Hail Mary, Full of Grace
by Spiderwomon©

My Great-grandmother died when her daughter (my Grandmother) was three years old. She left behind four other children for my Great-grandfather to raise, including a nine month old infant. He never remarried and dutifully provided for his family by working in the coal mines of Pennsylvania.

My Grandmother once told me that during one particular time of trial for her, she cried to her father - cried to him in need of the special love of a mother. My Great-grandfather, who raised the children Catholic, went to his dresser and returned with a statuette of the Blessed Virgin Mary. He handed the figurine to my Grandmother and told her that this was her mother now. She could pray to the Holy Mother, share her problems with Her, and ask for Her guidance. The Virgin Mary was the only Mother my Grandmother ever knew and she remained very special in my Grandmother's heart.

When my Grandmother died two years ago in May, before going to the wake, I remember going to the cellar and digging through the Christmas decorations. I found the plastic nativity set that Grandmother had given me years before. I took out the plastic Virgin Mary and brought it to the funeral home and put it in Grandma's casket, so she could have her Mother with her forever.

Before I had even heard this story from my Grandmother, I can always remember holding a special place in my heart for the Virgin Mary as well. Whenever I went into a church, I always sat near Her. She was so beautiful. She looked so warm and inviting. And she was a woman. A figure in the patriarch-dominated religion which I could relate to. I always "spoke" to the Virgin Mary when I needed help or sought guidance.

It wasn't until three years ago, when I took a feminist theaology (study of the Goddess) course when I found out that the Virgin Mary was actually a watered down version of the Goddess figures of preherstoric societies. The more I learned about the Goddess, the more I came to understand that my attachment to the Virgin Mary was my attachment to the early, Earth honoring, Goddess centered religions.

Apparently, the new religion of Christianity knew it had to give the people of the old matriarchal religions some parallels between the old religion and the Christian Religion. Winter Solstice planned around the birth of Jesus and Jesus' resurrection timed around the Spring Equinox (celebration of rebirth) are but to name a few. The Virgin Mary was yet another example of this. The Catholics gave the people a woman to pay homage to. The only problems being the only woman they accepted reverence to was meek, humble, passive, obedient, pliant, and pious. She was charged with setting the example for all women to follow in order to serve Christ and their husbands to the fullest extent.

Martin Luther and the Protestant movement took the patriarchal step one further and totally eliminated the worship of Mary all together. It is all well and good that she is the mother of Jesus, and that is nice, a woman figure for their people to worship was neither beneficial or necessary.

Mary is crowned the Queen of Heaven and sits with Jesus in Heaven and is typically pictured in blue and white - much like the Egyptian Goddess Isis is called the Queen of Heaven and whose chosen colors are blue and white. Statues of Mary are often have her standing on a globe of the Earth with a snake beneath her feet. Catholics believe she is squashing the snake which tempted Eve in the Garden of Eden. My pagan friends and I think this is a representation of the Catholic elimination of the old religions - for the snake is one of the most powerful pagan symbols we have.

Somewhere in my mind, I comforted that at least there was/is some sort of female presence. And if it is the Goddess in disguise, so be it. No one knows how I pray in my own mind. So thought the slaves who came to America on the slave ships. Luisah Teish in has a chapter in her book Jambalaya, entitled "Beneath Mary's Skirts". It seems that when slaves were brought here, it was proper to convert them to Christians and have them baptized and they were given Christian names and forced to accept the Catholic saints. It seems the slaves saw in Mary their own Goddess of the Ocean, Yemonja. They embraced her and celebrated her (Yemonja) as the Blessed Virgin Mary. They recognized Mary as a symbol of power, as a sister, as another Goddess who could be invoked to work magic. So, Mary was useful in helping this displaced people of rich culture continue their faith, however secret it must have had to have been.

Yes, I hold Mary dear and am quite content to sit back and think about her association with the Great Goddess. The Blessed Virgin stands tall on my personal altar on my dresser along with my other Goddesses. My Catholic mother-in-law and sister-in-law had cause once to walk through my bedroom. I noticed them stop and glance in puzzlement at my altar. They didn't know what is was for sure, but you can be sure that they immediately nodded in approval when they say the Virgin Mary smack dab in the middle. I guess I can't be all bad in their book!



I had written this page in it's entirity....and then I came across this from Spiderwoman. I thought my words truly paled in comparison, and so decided to use her words instead. I could not get a hold of her, so I do not have her written permission to use this. I had seen it on another website. I certainly hope that she doesn't mind :)