{"id":3422,"date":"2011-02-02T23:47:47","date_gmt":"2011-02-03T06:47:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/astrowin.org\/rffriends\/wpx\/?p=3422"},"modified":"2011-02-03T02:26:23","modified_gmt":"2011-02-03T09:26:23","slug":"the-mystic-marriage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/astrowin.org\/rffriends\/wpx\/?p=3422","title":{"rendered":"THE MYSTIC MARRIAGE"},"content":{"rendered":"

I\u00a0 Am\u00a0 My\u00a0 Love’s\u00a0 And\u00a0 He\u00a0 Is\u00a0 Mine<\/strong><\/p>\n

[Rays From The Rose Cross, Jan\/Feb 1996]<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

The Wise and Foolish Virgins - William Blake, 1826<\/p><\/div>\n

I am my Love\u2019s and he is mine,<\/p>\n

And this is his desire,<\/p>\n

That with his beauty I may shine<\/p>\n

In radiant attire.<\/p>\n

And this will be when all of me<\/p>\n

Is pruned and purged with fire.<\/p>\n

\u2014<\/em>Canticles 7:10<\/em><\/p>\n

H<\/strong>UMANS HAVE ALWAYS <\/strong>BEEN <\/strong>spiritual hermaphrodites, the bisexual ego containing within itself both the faculties of masculine will, allied with the Sun forces, and the feminine imagination, always linked to the Moon forces. But due to evolutionary needs incident to incarnation,\u00a0 procreative autonomy was divided to enable half the available creative force to build and specialize a physical brain to comprehend and gain mastery over the material world, and a larynx to give expression to sense-related thinking.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0 Prior to the separation into physical genders during the Lemurian epoch, humans were physical hermaphrodites. But they were also \u201cbrainless\u201d automatons perfectly reflecting the will and guidance of their spiritual supervisors. However, due to the ultimately beneficial influence of the class of angels collectively known as Lucifers, an impulse toward individualism and separatism was instilled in involving man.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0 Brain consciousness of the external world has thus been obtained at the cost of losing the ability to singly procreate, necessitating the cooperation of a mate who possesses the complementary spiritual force. The institution of marriage sanctifies the male-female bond in which generation takes place.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Andrea Previtali (15th cent.), Church of San Giobbe, Venice<\/p><\/div>\n

\u00a0\u00a0 Yet marriage is but an outward and visible sign of an inward, occult eventuality: the regaining of physical (etheric) wholeness. It is this prospect that is implicit in the term \u201cmystic marriage,\u201d which refers to the attainment of those who \u201cneither marry nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven\u201d (Matt. 22:30).<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0 In the Christian tradition, an idea that has served as a particularly fertile subject for the artistic imagination is the mystic marriage, which, over time, became stylized as a depiction of the bride of Christ, named Catharine, meaning \u201cthe pure one,\u201d proffering her hand to be ringed by the infant Christ (Jesus) Child. Such a popular representation conveyed more esoteric truth and profundity than most artists or viewers consciously realized.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Pierre-Francois Mignard (1612-1695), Oil on Canvas, <\/p><\/div>\n

\u00a0\u00a0Christian gospels and Pauline epistles. The marriage is mystic because it is physically invisible.\u00a0 The bride of Christ is, variously, the chaste physical body, the purified desire body, or the composite soul. The groom is, also variously, the Christed (enhanced light and reflecting) ether\u2014soul Life; the Christed desire body\u2014soul Light; Christed thought\u2014the mind of Christ; or Christed will\u2014Christ Love.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0 In Matthew, chapter 25, the (etheric) Kingdom of Heaven is likened to ten virgins \u201cwhich took their lamps and went forth to meet the bridegroom.\u201d Five of them were wise, for they had oil (golden light ether) in their lamps (physical bodies), and five of them were foolish, for their lamps were empty, so they could not \u201cgo out\u201d in their soul (etheric) bodies to see and meet the groom, the etheric Christ, for they had no light.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0 Again in Matthew, chapter 22, the (etheric) Kingdom of Heaven (the New Jerusalem) is likened unto a king (God the Father) who made a marriage for his son (Christ) and sent forth servants (prophets) to call them that were bid (at first, the original Semites). The new servants are those intuitions urging each Ego to make ready for the soul\u2019s wedding by preparing the wedding or etheric garment of light wherein only may they gain admission to the Kingdom of Light. Max Heindel translates this wedding parable into unambiguous language and a pointed message: \u201cUnless we really work <\/em>and serve <\/em>humanity, we shall have nothing to bring, no bread to \u2018shew\u2019 at the Feast of the Full Moon; and at the mystic marriage of the higher to the lower self, we shall find ourselves minus the radiant golden soul body, the mystic wedding garment without which the union with Christ can never be consummated\u201d (Ancient and Modern Initiation, <\/em>p. 34).<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0 The crux of the apostle Paul\u2019s ministry was to make known the fruits of the mystic marriage, the attainment of spiritual wholeness, \u201ca perfect man…the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ\u201d (Eph. 4:13). The means of attainment was the same as the goal: \u201cPut ye on the Lord Jesus Christ\u201d (Rom. 13:14), the incorruptible body of light (Paul\u2019s soma psuchicon<\/em>) which the aspirant weaves, thread by golden thread, deed by selfless deed. We groan in our earthly tent, \u201cearnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven\u201d (2 Cor. 5:2).<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0 Paul addresses fellow Christians by employing the metaphor of matrimony: \u201cI have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ\u201d (2 Cor. 2:2). Or, \u201cmy brethren, ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God\u201d (Rom. 7:14). And Christ Jesus referred to Himself as the Bridegroom (Luke 5:34-5) Whose presence was to be celebrated by feasting, not fasting.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Giovanni Battista Salvi Sassoferrato, 1650, The Wallace Collection, London<\/p><\/div>\n

\u00a0\u00a0 If Christ is the Bridegroom, who is the bride? Both the church or ecclesia of believers and the individual spiritualized soul, denomirnating a macrocosmic and a microcosmic marriage, respectively. When a man is joined unto his wife, \u201cthey two shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the Church\u201d (Eph. 5:31-2). Christ is \u201cthe head of the body, the Church\u201d (Col. 1 :18), or, as Paul writes to the Corinthians, \u201cyou are the body of Christ and members individually\u201d (1 Cor. 12:27).<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0 Max Heindel refers to the golden wedding garment as a \u201cluminous vesture of flame\u201d \u201cin which those who are \u2018the bride\u2019 will meet their Lord when He comes\u201d (IIQ&A<\/em>, p. 309). Angelus Silesius often used the same figure:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Child, be the bride of God,<\/p>\n

And be thou His alone.<\/p>\n

Thou shalt His sweetheart be,<\/p>\n

As He\u2019s thy lover grown.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0 By sacrifice and service the golden wedding garment forms as an amalgamation of the golden substance \u201cemanated from and by the Spirit of the Sun, the Cosmic Christ,\u201d which, when of sufficient density, shall enable us \u201cto imitate the Easter Sun and soar into the higher spheres\u201d (Gleanings of a Mystic<\/em>, p. 165). The wedding garment in Revelations is also called the white stone, the hidden manna, the tree of life, the morning star, white raiment, and gold tried in the fire.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cThe mystic marriage of the lower self to the higher, the immaculate conception, and the divine motherhood which nourishes \u2018the newborn Christ\u2019 deep in its bosom, unseen by a scoffing world, are actual experiences of a growing number of people\u201d (Message of the Stars, <\/em>p. 10).<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0 John the Baptist sees Jesus and says, \u201cBehold the Lamb of God.\u201d In Revelations the voice of mighty thunderings says, \u201cthe marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready…Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb.\u201d Max Heindel explains, \u201cThere is that marriage in every soul\u2019s experience, and always under similar circumstances. One of the first requisites is that the soul must have been forsaken by everyone else: it must stand alone without a single friend in the world.\u00a0 When that point has been attained, when the soul sees no succor from any earthly source, when it turns with its whole heart to heaven and prays for deliverance, then comes the deliverer and also the offer of marriage. In other words, the true Teacher always comes in response to the earnest prayers of the aspirant.\u201d (Mysteries of the Great Operas, <\/em>p. 163).<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Hans Memling (ca. 1433-1494), Central Panel, 1479, H\u00f4pital Saint-Jean, Bruges.<\/p><\/div>\n

\u00a0\u00a0 The spiritual and esoteric meaning of the mystic marriage became crystallized around the name of Catharine, as in the sense of catharsis <\/em>(to purify) and Cathari <\/em>(the religiously pure). St. Catharine of Alexandria was the original \u201cbride of Christ,\u201d but the devout and rightly proud people of medieval Siena also made this claim for their Catharine, who did not fail to impress her contemporaries with her extraordinary powers as a saint. She joined the Dominican Order in which, solely because of her sanctity and in spite of her lack of culture, she played a prominent part in the historical events of her age. Popular belief naturally ascribed to her all the honors of her namesake of Alexandria, and her mystic marriage has been pictured by numerous Umbrian and other painters. Max Heindel writes (A&MI<\/em>, p. 119) that both Dominicans and Franciscans attest to her having received the stigmata.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0 The near-formula portrayal of St. Catharine depicts the infant Christ placing the ring of betrothal on her finger. Once, she said, when she was fasting and praying, Christ Himself appeared to her and gave her His heart. This should come as no surprise. As Paul, an occultist, exhorts his fellows to cultivate the all-comprehending mind <\/em>of Christ, so the Catholic church urges its charges on the mystic path to develop the soft, sensitive, all-embracing heart <\/em>of Christ.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0 Ultimately, Catharine is a representation of the chaste soul which has both wedded the Christ Spirit and given mystic birth to the Christ Child. The original Catharine of Alexandria is a semi-historical figure who is revered by the church as the patron of philosophy, science, and language. She is the tutelary saint of the University of Paris.<\/p>\n

According to the Roman Breviary for November 25, the Saint\u2019s day, she was a noble maiden, distinguished in all virtue, especially wisdom and moral purity. She attained such a height of holiness and learning that by age eighteen none could best her in logic or persuasion. But when she protested the torture and death of Christians at the hand of King Maxentius, rebuking him for his cruelty, he sought the most learned men of the day to confute her and vindicate his practice of worshiping idols. These sages, however, were overcome by her keen intellect and piety, and the love of Jesus Christ was kindled in them.\u00a0 Maxentius, outraged, had Catharine flailed with leaden whips and then bound to a wheel set with numerous sharp blades. But as she prayed, the wheel was shattered and so Maxentius had her beheaded. Tradition tells of her body being laid on Mount Sinai by angels. The wheel associates Catharine with the Solar Christ and she is frequently depicted wearing either a wheel brooch or star-wheel patterned raiment.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0 The marriage of St. Catharine to Christ was the subject for a remarkably large number of painters, including Carlo Crivelli, Albrecht Durer, Jan Van Eyck, Pinturicchio, \u00a0Raphael, Hans Memling, Fra Angelico, Bernardino Luini, Andrea del Sarto, Ghirlandajo, Fra Bartolomeo, Borgognone, Paul Veronese, Parmigianino, Correggio, Murillo, and Tintoretto. Obviously, more was intimated in these representations than meets the eye. They satisfied the deep surmise in their viewer that a special union could and does take place between the Christ and the pure and devoted soul.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0 Max Heindel reminds us that the mystic wedding is neither a fantasy of sublimated eroticism nor a unique occurrence. \u201cAll who are upon the Path, whether the path of occultism or mysticism, are weaving the \u2018golden wedding garment\u2019\u201d by both inner alchemical work, as detailed in The Chemical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz<\/em>, and by outer service, whereby they transmute the body into the ruby soul, the red Philosopher\u2019s Stone, or the white Philosopher\u2019s Stone, the diamond soul. Eventually, when the aspirant nears completion of the process of transfiguration, the body transfigured by the Christ Light will have the uniform color corresponding to the pink color seen by occultists as the Spiritual Sun, the vehicle of the Father (A&MI <\/em>p. 101). How, then, do we prepare for and bring about the mystic marriage? Let one who knows tell us: \u201cThe sooner we learn to see in ourselves a whole creative unit, the more we preserve our own creative force, and send it upward for spiritual purposes, the sooner we shall find the man or woman within ourselves. The mystic marriage will then have been performed.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld, 1808-1853<\/p><\/div>\n

\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cThus by degrees the man finds the finer feminine qualities in himself, and the woman finds the noblest traits of the man. When that point has come where there is a perfect balance, the mystic marriage takes place.\u201d (IIQ&A<\/em>, p. 456-7).<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cAnd the Spirit and the bride say, come. And let him who hears say, come…Even so, come, Lord Jesus.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014C.W.<\/p>\n

The Art Representations<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Wise and Foolish Virgin\u00a0 <\/em><\/strong>Watercolor with pen, 16 5\/8 x 13 7\/8 in. (42.2 x 35.3 cm.), William Blake (1757-1827). Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection<\/p>\n

The Mystic Marriage of St. Catherine\u00a0 <\/em><\/strong>Andrea Previtali (15th cent.), Church of San Giobbe, Venice<\/p>\n

The Mystic Marriage of St. Catharine\u00a0 <\/em><\/strong>Pierre-Francois Mignard (1612-1695), Oil on Canvas, 1669, Hermitage, St. Petersburg.\u00a0 Painter to the court of Louis XIV, Mignard has given his <\/em>conception a sumptuous formality at the expense of compromising <\/em>the sense of the sacred. The sword in the foreground is the <\/em>saint\u2019s alternate symbol, being the instrument of her martyrdom.<\/em><\/p>\n

The Mystical Marriage of St. Catharine\u00a0 <\/strong><\/em>Giovanni Battista Salvi Sassoferrato, 1650, The Wallace Collection, London.\u00a0 Similar to the Mignard but conveying a degree of sanctity.<\/em><\/p>\n

The Mystical Marriage of St. Catherine<\/strong>\u00a0 <\/em>Hans Memling (ca. 1433-1494), Central Panel, 1479, H\u00f4pital Saint-Jean, Bruges. \u00a0<\/em><\/strong>The emblematic and signature wheel is present in most <\/em>depictions of the martyred saint. The Virgin and Child-<\/em>Groom are flanked by John the Baptist and John the <\/em>Evangelist. St. Barbara is represented reading a book.<\/em><\/p>\n

The Marriage of the Lamb<\/strong>\u00a0 <\/em>Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld, 1808-1853<\/p>\n

\u201cLet us be glad and rejoice, and give honor to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready\u201d\u2014Revelations 19:7.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u00a0 Am\u00a0 My\u00a0 Love’s\u00a0 And\u00a0 He\u00a0 Is\u00a0 Mine [Rays From The Rose Cross, Jan\/Feb 1996] I am my Love\u2019s and he is mine, And this is his desire, That with his beauty I may shine In radiant attire. And this will be when all of me Is pruned and purged with fire. \u2014Canticles 7:10 HUMANS […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,4,5],"tags":[287,292,290,289,285,283,291,288,284,293,286],"class_list":["post-3422","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-art","category-bible","category-philosophy","tag-hermaphrodite","tag-immaculate-conception","tag-king-maxentius","tag-lucifers","tag-mystic-marriage","tag-mystic-marriage-of-st-catherine","tag-philosophers-stone","tag-procreative-autonomy","tag-st-catharine","tag-wedding-garment","tag-wise-anf-foolish-virgins"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/astrowin.org\/rffriends\/wpx\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3422","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/astrowin.org\/rffriends\/wpx\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/astrowin.org\/rffriends\/wpx\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/astrowin.org\/rffriends\/wpx\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/astrowin.org\/rffriends\/wpx\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3422"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/astrowin.org\/rffriends\/wpx\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3422\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3443,"href":"https:\/\/astrowin.org\/rffriends\/wpx\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3422\/revisions\/3443"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/astrowin.org\/rffriends\/wpx\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3422"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/astrowin.org\/rffriends\/wpx\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3422"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/astrowin.org\/rffriends\/wpx\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3422"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}