"To
return to worship the goddess as sacred female is to reconnect with our own deep
powers."[1]
Rosemary Reuther, The Renaissance of Christian Spirituality
"You
live in an abundant universe, in which you can co-create resources by the power of
thought.... Your thought will utterly control the vibrations of the light waves which
are your body."
[2] Barbara Marx Hubbard,
Revelation
"When
a woman has owned her passionate nature... her thoughts grow wild and fierce and
beautiful.... She has thrown off crutch and... glimpsed the enchanted kingdom, the
vast and magical realms of the Goddess within her."[3]
Marianne Williamson
"I am the bread
of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never
thirst." Jesus,
speaking to the multitude."
John 6:35
A new store has opened in our
little suburban downtown. I first noticed it in a newspaper list of local classes.
"Women's mysteries, Rituals and Initiation," it said. Then one day, coming
out of Peet's Coffee shop, I noticed the sign: Phoenix Earth Store.
I stopped and prayed, then stepped into an occult fantasy world of fragrant
incense, tinkling waterfalls, and mystical music as ethereal as the airbrushed
pastel-colored mural on the nearest wall. Around
me hung pictures that ranged from sweet animal photographs to eerie paintings of
wolf-like spirits hovering over shape-shifting shamans, spiritual mediators who could
appear as wolf or man, buffalo or woman.
The shelves were lined with
beautiful rocks, crystals, and candles -- the kind anyone would enjoy in a less
intimidating context. More obviously occult were the wizards, crescent moons, and
goddess figures. "It looks like a museum," commented another first time
visitor.
Several women of all ages (no men)
were browsing among the bookshelves. I joined them and scanned some of the titles: Dance
of Power, A Shamanic Journey, The Circle is Sacred.... All offer tempting counterfeits to God's promises, I thought. Do
these women have any idea where these paths would lead?
I asked a middle-aged woman which
book she had found most helpful. She pulled down a pink-and-purple paperback titled Healing
Yourself with Light: How to Connect with Angelic Healers.
"This one," she said,
handing it to me.
I turned it over and read the back
cover. Apparently, this book taught "a
method for bringing the healing light of the Solar Angel and the angelic healers
into the physical body."[iv]
"I have a guardian
angel," she volunteered.
"Does it help you?"
"Yes," she answered.
"Actually I have more than one. They encourage me and keep me centered."
I wanted to ask more questions, but
the woman left. I replaced the angel book, picked up Phoenix
Rising by Mary Summer Rain, and opened it. It invited me to "join in
engineering a new harmonious world based upon the beautiful foundation of God's Golden
Light."
That "Golden Light" could
not belong to the God I know. Instead it fit
into a grandiose vision that would transform nations, renew its people, and make us
all one -- just what God warned us would happen.
At the counter was a tray of rocks
decorated with animal drawings. "What
are those?" I asked the woman.
"Animal Energy Stones,"
she answered with a friendly smile. "They
bring whatever energy you need for the day. Center
yourself, then pick out one that feels good to you."
"One that feels good? They all
look about the same."
"Or just close your eyes and
let the stone pick you."
"How do you do that?"
"Three girls came in here
yesterday. They're just fourteen and they're really into this. One girl closed her
eyes, and picked out the same stone three times.
It chose her.
"Either that, or..." she
picked up a small pink card with tiny letters on it, "look at this card and find
the animal strength you need today. Here's
a snake." She held out a flat gray rock with a snake drawing. "That means
life force and sexual energy. And,"
she picked another, "this little bear stone will bring physical strength."
"What are these?"
I pointed to a bowl of little leather pouches.
"Are they medicine pouches for the energy stones?"
"That's right."
I thanked her for her help and
bought a book for my research. On the way out I scanned the bench covered with free
brochures and pamphlets announcing Wiccan events and workshops. "Allow the safety
of a circle of women to cradle you as you explore what it means to be a strong woman,
a wild woman, a passionate woman," suggested the leader of a program called
Tantra for Women. "Universal energy gives you exactly what you need and desire at
that moment," promised someone who teaches the Language of Light.
I shuddered, hurried out, and took
a deep breath of fresh, unscented air. The Phoenix Earth Store may offer fascinating
thrills to women seeking mystical insight, but to me it was oppressive.
"Thank you, my Lord," I whispered, "for showing me the true
light. I could so easily have been one of those women."
As always, the lures of the occult
promise what our human nature wants: self-discovery, self-healing, self-empowerment,
self-determination. You own your body, your mind, your destiny. You direct the energies of nature. Visualize what you
want -- and go for it!
Women
who believe the lies don't need to ask God for anything—not His gifts, nor His
strength, nor His life. Believing they “own” their source of physical and
spiritual sustenance, they scorn the “the living bread which came down from
heaven.” Who needs to feed on the life of Jesus, when loving angels and cosmic
forces are as available as a genie in a lamp? Why follow His teaching, when the
passions of the body create more energy and immediate delights?
I thought of David, God's beloved
shepherd-king. "Help, Lord," he prayed in Psalm 12. Sad that his people
would trade God's infinite strength for an illusion of human self-sufficiency, he
continued, "May the Lord cut off all flattering lips and
the tongue that speaks proud things, who have said, 'With our tongue we will
prevail; Our lips are our own; Who is
lord over us?'"
Eros,
Ecstasy and Creation.
The
title of Grace Cathedral's 1995 conference on "Christian spirituality"
promised lots of fleshly delights but little biblical wisdom. Waiting in line, once
again, outside San Francisco's massive Episcopal cathedral, I read the conference
program:
"The Renaissance of Christian
Spirituality restores the original splendor of Christ's vision: the Divine Eros
linking the soul with God.... Restoring this original passion is crucial for the
embodiment of sacred wisdom and the essential transformation of consciousness needed
to preserve the planet."
The church doors opened and the
crowd began to press forward. At the entrance, a woman handed me a program.
"How many do you expect?"
I asked her.
"About eight hundred,"
she answered.
Someone announced that books were
for sale in the back of the church. I went to look, and noticed a large book by
futurist Barbara Marx Hubbard titled
Revelation. I picked it up, opened it to a page near the center and read a
paragraph that began, "Godly children always know they are about God's
business."
The words sounded Christian, but
the context was occult. The next sentence left no doubt about the source:
"You will be capable of self-healing, telepathy, clairvoyance,
clairaudience.... Empathetic love will be a constant state.
A community of natural Christs attuning to the Design of God... suprasexually
engaged in conscious co-creation, ever ecstatic, ever new, ever mindful of God."[v]
What a confusing blend of Christian
words and occult concepts. A quick survey showed that Barbara Marx Hubbard, or her
"inner voice", had reinterpreted the entire book of Revelation piece by
piece -- everything except chapter 17 which shows both the return and the destruction
of the pagan Babylonian prostitute. The "voice" seemed to be a spirit that
called itself Christ. I prayed for the protection only the true Christ can give, then
read on.
"You
will be androgynous. You will learn to co-create... You will choose to create another
being only on very special occasions when the whole community of natural Christs sees
the requirement.... You produce as God does. You heal as God does...."[vi]
Was she saying that new babies
would only be born when the whole community agreed? That seemed a strange
contradiction to the feminist demand that each woman own her own body and control her
own productivity. It even clashed with
her own claim that anyone could be a "natural Christ," empowered to create,
produce, and heal "as God does." Yet,
it fit the collective political ideals of radical feminists. Thus, on the one hand, no
one would need to ask God for anything, since people would have the power of god. On
the other hand, each individual god would have to bow to the collective god -- the
"community of natural christs!”
"That's
the best book I've ever read," said the woman next to me.
I turned to her and smiled.
"What makes it so good?"
She thought for a moment.
"It's about transformation. It's about hope for the future.
Our collective minds evolving together toward a new unity."
When I handed it to the saleswoman,
another woman spoke up. "You're going to love that book."
A deep haunting sound began to fill
the cavernous cathedral, driving us to our seats. It sounded like some kind of horn.
On the stage built over the church altar, someone was blowing into one end of a long
uneven tube. The other end rested on a pedestal. The strange instrument, I read in the
program, was a Didgeridoo, a Eucalyptus tree hollowed by termites and traditionally
played by Australian aborigines. Its owner, Stephen Kent, swayed and curved like a
cobra dancing to the tune of a Hindu piper. As the eerie, monotonous sound droned on,
I instinctively wanted to shut it out, to cover my ears--anything to escape the
tremulous sounds.
Nature
as guide.
When the haunting sounds finally melted into the opening chords of a grand
organ, the Dean of the Cathedral, Alan Jones, walked to the podium. "There are
many voices of Christians in this culture," he began, "and it's time the
voices represented here are heard...." He
introduced Lauren Artress and Robert McDermott as "two great friends and
lovers of Christ." Reverend Artress,
director of Quest, Grace Cathedral Center for Spiritual Wholeness, spoke first.
"There is indeed a renaissance
of Christian spirituality," she began. "It's taking on momentum. This is
coming in through practices that are coming back into Christianity -- the methods, the
way of meditation, the labyrinth. . . . We want to once again discover our path. . . .
Our three themes that we begin to weave together this evening are Eros -- the
whole sense of love, love for the divine, for our bodies, for ourselves. . . . The
second is Ecstasy . . . a lost thread,
the sense of blissing out on God, being so full of love and divine that you are
ecstatic. . . . The last is Creation. . .
. We acknowledge that we have to have a
larger story than we have had in the past -- a story that unites us and incorporates
the whole cosmos."[vii]
What
an enticing mix, I thought. Who wouldn't
want to be "blissing out on God" while writing her own imaginary story about
God and His cosmos.
Apparently, in this world of
imagined innocence and bliss, the animal spirit within would be free to speak. We
would "go out and howl with our own voices," said Paul Winter, composer of
the controversial Missa Gaia musical, which blends the trumpeting of elephants, the
howling of wolves, and the sounds of the dolphin into a symphony of praise to mother
earth. "We, as a much younger species, would learn something from these elders of
ours."
"Wolves are not dangerous to
man,"[viii]
he assured us. "Join me in a hallelujah chorus by howling like wolves." Moments later, the cavernous cathedral
reverberated with chilling imitations of howling wolves -- some called it a
"Howl-eluia chorus."
"...When I fall on my knees,
with my face to the rising sun...." sang the Oakland Interfaith Gospel Choir
moments later.
O
Lord, have mercy on us! I had heard
that song many times in traditional churches, and it always disturbed me. My mind
drifted to pagan cultures where priests or shamans lead their tribes in worship to the
rising sun.[ix]
"I will go in Jesus'
name," sang the Interfaith Choir. "I'll spread the gospel in Jesus
name...."
"O Jesus," I whispered,
"I'm afraid most of these people don't even know you."
Earthy powers
The
next day, the conference moved to the Star King Unitarian-Universalist church.
Rosemary Reuther, professor of theology at the Garette-Evangelical Theological
Seminary (United Methodist) in Evanston, Illinois, spoke first. At the first glance,
her grandmotherly appearance disguised her pagan dreams and impressive titles:
theologian, scholar, educator, visionary, and revolutionary.
"Feminism," she began,
"is a complex movement." She
listed some of its "many layers" and demands:
-
Full inclusion of women in political rights.
-
Access to full employment.
-
Transformation of the patriarchal
socio-economic system in which male domination of woman is the foundation of
social hierarchies.
Few would disagree with the first
two,[x]
but the third and more basic demand requires a total transformation of western
culture. Never mind that eastern cultures are far less friendly to feminist ideals
than their western counterparts. (Just look at China, Japan and Iran.) The spiritual
mastermind behind this movement has aimed his bullets at Judeo-Christian monotheism
(one God), not Eastern monism (all is one). In his grandiose plan, injustice toward
women is merely an excuse for vilifying Christian influences. He couldn't care less
about wounded women.
Small wonder then, that feminists
seek far more than equality. They call for a revolution -- a new culture, a new
history, new government, a new form of
global socialism, and a new religion. The new religion is essential because, according
to Reuther and other feminists, the old "patriarchal religions" caused all
the problems in the first place.
"The
Western ruling class male," explained Rosemary Reuther, "made God in his own
image -- or rather in the image of his aspiration."
Her answer to male domination echoes what the leaders of the re-imagining
conference declared: Women must create their own deity -- one that reflects their image and aspirations and brings them back in touch with the earth:
"There
are deep, positive connections between women and nature.
Women are the life givers, the nurturers, the ones in whom the seed of life
grows. Women were the primary food
gatherers, the inventors of agriculture. Their
bodies are in mysterious tune with the cycles of the moon.
The tides of the sea. And it was
by experiencing women as life givers, both food providers and 'birthers’ of
children, that the early human
communities in fact made the female the first image of worship, the goddess, the
source of all life."[xi]
"Women need to reclaim this
affinity between the ‘sacrality’ of nature and the ‘sacrality’ of their own
sexuality and life powers," she continued. "To return to worship the goddess
as sacred female is to reconnect with our own deep powers."
Our
own deep powers? The tragedy is that Reuther and other would-be historians are
telling a lie. The women they present as models didn't exist.
Earth-centered women never did have the powers today's feminist envision. The
bane and blessing of the imagination is that you don't have to prove anything. The
fact is that ancient women or indigenous women would beg their various gods and spirit
for the food and protection we now take for granted. They lived at the mercy of the
spirits from whom they bought favors they desperately needed. Indigenous people are
still tormented by the spirits they fear.[xii]
The goddess figures archeologists
have uncovered are less a testimony to the power of women than a sign of the
superstitions that dominated their lives. In pagan cultures, altars and sexual symbols
helped pay capricious spirits or demons for basic needs: a fertile harvest, food for
the family, a baby. Fighting
life-and-death battles against disease, curses, tempestuous weather, and wild animals,
they had little time to seek self-esteem, self-sufficiency, and
control over their own life and body. A
good year meant food to eat, and a child that didn't die. Well aware that their lives
were driven by forces they could not control, they would plead and appease, not
command.
Barbara Marx Hubbard, who followed
Reuther, also promised imagined power—but with a New Age twist. Instead of a
goddess, her story points to a more impersonal New Age force. Like so many others, she
cloaks her occult ideas in Christian terms and puts scriptures into a pagan context:
"In
the sixties I began reading
Teillard deChardin. What is interesting about Teillard
is that the evolution of our planet leads to a time on earth which he calls
Omega.... Our system, as it becomes more complex, is rising in consciousness, and at
some point he felt there would be a quantum jump in which we would empathetically
experience ourselves as connected to the whole.... I related it to reading in the
Bible, "Behold I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, we shall all be
changed, in a moment, in a twinkling of an eye."
"I
had an experience of the... field of light.... it had persona and it was real.... I
felt enfolded in light and I heard the words, 'My resurrection was real. It is a
forecast of what you will do collectively when you love God above all else, your
neighbor as yourself, yourself as me, a natural Christ.... You shall all be
changed....'"
When the "inner voice"
spoke to Ms. Hubbard's heart, she sensed "an overwhelming magnetic love."[xiii]
In silence, she replied, "I choose it, but I don't know how to do
it."
Again "the presence"
spoke. "You choose it. I'll do it."
This exchange began her
relationship with "a Being" that has produced books, lectures and countless
followers who continue to spread the illusion of abundant life through a counterfeit
Christ.
The "Christ" who spoke to
Barbara Marx Hubbard promised a massive change when the global consciousness has
reached what many call a "critical mass." In her book, she talks about a
violent "Planetary Birth experience" when the "ancient defect of
consciousness" will "be corrected forever."[xiv]
At that point -- "when enough of you are attracted and linked"[xv]
-- her Christ would return, but not in person as will the true Christ. Instead his
"Presence" (his spirit or glory) would appear and draw all people into an
ultimate Universal Humanity.
If this occult "Christ"
who pulls people to himself with "overwhelming love" -- and will one day
appear as a mystical "presence" --sounds like a movement within churches
today, you have reason to be concerned. Remember, Satan twists all of God's good
things into tempting counterfeits that lure people toward himself.
I
own my body.
"You will be in charge of your
body," the Christ spirit told Barbara Marx Hubbard, "maintaining it,
discarding it, or evolving it into new forms."[xvi]
Her
"Christ" has prophesied the coming of "uncontrollable joy" which
will "ripple through the thinking layers of the Earth." It will be as
"irresistible as sex," flooding all human "co-creative systems"
with "love and attraction."[xvii]
Who will
"awaken this co-creative" genius and prepare the world for "the Second
Coming?" "The Holy Spirit,"[xviii]
says Hubbard's Christ. But humans have to
help, and this is where Hubbard's evolutionary force joins contemporary neopaganism.
To help you evolve, Hubbard suggests standard circle rituals: create a sacred space,
light candles, and pass the sacred wine or juice. At this point, Hubbard would
"evoke the Presence of the living Christ"[xix]
instead of the Wiccan goddess, but as you know, the label matters little.
For those who want more practical helps, she suggests
A Course in Miracles[xx]--
the occult messages channeled by a spirit guide and taught by Marrianne Williamson,
guru to Hollywood and Oprah Winfrey.
Do you see
the threads that run through all the diverse pagan groups? Do you wonder why God warns
us that "false Christ's and false prophets will rise and show great signs and
wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect"?
Or why He tells us to "test the spirits?"[xxi]
The
high-brow spirituality of Barbara Marx Hubbard may contrast sharply with the naked
sensuality of the new rage: the "wild" women who join circle covens or
worship the goddess in forested groves. But
the difference is superficial. In essence, both forms of occultism spring from the
same spiritual source. Both promise love, super sex, ownership of one's own bodies,
and answers to personal needs and wants. Anything
goes, no matter how outrageous.
"Snake
Power is power-from-within," says Vicki Noble, a feminist and shamanic healer.
"Snake Power is moving us toward global female leadership. A woman with Snake
Power stands her ground, allowing the fires of transformation to boil up in her and
direct her actions."[xxii]
Who
then directs her actions?
You
may remember Annie Sprinkle. She stirred quite a commotion some years ago when your
taxes helped pay for her obscene video. An
earlier live performances had featured Sprinkle chanting prayers to the "spirits
of ancient sacred temple prostitutes" and inviting her audience to examine her
private parts. The ecstatic Annie then uttered the immortal line, "Usually
I get paid a lot of money for this, but tonight it's government funded." [xxiii]
More
recently she performed at the Wild Wise Woman Center, "a safe space for restoring
the health, wholeness, and holiness of women.... where women can explore the deep
wellsprings of female power."
Annie called
her show Sacred Sex. "Explore sexual energy as a vehicle for enlightenment and
healing," beckoned her ad. "Learn Tantric, Taoist, and Native American
techniques... Explore the mysteries of the sacred slut. Oh yes."
Once again
the world's religions are blending together in a universal expression of the untamed
self: the wild woman. The Wise Woman Center
Gazette describes her well. It defines wild as "free, untamed, not under man's domination, virgin."
The wild
woman is a virgin? Yes, for "virgin" has also been redefined. Carol Christ,
former Associate Professor of Women's Studies and Religious Studies at San Jose State
University, gives her version in her book, Laughter
of Aphrodite. She writes:
"Fully
and joyously sexual, Aphrodite remains Virgin in that her sexuality is unbridled, untamed, and her own.
Though married to Hephaestus.... she is neither submissive or faithful to him. Though
she is a mother, her child Eros, Love or Desire, is but a reflection of her
sexuality....[xxiv]
(Emphasis added)
Aphrodite
also represents the "cosmic life force, associated especially with the
transformative power of sexuality." So does the goddess in Marianne Williamson's
popular books. "Like every aspect of the cosmic energy of which she is a
part," writes the famous author, "she permeates the cells of those who have
invited her in. She gives us new life, that we might give it to others. Through her
power within us, we redeem all things."[xxv]
Ponder
the above sentence. If "we redeem all things," there's no need for Jesus and
His gifts. If "our life is our kingdom,"[xxvi] there's no need for His life. And
if women accept her lie that it is good to "grow wild and fierce" by
"owning their passionate nature," they will surely hate the cross which
frees us from bondage to that capricious nature.
Like
Barbara Marx Hubbard, Ms. Williamson often refers to a Christ who opposes everything
the Bible teaches. Yet, bearing this horrendous message, Ms. Williamson became a
rising star on the television circuit and a welcome overnight guest at the Hillary
Clinton White House.[xxvii]
Few seem to care that her message was channeled by a spirit guide and first packaged
as A Course in Miracles.
"If
we truly believed in an internal light, we... would not be so easy to dominate and
control," says Williamson, bringing us full circle back to Grace Cathedral and
the cosmic force behind its "Renaissance of Christian Spirituality: Eros, Ecstasy
and Creation."
She
is wrong. The next three chapters will show that the deeper the journey into the
occult, the stronger is the domination. Women may visualize a sweet, lovely goodess,
but her dark side is cruel beyond the imagination of our still-civilized Western
world. It may take little more than a generation to revive the basic depravity of
pagan wildness. No longer tempered by Judeo-Christian civility, it will soon be free
to express itself in all its natural fury.
That’s
hard to believe in today's politically correct atmosphere. Blinded by noble educational sentiments, we don't want to consider the fact that certain
earth-centered cultures were destructive both to its human victims and its land.
Missionaries saw the pain of occult bondage and scientists have documented the erosion
and pollution that followed destructive
life-styles, but those are secrets well hidden from the general public. Instead we
learn from Disney's Pocahontas and Lion King which tell us the new-paradigm version of
history -- the one that will raise our consciousness and usher in the new paradigm
world.
The
lie is believable because it sounds so good. You want self-esteem? Self-knowledge?
Listen to Starhawk who has a way of turning the old-paradigm evils into new-paradigm
virtues. "Witchcraft is a religion
of self-celebration..." she writes in The
Spiral Dance. "Desire is the glue of the universe... So fulfillment becomes,
not a matter of self-indulgence, but of self-awareness."[xxviii]
Witchcraft
looks good to women who equate their natural desires with social virtues. Symbolic
art, simplified lifestyles, and environmental concern blend with sexual freedom and
the dream of power. Together they draw seekers who are rightly offended by today's
blatant consumerism. But the promising paths lead to disillusionment and bondage, for
Satan never lets his human victims own his
power. Remember, he who masquerades as an "angel of light"[xxix]
said to Barbara Marx Hubbard, "You choose. I will do it." He may use a long
leash, but -- whether his victims know it or not -- he, not they, holds the reel.
