Hierosgamos: Love from the Soul
Hierosgamos may be generally defined as an overt spiritual or sacred act of physical sexual intercourse between a deity and a man or woman for the purpose of gaining divinity for the human partner. Symbolically, the celebration of the Eucharist is the same thing. In ancient Sumeria, for instance, a hierodule participating in the act with a god became a deity of the goddess Inanna in the same manner as the taking of bread and wine represents the body and blood of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist communion today.
The roots of this ancient act run deep even today in some religious and neopagan cults, but the fact that it is also ritualized in many Christian faiths, particularly the Roman Catholic Church, seems to indicate that the myth of copulation between gods or goddesses and human beings is based in physical reality. Read no further into the Holy Bible than the 6th chapter of Genesis and you will find that sons of god marry daughters of men: "And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, that the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose." (Genesis 6:1-2)
It would seem then that a daughter of a man would consider it a great, perhaps sacred, honor to be chosen by a god to be his wife, for her social status in life would certainly have been elevated beyond that of a woman who was not chosen to be the wife of a god. If this coupling of deity with "flesh-and-blood" humans began to occur shortly after "men began to multiply on the face of the earth" then it is easy to assume that the practice of hierosgamos is based in actual god (or goddess)/human physical relationships.
In the same chapter of Genesis the Lord expresses that he is not in favor of the "fleshly" union of gods and humans, saying ". . . My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh . . ." (Genesis: 6:3), and so he limits the life-span of humans, and, by inference, the deity-human hybrids.
The next verse summarizes the results of these couplings, which may well explain why the act of hierosgamos, in its physical or ritual practice, has endured since the beginning of human presence on the earth: "There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown." (Genesis: 6:4)
Here we have biblical confirmation of the supremacy of the hierosgamos, the power of the hierodule (or sacred prostitute), and the Union of Opposites, all rolled up into one succinct myth – possible proof of the divine link between overt immanent sexuality and transcendent spirituality. We know, of course, that the Holy Bible was written by men with a specific purpose in mind, and that the bible is a compilation of older stories, myths, parables, and fables drawn from many sources – including gnostic and pagan – selectively chosen from hundreds or maybe thousands of ancient documents to serve the purpose of the male hierarchy. The bible was definitely not written to eulogize the female, human or divine, in any way.
But still, there are countless references throughout the bible that tie together sexuality, spirituality, and the goddess – or the feminine aspect of divinity– in a way that defies the misogynistic intentions of the "holy word." God's hatred of whores, virgins, priestesses, and especially the goddesses that his Hebrew flock constantly fell sway to in favor of his own jealous, hubristic, lordship, only serves to expose the underlying mission of the Holy Bible. Even Solomon, late in his life and in love with his Wisdom (Sophia), the Canaanite goddess Astarte, and his hundreds of pagan wives and concubines, turned away from God in favor of Astarte's (referred to as Ashtoreth in the bible) openly sexual pagan rites of femininity and fertility despite God's bestowal upon him of the most power and wealth of all men on earth at the time.
The abysmally censored and hidden stories of the relationship between Jesus (the Savior) and Mary Magdalene (the Prostitute) further the cause of the hierosgamos myth. But the story – even in the Holy Bible – is clear if it is read in context. Jesus the god, who plainly loves Mary the whore, elevates her through his love (hierosgamos?) to a deity or at least a diva (by today's definition), and she becomes his favorite of the apostles as well as the one who sacrifices, commiserates, and worships at his feet at his crucifixion. Some tales of old have said that she gave herself to the Roman soldiers at Golgotha in order to be allowed to bring water to Jesus while he waited to die upon the cross.
Perhaps such devotion as shown by Mary Magdalene's deep love for Jesus perfectly defines hierosgamos, a union of love that transcends the physical act of sexual intercourse for a higher purpose: the sacred union of two opposing souls in everlasting love beyond the "flesh."
The roots of this ancient act run deep even today in some religious and neopagan cults, but the fact that it is also ritualized in many Christian faiths, particularly the Roman Catholic Church, seems to indicate that the myth of copulation between gods or goddesses and human beings is based in physical reality. Read no further into the Holy Bible than the 6th chapter of Genesis and you will find that sons of god marry daughters of men: "And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, that the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose." (Genesis 6:1-2)
It would seem then that a daughter of a man would consider it a great, perhaps sacred, honor to be chosen by a god to be his wife, for her social status in life would certainly have been elevated beyond that of a woman who was not chosen to be the wife of a god. If this coupling of deity with "flesh-and-blood" humans began to occur shortly after "men began to multiply on the face of the earth" then it is easy to assume that the practice of hierosgamos is based in actual god (or goddess)/human physical relationships.
In the same chapter of Genesis the Lord expresses that he is not in favor of the "fleshly" union of gods and humans, saying ". . . My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh . . ." (Genesis: 6:3), and so he limits the life-span of humans, and, by inference, the deity-human hybrids.
The next verse summarizes the results of these couplings, which may well explain why the act of hierosgamos, in its physical or ritual practice, has endured since the beginning of human presence on the earth: "There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown." (Genesis: 6:4)
Here we have biblical confirmation of the supremacy of the hierosgamos, the power of the hierodule (or sacred prostitute), and the Union of Opposites, all rolled up into one succinct myth – possible proof of the divine link between overt immanent sexuality and transcendent spirituality. We know, of course, that the Holy Bible was written by men with a specific purpose in mind, and that the bible is a compilation of older stories, myths, parables, and fables drawn from many sources – including gnostic and pagan – selectively chosen from hundreds or maybe thousands of ancient documents to serve the purpose of the male hierarchy. The bible was definitely not written to eulogize the female, human or divine, in any way.
But still, there are countless references throughout the bible that tie together sexuality, spirituality, and the goddess – or the feminine aspect of divinity– in a way that defies the misogynistic intentions of the "holy word." God's hatred of whores, virgins, priestesses, and especially the goddesses that his Hebrew flock constantly fell sway to in favor of his own jealous, hubristic, lordship, only serves to expose the underlying mission of the Holy Bible. Even Solomon, late in his life and in love with his Wisdom (Sophia), the Canaanite goddess Astarte, and his hundreds of pagan wives and concubines, turned away from God in favor of Astarte's (referred to as Ashtoreth in the bible) openly sexual pagan rites of femininity and fertility despite God's bestowal upon him of the most power and wealth of all men on earth at the time.
The abysmally censored and hidden stories of the relationship between Jesus (the Savior) and Mary Magdalene (the Prostitute) further the cause of the hierosgamos myth. But the story – even in the Holy Bible – is clear if it is read in context. Jesus the god, who plainly loves Mary the whore, elevates her through his love (hierosgamos?) to a deity or at least a diva (by today's definition), and she becomes his favorite of the apostles as well as the one who sacrifices, commiserates, and worships at his feet at his crucifixion. Some tales of old have said that she gave herself to the Roman soldiers at Golgotha in order to be allowed to bring water to Jesus while he waited to die upon the cross.
Perhaps such devotion as shown by Mary Magdalene's deep love for Jesus perfectly defines hierosgamos, a union of love that transcends the physical act of sexual intercourse for a higher purpose: the sacred union of two opposing souls in everlasting love beyond the "flesh."
vvv
Copyright (©2008) Albert Lloyd Williams
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