Sophian.org

[Tau Malachi]

Holy Feast of the Mother and Child

The Feast of the Mother and Child takes place on winter solstice – the longest night of the solar year, which suggests the holy womb of the Divine Mother. This, in essence, is a Christmas celebration and New Year’s celebration all rolled into one and the same Holy Feast.

Our noble ideal of Christmas and gift giving is not that of profane and unenlightened society – save with regards to children and the magic of Santa Clause, and such, we tend to rebel against the consumerism of egoistic gift giving that has become such a gross klippah surrounding Christmas. Indeed, in the way it has come to be celebrated in the unenlightened society it ought to be named Mammon-Mass or Buying-Mass, or perhaps the *Demiurge-Mass*, for the Holy Mother and the Messiah have little or noting to do with what this “holiday” has become.

Truly, we seek to transform this trend, for what we do is bring gifts for the Mother Spirit – things that may be used in the spiritual work and sacred ceremony of our circle, making an offering of gifts to the Divine Mother and Child, and to El Elyon, God Most High; aside from charity given to the poor, if there are gifts to be given on “Christmas” it is gifts to the Holy One who gives us life and light, in worship of El Elyon, God Most High.

We Celebrate the Divine Mother in this Holy Feast, and the mystery of the Divine Incarnation – we may focus on the Bright Mother or the Dark Mother, all as inspired, and whether her Bright Face or Dark Face, so will be the mystery of her Child, the Divine Incarnation that we celebrate.

To us, as Sophian Gnostics, the Holy Bride is inseparable from the Divine Mother (Imma), and the Divine Mother is the All-In-All; God the Mother is the immanent and transcendent aspect of the Divine, God the Father being completely transcendental – so Ma is our entire experience of life and God, and it is through her and in her that the mystery of the Divine Incarnation transpires, and it is through her that we behold the face of our Living Father (Abba).

*To contemplate mysteries of the Divine Mother, see Gnosis of the Cosmic Christ and Living Gnosis, as well as our forums, “Mysteries of the Divine and Sacred Feminine,” and the “Order of St. Mary Magdalene.”

As we celebrate and worship in the Holy Mother, we also are celebrating the mystery of the Divine Incarnation – but not only in Yeshua Messiah, but in us as well; we are seeking to embody something of the Mother’s Force, the Light from above, the Spirit of the Messiah – for she is our Mother, and we are her daughters and sons, children of the Divine Light. This revelation of the indwelling Messiah and Holy Spirit in us all is the very purpose of the Divine Incarnation from a Sophian Gnostic perspective, and therefore it is a significant part of the celebration of this Holy Mystery, the Virgin Mother and the Incarnation (Emanation).

In a traditional Sophian circle there are the eight outer Solar High Rites, and twenty-six inner Lunar High Rites in the year when the Continuum is manifest in full; the elders/priests of the circle tend to the outer Solar Continuum, and the sacred tau/bishop tends to the inner Lunar Continuum – if and when there is a sacred tau in circle, the Feast of the Mother and Child is the only ceremony of the outer Continuum they attend.

When there is a sacred tau in the circle, within and behind whatever mysteries of the Mother and Child are being explored in the rite, there is a play of extending blessings to the companions of the circle – the tau plays the role of the Divine Incarnation, and seated on a throne-chair that represents the Divine Mother, they receive and bless all companions of the circle during the rite. The companions enter and make offerings to the Holy Mother and Child, and speak a spiritual invocation for the coming year, the tau responding with a blessing and a promise to uplift what has been spoken in prayer. (At times this exchange can become a moment of Gnostic and Light Transmission – a significant spiritual empowerment.)

If there is no sacred tau in circle, still in the midst of the ceremony offerings are made to the Divine Mother and Child, and invocations are spoken, along with requests for blessings from the Holy Mother and Child; but no initiate assumes the role of the Sacred Tau, or Divine Incarnation – in a manner of speaking, initiates come with offerings for the Divine and a spiritual “New Year’s resolution,” this offering and invocation being at the heart of this sacred ceremony.

Perhaps something of the Nativity as told in the gospels will be incorporated into this Holy Feast, but as ours is a very rich oral tradition, and has extensive teachings on the Divine and Sacred Feminine, more often than not we will draw from our own oral tradition and teachings, exploring various aspects of the Holy Mother and Child as understood among Gnostic initiates.

Now the Holy Child of the Mother is the *Spiritual Sun*, and the fruition of the rite is the welcoming and reception of the Sun of God, the Sun of the Mother; and so in the climax of the sacred ceremony we celebrate the Wedding Feast and pray for the extension of blessings and light to all beings in the coming solar year.

Often, the mysteries explored in the theme of the Mother and Child will shape the mysteries explored in all of the other Solar High Rites – for they are all born or emanate from this womb of the Holy Mother in winter solstice, and she is the Great Matrix of them all. Indeed, this is emphasized by the presence of the sacred tau in this rite of winter solstice, for not only is the Mother the Matrix of the Outer Continuum and Circle, but of the Inner Continuum and Circle as well; she is everything, and she is no-thing.

If you inquire of the High Rite of the Father, it is in the High Rite of the Mother, for in the Sun we see the Living Father; but as to the Holy Feast of the Living Father, it is primordial meditation, primordial contemplation – the natural and spontaneous self-liberation of all in Messiah Melchizedek.

The masters of the tradition have said, “Good in the beginning, good in the middle, good in the end” – and so it is with the Feast of the Holy Mother and Child, and all that follows; and so it is with our Initiation and journey into Supernal Realization, all in the Divine Mother and her Holy Child, the Risen Savior.

If there is anything more to say of this Holy Feast, the Mother Spirit will speak it to those who worship in the Divine Mother and her Sun; amen.

*With this writing on the Feast of the Mother and Child there are now writings for all of the Holy Feasts of the Solar Year – see this forum and the “Spiritual Life & Practice” forum for teachings on these eight Solar High Rites of the Outer Continuum.

May all souls be reborn of the Mother Spirit – may all be reintegrated with the Light Continuum, the Living Father; amen.

Blessings & shalom!
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Tau Malachi
Sophia Fellowship
Ecclesia Pistis Sophia