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Mother of God

The Greek goddess Persephone is the embodiment of grain, lying dormant beneath the Earth with her cthonic husband. The Orphic mysteries tell us that Persephone gives birth to a son in the Underworld. He is the dying and rising god Dionysus. Destined to be king of the gods, he is slain and torn to pieces by jealous Titans. He must be born again to inherit his throne. This time he is conceived by a mortal virgin and born as a god-man on Earth.


The ancient Greeks identified Persephone and Dionysus with Isis and Osiris. The Egyptian god Osiris was slain by his jealous brother Set. Osiris was mummified and became Lord of the Underworld. Isis conceived by her deceased husband and gave birth to Horus, who is regarded as a reincarnation of Osiris. Isis became conflated with Hathor, "Mistress of the West" who welcomes the dead into the next life. A hymn to Hathor says:
Thou art the Mistress of Jubilation, the Queen of the Dance, the Mistress of Music, the Queen of the Harp Playing, the Lady of the Choral Dance, the Queen of Wreath Weaving, the Mistress of Inebriety Without End.
The cyclical mythology of life-death-rebirth reflects the passing of days, years, and of our own lives. We are born, rise up, descend, die, and are reborn again in a continuous cycle. In Christian mythology, the Virgin Mary gives birth to Christ, destined to be King of Kings. He dies and descends into the Underworld. He becomes Lord of Resurrection. He rises once more to claim his throne. This mythology was directly inherited from the Greeks and Egyptians. The mystery of Jesus is the same mystery of Dionysus and Osiris.

On the 1st of February we celebrate Brigid (Mary of the Gael) who is Bride of Christ. The following day we celebrate Mary, mother of Christ. The Feast of the Purification of the Virgin is a transition of the goddess from Maiden to Mother. In Spain, Mary is called Our Lady of Candelaria, or La Morenita, depicted as a Black Madonna. When she appeared in Tenerife, aboriginals identified her as their goddess Chaxiraxi (the mother of the gods), but later the Christian conquerors explained that she was the Virgin Mary. Chaxiraxi is the native goddess known as the Sun Mother in the Guanche religion. The goddess Chaxiraxi was one of the principal goddesses of the pantheon of the Guanches. Her son is Chijoraji, identified by Christians as Christ.


This Black Madonna is celebrated every 2nd of February in Tenerife. She carries the Sun God in one hand and a candle in the other. You can just about see the crescent moon beneath her feet, signifying the horns of Hathor. The Sun will be passing through the constellation Capricorn during this festival, and so we celebrate the Horned One, the Goat Foot God. He is Lord of the Underworld, Lord of Resurrection. As Christ, he reminds us "I and the Father are one". He is Osiris-Dionysus.


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