Thinking on a Neo-Deanism,
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.
The primary project of the Deanic movement if it is not simply to disappear with little trace into history has to be the creation of real vital communities of worship and service to Dea. This is necessary not only because Dea wants and desires it but because there a no doubt thousands of solitary worshipers of Dea by whatever name she is called who need actual religious communities in which their love and worship and service to Dea is actually recognized, affirmed and supported. These communities can only be developed if they are open to all persons who love Dea/Goddess/Mother God/Durga/etc in spite of a multiple of other differences. Doctrinal differenced can be worked latter if necessary. This is a realistic possibility. The technology for this already exist. Zoom is an ideal digital space for such meetings of communities of worship to develop. Many worship communities of worship are already using Zoom effectively for uses of worship and education particularly in situations in which immediate geographic proximity does not exist. Anyway enough for now. More latter.
