Another look at Eden

I recently asked on a Facebook group:

I'm working on a blog post about this, so I'd love to get anyone's insights.

If matriarchy indeed preceded patriarchy, what would the Eden story have looked like from a matriarchal perspective?

Interestingly enough, this is not the post I was working on!  Not by a long shot!  That's been on the back burner for over a week.  However, I got the concept for my extremely speculative answer rather suddenly late last night/early this morning--it was such that my mind felt illuminated and engaged the entire time I was writing, as if someone had it to dictate--and I sat down for about five or six hours just now to write about five or six pages.  The result is after the jump.  It's certainly controversial in some of its elements depending on how literally one believes the Eden story, but I really enjoyed writing it.  To avoid confusion, please note that I exchanged the English "Eve" for the Hebrew "Hawwah" throughout.  "Adam" apparently is already as Hebrew as I'm going to get.

And one last thing before you go and read: I love this story.  I don't get stuff like this coming through my brain very often and I felt inspired.  Whether this is "gospel truth" or not, I don't know--none of us knows--but I feel that it could be.  It could be close to the original series of events in the Garden of Eden, as told before patriarchal culture took the Creation mythology and recorded it as we have it today.  Whether it's pure truth or pure fiction or somewhere in between, I hope this take on the story of our origins touches your heart and feeds your soul the way it did mine.

Today's Recommended Listening

Daughters of Mormonism #8 - Eve as Balance to Christ

In this episode from May, Sybil presents an enlightening bit of her own spiritual thinking about the nature and role of Mother Eve in the Plan of Happiness.  Parts of what she discusses have skimmed across my brain over the years, but her thoughts have been much deeper than my own and I find the way she puts things to be very enriching.  I had never looked at my own womanhood in quite this way, and it gives me some hope and even a new tool for reaching forward in my physical and spiritual progression.

Head on over and listen if you haven't already.  Even if you have, it's worth a second listen.  (For the squeamish and/or male, she talks quite a bit about menstruation.  Just an FYI.)

The Serpent

RasJane posted an article on Mother Wheel for St. Patrick's Day regarding serpent mythology.  Take a minute and go read it if you haven't already, it'll give you context to what I'm going to ramble about, and it is mostly a ramble.

I couldn't quite concentrate on the questions at the end of the article, I was stuck on the paragraphs immediately preceding where she discusses Eve and the serpent, and how the associated symbolism has deeply damaged women through the ages.  I mused over my thoughts on the matter for a few days, and here's the rather stream-of-conciousness bunch of thoughts that came out.

Initiatories make it clear we are equals to and with men by the things we are anointed to [do].  We are blessed with divine entitlement to inspiration and knowledge and truth.
A veil is often primarily a feminine symbol and accoutrement.  All of us have a veil of forgetfulness placed over our minds as we enter mortality, which separates us from Father and Mother, Brother, and Comforter(?).  And indeed in the Biblical account, women have enmity placed between themselves and the symbol of the serpent, which is given to Lucifer. [Revise: taken on by Lucifer.]  Lucifer was a seeker of knowledge, a light bearer, a son of the morning--all good things, things we are encouraged to emulate.  Had Lucifer remained true and faithful, he would have been arguably among the very strongest and wisest allies of the Father.  But he fell because of his pride and desire for power; perhaps these are what we are blessed with enmity against.  Is not that enmity a protection in its aversion?  But still, how does that fit with the symbolism of being cut off from the symbol of female power and wisdom, and having it seen as the embodiment of evil?  Clearly this isn't a truism.
Is it related to the fact that we know so little about Mother?  Are we cut off from Her?  But there is no enmity between us and Her, only separation; She is no more our enemy than Father.
Lucifer becomes Satan; from light bearer to "father of all lies, to deceive and to blind men, and to lead them captive at his will, even as many as would not listen to [Christ's] voice." (Moses 4:4)  Father made the serpent, but "Satan put it into the heart of the serpent...to beguile Eve" and we have been confused, lied to, and cheated ever since.
Did Satan choose the serpent as a counterfeit for Heavenly Mother?  Godhood is incomplete with only one gender; he has always wanted God's power, so co-opting this feminine symbol would give him more "credibility", or appearance of it.  He took the form of female creativity and wisdom and corrupted it, ensuring that it would then be used to crush God's daughters for millenia.  Is it/It is then against this corrupted image that we are set.  We are set at enmity with Satan, and the primary animosity is between he and Christ, the Son of Eve and not Adam.

I haven't thought much beyond that, at least not to record it, but those are the majority of my thoughts so far on this subject.  What are your thoughts on mine?

Like unto Mother Eve

Welcome!  I hope you enjoy your time here and that you find something worthy of reflection and contemplation in my little blog.  It's really more of a personal project, a way of consolidating and categorizing my thoughts, questions, experiences, and questions about life, the Plan of Salvation, and the deep Truths-with-a-capital-T of God.

I love our noble mother, Eve.  As with any mother, without her, we wouldn't be here.  We wouldn't be who we are.  I firmly believe she was courageous, adventurous, insightful, and wise; that she had an inkling of the grand scope of her decision to partake of the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, and saw that it was indeed Good; that she has suffered an unjust reputation at the hands of her children through the ages, and the world owes her (and every woman abused or belittled in consequence of that reputation) an eternal apology.  If you can't respect that stance, you very well may not like my blog, and I will exercise my right not to tolerate disrespect to her.

However, that's not really to point of this blog.  I imagine Eve will be a somewhat rare subject here; there are too many other things on my mind.  What I do want to impress upon my readers, though, is the spirit of Eve that I strive for in my life, and how it combines two of my interests into one: my religion/spirituality, and the Wise Woman traditions.  I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  LDS.  Mormon.  I am a "crunchy granola" Mormon, to boot, and as part of that, lately I've been studying a lot about Wise Woman tradition.  A lot of it fits nicely with my beliefs, some I'm still figuring out, and some I can't yet accept, if I ever do... which is a very Wise Woman thing to say, really.  Anyway, a lot of this blog will be about how my non-spiritual and spiritual beliefs collide, coincide, correlate, and coalesce.  A lot of it will just be thoughts about beliefs, doctrines, traditions, history, and whatever else crosses my mind.  This is my spiritual journal.  (Please play kindly.  Thank you.)

-Sam