Heavenly Mother

In some religious traditions or movements, Heavenly Mother (also referred to as Mother in Heaven or Sky Mother) is the wife or feminine counterpart of the Sky father or God the Father. Teachings about the Heavenly Mother are promulgated by various religious groups, to one degree or another.

Ancient Egypt

In Egyptian mythology, sky goddess Nut is sometimes called "Mother" because she bore stars and Sun god.

Nut was thought to draw the dead into her star-filled sky, and refresh them with food and wine.[1]

Ascended Master Teachings

In the Ascended Master Teachings, a group of religions based on Theosophy, the Heavenly Mother is called Omega.

Christianity

Orthodoxy and Roman Catholicism

Orthodox Christians believe Mary received her resurrection early near after her death (see Dormition of the Mother of God), while Roman Catholics generally believe that Mary was assumed, body and soul without death or the need for resurrection, into Heaven, referred to as the Assumption of Mary. This could make her a "heavenly mother" of sorts, as she gave birth to Jesus, and was confirmed to bear the title Theotokos ("giver of birth to God") at the Council of Ephesus in AD 431. However, she is more often referred to as "Our Mother", since Christians alike refer to themselves as "Brothers and Sisters in Christ". There is a parallel in calling Mary "Our Mother" as calling God "Our Father", though there is a Pater Noster but no Mater Nostra. Mary is not considered the "Heavenly Mother", the same way that God the Father is referred to as the "Heavenly Father". In Roman Catholic belief Mary, although highly venerated as the first among the Saints, is never viewed on an equal status with God (cf. the Scholastic Catholic hyperdulia vs. latria distinction), rather she is viewed by some Catholics, but not as a matter of dogma, as Mediatrix and Co-Redemptrix with Christ.In the catecism of the Catholic Church, it states that Mary is a Co redeemer with Christ.

Mormonism

In the Latter Day Saint movement, particularly The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, many adherents believe in a Heavenly Mother as the wife of God the Father. The theology varies, however, according to denomination. The only clear declaration regarding a Heavenly Mother figure is that she exists. Some offshoot denominations disavow a belief in her, some do not make her a part of the official doctrine, and others openly acknowledge her.[2]

Collyridianism

Collyridianism was a heretical Christian sect. Collyridians worshipped the Virgin Mary as their Heavenly Mother and as a Goddess. The Catholic Church condemned the Collyridians of Marian Heresies, holding that Mary was to be venerated but not adored like God.[3] The Collyridian service was similar to that of the Catholic Mass, except that the sacramental bread was not considered Christ, or a sacrifice to God, but a sacrifice to the Virgin Mary. Epiphanius of Salamis wrote about the Collyridianism and their multiple heresies against the Catholic Church in his work entitled Panarion.

Unification Church

In the Unification Church some members occasionally address God as "Heavenly Mother" when emphasizing the divine attribute of femininity, but not indicating a distinct person. Unificationists consider God a unified being of masculine and feminine characteristics, but they nearly always address God (in prayer) using masculine references and refer to Him as "Father" or "Heavenly Father."

World Mission Society Church of God

The World Mission Society Church of God is a Korean group founded by Ahn Sahng-hong (안상홍, 安商洪). The church believes that, Ahn Sahng-hong is the second coming of Christ because of prophecies in the Bible that were fulfilled. Zahng Gil Jah is the spiritual wife of God making her the heavenly new Jerusalem Mother.[4]

Hinduism

In the Hindu context, the worship of the Mother deity can be traced back to early Vedic culture, and perhaps even before. The Rigveda calls the divine female power Mahimata (R.V. 1.164.33), literally Great Mother and also called Mother Earth. In places, the Vedic literature alludes to her as Viraj, the universal mother, as Aditi, the mother of gods, and as Ambhrini, the one born of the Primeval Ocean. Durga, the wife of Shiva, is a warrior goddess who represents the empowering and protective nature of motherhood. An incarnation of Durga is Kali, who came from her forehead during war (as a means of defeating Durga's enemy, Mahishasura). Durga and her incarnations are particularly worshipped in Bengal.

Today, Devi is seen in manifold forms, all representing the creative force in the world, as Maya and prakṛti, the force that galvanizes the divine ground of existence into self-projection as the cosmos. She is not merely the Earth, though even this perspective is covered by Parvati (Durga's previous incarnation). All the various Hindu female entities are seen as forming many faces of the same female Divinity.

Examples of God having wives or other feminine counterparts have appeared in popular culture.

In the series Supernatural, God has a sister known as the Darkness.  She is the yin to God's yang, described by God in the series as being to 'nothingness' as God himself is to 'being'[5] and to 'darkness' as God himself is to 'light.'[6]

In the series Lucifer, based on the comic of the same name, God has an exiled wife.  She is described in the series as the mother of the angels and co-creator of the universe.

See also

Disambiguation

References

  1. ↑ "Papyrus of Ani: Egyptian Book of the Dead", Sir E. A. Wallis Budge, NuVision Publications, page 57, 2007, ISBN 1-59547-914-7
  2. ↑ "The Role of Women in the Church". Restoration Church of Jesus Christ. Archived from the original on 2008-06-17. Retrieved 2006-07-17.
  3. ↑ http://www.ewtn.com/library/HOMELIBR/COLLYRID.TXT
  4. ↑ Turner, Ryan. "Introduction to the World Mission Society Church of God (WMSCOG)". http://carm.org/. Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry. Retrieved 1 January 2015. External link in |website= (help)
  5. ↑ Thompson, Robbie (4 May 2016). "Don't Call Me Shurley". Supernatural. Season 11. Episode 20. The CW. God:  I am being.  She's nothingness.
  6. ↑ Dabb, Andrew (25 May 2016). "Alpha and Omega". Supernatural. Season 11. Episode 23. The CW. God:  I mean, look.  Y-you've got darkness and light.  Y-you take one side away a-and—  Castiel:  It upsets the scales, the whole balance of the universe.

Bibliography

  • Bickmore, Barry R., "Mormonism in the Early Jewish Christian Milieu", http://www.fairlds.org/pubs/conf/1999BicB.html#en112 (1999).
  • Derr, Jill Mulvay, "The Significance of 'O My Father' in the Personal Journey of Eliza R. Snow", BYU Studies 36, no. 1 (1996–97): 84-126.
  • Hinckley, Gordon B., "Daughters of God", Ensign, November 1991: 97–100.
  • Joseph's Specked Bird, Letter to the Editor, Times and Seasons 6: 892 (May 1, 1845).
  • Jorgensen, Danny L., "The Mormon Gender-Inclusive Image of God", Journal of Mormon History, 27, No. 1 (Spring 2000): 95-126.
  • Origen, Origen's Commentary on the Gospel of John: Book II, ¶6. Included in The Ante-Nicene Fathers, 10 vols. (Buffalo: The Christian Literature Publishing Company, 1885–1896) 10:329-330.
  • Pearson, Carol Lynn, "Mother Wove the Morning: a one-woman play" (October 1992) ( ISBN 1-56236-307-7) (depicting, according to the video's description, Eliza R. Snow as one of "sixteen women [who] throughout history search for God the Mother and invite her back into the human family").
  • Pratt, Orson, Journal of Discourses 18:292 (Nov. 12, 1876).
  • Smith, Joseph, King Follett Discourse, April 7, 1844, published in Times and Seasons 5 (August 15, 1844): 612-17, and reprinted in the History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, edited by B. H. Roberts, 2d ed. rev. (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, (1976–1980), 6:302-17; see also "The Christian Godhead--Plurality of Gods", History of the Church, 6: 473-79.
  • Smith, Joseph F. et al., "The Origin of Man", Improvement Era (November 1909): 80.
  • Wilcox, Linda P., "The Mormon Concept of a Mother in Heaven", Sisters in Spirit: Mormon Women in Historical and Cultural Perspective, edited by Maureen Ursenbach Beecher and Lavina Fielding Anderson (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1987), 64-77. Also Wilcox, Linda P., "The Mormon Concept of a Mother in Heaven", Women and Authority: Re-emerging Mormon Feminism, edited by Maxine Hanks (Salt Lake: Signature Books, 1992), 3-18
  • Woodruff, Wilford, Journal of Discourses 18:31-32 (June 27, 1875).
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