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The Virgin Mary

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  • The Virgin Mary

    Since I started looking into Paganism about four years ago I've had more of an interest in Germanic and Celtic paths but I've always felt a very strange "pull" towards Mother Mary and think she is really beautiful. I don't understand why, as I am not a Christian (I was baptized an Anglican but raised in a secular family) and never really had much of an interest in Jesus/Yeshua.

    I do sometimes pray to her, but at the same time I do find it a little weird, an identified Pagan honoring a figure of Christian belief.

    Has anybody ever felt this "pull" towards her as well? Any experiences they would like to share?

  • #2
    Re: The Virgin Mary

    Well if you look up Sophia the goddess of wisdom you might see a very...yeah Virgin Mary is a rip off of Sophia. Check it out.
    Satan is my spirit animal

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    • #3
      Re: The Virgin Mary

      You might also look into the Cult of Mary that was part of the church during the 2nd - 5th century. It contained a lot of influence from the former Artemis of Ephesus (Ephesos) / Diana of Ephesus (Ephesos). Those dates are rather loose as I have not found where the Cult of Mary was given a hard start and stop but more estimated.
      I'm Only Responsible For What I Say Not For What Or How You Understand!

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      • #4
        Re: The Virgin Mary

        I regularly pray to her (former Catholic convert) and I keep a small quasi-shrine to her in the form of a small statuette, novena candles, roses, etc.

        The RCC has a very nuanced theology of the Virgin Mary that strongly states veneration of the Blessed Virgin is not the same as the worship due to God alone. This nuanced theology is often lost on actual Catholics in my experience. In my years of Masses in various parishes I knew many Catholics personally who treated Mary in a way that can only be labelled goddess. They prayed to her almost exclusively over Jesus (save for the theocentric prayers said at Mass), they cherished images of her, they wore her scapulars or medals like talismans, etc. In heavily Latino or Filipino congregations I celebrated Mass with these sentiments seemed only to have been stronger.

        I do not feel like venerating the Virgin Mary is necessarily taboo for a pagan of any stripe. Although I think the "Christianity stole X or Y from paganism!" gets worn out and stretches good scholarship sometimes it is hard not to notice the pagan-esque feel of certain practices revolving around the Virgin Mary. Catholic theologians have answers to these issues but again that high-level theology is often absent in actual practice. I mean the titles "Queen of Heaven" and "Mother of God" are pretty heathen to me.

        When I venerate her I often will say things like "Mother of many names" or "Divine Mother" because I see in her the female divine that I see in other places in my practice. I just don't see the conflict any longer, although I did for a very long time. It eases with time or being around other people who blur those lines like those interested in Afro-Caribbean religions where the lines have always crossed in interesting ways.
        "For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft." -1 Samuel 15:23

        "Most witches don’t believe in gods. They know that the gods exist, of course. They even deal with them occasionally. But they don’t believe in them. They know them too well. It would be like believing in the postman." -Terry Pratchett

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        • #5
          Re: The Virgin Mary

          I also have BVM (Blessed Virgin Mary) shrine out if the woods (Our Lady of the Trees).

          I honestly don't think names matter that much - Mary, or Sally, or whoever. It's concepts that are meaningful.

          I was also raised Roman Catholic, and Mary is about the only thing left of that, but it is meaningful to me, and ain't nobody gonna tell me I can't...
          Every moment of a life is a horrible tragedy, a slapstick comedy, dark nihilism, golden illumination, or nothing at all; depending on how we write the story we tell ourselves.

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          • #6
            Re: The Virgin Mary

            Mary is, imo, a representation of the universal compassionate mother/goddess ala Green Tara, Yemaya, Guan yin, Devi in all her forms (even Kali, who is a loving mother), etc. We all see our patrons and patronesses differently. Some people, especially some Hindus and some Christians get pissy when Hindus and non-Christians venerate Mary as a demi-goddess. But so what? If one is drawn to her, it's for a reason. Who are we to rule that one tradition should have sole claim on a god(dess)?
            śivāya vishnu rūpaya śivaḥ rūpaya vishnave
            śivasya hridayam viṣṇur viṣṇoscha hridayam śivaḥ

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