Week of 8/26-31/2024: The Black Madonna & the Antichrist; Remembering Rabbi Michael Lerner

August 26, 2024: On the Black Madonna in a Time of Kamala Harris
Wholesome males will not be threatened by sturdy ladies; as an alternative they welcome and have a good time them. This wholesome masculinity was in proof on the DNC the place so many males had been excited by Kamala Harris. For many years, Matthew has honored the Black Madonna. A couple of years in the past, he was requested to write down the foreward for Alessandra Belloni’s Therapeutic Journeys with the Black Madonna: Chants, Music and Sacred Practices of the Nice Goddess. Matthew additionally salutes the work of Christena Cleveland, God Is a Black Girl, which honors the French custom of the Black Madonna. Carl Jung says that archetypes return after we want them—and we do want this archetype immediately, for she represents the sturdy and even fierce Divine Mom who defends the poor and all those that undergo. 

August 27, 2024: Henry Adams, Kamala Harris & the Divine Female, continued
Henry Adams, whose grandfather and great-grandfather had been each presidents, wrote poignantly of the position of Mary in his iconic guide, Mont Saint Michel and Chartres , written in 1904. He referred to as Mary “the dynamo” that led that renaissance of the twelfth century in Europe. He wrote: “Her sympathy was with individuals who suffered beneath regulation.” She represented “the assertion of the supremacy of affection over power” and “boundless sympathy.” Adams asks: Why, within the fashionable period, was the Girl struck out of the Church and ignored within the State? Matthew says that he hopes the power and values of the Black Madonna can carry us into what Pete Buttigieg calls a “new politics,” and hopefully Kamala Harris could be a catalyst for such a non-violent revolution.

August 28, 2024: Three Responses to My New E book on Trump, MAGA & Anti-Christ
Following are some ideas from three early readers of Matthew’s new guide Trump & MAGA as Anti-Christ: A Handbook for the 2024 Election.  An Episcopal priest loves it and has been sharing it with others. He reviews that some like it whereas others are reluctant to embrace the time period “antichrist,” though he says they agree with every part else Matthew says. He additional says that he believes progressives are usually hesitant to make use of non secular archetypes to call the evils current, although we do consider there are religious realities at play. We simply really feel type of, I don’t know, not certified to call issues for what they’re! This makes your guide much more essential, in my opinion. Neil Douglas Klotz, an Aramaic scholar, says: In my humble opinion, many “religious however not non secular” folks don’t take evil severely. He says: Behaviours that will have appeared acceptable previously should be re-evaluated each season and each period.  In the meantime, a grandmother reviews: As soon as I began studying, I couldn’t put it down. She says she realizes that I’ve felt this heaviness looming and didn’t know easy methods to identify it.  You might have named it and now I do know what we face.

August 29, 2024: Honoring the Black Madonna and MLK Jr.
The Black Madonna is a vital presence for our time.  Andrew Harvey factors out that, in a time like ours, we must always pray to her as a result of, amongst different issues, she is “queen of hell” as a result of her love for the human race “makes her invincible to all demonic forces. ” Speaking of the Antichrist and coping with it requires we shield ourselves within the course of.  (From the Archive 1/16/24) What the Black Madonna stands for is what MLK Jr. stood for: Justice within the face of injustice; consideration to the anawim, these with out a voice; love, not hatred; peace, not conflict; forgiveness, not retribution; an  appreciation of darkness and blackness; and a lot extra.

August 30, 2024: Evil, the Antichrist, & Kali, the Black Madonna of the East
Matthew makes the assertion: “I’m an elder.” As an elder, one among his jobs is to show, and that features instructing about evil. And here’s what he has to say: Evil issues. And evil is actual. And it’s MUCH larger than sin. There’s Christ; and there’s Antichrist. Antichrist is one other identify for evil. And there’s a lot of evil afoot in our world immediately. …Allow us to not be afraid to name evil what it’s. In order that we will transfer past it and loosen its grip on us and grow to be who we actually are: Little children of the divine, different Christs.

August 31. 2024: The Demise of a Prophet and Good friend, Rabbi Michael Lerner
We study of the loss of life of an excellent man, a prophet, a tireless employee for social justice, and co-founder of the journal, Tikkun. Rabbi Learner additionally as soon as ran a full of life synagogue in San Francisco the place Matthew as soon as led a spiral dance. Each Matthew and he had been requested to talk when the Dalai Lama was in San Jose. Matthew remembers that the Rabbi started his discuss with a heart-filled and unselfconscious chant and ritual from his custom for the very numerous non secular group that was gathered. Additionally, notably, the good Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel was one among his academics. He demonstrated braveness and conviction in talking up for the rights of Palestinians, and skilled criticism and backlash for that from his personal folks. However he took it in stride and continued to stroll his discuss. He will likely be dearly missed by many. Luckily, his books reside on—amongst them Jewish Renewal and The Left Hand of God.

Banner picture: This well-known Black Madonna is often known as Our Girl of Czestochowa. There are scars on her face, which remind us that she is often known as the Mom of Sorrows. Wikimedia Commons.

Advisable Studying

Trump & The MAGA Motion as Anti-Christ: A Handbook for the 2024 Election

Matthew Fox tells us that he had at all times shied away from utilizing the time period “Anti-Christ” as a result of it was so usually used to unfold management and worry. Nonetheless, given immediately’s rise of authoritarianism and forces of democracide, ecocide, and christofascism, he turns the tables on this guide using the archetype for the reason for justice, democracy, and a renewed Earth and humanity.
From the Foreword: If there was ever a time, a second, for inspecting the archetype of the Antichrist, it’s now…Learn this guide with an open thoughts. Good and evil are actual forces in our world. ~~ Caroline Myss, writer of Anatomy of the Spirit and Conversations with the Divine.

The Hidden Spirituality of Males: Ten Metaphors to Awaken the Sacred Masculine

To awaken what Fox calls “the sacred masculine,” he reveals ten metaphors, or archetypes, starting from the Inexperienced Man, an historical pagan image of our basic relationship with nature,  to the Non secular Warrior….These timeless archetypes can encourage males to pursue their greater calling to connect with their deepest selves and to reinvent the world.
“Each man on this planet ought to learn this guide — to not point out each girl who desires to grasp the struggles, usually unconscious, that form the boys they know.” — Rabbi Michael Lerner, writer of The Left Hand of God

One River, Many Wells: Knowledge Springing from International Faiths

Matthew Fox calls on all of the world traditions for his or her knowledge and their inspiration in a piece that’s way over an inventory of theological place papers however a brand new method to pray—to meditate in a worldwide religious context on the knowledge all our traditions share. Fox chooses 18 themes which are foundational to any spirituality and demonstrates how all of the world religious traditions supply knowledge about every.“Studying One River, Many Wells is like getting into the wealthy silence of a masterfully directed retreat. As you learn this textual content, you mirror, you pray, you embrace Divinity. Actually no phrases can absolutely categorical my respect and awe for this magnificent contribution to modern spirituality.” –Caroline Myss, writer of Anatomy of the Spirit