Contemplating Mother Goddess

Last night my baby was having a hard time sleeping, and I sat in my room rocking him back to sleep for over an hour. As I rocked him, I sang to him. Truthfully, when I sing to my babies I'm partly singing for me, so I pick the songs I like best. One of my favorite hymns is "How Great Thou Art," and since I know all the words it frequently appears in my lullaby repertoire.

As I sang the third verse of that hymn, I thought of my love for my own sons, and of our understanding of  "God" as including both Father and Mother, and I was overwhelmed at the thought of not just a Father 'sending his son' but of a mother--what if I were asked to send my son. Somehow viewing it from a motherly perspective made the atonement infinitely more personal for me: voluntarily sending one of my sons to give his life for my other children. Truly, I scarce can take it in! In all honesty, I don't know whether I would be able to do it.

And when I think that God [her] son not sparing
Sent him to die
I scarce can take it in
...

Then sings my soul my [Mother] God, to Thee
How great Thou art!
How great Thou art!

(Hymns # 86, v. 3)

I was overwhelmed.
The brilliant white waxing moon shone through my bedroom window, illuminating my entire bedroom in spite of being only a crescent. As I absorbed the moonlight I pondered on nature and the beauty of the universe, and thought it was no wonder that ancient cultures had attributed feminine deity to the moon.

Of course, I then turned to the one hymn that openly acknowledges Heavenly Mother, and it does so in such a straightforward and pure way.

O my Father, thou that dwellest
In the high and glorious place,
When shall I regain thy presence
And again behold thy face?
In thy holy habitation,
Did my spirit once reside?
In my first primeval childhood
Was I nurtured near thy side?

For a wise and glorious purpose
Thou hast placed me here on earth
And withheld the recollection
Of my former friends and birth;
Yet ofttimes a secret something
Whispered, “You’re a stranger here,”
And I felt that I had wandered
From a more exalted sphere.

I had learned to call thee Father,
Thru thy Spirit from on high,
But, until the key of knowledge
Was restored, I knew not why.
In the heav’ns are parents single?
No, the thought makes reason stare!
Truth is reason; truth eternal
Tells me I’ve a mother there.

When I leave this frail existence,
When I lay this mortal by,
Father, Mother, may I meet you
In your royal courts on high?
Then, at length, when I’ve completed
All you sent me forth to do,
With your mutual approbation
Let me come and dwell with you.
(Hymns #292)

Moon Goddess by Josephine Wall

I did not come to Mother Wheel with the intent to develop a relationship with the Divine Feminine (our Heavenly Mother). I have always liked the idea of Her, but have honestly never given Her very much thought. I came to Mother Wheel with the intent to observe the passage of seasons and increase my connection to cycles and awareness. However here we are not even two weeks into the year and I find that the simple willingness to acknowledge Heavenly Mother is broadening my understanding of (and relationship with) Deity in ways I had not anticipated.