Written & Artistic Works by Our Seminarians & Doctoral Candidates – 6

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Lady Wisdom and Dame Folly

by Melissa Kepley

Wisdom literature utilizes literary forms such as proverbs, comparative sayings, riddles, and lectures in an attempt to convey an intended lesson in an engaging manner as possible. Composed in a lecture – interlude format, Proverbs serves as an example of this intertwining of styles, incorporating the aforementioned rhetorical devices to impart the necessity of seeking and obtaining Wisdom in order to live a morally correct life. This particular book in Wisdom literature, though, contains a certain type of literary device called personification, which is not found in any of the other books in Wisdom genre. The use of personification as a tool for expression arises several times within the Hebrew Bible, but these references are male oriented. Proverbs boasts the only use of female personification found anywhere in the Tanak, creating feminine personas for the main subjects of the lessons, Lady Wisdom and Dame Folly. In examining the context in which the rhetorical device is found, and factoring in the impact neighboring cultures had on the patriarchal Israelite society and religion, the personification of Lady Wisdom and Dame Folly as reflective of a combination of these elements becomes clearer.

LADY WISDOM

Proverbs proclaims her necessity if one is to live a morally righteous life. In her descriptions, the reader discovers, “…her income is better than silver, and her revenue better then gold.” (Prov.3: 13). Even more enticing, “She is more precious than jewels, and nothing you desire can compare with her.” (Prov.3: 14). Soon the student of Hebrew Wisdom is captivated by the promises she offers, which is just the reaction the author of Proverbs seeks. The purpose of the alluring description of Lady Wisdom is to grab and hold the student’s attention during what may have been an uninteresting lesson given by a father to his pre-teen or teenage son. By attaching a feminine identity to Wisdom, the student is drawn into the lesson, and the author hopes the father is able to articulate how important right moral living is in Hebrew society.

The female personification of Wisdom first occurs in 1:20-33, the first of five Interludes designed to act as breaks between the lectures. In this passage, her voice resembles that of a preacher, eliciting contact in public places where people gather, hoping someone will listen to her urgent message. She cries out in the streets, public squares, busiest corners, and city gates, mocking and laughing at all who have ignored her message; she warns of impending doom to all who are foolish and scoff her ways. She is portrayed as overbearing and insolent, refusing to listen to anyone who has previously rebuked her, no matter how much danger one is in, or how much one begs for her assistance. This introduction to Lady Wisdom seems negative in tone, but it serves to exhibit the power and ultimate authority she possesses in regards to morality, and her role as the vehicle for that morality.

Proverbs 3:19, a verse within the second Interlude which spans 3:13-20, gives the reader insight into the reason Wisdom feels she dictates the rules for right moral living, “For the Lord by wisdom founded the earth;” (Prov. 3:19). She goes on to establish this fact in chapter 8, a portion within Interlude four, as she rehearses the many advantages she offers those who heed her call and rejoice in her ways. In verses 22-31, she reveals that she is the first of God’s creations, and she was present when the Lord created the heavens and earth, and calmed the chaos of the sea. Her self-description is that of a masterful assistant and daily delight of the Lord, praising his accomplishments and playing amidst His newly created world. According to V.A.Hurwitz, Wisdom has just articulated her autobiography in 8:22-31, corresponding to that of the three ages in the history of the world: she was born before creation, present during creation, and ventured into her life after humanity was born (Hurwitz 395).

The author of Proverbs, in the final Interlude, informs the reader of Wisdom’s role as the ultimate of hostesses and a moral seductress. Proverbs 9:2-6 reads,

Once again Wisdom is personified in the most alluring of terms, more so in this passage than in the previous examples, to grab the attention of the young man listening to what he may perceive as boring commentary by his father or court teacher.

Proverb’s representation of Lady Wisdom appears extremely positive in general, especially noting the fact that one will surely loose their way without her guidance. She is the concept of Creation in manifest form, and all who seek her will be blessed with riches and long life.

DAME FOLLY

Insomuch as Lady Wisdom is the epitome of right moral living, and represented in such a powerfully positive manner, Dame Folly serves as the antithesis to her glory, for as righteous as Wisdom is, Folly proves equally as immoral. Once again using analogies the young male student finds easy to comprehend, and at the same time enticingly interesting, Dame Folly is portrayed as a common adulteress, seeking to lure young men away from Wisdom arms and into hers. She is described as, “….one who sows discord in a family…”(Prov. 6:19) ; a loose woman, foolish and wicked, lurking in the shadows, awaiting her next victim. She is loud and wayward, seeming to have no regard for her own family or anyone else’s. Folly’s role as an easy woman or prostitute serves as important a purpose as Wisdom in the book of Proverbs. Her insatiable personality is designed to explain to the student just how easily one can be lured into a life of immorality and unrighteousness.

The reader’s introduction to Dame Folly occurs in 7:6-23, as a father, in the midst of a lesson, tells his son of his observations of how destructive this woman can be, relating an eyewitness account of Folly’s devious ways. As he looked out his window, he spied Folly coming toward a simple young man on the street, eliciting him with her blatant ways. The text goes on to describe how she has deliberately seeks out the simple man, and exactly what her intentions entail. She says,

She goes on to inform the young man that her husband is away on a trip, and will not return for a while. Of course, he follows her and the passage akins his fate to that of an ox being led to slaughter, or a stag being led straight into a trap (Prov. 7:22), all the while ignorant of the fact that his foolishness has just led him straight to death. This initial presentation of Dame Folly as the adulterating seductress acts a strong reminder to the Wisdom student that sleeping with another man’s wife is a direct violation of Hebrew Law, and caving into such carnal desires will bring nothing but misfortune.

The author goes on to drive his point home in regards to Folly’s misleading ways by placing her next articulation immediately after a personal call from Wisdom herself. In the last portion of the final Interlude, Prov.9:13-18, after the feast invitation by Lady Wisdom, the text addresses Folly, reminding the reader of her ignorance and immorality. As,

she calls to all those passing by who are on the correct moral path, in an attempt to convince them to attend her feast instead. She solicits them, saying, “You who are simple, turn in here!” (Prov. 9:16a) She proceeds to tempt the simple and senseless by adding,

But, as the student reads on to the last verse of the Interlude, he soon discovers the doomed fate of her previous guests as now residing in the depths of Sheol (Prov. 9:18).

The intensely seductive personification of Dame Folly serves the same purpose as Wisdom’s portrayal – to attract and keep the young male student’s attention to possibly boring lessons given by a father or court sage. But, Folly is deliberately represented as much more manipulative in nature than Wisdom. The message to the student is that Wisdom is open, honest and gracious in her persona, possessing the same attributes the young student will if he chooses to seek her. But, if he chooses to ignore her call, then others will view him as commanding Folly’s nature, one of stupidity, immorality, and shame. Obviously, the author of Proverbs intended to make a connection between the tangible and intangible by addressing the abstract themes of Wisdom and Folly in terms the reader could most easily identify.

OUTSIDE CULTURES, PATRIARCY, AND THEIR INFLUENCE ON

PROVERBS

Numerous Biblical scholars concede the basic foundation for several of the genres in the Hebrew Bible, including that of Wisdom Literature, are not an original concept of the Israelite peoples. One can generally find parallel templates for the poetry, narratives, laws, and wisdom found in the Tanak within Ancient Near Eastern archaeological texts. The Hebrew authors of the period were influenced by, and borrowed ideas from, surrounding cultures such as Egyptian, Babylonian, Sumerian, and Canaanite to build their holy scriptures. These cultures, some patriarchal but the majority matriarchal, practiced religion within a polytheistic system that attributed gods/goddesses domain over natural environmental forces, or certain concepts, and the Hebrew writers were acutely aware of this practice (Baugh). On most occasions, natural forces such as the sun, moon, rain, and wind were personified and attributed to a specific god/goddess who controlled the realm of that particular event. For instance, the Canaanite pantheon had a cloud-rising storm god, a war god, a god of craftsmanship, and a fertility goddess (Baugh). As an example of a governed concept, the Egyptian goddess Isis ruled over the domain of truth, law, and intelligence. But, the Israelite religion differed from these cultures in that its theological foundation was monotheistic and patriarchal, not polytheistic or matriarchal. As such, the authors of the Hebrew Bible had to alter the Ancient Near Eastern polytheistic template to fit their idea of Yahweh as the one and only patriarchal god.

As the “new kids on the block” with no real cultural identity of their own, Israel needed to build for themselves their own history and theology, and recording the progress fell into the hands of the authors of the Hebrew Bible. Borrowing various fundamental ideas of cosmology, law, wisdom, and poetry from existing surrounding cultures, the Hebrew authors began to build a theology distinctly their own. For instance, both of the cosmology stories, as well as Noah’s Flood narratives in Genesis contain elements borrowed from Babylonian myth, but have been altered to present a uniquely Hebrew account. As well, the mechanical set up of the central covenant ideology running throughout the Tanak is borrowed from several cultural sources, including Hittite suzerainty treaties (Davidson 325).

Regarding the personification of Lady Wisdom, no exact parallel is found elsewhere in the Bible, or in any ancient texts (Fox 331). This remains in itself contradictory to the nature of the Hebrew Bible, but links to other concepts within the Tanak, as well as Ancient Near Eastern literary devices can be traced (Fox 331). Take into account Lady Wisdom’s voice in Proverbs 1:20-33. The act of her crying out in the streets and raising her voice in the squares of verse 20 resembles that of a biblical prophet in an ecstatic state. Actually, the tone of this entire passage bears a close resemblance to the Hebrew literary prophetic devices displayed in the books of Isaiah, Hosea, Amos, and others, basing her nature on that of the Biblical prophet. At the same time, Wisdom’s self-depiction in Proverbs 8 resembles that of the Egyptian goddess of truth and justice, Ma’at (Fox 335). Fox also argues that in Proverbs 8, Wisdom’s literary pattern of dialogue closely resembles that of texts discovered relating to the Egyptian goddess Isis (Fox 336).

Regarding Dame Folly, no exact template can be found for her personification. Instead, Folly’s personified nature, as well as Wisdom’s, results from the Ancient Near Eastern practice of anthropomorphizing natural occurrences. Surrounding Hebrew cultures bestowed human attributes to inanimate objects or natural forces; but, in Folly’s case, her immoral attributes do not directly relate to natural forces, but seem to be reflective of the patriarchal voice of Israelite religion. By utilizing anthropomorphization as a literary device, the fathers and teachers of wisdom could easily depict the positive qualities of Wisdom and negative qualities of Folly in terms the young students would comprehend.

Although the personification of Wisdom and Folly borrowed on outside cultural influences as a basis, the task of the Hebrew authors of the book of Proverbs, as well as the entire Hebrew Bible, was to take these cultural ides that arose from polytheistic religious society and manipulate them to construct a new, distinctly monotheistic tradition. In order to accomplish this goal, they needed to separate, and where possible eliminate, any hint of polytheism or matriarchal allusion. Since monotheism is in itself patriarchal, the emerging voice of Jewish society and theology stressed the sometime equal but general subordination of women to distant itself from surrounding Ancient Near Eastern cultures, and this distancing materializes throughout the Hebrew Bible.

Taking into account a few exceptions, women are generally portrayed as subordinate to men throughout the Hebrew Bible. Not only that, but women are also often associated with illicit behavior and malign. Woven throughout the Old Testament are narratives describing women in various guises such as harlot, seductress, wanton, and adulteress. Within the Deuteromic Laws lie ordinances dealing with the taking of a woman from a defeated nation as a wife (Deut.21: 10-14), and the importance of a firstborn son (Deut.21:17). A classic example of women’s subservience lies in the second creation story in the book of Genesis (2:4-3:24), which states that Eve was created from one of Adam’s ribs. Another example, which carries the theme of subservience to a greater degree, can be found in the Ten Commandment passage of Exodus 20:17, which establishes a neighbor’s wife among a man’s possessions that should not be coveted; other scriptures even equate a good and faithful wife as a cherished possession. According to V.C. Phillips, in her essay included in the Dictionary of Biblical Interpretation, “Even when translated without the distortions of sex bias, the Bible still remains at least a product of the ancient patriarchal culture in which it originated, and of the patriarchal cultures that transmitted it.” (Phillips 392). This patriarchal portrayal of women in the Hebrew Bible, relating to one God who is always referred to in the masculine, serves to further disassociate the new Hebrew religion from the surrounding polytheistic, matriarchal- based religions.

As Wisdom Literature is classified as part of the Tanak, derogatory references to women can be found within the Proverbs, and not just in the depiction of Dame Folly. The most obvious occurs in the last chapter of the text. Proverbs 31:3 reads,

The depiction of Madame Folly seems to follow this general patriarchal rule of, at times, utilizing a feminine persona with which to attribute immoral characteristics. Folly, regarded as a stupid, foolish, wanton home wrecker, successfully fulfills her monotheistic job description. Her only positive characteristic seems to be her undeniable beauty and attractiveness. The writers deliberately wrote her this way, knowing this depiction would appear much more alluring to young men than merely trying to explain in a conservative style why one should not seek out trouble. But this patriarchal rule does not fit the positive portrayal of Lady Wisdom. The answer to this portion of the puzzle may lie in the analysis of Wisdom as the embodiment of monotheism. If we associate Wisdom with Hebrew Yahwhism, and Folly as Canaanite polytheism, the book of Proverbs could be viewed as a patriarchal polemic against the worship of any other gods but the one true God, Adonai.

While many theories exist to try to explain and analyze the use of personification in regards to Wisdom and Folly in the book of Proverbs, the key to truly understanding the personification of these abstract concepts lies in the study of the culture to which biblical Wisdom Literature belonged. Once the reader realizes the great impact outside cultures had on the formation of Hebrew religion and philosophy, and at the same time, the need for the Israelites to incorporate these influences into constructing an identity of their own, the appreciation for the lessons conveyed become distinctly Hebrew in style. As a result, the reader can fully appreciate the ancient depth of knowledge located within the text, while engaged in the writer’s unique portrayal of Lady Wisdom and Dame Folly.

WORKS CITED

Baugh, Steven M. “Wisdom and Folly: Proverbs 9:1-6, 13-18.” Kerux: The Journal of the

Northwest Theological Seminary. 6 pars. 24 Mar. 2003 <http:www.kerux.com/documents/KeruxV3N1A4.asp>.

Crenshaw, James L. Old Testament Wisdom: An Introduction. Louisville: Westminster John

Knox Press, 1998. 80-82.

Davidson, Robert. “Covenant Ideology in Ancient Israel.”

Fox, Michael. “Essay 2. The Origins of Personified Wisdom.”

Frick, Frank S. “Three Short Stories: Women as Deliverers.” A Journey Through The Hebrew

Scriptures. Ch. 14. 2nd ed. Belmont: Thomson, 2003. 463-500.

Hurwitz, V.A. “Nursling, Advisor, Architect? Nwm) and the Role of Wisdom in Proverbs 8, 22-

31.” Biblica On-Line. Horacio Simian-Yofre, gen. Ed. Vol. 80. 1998. 24 Mar. 2003 <http:

//www.bsw.org/project/biblica/bibl80/Ani09.htm>.

Phillips, V.C. “Feminist Interpretation.” Dictionary of Biblical Interpretation: A-J. 2nd ed.

John Hays, gen. Ed. Nashville: Abingdon, 1999. 388-398.

The New Oxford Annotated Bible. 3rd ed. Michael D. Coogan, ed. New York: Oxford UP,

2001.

Whybray, R.N. “Book of Proverbs.” John Hays, gen. Ed. 320-323.

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The Different Faces of the Black Madonna

by Edona Alexandra

Abstract: The purpose of this thesis is to examine the different lives of the Black Madonna through an afrocentric analytical framework. My thesis is that she is a remnant of the old matriarchal societies, abducted and adopted into patriarchal religions, myths and historical accounts through biblical poetry, as the Queen of Sheba, Eve and Auset (Isis).

THE BLACK MADONNA AS POETRY

In order to understand the Black Madonna, it is necessary to think in metaphor rather than linear structured prose. Much of what is known about her has been shrouded in the mystery of the origin of feminine energy in creation. She is a figure of the ancient Mother-centered spiritual tradition of the ancients. What we scientifically know of her has been hidden in the different sciences of anthropology, archeology, mathematics, and poetry.

Why poetry one may ask; because the people of the past thought in poetry rather than prose. They did not break information into tiny fragments and scatter them into different sciences as the modern day materialist scientist do. They produced factual information in an artistic form which viewed the world from a macrocosmic perspective versus our modern microcosmic perspective. When they examined a phenomenon they did so to understand the world around them through the act of metaphorical thinking. They would approach a subject by finding its simile or by comparing it to things or concepts that were similar. This process of examination however, made it no less factual or true. The ancients thought in a more wholistic spiritual or spiral perspective that more resembled the cohesive pattern which exist throughout the university.

The metaphorical perspective runs contrary to the way many of us in the western world have been programmed to think. It reveals a past and history that is more spiral or circular, hence a more Afrocentric way of processing creation. Circular thinking rivals a past that we have been taught to think of as primitive or un-evolved. Along with colonial invasion on the African continent, came an imperialist philosophy that was developed to devalue the current system of the people it sought to invade and control. In reality, the people they invaded had a more ancient system of philosophy and creation that helps us to understand the world from a different perspective when viewed from the perspective of the conquered victims instead of its conquerors. When one realizes the power of ancient thinking, it sheds an entirely new light on the people and information that was inherited by them.

Poetry and psalms were written communication forms of the ancient Africans who originated in present day Ethiopia, which encompassed a vast area of land which extended up to Egypt, Yemen and central parts of Africa. They used this language because it was a language of a spirited right brained people. They expressed and taught through the medium of the arts as a higher language of the spirit and a highly enlightened people.

It makes one realize that their legends stories and myths may be something much different than we have been led to believe. Maybe western mythologists have not been completely correct in their perceptions of what these ancient people were telling us. The ancients were telling us truths that can only be understood through this re-understanding of poetry as truth instead of myth. Therefore, what we have been taught to view as mythology is actually truthology, through the language of poetry. It is only by looking through the third eye and the eyes of right- brained people who were later called primitives by their conquerors, that we can see the truth. Because they were right brained, they were more powerful people and were able to perform extraordinary feats that we would consider miracles today, but were ordinary feats in their day.

When people of the past attempted to describe the world around them they did it through comparison of the abstract with the concrete reality. When they examined something they described it in the poetic, metaphorical terms of emotion which later got interpreted to be myth because they didn’t break it down into long words that run on forever describing the macrocosmic world through microcosmic words. Once we accept their reality as truth we can re-examine what we were told were myths as actually truths without colonizing it to make it more understandable or acceptable to our current Eurocentric paradigm structure.

This is a difficult concept for us to accept today in a culture that believes that it is the smallest of objects that makes up the larger whole. But this way of dealing with the surrounding universe as we have been taught, is a faulty modern way that has been brought to us by a left-brained culture of peoples of a relatively new history. Left-brained cultures leave out her story of wisdom, the black story of wisdom, poetry and the extraordinary that has recently become myth. We New Agers, are the ancients who have returned to correct the errors of the modernists who have turned our story into primitive, myths created by the primal first people of the earth.

Scientists have broken water down to its atomic material. They will tell you that water molecules essentially are made up of two atoms of hydrogen and one atom of oxygen. But if this is so then why can’t they create water by mixing two parts hydrogen with one part oxygen? Because breaking something down into its smallest components is an exercise in futility. It represents the material components without the addition of the spiritual alchemy needed for a thing to be created. All they do is make things into their smaller parts so they can understand them because they are limited by the utilization of left-brained thinking which limits them to what they can observe in the moment. Right-brained people can see beyond the moment and are able to see into other dimensions by the utilization of their third serpent eye, known in ancient Ethiopian as Kemetic and presently as “Egypt”.

Patriarchy science is a valid cultural philosophy of a Eurocentric paradigm that is not wrong but fails to take into account the mysteries embedded in Afrocentric philosophy. Science would like us to believe that these mysteries have never been solved or that they will never be solved. This is not true. There is much more to be found about nature and her ways than we can ever know through the left-brain. It is only through the right brain that we can connect to the spiritual realms that give us access to unlimited wisdom, power and potential.

The ancient Africans were onto something when they decided to view the surrounding world through the prism of the right brain and poetry. They understood that there is something about the human mind itself which allows poetry to be not only right but possibly even more accurate than science.

This idea of poetry can help us understand the way that these people thought. Therefore we can understand how they looked at the world. If we can understand how they looked at the world then possibly we can even begin to unlock many of the mysteries that continue to elude us today. Poetry begins to take further shape, when one considers that many of the texts and myths handed down to us were not from a primitive people but the primal first people of the earth. Who were first entrusted with the knowledge of creation. When one considers these ancient African stories, it becomes apparent that the spiritual interpretations we once thought were accurate were in fact not accurate or complete without them being told from the perspective of the people instead of their conquerors.

The ancients told us that the Black Mother created the world and that she was Queen of the sun. They told us these stories through poetry, which today is considered a writing style instead of a language of the Gods. But because the modern day rulers are Patriarchy left-brained people, who could not believe such highly exalted things about a woman or poetry, we were given the same story of the Black Madonna/Isis through a man named Jesus to fit their writing style and cultural beliefs. So the story of the Mother as creator and as a savior was covered up through the metaphor of Jesus who took the place of his mother as savior.

First, there is the metaphor of the son and the sun. Jesus in Hebrew means Jesse or ‘Fire’. Let us, for a moment assume that instead of ‘son’ they are referring to the ‘sun’.

The original sun was AST/Isis, the Black Madonna in the form of a woman. She is crowned with the Sun and the Moon with 12 stars around her head; she has delivered a child, and been chased into the forest to only be known as Mother Nature, Mother Earth, and reduced to mere dirt, the slave and servant of mankind, and the deceptive but wise serpent. She has whole not holy, the breath that gave us life. . . the

Ankh of life

The lady of heaven

Mistress of the world

She who prevaileth

The Lady of light to whom all men cry aloud

The lady of strength

The invoker of the two lands

Mother of the 7 bodies, 7 days of the week, the first manifestation of unformed matter. Nut Lady of the universe, it is from this energy we have the eternal Soul of Oneness that exist in all life forms that returns back to her at the end of its earthy existence into her earthly form.

Then let us consider the twelve apostles. Do they represent more than just twelve men? For a moment, let us consider that this is a simile of the twelve signs of the Zodiac changed by the patriarchs to twelve men.

Lastly, let us consider, Jesus’ mother Mary. Mary in Hebrew means sea or sea water; she is also associated with a crescent moon. It is well known that the moon controls the tides and therefore seawater. Is it possible that Mary is a poetic metaphor for the moon? Now let us consider what we have here. We have Jesus, or Fire, moves through the twelve men or signs. Just as our sun moves through the twelve signs of the zodiac. What is the missing astrological element? The moon, of course. And along comes Mary to fill this black void. Does this mean that the story of Jesus, Mary and his band of disciples is the story of some kind of astrological situation? Yes, it is an ancient story of the how all the stars, suns, moons and planets are contained within the Body of the Mother of the universe, based upon a picture by the ancient Egyptians called the Kemetians(KMTians) of ancient Ethiopia.

The Bible is therefore a re-told story of the ancient KMTians, who worshiped the Mother of the universe, known as Nun (not Sun) in their creation story who was formed out of the dark watery mist. They demonstrated a truth through art painted on walls and not always in sequential order.

The point that is being made is that there are metaphorical links to this story that are truer than the human links of Jesus and his disciples. The names and the numbers of these people provide us with links to the truth. Actually, they are too important to be ignored — for it was within the names and the numbers inside the structure of the biblical myths, that give us a true understanding of what they are about and how they relate to the Divine Black Madonna mysteries. The information of the Black Madonna has been divided up like her body throughout the constellations, similarly throughout history and the different fields of academia. Not only was Black history conquered, but Mother history was conquered and divided among it conquerors.

This is just an example of how to re-interpret a common myth and reconnect it with its original truth. Once one understands the true nature of the myth then one can go inside the myth and begin to understand all of its dissected levels and piece them together into original truth. What are the implications of re-reading the Jesus story as a poetic metaphorical myth about ancient cosmology? The implications of this are for you to re-consider the modern day religions in light of them coming from ancient African stories of truth and poetry. The example was only used to reveal the inner workings of myths that were created by from ancient truths to create a religion to control the masses of people. Thus, religion has kept people from the ancient truth of the Black feminine Creationist story which existed in ancient Africa accepted and celebrated worldwide throughout all cultures during the Aquarian age, which was partially written about in the “Aquarian Gospel” book.

Once we begin to re-educate our minds into the correct interpretations of these biblical stories we can begin to understand ourselves, our past and who we actually are. Thinking outside of the box can be difficult and sometimes impossible for our modern minds to comprehend. It can bring about much confusion, as we consider the many faceted reality of poetic thinking. But there are many levels to reality and it is a big mistake to believe in only one kind of Eurocentric fundamental reality at the expense of all of the other realities that are just as or maybe even more important and more relevant to our current spiritual context. In ancient African societies, the inner spiritual world was reality and the outside world was the spiritual world.

THE BLACK MADONNA AS THE QUEEN OF SHEBA

In the beginning, she was known as Ast by the original inhabitants of KMT (modern day Egypt) and the ancient lands of Ethiopia, she later became known by the Greeks as Isis and has retain that name into present day culture because the original inhabitants who called her by that name were conquered. This Black Madonna has been reduced in the bible to the mere existence of the Queen of Sheba. Most of the information recorded about the Queen of Sheba, is commonly known by Christians, Jews, Arabs, Ethiopians, and Rastafarians.

In Ethiopia it is said that the Queen of Shebs’ treasurer was responsible for her dethroning and for Ethiopia becoming a Christian nation. Candance is also another name of Queen of Hatshepsut, who was not only the representative of the Queen of Heaven, but she who was Queen of both KMT (Modern day Egypt) and Ethiopia. However, the majority of this information has lost due to the dethroning and enslaving of women because the first form of enslavement took place with women. The Arabs were the first recorded group to begin to enslave women in Africa and use them to perform hard labor. When Christianity came to Ethiopia, the women were enslaved and dethroned from their superior positions and history. Today in Ethiopia, you still see the remnants of enslavement among the women because they are still used to perform most of the hard labor and carry heavy loads, like donkeys.

Most of what is fabricated is the fact that there was a Queen Sheba instead of a Queen of Saba, which has brought much confusion and illusion. There was never a Queen of Sheba, but there was a Queen Hatshepsut, whose throne name was Makeda. Makeda has been recorded in history by the Ethiopians.

The country Sheba or Saba, means “Host of Heaven and Peace”, was in Abyssinia and located in Axum Ethiopia in the Tigray region. However in ancient times Sheba Land occupied 483,000 square miles of mountains, valley and deserts and at one point encompassed the area stretching from Ethiopia, present day Egypt down to present day Yemen. Just last year a portion of her throne was also revealed in Eredo, Nigeria, where it was said that a great Queen of Saba also reigned.

Throughout the ages, the legendary Queen of Sheba has evoked images of beauty, romance,wealth and power. Few women in history have captured our imaginations so strikingly, yet she has been cloaked in such mystery. Her story has been woven into the folklore and traditions of both Eastern and Western cultures. Yet for all the exotic tales, romance novels, and colorful theories about her, she remains an enigma. Archeologists have yet to disclose of her proper name.

To know of her, is truly to know more about the earth and ancient religions. The Sabeans produced (Whole Books) that later became known as the writings of Thoth-Hermes. The Sabeans in Arabic are Sa’Ba is derived from the ancient KMTians word for star, i.e. Saba or Sheba. The Sabeans are connected to the pyramids and made special pilgrimages to worship their goddess HW or as it later became known as YWH translated in Hebrew and in English as Jehovah, El and latter Allah (Graves, 1984). The recent findings of her Queenship in Nigeria, also revealed a pyramid in the area where she was said to reign.

The Sabeans worshiped the stars and recognized the birth star of Sirius had risen, as the star of Isis, which born the messianic age of Aquarius. (Hancock, & Banval, 1996). The Sabeans were also sea travelers, who navigated their courses by way of the stars. It is from the Sabeans that the Hebrews, and modern day Christians and Muslims received their religion, and it is to the lost Sabeans, for this reason, the Jews reserved the day of Sabbath, and for their Queen of Saba. The meaning of the Sabaoth is “The Day of the Queen of Heaven”.

In Assyria, the head of a family was called the ‘shebu’ and was originally a female, or matriarch. Before the onset of patriarchy, women experienced superior-and definitely equal rights with men. The land of Saba was a center of astronomical wisdom, and the Queen was the chief astronomer and astrologer of religious life that involved worship of the sun and moon. In Arab territory, the great Goddess dwelt in the sacred black anionic stone, that now lies in Mecca. She was given the title, Shayba, by the Arabic speaking Aramaen people. Shayba was also the Arabic-Armaean title of the Great goddess or the Old Woman, whose spirit dwelt in the sacred stone of the Kaaba. She was also known in Mesopotamian as Shebat the Moon-goddess of Hebat or Eve.

Shayba, represented the moon in its threefold aspect-waxing, (maiden, Mary of Lazarus), full (pregnant mother, Mary of Jesus) and waning (old wise woman, crone Mary of the Temple). (Graves, 1984). Shayba has been hidden within the pages of the Bible as the three Mary’s who were apart of Jesus life and known originally as the Three Wise Women. The Moon goddess worshipped by the Sabeans was Astarte or Ashtart, whom others called Astar, which means womb. As Shayba she was the maker, giver and destroyer of life; in her role as Astar she was the Queen of Heaven and Mother of all deities and goddess and gods; as Mary she was the mother of the God Jesus.

If you recall earlier, we pointed out that Jesus represented the sun, and the twelve disciples represented the twelve constellations that exist within the universe or the womb of the Mother of the Universe, who has been hidden in biblical allegory as Mary. Mary is the three in one Goddess, this is where the trinity of God the father, God the son and God the holy ghost originates from. What the ancients knew as fact became associated with a pagan religion, with the takeover of the religious symbols by Patriarchy enslavers of the Sabean people.

The name Yahweh though it is Hebrew, originated from the name of a “Canaanite moon deity called Yareah, a female or androgynous form” (Walker, 1983, pg. 1094). If you understand that history is always rewritten by those who conquer the losers of the war with the pen, and word that becomes the sword to write out those who were conquered out of history, so that successive generations will only know the victor’s. But always, hidden within the shadow of the conquerors words are the truths of what stood before they conquered their victims. Might does not mean right, it only means that one group was more vicious than another group and were willing to win by any means necessary because they lacked respect for the knowledge held by their victims. The mighty are willing to defile the codes of conduct in a war to win at any cost. The male victors were able to win the war against the Sabeans because they enslaved and tortured the women Priestess and Goddess. In this case, might won over righteous. They tore up some of their temples, and others they turned into Cathedrals for male-centered worship; but because they had no standing religion, they only replaced the names of people they honored with the Goddess names. The Muslims replaced Allat with Allah, and made Allat a daughter instead of leaving her as a Goddess. The Christians replaced Isis with Mary and reduced Mary to a servant instead of a Goddess. All the women of the bible were at one time High Priestess, Goddess, or Pharaohs who ruled the nations before male patriarchy took over.

(Modern Day Revelation to come from the Queen of Heaven and Earth as channeled by)

Far too long I have been the Beast of Burden, for the world, veiled in mystery and hidden in history and tales. I am the black Mother of creation who gave birth to all nations of people, and now, I am being despised by all my children. How long must I allow you to shame your own Mother?

I Am the One, who holds the power of life and death,

And now you call me the Great Whore, the Harlot because of my infinite creation,, while you worship the holy ghost, I have not disappeared, I am still here, you only have not go within to remember me,

How dare you call me the serpent of evil, when in the gardens of my creation, I gave you wisdom and enlightment to escape the evils and entrapments of the God/Dog Set.

But you are still entrapped by the illusions of my daughter

Maya, for you think you are in paradise but you are entrapped in the lower levels of the kundalini called f lust, pleasure, and hell.

I am the Queen of Heaven that your ancestors gave praise to, as the Mother of Earth, Heaven and Creation, but because I am

Black and Comely, you have enslaved me to the care for your gardens while mine go unkept and the memory of me fades into the shadows,

Where I have become your chattel

Turn and look inside and you will find me there,

Waiting to receive you again

To nourish you on the breast of Life

Do not despise that which gave you the breath of life, and the light to guide you to my loving embrace

I am your Black Madonna and Mother Creator

BLACK POWER

With this new understanding of poetry as a metaphor let us begin to re-comprehend new concepts of Blackness in light of this awareness. We will begin with the color black. Black is the color that contains all colors. If you took all of the colors of the rainbow and combined them, your resulting mix would be black in color. Black is the color that contains all colors. Metaphorically speaking the — it is possible for black to represent all things in their beginning stage.

Black is the color, or the substance, from which all things manifest. Out of the black depths of space — stars, suns and planets form. The universe was once, according to scientists, a place that was dark and void of light. There was a black dust that hung like a mist throughout the universe. Slowly this dust coagulated into larger pieces. Soon the pieces begin to collect and grow; compression and gravity were the result. Over time enough of this material eventually formed into a dense sphere. This sphere began to compress and the pressure within its core began to manifest. Soon the core began to collapse in on itself. Eventually this collapsing state began a nuclear reaction. This nuclear reaction spread throughout the mass of this compressed sphere and ignited it, turning it into the first star, the first sun. Out of this dark, dense and black material — light was formed. In alchemy, the matter that was there before all other matter is called the “’prima material”. Not the primitive material, but the first.

This was the original substance from which all alchemical transmutation manifested. The prima material is the cause of all effects that occur after it is formed. It is the base matter. From the prima material comes the first substances and from these substances comes the first minerals. The alchemist task is to somehow separate the different aspects of the prima material into its own material spectrum of substance.

This process is similar to the creation of diamonds. Black coal is the prima material for the construction of diamonds. Over thousands of years through the alchemy of time, pressure and gravity the black coal, the prima material becomes the diamond. Through the prism of this construct the white light of the sun shines through. This light is broken up into the spectrum of colors that make up our world. So, through the process of the alchemy of our planet, the black coal is compressed into the multifaceted crystal that shines the colors of black through its prism. But now these colors are not coagulated and mixed into the color black– they have been separated now and shine with their own radiance. This is a great example of metaphor and how it relates separate items within the same universality.

It can be said that the process of time and compression brought forth the diamond. The alchemical earth created this substance from the basest of matter. Within the confines of this matter was the diamond. It was always there it just needed time and gravity to transmute.

Another poetic metaphor to be understood is that of the lotus. In order for the lotus to grow strong and to produce a beautiful flower it is necessary that its roots to ground themselves in manure. The darker the excrement –the better the lotus will grow, the more astonishing will be its flower. This is why the lotus is considered the most sacred of plants in ancient Ethiopia where the cradle of civilization and humans began. It is only through the action of the emergence of the flower from the black manure that the importance of this metaphor can be understood.

In western traditions there was once a vast pilgrimage that took place in Europe. Pilgrims made their way towards the town of Compostella in Spain. The word Compostella comes from the same root word as compost. Compost is the living, black material that is made from rotting fruits, grains and other organic matter. From this compost-life and light will emerge. When the pilgrims came to the Cathedral at Compostella they were being ‘composted’ in a sense. After their emergence into the dark confines of the cathedral and the spirit — they were ready to flower; they were ready to return home with their spirits lightened. Today this pilgrimage is still carried out by the Muslims who travel to Mecca to see the Kabba (Sabba) stone of the Sabean people. This stone was stolen from the Queen of Sheba and represented her ruler-ship and scepter to rule on earth. This was her stone stolen by the Muslims.

What happened to the descents of the Sabeans?

They were taken as captives and sold into slavery, first by the Muslims and their mystical spirituality was partially stolen and grafted into Islam and put in the Koran, by Judaism and put in the Torah, and by Christians and put in the Bible. The women priestess, were the first to become captives and enslaved by marriage, and captivity, which can sometimes be different and the same. The Arabs were the first to enslave the Sabeans and began to sell them as slaves to Europe and throughout African. During this time, the Africa was in a chaotic state, and it was these same Sabeans who became the slaves of Africans and were sold to the colonizers of the new Americas from Western Africa in the countries sourrounding modern day Nigeria and ancient Gold Coast. There story of the Sabeans sold from ancient Ethiopia which included Jerusalem and other parts of Arabia is recorded in the Bible in the following passages:

The conquerors of the sought to denigrate black dark people and women whom they once worshipped, because they had to find a way to justify turning Goddess and Gods into slaves. They began to replace the sacredness of blackness with light and whiteness. It was during these times that blackness became associated with the word evil and light or whiteness became associated with goodness. In the past, light and white was associated with a stage of death. But they misinterpreted the true significance of the dark and of the blackness to serve their purpose of mental enslavement. They knew that there can be no light without darkness for it is stated in their book of enslavement called the Bible in the book of Genesis. They knew that the light could only be perceived through the background of darkness. This misinterpretation is a great one and needs to be overcome if we wish to succeed in a pursuit of truth.

In the passage below, we have the story of the Queen of Saba and how she became enslaved to Patriarchy through Solomon. He enslaved her by evil magic and trickery. Although she was a wise woman known as the embodiment of Wisdom, she was not as wise in the ways of evil, for her domain was life.

Again we find the word I AM Black, and he is Black. Both Sheba and Solomon were black because they were burnt by the Sun of Africa, KMT, and Ethiopia. They were the royal couple of Isis and Ausar. What happened to the royal couple? Set the God/Dog tricked Ausar into siding with him and becoming the Lord of Death to take over the throne of Auset. He seduced Ausar into getting into a coffin which he Set locked permanently. Later Set chased down Auset and made her marry him. Thus we now are given the story of Solomon and Sheba which is the second chapter in the story of Auset, Ausar and Set. The royal couple can be found within the pages of ancient KMT (Egyptian, Kemetic) writings that discuss the ruler ship of the Pharaohs. It was during the 19th century that the women were overthrown and incestuous marriages began to take place. These marriages began to take place because the men began to rule over the Mothers. Within all myths, are morsels of truth hidden for the wise to see and decipher.

THE BLACK MADONNA AS EVE

Eve was the first mother of the human race, who was the originator of the human mitochondria DNA. The study of mitochondria DNA is the next poetic metaphor that bears exploring. The mitochondrion DNA is part of the DNA chain that can only be passed down from woman to woman, from mother to daughter. Given this scientific evidence, it is not possible for Adam to have been the begetter of the human race. Only Eve whom archeologist has come to call Lucy, whose bones were discovered in Ethiopia, could have produced the first mitochondria DNA.

Using this process, modern day scientists can actually follow the generations of women backwards through time. Through this process, they can actually find the very first woman. Scientists in the 1980’s did just this. What they discovered was that the very first human, the very first woman, the mother of all humanity existed about two hundred thousand years ago. She was blue black. This brings up all sorts of controversy but the basic point remains the same. The very first woman was black. So even in the realm of human interaction the metaphor that all things come from black and later separated into different colors is shown.

The Akan people of West Africa who are from the Ashanti tribe, have recorded in the their history that they originated from the Black Madonna in Ethiopia, the first human being on the earth, which they call Asasi from the original Ethiopian word Esi. The Ashanti people were the first Sabeans to migrate from Ethiopia, because of the persecution they were under as the Children of the Queen of Saba.

When they migrated to West African they became the first Jews under the Mali Empire. Mali encompassed present day Nigeria. They later migrated to the Americas and re-established Sabean colonies in the Americas, where they also built pyramids in honor of her womb and magic yoni, which are currently known as mounds. The colonies they sent to the Americas were the lost tribes of the Sabeans, who later became the Black Natives of these lands. It is their people who later became enslaved by the Mexican half-bread Spaniards and African. The story of these lost tribes of Sabean people have been recorded in the book of Mormons. The culture and religious aspects of the Black Madonna is original and her spiritual teachings divided among the masses of male conquerors and enslavers.

In the book “Studies of the Book of Mormon (Second Edition) by Bill Roberts, he states on page 141 that

“The origin, age and source of American culture, and perhaps compel a return to the earlier idea of an Egyptian or Hebrew origin for the American race and its culture. Then Mr G. Elliot Smith, having inveighed against dogmatism, rather dogmatically launches the opinion that there was about the 9th century B.C. a widely diffused culture from Egypt into all surrounding countries of the world. . . . The curiously distinctive vulture-complex, which is gradually built up in Egypt between the years 4,000 and 900 B.C began to be widely diffused, at some time after the later date, west, south and east, and that the later (the easterly migration), with many additions and modifications which it received on the way. . . reached the Pacific coast of the Americas and leavened the aboriginal population of the vast continent with the ferment of the ancient civilization of the Old World.”

One must recall the facts that I gave earlier regarding the Sabean people who lived throughout ancient KMT, Ethiopia, and Arabia. This vast number of people according to the text above spread themselves throughout the world and they left remnants of their existence by way of the pyramids that exist in China, the Americas and Africa. I will reserve the discussion of the native Black Americans for my book on Black Native Americans. I myself know that I am the offspring of the Black Aboriginal people who were the Adena people of the Mississippi Valley in the America’s and worshipped the Great Black Mother. In these areas in the Americas are vast amounts of pyramids and mounds that they left to remind us of her existence. Their names were changed and they were enslaved by brute force from conquerors that sought to erase them with the word instead of the sword.

Robert Lawlor theorizes that the subtle energies from space come down through the north pole of the earth. But if in fact this did occur, then the first people of the earth had to have come from North America instead of Africa. And if it did come from North America it could not have been in a cold place which is not conducive to the production of melanin, which gives us the rich color of Black. It had to have occurred in a very hot climate such as the Grand Canyon located in Arizona, (Zion) the ends of the earth or the beginnings of the earth.

The Grand Canyon contains within its caves hieroglyphs of the ancient Sabean people who were submerged under water when the flooding occurred. They were the lost tribes who remerged when the waters were dried up from the flooding. On the mountain tops of the Grand Canyon are the ancient remnants of the sphinx, and the phoenix that are also located in their ancient home of Egypt. This Great Sima Pacific depression is the most stable and long lived feature of the earth’s surface, going back in much of its present form at least 1 billion years., according to the book “The Lost Continent” by Spraque Decamp. There is much about the Grand Canyon, the West Coast natives, and the aboriginal peoples of the Americans that remains a mystery to modern man, due to the withholding of ancient archeological findings. According to some ancient records, the first people to repopulate the earth came from the Grand Canyon and they were black people who were pygmies, the Black elves and dwarfs of the earth. It is these people who first populated the earth and are known as the Anaszi people in Arizona and New Mexico area. The Ashanti people of West Africa have created mythical stories about Anaszi the spider, which is similar to the stories of the Wise Spider Woman among the ancient aboriginal peoples of the Americas.

The purpose of this thesis was to unveil some the mysteries of the Black Madonna which was a female centered religion that honored all that was feminine and produced through Queens, Priestess and Goddess her children of creation in the form of both female and male. The origin of the ancient Black Mother-centered perspective has been divided like the body of Ausar in ancient Ethiopia throughout the world. I have attempted to put the pieces of her scattered remains together again for the purposes of generating truth and enlightment through a female African-centered perspective.

References

Graves, R. P. The White Goddess. London Phoenix Giant, 1984.

Hancock, G. & R. Banval. The Message of the Sphinx. Three Rivers Press,

New York, 1984.

Lawlor, R. Sacred Geometry: Philosophy and Practice, Thames and Hudson,

1982.

Levi, The Aquarian Gospel of Jesus Christ, London: L.N. Fowler, 1911.

Roberts, B.H. Studies of the Book of Mormon, 2nd Edition. Signature Books,

Salt Lake City, 1992.

Sprague de Camp, L. Lost Continents: The Atlantis Theme in History, Science, and Literature, Dover Publications, 1970

Velikovsky, I. Ages in Chaos. Buccaneer Books Inc, 1952.

Walker, B. B. The Woman’s Encyclopedia of Myths & Secrets. Harper Collins

Publisher, New York, 1983.