[UA] Quadruple Goddess?

[Greg Stolze]

>I find Mary Magdalene a fascinating figure (ha, look at my name) in the
>NT writings. She's clearly a whore, but she's also clearly welcome in
>Christ's eyes. I doubt he would reject her, but she did more. Of course,
>being the "whore" she's probably used to doing all kinds of things for
>guys, but that's beside the point. She's more of a transitional than an
>actual whore as per a potential archetype, I think.

Now, lessee... if I remember the whole Magdaline thing right, there's no
SCRIPTURAL basis for assuming that she's a whore.  Culturally, she's been
conflated with the Woman Taken In Adultery (who's unnamed) and I think that
some pope may have even said "Yeah, that's the same woman" -- but was he
speaking infallibly?  Anyhow, the main support I've heard for the Magdaline
= Whore argument is that she (and her sister Martha) are the two who paid
Jesus' bills.  Apparently some Bible scholars just assumed that Mary must
have been a prostitute 'cause, hey, where else would she get money?

Then there's the whole business about how Mary Magdaline basically treats
Jesus the way that a traditional Hebrew wife would treat her husband...

>> In UA terms... er, well, uh, I haven't got that completely worked out.  I
>> certainly think that each of the four roles (Virgin, Crone, Mother, Harlot)
>> is prevalent enough to be an archetype.
>
>Well, I think the Naked Goddess is of course, none of them. I think all
>four are *much* older roles, naturally, and might view TNG as something
>as a Janey-come-lately.

Yeah, that sounds good to me.  The Whore's key feature is accessibility
(for good and bad).  The NG isn't accessible: She's the IMAGE of
accessibility.  (Of course, Tynes re-invention or re-envisionment of her in
UA might move this away from the beloved WECHBY idea -- which was, after
all, just Eugene's theorizing.)

How do we reconcile the WECHBY notion with the UA2 affinity notion?  That
is, Tynes made some adjustments in UA2 to more explicitly explain why
pornomancy has such a strong element of coincidence -- you want something
and it "fortuitously" stumbles into your lap, Forrest Gump-like.  The NG,
then, sits at the intersection between desire and synchronicity.

>When I think of the Maiden, I think of Diana in the classical sense. Not
>the huntress part, but the maiden/virgin part. She's not exactly
>available, or really even sexual. She punished Actaeon for seeing her
>(by transforming him into a *noble* beast - a stag, interestingly
>enough). She is independent and stuff, but I'm not trying to step on
>Flying Woman's toes with these thoughts, so.

Upside = Unspoiled, Downside = Largely Stagnant?  Just spitballing...

>The Crone is wisdom mixed with the fear of death and the loss of what
>society sees as desireable in a woman (that is, youth and beauty of a
>certain standard). I think the Crone would be the most terrifying of the
>archetypes in this instance. Just think of the various crone-goddesses -
>Hekate and Kali come to mind (imagine that) - but there are quite a few
>and they're often associated with evil tidings or death or in general
>frightening things.

Upside = Wise, and free from social expectation.  Downside = possibly
bitter, and not limited by social justice or tradition?  Again,
spitballing...

An interesting thing to work in (if we ever do something with the whole
Triple Goddess schtick) would be that if a Virgin avatar is willing to act
the Whore for a while, she could (if she knows what she's doing) transfer
the remnants of her Virgin skill into the Mother skill.  A similar
transformation take you from Mother to Crone?  In each case, there'd be
some skill erosion -- I mean, if you jump from Virgin to Whore then yes,
your taboos have obviously just been trampled.  Similarly, the Mother who
starts acting Whorish is cracking Taboo...

Hm...

--G.

As it turns out, my memory is far less detail-oriented than my imagination.

www.waylay.com
www.thehungersite.com



_______________________________________________
UA mailing list
UA at lists.uchicago.edu
http://lists.uchicago.edu/mailman/listinfo/ua