With all the hoopla concerning Dan Browns The Da Vinci Code, is it any wonder that the true theme of the book has become lost in the glitter and glow of the Christianity war concerning Jesus and questions as to his mortality? When I first read The Da Vinci Code I was brought nearly to tears. No, it wasnt because of the claim that Christ married Mary Magdalene. It was because I realized that for the first time, the concepts of the Divine Feminine were brought into public interest. There have been numerous books concerning Goddess Worship circulating the globe for years and years. However, not many are read by anyone other than believers in the Sacred Feminine. Dan Brown has done something magnificent. Yes, he has questioned the core of Christianity. However, more important, he has restored a little bit of dignity to women.
Women have been subjugated, oppressed, exploited, and made into slaves (mentally, emotionally, physically, and spiritually) for about 2,000 years. That would coincide with the birth of Christianity. What many people dont know, or more aptly, dont WANT to know, is that for 10,000 years before the crucifixion of Christ, women were the image of God. It all began with the birth of the first baby. Early man had no idea that sex led to conception. All they saw was the miracle of birth by a god-like being that made babies; women. If females could create much the way a supernatural being created, then they must be extensions of god, and so, for thousands of years, they were. Many current Goddess worshippers today believe that if man was created in the image of God then, God must be a woman. God creates and so to do women with their bodies.
For the better part of my entire life, I have had trouble swallowing the laws of The Church. I vividly remember the day I left Christianity. I was about seven years old. I sat in the pew of my grandfathers church looking up at the magnificent stained glass above the altar. I saw four people pictures: three men and one woman. When I asked my beloved grandfather who the woman was, he sternly corrected me. That is no woman. That is John the Disciple. The others are Matthew, Mark, and Luke. There are no women pictured here. When I asked him why not, he replied that it was men that formed the church and women played little role in Christianity. That was the day I left the faith, even though I didnt know it then. While my grandfathers response was probably not entirely accurate, it conveyed 2,000 years of sexism that was prevalent from the day St. Peter became the Pope.
As I grew and studied Christianity, I found many puzzling concepts. While not raised Catholic, I found it odd that there were no women priests. This, I was told, was because there were no women Disciples. Jesus only chose men. But that wasnt true. Mary Magdalene was a disciple. In fact, she is often referred to as the first Disciple because Jesus chose her to see him resurrected. That in and of itself should have been cause to allow women to be priests. Instead, they were relegated to subservient roles as nuns.
It was then explained to me that Mary Magdalene was a prostitute and could not have led The Church or been a good example. Further research (well before Dan Brown) revealed to me that Mary Magdalene was not a prostitute. In fact, she was noble by birth. The Catholic Church smeared her good name for almost 2,000 years so she would never be in contention with St. Peter for Church leadership. Oh, they apologized later, saying she was not a prostitute, but after nearly 2,000 years and a page 37 retraction, who would ever give her the status she deserved.
Then the concept of woman was the next avenue I explored. Woman was created from Man; therefore she must be subservient to him. Not a good start. I was also told the expulsion from Paradise was because Eve ate the Fruit of Knowledge. Intellect and self-awareness are evil and since Eve coerced Adam to share in knowledge, Eve was evil. As punishment, she was given the pain of childbirth and the wound between her legs that bleeds as a reminder of her sin. Additionally, all children born of woman (which would be ALL of them) are marked with Original Sin because of her. Wow. What a way to squash the self esteem of any Christian female.
Well, right off the bat I challenged those concepts scientifically. You know why men have nipples? Its because in the womb, all fetuses begin a females. You got it. Women are NOT created from man, man is created from WOMEN. Additionally, female fetuses are hardier than male fetuses. Ask any neonatologist and he/she will tell you that in the case of premature infants, on the whole, female babies are stronger and survive more often than male babies. Women have a higher pain tolerance than men and think more effectively than men (women use both hemispheres of their brain simultaneously while men only use one side). Women have a larger thyroid, which mean they have a wider array of emotions and they master speech earlier on the whole. And let us not forget the ability to give birth. Does this mean that women are superior? Of course not. What it does mean is that they are not inferior, as many are led to believe.
These facts, however, have not saved women from 2,000 years of oppression sparked by the Judeo-Christian/Islamic spirituality. Every American is taught about the Jewish Holocaust. It was a dark, disgusting era in humanity that should not ever be forgotten. The problem is, the Feminine Holocaust is still going on and it gets virtually no press. The Church sanctioned Inquisition (that went on for five centuries) was responsible for the murder of at least 100,000 women: most midwives and wise women. It was well known that King James I (of The King James Version of the Bible fame) sanctioned the change of the biblical phrase Thou shalt not suffer a poisoner to live to Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live to bolster participation in his own Inquisition. Even throughout the world today baby girls are killed outright because male babies are more valued. In certain countries a man can kill his wife for many preposterous reasons. Women are barred from employment, must cover their faces, and be completely subservient. I find all of those concepts counterproductive to humanity because the fact remains that woman produce babies. If you exterminate the women, you exterminate the men as well.
I believe that the jealousy of women is what is directly responsible for the Feminine Holocaust. It may actually be the core ground behind 2,000 years of misogyny. Women, plain and simple, can create with their bodies. Men cannot. When men of God realized that women were being considered Divine because of this ability that they did not have, they became jealous, angry, and determined to not only de-mystify conception and birth, but make it evil. With their religious laws men conquered women and killed the great Goddesses that lived for 10,000 years. They placed themselves in charge of fertility and on that day women lost their Divinity.
In the last century there has been a wonderful resurgence of feminine pride. Women are rejecting 2,000 years of hatred against them and standing up for themselves. Wicca and other Goddess centered religions are making a dramatic comeback and are the fasting rising religions in many countries around the world. While authors like Merlin Stone, Starhawk, Patricia Monaghan, Margaret Starbird, and others have helped women to reclaim themselves as living Goddesses, they are not widely read. Dan Brown, however, has reached an audience that includes not only Goddess worshippers, but Christians who never thought about the concept of women being anything other than submissive to men because of long standing church doctrine. Dan Brown has helped a world to rethink its position on women. Of course, The Da Vinci Code is not going to change the world in regard to its overall opinion on the Sacred Feminine, but it may start a chain reaction of individuals who will start to question what theyve been told. God, the Christian concept or otherwise, gave human beings brains to think, ponder, and question. The most damaging faith in the world is blind faith. At seven I began to question, as is my human right to do, and I discovered the beauty of woman and the pride I have in my gender. I have two daughters and I hope they grow up in a world that values them not as inferior to men but as equals and complimentary to men. The real point of The Da Vinci Code is the realization that without women, men cannot exist. The Sacred Feminine and the Sacred Masculine should exist together. No gender should overpower the other. After all, according to Christian belief, Eve was created from Adams rib. She was not created from his head to tower over him, or from his foot to be trampled under him, but from his rib to walk beside him as an equal.