Greek Kabala
Part 9

At the time of his ministry, Jesus’ mother was a widow. Why is this so important as to merit a step in the feminine journey? After all widowhood is as common as motherhood. Why is there an issue?

Widow

All Freemasons are called "Sons of the Widow". This title comes from Hiram Abiff the Grand Master Mason and architect of Solomon’s Temple, who was murdered by three of his workmen. What has this to do with Jesus? In Matthew 13:55 and Mark 6:3, Jesus is referred to as tektwn (tekton) which is usually translated as "carpenter". This is the usual problem of trying to squeeze Greek into English. The problem is that this word also means "mason" and "builder". Hence archtektwn (archetekton) is correctly translated into English as "architect" with the meaning that this person is the designer and builder of a building. At the time of Jesus and Hiram Abiff, an architect designed and built in stone. So Hiram was a "builder" in this sense and Jesus was also a "builder" in the same sense. There is a specific Greek word for "carpenter" but that is not the word used to describe Jesus.

The Masonic myth of the building of Solomon’s Temple in stone is echoed by Jesus who says in John 2:19 that if the temple is destroyed, he will raise it up in three days. That is a clear allusion to his body and that compares with the Masonic myth that we are each builders of our own body as a temple. Perhaps the point is made clear when we realise that Masons call God the Great Architect. Transliterated into Greek that would be Megas Archetekton, the "Great Builder". Since Jesus is described as "tekton", he is the lesser builder doing the work as directed by God as the greater builder.

So Hiram and Jesus have a subtle connection as builders of temples and they are both "Sons of the Widow". Where does that take us in the fourth step of the feminine journey? This is the letter C (chi) attributed to Fire and connects Wisdom with Understanding. It happens that C is the first letter of the word CristoV (Christos) whom we call Christ. Mary as widow and mother stands at the foot of the Cross and watches her son in agony. Truly she is put to the fire. But that still does not explain how the widowhood of Mary and the Christhood of Jesus are connected.

We have to revert to a mystery religion that was prevalent in Hellenistic Palestine at the time of Christ. In the myth of Isis, her husband Osiris is murdered by Seth and his body dismembered into 14 pieces. She collects all the pieces except for his phallus. She constructs an artificial one and then re-assembles his body for resurrection and sexual union. That is, the "holy ghost" of Osiris has sexual union with the "virgin" but "widowed" Isis and she conceives the "son of god" Horus, who "saves" his people from the evil Seth. That is why one of the titles of Horus is "Son of the Widow". Hence the widowed, virgin mother has an immaculate conception that is vital for the incarnation of the saviour son. Does all of this sound familiar? It is not identical to the story of Jesus but close enough to be highly significant.

There is one more thing. The son of the widowed Isis is called Horus because that is his Greek name. In the Egyptian language, his name is Khoor and that is spelled with two hieroglyphics that correspond exactly to the two Greek letters C (chi) r (rho) that happen to be the first two letters of CristoV (Christos), whom we call Christ.

We must also recall Mary Magdalene and her relationship to the Resurrection. Sofia as the Widow and Sofia as the Magdalene, have complimentary roles. They are opposite aspects of the same inner reality. Through the myth of Isis, we can see the Widow/ Magdalene being concerned with the resurrection of a god or Redeemer.

The widowhood of Mary is part of her pain and loss. Although the old theology venerates Mary as the Mother it and the Virgin, it does not understand her as the Widow. Mary in her widowhood is another deep mystery that requires study, meditation and prayer in solitude (remember the 12 disciplines?), to understand with wisdom and be wise with understanding.

Sofia

This is the path of Y (psi) that connects Understanding to First Principle. It is attributed to Aether, the divine activating principle. It is the least understood path of the feminine journey because our society completely rejects the issues it involves.

By her Assumption, Mary enters heaven as a complete woman having lived the entirety of human experience. Her widowhood should not be underestimated. She is liberated and she is the ascended Sofia. Mary becomes the bride of God in the Greater Sacred Wedding and unites God with humanity. Thus Mary as Sofia can express:

• The Father as the Foundation of creation that enhances her Power and is the source of her Wisdom and Understanding.
• The Son as the First Principle of creation, its, meaning, intelligence, truth and justification; that is, its Knowledge, Victory and Kingdom.
• The Holy Spirit as the Glory of creation, its Greatness, Goodness, holiness, purity and immaculate aspect.

Sofia is the Fourth Person of the Trinity. Without her, the Trinity is incomplete because she is the World Soul and therefore becomes the vehicle of manifestation for the work of the Great Architect. The Eastern Orthodox Church recognises that as Theotokos (God Bearer), Mary allows God to become man, so that man may become God. This is the work of the Great Architect performs for our sake, our Theosis (God Becoming), through the mediation of Sofia. The fact that she is in her rightful place gives us hope. But this is all a myth isn’t it?

What about "real" women in our society today? For you, Sofia is a strong archetype. She is your divine potential. She is the Power that overcomes adversity in order to complete the feminine journey. Her spirituality is non-linear and therefore not logical. Hence her journey is different from the masculine experience, but she must be known by men. Our problem is that she is so little known by our society at a time when we need her so badly.

Circuit of Power

It is time we reconsidered the circuit of power that we saw in Part 4 of this series because we know that there is a deep feminine relationship between some of the paths. In Part 4 we discovered that "…by Goodness you have bestowed Power upon Understanding". On the Tree, Goodness is connected with Power that in turn is connected with Understanding. Who is the "you" who does the bestowing? The Good, that is, First Principle. We therefore have a circuit of spiritual influence as follows:

First Principle Þ Goodness Þ Power Þ Understanding Þ First Principle

The First Principle emanates into Goodness, then into Power in order to energize Understanding so that the circuit can be closed when Understanding flows into the First Principle. Note the direction of the arrows. First Principle to Goodness is also the path of Mary Magdalene – but reversed! Only in this way can she, through her undefiled goodness, recover her power and gain understanding of her condition. As Sofia she moves from Understanding to First Principle taking with her all that she has learned and giving it freely to her divine lover in the Sacred Wedding. It has to be this way because in the gnostic myth she desires to conceive without knowledge, hence as she passes down through the path there is no sphere of Knowledge. That lack of Knowledge is the wound on the Tree of Life that we must heal on our inner journey.

*******

It is now time for the masculine journey of seven steps. With linear male logic, it is described by the seven vowels of the Greek alphabet and the seven Letters to the seven churches, in the Apocalypse of John