Thursday 11 September 2008

In a Temple...


I love Temples...I have visited all sorts of temples, they are eternal places beyond any denominated religion.

I must admit though, I have never set foot in a Synagogue, I think it must be political...

OK, I know, Judaism and Banee Israel are not all Zionists, there are after all 10 to 20 of them, out of millions who are not. Not very a good marketing strategy for visiting a Synagogue, you must admit.

But still, temples are simply Divine, when they are empty, bien entendu. Nothing pollutes as much as humans. The rest is pure Spirit.

Nothing beats the smell of benzoin, burning at the Blessed Mother's feet, or a few Lilys of the Valley bowing down at the sight of Jesus. And have you seen the flickering candles, dancing in unison, waiting for deliverance? What a sight.

Nothing beats the sobriety of a Mosque, the space of Freedom as reflected in the arches and the domes. Nothing constricting here, nothing but space. No pictures, no statues, just you facing the "roundness" of the architecture, the rounded "void"...

Being urged to find it in yourself first, that same sacred space - you need to purify first, purify with ablutions, with clean flowing water or rub yourself with mud - before entering. Before penetrating the gates...

Water and Mud, two elements belonging to the Feminine principle. Belonging to Mother. To Her. Water and Earth - purifying elements, before you can find yourself...

I remember reading, that the Perineum is nothing but a Greek or Latin word for the Sacred Gate. If you don't know what the Perineum stands for, I strongly urge you to rediscover the Female anatomy, arming yourselves with a dictionary.

You see it's all about Sacred spaces. How you enter it is as important as to how you are, once there, once inside...and as important as to how you exit from "it."

Sacred Spaces are generous, they allow anyone in. But do they always respond to the supplicant's pleas ? I think not.

I remember an Islamic saying that goes this way - If your prayer is not sincere, Allah, God, rolls it up in a bundle and throws it back in your face, like some old worn out cloth...

Temples go a long way...The first one was dedicated to Ishtar. The Materia Prima, just like the Virgin Mary. The Virgin Mary was chosen so was Ishtar. They both had a mission.

No, no, not some victim, nor some martyr, their mission was pure Love.

Ishtar sunk into the abysses...Only to re-emerge United. Only then was she granted the divine powers, those of a merciful, graceful Love and those of a ruthless Wrath.

Have you known the Abyss? It is a temple by itself...A temple of the underground world, where one is forged, in a burning fire...You may call it Hell.

Ishtar has been to Hell and back. Dante's inferno is piece of cake in comparison.
This idiot never made it anywhere.

Every woman is an Ishtar.

No wait. I take that back. Not every woman, only a few women are...

The Abyss is the morgue, the prison filled with innocent ones, the underground torture center...The abyss is the loneliness when everyone else has left after the funeral...The abyss is when you are dressed in black because you have been robbed of colors...

Do you know the feeling of hovering in between ? In between Madness and Sanity, in between Life and Death, a limbo, a purgatory, another Abyss.

Do you know it ?

I pull the black robe up and step down, take a few steps down only to see it spiralling down even further...I reach the bottom, it is cold, it is damp, it smells... The bottom becomes a vast sea of putrid waters...I swim, holding my breath, counting the corpses floating, searching for mine...

So do you know the abyss ? Have you ever experienced the underworld ? Did you ever manage to re-emerge from it intact, united and whole ?

Only a few women have...They are the Ishtars, they are the Virgin Mary's, they are the Temple and the Gate...They are the Sacred Space.

So tell me now, how are you to approach this Temple ? And what Prayer have you got to offer ?

I am no longer drowning, nor hovering...I pull my black robe, I climb the steps up, one by one...Past the Gate, into the Temple, into that Sacred Space of a merciful Love and a ruthless but necessary Wrath.


Painting : Iraqi female artist, Nadia Mohammed Yass.