CHAKRA BLEU: Music
Black Madonna
One day I was browsing through a bookstore and a book titled,'Magdalene's Lost legacy,' caught my eye. It was the third book written by margaret Starbird (a new author to me, and hadn't heard anything about Mary Magdalene up til that time accept what I remembered from my early religion classes that taught she was a prostitute and a friend of Jesus) As I began reading the backside of the book that described the content, I was curiously drawn in by Starbird's research in 'gematria' in regards to the New Testament. Now, I had studied a little numerology, enough to convince my skeptic mind that it was a legitimate science. I was facinated by the conversion of letters into numbers which would lead to a sum that would bring a particular energy and significant meaning to the word itself. You're still asking,"What the heck is gematria?" It is where one assigns a numerical value to each of the letters of the Greek alphabet. One then adds the value to the individual alphabet letters whereby the sum of the word or phrase carries a specific sacred or hidden meaning. For example, the number associated with the eternal feminine principle in the ancient canon of geometry was 1080 and the same number is the value of the Greek letters in the 'Holy Spirit' and 'fountain of Wisdom', both of which were originally based on the calculation of the radius of the moon. The feminine principal throughout the Middle East was understood to the lunar - the 'Sister-Bride'who mirrored the light of the 'masculine' sun. The masculine/solar principle is equated to the number 666, or the or oriental 'yang', while the'yin' (1080) is associated with the eternal feminine. Solar orientation(666) represents the qualities of law, order, justice, righteousness, reason and victory. Too much sun ofcourse results in dry, parched land. For balance, the solar principle must be 'wedded' to its natural opposite feminine energy - the yin. Balanced together, these energies generate harmony. If one adds 1080 and 666 together, the sum equates to 1746, otherwise known as the hieros-gamous (union of the two opposite principles). You all can recall the well known quote by Jesus,..."the kingdom of God is like a grain of a mustard seed." N'est pas? Well, Margaret Starbird discovered that the gematria of 'grain of a mustard seed equates to 1746. This is the 'Sacred Marriage' - the Union of opposite energies that provides the formula for the promised kingdom of heaven on earth. The harmonious balance of the positive & negative energies is also represented by the star of David: two triangles, one up and the other facing down, both triangles merged together. The triangle facing up is fire/sun/male enery and the triangle facing down is water/lunar/female energy. Cool, huh? Moving on....each line of the song 'Black Madonna' has significant meaning. If I'd write out the interpretation of each line, I'd bog down the space on this website. The overall purpose of the song is to open the channels in our psyche that re-connect us to the Hieros-Gamous (balance of polarities within, so that they can be mirrored without, manifesting harmony and well being in our daily lives and world as a whole). Most importantly this song is emphasizing the personal relationship the God Force desires to have with us, like that of a Bride or Bridegroom; a Mother; Father and/or Friend. We can best commune with Divine Spirit/Infinite Mind/God (whatever your favored name is..) through the receptive, yin, quiet relective moments in meditation in which we become ONE with WISDOM and ONE with eternal MIND. There are two main focus points of this song. The first is that it is necessary to unearth the truths about who Mary Magdalene really was, and what her role really was and is especially today. Because she represented the 'feminine face of God'/Wisdom/the 'Sister-Bride' of Christ, there is a much deeper significance to her role in each of our lives. She is the archetype (the original pattern or model of which all things of the same type are representations or copies) that has been missing in our collective psyche. Significant evidence shows that the first followers of Jesus and early Christians recognized both Christ and Magdalene as Bride and Bridegroom - the 'Sacred Marriage' spoken of in the Song of Solomon - the archetypal roles of intimate partnership with the Divine Spirit. Magdalene is the 'yin' - Jesus is 'yang', both of whom and which run deep in our individual and collective psyche, mind/hearts. I know that most of you right now are balking at the Jesus and Mary partnership thing. Yes, I did too at first. Although, ignorance can be bliss, it's also lazy leading to unbiased judgement. So I did my research and lots of it! The more I researched from different angles, authors and books, the more evidence pointed to their partnership. I myself am not suggesting that they were married, that's up to you, and the song is about the balancing of the yin and yang within us-finding the Holy Grail. That subject is insignificant and only leads to folks getting their 'panities in a wad'. However,get this: in the first century amoung the earliest Christians, it would have been taboo for a Jewish male back then NOT to be married! It wasn't until 1139, that Christian DOCTRINE made it MANDATORY for clergy to be celebate (those poor guys! - stuffing that Kundalini energy will eventually backfire - and boy howdy is it backfiring now in the coffures of the Catholic church with the sex scandels.) Eventually, later generations assumed that celebacy was the norm and implied the practice to Jesus as well. For two thousand years, at the hands of the Church founding fathers, 'the yin' was hidden - the feminine shamed and devalued. The result threw our lives, society, nations and earth out of balance. Whatever qualities are missing within us will be mirrored outside of us. That is why one cannot fix political, domestic and social problems by applying band-aids to the external symptoms. We must go to the source of the underlying problem. Suggested solution?: Once we restore the yin-like qualities within our lives on a personal basis, we will be able to heal global 'unrest' and inharmony in various levels. Remember that yang/positive/masculine/666/solar/fire represents those qualities such as reason, law, order, justice, and power. Yin/feminine/negative/1080/lunar/water - represents those qualities such as wisdom, love, feelings, emotions and intuition. Jesus archetype = yang,masculine Magdalene's archetype = yin, feminine Without both of these archetypes working in our daily lives and psyches (mind/heart), there would be imbalances. From psychological imbalances, multi-faceted illnesses, unrest and inharmony can occur in our personal lives, society, nations and earth as a whole. Too much yang/masculine, reason and raw power, leads to those 'dry' desert qualities. Reason, law, order on their own is like a bull-dozer plowing through and over obstacles with a 'power & might' attitude, to means of attaining a goal, with litle or no regard for the overall balance of results, exclusive of the 'good of all'. However, too much yin/feminine- emotions, feelings can lead to flooding, like someone who is controlled by their emotional upsets and whims. One day on a roller coaster turmoil ride - the next day, they're high as a kite (not speaking about drugs,OK?) by overreacting, retaliating, applying indifference to issues that could have been settled peacefully and smoothly with sensible reason. It is in the balance of polarities that sound decisions are made. The balance of feminine-masculine; yin-yang; solar-lunar;positive-negative; reason,law,order- wisdom and love: all these check and balances lead to harmony, peace, and a 'flow' in our daily lives, a 'dance' in our relationships of family, friends, co-workers, organizations (social,religious,etc.), nations and earth. Combining 666 along with 1080 = 1746: the 'Sacred Marriage' otherwise known as HIEROS GAMOUS (union of opposite energies). So, the first significant point of the song is to realize that we must restore the yin-like ,feminine qualities in our lives. We must restore Mary Magdalene to her place of honor with Jesus, for she is the essential archetype that must come forth in this healing process. If we continue to ignore the truth of who she was and what she represents in our collecive psyches, the human family and earth will continue to suffer numerous inharmonies. The second powerful message of this song is this: we now know from available evidence that Magdalene represented the personal encounter of the soul with the eternal 'Spouse'/Divine Spirit. Magdalene's archetypal role represents that intimate relationship of our soul with the Eternal Beloved. She is our model for knowing the God Force on a direct personal level. The way to commune with Spirit as Father, Mother, Friend and Beloved is through tapping into the intuitive part of ourselves. We cannot attain a personal relationship with Spirit through doing and acting upon things solely on the 'outside'. Knowing, Loving, communing with Spirit comes by the inner stillness found in meditation. It is then, that Widsom and Insight bubble up from our All-Knowing Soul Selves in those quiet times of reflection. ....."Not by power, not by might, but by my Spirit says the Lord..." Yang=action, doing, thinking, talking, service, Yin= stillness,non-action, receptive, non-thinking/meditation,solitude, self reflection Even these spiritual qualities must be balanced. Oh the patience it takes to sit in the silence! We want immediate answers and solutions. We all too quickly act on reason alone- bull dozing ahead, without taking time for stillness to recieve wisdom (intuition, gut feeling, guidance) from the 'Holy Sophia' - the feminine face of God. If we shut 'Her' out, separating the HEART from the MIND, then our decisions and actions will have a tendency to be based on faulty foundation. Cracks will sonner or laer follow= inharmony, restlessness, lack of peace and contentment. The 'Tower of Babel' will come tumbling down. (Ah-hah, other Empower songs of Chakra Bleu such as 'Tower of Babel', Mockery of Prayer, Be The Rhythm, etc. are all tying in together...) In conclusion, by restoring the feminine balance with ourselves - the receptive, yin, intuitive side of ourselves, along with restoring Magdalene to her rightful place, we can begin the process of healing the wounded and neglected parts of our psyche on an individual and collective level.
A shawdow fell upon her face Bride of Wisdom so disgraced The sun eclipsed the moon when Rome erased her rightful place Enslaved to fields in Babylon Her sunburned face now dark and drawn Her heart bleeds for the one that made her whole - she loved him so Chorus: Black Madonna - Holy Grail Black Madonna - Truth Unveiled Verse: Her brothers smeared her name with shame The goddess silenced and restrained No longer equals - Gaia grieved her pain and drought came Nations thrist for peace to reign Polluted streams of love constrained To heal our lives and land we must avail to find the grail Bridge: Restore the Sacred Union within Watch waters flow and peace reign again Unearth the Holy Grail Harmony will prevail