If one does not understand how the fire came to be, he will

burn in it, because he does not know his root. If one does

not first understand the water, he does not know anything

. . . If one does not understand how the wind that blows came

to be, he will run with it. If one does not understand how

the body that he wears came to be, he will perish with it

. . . Whoever does not understand how he came will not understand

how he will go.

-Dialogue of the Savior" from the Nag

Hammadi Library

Myth is the history of the soul; the memory of our greater

Being; ritual and sacrament are the reminders. In the continuing

Fall the part breaks away from the Whole; to make something

sacred, one must reconnect the part to the universal Whole.

-William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling

Bodies Take to Light

From the time I was first introduced to the teachings on

the yugas or cyclic ages of humanity by my Guruji Sitara Devi,

I was fascinated by this ancient view of history in which

the goddess plays such a dominant role. Over the ensuing years,

as I continued my quest to uncover both the sacred mysteries

of the goddess and the feminine experience, I began to discover

that there were teachings comparable to these in the mystic

traditions of many of the world’s great religions. These

teachings bring to light a very different view of history

than the one we have been presented with in our schools and

universities. It is this alternative view of history that

I present to you in this chapter, which I offer as a conclusion

to Part I of The Path of the Priestess. Based upon

my years of research and experience in these sacred traditions,

it is designed to provoke contemplation about who we really

are by opening your eyes to an extraordinary metaphysical

perspective on history, spirituality, and the power of the

feminine principle that has been handed down to us through

the ages.

As you become acquainted with this traditional perspective

on the perpetual stream of human events please keep in mind

that they unfold over vast expanses of time, and that from

our current location in this unfolding the veils between the

spiritual and the material worlds have become so thick that

unless we have had the great fortune to be initiated into

the mystic teachings, we can only speculate on what has transpired.

Clearly these teachings counter our modern-day view of the

evolution of humanity.

Prior to the art of writing the history of humanity was

passed down through oral tradition from mother to daughter,

father to son, elders to community members. Today the only

remnants we have of these early events are the myths and legends

that have survived through time. The imparting and recording

of events is and has always been a relative activity based

on the social imprinting and unique perspective of the person

witnessing the events. Every culture has its own special view

and agenda. When we look back into what we know as documented

history, we can n see that stories were often written and

rewritten, tales were told, altered or repressed according

to the worldview of the dominant civilization. Many believe

that beneath the linear history of our material world lies

another story: the story of the sacred mysteries, the hidden

history of the human race. Our ancient ancestors from civilizations

the world over postulated that all life flows in great transformative

cycles, from the seasons of nature to the phases of the moon

and the birth, growth, maturation, and death of all living

creatures. They explained that just as we individuals experience

the ebb and flow of these smaller cycles, humanity as a whole

experiences the rise and fall of a larger cycle. In the Indo-Tibetan,

Bon, Zoroastrian, Greek, and alchemical traditions, this great

cycle was said to be composed of four yugas, or ages

of humanity.¹

According to the ancient texts the cycle of the ages begins

with a Golden Age of beauty, harmony, and grace, an age in

which both female and male are fundamentally connected with

their own divinity and living lives of truth, fully aligned

with the universal spirit.² But as the ages progress

metaphorically from gold to silver, bronze, and iron, humanity

draws farther away from the radiant light of spirit. We move

toward an age of total materialization and concretization,

a time of ignorance and delusion, a time in which the bright

light of spirit is all but extinguished. The ancients called

this age the Kali Yuga, the Age of Iron.

This is the age in which we now reside, and in keeping with

the teachings of a number of current spiritual groups, it

is the age from which we are now emerging.³ It

is the age in which the Tantric texts foretold that the great

dark goddess Kali would rise up and perform her powerful dance

of destruction and transformation. Through this transformative

dance she will draw all the dark and destructive energy of

this yuga into the secret core of her being. Then from the

depths of her heart, the source of infinite wisdom and compassion,

she will absorb and transmute this energy, cleansing and purifying

earth and mankind alike. Through this primordial dance, the

veils that have blinded us to our own radiance will be lifted.

Humanity will then awaken to its immortality and enter a new

Golden Age of divine insight and luminosity.

The texts tell us that as each of the four ages arises and

ripens faith, integrity, and allegiance to spiritual values

are decreased by one-fourth. A symbolic image that is often

given to illustrate the increasing loss of spirit and its

resulting acceleration of weakness and infirmity in humanity

is that of a cow who in the first age, or Satya Yuga is standing

boldly and resolutely upon its four legs. With the passing

of each of the yugas the noble cow forfeits the use of one

of its legs, as one-fourth of human virtue is lost. Therefore,

in the Silver Age, or Treta Yuga, the cow stands on three

legs. With the arrival of the Bronze Age, or Dvapara

Yuga, the troubled cow stands on only two legs, as

virtue and spiritual essence are now depleted by half. By

the appearance of the Kali Yuga, or Age of Iron, the barren,

tormented cow has only one leg left to stand on. Humanity,

shrouded in the increasing darkness of depravity and corruption,

retains only one-fourth of the original light of spirit.⁴

The cow is a symbol that can be found in cultures throughout

the world. Feminine in form, she stands for fertility, nourishment,

support, and preservation. She represents the mother, our

first teacher, and our eternal patroness of righteousness

and integrity. She is the strong and solid foundation upon

which the spiritual sustenance of humanity rests. Isn’t

it fascinating that a feminine symbol should be used to transmit

these teachings of the cyclic destruction of humankind? Could

this mean that, contrary to our contemporary Western indoctrination

of the spiritual power of women, it is women who hold the

primary responsibility for maintaining spiritual and moral

alignment? Could this also mean that as the light of spirit

diminishes and as women increasingly turn away from their

true spiritual natures and primary roles as teachers and nurturers,

all of us–both female and male--degenerate?

As the ages unfold, not only do we lose our spiritual luminosity

but also we become densified, more material and corporeal.

We are born fresh, pure, and newly formed, projected from

the formless heart of Divinity. In the beginning, at the instant

of creation, the moment that the divine androgyne reflects

on itself and divides into essence and energy, when Shiva

sends out his Shakti and the Lord God sends out his Shekhina,

we emerge from the heart of emptiness in an exquisite display

of vibration, sound, and light.⁵ Radiating with

the pure light of spirit, filled with endless vitality, we

are in tune with every subtle nuance of universal expression.

But according to this view, in this cyclic dance of creation

the time of harmony must end. From the exquisite radiance

of the first moment of creation the process of entropy ensues.

Entropy is the second law of thermodynamics, and it states

that everything in the universe is slowly disintegrating.

While it is true that matter cannot be destroyed, as time

passes it does move into a more ineffectual state. In our

reality all systems are prone to eventual breakdown, death,

or transformation to another mode of being. This is true of

the human body, the trees and plants, and the stars and planets.

For example, even though the matter that makes up a log is

not destroyed by a fire, it is reduced to ashes, which are

a disintegrated form of the wood. The key word here is disintegration–the

movement away from the integrated or unified state. As this

happens there is an incremental increase in the number of

souls born; a decrease in strength and longevity; and a proliferation

of disease, suffering, and madness.⁶

Through this entropic process of descent from the primordial

unity into separation and densification, spiritual authority

is traded for secular domination, quality is exchanged for

quantity, and the sacred vanishes into the profane. In fact,

the end of a cycle appears to be the inversion of the beginning,

and the world’s values are turned upside down.⁷

As a parallel to the fast-paced times in which we live, it

is also interesting to note that during the progression of

the cycle time literally speeds up, with life passing by at

an increasing velocity until time itself ends and the present

manifestation is dissolved and a new Mahayuga, or great cycle,

begins.⁸

How does this view of the development of the ages–with

its emphasis on the increasing loss of spiritual union, intimacy,

beauty, and truth–apply to our quest for understanding

of the feminine experience? Recently many scholars have postulated

that there was a time in which our current male and female

roles were reversed, a time in which women held dominion.

However, when one looks back in time from the perspective

of the continuous cycles of the ages, or yugas, new insights

into the relationship between woman and man and humanity and

Divinity begin to emerge.

The Golden Age: The Age

of Divinity

O people of the earth, born and made of the elements,

but with the spirit of Divinity within you, rise from your

sleep of ignorance! Be sober and thoughtful. Realize that

your home is not on the earth but in the Light. Why have you

delivered yourselves over unto death, having power to partake

of immortality? Repent and change your minds. Depart from

the dark light and forsake corruption forever. Prepare yourselves

to climb through the Seven Rings and to blend your souls with

the eternal light.

-The Divine Pymander of Hermes Mercurius

Trismegistus

There is in everyone [divine power] existing in a latent

condition. . . . This is one power divided above and below;

generating itself, making itself grow, seeking itself, finding

itself, being mother of itself, father of itself, sister of

itself, spouse of itself, daughter of itself, son of itself

–-mother, father, unity, being a source of the entire

circle of existence.

-Hippolytus, Refutation of All Heresies

According to the ancient texts human beings did not evolve

from some inanimate and simplistic form, as our modern scientists

would have us believe. Rather, we emerged fully realized at

the start of the Golden Age. Every spiritual tradition speaks

of this time, whether it is known as the primordial paradise,

the Garden of Eden, the first world, the Dreamtime, or the

Satya Yuga. In fact, teachings from spiritual traditions around

the world describe this as an age of primal perfection in

which humanity was one with nature and spiritual order prevailed.⁹

During this idyllic age, the world and all its components–from

human beings to plants and minerals–were seen and experienced

as the immense manifest body of the formless. We were part

of the dance of Divinity unfolding itself. Therefore, we had

no need of outward images, rites, and rituals to help us maintain

our link with Divinity. According to the great French alchemist

Fulcanelli, we experienced total balance and alignment with

the universe. Female and male lived together in a state of

continual bliss. Fulcanelli states, "Living a contemplative

existence, in harmony with a fertile, rejuvenated earth; our

blessed ancestors were unacquainted with desire, pain or suffering."

In this luminous garden of delight we were at peace with ourselves,

each other, and the world we inhabited.

In the Golden Age, which is extremely difficult for us to

even imagine, let alone articulate, because of our current

position in the cycle, our reality was not as solid as it

appears to our modern earthbound senses, but rather an exquisitely

subtle vibratory reality composed of light and sound.

This was the period of new beginnings, when the divine

intelligence manifested itself in the wealth of forms that

make up our world and the spiritual realm became conscious

of itself as the manifest world and as the divine power governing

it.¹⁰ In this remarkable age all beings, knowing

themselves to be the energy of Divinity fashioned into a luminous

form, were naturally conscious of the world of spirit, and

their external reality reflected this spiritual consciousness.

This was the mythic age of goddesses and gods, the age of

the immortals. There was no veil separating life and death,

and our innate consciousness was free to fly between the spiritual

and material realms.

In the myths and legends of many civilizations we discover

these goddesses and gods, our divine progenitors. In their

shimmering, translucent world of light, which existed prior

to the formation of the veils of linear time, the process

of entropy had not yet begun.¹¹The laws of physics

and the forces of gravity of the later ages did not constrain

these suprahuman beings. Therefore, in their deeds and demeanor

they demonstrated abilities that appear extraordinary to our

modern sensitivities.

This was an epoch of purity, innocence, beauty, and truth,

the era that the Australian Aborigines refer to as the eternal

Dreamtime that occurred before time began. In this first age

of the Dreaming, it is said that the vast expanse of primordial

space was infused with the power and intensity of great mythical

energies and beings who realized their dreams and visions

without the limitations of embodied existence.¹²

As vital forms of fluid, divine energy joyously weaving, playing,

and manifesting their inner light as external reality, they

planted the essential seed emerging from the residue of the

former Mahayuga. From this perspective our original ancestors

were not primitive apes but a magical display of the very

essence, nature and energy of the primordial source of all

creation fashioned into a luminous form.

One of the most insightful explanations of the beings of

the SatyaYuga or Golden Age can be found in the Tibetan Buddhist

teachings. These teachings describe a subtle dimension of

light known as the Sambhogakaya, or wealth dimension.¹³

It is a magical realm composed of the luminous essence of

the elements that make up our concrete physical world. As

we have seen in Chapter Two, to the initiate these essential

energies appear as multiple symbolic forms or realized beings

known as dakinis, dakas, bodhisattvas, herukas, and so forth.

Each of these forms is perceived by the initiate as the personification

of a principle of pure wisdom, and each serves as an inspirational

role model whose qualities are in perfect alignment with the

highest spiritual values. But this is not the only ancient

tradition in which the sacred beings of light appear and interact

with the awakened practitioner. The angels of the Judeo-Christian

and Zoroastrian traditions, the kachinas of the Hopis, and

the neters of the Egyptian tradition can all be considered

present-day links to this extraordinary age. For this was

a time in which dynamic archetypal energies radiated like

shimmering rays of light from the primordial source of all

becoming. How would it affect our perception of ourselves

as human beings if we were to imagine that these radiant beings

were our ancestors?

By Sharron Rose

The Bronze Age: The Age

of Doubt

The arts are not for our instruction, but for our delight,

and this delight is something more than pleasure, it is the

godlike ecstasy of liberation from the restless activity of

the mind and the senses, which are the veils of all reality,

transparent only when we are at peace with ourselves. From

the love of many things we are led to the experience of Union.

The secret of all art is self-forgetfulness.

-Ananda Coomarswamy, The Dance of Shiva

By definition the Symbol is magic; it evokes the form

bound in the spell of matter. To evoke is not to imagine.

It is to live; it is to live the form.

-R. A. Schwaller de Lubicz, The Temple of

Man

As time inevitably marched on, the downward spiral of the

great yuga unfolded and the pure light of spirit diminished

once again. Only half the initial light of creation remained.

According to numerous texts, this was the crucial period when

the balance of power, of light and darkness, shifted. It was

a catastrophic time compared to the earlier idyllic existence,

which was dominated by feminine values and the collective

experience. One could speculate that until this moment in

time, we retained a strong telepathic connection with each

other and the animals, and forces of the natural world. Intimate

with the elements and the subtle vibrations of a larger reality,

we could perform what we today consider extraordinary feats

of extrasensory perception such as clairvoyance, telekinesis,

and astral projection.

This was the legendary time of the Tower of Babel, a time

in which great catastrophes such as floods, earthquakes, storms,

and fires ravaged the land. Communities were torn apart and

the natural fertility of the planet began to be compromised.

This was an age of material and spiritual separation, a time

of confusion and disorientation in which we lost the ability

to speak to each other in the same language.²⁰

We then moved into an era of increasing materialization

in which we began to identify ourselves with our physical

bodies and the ever-densifying material world. In this second

half of the Mahayuga, which was dominated by the fundamental

forces and energy of the male principle, inherent trust for

the nurturing and sustaining qualities of the earth had clearly

diminished. We humans began to limit the scope of our vision

and to attempt to control Mother Nature and each other. With

the discovery of agriculture as a way to provide for ourselves

and prove our dominion over natural forces, our contemplative

nomadic existence, with its wide-open spaces and panoramic

views, was traded for the agrarian, pastoral life. The hunter-gatherer

tribes moved into the stable, immobile farming communities.

Frightened by the powerful forces of nature, we no longer

felt free to wander the earth living on nothing but the natural

fruit of the land. With the advent of agriculture, civilization–with

its settlements, hierarchical power structure, and rules and

regulations–slowly became the guiding force.²¹

In the early agrarian civilizations of this period, worship

of the Great Mother Goddess, the symbol of fertility, was

still performed. The womb was still perceived as the primordial

doorway to creation, the holy vessel that brought new life.

It was equated with the storehouse, or the place in which

the grain was kept. It was seen as a horn of plenty and the

abundant nature of planet earth herself. As women traveled

the inner and outer roads of feminine experience from young

girl to mother and fully mature female, they were seen as

great repositories of knowledge and wisdom. It was the mother,

the priestess, and the wise woman to whom all would come for

healing of body, mind, and spirit. Essential to their roles

was the maintenance of the psychic-energetic-emotional landscape

of their communities.

But as time went on and farm turned to village, village

to town, town to city, and city to nation-state, a new social

structure was formed. Society was divided into castes or classes,

each individual assuming her or his own distinct role. This

was the beginning of the era of the great theocracies. Kings

and queens, believed to be the living embodiment of Divinity,

ruled these civilizations. Men were especially affected by

this alteration. In the new world order the male began to

change his responsibilities from those of hunter and animal

caretaker to that of guardian. At first his responsibilities

were that of protector of the land; later they were that of

warrior and conqueror. Because the veil of darkness and densification

had begun to descend, the average man–immersed in his

role as farmer, shepherd, laborer, and warrior–was given

little time to contemplate nature and the manifold expressions

of Divinity. Women, in general, maintained their familial

roles.

As the great cycle unfolds, more and more souls are born

into the world. Some have chosen to incarnate throughout the

cycle to keep the light of spirit burning, and they still

retain the innate knowledge of truth and virtue and the spiritual

vision of our divine beginnings and the primordial paradise.

Others who are newly incarnated have only the knowledge of

their immediate time and place in the cycle.²²

Working the fields, many times with women and children by

their sides, and struggling with the forces of nature and

each other in order to protect their land and possessions,

the average person had less time and inclination to seek the

pathways of spirit and explore the wonders of life.

Because of this constraint and our increasing concern with

the conditions of daily life an intermediary was needed to

link most people with the world of spirit and help them remember

their divine heritage. A special hierarchy of priestesses

and priests arose to traverse the pathways between spirit

and matter. Symbolic rites and rituals and artistic expression

in the form of dance, music, sculpture, theater, and painting

became the vehicles through which our ancient stories, dreams,

and memories were transmitted. The myriad aspects and forces

of our material world and its dual nature became personified

as goddesses and gods, monsters and demons. This anthropomorphization

came about as a means by which to transmit the early knowledge

of our divine beginnings and the enormous potential of the

individual human being. By depicting these powers and forces

in sentient form, our spiritual leaders were teaching us that

as embodied beings we had a conscious choice whether to rise

to the heights of the gods or to sink to the depths of the

demons.

Our myths, legends, magic, and mysteries–the vast wealth

of human knowledge, which had been passed down through oral

tradition–were now encoded in songs, dances, hieroglyphic

symbols, and images. This was the beginning of culture and

the encoding of the sacred arts. The idols, icons, and images–replete

with their symbolic gestures, postures, implements, and attributes–and

the mystic rituals and practices of the priesthood became

the vehicles through which the average person could perceive

and commune with the subtle and sophisticated world of Divinity.

According to the ancient texts, this is when the sacred remnants

of the Golden Age, the high arts of civilization and of refinement

and sophistication, were given to humanity. And who was the

giver of these heavenly gifts? The mother herself, the Great

Goddess in the form of Inanna in Sumer, Isis in Egypt, and

Saraswati in India. As emanations of the Great Goddess, or

voice of Divinity, goddesses such as these were often associated

with the art of weaving, for as embodied manifestations of

her divine feminine force, it was their role to continuously

weave her sacred currents of spiritual light, of beauty, truth

and grace into the fabric of our world. These goddesses became

the caretakers of the tradition and the vehicles through which

divine knowledge was transmitted.

As time went on and the forces of materialization took hold,

holy temples were built to house the energy and image of the

goddesses and gods. They were constructed according to the

sacred teachings of these societies. Based on a perception

of the divine order of the universe, constructed through the

use of sacred mathematical and geometric principles, and filled

with exquisite art and sculpture, these temples were designed

to provide the multitudes with a personal experience of the

celestial realms.

Amid this heavenly atmosphere sacred rituals composed of

dance, drama, music, and chanting were performed. These rituals

were created not only to further enhance the religious experience

but also to convey the basic principles, teachings, and practices

of the culture’s faith. In essence, these sacred structures

and the ritual activities that took place within them were

created to provide the individual with the opportunity to

experience the energies (sounds, visions, feelings, and so

on) of a larger reality. The buildings became huge womblike

generators in which the average human being could be immersed

in the power and potential of divine union.²³

The sacred rituals and works of art that were housed within

the temples still held the potential to open the doorway to

multiple layers of understanding, even in the average viewer.

Through the vehicle of a ritual performance, a statue, a painting,

the architectural grandeur of the temple, or a sacred monument,

the spectators or participants could be mystically transported

from their simple tangible world to a magical display of the

celestial realms. In these treasured moments they could experience

the beauty and wonder of their divine inheritance. Because

of the overwhelming power of this spiritual experience, everyone

who participated came away with the feeling that all human

beings still possessed the innate capacity for divine insight

and inspiration.²⁴

According to Hindu beliefs, it was at this time that the

Natya Shastra, the fifth Veda, or sacred text on the

science of dramatic art, was revealed. It was brought forth

from the great compassion of the Creator for the new souls

being born into the Dvapara Yuga, or Bronze Age. These new

people’s minds were believed to be clouded by the vicissitudes

of earthly existence. In the myth the gods saw that most people

were now bound by the seduction of the senses and were living

under the relentless sway of earthly passions. Knowing that

the inherent joy of humanity was constantly mixed with sorrow,

the gods asked the Creator to provide a means by which all

classes of humanity could contact their divine inheritance.

The Creator then fashioned a pastime that would be called

theater. He said,

All the themes of mythology and heroic tradition will

be combined. This Veda will lead to Rectitude and Justice

(dharma), to Wealth and Plenty (artha). It will bring fame,

it will impart learning, it will be adorned with a set of

maxims, it will show the future world every possible

act or deed, it will contain the meaning and bearing of all

sacred knowledge, it will bring to life every facet of the

arts and make them prosper.^{" 25}

This was the age of the temple priestess. Young girls whose

manner and bearing revealed an innate connection to the divine

were consecrated at the temples and initiated into the feminine

mysteries. They were trained in the sixty-four sacred arts

that included religious rites, dance, theater, music, poetry,

weaving, adornment, massage, herbal elixirs, the practices

of healing and divination, and the secret mysteries of sexual

union.²⁶ As priestesses they mastered ritual practices

that enabled them to realize the goddess within. Through this

training their bodies were transformed into holy vessels through

which the pure power and energy of the goddess flowed. Each

movement, expression, gesture, and posture was perceived as

a blessed act of worship and consecration. Essentially, they

became living symbols of Divinity, goddesses in the flesh.

In many cultures these priestesses were considered emissaries

of divine energy and were encouraged to travel the luminous

paths of spirit and bring back fresh images and insights from

the more subtle energetic dimensions.²⁷

Day after day in their exercises and meditations these priestesses

explored and became intimate with the subtle interplay of

spirit and matter. Sensitive to every nuance of emotion, passion,

and vibration, they were masters at perceiving and influencing

the powerful energies of the invisible landscape. Knowledge

of this art was crucial to their significant roles as initiators,

for it was their responsibility to ignite and channel the

spiritual fire of the male inward and upward along the sacred

path of enlightenment. In this exacting role they would initiate

men into the deep and secret mysteries of the heart, awakening

them to their true spiritual potential.

Even with the increasing densification of the material world,

myth and legend tell us that until the end of the Bronze Age

human beings still had the capacity to perceive and interact

with the elemental realms. A popular example of a book that

describes the shift that happened between the Bronze and Iron

Ages is J. R. R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings series.

Filled with fairies, elves, orcs, and other magical beings

who interact with humans on an equal basis, this popular series

provides a glimpse of a time when the veil between the worlds

was more transparent. But Tolkien leaves us with no illusions.

He makes it clear that the magical world of hobbits, goblins,

and magicians is coming to a close. At the end of the tale,

all these fairytale creatures vanish into the mist, declaring

that their time in the world has come to an end and it is

now the time of man.

The Iron Age: The Age of Chaos

Everything that has any kind of existence, even error,

has necessarily its reason for existence, and disorder itself

must in the end find its place among the elements of universal

order. Thus, whereas the modern world considered in itself

is an anomaly and even a sort of monstrosity, it is no less

true that, when viewed in relation to the whole historical

cycle of which it is a part, it corresponds exactly to the

conditions pertaining to a certain phase of that cycle, the

phase which the Hindu tradition specifies as the final period

of the Kali Yuga.

-Rene Guenon, Reign of Quantity and Signs

of the Times

Beauty naturally belongs to heaven; on the earth it is

only reflected; and when the connection with heaven is broken,

when the back is turned towards heaven, then the eyes become

focused on the earth and slowly and gradually beauty begins

to disappear.

-Hazarat Inayat Khan, Sufi Mysticism

As time passed and our focus on the material aspects of

existence increased, the sacred rituals, with their sounds,

movements, symbols, and images, although continuously developed

and refined, were only fully comprehended by an elite group

of individuals. These were the privileged individuals who

were initiated into the mysteries and who helped bring some

of their grace, wisdom, and moral inspiration to the masses.

However, a hierarchy was slowly developing that was keeping

these magical and vital secrets for itself.

As the forces of entropy and materialization took hold,

the mystic ceremonies and stylized artistic representations

gave way to the authority of a new medium: the written word.

The beauty and spontaneity of spiritual expression, the vibratory

power of the vocalized word, and the loftiness of the sacred

image now began to be restricted.²⁸ Written language

became the dominant vehicle through which our rites and rituals

were preserved. But the written word did not transmit the

richness of spiritual experience in the same manner as direct

personal communication, verbal expression, sacred gesture,

and artistic symbols. The book could never replace these more

vital mediums. This new art form lacked that essential feeling

of spontaneity, immediacy, and dynamism that are unique to

the direct energetic experience. It also lacked the vibrant

power of the sacred image to evoke within the reader multiple

layers of intuitive connection.²⁹ While the written

word helped us keep our memories intact through a graceless

age, it provided only a map of reality. After the written

word became the dominant medium for expression and transmission

we began to mistake this map for reality itself.

Another issue that the increasing dominance of the written

word calls forth, is that education in this new artistic form

was only offered to certain individuals who were, with the

very rare exception, men.³⁰ This exclusive club

of men now possessed a new art form that they could claim

and control. Some men, such as the mystics and poets, who

were still guided by the radiant light of spirit, used this

new form of expression to inspire their readers to seek the

sacred ideals of truth, virtue, and beauty. Their works were

designed to communicate their visions of the artistry and

brilliance of the heavenly kingdoms. Their writings, designed

to immerse the reader or listener in the dynamic flow of narrative,

were filled with nuance, allusion, metaphor, and parable.

But with increasing frequency these mystic writings, and particularly

any references to the Divine Feminine or women as spiritual

guides and mentors, were discouraged and suppressed.

Civilization, a term that actually did not come into

existence until the eighteenth century in Europe, once more

"advanced." The pure light of spirit had been reduced

to one-quarter of its original radiance, and in a devastating

wave of fear and repression the Kali Yuga was born. As the

light of spirit grew dimmer and the shadow of darkness stretched

over the earth, our minds became haunted by images of evil

and depravity. Cities turned into nation-states, individual

religions became a cause for separation and subjugation, and

the world of politics and religion became indistinguishable.

The manifold pathways to spirit were now hunted, seized, and

patrolled by cadres of religious and political elite consisting

of "pious" priests and "noble" aristocrats.

Access to the realm of spirit was increasingly permitted only

to men who would toe the party line. Unfortunately for women,

not only did these men dominate the pathways to spirit, they

also began to hold dominion over all aspects of human life.

The events of this era of human civilization–starting

from the middle of the Bronze Age, when our oral tradition

was encoded in stone, an era dominated by the forces of the

masculine–are being taught to us in modern schools and

universities as "history." It is a fitting description

of this time, for it truly is the time of male dominance–his

story as opposed to the earlier ages of miss story,

or mystery.

At this time, a new relationship with the earth and the

feminine was brought forward. From this moment on, we humans

perilously lost touch with each other and the natural world.

Increasingly, we abandoned our spiritual values for supposed

security and material gain. Not only did we continue to lose

touch with our spiritual essence, but we also lost touch with

our own personal magic, our insight, our imagination and creativity.

No longer was the earth seen as an expression of the spirit

of the Divine Feminine opening and flowing up to embrace and

unite with her divine consort, who was flowing down to plant

his seed within her. Instead the earth was considered a wild

forbidding place to be feared and conquered.

Men, who frequently looked to the outer world of form, became

the vehicles through which this new perspective of reality

was transmitted and enforced. The written word became one

of the greatest tools of this dominant group. By controlling

the art of writing and suppressing, dominating, or eliminating

the sacred arts of dance, music, and performance they believed

they could grasp the psychic-energetic landscape and manipulate

the minds and emotions of the people. They knew that readers

and listeners, whose minds were now fully focused on the linear

visions provided by the priest or writer, could be drawn into

the priest or writer’s inner world; they could be influenced

and directed. History could be altered, books could be written,

and tales could be told to cut us off from the sacred knowledge

of our own divine beginnings.³¹

Fear and the violence that stems from it became the devices

by which we were enslaved. The priests and their hierarchy

taught us that we were essentially evil creatures cut off

from our maker, a wrathful and jealous God. As opposed to

the great majority of gods before him, this formless, all-powerful

being stood alone, without a consort. There was no goddess

to bring him joy and ease his wrath, no female partner with

whom he might experience the sacred bliss of sexual union.

According to this new telling of our history, woman was regarded

as the evil seductress whose curiosity and desire led humanity

to fall from grace and perfection. Humanity as a whole was

seen as totally divorced from Divinity.³²

With this new view of the feminine came a bias about our

physical bodies. Our bodies were now considered imperfect

vehicles, and our innate desire to experience the bliss and

connection of sexual union was seen as a dark animalistic

manipulative urge that should be subdued. The sex act itself

was viewed merely as a necessary means of procreation, of

bringing more people into the world to provide a greater workforce

for the rulers.

Now came the time of the patriarchy, of male dominance,

of viewing nature as a force to be mastered. It was a time

of isolation, individuation, and egotism, in which both women

and children were thought of as mere chattel. Rather than

view the world around them from an interconnected, heart-centered

perspective, men began to think of themselves as superior

"evolving" individuals who must use the power of

their intellect to conquer, scrutinize, exploit, and dissect.

This was a time of intellectual dominance, of total separation

of the heart and mind, of objectification, of ownership and

slavery.

Along with this new view of Mother Nature came a different

perspective on the principles of human relationship and interaction.

Women were seen as sexual objects to be possessed, utilized,

scrutinized, and subjugated. In the name of religion, the

sacred mysteries and ancient knowledge that had been preserved

throughout the ages were for the most part suppressed or appropriated

and then distorted by the forces of the patriarchy. The realms

of spirit, like the realms of social leadership, now known

as government, knowledge of the forces and forms of the natural

world, now known as science, and even the domain of health

and healing were considered to be male property.

Increasingly, women were restricted from performing their

time-honored roles. As a result, women used the only avenue

left open to them to gain some semblance of power: their bodies

and sexuality. Women, who had been the teachers of the sacred

art of sexual union, were now reduced to using their bodies

in exchange for preferential treatment from the ruling warrior

caste.

A more disturbing outgrowth of this change in consciousness

and attitude toward women was the Inquisition that spread

throughout Europe beginning in the thirteenth century. It

was during this period, that women began to be stripped of

their last vestiges of self-esteem and power. One of the main

reasons for this Inquisition, and the destruction of paganism

in Europe, was to attack the secret ‘Women’s Mysteries’.

The priests and other leaders of the Inquisition, threatened

by the innate wisdom and power of women, devised stories to

produce fear of women and their time-honored mysteries. Women’s

sacred circles were disgracefully referred to as witches’

covens and their mysteries were said to be derived from the

members of these covens consorting with the devil. Through

the use of torture the men of the Inquisition would extract

from their helpless victims whatever deranged nightmares their

own warped imaginations could conjure.³³

By the 1700s in Europe industrialization and its factories,

toxins, pollutants, and inhuman working conditions appeared.

With the arrival of the industrial revolution the raping and

pillaging of the planet was now in full swing. This was the

complete manifestation of the Iron Age. We collectively entered

our current age of the machine, of materialist science and

intellect, of rationalism and externalization–an age

that has been characterized by the destruction and devastation

of the feminine and the earth that gave us life.

Some cultures still sustained a connection with the pure

light of spirit. As the force of modernization took hold,

however, their sacred art and religion were now perceived

by the increasingly dominant Western culture as superstition.

In a vain attempt to right the wrongs of industrial society,

Marx and Engels, the ‘fathers’ of communism thought

that by abolishing private ownership of property and promoting

equal distribution of goods they could turn us back towards

the same communal lifestyle that was once held by pre-industrial

people. Declaring religion to be the ‘opiate of the masses’,

they frowned upon its practice altogether. In the name of

the collective, artistic expression, religious practice, and

individual brilliance were suppressed. This made matters even

worse. In communism the state became the new father and god.

Meanwhile in the West, science, materialism, and the quest

for personal power became the guiding force.

Currently, powerful global corporations and their political

and media puppets have become our new parents and priests.

In this "advanced" society, our minds are increasingly

controlled and manipulated by these forces. In the name of

egalitarianism there has been a leveling of society toward

the lowest common denominator. In our new "hive"

mentality, people are regarded as mere objects, living in

mass-produced houses and wearing mass-produced clothing, each

one looking the same as the next. With the machine as our

inspiration, we are turning into object-producing, mechanical

beings who constantly repeat mundane tasks that give us little

or no pleasure.³⁴

Today most humans spend very little time communing with

nature, their children, or each other. Hour after hour, day

after day, women and men sit in their cubicles giving their

lifeblood to corporations in exchange for money that will

buy worldly thrills and conveniences. Or they sit in front

of television and computer screens, pacified, hypnotized,

and programmed by other people’s thoughts and images.

In our current Age of Iron, dominated by the forces of chaos

and confusion, entranced by the flickering vibrations and

images of our technological wonders, pumped full of pharmaceuticals

and food additives to enhance our sensations or ease our pain,

we have not only lost our fundamental virtue and integrity,

but we have literally lost our minds

According to the ancient teachings, by the end of the Kali

Yuga the majority of humanity became divorced from the world

of spirit and totally immersed in the concrete sensory and

phenomenal experience. Yet the Tantras, or sacred texts of

the Indo-Tibetan tradition that were created specifically

to speak to those of us born in this dark age, say that even

the intensity of this material focus can be employed in the

pursuit of enlightenment. These teachings tell us that we

have the ability to heal our confused and unstable way of

life, to restore a sense of harmony and balance. Whether we

are in the final phase of the dissolution or, as some teachings

argue, merely the beginning of the end, it makes no difference.³⁵

Regardless of our exact location in the great cycle of time,

as luminous spiritual beings in material form, as Keepers

of the Light, we must remain true to the divine principles

of honesty and righteousness. Our task in this time of darkness

and oppression is to journey to the depths of our beings and

rediscover the essential light and power that has always been

hidden there by the veils of corporeal existence.

By Sharron Rose.

The Time of Transition

Form is destructible, but Life is not; it knows nothing

of death. It destroys the mortal mercilessly, and decomposes

the destructible. But the indestructible remains. Being immortal,

it carries within it the means of regeneration even as the

means of destruction.

-Ischa Schwaller de Lubicz, The Opening

of the Way

Cum luce salutem; with light, salvation. First source

of all sources . . . perfect my body . . . [so] that I may

participate again in the immortal beginning . . . that I may

be reborn in thought . . . and that the Holy Spirit may breathe

in me.

-From the Paris Papyrus

For those who are firmly attached to their earthly material

existence, who can only see within the limits of their own

lives, let alone their own cycles, this chaotic time does

appear to be the literal end of the world. The signs of the

end, as documented in sacred texts from the Revelations of

the Bible to the Corpus Hermeticum and the Tantras,

can be seen throughout the modern world. For the people who

cannot see beyond the veil we are in the metaphoric "winter

of our discontent," the season of death and the deepest

darkness. But as all these sacred teachings reveal, from the

depths of darkness comes the greatest light. And so for others

this is the heralded time of the great alchemical transmutation

of humanity. It is the time in which the metaphorical black

coal, or prima materia, of our being has the greatest

possibility of being transmuted into the pure crystalline

diamond. When this happens an extraordinary shift occurs,

as we are filled once again with the pure light of Divinity

and become the spiritual seeds for a new Golden Age.

These sacred teachings of East and West have their parallel

in those recently brought forward by medical anthropologist

Dr. Alberto Villoldo who has spent many years studying and

transmitting the sacred teachings of the Inkan shamans of

Peru. These shamans have told him that humanity has reached

what they refer to as the pachacuti or period of renewal that

occurs at the end of time. During this transitional time of

upheaval when the world will be "turned right side up

again", there will be a "tear in the fabric of time

itself, a window into the future through which a new human

species will emerge. They call this new species, Homo luminous.

³⁶

According to the Brahmakumaris, a spiritual group from the

north of India that is steeped in the ancient ways of the

feminine and the values of nurturing, communion, and grace,

humanity has now moved beyond the Kali Yuga into a new transitional

age, which they refer to as the Diamond Age or Age of Confluence.

This is an age of consciousness that is not manifested in

the physical, when those who have the eyes to see and ears

to hear become aware of the great call to the light.

At the heart of all the mystic traditions lies the knowledge

of this teaching of the call to the light.³⁷ It

arises within us as a longing for truth and clarity; as an

overwhelming desire to be free of our sorrow, pain, and suffering;

as a deep hunger for beauty, simplicity, rest, and inner peace.

Once our ears are opened to this call our eyes turn inward

toward the divine light of spirit, the light of the Great

Mother Goddess.

As we open ourselves to drink from her fountain of radiance

that ceaselessly flows from the supreme primordial source

of creation, it kindles our awareness and provides us with

the energy to fight the darkness within. Our subtle consciousness

awakens and the shadowy veils that have covered our minds

begin to lift. Our senses expand to perceive the shining realms

of the spirit, the subtle pathways of the psychic-energetic

landscape and the beauty of our essential luminosity. It is

no wonder that in these transformative times interest in and

knowledge of the Great Goddess is being rekindled throughout

the world. For it is she, the divine Shakti/Shekhina as the

great warrior of truth and integrity, as the nurturing mother

and primal energy of Divinity, who provides us with the strength

and fortitude to battle our inner and outer demons.

We sit at the juncture of one of the most critical times

of this planet. With each and every passing moment, we have

a conscious choice to continue on this path of destruction

and alienation or have the courage to stand up and face our

demons. The greatest spiritual traditions of our world teach

that the best way to combat these demons, whether they be

in material form or in the depths of one’s own mind,

is not through mimicking their dark methods but through love

and compassion. Only when our actions spring from an honest

and open heart can we begin to create a world free of the

demons of fear, greed, and deception. Only when we have the

courage to clearly see ourselves and freely admit how deeply

we are entrenched in the darkness–how far we have allowed

ourselves to fall from the pure light of truth and integrity–can

we begin to dream a new world and give birth to a new shining

age of spirit. For out of the ashes of the Kali Yuga the Golden

Age is born. Out of the depths of darkness, light is born.

Endnotes

1. For a better understanding of the symbolic representations

of the ages according to the Western tradition see Fulcanelli,

Le Mysteres des Cathedrales, 169. Fulcanelli states,

"In Medieval times, these four phases of the great cyclic

period, whose continuous rotation was expressed in antiquity

by means of a circle divided by perpendicular diameters, were

generally represented by the four evangelists, or by their

symbolic letter, which was the Greek alpha, or more

often still, by the four evangelical beasts surrounding Christ,

the living human representation of the cross." He equates

this symbolism with images from the great Gothic cathedrals

of France, the visionary writings of Saint John and Ezekiel,

and the ancient Hindu teachings. For the alchemical perspective

see Fulcanelli, The Dwellings of the Philosophers (Boulder:

Archive Press, 1999), 520—522.

2. In Arthur Avalon’s introduction to his translation

of The Tantra of the Great Liberation (New York: Dover

Books, 1972), xivi—l, he describes from the ancient Hindu

Tantric perspective the yugic cycle and the resulting consequences

to humanity’s longevity, spiritual strength, and stature.

He also describes the primary scriptures and teachings of

each age and the places of pilgrimage and the avatars.

3. For further information on the end times of the current

cosmic cycle and the time of transition from the Kali Yuga

to the Golden Age, see Jay Weidner and Vincent Bridges, A

Monument to the End of Time: Alchemy, Fulcanelli and the Great

Cross; John Major Jenkins, Maya Cosmogenesis 2012

(New Mexico: Bear and Co., 1998); Dr. Alberto Villoldo, Shaman,

Healer, Sage, and the teachings of the Brahma Kumaris,

a spiritual group in the Hindu Vedanta tradition.

4. Fulcanelli, Le Mysteres des Cathedrales, 170—171.

5. For a description of manifestation from the ancient Tibetan

Bon perspective see Norbu, Namkhai, The Crystal and the

Way of Light, 59. For the ancient Hindu perspective see

Manley P. Hall, Lectures on Ancient Philosophy (Los

Angeles: The Philosophical Research Society, 1984), 228—229.

6. From a personal conversation between the author and a

member of the Brahma Kumaris about Brahma Kumaris spiritual

knowledge, Zaca Lake Retreat, Los Olivos California, August,

2001.

7. Guenon, Rene, The Reign of Quantity and the Signs of

the Times, (New Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers,

Private Ltd., 2000), 10—12.

8.Ibid, 175—76. The alchemical tradition contains references

to this view. In his introduction to Fulcanelli’s book

Les Mysteres de Cathedrales, Walter Lang writes, "One

of the most arcane of human traditions suggests that the humanity

of our Adam was not the earth’s first human race. Some

very advanced alchemists have hinted at a range of previous

humanities in excess of thirty."

9. Avalon, xivi—xivii.

10. Heinrich Zimmer, Artistic Form in Yoga in the Sacred

Images of India (Princeton: Princeton University Press,

1984), 24—25. Zimmer presents the cosmic vision of the

unfolding of creation from the Hindu Tantric perspective.

12. Johanna Lambert, ed., Wise Women of the Dreamtime:

Aboriginal Tales of the Ancestral Powers (Rochester, Vt.:

Inner Traditions International, 1993), 7. For an analysis

and comparison the Aboriginal view with that of the Tantric

see also Robert Lawlor, Voices of the First Day: Awakening

in the Aboriginal Dreamtime (Rochester, Vt.: Inner Traditions

International, 1991), 68—77.

13. Norbu, The Crystal and the Way of Light, 130.

It is interesting to turn to the Tibetan Buddhist description

of the Sambhogakaya realms–or realms of light inhabited

by the realized beings such as spiritual masters, dakas, and

dakinis–for a their perspective on who we once were.

14. Lawlor, Voices of the First Day: Awakening

in the Aboriginal Dreamtime, 106.

15.Ibid, 104

16.For a better understanding of the inner fire practice

that has been handed down through the Tibetan Tantric lineage

see Geshe Kelsang Gyatso, Clear Light of Bliss (London:

Wisdom Publications, 1982), chapter 2.

17. From a teaching given to Ms. Rose at Zaca Lake Retreat

prior to the sacred ceremony of the Bear Dance in July of

2001. In many of the traditional cultures such as the Zulu

of South Africa and Native American tribes, it is a woman

who is considered the spiritual leader and elder of the tribe,

and she chooses the chief or worldly leader.

18. For an in-depth view of women during the hunter-gatherer

epoch see Marija Gimbutas, The Language of the Goddess

(San Francisco: Harper and Row, 1989) and Rianne Eisler,

The Chalice and the Blade: Our History, Our Future (San

Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1988).

19. Nancy Qualls-Corbett, The Sacred Prostitute (Toronto:

Inner City Books, 1988), 30—20. Teachings of the Brahmakumaris.

21. For a more complete picture of the results of this shift

in perspective see William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling

Bodies Take to Light (New York: St. Martin’s Press,

1981), 118—159.

22. Teachings of the Brahmakumaris.

23. R. A. Schwaller de Lubicz, The Temple of Man This

two-volume set describes the sacred teaches of ancient Egypt

as evidenced in the architecture of the Temple of Luxor. 24.

In The Dance of India, Enakshi Bhavani states, "Art

was meant for all and through it Hindu religious thought and

philosophy were conveyed to all classes of society. To make

these abstract theological teachings understood by the average

person, symbols were created which clarified the inner meaning

of the highly philosophical precepts of the Vedas, etc. A

great culture developed where the highly abstruse, ethical

philosophies were put into concrete, explicit form."

25. For more on the origins of the Natya Shastra see

Tara Michael, The Symbolic Gestures of the Hands (Paris:

Editions Semaphore, 1985), vii—ix.

26. Vatsyayana, Kama Sutra, (New York: Castle Books,

1963), 13—15.

27. For information on the priestesses in the temples of

the ancient Middle Eastern, Greek, Roman, and Celtic traditions

see Goodrich, Norma Lorre, Priestesses, (New York:

Harper Perennial, 1989) In this extensive book on priestesses,

Goodrich explores the lives of the priestesses

28. For a compelling view of the moment in the Middle Ages

when the sacred view of sound shifted in the European mind-set,

see Jeremy Naydler, The Temple of the Cosmos 139—140.

29. See Robert Lawlor’s introduction to R. A. Schwaller

de Lubicz, Symbol and Symbolique (Rochester, Vt.: Inner

Traditions International, 1978), 10—11.

30. For an extensive exposition on the affect of the written

word on humanity, with emphasis on its impact on women, see

Leonard Shlain, The Alphabet Versus the Goddess (New

York: Penguin Putnam, Inc., 1998).

31. Guenon, The Reign of Quantity and the Signs of the

Times, 66—77.

32. Elaine Paigels, Adam, Eve and the Serpent (New

York: Vintage Books, 1988), 133.

33. There have even been tales of women who were found guilty

merely because their male inquisitors became sexually aroused

during torture.

34. Guenon, The Reign of Quantity and the Signs of the

Times, 65—67.

35. In a conversation with a swami of the Hare Krishnas,

at Zaca Lake Retreat, I learned that they believe that the

Kali Yuga began 5,000 years ago and that we still have 432,000

years left before the end of the cycle and the beginning of

the new Golden Age.

36. Villoldo, Shaman, Healer, Sage, 233-234.

37. Ischa Schwaller de Lubicz, The Opening of the Way

(Rochester, Vt.: Inner Traditions International, 1981), 11.

Writes de Lubicz, "Behind all religions there

is only one ‘Truth," and the revelation of this

truth through their different myths and symbols brings harmony

instead of discord. Every sincere seeker has in his heart

this ‘will toward the Light’ and if he listens to

it, he will not seek in vain."

38. See John Reynolds, trans., Self-Liberation Through

Seeing with Naked Awareness (Barrytown, N.Y.: Station

Hill Press, 1989), 38

39. Namkhai Norbu and Adriano Clemente, The Supreme Source

(Ithaca, N.Y.: Snow Lion Publications, 1999), 22. In this

tantra, the location of these worlds and the nature of the

beings that dwell in them are described.