A Comparative Study in Turko - Slavic and Hebrew - Canaanite Folklore, Mythology and the Transition of Gynocentric Concepts into the Jewish – Christian Monotheism
Why and how has feminism lied about the patriarchal nature of religion and ancient traditional Societies
In the legends and the folklore of the Russian people that grew out of the common and shared Slavic mythologies there is a mythical demonic figure that is used a lot as a metaphor whose nature we will explain immediately. The real meaning of this metaphor is fundamentally different from what we are superficially tempted to think and supposed to associate with. This personality or character is called Baba Yaga. She is depicted as a supernatural being (or one of a trio of sisters of the same name in a very similar way that reminds us and resembles with the female Canaanite Goddess trio of Ashera, Ashtoret and Anat) who also appears as a deformed and/or ferocious-looking woman. In fact, Baba Yaga is described as a demonic witch who cooks people and babies. Baba Yaga flies around in a mortar, wields a pestle, and dwells deep in the forest in a hut usually described as standing on chicken legs and is in the thicket of a dense forest. Described as a terrifying creature she normally flies in the middle of the night sometimes on her broom too. The fence or gates of her hut are filled with human skulls and there is always a place for an additional one that she might put there. Her name, "Baba" means in most Slavic languages "grandmother" or an "old woman". Babki (many of Baba) in Russian slang can be synonymous to the term "Weiber" in German and Yiddish (a language that is a combination of German and Hebrew and was used by German Jews). This is something that translates and is equal to the English term Womenfolk. This is also the meaning of Baba in Russian for a single woman and not only in plural. Its associated name "Yaga" is sometimes translated as the small form of "Jadwiga", which is the Slavic version of the German name "Hedwig". This is an important factor or detail because in the Slavic languages it has a central meaning or role as an etymological and semantic derivative both from Greek and Turkish Slavic heritage. There are also etymologists who think that there is a more direct Slavic source for the name "yaga" which is the proto-Slavic word ęgа, whose meaning also seems to be related to Greek and Slavic heritage
However, one of these metaphorical stories has a very powerful narrative and speaks of people who were on a spiritual path and / or some kind of a path of self-inquiry and who came to the forest where she lived. The story then goes to describe the meeting and recalls her asking the first man who came to her "are you coming on your own (initiative)?" This spiritual seeker answers the question and says, "no, my father sent me." She immediately takes and throws him into the pot. Then another spiritual seeker comes in. She asks him again "are you coming on your own (initiative)?" This time, the second man answers her question and says, yes. She takes and throws him into the pot too. And the third guy replies, "look, partly I'm here because of others, partly because of me, partly I do not even know why, partly because of you, partly because of the forest and partly because I do not remember why". "And then finally Baba Yaga tells him" You'll be fine" and invites him into her hut. This Russian - Slavic folktale, as we shall see immediately, has not only an important lesson but also reflects many of the principles of which is, naturally, the domain of the Slavic culture, but also presented as proven and established analogies in other mythologies such as the Semitic Canaanites as well as the domain of universal truth, the meaning of this story is that in order to free themselves from suffering or some kind of existential difficulty as a part of the seeker's spiritual path one needs a lot of courage to stand up to the forces of vulnerability, doubt, fear, loss of our center of being, including clinging to ideas and thoughts, not just material things while Baba Yaga is the object of this archetype of fear. This is also the way to be freed from suffering: courage, integrity, honesty, security, and so on are crucial and the most important ingredient of the path. Escape will not help here. Only if you put your head in the lion's mouth and are honest with yourself only then will you get over your fears and free yourself
However, in contrast to this story, Baba Yaga sometimes appears while exhibiting an antagonistic role and sometimes as we have seen in this example as a source of guidance, wisdom, initiation and the cessation of suffering. In this sense, and in a non-dual way, it serves not only as an archetype of wisdom including the idea or concept of being an object of the archetype of fear but also in the role of courage and integrity that frees us from suffering as well as also simultaneously incorporating and being the prototype of those dark forces of our psyche that create the same suffering. On the basis of a deep and intimate knowledge of this human psyche and nature, this concept reflected a very scientific formation within the framework of pagan thought in which the nucleus or kernel of wisdom needed for us to be freed from suffering is to be find within suffering itself (in the same way as in a scientific theory the core of refutation must be included or embedded in the theory itself for it to become scientific). Baba Yaga symbolizes perhaps the difficult (and frightening) way and in another sense the necessary instrument, but also simultaneously the ideal and the practical outcome of the cessation of suffering. Why and how is its origin gynocentric we will understand immediately, but first we have to note that in this evolutionary, biological reality the female is the originating source of the male, defines it, gives it validity and controls it as I will explain immediately. In fact, as I have explained in one of my previous publications and studies, it is the source of all and everything. And yet, in fact, and against the older pagan notion that still created a more balanced unity within the framework of biological evolutionary Gynocentrism, Judaism, Christianity and Islam that became more gynocentric religions than the preceding ones, this prototype was exaggerated and converted, for example in Judaism and Christianity, to the archetype of the Shechina (the indwelling creative force of the abstract divine element that create and sustains life or actually world/reality) and the Virgin Mary, which in fact creates as I said the world, dominates reality and in the end revives everything
Either way, when Baba Yaga serves as a source of guidance and wisdom, it helps people like I said in their self - inquiry (mostly spiritual / mental or in some similar context). For the most part, searching for her help is described as a dangerous endeavor. Special emphasis is placed opon the need for proper preparation for a meeting with her and a pure soul such as courage, integrity, honesty, confidence and so on, alongside with the obligation to maintain a basic etiquette. It shows that despite her "demonic" depiction and reputation she wields a lot of honor and respect, a seemingly superficial contradiction that we will solve immediately. In my other articles, as well as in this article itself, I also discussed the fact that pagan mythologies and folktales were often based on a very deep understanding of the human psyche and were used metaphorically as a type or in a similar way as also Jung's archetypes were understood in psychology. When we remove the layer and the theological pagan dimension itself, which in many cases is indeed problematic, the message of wisdom and the moral narrative is very powerful. Moreover, there are researchers who think that Baba Yaga was originally a Goddess and here we connect to the same layers in mythologies and religions that reflect the Gynocentric concepts of society mirrored through popular folklore and within the dimension of folktales of the different cultures. For example, Sergei Rjabchikov (Рябчиков) believes that Baba Yaga should be identified with and represents the Goddess Tabiti, the mother Goddess of the Scythians and who was later dethroned during the transition from Polytheism to Monotheism in the same way that happened to many male Gods who were dethroned, lost their position and became either demons, physical phenomena or certain aspects of the one and only Monotheistic deity as will be proven by me later through concrete examples. Not only this resembles respectively with the Jewish as well as the Christian concepts of the mother Goddess and the mother of God that is here clearly evident but also the connection between the mother Goddess and wisdom is very strong, clear and important. For example, wisdom (Chochma), intelligence (Bina), and understanding (Daat) in Judaism and in Kabbalah are all female concepts. The specific idea of a female circling a man who is dependent on her and that was adopted by Christian Kabbalists like Guillaume Postel who were also proto feminists is a very essential and known element. Thus, wisdom is a feminine concept/reality that defines the masculine and it reflects the principles of biological and evolutionary Gynocentrism 0:1
Moreover, one can point to the similarity between a "hut built on chicken's legs" and the shape of a structure that was common among hunter-gatherer societies in Siberia and who were also known to be shamans. Historically, however, this house was meant to protect food and equipment from animals during periods of long absence: a wooden cabin with no windows and doors, standing on scaffolding made of torn logs of trees from the perimeter of the building, stretching for about ten feet. This is used in legends as a basis for describing the house on the legs of a chicken and it also has a solid empirical basis as a tool for the overall metaphor. In addition, a similar but smaller structure served the people of Siberia as a dwelling place for their idol worshipers. Given the Gynocentric structure of human society, especially the shaman of the Siberian people, an archetypal picture of a carved bone figurine wrapped in ragged clothes and placed in a small hut on the top of a stumped stanchion corresponds to Baba Yaga's description of her entire body, her legs in one and in another corner, and her nose grows to the ceiling. On the overall level, it also corresponds to the idea of searching for her and her wisdom as a form of initiation and instruction since the Shaman men were sons of the same female Shamans who guided and educated them in the mysteries of esotericism. This is also the primary basis for the idea of formal and informal power distribution between women and men. This model in which men took upon themselves more official roles including religion and women maintained informal power has begun here as an anthropological basis that can be seen as reflected in these legends and as for the dynamics explained by Susan Carroll Rogers in her research in terms of power distribution between the genders within the traditional peasant societies. This dynamic as I have explained by extending her research on the basis of deeper dynamics in examining the differences between ultimate abstract reality and the actual relative one on which anthropological development is based is in fact universally valid through all the spectrum of human society including the modern one
Anyway, in this context it is also very important to mentions that the Siberian shamans were the first ones to develop a kind of spirituality that eventually became an established religion (Brahmanism, Hinduism and from there over the fertile crescent to the Canaanites and finally the Monotheistic traditions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. However, even in the pre – institutionalized era of religions of the Shaman cultures, those were women who were the first Shamans during this primordial religious development and not men. In my research on the migration of early hominids I showed that the roots of both the female shamanism as well as the gynocentric nature of society as the source of female shamanism and its derivative of cultural as well as religious shamanic spirituality may go back more than 5 million years and be linked with our ancestors’ upright posture. This is the link where gynocentric culture of non-human primates shifts into the human one! According to Ian Tattersal (1999), one of the leaders in the study of human evolution and curator at the Museum of Natural History in New York City, once our hominid ancestors stood upright there would be a need for midwives! This female need for midwives encapsulated the dynamic that gave rise to the evolutionary need of society not only to assist females by birth but also alleviate their suffering in a way that by definition would in a later dynamic lead to the accumulation of traditional alternative, spiritual as well as medical and esoteric knowledge in the hands of women via the root of Shamanism, spirituality and religion. Here we should bear in mind that it is rare for women to give birth alone and most cultures typically had midwives. Moreover, almost entirely most births in human history occur close enough to the village so that others can hear the baby’s first cries. This signals to the woman’s female relatives and friends that the child has been born and that the mother may welcome assistance in delivering the afterbirth, cutting the umbilical cord, and wiping the baby clean. Perhaps carrying the baby for her, other women will accompany her back to the village. Only the most experienced and determined woman insist on being alone during these last stages
In fact, humans are almost unique in our use of midwives. Most animals give birth alone, though midwives have been observed among elephants, dolphins, and bats. The human need for midwives undoubtedly increased, as the size of newborns heads increased. In our evolution humans have struck a delicate balance with our large heads: Our big brains make for difficult births. The trend in the human line (hominids) has been for our babies to be born less mature so a great deal of the brain growth happens after a baby is born. As a result of this evolutionary strategy, human babies are born immature and need care for a longer period of time compared to other animals. This puts a range of demands on social structure and nursing mothers in particular. It also must have increased the demands on and for midwives. Midwives have the experience of catching babies and usually at some points in their lives have also been pregnant and given birth. This double experience, over millions of years, gave midwives a vast body of knowledge about pregnancy, birth, and child rearing. This body of knowledge also would have included what to do if something were to go wrong or if someone became sick or hurt. The importance of midwifery as a response to human evolution seems to me to be the logical root of female shamanism while the above description gives us the frame of biological evolutionary gynocetrism 0:1
Hence, as a derivative of biological and evolutionary reality not only a lot of alternative and esoteric spiritual wisdom was acquired as part of the effort to ease the woman's suffering but its origin was female and accumulated in the hands of women. Therefore, this is not only the basis for biological evolutionary Gynocentrism, which is reflected in religion and spirituality, but also the basis of all these mystical teachings, since spirituality and alternative knowledge in nature are those of feminine roots. This phenomenon could be foreseen throughout history, for example, and especially in the Bogomil and Cathar culture, which provided the basis for the troubadours and then for feminism and Misandry. However, this in itself does not make them by definition false or wrong especially in their original more balanced form, but rejects the claim that religions and societies are patriarchal and such that have excluded and oppressed women. Anyway, acknowledging this reality, we again should bear in mind that as aforesaid Baba Yaga was identified with the goddess Tabiti in the early Gynocentric societies and in the same way both in the Semitic one (through the unification with the respective Semitic Goddesses of Ashera, Ashtoret and Anat) as well as the Shamanic societies. She was not the one who held formal power, but rather because she represents and embodies the female qualities of the androgynous Ein Sof (infinity) as defined in Kabbalah or the ultimate abstract aspect of absolute reality that creates and dominates the world through the informal dimension which, as we have said, is the source of formal authority and that also approves and supervises it, without whom the authority cannot be exercised, she was ruling through the dimension of informal power. As we shall see, Tabiti is also the equivalent of the Jewish Shekhina and the Christian Virgin Mary, the mother goddess and mother of God, as well as the Asherah, Ashtoret and Anat from the Canaanite Semitic mythologies, the direct concept from which the ideas of the Shekhina were nurtured in Judaism and Virgin Mary in Christianity both of whom themselves were descendants of Tabiti
Here we should bear in mind that in the Jewish mystic tradition, both the earlier but especially the Kabalsitic one that arose in Spain and France from the 12th and 13th century, the transcendental God is androgynous. The emanation of God – the 10 Sephirot which resembles the tree of life– into the world is overwhelmingly female by its characteristics and attributes! Moreover, his real presence in the actual world is entirely female and is understood as Schechina, a concept we mentioned before and are going to extensively elaborate now especially as in regard and by association to the Christian concept of Virgin Marry that was an important aspect in the troubadour poetry as well as European Gynocentrism. Thus although God in the lower (the non-transcendental realm) is presented as male figure he first of all is not equal in status with its transcendental androgynous nature and second he bears a complete gynocentric and in fact almost a feminist image of a male hence most of his attributes are female one as well as his entire presence in the world. This preeminence of the female over the male that was accepted by Heinrich Cornellius Agrippa as well as Guillaume Postel via the medium of the Kabbalah is true for Tabiti and most probably takes its origin here. This is the basic gynocentric manipulation in religions and how men are sold this delusion. In fact, it is completely in sync with the way it is done in the very life itself
Moreover, mystical Judaism has much to say about the feminine face of God, called Shekhinah, the equivalent of Tabiti too, over the realms of Ashera, Ishtar and Anat. The Shechinah grew out of the Hebrew Bible (which Christians call the Old Testament) and out of later Jewish experience and imagination, just like Mary, the Mother of God, grew out of the Bible and Christian experience and imagination. Many parallels can be drawn, some of whom we'll be discussing now. The Shekhina(h) (also spelled Shekina(h), Schechina(h), or Shechina(h)) (Biblical Hebrew: שכינה) is the English transliteration of a Hebrew word meaning "dwelling" or "settling" and denotes the dwelling or settling of the divine presence of God. This term does not occur in the Bible, and is from rabbinic literature. Shekhinah is derived from the Hebrew verb שכן. The Semitic root means "to settle, inhabit, or dwell". This abstract noun is not present in the Bible, and is first encountered in the rabbinic literature. The root word is often used to refer to birds' nesting and nests. ("Every fowl dwells near its kind and man near his equal.") and can also mean "neighbor" ("If two Tobiahs appeared, one of whom was a neighbour and the other a scholar, the scholar is to be given precedence".)
The word for the Tabernacle, mishkan, is a derivative of the same root and is used in the sense of dwelling-place in the Bible, e.g. Psalms 132:5 ("till I find a place for the LORD, a dwelling for the Mighty One of Jacob.") and Numbers 24:5 ("How beautiful are your tents, Jacob, your dwelling places, Israel!" where the word for "your dwelling places" is mishkenotecha). Accordingly, in classic Jewish thought, the Shekhinah refers to a dwelling or settling in a special sense, a dwelling or settling of divine presence, to the effect that, while in proximity to the Shekhinah, the connection to God is more readily perceivable. The concept is similar to that in the Gospel of Matthew 18:20, "Where two or three are gathered together in my name there am I in their midst." Some Christian theologians have connected the concept of Shekhinah to the Greek term Parousia "presence" or "arrival," which is used in the New Testament in a similar way for "divine presence"
Meaning in Judaism
Being true to its gynocentric heritage, especially the troubadour Cathar one, since the second wave of Jewish feminism Shekhinah has become and was seen by feminists as a goddess it her own right. However, originally while still depicting a gynocentric male image (of some sort of feminist God) Shekhinah represented in fact the feminine attributes of the presence of God which came additionally to his attributes of emanation which are overwhelmingly female too. (both Shekhinah and most of the 10 Sephirot being feminine words in Hebrew, based especially on readings of the Talmud)
Manifestation
The Shekhinah is referred to as manifest in the Tabernacle and the Temple in Jerusalem throughout Rabbinic literature. It is also reported as being present in the acts of public prayer. In the Mishna the noun is used twice: once by Rabbi Hananiah ben Teradion (c. 135 CE): 'If two sit together and the words between them are of the Torah, then the Shekhinah is in their midst'; and Rabbi Halafta ben Dosa: 'If ten men sit together and occupy themselves with the Law, the Shekhinah rests among them". So too in the Talmud Sanhedrin 39a, we read: "Whenever ten are gathered for prayer, there the Shekhinah rests"; it also connotes righteous judgment ("when three sit as judges, the Shekhinah is with them." Talmud tractate Berachot 6a), and personal need ("The Shekhinah dwells over the headside of the sick man's bed." Talmud tractate Shabbat 12b; "Wheresoever they were exiled, the Shekhinah went with them." Talmud tractate Megillah 29a). Hence, it is not the mere manifestation that is at play here but in fact all of life, especially the formal power of men, is ruled by this great female cosmic energy. However, it does not stay just as cosmic presence as women are also the ones who formalize informal power and are the ones who are in charge of all domestic affairs. In the proverbs we read:
Proverbs 31:10-31 King James Version (KJV)
Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies
The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her, so that he shall have no need of spoil
She will do him good and not evil all the days of her life
She seeketh wool, and flax, and worketh willingly with her hands
She is like the merchants' ships; she bringeth her food from afar
She riseth also while it is yet night, and giveth meat to her household, and a portion to her maidens
She considereth a field, and buyeth it: with the fruit of her hands she planteth a vineyard
She girdeth her loins with strength, and strengtheneth her arms
She perceiveth that her merchandise is good: her candle goeth not out by night
She layeth her hands to the spindle, and her hands hold the distaff
She stretcheth out her hand to the poor; yea, she reacheth forth her hands to the needy
She is not afraid of the snow for her household: for all her household are clothed with scarlet
She maketh herself coverings of tapestry; her clothing is silk and purple
Her husband is known in the gates, when he sitteth among the elders of the land
She maketh fine linen, and selleth it; and delivereth girdles unto the merchant
Strength and honour are her clothing; and she shall rejoice in time to come
She openeth her mouth with wisdom; and in her tongue is the law of kindness
She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness
Her children arise up, and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praiseth her
Many daughters have done virtuously, but thou excellest them all
Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but a woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised
Give her of the fruit of her hands; and let her own works praise her in the gates
As we can see, in particular, the shekhinah is a holy fire that resides within the home of a married couple. It is not actually such fire but the energy that rules each and every aspect of it. The shekhinah is the highest of six types of holy fire. When a married couple is worthy of this manifestation, all other types of fire are consumed by it
Jewish Sources: Usage!
There is no occurrence of the word in pre-rabbinic literature such as the Dead Sea Scrolls. It is only afterwards in the targums and rabbinic literature that the Hebrew term shekhinah, or Aramaic equivalent shekinta, is found, and then becomes extremely common.[need quotation to verify] McNamara considers that the absence might lead to the conclusion that the term only originated after the destruction of the temple in 70 CE, but notes 2 Maccabees 14:35 "a temple for your habitation", where the Greek text (naon tes skenoseos) suggests a possible parallel understanding, and where the Greek noun skenosis may stand for Aramaic shekinta: The Shekhinah is associated with the transformational spirit of God regarded as the source of prophecy:
"After that thou shalt come to the hill of God, where is the garrison of the Philistines; and it shall come to pass, when thou art come thither to the city, that thou shalt meet a band of prophets coming down from the high place with a psaltery, and a timbrel, and a pipe, and a harp, before them; and they will be prophesying. And the spirit of the LORD will come mightily upon thee, and thou shalt prophesy with them, and shalt be turned into another man"
The prophets made numerous references to visions of the presence of God, particularly in the context of the Tabernacle or Temple, with figures such as thrones or robes filling the Sanctuary, which have traditionally been attributed to the presence of the Shekhinah. Isaiah wrote "I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne high and lifted up, and his train filled the Temple." (Isaiah 6:1). Jeremiah implored "Do not dishonor the throne of your glory" (Jeremiah 14:21) and referred to "Thy throne of glory, on high from the beginning, Thy place of our sanctuary" (Jeremiah 17:12). The Book of Ezekiel speaks of "the glory of the God of Israel was there [in the Sanctuary], according to the vision that I saw in the plain." (Ezekiel 8:4)
Targum
In the Targum the addition of the noun term Shekhinah paraphases Hebrew verb phrases such as Exodus 34:9 "let the Lord go among us" (a verbal expression of presence) which Targum paraphrases with God's "shekhinah" (a noun form). In the post-temple era usage of the term Shekhinah may provide a solution to the problem of God being omnipresent and thus not dwelling in any one place
Talmud
The Talmud also says that "the Shekhinah rests on man neither through gloom, nor through sloth, nor through frivolity, nor through levity, nor through talk, nor through idle chatter, but only through a matter of joy in connection with a precept, as it is said, But now bring me a minstrel. And it came to pass, when the minstrel played, that the hand of the Lord came upon him (II Kings 3:15)". (Tractate Shabbat 30b)
Jewish prayers
The 17th blessing of the daily Amidah prayer said in Orthodox, Conservative, and Reform services is "[Blessed are You, God,] who returns His Presence (shekhinato) to Zion" (הַמַּחֲזִיר שְׁכִינָתוֹ לְצִיּוֹן) as can be seen in any siddur (Jewish daily prayer book). Liberal Jewish prayer-book for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur (Machzor Ruach Chadashah) contains a creative prayer based on Avinu Malkeinu, in which the feminine noun Shekhinah is used in the interests of gender neutrality
Sabbath Bride
The theme of the Shekhinah as the Sabbath Bride recurs in the writings and songs of 16th century Kabbalist, Rabbi Isaac Luria. The "Asader Bishvachin" song, written in Aramaic by Luria (his name appears as an acrostic of each line) and sung at the evening meal of Shabbat is an example of this. The song appears in particular in many siddurs in the section following Friday night prayers and in some Shabbat song books:"
"Let us invite the Shechinah with a newly-laid table and with a well-lit menorah that casts light on all heads"
Three preceding days to the right, three succeeding days to the left, and amid them the Sabbath bride with adornments she goes, vessels and robes
May the Shechinah become a crown through the six loaves on each side through the doubled-six may our table be bound with the profound Temple services"
A paragraph in the Zohar starts: "One must prepare a comfortable seat with several cushions and embroidered covers, from all that is found in the house, like one who prepares a canopy for a bride. For the Shabbat is a queen and a bride. This is why the masters of the Mishna used to go out on the eve of Shabbat to receive her on the road, and used to say: 'Come, O bride, come, O bride!' And one must sing and rejoice at the table in her honor ... one must receive the Lady with many lighted candles, many enjoyments, beautiful clothes, and a house embellished with many fine appointments ..."
The tradition of the Shekhinah as the Shabbat Bride, the Shabbat Kallah, continues in Judaism to this very day
The concept of Holy Spirit in Judaism
The concept of Shekhinah is also associated with the concept of the Holy Spirit in Jewish tradition (ruach ha-kodesh), as can be seen in the Yiddish song: "Vel ich, sh'chine tsu dir kummen "Will I, Shekhinah, to you come"
Kabbalah and Jewish Mysticism: the divine feminine!
Kabbalah associates the Shekhinah with the female. According to Gershom Scholem, "The introduction of this idea was one of the most important and lasting innovations of Kabbalah....no other element of Kabbaliah won such a degree of popular approval. The "feminine Jewish divine presence, the Shekhinah, distinguishes Kabbalistic literature from earlier Jewish literature." From the point of view of behavioral philology this is extremely important as it mirrors the general attitude of Mosarabic Spain as well as Cathar troubadour French culture putting women and femininity on a pedestal in the greater context of Eleanor of Aquitaine's gynocentrism. "In the imagery of the Kabbalah", continues Scholem, the shekhinah is the most overtly female sefirah, the last of the ten sefirot, referred to imaginatively as 'the daughter of God' (although it is not exactly correct as the last Sefirah is Malckhut). The harmonious relationship between the female shekhinah and the six sefirot which precede her causes the world itself to be sustained by the flow of divine energy", he writes. "She is like the moon reflecting the divine light into the world."
As we have seen, Shekhinah, means 'indwelling in the world', God's immanence. A branch of Jewish mystics, the Kabbalists, took this immanence, Lady Wisdom, and the Holy Spirit, and crafted from them God the Mother, the bride of the Father. She is the totality of divine speech - the Word, if you will. She is his bride in heaven, but also on earth, for she tied herself to the people, whom God chose to wed. As Christ in Christianity is God become human, so she too became human like us in order that God might be close to his children and lead us back home. God the Mother loved her children so much, that she left God the Father in heaven and descended to be with her kids, following them into exile. In fact, this is very similar, just another version of the Cathar-Bogomil creation myth where the first human being coming to earth was a female and with the aim to spread love and to appease the (the male forces) of evil (who created the world) People saw her roaming the communities of her exiled refugee children at night, wearing black and moaning loudly in pain. She cries over her children's suffering, over the sin of humanity which made her leave the embrace of her bridegroom, and over her separation from him
The image reminds us a lot of the mater dolorosa, sorrowful mother Mary, crying not only for her son Jesus, but for all her children, her heart pierced with seven sorrows. Shekhinah leaving her heavenly abode to be with her children in exile also is reminiscent of Jesus in Christianity "Who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God something to be grasped. Rather, he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, coming in human likeness;" (Philippians 2:6-7). According to Kabbalah, no one can come to God except through Shekhinah. She is to Kabbalists what Jesus is to Christians and what Mary is to her devotees. The Zohar, the major classic of Kabbalist literature, says: "Shekhinah is the opening to the Divine: 'One who enters must enter through this gate'."(*1) Sounds a lot like Jesus in John 14:6: "I am the way, the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, except by me." But Mary too is called the Gate of Heaven. The kabbalistic persona of Shekhinah developed over the centuries. Once she had taken on human form, she gradually came to represent all aspects of the feminine: the faithful wife, the nurturing mother, the sensual lover, sister the understanding and supporting sister and the bride and the divine refugee. In fact, it is the depiction of the anatomy of female power that rules man's life from birth to earth:
1. Mother power
2. Bride Power
3. Wife power
4. Devine Cosmic Power
This is the main difference between the Jewish God the Mother and the Christian Mother of God: Shekhinah has all attribute to her, the divine as well as the earthly, the sexual and a-sexual aspect, that are lacking almost entirely in the Christian Virgin Mary thus she is more realistic. Since a wife and mother was seen as an earthly representative of Shekhinah, Kabbalists were encouraged to have "kosher sex" for instance. By uniting the feminine and the masculine in a pure way, here on earth, they were also helping God the Father and Mother reunite in heaven. Pure sex was to be joyful, but chaste. In fact, it is interesting to mention that the Cathar Troubadour culture was more in synch with the Jewish though on the matter while implementing this idea into Christianity by still withholding the sexual aspect away from the virgin marry but integrating and combining it together with romantic and courtly love. It is the essence of female preeminence which was sold under the false pretense and the myth of male power and patriarchy which in fact never existed
Moreover, according to the ancient Mongolian and Turkish religions, as described by Raphael Berezinov, the formal power hierarchy begins with Tangari and Omaye, which are the Greek counterparts of Uranus and Gaia. At the same time, Tabiti is ranked above and is preeminent to them. This dynamic as I have described it on the basis of the Ugaritic mythology is also found in the heavenly hierarchy of the Canaanite pantheon. While El is the head of the Pantheon, his "reign" is more of a symbolic nature while Ashera with her two daughters, Ashtoret and Anat, are the actual rulers with Anat's brother Baal. In fact, Anat not only helps her brother fight against his enemies, the mythical snake, whale and the crocodile. But she also helps her brother resurrect after being killed by his rivals, taking revenge, defeating them, bathing in their blood, putting their skulls on her waist (which reminds us on the skulls and the ferocious nature of Baba Yaga) and returning Baal to his throne. It is the Semitic way of the Canaanites to explain the same phenomenon of formal authority as being expressed, approved through the female source, depends on it, defined by it and needs its help in being exercised over the masses whereas it was slightly done in differently way than in the Slavic version. Without the informal feminine, formal male authority has no validity and no practicality
Although Greek mythology also presents the same dynamic as to the origin of the source of the masculine and male authority as well as specifically the distribution of formal and informal power, Tabiti was transformed by the Greeks into a household goddess called Vestia or Hestia. This is the name Hedwig which we already know from the German culture from which the name Yaga comes in Slavic languages and as the derivative of Jadwiga, probably also in the Proto Slavic form of the name ega. The process of dethroning pagan gods, sometimes even to the level of physical phenomenon or a demon is familiar to us from the transition between mythological paganism and monotheistic concepts too well. Here are a few examples from Cassuto's monumental works in his exegesis and commentary on Genesis:
1. The Transformation of the Goddess Tiamat in the concept of physical depth
Cassuto writes: "In the Greek summary of the myth by the Babylonian priest Berossus, it is clearly stated that the god Bel, that is, Marduk, sliced the body of Thamte (Tiamat, Tâmtu) into two, and of the one half he formed the earth and of the other half the heavens. With the parallel traditions in the Canaanite and the ancient Israelite poetry, it will suffice to note the opposition of the Torah (Pentateuch) to the entire mythological account. It is true that in the Pentateuch, too, reference is made to the division of the primeval world-ocean into two halves, situated one above the other, but the entire mythological picture is completely erased. Here we have neither war nor weapons; a body is not carved up, nor are its segments used for construction; a simple process of physical unfoldment takes the place of the mythical train of events described in the pagan legends" (Thus in the Monotheistic traditions the Goddess Tiamat has become a physical phenomenon)
He further writes: The word tehom, rendered ‘deep’, undoubtedly belonged to the poetic tradition of antiquity, and consequently it is used without the definite article, which is rarely found in Biblical verse and is entirely wanting in Canaanite poetry. Linguistically, the word corresponds precisely to the Arabic word Tihamat, which denotes the low-lying Arabian littoral (the Arabic tahmun generally signifies, ‘land sloping towards the sea [see G. W. Freytag, Lexicon Arabico-Latinum, s.v.]), and to the Akkadian word Tiamat, the name of the goddess of the primeval World-Ocean, who had existed from time immemorial and was the mighty foe of the Creative God. Although the equivalent noun in Hebrew lacks the feminine termination -t, it is nevertheless treated as a feminine substantive. In the Pentateuch, tehom denotes simply the primeval World-Ocean—a purely physical concept. It is matter and has no personality or autonomy; it had not existed from time immemorial but was created by the will of God, and was ready to receive whatever form its Maker would be pleased to fashion for it
2. The transformation of the male deity Ed into the physical phenomenon of groundwater
Here Cassuto writes: "The best explanation is the one based on the Mesopotamian name Id, which is the designation of the guardian deity of the waters of the deep (see Albright, JBL, lviii [1939], pp. 102–103). Accordingly the word ’edh refers here to the waters of the deep generally and to all the springs issuing therefrom. This accords with the statement below (v. 10): A river flowed out of Eden to water the garden, that is, the garden was watered by a river emanating from a spring, and not by rain. It is also in keeping with the general tenor of the section: at first the ground did not absorb water from above (Bereshith Rabba xiii 9–10, Theodor’s edition, pp. 118–119, and parallel passages), in other words, its fructification was not dependent on rain, which sometimes comes down in due time and sometimes is withheld, but it drew water from below, that is, it was constantly irrigated by the waters of the deep. This blissful state of affairs prevailing in the garden of Eden and the similar circumstances obtaining in Egypt served as classic examples of a land blessed with fertility: like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt (xiii 10). Man would have continued to enjoy these conditions had he remained free from sin, but when he transgressed the Lord punished him by decreeing that the soil should obtain its moisture from above, so that He might requite man according to his deeds, giving him rain in its season if he was worthy and withholding it if he was unworthy
3. The integration and unification of different and entirely separate deities as various aspects and characteristics of the one and only Monotheistic God
Here Cassuto writes the following on the integration and unification of the Canaanite God Baal who was dethroned and unified with the Monotheistic God as some specific characteristics and aspects of him:
"From the Ugaritic writings we know that the Canaanites used to tell of the god Baal that he built for himself a palace in the sky and opened therein windows or lattices (the very verb pth [‘opened’] and the nouns hln [ = Hebrew hallon, ‘window’] and ’urbt [= Hebrew ’arubba, ‘lattice’] are found in Tablet II AB, col vii, lines 17f.), and through these windows Baal caused his thunders to be heard. And since the Canaanites attributed to Baal also the sending down of rain from heaven, it is probable, although there is no definite reference to it in the texts known to us at present, that they also conceived this action to take place through the windows, and the term the windows of heaven was used in their language to denote the source of rain. One should not be surprised at the fact that this expression was inherited by the Hebrew tongue. The different forces and phenomena of nature and the fundamental principles of life, which the pagan people embodied in the form of entirely separate deities, were integrated and united, in the monotheistic consciousness of the Israelites, as the various acts of the One and Only God; and when the ancestors of Israel accepted the tongue and phraseology of the Canaanites, it was but natural that they should also take over, as part of the vocabulary and idioms of the Canaanite language, the Divine designations and other terms that signify these acts or are connected with them
In this way the Israelites appropriated two titles of the God of Melchizedek, God Most High and Maker of heaven and earth (see Part I, pp. 200f.); similarly the Israelites employed the Divine appellation rokhebh ba’ărabhoth [‘who rides upon the clouds’], which the Canaanites applied to Baal (rkb ’rpt); and so, too, the Israelites accepted the use, if only as metaphorical expressions, of such idioms as "the opening of the windows of heaven’. We find the phrase, in the undoubted sense of sending down rain, in Mal. iii 10: if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you an overflowing blessing. In ii Kings vii it is recorded that one of the king’s captains did not believe in the words of the prophet who announced in the Lord’s name: Tomorrow about this time a measure of fine meal shall be sold for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel, at the gate of Samaria, and in mockery of these good tidings he said (v. 2; compare v. 19): If the Lord Himself shall make windows in heaven, could this thing be? as though to say: Is it possible to believe that the Lord would open windows in heaven and send down therefrom not rain, as usual, but fine flour and barley? On Isa. xxiv 18: For the windows on high are opened, see below. The substantive hallon [‘window’], which is used in Ugaritic as the equivalent of ’urbt [‘lattice’], is likewise found in the Hebrew linguistic tradition as a synonym for ’ărubboth haššamayim [‘the windows of the heavens], from which the waters of the Deluge came down. Although it does not occur in the Bible—possibly, this is accidental—it is found in rabbinic literature. In Bereshith Rabba xxxi 12 we are told of the giants (see the variant readings in Theodor’s edition, p. 285): ‘They set down their feet and closed up the deep, and they placed their hands on the windows [ hallonoth] and closed them up’, etc. Apparently, this word preserves traces of the ancient tradition, which survived among the Israelites through the generations
Thus the various Pagan Gods became either physical phenomena or certain aspects or attributes of the one Monotheistic God where either a male or female Pagan deity could have become a physical phenomenon such as an abyss, groundwater or steam or an attribute of the one Monotheistic God as well as being dethroned to demon's. This phenomenon, then naturally, has nothing to do with oppression of women, but rather it is reflecting the process and transition of monotheism from pagan religions. The Goddess Tabetti underwent such a similar transformation as an in between link still within the Pagan mythology, similar to that of many male and female Canaanite gods and deities whereas the later Hebrews adopted this concept and dynamic from the preceding polytheistic traditions. Yet, while the male gods underwent in long term a continuation of demonization, some of the female goddesses were not only placed on the pedestal as the object of admiration and adoration in the ordinary culture but their status on the ultimate level remained superior to the male even when they were dethroned to the real of demons. Even then they maintained the good, the positive and the beneficial element, as in the case of Baba Yaga
The bottom line in this context is that from the course of these events we also learn that all the folktales of Baba Yaga correspond to historical, theological, anthropological, social as well as cultural developments of this kind. Beyond the above, it may be added that Baba Yaga's name is a development of this sort too, as well as a description of her home in the context of her being a witch. Her story also depicts the reality where a deity, female or male was dethroned to the level of demons, yet in this case being relocated to a specific aspect of the physical world namely her home, hut. Of particular importance in this context is the etymology and semantics of the name 'baba" itself which as we shall see translates in Russian as grandmother or an old woman and whose origin is of Turkish –Slavic heritage. In the Turkish languages the name Tabiti originates in the root of Ebi or Ebba, which in an expanded manner means the superior mother. In terms of semantic clusters, it also means grandmother and as a derivative midwife and a dear woman. Semantically and etymologically, this is the reflection of the gynocentric evolutionary biological reality in which the first female hominid began to walk on two and needed to be given help by midwives during birth as I explained at the beginning of our exegesis here. Through a long and a stepwise graduate process it transformed and migrated into the concepts of biblical Eve and later to the other concepts such as the Shekhina and virgin Mary as I described the beginning of the discourse here. Even the biblical name Eve still maintains and echoes its semantic and erymological origin of Ebe (in Hebrew Hava). The way in which semantics and etymology as well as the other concepts and dynamics as explained through the Biblical examples above passed through the various stations and incarnations is through the Sumerian, Akkadian and Aramaic cultures of Mesopotamia and from there through the Canaanites to the Bible. By the way, Tabiti came also from the Turkish root of Tapp and Tabino, which means worship. The two meanings do not contradict one another; they match each other in terms of the Gynocentric message of putting women's needs and desires first
These models of formal and informal power distribution as a part of evolutionary biological Gynocentrism, as well as the other dynamics described in this article, were actually observed in all of the ancient societies. Women in older traditional societies of the past understood that a correct and just power redistribution between formal and informal power is necessary for harmonious functioning of the society and relationships between married couples. Feminism actually wants to take away formal power from men, to leave women with the informal power and to abandon men without any power at all. In a certain sense, not only is the formal power and authority validated by the feminine, which is the embedded aspect of wisdom, but in fact male attributes, such as courage and confidence, are defined and need the feminine for approval and this purpose in overall terms. Other attributes such as integrity, honesty, and so on undergo a similar process. In essence, these folk tales and popular folklore reflect gynocentrism in the mythologies from which it has originated. This can be seen not only in Slavic mythology but also in the Semitic Canaanite one. In Semitic mythology these were Ashra (the mother goddess) who was the de facto ruler and her two daughters, Ashtoret and Anat. Some say it symbolizes a spectrum and some say it's one aspect of the whole. Whatever it may be, they symbolized not only feminine sexuality in all its forms, but also the combination of wisdom, courage, evil and violence that can occur in women (as standing opposed to the one sided demonization of men). To a large extent Baba Yaga is a combination of Ashera and Anat (or vice versa the Cananite trio exhibit the essence of Tabiti and Baba Yaga) in the sense of wisdom and other relating concepts as well as the correlation to violence. For example, we can mention here the skulls in Baba Yaga's hut and those that Anat were hanging on her waist as well as the resurrection of Baal by his sister Anat after being killed by his rivals and then put back by her on his throne. This element of wisdom and many other aspects were adopted in Judaism and Christianity as the concept of the Shekhina and Virgin Mary, as I explained above, as the mother of God (Mary) and the Goddess Mother (the Shekhina) respectively. Of course, this has been adapted in the two monotheistic religions, and it can be seen that these concepts migrated all over the religious spectrum back and forth and are adapted from culture to culture. It is similar to the idea that in fact the monotheistic God is a combination of the pagan gods actually describing different qualities or aspects of him. It's the same process here and includes the female and feminine too. Feminism lied and said that religions are patriarchal and oppressing women. In reality, the opposite is true, religions are Gynocentric and do not oppress women at all
Further Readings, References and Sources of Quotations
THE DOCUMENTARY HYPOTHESIS and the Composition of the Pentateuch EIGHT LECTURES by U. CASSUTO Late Professor of Bible at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem
A COMMENTARY ON THE BOOK OF GENESIS by U. CASSUTO, Late Professor of Bible at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Translated from the Hebrew by ISRAEL ABRAHAMS, Professor of Hebrew, University of Cape Town, PART I, FROM ADAM TO NOAH, GENESIS I-VI 8
A COMMENTARY ON THE BOOK OF GENESIS by U. CASSUTO, Late Professor of Bible at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Translated from the Hebrew by ISRAEL ABRAHAMS, Professor of Hebrew, University of Cape Town. PART II, FROM NOAH TO ABRAHAM, GENESIS VI 9-XI 32
THE GODDESS ANATH, CANAANITE EPICS, Texts, Hebrew Translation, Commentary and Introduction by U. CASSUTO, Late Professor of Bible at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Translated from the Hebrew by ISRAEL ABRAHAMS, Emeritus Professor of Hebrew, University of Cape Town
After the Ecstasy, the Laundry: How the Heart Grows Wise on the Spiritual Path Paperback – October 2, 2001 by Jack Kornfield
Tabiti is a superdeity
Baba Yaga
Christian Mother of God and Jewish God the Mother: Two Side of the Same Religious Gynocentric Coin, by Yoav Levin
Shamanism, Gynocentrism and Biological Misandry: The Migration of Early Hominids and Australopithecus from African Savanah up to the Ancient Indian Culture of the Brahmins and The Vedas, by Yoav Levin
A Kabbalistic Christian Messiah in the Renaissance: Guillaume Postel and the Book of Zohar, by Judith Weiss
The Female Origin, Nature and Validity of Authority, by Yoav Levin
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