Gender at the Human and Higher Levels John F

Fall 2017

A Study of Gender, Part 1: Gender at the Human and Higher Levels John F. Nash

Michelangelo: Nicholas Roerich: “Moses” (c.1514) “Mother of the World” (1937)

Summary race. Emphasis will be placed on what seems to be an accelerating fluidity in gender. Tenta- his two-part article examines the esoteric tive predictions will be made as to where this Taspects of gender. Part I is a “cross- development may take humanity as it contin- sectional” study of gender, examining the na- ues on its upward path. ture of gender at the present time, along with contributing factors. It explores the meaning Introduction and significance of gender in the human con- od, we learn from Genesis, created us text and the legitimacy of applying the term to male and female. Ever since, humanity higher levels of reality, including the divine. G has been divided into the two groups. Catego- The main conclusions are: Some form of gen- rization ostensibly was biological, but it car- der—or “horizontal” polarity with mutually ried with it a host of spoken and unspoken attractive, creative potential—exists at all lev- psychological, social, legal and religious im- els, short of the unmanifest Godhead. Gender plications. polarities at the personality level are best considered as archetypes enshrined in the Ageless About the Author Wisdom. These polarities correlate strongly John F. Nash, Ph.D., is a long-time esoteric stu- with distinctions between the odd- and even- dent, author, and teacher. Two of his books, Quest numbered rays, pointing to a way to identify for the Soul and The Soul and Its Destiny, were gender at higher levels, including those where reviewed in the Winter 2005 issue of the Esoteric the human soul and the Planetary Hierarchy Quarterly. Christianity: The One, the Many, was reside. reviewed in the Fall 2008 issue. His latest book: The Sacramental Church was published in 2011. Part II will present a “longitudinal” study of For further information see the advertisements in gender, including its evolution in the human this issue and the website http://www.uriel.com.

Over the last several decades, academic scien- personality levels, identifying it in between tists and healthcare professionals have co- should be relatively straightforward. opted the term “gender,” with categories of Gender can be viewed as a set of “horizontal” masculinity and femininity, to capture the psy- polarities, or pairs of opposites at approximate- chological, social, legal and religious attributes ly the same level of reality, interacting crea- in their own right. Opinions differ on whether tively with the potential to manifest new gender encompasses sex or is distinct from it. forms. Rudimentary horizontal polarities exist This article treats gender as a higher corre- in the mineral kingdom in the bonds between spondence of sex. In the human context, sex is subatomic particles, in the valences between associated with the physical plane, dense and atoms that create chemical compounds, and in etheric; and gender with the emotional, mental magnetic and electric fields. More complex and higher planes. polarities are found in the fertilization process- Both sex and gender are complex concepts. es of the vegetable kingdom—processes in Notions of binary sex break down because which the mineral and animal kingdoms often some people do not fit into either category participate—and the mating, reproductive and even at birth, and further ambiguity or fluidity parenting behaviors of the animal kingdom. can become apparent later in life. Gender is The human kingdom inherited sex from the such an amorphous quality that its very defini- animal kingdom, but overlaid it with gender, tion is controversial, and rigid categorization is expressed in all its creative potential at least up almost impossible. Furthermore, gender does to the mental level. not necessarily correlate with sex. Individuals Perhaps the progression stops there. But more typically exhibit a blend of gender characteris- likely, horizontal polarities express themselves tics that may or may not align with those cul- in ever-more impressive ways as we move into turally associated with their biological sex. the higher kingdoms. The present article seeks This article seeks to stimulate discussion on a to show that this is indeed the case. Polarities, number of issues. Part I raises the questions: which can meaningfully be termed “gender,” What are sex and gender? and Does gender seem to exist at all levels below the unmanifest have meaning at levels of reality above the Godhead, whose only “attribute”—if we could human personality? Part II will raise the ques- use that word—is self-existence. tions: What evidence do we have of evolution The article is written primarily from a western, in human sex and gender? How rapid is this Judeo-Christian perspective. Occasionally it evolution? What is its significance for the hu- draws upon concepts from other religions and man race? and Is it in conformity with Hierar- philosophies, but the article does not comment chical Purpose? on the gender norms of other cultures. Authors The strategy in Part I is to define sex and gen- with more extensive knowledge are encour- der at the personality level; to examine projec- aged to explore those important issues and to tions of gender onto levels of reality tradition- share their insights with the esoteric communi- ally considered divine; and finally to inquire ty. whether gender exists in any meaningful sense Shortly after the original version of this article at levels that include the human soul and the was submitted to The Esoteric Quarterly, the Planetary Hierarchy. September 2017 issue of Scientific American Many esotericists assert that gender is purely a was published. It was devoted almost entirely personality-level phenomenon. At higher lev- to topics of sex and gender, and reported the els androgyny is the norm; the only polarities most recent research findings in relevant disci- are “vertical” ones, like the relationship be- plines. These findings provided broad confir- tween soul and monad, or between Christ and mation of the article’s assertions concerning the Planetary Logos. The present article sug- sex and gender at the personality level, and gests that this doctrine may need to be revisit- some citations have been incorporated in the ed. If gender exists at both the divine and the final version of the article. Not unexpectedly,

Scientific American stopped short of address- smaller brains, though neuroscientists now re- ing matters above the personality level. ject theories of corresponding reduction in cognitive ability. Sex and Gender at the Again on average, women have less physical Personality Level strength than men, and sports are segregated ex and gender, as understood in the health by sex, each with its own performance stand- S sciences, are discussed here as a prelude to, ards. Sports authorities have instituted their what is for us, the more important exploration own tests, not always satisfactory, to distin- of the esoteric aspects of gender. The discus- guish between men and women; and, if the sion is brief, simplified—perhaps oversimpli- latter, to determine whether competitors have fied—and uses an intentionally limited vo- taken testosterone supplements to gain unfair cabulary. Readers seeking an in-depth study of advantage. exoteric sex and gender issues are urged to Sex traditionally was determined at, or soon turn to the vast literature of physiology, neuro- after, birth. It had enormous social, legal and science, sexology, sociology, psychology, psy- other implications. Men enjoyed asymmetric chiatry, and related disciplines. privileges, like access to positions of leader- The discussion of sex and gender at the per- ship in government, the professions, and reli- sonality level is presented without moral gious institutions; property and inheritance judgment. Issues of morality—understood in rights; minimal censure for premarital or ex- relation to the evolution of human conscious- tramarital sex; and protection from prosecution ness—are deferred to Part II. for marital rape. Biological Sex Women were exempt from military service and in most societies were not expected to do Babies are deemed to be male if they have ex- heavy manual work. But their participation in ternal genitalia and female if they have internal society, right to own property, and access to genitalia. At a deeper level, the individual’s legal remedies were severely limited. Unless 1 chromosomes determine sex. A male normal- she took religious vows, a woman’s primary ly receives an X chromosome from his mother life-function was to bear children—and in the and a Y chromosome from his father. In the upper classes to provide a male heir to inherit approach to adulthood, relatively large secre- her husband’s property and title. Unless she tions of the male hormone, testosterone, enable was a widow, a woman was expected to be a men to produce sperm, grow beards, and de- virgin when she married and to be faithful to velop low-pitched voices. Their chromosomes her husband thereafter. She was required to and hormonal secretions predispose them to obey her husband and to serve his erotic and male-pattern baldness; expose them to male- other needs, whatever those needs might be. specific pathologies like testicular cancer; and condemn them to a shorter life expectancy. We now know that not everyone fits into the neat binary categories. One percent of human A female normally receives an X chromosome beings have a body that differs in some way from her mother and an X chromosome from from the standard male/female model.3 Differ- 2 her father. In puberty, relatively large secre- ences range from chromosome anomalies (like tions of the female hormones, estrogen and X or XXY), to genital ambiguity, failure to progesterone, cause women to develop breasts, develop secondary anatomical features, and narrow waists, and wide hips; to retain high- limitations on sexual potency. In place of the pitched voices; to begin menstruating; and po- binary model, science now recognizes “a much tentially to bear children. Their chromosomes more ambiguous reality of genetic and chemi- and secretions expose them to pathologies like cal factors that unfold over time,” adding that breast or ovarian cancer, as well as to the is- “the more we learn about sex and gender the sues of menopause. On average women are more those attributes appear to exist on a spec- shorter in stature and have proportionately trum.”4

One or two infants in every 1,000 undergo(es) Recent studies in neuroscience suggest that our surgery to reduce or eliminate sexual abnor- brains contain both male and female features, malities.5 Most of the remaining infants with varying in extent from person to person.9 sexual anomalies are registered as male or fe- Moreover, at least one brain metric appears to male according to the judgment of medical lie on a spectrum, with non-dysphoric males at professionals, though a few countries and ju- one end, non-dysphoric females at the other risdictions permit infants (and adults) to be end, and persons with sexual dysphoria in be- recognized as “intersex,” “nonbinary,” “inde- tween.10 The relevant brain feature emerges terminate,” or “hermaphrodite.” They include during the latter stages of gestation, after India, Malta, New Zealand, the State of Ore- emergence of the sex organs. Although the gon, and the District of Columbia. evidence is not conclusive, this may suggest 11 Even among individuals who fit into one of the that persons are born with sexual dysphoria. binary sex categories at birth, variations in In any event, dysphoria may be recognized hormone levels can affect development in pu- before puberty or may be delayed well into berty or later. Although males typically pro- middle age. duce testosterone, they also produce some pro- People with sexual dysphoria may have a portion of estrogen and progesterone; corre- strong desire to embrace a new sexual identity spondingly, females produce a proportion of and live their lives accordingly. Physical ap- testosterone. What those proportions are varies pearance and voice pitch are likely to be prob- from one individual to another, potentially af- lematic; sexual attraction and functionality fecting physical appearance, stature and pose other problems. Crossdressing may pro- strength; interest in, and ability to participate vide an option in cases of mild dysphoria.12 in, reproductive activity; and exposure to pa- The more radical solution is hormone therapy thologies more typical of the opposite sex. and/or surgery to bring the body and its func- tions into closer congruence with sexual self- Unambiguous categorization at birth does not concept. In recent years sex reassignment sur- guarantee that an individual will be attracted gery has become safer and more reliable. romantically to persons of the opposite sex or be capable of participating in what our culture Some authorities use “transsexual” to refer to considers “normal” sexual activity. The indi- individuals who undergo reassignment surgery, vidual may be aroused erotically by members and “transgender” to individuals who simply of his or her own sex, both sexes, or neither. identify with the other sex psychologically and Homoerotic activity has been recorded socially. This is the convention followed in throughout history,6 and the Bible documents a this article. It reflects the recognition that sur- famous case pointing to bisexuality.7 But is- gery seeks to alter the physical body, not just sues of homosexuality, bisexuality and asexu- the individual’s self-concept and social interac- ality have attained greater visibility in recent tions. Other authorities use “transgender” ex- decades, since the health sciences rejected no- clusively—perhaps suggesting a belief that tions that sexual orientation is a “choice” or self-concept is more important than the means “pathology”; as patterns of legal and other re- taken to attain it. pression have receded; and as society has become more open to diversity.8 What is Gender? The word gender comes to us, via Old French, Another issue to gain visibility is sexual identi- from the Latin genus (“a broad class or type”), ty, or self-concept. The sexual assignment though the closely related verb gen- made at birth may or may not coordinate with erare meant, “to engender, beget, pro- what an individual believes him-or herself to duce.” Traditionally the term was used in a be at the most fundamental level. Sexual dys- grammatical context, with limited sexual con- phoria is a sense of inappropriate assignment. notation. A familiar comment among dysphoric adults is: “I feel like a woman (man) trapped in a Some languages, such as Hebrew, Gaelic and man’s (woman’s) body.” French, divide all nouns and pronouns into

64 Copyright © The Esoteric Quarterly, 2017. Fall 2017 masculine and feminine genders, while others, their sex.14 Yet the correlation falls significant- including Latin, German and Russian, admit a ly short of 100 percent. Most men have some third gender: neuter. A distinctive suffix or feminine characteristics, and most women other structural form may or may not identify have some masculine characteristics, regard- the gender of a noun or pronoun. less of sexual orientation. Men typically are referred to by masculine From ancient times some men and women nouns or pronouns, and women by feminine have played roles culturally assigned to the ones. But exceptions occur; and “neuter,” opposite sex. Queen Boudicca and Joan of Arc where it is used, does not necessarily imply an were just two of history’s female warriors. inanimate object. Grammatical gender assign- Conversely, some men were unsuited to mili- ments may simply be matters of convention. tary service and sought sanctuary in the reli- For example, the French word bateau (“boat”) gious life, or where circumstances permitted is masculine, while the German Mäd- became scholars, poets or musicians. In the chen (“girl”) is neuter. Of possible significance courtly love of the Middle Ages, men, in par- to our later discussion, “soul” is feminine in ticular, began to express romantic interest in terms that transcended the physical. They נפש multiple languages, for instance: Hebrew (nephesh), Greek ψυχη (psyche), Latin anima, seemed to glimpse distinctions between sex French âme, Spanish alma, German Seele, and and gender that would be made explicit centu- Russian душа (dusha). ries later. English has the neuter “it,” referring to some- The correlation between gender and sex is con- thing below the human level—or sometimes tinually shrinking. Following the feminist rev- even a baby. By contrast, some inanimate ob- olution of the 1970s and ’80s, large numbers of jects, like a ship, are referred to as “she.” No women now demand the same “rights” and structural forms identify the gender of English opportunities as men. The result has been the nouns, though we have the distinctive pro- erosion of legal support for traditional gender- nouns: “he/she,” “him/her,” “his/hers.” role distinctions. In the developed countries, most business, professional and governmental Over the last half-century, academic psycholo- positions nominally are open to both men and gists, sociologists and others have co-opted women, though activists claim that a “glass “gender” as a binary categorization applicable ceiling” still exists. Some Christian denomina- to activities, behaviors, roles, personas, expec- tions and Reform Judaism ordain female cler- tations, and other attributes that may be inter- gy, though the Roman Catholic and Eastern woven with but transcend physical sex. Gender Orthodox Churches, and virtually the whole of categories are “masculine” and “feminine.” Orthodox Judaism and Islam, maintain a male- 15 As already noted, psychologists and others only policy. Most countries permit women to disagree on whether gender encompasses bio- serve in the armed forces, even in combat logical sex or is a distinct attribute.13 They also roles, and some require them to undergo mili- disagree on how far it transcends sex; transper- tary training. sonal psychologists might claim a larger do- While modern women are demanding access, main than do colleagues in other branches of or are drawn, to traditionally masculine roles, the discipline. Another area of controversy smaller numbers of men are drawn to tradi- focuses on what gives rise to gender: chromo- tionally feminine roles. They feel comfortable somes, hormones, genetic differences in playing the role of “mother” in the family or brain/mind structure or activity, or socio- choosing a profession like nursing. Men gener- cultural programming. ally are taking a closer interest in child-rearing and are taking on more parental responsibili- Gender correlates to a substantial degree, with 16 biological sex. A majority of men and women ties. see themselves, are seen by others, behave, Role crossover has afforded new freedoms in accept roles, and have expectations that accord the way people express themselves and live with what the prevailing culture assigns to their lives. But it has not come without cost,

Copyright © The Esoteric Quarterly 65 The Esoteric Quarterly either to individuals or to society. People who, strong, outgoing, aggressive and phallic, the in times past, would have accepted their roles negative polarity inward-looking, passive, re- as god-given may now ask questions that pene- ceptive and yonic. Spirit is masculine and posi- trate to the depths of their being. Additional tive, while matter is feminine and negative. questions arise concerning the future evolution The positive/negative categorization is usually of society, and even of the human race. These accompanied by the caveats that “we are questions will be addressed in Part II. speaking only of polarities”; and “negative” does not imply inferiority. Yet there is an un- Esoteric Perspectives on Sex and Gender fortunate undertone, a value judgment that Several prominent esoteric teachers, to whom echoes a patriarchal mindset.21 we customarily turn for reference, addressed With regard to levels above the personality, issues of sex and gender. Importantly, howev- esoteric teachers have focused almost exclu- er, most of them lacked the perspectives sively on vertical polarities. The possibility of gained by academic studies of gender over the horizontal polarities, which could be described last fifty years. Accordingly, we must read in gender terms, has attracted little attention. their work with an appreciation of (a) the lim- Yet important exceptions can be found in the ited vocabulary available to them, and (b) the esoteric literature. psychological, social, religious and legal views of sex and gender that pertained to the era in One esotericist who displayed an unusual ap- which they wrote—views which may differ in preciation of gender was German Theosophist important ways from those of today. We can Franz Hartman. In the early twentieth century affirm the “truth” of the teachings while ac- he wrote: “In women usually the female [or knowledging that they were conditioned by the what we would prefer to call ‘feminine’] ele- prevailing paradigms. ments predominate, and in men the male The sexual function is associated primarily [‘masculine’] ones are usually most active, with the second, “sacral,” chakra.17 It usually although we meet women of a masculine character, and with men who are of a womanish extends to the third chakra, where it begins to 22 merge into gender, and under favorable condi- nature.” Hartman added, somewhat conde- tions the creative impulse extends to the heart scendingly: “In a perfect human being the male and throat chakras.18 Esoteric teacher Alice and female elements are nearly equally strong, Bailey also saw “the physical sex organs [as] a with a slight preponderance of the male ele- lower correspondence of the . . . relation exist- ment, which represents the productive power in nature, while the female element represents ing in the brain between the two head centers 23 and the pituitary and pineal glands.”19 the formative principle.” Esotericists in both the western and eastern Contemporaneous with Hartman’s work, au- esoteric traditions typically spoke of sex as an thors who identified themselves as “Three Ini- example of polarity. Sex divides men from tiates” published The Kybalion, a text claiming women but also provides the strong attraction to present a summary of ancient Hermetic that brings them together in the procreative act. teachings. The text identifies seven “princi- Bailey commented: “Sex is, in reality, the in- ples,” or axioms, of Hermeticism. The seventh stinct towards unity.”20 Similar polarities exist principle is Gender, carefully distinguished in the vertical direction. The personality is from Polarity (the fourth). “Gender is mani- separated by levels of consciousness from fested in everything,” the authors declared. higher elements of the human constitution and “[T]he Masculine and Feminine Principles are ever present and active in all phases of phe- from higher beings. Yet mutual attraction 24 seeks cohesion and eventually evokes a re- nomena, on each and every plane of life.” sponse in the personality for creative union Entities at all levels, the authors continued, with what lies above. have both masculine and feminine aspects. The Polarities are categorized as positive and nega- burden of creation falls primarily on the femi- tive. The positive polarity is deemed to be nine: “The part of the Masculine Principle

66 Copyright © The Esoteric Quarterly, 2017. Fall 2017 seems to be that of directing a certain inherent ative, preserving, and transforming mother- energy toward the Feminine principle, and thus hood. Within the Heavenly Woman is an starting into activity the creative processes. But ascetic refinement of utter purity.29 the Feminine principle is the one always doing Pure undifferentiated Spirit, by definition, is the active creative work—and this is so on all presexual or pregender. But all manifestations planes.” Furthermore, the “Feminine Principle of Spirit involve form. Form, of course, is a has a much more varied field of operation that 25 relative term; what might appear to us as form- has the Masculine principle.” less—for example, the monad or the Planetary The authors of The Kybalion make a good Logos—is a form when viewed from above. point that “passive” and “active” may be poor All seven systemic planes comprise the “phys- terms to describe the respective roles of the ical,” or lowest, plane of the Cosmos.30 masculine and the feminine. Certainly at the Form involves division; indeed, the very word physical level, the “burden of creation” falls exist means “to stand aside from.” Gender primarily on the latter. The woman’s invest- finds its meaning in the process of division and ment of energy in procreation is enormously subsequent impulse to become reunited. The greater than the man’s, and asymmetry usually Kabbalists recognized that Kether, the first continues throughout the years of parenting. manifestation of the Ain Soph, subsequently At the mental level, according to The Ky- divides into Chokmah (viewed in the Kabbalah balion, the “Feminine Principle conducts the as masculine) and the feminine Binah.31 In turn work of generating new thoughts, concepts, the creative tension between Chokmah and ideas, including the work of the imagination. Binah gives birth to the lower sephiroth—and The Masculine Principle contents itself with the world we know. the work of the ‘Will’ . . . energizing the creative portion of the mind.” In the majority of Masculinity and Femininity people the masculine principle is weak, and Defining masculinity and femininity is difficult their mental images “are the result of impres- and contentious. We all have a rough idea of sions received from outside.” 26 “The strong what the terms mean, and the insights shared in men and women of the world invariably mani- John Gray’s bestselling book Men are from fest the Masculine Principle of Will,” where- Mars, Women are from Venus (1992) have a upon they obtain “the kind of mental images ring of truth.32 Yet attempts to compile defini- desired, and moreover dominate the minds of tive lists of the respective characteristics can others.”27 In strong people the masculine and provoke heated arguments. feminine principles “act harmoniously and in A major problem is confusion between gender conjunction with each other . . . in accordance 28 and sex. For example, women may claim cer- with the universal laws of nature.” tain masculine characteristics as their own, and Theosophist Geoffrey Hodson, writing in want to distance themselves from feminine 1941, seemed to sense not only the emerging characteristics that a patriarchal culture equat- understanding of gender but also its antecedent ed with inferiority. Conversely, men may fear in courtly love; he mused on the qualities of that to display feminine characteristics labels femininity in language that could have graced them as unmanly or gay.33 Both sexes seem to the poetry of troubadours: favor masculinity over femininity, perhaps because humanity as a whole is still at the stage What are the essential qualities of the ar- 34 chetypal woman? They are sacrifice, ten- of rugged individualism. Femininity may be derness, graciousness, divine radiance, perceived in more favorable terms when group heavenly fragrance, beauty, and grace. consciousness takes hold in the Aquarian Age. They are wisdom, fathomness as a still dark The most useful approach may be to view pool of infinite depth, profound compassion masculinity and femininity as archetypes ra- and intimate concern for all living things, ther than as descriptions of individual men and ministration, healing love. They are joyous women—or even the great majority of men radiant girlhood, graceful womanhood, cre- and women. From that perspective, contrasting

Copyright © The Esoteric Quarterly 67 The Esoteric Quarterly gender characteristics are proposed in Table 1. agreeable to everyone would be impossible, They are expressed as pairs of polar opposites, but Table 1 should represent a broad consensus but the understanding is that each pair brackets of how masculinity and femininity have been a continuum of possibilities. To create a l ist understood throughout history.

Table 1. Archetypal Masculine and Feminine Characteristics

Masculine Feminine

Adjectives: Adjectives: Active Passive Paternal Maternal Stern/judgmental Compassionate Dominant Submissive Assertive Receptive Aggressive Protective Confrontational Caring/empathetic Competitive Cooperative Ambitious Nurturing Risk-taking Cautious Rational Intuitive Linear-thinking Spatial-thinking

Nouns: Nouns: Strength Beauty Courage Gentleness/sensitivity Leadership Humility/obedience Individualism Group-orientation Provider Recipient Hunter Gatherer Warrior Peacemaker/nurse Adventurer Homemaker Challenger Helper Extrovert Introvert Reluctance to express Willingness to express emotion emotion

Gender archetypes, like all others, are en- as sex is procreative in nature, gender is a crea- shrined in the racial unconscious or, to use eso- tive force, producing rich cultures, evolving teric terms, in the Ageless Wisdom. This latter civilizations, and expanding individual and is believed to have informed human civiliza- collective consciousness. tion from prehistoric times to the present. Just

Gender at the Divine Level The accuracy of that scenario is now questioned, but over the centuries male warrior he verse from Genesis, cited earlier, reads gods, like Indra, Yahweh, Ares, Mars and T in full: “So God created man in his own Odin, certainly gained ascendancy. They rep- image, in the image of God created he him; 35 resented the physical strength and prowess in male and female created he them.” The battle to which men aspired—and on which statement clearly has implications not just for their own, their family’s, and their tribe’s sur- humanity but also for the Creator. God must be vival depended. male and female—or If the god-centered pa- “masculine” and Gender is such an amorphous “feminine.” Mascu- triarchy did emerge from an earlier god- line aspects of Deity quality that by its very definition have dominated dess-centered matriar- is controversial, and rigid cate- chy, that development Western theology and are familiar to every- gorization is almost impossible. may have run parallel one. Almost invaria- Furthermore, gender does not with an evolving understanding of human re- bly, masculine pro- necessarily correlate with sex. nouns are used when production. Women’s procreative role was referring to God. In Individuals typically exhibit a order to make the case blend of gender characteristics immediately obvious, that gender exists at but over time men be- that may or may not align with came aware that they the divine level, this section focuses on the those culturally associated with too played a role. Awe for the womb gave way less-familiar feminine their biological sex. aspects. And here, it to awe for the phallus; the cave was replaced by the menhir as the will be necessary to inquire into what led up to the present understanding of the Divine Femi- favored sacred symbol. From being the crea- nine. tors of new life, women became merely the vessels in which seed was planted and grew Gods and Goddesses of Antiquity into sons. Misogyny was born from a focus on men’s superior physical strength and a diminu- The feminist movement of the 1970s and ’80s tion of women’s role in procreation. popularized belief that, in prehistory, the Great Goddess reigned supreme in a peaceful, matri- Even as pantheons became increasingly male- archal society. The Goddess was identified dominated, some powerful goddesses held both with the Earth and with motherhood. their own. A few reigned alone, like the Hindu Monica Sjöö and Barbara Mor declared that Ushas, goddess of the dawn; the Sumerian In- goddess worship emerged naturally from the nana; the Assyrian Ishtar; the Greek Athena; child–mother relationship. “The first love- and the Roman Cybele, known as Magna Ma- object for both women and men,” they noted, ter (“Great Mother”). “is the mother.” Sjöö and Mor added: “In ma- Some goddesses, like the Celtic Danu and the triarchal society . . . there is a close identifica- Aztec Coatlicue, became the mothers of male tion with the collective group of mothers, with gods. Others became their consorts. All three Mother Earth, and with the Cosmic Mother.”36 persons of the Hindu trimurti had consorts: The goddess religion focused on the seasons of Brahma’s consort was Vidya, or Saraswati; the year, and on the lunar cycle, with its asso- Vishnu’s was Lakshmi; and Shiva’s took vari- ciations with the menstrual cycle.37 Lithuani- ous forms, including Kali and Shakti. In Egypt an-American archaeologist Marija Gimbutas Osiris and Isis were not only husband and wife asserted that the goddess culture ended when but also siblings. Isis, whose Egyptian name invading Indo-European tribes from Central may have been Aset or Auset, was revered as a Asia imposed a warlike patriarchy.38

Copyright © The Esoteric Quarterly 69 The Esoteric Quarterly mother goddess, and depictions of her holding ty. Athena, in part a war goddess, earned the her son Horus provided the prototype for the title Parthenos (“the Virgin”), though she was Christian Madonna and Child. not necessarily virgo intacta.40 Gaia, the Greek Earth goddess, was both con- Gods and goddesses played complementary sort and mother of the sky god Uranus. Hera roles in their cultures. Conspicuously absent was Zeus’ principal consort, though he was was any universally accepted rule that god- also linked with Dione and Maia and had many desses were inferior, or subordinate, to gods. extramarital affairs. Amphitrite was Poseidon’s In the ways these cultures created their dei- consort. The Celtic Dagda had several con- ties—or the deities revealed themselves— sorts, including the Morrigan and Boann. goddesses might or might not be subordinate to the gods with whom they were associated. A question of considerable importance is: how Gender was recognized, but it was not defined do we know that these individualities were politically; it did not carry a superior/inferior goddesses? How did the people of antiquity connotation. Gender was essentially a horizon- decide whether a deity was male or female? tal polarity. The answer is that their cultures projected procreative roles onto them—or, in the case of Western Religion virgin goddesses, what was considered com- Judaism, Christianity and Islam stand out in mendable abstinence from that role. In general, the political power assigned to their masculine gods were expected to copulate with goddess- concepts of Deity. Even there, however, we es, begetting new gods, or sometimes god- see an unquenchable yearning for the Divine men. Sky gods inseminated Earth goddesses Feminine, along with interesting responses to through precipitation, lightning and thunder, that yearning. assuring the fertility of crops, livestock and people. “Physical” sex was the discriminant, Judaism proudly proclaimed its patriarchal rather than gender, as we now understand it.39 monotheism. Yahweh was the tribal warrior Artistic depictions clearly differentiated the god of the Jewish people, and eventually the deities sexually. universal God, ruling over Jews and Gentiles alike. Yet the Elohim, translated as “God” in The sexual categorization of deities is under- the first verse of Genesis and elsewhere in the standable, given the level of knowledge available at the time. If it comes across as distaste- early books of the Bible, was a plural word of ,(El) אﬥ ,ambiguous grammatical gender. Also ful or shocking, we should recognize that an- El Shaddai, “the High God”) whom) אל שד׳ or cient people had different attitudes towards the Abraham brought with him from Mesopota- Divine—and perhaps toward the sexual func- אשרה ,mia, originally had a consort tion—than we do. (Asherah). She was a goddess of forest groves who some- 41 Although ancient gods and goddesses were times exerted her independence.40F The “Queen distinguished sexually, they too exhibited mas- of Heaven,” mentioned in Jeremiah, may have 42 culine and/or feminine gender characteristics been Asherah.41F that did not always correlate with the sex projected onto them. Some gods, like the Egyptian In the Hebrew Bible we find the grammatically הקודש ruach, “spirit”) and even) רוח Ptah, the Greek Apollo and Pan, and the Welsh feminine -ruach ha-kodesh, “the holy spir) רוח Gwydion, exhibited feminine characteristics, 43 while some goddesses exhibited strong, mas- it/breath/wind”).” In Proverbs and elsewhere -Chokmah, “Wisdom”) became personi) חבמה culine characteristics. A few were goddesses of war, like the Egyptian Sekhmet and the Norse fied as a divine feminine individuality; in Freyja. Qamaits was a goddess of war and nat- Greek Chokmah became Σοφια (Sophia). In ural disasters for the indigenous Nuxalk of the Rabbinic period, following destruction of sheki) שכינה Canada. Morrigan may have been the Dagda’s the temple, we find the feminine consort, but she was more warlike than him. nah), the indwelling glory of God, contrasting kavod), the) כבוד Interestingly, a number of war goddesses, in- with but also complementing cluding Ishtar, were also goddesses of sexuali- masculine transcendent glory.

Christianity embraced the patriarchal monothe- The Lord possessed me in the beginning of ism of Judaism. Its focus was on God the Fa- his way, before his works of old. I was set ther, identified with the Hebrew Yahweh; Je- up from everlasting, from the beginning, or sus Christ, believed to be the Son of God; and ever the earth was. . . . Then I was by him, ,אמן :twelve male disciples.44 But Christianity ab- as one brought up with him [Hebrew ,רירי] sorbed less-monotheistic themes from Greece, aman]: and I was daily his delight 49 and thence came the doctrine of the Trinity. riri] rejoicing always before him.”48F The nascent institutional church readily identi- Some translations render aman as “master fied the first two hypostases (Greek singular: worker” or “architect,” while others suggest υπoστασις, hypostasis, or “person”) of the “trusted confidante,” even “darling.” Riri gen- Trinity as the Father and the Son but struggled 45 erally means, “object of delight, desire or to identify the third. Theophilus, bishop of pleasure.” The fact that Chokmah/Sophia was Antioch (d.183), and his successor, Paul of 46 the Lord’s delight and pleasure—perhaps his Samosata (200–275), suggested Sophia. So- darling—possessed by him from the begin- phia also received support among the Gnostics. ning, leaves little doubt that she was Yahweh’s A feminine Third Person of the Trinity could consort. In the Wisdom of Solomon, the Lord have served as God the Mother, who, together declared: “I loved her, and sought her out from with the Father, gave birth to the Son. my youth, I desired to make her my spouse, Instead, the church chose the Judaic Holy Spir- and I was a lover of her beauty.”50 In Michel- it, despite the challenge of personifying what angelo’s famous painting, “The Creation of had been no more than a divine force or pres- Adam” (c.1508–1512), God the Father has his ence. That choice might have provided gender arm around a young woman. Who could this balance, because the Hebrew Ruach ha- be but Sophia? Psychologist Carl Jung saw Kodesh was grammatically feminine. Unfortu- Sophia as an archetypal goddess, one who sof- nately, upon translation into Greek it became tened Yahweh and helped him develop com- the neuter Αγιο Πνευμα (Hagio Pneuma), and passion.51 in Latin the masculine Spiritus Sanctus. The Sophia played prominent roles in Gnosticism. end result, after four centuries of debate, was a In some texts she was paired with the Logos— Trinity without any trace of femininity, gram- that is, Christ—in a masculine–feminine duali- matical or otherwise. Later, God the Father ty. The Gnostic epic narrative Pistis Sophia assumed the role of Godhead, reinforcing no- alleged that Sophia fell from grace, eventually tions of masculine sovereignty, as well as vio- to be saved by Christ. Parts of the narrative lating the apophatic principle that the Godhead 47 suggest a strong connection between Sophia should transcend all attributes. 52 and Mary Magdalene, and it is no accident As an Abrahamic religion, Islam may have that the Magdalene was often portrayed as a inherited a dim memory of Asherah. It rejected sinner saved by Christ’s grace. any notion of the Trinity, with or without a Sophia may have played a role in Islam. Some female/feminine hypostasis. Yet Islam has scholars see Allah’s “hidden treasure” as a ref- never been reticent in projecting feminine erence to Sophia: “God’s experience of Crea- characteristics onto its monotheistic God. We tion, passing down through all levels of life as find, among the Ninety-Nine Names of Allah: messenger and mediatrix of compassion.”53 “The Most Merciful,” “The All Forgiving,” “The Bountiful, the Generous,” and “The Giv- By the Middle Ages Sophia had disappeared er of Life.”48 from mainstream western Christianity. But she Sophia survived in Eastern Orthodox Christianity, par- ticularly in the Russian Orthodox Church. Chokmah/Sophia was acknowledged as a per- Sometimes she served as a symbol of the sonage several times in scripture. In Proverbs church, or lost her gender and became identi- 9:5 she enacted a proto-Eucharist. And in a fied with Christ. Most often she was revered as later chapter of the same book she boldly de- “St. Sophia,” patroness of numerous Russian clared:

Copyright © The Esoteric Quarterly 71 The Esoteric Quarterly churches and the subject of numerous icons. seems unlikely, though some mainstream The Russian Orthodox liturgy urges the faith- Christian authorities now refer to the Holy ful: “Let us behold the miraculous icon of the Spirit as “she.” Wisdom of God . . . . I dare to sing in praise of the Patroness of the World, the most innocent Mary Bride and Virgin . . . . Sophia, the Wisdom of Mary the mother of Christ also featured prom- God.”54 inently in Christianity’s quest for a goddess. A cult of Mary began as early as the second cen- Russian émigré Vladimir Solovyov (1853– tury CE59 and gained momentum after the 1900) described three visions of Sophia, the Council of Ephesus (431 CE) declared her, “in first when he was only nine years old. He re- the true sense of the word,” to be Θεοτοκος called his impressions many years later in a poem: “Blue all around. Blue within my soul. (Greek: Theotokos, “God bearer,” or “Mother of God”). The church fathers did not / Blue pierced with shafts of gold. / In your acknowledge that Mary was divine, but many hand a flower from other realms. / You stood people have questioned how else she could be with radiant smile, / Nodded to me and hid in 60 55 the mother of God. the mist.” During the same period discussion arose con- Mary won strong veneration in nascent Islam. cerning Sophia’s precise status and identity. The Qur’an recorded the words of the Annun- Russian Orthodox priest Sergei Bulgakov ciation as: “O Mary, God has chosen you, made you pure and chosen you above all the (1871–1944) saw a close association between 61 Sophia and the Glory of God, linking her with women of the world.” The “angels” [sic] the shekinah and kavod. Sophia, he declared, prophesied that Mary should bear a son whose “is the glory of God and either expression “name is the Christ Jesus son of Mary, greatly honored in this world and the next, and among could be used indiscriminately of divine reve- 62 lation within the Godhead, for they both refer those drawn nearest to God.” to the same divine essence.”56 Commenting on In Christianity, Marian devotion reached a the passage in Proverbs quoted earlier, Bulga- peak in the late Middle Ages, by which time kov identified Sophia as the “prototype of she had acquired a status rivaling Christ’s. She creation.”57 inherited titles, like “Queen of Heaven” and “Star of the Sea,” previously held by Isis, and Church doctrine placed constraints on how possibly by Asherah. Bernard of Clairvaux high Sophia could be exalted. But Bulgakov, (1090–1153) associated Mary with the “wom- and Russian theologian and scientist Pavel an clothed with the sun,” referred to in Revela- Florensky (1882–1937), tested those limits by 63 suggesting that Sophia was either a “fourth tion. person” of the Trinity, or in some way was The Protestant Reformers reacted strongly associated with the Trinity as a whole.58 Their against the Marian cult. Mary was demoted to suggestions received no encouragement from a mere instrument in the Incarnation of Christ. ecclesiastical authorities. In its purge of “Romishness,” a prospective Sophia was almost entirely an archetypal fig- goddess was one of many things that Protes- tantism sacrificed, to its detriment. Devotion to ure; no suggestion has been made that she ever Mary recovered to some degree in the Angli- took physical incarnation. Yet writers from can and Lutheran churches. Anglican church- Theophilus of Antioch to Bulgakov had no man Mark Frank (1612−1665) assigned Mary doubts that she was female. Sophia was rarely the greatest glory, short, he hastened to add, of described as a virgin; but neither was any re- what belonged to Christ.64 productive role projected onto her. Modern feminist theologians have seen Sophia as the Devotion to Mary continued to develop in the closest approximation to a Christian goddess, Roman Catholic and Orthodox Churches. The and a substantial literature has emerged in her Church of Rome declared as infallible doctrine support. Official reinstatement into the Trinity

72 Copyright © The Esoteric Quarterly, 2017. Fall 2017 the Immaculate Conception of Mary65 and her great honor and distinction.”72 Rosicrucian Assumption, “body and soul,” into heaven. In writer Corinne Heline commented: “Upon the 1954 Pope Pius XII proclaimed that Christ completion of her earth mission, the holy Vir- 66 gin was lifted out of the human stream and crowned his mother Queen of Heaven. His 73 successor, John Paul II (r.1978–2005), as- translated into the angelic evolution.” Yet signed her multiple honors: “In the mystery of Mary did not abandon her human charges: Christ she [Mary] is present even before the “Although the Blessed Virgin now makes her creation of the world, as the one whom the Fa- home in the heaven world with the Angels, she ther has chosen as Mother of his Son in the spends much of her time on the earth plane working with humanity. Many have testified to Incarnation. And . . . together with the Father, 74 the Son has [entrusted] her eternally to the seeing her.” Spirit of holiness.”67 The possibility of pro- Throughout Christian history, highly favored claiming Mary “Mediatrix of all Graces” was saints have had visions of Mary. But the fre- considered prior to the Second Vatican Coun- quency of apparitions has increased dramati- cil. cally over the last 200 years, and a broader Eastern Orthodoxy took no action on the issue range of people has witnessed them. Berna- of the Immaculate Conception and, in place of dette Soubirous reported a sequence of eight- the Assumption, proclaimed the doctrine of the een visions at Lourdes, France, in 1858. Dur- Dormition: that Mary was raised to heaven ing the twentieth century 386 significant Mari- after “falling asleep.” In the Orthodox church- an apparitions were reported. The Sacred es Mary Theotokos is regarded as the supreme Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the example of cooperation between God and hu- official Roman Catholic investigative body, manity. She shares with Sophia the accolades judged that eight of the apparitions “could not of holy protectress of Russia and “Mother of be attributed to natural phenomena, delusion or the World.”68 fraud”; they included the ones at Fátima, Por- tugal (1917) and Zeitoun, Egypt (1968–1971). Renaissance physician and alchemist Paracel- A further eleven were deemed “worthy of sus (c.1493–1541) came to the conclusion that faith” by local bishops.75 Mary had a ”higher prototype,” a female as- The gender of the ancient goddesses, as we pect of Deity—ein Göttin, or “goddess”—who, 69 have seen, was usually established through with God the Father begot the Son. Paracel- projections of sex and procreation onto them. sus’ Göttin would seem to be a feminine Third Mary had borne the Savior, but she was a vir- Person of the Trinity, though he did not make gin: the Blessed Virgin. Even the Qur’an de- that claim. Significantly, the Apostles’ Creed fended Mary’s virginity; when people ques- affirms that Christ “was conceived by the Holy 70 tioned the circumstances of his birth, the baby Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary.” Jesus spoke from the cradle: “I am a servant of Strong devotion to Mary developed among God . . . . He charged me . . . to be dutiful to certain esotericists. Consciously or uncon- my mother,” adding, “Peace be upon me the sciously they followed Paracelsus’ lead in per- day I was born, the day I die, and the day I am ceiving Mary to be the incarnation of a cosmic resurrected.”76 By decree of the Second Coun- feminine entity. Annie Besant identified her cil of Constantinople (553–554), Christianity with the goddess Virgo, and Rudolf Steiner affirmed that Mary was “ever virgin,” where with the virgin Sophia.71 that condition was understood in a gynecologi- After her Assumption/Dormition, Mary alleg- cal sense. edly made the rare transition to the deva evolu- Mary most likely was a real person as well as tion, becoming in a very real sense “Queen of an archetypal figure. Her devotees assigned her the Angels.” Theosophist Charles Leadbeater distinctly feminine qualities: compassion, hu- explained that: “finding the seven paths open mility and submission. She was the woman before her, she chose to enter the glorious De- who responded to the Angel Gabriel: “Behold va evolution and was received into it with the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me ac-

Copyright © The Esoteric Quarterly 73 The Esoteric Quarterly cording to thy word”77 On the other hand, male erhood shine forth in their fullest perfec- personages were also given feminine qualities. tion.85 Charles Wesley, co-founder of Methodism, Perhaps Mary’s translation to the deva evolu- wrote the hymn “Gentle Jesus, meek and mild” 78 tion was a necessary step for her to assume the (1742). Mary’s femininity may stand out in office of World Mother. stark contrast to Yahweh’s masculinity; but contrasts with the male divine figures of Chris- Alice Bailey considered Eve, Isis and Mary to tianity and Islam are less clear. be the three “mothers” of Christ: The World Mother Eve has no child in her arms; the germ of the Christ life is as yet too small to make its We have seen that Mary—sometimes along presence felt; the involutionary process is with Sophia—has long been revered in Eastern yet too close; but in Isis the midway point Orthodox Christianity as “Mother of the is reached; the quickening of that which is World.” In the West, Pope John Paul II re- desired (the Desire of all nations, as it is ferred to Mary in 1990 as “You who serve as called in the Bible) has taken place and Isis Mother of the whole family of the children of consequently stands in the ancient zodiacs 79 God. For esotericists, these notions of Mary for fertility, for motherhood and as the as Mother—not only of Jesus, but in some way guardian of the child. Mary carries the pro- also of humanity—resonated with and rein- cess down to the plane or place of incarna- forced traditional concepts of the World Moth- tion, the physical plane, and there gives 80 er from the religions of South Asia. birth to the Christ child.86 Geoffrey Hodson, Theosophist and priest in Bailey also saw in the three mothers an expres- the Liberal Catholic Church, wrote: “The sion of the constellation Virgo—and the great Blessed Lady Mary, incarnation of the Mater- Life that lies behind it: nal Spirit of the Godhead, moved by purest In these three Virgins and these three compassion and love, holds the whole of hu- Mothers of the Christ, you have the history manity in Her arms and at Her breast, nourish- of the formation and the function of the ing it with spiritualizing life for the purpose of three aspects of the personality through quickening the evolution of all sentient be- which the Christ must find expression. The ings.”81 He also depicted her as “the highest sign of Virgo itself stands for a synthesis of possible imaginable spiritualized Queen.”82 these three feminine aspects. . . . She [Vir- Leadbeater described the World Mother as “a go] is the Virgin Mother, providing that mighty Angel, having under Her a vast host of which is needed for the mental, emotional subordinate Angels whom She keeps perpetu- and physical expression of the hidden but ally employed in the work which is especially ever present divinity.”87 83 committed to Her.” Hodson viewed the Interestingly, Bailey included Eve in the list of World Mother as an office held by a Virgin Mothers, despite the usual assumption succession of exalted entities: “That Official is that she and Adam had sexual relations. Con- the World Mother for a planet and a period. . . . versely, she omitted Athena and other virgin Mary the mother of Jesus now holds that 84 goddesses from the list of individualities Office, as Isis held it in earlier days.” whom she saw as expressions of Virgo’s pro- Moreover: creative power. In her view their creative ac- The planetary World Mother is conceived . tivities evidently lay in directions other than . . as a highly-evolved Archangel Repre- motherhood. sentative and Embodiment on earth of the Bailey agreed that the World Mother is the Feminine Aspect of the Deity. She is also “feminine aspect in manifestation, symbolized thought of as an Adept Official in the Inner for us in many of the world religions as a vir- Government of the World, in whom all the gin mother and in the Christian religion as the highest qualities of womanhood and moth- Virgin Mary.” But she stopped short of assert-

74 Copyright © The Esoteric Quarterly, 2017. Fall 2017 ing, as Hodson did, that Mary held the office pect of Deity, implying that Sophia would of World Mother. Rather, Bailey viewed have been the better choice than Ruach ha- Mary’s role as no more than symbolic: “The Kodesh: concentration of the feminine force in nature in Indeed, there is no religion, except later ec- some individual in female form . . . has never clesiastical Christianity, in which the Femi- existed in our particular planetary life, though nine Element is not included among the the avatars of a previous solar system, express- Primates of Be-ness. Thus, the Gnostics al- ing itself through planetary life, always took so considered the Holy Ghost as a Feminine this form.”88 Bailey did acknowledge, howev- Element. In the most ancient Teachings, the er, that a matriarchy manifested Trinity once existed “which ... some form of gender—or “hor- of Father, Mother, had a religion that re- and Son was consid- called the ancient ways izontal” polarity with mutually ered as an emanation of the earlier system attractive, creative potential— of the highest, eter- and in which period of exists at all levels, short of the nally hidden Cause; time Lilith symbolized and the latter, in the World Mother, unmanifest Godhead. Gender po- turn, as that of the until Eve took her Causeless Cause.94 89 larities at the personality level are place.” best considered as archetypes en- Bede Griffiths Corrine Heline ex- shrined in the Ageless Wisdom. (1906–1993), Bene- panded the number of dictine monk and personages associated These polarities correlate strongly Swami, tapped into with Virgo to “Isis of with distinction between the odd- notions of the World Egypt, Ishtar of Baby- Mother in the reli- lon, Minerva of and even-numbered rays, point- gions of South Asia, Greece, Maya of India, ing to a way to identify gender, at and sought to ex- and Mary of Bethle- higher levels, including those plain them in a hem.”90 And she took Christian context. a somewhat different where the human soul and the He identified the perspective on her re- Planetary Hierarchy reside. World Mother with lationship with the the Holy Spirit and World Mother. “That divine Being,” she de- linked both with Mary and the Hindu Shakti: clared, “whom we know as the World Mother It is in the Holy Spirit that the feminine as- is the prototype for the Madonna of all great pect of the Godhead can be most clearly religions; she is the teacher of these high femi- seen. She is the Shakti, the power, imma- nine Initiates at certain stages of their devel- 91 nent in all creation, the receptive power of opment.” Of these madonnas and feminine the Godhead. . . . But it is the Spirit who initiates Mary took precedence: “To Palestine conceives these “ideas” in her maternal came the exalted of them all, Mary of Bethle- 92 womb and brings them forth in creation. hem, mother of the Lord Jesus.” She is the Great Mother (the Devi), who Having embraced Buddhism, Helena Roerich, nourishes the seeds of all beings and makes amanuensis for the Agni Yoga teachings, rare- them grow. Still more, she is the mothering ly addressed issues of Judeo-Christian concern. Spirit in humankind, who receives the Yet she weighed in boldly on the composition Word, the Wisdom of God, in her heart, of of the Trinity, suggesting that the World whom in the Christian tradition Mary is the Mother is a divine hypostasis: “[T]he Mother figure, receiving the Word of God in her heart and bringing him forth in his earthly of the Universe, or of the manifested Cosmos, 95 can be accepted as one of the figures of the manifestation. 93 Holy Trinity.” Roerich criticized institutional The World Mother featured in South-Asian Christianity for its omission of a feminine as- religions long before any suggestion was made

Copyright © The Esoteric Quarterly 75 The Esoteric Quarterly that she might be associated with Mary or So- Writing in the 1880s, Anna Kingsford— phia. In the Vedantic tradition, from which the feminist, Hermeticist, and briefly head of the trans-Himalayan teachings drew much of their London lodge of the Theosophical Society— inspiration, only the Brahman surpasses the described the dual nature of the Divine. World Mother in status. The Brahman—or to God is twain. He is the Life, and She is the give added emphasis, the “Supreme Brahman,” Substance. And to speak of Her, is to speak or Parabrahm—is the utterly transcendent and of Woman in her supreme mode. She is not formless Godhead. The Brahman is unmanifest “Nature”; Nature is the manifestation of the and therefore above gender, but the first mani- qualities and properties with which, under festation is believed to be feminine. Vedantic the suffusion of the Life and Spirits of God, scholar and early Theosophist, Tallapragada Substance is endowed. She is not “Matter”; Subba Row, called this first manifestation the but is the potential essence of Matter. She is “Cosmic Virgin,” adding that she is the mother 96 not Space; but is the within of space . . . of the Logos. Helena Blavatsky, who ac- She is Daughter, Mother, and Spouse of quired much of her knowledge of Vendantism God.101 from Subba Row, noted: Kingsford continued: “She is mystically styled [I]t is impossible to define Parabrahm, yet the Blessed Virgin Mother . . . . As Venus [she once that we speak of that first something is] the brightest of the mystic seven who repre- which can be conceived, it has to be treated sent the Elohim of God . . . . She is portrayed of as a feminine principle. In all cosmogo- as Aphrodite, the Sea-Queen, and Mary the nies the first differentiation was considered Star of the Sea.”102 feminine. . . . The first emanation becomes the immaculate Mother from whom pro- Roerich’s husband Nicholas created the paint- ceed all the gods, or the anthropomorphized ing “Mother of the World,” shown at the be- creative forces.97 ginning of this article. It resonates strongly with traditional depictions of Mary, with Pam- From this perspective the World Mother may ela Coleman Smith’s “High Priestess” in the be hierarchical in nature. At her highest level, Waite–Smith Tarot deck, with Solovyov’s So- she is the first form to emerge from the Form- phia, and with Kingsford’s Divine Feminine. less; she serves as Procreatrix, giving birth to All these images are distinctively feminine, at all lower levels of reality, including some we least as we understand the term. We are using call “divine.” At a still lower level she may 98 anthropomorphic language, but that is the only have incarnated as Mary. On the other hand, language we have. the designation of Mary as Theotokos, or “Mother of God,” suggests an attempt, by Isis, Mary, Sophia, the World Mother, Subba western theologians, to capture the notion of a Row’s Cosmic Mother, and the Holy Spirit feminine first manifestation from the trans- represent—in whatever order and with what- cendent Godhead. ever overlaps among them—a feminine channel, extending up to the Godhead. It runs paral- The World Mother was established as a god- lel to the more familiar masculine channel ex- dess by her procreative—but not sexual—role. tending from Jesus to the Christ, to God the Roerich anointed her with unmistakably femi- Son, and to the Father. nine qualities: “The play of the Mother of the World is in joy. She enfolds the enlightened Gender at Intermediate Levels ones in Her veil of joy. Rejoice amidst flowers; e have examined gender at the human and in the midst of snow—equally redolent— 99 and divine levels. It remains to address also rejoice!” And: “How beautiful is the W the possibility that gender exists in a meaning- Image of the Mother of the World! So much ful way at intermediate levels, including the beauty, self-renunciation and tragedy is in this higher components of the human constitution majestic Image! Aspire in your heart to the and the Planetary Hierarchy. Highest, and joy and exultation will enter your soul.”100

The Human Soul and Monad Nevertheless the notion of masculine and feminine souls deserves consideration. Some in- As noted earlier, “soul” is grammatically femi- sight can be gleaned from trans-Himalayan nine in many languages. Greco-Roman culture teachings on the seven rays. All souls exist on went farther to assert that the soul (Greek: one of the seven rays—or perhaps on one of ψυχη, “psyche”; Latin: anima) really is femi- 108 the seven sub-rays of the monadic ray. If nine. Creative tension between it and the mas- certain rays can be identified as masculine and culine body—the philosophers were all male— others as feminine, a basis would exist for di- provided the key to perfectibility. In Islam viding souls into gender categories. the soul is also viewed as feminine, and in the Shia traditions, the feminine is associated with Numerology provides an important hint; from the Angel of the Soul—or what Christians the time of Pythagoras onward numerologists would call the Guardian Angel, and esotericists have claimed that odd numbers are masculine, the Solar Angel.103 always thrusting forward into new territory, while feminine even numbers respond to re- The theory of “twin souls” has a long history, store harmony. Harriette and Homer Curtis probably a dim memory of pre-sexual repro- commented: “Number 2 is sacred to all female duction in Lemurian times. Plato’s Symposium deities, such as Rhea, Isis, . . . the Virgin Mary records that Zeus devised a way to control am- . . . as it represents the Mother-force separated bitious men who threatened his sovereignty: “I from the Father and ever seeking reunion.”109 will slice each of them down the middle,” pro- It will be instructive to inquire whether the ducing two half-beings, one male and one fe- odd-numbered rays are distinctively masculine male. Each had its own soul, and each desper- in character, and the even-numbered rays are ately needed the other to restore unity; sexual feminine. attraction between them took precedence over all other instincts.104 Table 2 shows the “special virtues” and “virtues to be acquired” for each of the seven rays, According to Kabbalistic teachings, the newly 110 created Adam was androgynous. When the as presented by Bailey. The correlation be- first man’s rib was taken to create “an help tween the masculine characteristics, listed ear- meet,”105 their souls were separated—Adam lier in the article (Table 1), and the “special with a male soul and Eve with a female soul— virtues” of the odd-numbered rays {Table whereupon the separated twins embarked on 2(a)} is striking; and the correlation between an eternal quest for reunification. The legend the feminine characteristics and the “special virtues” of the even-numbered rays {2(b)} is was interpreted on multiple levels. At the cos- 111 mic level it provided a metaphor for the divi- equally striking. sion of the Unmanifest into masculine and In some cases the “virtues to be acquired” rein- feminine aspects of Deity. At the human level, force the characteristics of their rays, while in it symbolized marriage, in which husband and other cases they provide balance. For example: wife become “one.”106 Notions of twin souls “Tenderness, humility, sympathy, tolerance, and soul-mates gained popular appeal during patience” help soften the harshness of Ray I. the New Age movement of the late twentieth “Reverence, devotion, sympathy, love, wide- century. mindedness” soften the cold intellect of Ray V. Alice Bailey dismissed the theory of twin Intentionally, the “vices” of each ray are not souls.107 And few esotericists take it seriously shown. We assume that they would have been in its literal sense; rather, they emphasize the overcome before the soul begins to play an existence of soul groups that tend to incarnate active role in a disciple’s life. together for karmic and other reasons.

Table 2. Virtues of the Seven Rays (a) Odd-Numbered, “Masculine” Rays

Ray Special Virtues Virtues to be Acquired I Will or Pow- Strength, courage, steadfastness, Tenderness, humility, sympa- er truthfulness arising from absolute thy, tolerance, patience. fearlessness, power of ruling, capacity to grasp great questions in a large- minded way, and of handling men and measures. III Active Intel- Wide views on all abstract questions, Sympathy, tolerance, devo- ligence sincerity of purpose, clear intellect, tion, accuracy, energy and capacity for concentration on philo- common-sense. sophic studies, patience, caution, ab- sence of the tendency to worry him- self or others over trifles. V Concrete Strictly accurate statements, justice Reverence, devotion, sympa- Science (without mercy), perseverance, com- thy, love, wide-mindedness. mon-sense, uprightness, independence, keen intellect. VII Ceremonial Strength, perseverance, courage, cour- Realization of unity, wide- Order tesy, extreme care in details, self- mindedness, tolerance, humil- reliance. ity, gentleness and love.

(b) Even-Numbered, “Feminine” Rays

Ray Special Virtues Virtues to be Acquired II Love– Calm, strength, patience and endur- Love, compassion, unselfish- Wisdom ance, love of truth, faithfulness, intui- ness, energy. tion, clear intelligence, and serene temper. IV Harmony Strong affections, sympathy, physical Serenity, confidence, self- through Con- courage, generosity, devotion, quick- control, purity, unselfishness, flict ness of intellect and perception. accuracy, mental and moral balance. VI Devotion and Devotion, single-mindedness, love, Strength, self-sacrifice, puri- Idealism tenderness, intuition, loyalty, rever- ty, truth, tolerance, serenity, ence. balance and common sense.

Souls normally incarnate only when their ray is souls currently in incarnation lie on Rays II, in cyclic manifestation on the planet. Five of III, V, VI and VII. Bailey declared that “A the rays are currently in manifestation; Rays I pure first ray ego in incarnation at this time and IV are not. We can conclude that the only would be a disaster.”112

Ray VI is “passing rapidly out of manifesta- polarity, relative to the human kingdom, which tion,”113 and the number of sixth-ray souls is is masculine.118 dwindling, though Bailey explained that “it Bailey dismissed notions of gender at the mo- will be about two hundred years [from the nadic level, insisting that “there is no identity 1930s, when that was written] before all the apart from universality” and affirming “the sixth ray egos pass out of incarnation.” On the union in one of the pairs of opposites, negative other hand, Ray IV will come into manifesta- 119 and positive, male and female.” Notwith- tion in 2025,114 and many fourth-ray souls are standing that universality, Bailey taught that expected to incarnate over the next several monads are differentiated by ray. centuries. Replacement of Ray VI by Ray IV—both even-numbered rays—will not affect Human monads lie only on the Rays of Aspect. the overall gender balance. The comment is Reportedly, there are sixty billion human mon- often made that Ray VII—a masculine ray—is ads: five billion on Ray I, thirty-five billion on now coming into manifestation, but Bailey the Ray II, and twenty billion on the Ray III.120 stated that this began in 1675.115 Presumably, If Rays I and III are masculine, and Ray II is large numbers of seventh-ray souls are already feminine, then the gender balance of the hu- in physical embodiment, explaining, among man lifestream tips seven-to-five in favor of much else, rapid developments in technology female monads—despite humanity’s alleged and the healing arts. masculinity relative to the devas.121 Human monads of the two genders no doubt collabo- The soul ray and personality ray are normally rate in creative activities on their level of con- different, providing vertical tension that aids sciousness, or “identification,” as other com- the individual’s growth in consciousness. ponents of the human entity do on their own When personality–soul integration has reached levels. a significant level, the soul ray may override the personality ray in its effect on the lower If gender at the soul and monadic levels is un- vehicles. The result may be to weaken the cor- derstood in terms of ray influence, an inevita- relation, or even create dissonance, between ble question is whether the same might be true gender and biological sex. For example, a Ray at the personality level. The personality can lie III soul might override a Ray II personality, on any of the seven rays, but restrictions apply creating strong masculine gender, even if the to the rays that govern its vehicles: the (lower) individual has a female body. mental, emotional and physical bodies. Senior disciples and initiates “are liable to build vehi- An individual remains on the same soul ray for cles of any type of force to meet the emergen- many lifetimes, gaining the experience of its cy, the need or the service of a particular gender and serving in its unique way. But 122 life.” For the rest of us, the mental body can some souls eventually will transition to a new lie only on Rays I, IV or V, two masculine and ray. “All egos found upon the fourth, the fifth, one feminine; the emotional body only on the sixth and the seventh rays,” we are told, Rays II and VI, both feminine; and the physi- “must after the third initiation, blend with the 116 cal body on Rays III and VII, both mascu- three major rays, or monadic rays.” The 123 line. “major rays” are the Rays of Aspect: Rays I, II and III. Eighty-four (7 x 3 x 2 x 2) possible ray combi- nations govern the personality and its three Until the fourth initiation the human soul is vehicles, while four (2 x 2 x 1 x 1) gender pro- under the guidance of its solar angel. Subba files are possible: MMFM, MFFM, FMFM, or Row described the solar angel as “a little 124 FFFM. Any of these four would be interwo- girl”—though he conceded that “the girl may ven with our biological sex; hormone balance; be a pretty big lady”!117 He added: “This girl and socio-cultural, environmental and astrolog- will ultimately have to be married to the man’s ical factors. From this perspective, as from own Logos [the monad].” The marriage meta- others, considerable gender complexity can phor is apt because the deva evolution, to exist even at the personality level. which the solar angels belong, is feminine in

The Planetary Hierarchy brilliance at the Hierarchical level than they do in the “three worlds,” so too will the gender All who have attained the fifth initiation are qualities that emerge from them. known as adepts. The subset of human adepts who remain on Earth to serve humanity—and Two Issues can be considered part of the Planetary Hierar- Issues of concern among esotericists relate to chy—are known in the trans-Himalayan teach- 125 Hierarchical-level gender as it appears to us, ings as masters. All adepts have renounced and the possibility that biological sex might the lower self, and their consciousness is render one-half of the disciple population inel- focused in the spiritual triad; likewise, their igible to attain adeptship during their present souls are absorbed into the triad. The atmic, incarnations. Two questions arise: buddhic and (higher) manasic bodies comprise the vehicles of the monad.126 • Can an individual attain the fifth initiation in a female body? We are told that adepts and even chohans— who have attained the sixth initiation—are • Why have all, or the great majority of, found on all seven rays. Since monads can lie masters revealed themselves in male only on the Rays of Aspect, the rays attributed bodies? to the adepts and chohans may be their triadic A number of writers have insisted that the fe- or soul rays; or they may be subrays of the en- male form is not equipped, or suited, to sup- tities’ monadic rays. port the attainment of adeptship. Certain Bud- The ray characteristics in Table 2 were de- dhist sects and at least one sect in Jainism have scribed in terms relevant to, and understanda- held that souls cannot attain liberation from ble by, disciples in a certain range of con- female bodies; “liberation” would seem to cor- sciousness. Even the conventional names at- respond at least to the fourth initiation.128 In tached to them betray an anthropocentric per- the West, Franz Hartmann conceded that “ex- spective. Caution must be exercised in extrapo- ceptions are found” but declared: lating those characteristics to much higher lev- It does not indeed very often happen that an els of consciousness. Similar caution must be individual attains adeptship while inhabit- exercised with regard to gender. As in the case ing a female organism, because such an or- of deities, we can do no more than project hu- ganism is not as well adapted as a male one man concepts of gender onto entities whose to develop energy and strength, and it is, level of consciousness is remote from our own. therefore, frequently the case that those The rays can be divided into two categories women who have advanced far on the road that seem to form a horizontal polarity. to adeptship must reincarnate in a male or- Through their ray associations, each of the ganism, before they can achieve the final masters, as well as their ashrams, can be iden- result.129 tified with one category or the other. We are Such “gender discrimination” has an eerie re- told, for example, that the Master Djwhal Khul semblance to traditional barriers against wom- heads a second-ray (even-numbered) ashram, en’s advance to leadership positions in society, while the Master Hilarion heads the fifth-ray 127 suggestions that women are mentally unsuited (odd-numbered) ashram. Hence the former to study the sciences, and a long-standing view presumably has a feminine quality, and the that women are not physically or emotionally latter a masculine quality. equipped to celebrate the Christian Eucharist. What those qualities might be, and what kind Leadbeater, who was not only a Theosophist of creative tension exists between them, are but also presiding bishop of the Liberal Catho- matters on which we can only speculate. Until lic Church, commented that the Mass “is not new teachings are revealed, more detailed dis- adapted to work through the feminine organ- cussion is inappropriate. What we can affirm is ism.” He added, though, that Christ could that, just as the seven rays shine with more make other arrangements when he returns.130

Other authorities have taken a different posi- It has . . . often been asked why it is that tion. Damodar K. Mavalankar, an early Theos- women do not manifest themselves as ophist and former Brahmin, responded that he Masters and Adepti on the inner planes, saw no “good reason why females should not or indeed on the outer. In the very early become Adepts. None of us, Chelas, are aware days they did so . . . . In the future they of any physical or other defect which might will again and even now there are cer- entirely incapacitate them from undertaking tain adepti in female bodies who have the dreary ordeal.” But he did warn—without definite inner plane missions and who offering a reason—that it might be “more dan- are genuine adepts. The number is small gerous for them [women] than it is for men.”131 as yet but will increase.136 Helena Blavatsky declared: “Woman has as Several writers have reported encounters with good a chance as any man has to reach high initiates of various degrees in female embodi- Adeptship.” She added that this has not oc- ment. Henry Olcott, first president of the The- curred in Europe because women were socially osophical Society, stated: “I personally have conditioned to accept a position of inferiori- encountered in India two . . . initiated women, ty.132 Blavatsky also looked to the future: “[A] and know of a number of others in the East.137 woman-adept can produce high occultists—a Olcott continued with the interesting state- race of “Buddhas and Christs,” born “without ment: “Some women, it must be remembered, sin.”133 are of that sex only in body.” Notwithstanding his view on women and the Eucharist, Lead- Regarding the issue of how adepts appear to beater affirmed: “The existence of the World- us, the trans-Himalayan teachings speak of Mother is an answer to the question” of wheth- “masters,” but never “mistresses.” In the west- er there are female adepts.138 ern esoteric tradition adepts are referred to as “elder brothers,” but never “elder sisters.” Al- We have a description of at least one initiation most without exception masculine nouns and of Mary the mother of Christ. Corinne Heline pronouns are used to refer to members of the explained: “Mary’s crowning initiatory experi- Hierarchy. Sketches, paintings and photo- ences occurred in connection with the Cruci- graphs of the masters known in the West uni- fixion of Christ Jesus and the events associated formly portray them as male; several are therewith. . . . It was during the Resurrection of shown with facial hair.134 Easter dawn that the initiatory experiences of the Blessed Virgin reached their culmina- We must not forget that these depictions are of tion.”139 Reportedly, Mary shared her experi- physical bodies, which masters do not normal- ence with John the Beloved thus: ly “wear.” In order to appear in physical form, a master can either use the body in which I will tell thee an astounding and hidden adeptship was attained or materialize a maya- Mystery which cannot be comprehended by virupa, or “body of Maya.” Presumably a mas- the understanding, which my Lord Jesus ter could manifest a female mayavirupa if that Christ, my beloved one and my redeemer, would facilitate the work to be undertaken. A revealed unto me at Golgotha. A shining master could also choose to exhibit feminine or cloud came and bore me along and took me masculine characteristics, regardless of the up into the Third Heaven and set me down mayavirupa’s sex. at the boundary of the earth. I looked and saw the whole world was like a thing of Perhaps we have simply lived in an era when nothing.140 adepts felt that more could be accomplished through male bodies and masculine character- Based on the notion that Mary, the mother of istics. Their work may have required them to Christ, presently holds the office of World blend into a patriarchal society.135 Writing in Mother, that initiation may have been an im- 1928 Dion Fortune attributed the following portant one. comment to an adept with whom she was in Mary Magdalene may have attained a signifi- communication: cant initiation on the first Easter morning. In

Copyright © The Esoteric Quarterly 81 The Esoteric Quarterly one of her detailed visions, Anthroposophist hachohans of one of the greatest Rays,” and and stigmatic Judith von Halle (1972−) record- “She is . . . a great Adept of that Ray.”146 Ac- ed the following conversation outside the emp- cording to Subba Row, “There is a Ray spe- ty tomb, when the risen Lord asked Mary cially adapted to women; it is sometimes called whom she was seeking: the ‘body of love’.” Its Logos, he added, is female rather than male.147 Subba Row ex- [Mary Magdalene] answered that she was plained: “I do not think there will ever be a seeking her Master and wanted to fetch him female Adept of the First Ray, because it be- back. Christ did not ask her for any arbi- 148 longs entirely to the positive pole.” We not- trary reason. . . . He asked her this question ed earlier that the odd-numbered rays have a as a teacher of initiation asks his pupil. “positive,” masculine, character. With this question He asked her if she was seeking Jesus or Christ. But initially she Hodson recorded the receipt of information was only looking for Jesus of Nazareth, her from “A Feminine Adept”149 and “A Great beloved teacher in his physical body. But as Feminine Chohan.”150 Hodson implied that Christ then touched her heart (in the Gos- they were human, but it is possible that they pels this is when He called her by her were devas. Because we know much more name) she reacted immediately, so filled about the masters than we do about devic with love and so overwhelmed by the fact adepts, the apparent gender imbalance may that she was standing in front of Him that stem from our anthropocentric view of the Hi- she forgot everything. At this moment she erarchy. Devic adepts have passed through the even forgot that Jesus Christ her teacher human stage.151 They now work alongside had died, that he had died in front of her their still-human counterparts but probably own eyes.141 have responsibilities that involve less contact with us. At some point, as we move from Despite attempts to portray her as a repentant adepts to chohans and beyond, the human and prostitute, Mary Magdalene has been held in devic lifestreams merge. high spiritual regard from the early church to the present.142 Of particular note is the account Conclusions by Jacobus de Voragine, medieval archbishop of Genoa, of Mary’s legendary voyage to the ex and its higher correlate, gender, are south of France. Commenting on her alleged S complex topics. Traditional notions of bi- effectiveness as a preacher, Jacobus remarked nary sexual categories have been challenged that “it was no marvel that the mouth that had on several fronts. And gender, as understood kissed the feet of our Lord so debonairly and by modern psychologists and sociologists, is so goodly, should be inspired with the word of both ill-defined and only loosely correlated God more than the other.”143 with biological sex; almost everyone exhibits a blend of masculine and feminine characteris- Mavalankar named several female high initi- tics. Attempts to define masculinity and femi- ates in South Asia. Additional examples are ninity inevitably become contentious. The ap- provided in a study of women adepts in Ti- proach adopted here has been to treat gender 144 bet. And according to legend, Tara, the Tan- characteristics as archetypes, rather than at- tric embodiment of the Divine Feminine, was a tributes of any particular man or women, or 145 buddha. The classical Buddhist text known even men and women in general. as the Prajnaparamita Sutra recognized the goddess Prajnaparamita as the mother of all The transcendent, unmanifest Godhead is un- Buddhas. differentiated, but gender differentiation is recognized at levels of manifest divinity. Subba Row, one of the first individuals to Western patriarchy’s attempts to suppress the share teachings on the seven rays, declared: female deities of antiquity were confronted by “There are instances of females becoming the humanity’s yearning for a goddess. The result greatest Adepts.” He added: “There is one was the deification of individuals like Sophia woman who still stands in the list of the Ma- and Mary. Institutional Christianity missed an

82 Copyright © The Esoteric Quarterly, 2017. Fall 2017 opportunity to incorporate Sophia into the Ray characteristics may also help identify gen- Trinity and condemned its theology to two mil- der at the level of the Planetary Hierarchy lennia of gender imbalance. Changes in official where consciousness is focused in the monad doctrine seem unlikely, but Eastern Orthodox and the spiritual triad. We must be cautious theologians have flirted with ways of relating and respectful in projecting our limited under- Sophia to the Trinity. And in the West it is be- standing of gender onto members of the Hier- coming more common to refer to the Holy archy and their ashrams. Based, however, on Spirit as “she.” evidence from the progressive expansion of “gender” from the mineral to the human king- Another favorable development has been the dom and beyond, we can be sure that the form acknowledgement, by Eastern Orthodox Chris- it may take on Hierarchical levels—and tianity and most recently within the Church of above—is more splendid than anything experi- Rome, of Mary’s role as World Mother. Sup- enced in our earthly realm. port has come from the trans-Himalayan teachings where she is viewed as a senior member An issue of some interest is whether an indi- of the Planetary Hierarchy. The latter teachings vidual can attain the fifth initiation while in drew upon the Mother’s deep roots in the reli- female embodiment. Some authorities have gions of South Asia. implied, or even stated explicitly, that the female form is defective in that regard, while Virgin mothers have always had strong appeal, other authorities in both East and West have and several have been mentioned herein, from rejected notions of a “glass ceiling.” Mary the the Great Goddess of prehistory to the World mother of Christ, who unmistakably came Mother. But many divine feminine personages from the human lifestream, reportedly attained were paired with masculine figures in “sexual an initiation of considerable significance be- unions.” Although we may criticize primitive fore making her transition to the deva evolu- cultures’ projection of the sexual function onto tion. Mary Magdalene may also have attained them, the notion of creative tension between a significant initiation when she witnessed the the masculine and feminine aspects of Deity Resurrection. Hinduism and Buddhism recog- has considerable merit. nize a number of high initiates in female bod- At the level of the human soul, and possibly ies. the monad, a promising way to define gender The apparent rarity of masters in female bodies is by ray characteristics. The odd-numbered could be attributed to the work they have un- rays have a distinctly masculine quality, and dertaken in male-dominated societies. But a the even-numbered rays a feminine quality. careful distinction must be drawn between the Interactions between the masculine and femi- sex in which they appear to us and the masters’ nine qualities, within the individual or the own gender—assuming that it exists. An im- group, provide a fertile environment for portant consideration is that the Planetary Hi- growth in consciousness and opportunities to erarchy includes entities from both the human contribute to Hierarchical Purpose. From a ray and devic lifestreams. There may actually be a perspective, even the personality and its vehi- predominance of masculine human masters, cles can have four possible gender profiles. but overall gender balance is preserved by The relationship between an individual and his feminine devic adepts whose work is less ap- or her solar angel has a gender connotation parent to us. insofar as the deva evolution, to which solar Part II of this article will explore the “longitu- angels belong, has a feminine polarity, relative dinal” dimension of gender: the evolution of to the human lifestream. Creative tension be- human gender and its implications for the race tween them urges the disciple forward on the and ourselves. Humanity’s creative potential spiritual path. When the disciple attains the can only increase if men and women have fourth initiation, he or she stands free and the equivalent opportunities and if gender differ- solar angel is released to take up work else- ences among—and within—individuals are where.

Copyright © The Esoteric Quarterly 83 The Esoteric Quarterly joyfully recognized and utilized for cooperative group purpose. 10 Richard A. Friedman, “How Changeable Is Gender?” (August 22, 2015). Online: 1 https://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/23/opinion Chromosomes were identified in the 1880s. /sunday/richard-a-friedman-how-changeable- Nettie Stevens and Edmund Beecher Wil- is-gender.html. (Last accessed Sept.11, 2017). son independently discovered the XY/XX sex 11 Brain structure can change due to hormonal or pattern in 1905. 2 environmental factors, possibly explaining the One-half of the father’s sperm count carries an emergence of sexual dysphoria in adults. Al- X chromosome and the other half a Y chro- ternatively, dysphoria may be present from mosome. The baby’s sex is determined by birth but acknowledged only in adulthood. which sperm fertilizes the mother’s ovum— 12 As will be discussed in Part II, crossdressing which carries an X chromosome. Both sperm also serves other purposes and does not neces- and ovum also contain DNA, through which sarily imply transsexuality or homosexuality. ethnic and other genetic characteristics are in- 13 Perhaps from a desire to be politically correct, herited from the father and mother. 3 some writers, and even professional bodies, Melanie Blackless, et al. “How sexually di- use “gender” when referring to biological sex. morphic are we? Review and synthe- An example is “gender reassignment surgery.” sis.” American Journal of Human Biolo- 14 Some writers see this as the definition of gen- gy (vol. 12. 2000), 151-166. 4 der; for example: “Gender refers to the atti- “Beyond XX and XY,” Scientific American tudes, feelings and behaviors that a given cul- (Sept. 2017), 50-51. 5 ture associates with a person's biological sex.” Ibid. Surgical intervention is performed at the Norman B. Anderson, “Guidelines for Psy- request, or with the consent, of parents, many chological Practice With Lesbian, Gay, and of whom fear the question: “Is it a boy or a Bisexual Clients,” American Psychologist, girl?” Since the child is not consulted, but fac- (vol. 67, no. 1, 2012), 11. es what may be irreversible, life-altering con- 15 A small number of women have been or- sequences, such procedures raise serious ethi- dained Orthodox rabbis in Israel, and some cal questions. 6 now serve in the United States and elsewhere. See for example, John Boswell, Same-Sex A few female imamas serve in the United Unions in Premodern Europe (New York: States, the United Kingdom, Denmark and Vintage, 1995); Bernadette J. Brooten, Love Germany. Between Women: Early Christian Reponses to 16 According to the Pew Research Center, the Female Homoeroticism (Chicago: Univ. of number of “stay-at-home dads” in the United Chicago Press, 1996). 7 States increased from 1.1 million in 1989 to King David had at least six wives, some of 2.0 million in 2012. Moreover: “In 2015, fa- whom bore him sons. Additionally, he had a thers reported spending, on average, seven relationship with Jonathan—the brother of his hours a week on child care—almost triple the wife Michal—that writers from medieval time they provided back in 1965. And fathers times to the present have suspected was ho- put in about nine hours a week on household moerotic. In particular, they point to the scrip- chores in 2015, up from four hours in 1965.” tural passage in which David tells Jonathan: Online: “thy love to me was wonderful, passing the http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2014/06/05/g love of women” (2 Samuel 1:26). 8 rowing-number-of-dads-home-with-the-kids/, Acceptance varies greatly, both within and and http://www.pewresearch.org/fact- among countries. In some countries homosex- tank/2017/06/15/fathers-day-facts/. (Last ac- ual behavior is a capital offense. 9 cessed Sept. 15, 2017). Lydia Denworth, “Is There a ‘Female’ 17 See for example Alice A. Bailey, Esoteric Brain?,” Scientific American (Sept. 2017), 38- Healing (New York: Lucis, 1953), 45, 176. 43. Earlier theories asserted either that there is 18 Ibid., 62. no difference between men’s and women’s 19 Ibid., 316. brains, or that the brain features of men and 20 Ibid., 180. women are distinctively different. Recent re- 21 Aristotle claimed: “[T]he male is by nature search suggests that each of us has a blend or superior, and the female inferior,” Politics, “mosaic” of both features. book 1, part V. 350 BCE.

22 Franz Hartmann, With the Adepts: An Adven- Western Civilization (San Francisco: Harper ture Among the Rosicrucians, (New York: & Row, 1989). Theosophical Publishing Co., 1910), 89. 39 Supporting the theory of an ancient matriar- 23 Ibid. chal culture are the many pre-historic figu- 24 “Three Initiates,” The Kybalion (Chicago: rines depicting women with exaggerated sex- Yogi Publication Society, 1912), 183. Capital- ual characteristics, suggesting fertility and ization in original. An earlier version of 1908 childbirth. One of the most famous is the includes the phrase “even the spiritual plane.” Seated Mother Goddess of Çatal Höyük, ex- 25 Ibid., 189. Capitalization in original. cavated in present-day Turkey and said to date 26 Ibid., 203 from 6000 BCE. 27 Ibid., 206. 40 In Greco-Roman culture virgo could be ap- 28 Ibid., 205, 209. Capitalization in original. plied to an independent, i.e., single, adult 29 Sandra Hodson (ed), Light of the Sanctuary woman. Virgo intacta referred specifically to (Adyar: Theosophical Publishers, 1988), 81- a woman without sexual experience. 82. The book is an edited version of her late 41 Karen Armstrong, A History of God (New husband Geoffrey Hodson’s esoteric diary. York: Ballantine Books, 1993), 10. 30 For a detailed discussion of the planes and 42 Jeremiah 7:18. The passage reads: “The chil- subplanes see John F. Nash, The Soul and Its dren gather wood, and the fathers kindle the Destiny (Bloomington, IN: Authorhouse, fire, and the women knead their dough, to 2004), 40ff. make cakes to the queen of heaven.” 31 Why the Kabbalists converted Chokmah into a 43 There is no evidence that ruach ha-kodesh masculine entity or force is unclear. Perhaps was considered a personage in biblical Juda- they sensed—as Blavatsky did in her exposi- ism; more likely it was regarded as a divine tion of Vedantic teachings—that the first defi- force or presence. Even in modern Christiani- nite manifestation from the Godhead is femi- ty, theologians struggle to make the case that nine and saw Chokmah and Binah as co- the Holy Spirit is a “person.” Words or creative agents. phrases that were, or became, names, like 32 Published by Goodreads of San Francisco. Chokmah, are shown with initial capitaliza- Gray suggested, for example, that men try to tion, even though the Hebrew alphabet does offer solutions to problems, while women just not provide distinctive capitals. want to talk about them. The outcome is poor 44 Women also played significant roles in communication: men become frustrated that Christ’s ministry and in the early church, but women are indifferent to their suggestions, church history downplayed their contribu- while women complain that men refuse to lis- tions. ten to them. 45 Hypostasis, which originally meant “underly- 33 Persisting stereotypes depict homosexual men ing reality,” was honed over a period of centu- as effeminate in appearance and/or manner- ries to contrast with Ousia (ουσια, “sub- isms. stance”). Its final meaning became “individu- 34 This favoritism carries over, in third-world al, or distinct, reality”—imperfectly translated countries and elsewhere, to a preference for as “person”—providing the trinitarian formu- sons over daughters. In some societies prefer- la: “three Hypostases in one Ousia,” or “three ence even manifests in female infanticide. Persons in one [substance of] God.” 35 Genesis 1:27. 46 Theophilus of Antioch is credited with coining 36 Monica Sjöö & Barbara Mor, The Great Cos- the term “trinity.” See his Epistle to Autoly- mic Mother: Rediscovering the Religion of the chum, II, 15. Earth (San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1987), 47 Christianity made no serious attempt to devel- 67. op a theology of a unifying, transcendent 37 The liturgical calendars of more modern reli- Godhead, on the lines of the Hindu Brahman gious traditions are still based on solar and lu- or the Kabbalistic Ain Soph. At best, the three nar cycles. For example, the dates of Passover, persons of the Trinity were said to be united in Easter and Ramadan are all determined by the their common substance. And notwithstanding intersection of solar and lunar cycles. the doctrine that the Son and Holy Spirit are 38 Marija Gimbutas, The Language of the God- consubstantial with God the Father, the latter dess: Unearthing the Hidden Symbols of two “proceed” from the Father, implying the Father’s precedence. Attempts by Peter Lom-

bard and Meister Eckhart, in the 12th and 13th 61 Qur’an 3:42 (transl: T. Khalidi; New York: centuries, to conceive of an overshadowing Viking Press, 2008). Mary is mentioned 34 Godhead were declared heretical. times in the Qur’an, far exceeding the number 48 Source: https://99namesofallah.name/. (Last of New Testament references. An entire su- accessed Sept. 15, 2017). rah, or chapter, is named for her, and signifi- 49 Proverbs 8:22-30. Emphasis added. cant references appear elsewhere. 50 Wisdom of Solomon 8:2. 62 Ibid. 3:45. 51 Bernice H. Hill, “Sophia and Sustainability,” 63 Revelation 12:1. 2006. Online: 64 Quoted in Marianne Dorman, “Andrewes and http://www.cgjungpage.org/learn/articles/tech the Caroline Divines: Teachings on the nology-and-environment/810-sophia-and- Blessed Virgin Mary,” Ecumenical Society of sustainability. (Last accessed Aug. 8, 2017). the Blessed Virgin Mary, 2000. 52 See the discussion in Susan Haskins, Mary 65 The immaculate conception, not to be con- Magdalen: Myth and Metaphor (New York: fused with the virgin birth, asserts that Mary Riverhead Books, 1993), 47. was conceived free from the stain of original 53 Caitlin Matthews, Sophia, Goddess of Wis- sin. dom, Bride of God (Wheaton, IL: Theosophi- 66 Pius XII, Encyclical Ad Caeli Reginam, 1954. cal Publ. House, 2001), 175. The notion of a 67 John Paul II, Encyclical Redemptoris Mater, “hidden treasure” comes from the extra- part I, 1:8, 1987. Qur’anic hadith: “I was a hidden treasure, 68 Maria Skobtsova, Veneration of the Mother of then I desired to be known so I created a crea- God (transl: S. Janos; Paris: YMCA Press, tion to which I made Myself known.” See: 1992/2001), 109-126. https://darvish.wordpress.com/2010/10/21/i- 69 See for example Andrew Weeks, Paracelsus: was-a-hidden-treasure/. Speculative Theory and the Crisis of the Early 54 Liturgy for the feast of the Dormition of Reformation (Albany, NY: State Univ. of New Mary, August 15. Source: Sophia Foundation York Press, 1997), 83. of North America. Translated from Old 70 Note that the Creed does not say that the Holy Church Slavonic by Natalia Bonetskaya. Use Spirit impregnated Mary, though that has been of this hymn for a Marian feast suggests that the traditional interpretation in Christian doc- Sophia was sometimes confused, or conflated, trine. Rather it says conceived by, which has with the Blessed Virgin Mary. female connotations. 55 Quoted in Eugenia Gourvitch, Vladimir Solo- 71 Rudolf Steiner, The Gospel of St. John (Great vyov: the Man and the Prophet (Sussex, UK: Barrington, MA: Anthroposophic Press, Rudolf Steiner Press, 1992), 25. 1908/1940), 191. 56 Sergei Bulgakov Sophia: the Wisdom of God, 72 Charles W. Leadbeater, The Masters and the (transl: P. Thompson et al.; Stockbridge, MA: Path (Adyar, India: Theosophical Publishing Lindisfarne Press, 1993), 50. House, 1925/1953), 288. 57 Ibid., 65. 73 Corinne Heline, The Blessed Virgin Mary: 58 The various claims made about Sophia are Her Life and Mission (Black Mountain, NC: discussed in detail in John F. Nash, “Sophia: New Age Press, 1971), 78, 106. the Gnostic Heritage,” The Esoteric Quarterly 74 Ibid., 109. (Fall 2009), 29-39. 75 Source: International Marian Research Insti- 59 Church father Irenaeus described Mary as “the tute, Dayton, Ohio: second Eve.” Against Heresies, book III, ch. https://udayton.edu/imri/mary/archive.php?tag 22, §4, (transl: W. Rambaut; Christian Clas- s=Miracles%20and%20Apparitions. (Last ac- sics Library). cessed Sept. 9, 2017). The Sacred Congrega- 60 Some bishops at the Council of Ephesus sug- tion for the Doctrine of the Faith sets stringent gested that Mary should instead be termed standards of authenticity. For example, a fac- Christotokos (“Christ bearer”). When the tor that persuaded the Congregation that the council decreed that Christ was a single hy- phenomena at Zeitoun were authentic was the postasis, the dissenting view was swept up in testimony of non-believers, including law- the more general condemnation of Nestorian- enforcement officers. Blurred images in win- ism. dow condensation or faded plaster walls are not even considered.

76 Ibid. 19: 30-33. 98 In contrast to later writers, like Leadbeater and 77 Luke 1:38. Bailey, Subba Row gave Isis a higher status 78 The hymn contains language such as “Meek than Mary, insisting that the former could be and lowly may be, Thou art all humility” and identified with the Cosmic Virgin, whereas “Loving Jesus, gentle Lamb.” Mary was an incarnation of the Virgin of the 79 John Paul II, prayer before the Roman Icon of World. Our Lady, “Salus Populi Romani,” December 99 Helena I. Roerich, Fiery World, vol. 1 (New 8, 1990—the feast of the Immaculate Concep- York: Agni Yoga Society, 1933), §663. tion. 100 Roerich, Letters of Helena Roerich, vol. I, Jan. 80 For a detailed discussion of esoteric claims 9, 1935. regarding Mary, see John F. Nash, “Mary, 101 Anna B. Kingsford, The Perfect Way, Cam- Blessed Virgin and World Mother,” The Eso- bridge (UK: Cambridge Univ. Press, teric Quarterly (Winter 2010), 19-39. See also 1882/2011), 55-56. Capitalization in original. John F. Nash, “The World Mother: Teachings 102 Ibid., 56. of Helena Roerich and Geoffrey Hodson,” The 103 The author is indebted to a reviewer for these Esoteric Quarterly (Winter 2006), 35-46. insights into Islamic views of the soul. No- 81 Hodson, Light of the Sanctuary, 414. tions of the Guardian Angel, trivialized in 82 Ibid., 267. Emphasis in original. modern usage, were taken seriously by theo- 83 Charles W. Leadbeater, The World-Mother as logians like Thomas Aquinas. Symbol and Fact (Adyar: Theosophical Pub- 104 W. H. D. Rouse (ed.), Great Dialogues of lishing House, 1928), 4. Plato (New York: Mentor, 1956), 86-87. 84 Geoffrey Hodson, Illuminations of the Mys- 105 Genesis 1:20. tery Tradition (Wheaton, IL: Theosophical 106 Zohah, vol. 1, (transl.; D. C. Mott, Stanford, Publishing House, 1992), 70. See also Hod- CA: Stanford Univ. Press, 2004), 314 and ac- son, Light of the Sanctuary, 355. companying footnotes. 85 Geoffrey Hodson, The Kingdom of the Gods 107 Alice A. Bailey, Esoteric Psychology, vol. I (Wheaton: Theosophical Publishing House, (New York: Lucis, 1936), 278. 1952), 244. 108 Alice A. Bailey, Initiation, Human & Solar 86 Alice A. Bailey, Esoteric Astrology (New (New York: Lucis, 1951), 121. York: Lucis, 1951), 253. Parenthesis in origi- 109 Hariette A. & F. Homer Curtis, The Key to the nal. Universe: or a Spiritual Interpretation of 87 Ibid., 253-254. Capitalization in original. Numbers and Symbols (San Francisco: Curtiss 88 Bailey, Esoteric Healing, 362-363. Philosophic, Book Co., 1917), 86. The 89 Ibid., 363. Curtisses also listed Vishnu as one of the fe- 90 Corinne Heline, The Mystery of the Christos male deities, though Hinduism traditionally (Los Angeles: New Age Press, 1961), 213. depicts him as male. 91 Ibid., 13. 110 Bailey, Esoteric Psychology, vol. 1, 201-210. 92 Heline, The Blessed Virgin Mary, 19. Capital- 111 Brief comments on these correlations were ization in original. made in Nash, The Soul and Its Destiny, 117. 93 Helena I. Roerich, Letters of Helena Roerich, 112 Bailey, Esoteric Psychology, vol. 1, 26-27. vol. I, June 18, 1935. Online: 113 Ibid., 411. http://www.agniyoga.org/ay_en/Letters-of- 114 Ibid. Helena-Roerich-I.php. (Last accessed July 30, 115 Ibid. 2017). 116 Ibid., 402. 94 Ibid. Capitalization in original. 117 Subba Row “Women Adepts,” Esoteric Writ- 95 Bede Griffiths, Marriage of East and West ings, 539-542. (Tuscan, AZ: Medio, 1976), 192. Italicization 118 Alice A. Bailey, A Treatise on Cosmic Fire in original.] (New York: Lucis, 1925), 91. 96 T. Subba Row, “The Virgin of the World,” 119 Bailey, The Rays and The Initiations, 106. Esoteric Writings (Adyar, India: Theosophical 120 Bailey, A Treatise on Cosmic Fire, 579. Publishing House, 1895), 230ff. 121 “Relative” may be the key word. Gender pre- 97 Helena P. Blavatsky, Transactions of the Bla- sumably lies on a continuous spectrum, so that vatsky Lodge of the Theosophical Society: an entity can be viewed as masculine from one Stanzas I & II, (London: Theosophical Pub- side but feminine from the other. lishing Society, 1889), 4.

122 Alice A. Bailey, Discipleship in the New Age, 135 We are reminded of the charge to the Brothers vol. 1 (New York: Lucis, 1944), 366. See also of the Rose Cross to “follow the custom of the her remarks concerning the etheric body on p. country” and “not wear distinctive clothing.” 566. Fama Fraternitatis, (transl.: Thomas 123 Note that the “physical body” includes both Vaughn), 1610/1652. the dense physical and the etheric bodies. Re- 136 Dion Fortune The Esoteric Orders and Their striction of the physical body to masculine Work (Woodbury, MN: Llewellyn Publica- rays in no way implies that all dense physical tions, 1928/1978), 22. bodies are, or should be, male! 137 Henry S. Olcott, “Becoming a Theosophist,” 124 If all restrictions were lifted, as for “senior The Theosophist (March & May, 1880). Ol- disciples and initiates,” the number of possible cott did not specify what level of initiation the gender profiles would increase to 16. women had attained. 125 In the western esoteric tradition, adepts tends 138 Leadbeater, The Masters and the Path, 288. to be used more generally. 139 Heline, The Blessed Virgin Mary, 69 126 Correspondingly, for disciples at lower levels, 140 Ibid. Italicization in original. the soul’s vehicles are the (lower) mental, 141 Judith von Halle, And if He had not Been emotional, etheric, and dense physical bodies, Raised: The Stations of Christ’s path to Spirit collectively known as the lower quaternary. Man (Forest Row, UK: Temple Lodge, 2007), 127 Bailey, Initiation, Human & Solar, 49. 133-134. Parenthesis in original. See an inter- 128 Alice Bailey refers to the fourth initiation as view with von Halle at: the “liberating initiation.” A Treatise on Cos- htttp://southerncrossreview.org/112/jvh-inter mic Fire, 121. view.html. (Last accessed Sept. 6, 2017). 129 Hartmann, With the Adepts, 89. 142 In a notorious case of character assassination, 130 Charles W. Leadbeater, The Science of the Pope Gregory I and subsequent generations of Sacraments (Berkeley, CA: Apocryphile western church leaders conflated Mary Mag- Press, 1920/2000), 291, 349-350. It should be dalene with the “woman from the city” (Luke noted that women priests now celebrate the 7:37)—a prostitute. The Eastern Orthodox Eucharist in the Anglican Communion and in Churches never accepted that conflation, and the major branches of Lutheranism. the Church of Rome finally rejected it in 131 Damodar K. Mavalankar, “Can Females be- 1969. By contrast, the early church fathers come Adepts,” The Theosophist (vol. V, Oct. gave Mary Magdalene the accolade “Apostle 1883), 23. to the Apostles” based on John 20:17-18 and 132 Helena P. Blavatsky, “A Few Queries,” Luci- Mark 16:9-11. Theosophist and Hermeticist fer (vol. 4, no. 22, June 1889), 348. An ac- Anna Kingsford (1846–1888) claimed that companying comment, possibly by someone Mary Magdalene appeared to her and chose else with Blavatsky’s approval, states: “[I]t Mary as her confirmation name when she be- would testify of a, least said, curious partiality came a Roman Catholic. on the part of the ‘All-love’ and ‘All-wisdom’ 143 Jacobus de Voragine, “The Life of St Mary to have denied woman, that half of humanity Magdalene,” The Golden Legend, vol. IV, which is said to be the counter-type of even (transl.; W. Caxton; c.1275/1460). Online: that Wisdom—Love being the masculine, http://sourcebooks.web.fordham.edu/basis/gol Wisdom the feminine, principle in Deity—the denlegend/GoldenLegend-Volume4.asp#Mary means and possibilities to claim and attain the Magdalene. (Last accessed Sept. 6, 2017). same high wisdom which is attainable for 144 Tsultrim Allione, Women of Wisdom (Boul- men.” Capitalization and italicization in origi- der, CO: Snow Lion, 2000). nal. 145 See for example: Lama Surya Das, Awakening 133 Helena P. Blavatsky, Collected Writings, vol. the Buddha Within: Eight Steps to Enlighten- IV (Wheaton, IL: Theosophical Publishing ment (West Chester, PA: Broadway, 1998), House, 1989), 262. Capitalization of “woman- 245-247. adept” removed. 146 Subba Row, “Women Adepts,” Esoteric Writ- 134 We should note that most of the portraits date ings, 568. from a period when beards were fashionable. 147 We would have preferred “feminine rather If the masters’ desire was to blend in with the than masculine,” but we recognize the limited general population, growth of facial hair was vocabulary available in the nineteenth century. understandable.

148 Subba Row, “Women Adepts,” Esoteric Writ- ings, 568. 149 Hodson, Light of the Sanctuary, 504. 150 Ibid, 535. 151 Devic adepts may, like Mary, have made the transition from the human kingdom to the deva evolution during Earth’s present planetary cycle. Alternatively, they may have experi- enced the human condition elsewhere or in another cycle.