the Romantia and Wildfire Club writings, then scan them and pop them on the internet, then pop away forever, has always had a fairly mysterious item in her upload history: a torrent file of a .tar file titled "filianic-resources-collection". Curiosity finally got the better of me so I reached deep into my past to remember how the heck do I torrent files, then, once that was done, I had to remember how to unzip strange files that weren't just .zip that my file browser automatically opens. So, I redownloaded Win-Rar and was quite surprised! I thought this would perhaps be some of the more modern work of the Filianic Studies site, but was quite surprised to see it was a vast collection of Filianic and Aristasian archives from 2013! These are a hodge-podge of text files, pdfs, and files that I don't even know what they are but I have to open them with notepad. Some have been archived already, but much hasn't. While most of them, true to the file title, deal with Filianism, there are a ton of Aristasian archives from what seems like the forums and sites that were available at the time, many of which are long gone and even the Way Back Machine failed to grab. One of the text files that caught my eye was the following:

- Celtic polytheism (Irish, Welsh, Brythonic, Gaulic, any really)

- Celtic witchcraft and folk magic, particularly Welsh

- British folk traditions

- Druidry

- Proto Indo-European polytheism

- Venus, Aphrodite, Ishtar and Inanna worship

- Actual genuine Wicca as opposed to the random stuff that gets passed off as Wicca in mainstream book shops

- Feri tradition

- Goddess-centric paganism (Dianic tradition, Deanism, Filianism, Reclaiming, Avalonian) and female mysteries

- Arthuriana from a pagan or feminist perspective (or pagan/feminist friendly)

- Sacred sexuality and tantra