Showing posts with label mother goddess. Show all posts
Showing posts with label mother goddess. Show all posts

Wednesday, 16 July 2014

Christian God had a wife: Asherah

Dhr. Seven, Crystal Qutinero, Wisdom Quarterly; news.discovery.com
God has a wife? Wife, what wife? The Bible says so? Maybe it's wrong. I mean...
.
The divine consort Radha (WQ)
God, also known as Yahweh [YHWH], had a wife named Asherah, according to a British theologian.

Amulets, figurines, inscriptions and ancient texts, including the Bible, reveal Asherah's once prominent standing.

God's wife, whom the Book of Kings [a part of the Christian Bible] suggests was worshiped alongside Yahweh in his temple in Israel, according to Oxford scholar.

Meet God's Judeo-Christian Wife, Asherah
No to Asherah: religious sexism (gophoto.us)
In 1967, Raphael Patai was the first historian to mention that the ancient Israelites worshiped both Yahweh and Asherah. The theory has gained new prominence due to the research of Professor of Hebrew Bible and Ancient Religion Francesca Stavrakopoulou, who began her work at Oxford and is a senior lecturer in [UPDATE: she is now Head of] the Department of Theology and Religion at the University of Exeter.
Ishtar and Mary used to matter
Information presented in Stavrakopoulou's books, lectures, and academic journal papers has become the basis of a three-part documentary series, now airing in Europe, where she discusses the Yahweh-Asherah connection.
 
"You might know him as Yahweh, Allah, or God. But on this fact, Jews, Muslims, and Christians, the people of the great Abrahamic religions, are agreed: There is only one of Him," writes Stavrakopoulou in a statement released to the British media. "He is a solitary figure, a single, universal creator [like Great Brahma in Hinduism and Buddhism], not one God among many [like the devas]...or so we like to believe." More

Friday, 20 June 2014

Kim, Kali, Kwan-yin, Kumari, Mary K (video)

Ashley Wells, Amber Larson, Dhr. Seven, Pfc. SandovalWisdom Quarterly; Sonia Narang ("The World," PRI.org, 6-18-14); KFIam640.com; Christian Today; New York Daily News
The new Madonna and Child, Kim Kardashian and North West, June '14 (hiphollywood.com)

Holy cow! Kim Yin Kardashian is now a goddess deified by American artist Hannah Kunkle

Kim, Kwan Yin, the Virg Yin as manifestations of the Goddess (Hannah Kunkle/Splash/KFI)
.
Kim as black as Kali, bad tan (guyism.com)
US artist Hannah Kunkle's digital paintings feature reality TV star Kim Kardashian (Mrs. Kanye West) as various religious icons.

They were featured in an exhibition entitled "The Passion of Kim Kardashian" that opened in Brooklyn. Kunkle, 23, admits she is "strangely fascinated" by Kardashian.

Kanye and Kim, the FUTURE couple
"It's art. It's supposed to be wild and, not offensive, but prying," she told a US newspaper after various religious leaders slammed her work.
 
Father Michael Perry of Our Lady of Refuge Church in Flatbush, Brooklyn told the New York Daily News the show was "dumb and stupid." Kardashian is also portrayed as the Hindu goddess Kali, Jesus the Christ, Catholic nuns, Joan of Arc, and a Satanic priestess [like Mary Kay but selling Khroma]. More

We've just about had it with Kardashian-West, just about, but the West needs goddesses, too

Kim Kardashian Satanic high priestess with her own altar (animalnewyork.com)
Satanic priestess: Kim drops in on Kanye at Bonnaroo 2014 in seductive top (Daily Mail)
. 
I'm still a young hybrid (M-C)
The artist explains why she did it: "I think she is almost a patron saint of pop culture," Kunkle told the Daily News.

"She's everywhere." And in an April 2014 interview, she went beyond statements of admiration: "Kim Kardashian is God," she told VICE.
The Living Goddesses of Nepal
Sonia Narang (The World, PRI, 6-18-14); Amber Larson, Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Along a busy thoroughfare near Kathmandu, Nepal, a passageway leads into a large, open-air courtyard. In the back corner, there’s a modest home with a red sign outside that simply reads, “Living Goddess.”
 
Kumari blessing at festival (Sonia Narang)
A narrow wooden staircase leads up to the second floor, where the goddess spends much of her childhood. She’s called a Kumari (Ku Mary), and she’s [adored] by Nepali Hindus and Buddhists, who believe she's the [embodiment] of the Hindu goddess Durga [with the power to kills one's demons].
 
In Nepal, this centuries-old tradition of choosing a young girl as a goddess continues to this day. Now, people from around the world flock here to get a glimpse of her.


 
Are there Himalayan pools in Nepal?
I got to know the mother of this Kumari after several visits to her house.
 
Her name is Shobha Bhajracharya. She has a full, round face with a sweet smile.
 
I ask her how she felt when her daughter Samita was chosen to be a Kumari a few years ago. She laughs shyly.
 
Kumari is so cool! Choose me! I can morph.
I felt both happy and sad,” she says.

“On one hand, I felt happy because when your daughter becomes god, having a god in the home is a delightful thing.

But [on the other hand] I also got scared because I wasn’t sure if we would be able to follow all the rules.” More

Who is the Buddhist Goddess Kwan Yin?
ReligionFacts.com; edited by Wisdom Quarterly
Goddess Kwan Yin buddha-to-be with a  thousand arms (chinatourguide.com)
 
Kwan Yin (also Kuan and Guan Yin) is the bodhisattva of compassion. [A bodhisattva is a person who has vowed to develop the perfections to become a buddha].

I wear white! Goddess power!
She venerated by East Asian Buddhists [particularly in the very Hindu-influenced Mahayana school, having morphed from the Hindu god Avalokitesvara].

Commonly known as the "Goddess of Mercy," Kwan Yin is also revered by Chinese Taoists as an Immortal. The name Kwan Yin is short for Kuan Shih Yin (Guan Shi Yin), which means "Observing the Sounds of the World [One Who Hears the Cries of the World]."

Braless in Paris, France (M-C)
In Japanese, she is called Kannon, or more formally Kanzeon; the spelling Kwannon, resulting from an obsolete system of romanization, is sometimes also seen. In Korea, she is called Kwan-um or Kwan-se-um. In Vietnamese, she is called Quan Âm or Quan Thế Âm Bồ Tát [Kwan Yin Bodhisattva].

Kuan Yin is the Chinese name for the bodhisattva Avalokitesvara. However, folk traditions in China and other East Asian countries have added many distinctive characteristics and legends [to the original Brahminical/Hindu legend]. Most notably, while Avalokitesvara can be depicted as either male or female, Kuan Yin is usually depicted as a young woman, whereas Avalokitesvara in other countries is usually depicted as a man.

My make up is optional! No, Kim!
Along with Buddhism, Kwan Yin's veneration was introduced into China as early as the 1st century CE, and reached Japan by way of Korea soon after Buddhism was first introduced into the country from the mid-7th century.
 
Representations of the bodhisattva in China prior to the Song Dynasty (960-1279) were masculine in appearance. Images which later displayed attributes of both genders are believed to be in accordance with the Lotus Sutra, where Avalokitesvara has the supernatural power of assuming any form required to relieve suffering and also has the power to grant children.
 
I don't git it! - I'm "Kim Yin" now. (PH)
Because this bodhisattva is considered the personification of compassion and kindness [more like Princess Diana of Wales or the original Goddess DIANA, who now appears in the form of the Hunger Games' Jennifer Lawrence], a mother-goddess and patron of mothers and seamen, the representation in China was further interpreted in an all female form around the 12th century. In the modern period, Kuan Yin is most often represented as a beautiful, white-robed woman... More
 
Kwan Yin in Theravada Buddhist Thailand, Wat Plai Laem, Ko Samui (sandrobisaro.com)
But I want to be the All-American Goddess! Notice me! I'm Lindsay "The Luóhàn" Lohan!

  
NRNY to legalize medical marijuana
[Hey, Lindsay,] New York is poised to become the 23rd state to legalize medical marijuana, but smoking it will not be allowed under... [So why don't you move there?]

Saturday, 3 May 2014

Earth Day Pasadena: Family Fun (video)

Xochitl, CC Liu, Wisdom Quarterly; Katrina Hoven; CityofPasadena.net
Most of us now rarely think about where our food comes from. This video documents the story of a small urban lot and what a sustainable farm looks like. PathtoFreedom has an "urban homestead" on a successful half acre in Pasadena.

Earth Day L.A.: Pasadena Earth and Arts Festival 
Earth Day with WQ, Pasadena, California
FREE all-ages event in Old Pasadena... Live music from local bands, dancing, and an interactive drum circle you can join... Singles, kids, and parents get creative with art workshops... Eco-friendly exhibitors will display and sell green products and services... Sample tastings...

Celebrate nature, art, music, and community at Pasadena’s 12th annual Earth and Arts Festival (cityofpasadena.net/earthday) from 11-5 pm, Saturday, May 3, 2014 at Memorial Park, 85 E. Holly St., at Raymond Ave., and across the street at the Armory Center for the Arts, 145 N. Raymond Ave.  Pasadena’s Earth and Arts Festival is one of the biggest free “green” events in SoCal with family-friendly activities, Aztec dancers, drum circle, solar, electric vehicles, wildlife, building better homes, green jobs, gardening and art exhibits, vegetarian food, and entertainment for all ages.
 
FREE admission, free on-site parking, plus 100 free trees to LA homeowners. Come to the Earth Day festival, where local artists, environmental organizations, and sponsors will exhibit and sell at this FUNdraiser for North East Trees. Learn what local environmental groups are doing and ways to can get involved. Be a part of the mayor's "1 Million Tree Initiative."
Free Tibet or get a quake
Sharon Stone, 56, sizzles on cover of GQ
Sharon Stone may be 56 years old, but she has never looked hotter! The "Fading Gigolo" actress graces the cover of the May issue of GQ Italia posing in black lace lingerie and black heels. The blond beauty is pictured flirtatiously smiling with smoky eyeliner and tousled hair...

UFO people did it.
Solved! How ancient Egyptians moved massive pyramid stones (LiveScience.com) The ancient Egyptians who built the pyramids may have been able to move massive stone blocks across the desert by wetting the sand in front of a contraption built to pull the heavy objects, according to a new study. Physicists at the University of Amsterdam investigated the forces needed to pull…

Monday, 17 February 2014

The legend of Goddess of Mercy Kwan Yin


Linh Phuoc Pagoda ("Dragon Pagoda"), Da Lat, Vietnam
Golden Buddha in Dragon Pagoda
When first stepping into this area, one notices the cool atmosphere, which is in stark contrast to the blazing sun outside the compound. One can see the giant statue of Guan Yin Bodhisattva, the Buddhist "Goddess of Compassion." She is accompanied by many smaller statues and an interior of beautiful in-laid terracotta dragons (nagas) and porcelain mosaics.

THE LEGEND OF QUAN YIN
Goddess of Mercy
Kwan Yin figurine (Holy Mountain Trading Co.)
One of the "deities" most frequently seen on altars in China's temples is Kwan Yin (also Quan Yin, Kuanyin, Guanyin). In Sanskrit, her name is Padma-pâni, or "Born of the Lotus." Kwan Yin, alone among all Buddhist devas, is universally loved. She is the model of Chinese beauty.
 
Regarded by the Chinese as the "Goddess of Mercy," she was originally male until the early part of the 12th century and has evolved since that time from her prototype, Avalokiteshvara, "the merciful lord who looks down [from on high]," an Indian enlightenment-being (bodhisattva), who chose to remain on Earth to bring relief to those suffering rather than enjoying for himself the ecstasies of complete-liberation (nirvana).
 
One of the several stories surrounding Kwan Yin is that she was a human Buddhist who through great love and sacrifice during life had earned rebirth in [a paradise] after death.
 
Avalokiteshvara
However, like Avalokiteshvara, while standing before the gates of paradise, she hears a cry of anguish from the Earth below. Turning back, she renounces her reward of bliss but in its place finds immortality in the hearts of the suffering. In China she has many names; she is also known as "Great Mercy, Great Pity, Salvation from Misery, Salvation from Woe, Self-Abiding, Thousand Arms, Thousand Eyes," and so on. 
 
In addition, she is often referred to as the Goddess of the Southern Sea -- the Indian Archipelago -- and has been compared to the Virgin Mary. She is one of the San Ta Shih, or the "Three Great Beings," renowned for their power over the animal kingdom or the forces of nature. These three bodhisattvas or P'u Sa as they are known in China, are Manjusri (Sanskrit) or Wên Shu, Samantabhadra or P'u Hsien, and Avalokiteshvara or Kwan Yin. More

Friday, 10 January 2014

New research on PLANT intelligence (video)

Dev, Dhr. Seven (eds.) Wisdom Quarterly; Science Friday/The World (PRI, Jan. 10, 2014)
Field of brilliant sunflowers (Bruce Fritz/USDA/Wiki/pri.org/sciencefriday.com)