Psalms as praise and thanksgiving

PSALM 22 – Blessed

You are my Queen, O Mother and you have turned to me your merciful face

Blessed are your most resplendent eyes: which have turned toward sinners.

Blessed are the light and the splendor of your countenance: blessed is the grace of your face.

Blessed be the mercy of your hands: blessed be the stream of your mercies.

Let your prophets bless your holy name:

Let the righteous, saints, and martyrs sing praise to you.

Praise the Lady – Psalm 146

Praise the Lady, for a psalm is good: let her praise be pleasant and beautiful.
For she heals the broken-hearted: and she refreshes them with the ointment of devotion.
Great is her power: and her mercy has no end.
Sing to her in jubilation: and in her praise sing a psalm to her.
Those who hope in her and in her mercy are a good pleasure to her

Psalms as praise and thanksgiving

To discuss the Psalms either the Biblical Psalms or the Marian Psalms is above all to talk about prayer. Because that is above all what the Psalms are. They are prayers. In the case of the Biblical Psalms they are prayers addressed to Yahweh, the God of Israel, and the Marian Psalms are addressed to Mary the exalted Queen of Heaven / Mother of Jesus. And in spite of the fact that the Virgin Mary within official Christian theology is ontologically only a mere women and on this side of the divine / human divide, within many of the Marian psalms, she often takes on roles and attributes that in the Bible are normally associated only with God and certainly not with humans. She is addressed as to a goddess. What I would argue is that this is because in reality the Christian Marian cult is the breaking through of the Goddess into Christian history. Enough of this for now.

The primary point of this is that the Psalms are prayers. To initiate a discussion about them is therefore to discuss to some degree the nature and value of prayer. That is what I plan to do within this post. There are two primary groups of themes present within the Psalms and many aspects to these themes. The most prominent theme, that which is most commonly recognized as being prayer by most human beings is the prayer of petition, the prayer of need or desire in which the human being or human community asks for a divine intervention for the satisfaction of her, his or its needs or wants. Thus one prays for deliverance from sickness or death for either himself or others. One prays for food or shelter when one is threatened by the lack of these. One may even pray for riches or other material goods or items. The list of possible desires and needs is endless. The second set of themes are the interconnected themes of praise, thanksgiving and gratitude. It is this second theme which will be discussed now

Most people who have at some point within their lives attended Christian, Jewish or Islamic worship services is aware of the fact that public prayers of praise, gratitude and thanksgiving are a regular part of public worship. However it also seems to be the case that very often these gestures of praise and thanksgiving take on a very formulaic nature, and for many attendees at services become very routine and invoke little heart felt response . Very often this worship degenerates to the lip service only to God which so irked the Biblical prophets. I do not intend to discuss the reason why this separation of the heart from word so often occurs but simply note that it does. What does need to be stated is that often as a result of this separation of words of praise and gratitude from the heart the significance and centrality of the function of praise and thanksgiving is forgotten or hidden.

As I stated in a recent post in spite of the fact that I had attended the Fundamentalist Church of Christ in my adolescence and had periodically attended various liberal Protestant churches during my 20’s, I only began to discover some actual joy and feeling of emotional closeness with God when I started to attend Pentecostal Church services in my early 30’s. This was because within these churches praise, thanksgiving, devotion and the joy which often comes with these responses to God were given first place within that form of Christianity. When I left Pentecostalism a few years latter the process did not end there. Again over the years I discovered that praise, thanksgiving, and devotion have been central to many other forms of religion. Furthermore often when people center their life on love of Dea / God at least some degree of joy and sense of connection with God often results. Thus I have attempted to seek it out to the best of my ability over the years.

So why should we praise and make thanksgiving to Thea? Is It is because she is a great egoist who demands praise on the threat of punishment to assuage his or her divine ego? I do not deny that there are many passages in the Bible and other forms of religious literature which suggest this. However I would argue that the real reason is that God / Dea as our Source and Creatress is infinitely lovable and good. She is love and justice and grace and all else that is good. Thus the showing of praise and love to Her is at a minimal an appropriate response for the gifts of life itself.

However it is more than this. I would argue that such praise, thanksgiving, and gratitude expresses a deep need from within. By praising Dea / God one makes contact and relationship with the One who is love, beauty, and all other goods. Thus prayer particularly in its form of praise and thanksgiving is a form of giving love to Dea herself. It is not all about harps and horns within an long interminably dull church service in heaven like the old cartoons use to suggest. And it is not about ignoring the beauties and goodness that exist within the earth itself. If anything loving that which is good and beautiful on this earth is more appropriately seen as being occasions to love Dea with even more passion. It is about connecting with the Center from which which life proceeds.

Glenn

Biblical Psalms, Marian Psalms

The Biblical Psalms have been central to both Jewish and Christian devotional practice during most of the history of those two religions. The Psalms were at the center of both Christian monastic liturgical practice and had a very important role in the daily Synagogue liturgy. Psalms were often memorized by pious Jews and Christians alike. Psalters were some of the most popular of medieval books. Latter after the Protestant Reformation the Biblical Psalms still played an important role. Of course the Psalms were prominent within the English Book of Common Prayer and played an important role within many other Protestant denominations.

However my sense is that during the second half of the 20th century, certainly within the increasingly post Christian Europe and within the United States the Biblical Psalms have become much less popular and central. For example within the realm of liberal Protestant Christianity, many aspects of the Bible itself have become to an increasing degree an embarrassment to liberal Christian sensitivities. Liberal Christians are no longer interested in such doctrines as hell, the exclusive salvation by faith in Christ and to a great degree they no longer believe that the Christian scriptures are inspired by God in all of its parts. As a result they no longer study the Bible with the same fervor as Fundamentalists. Of course given the nature of some of the above stated doctrines I can understand some of their reluctance. And while I have never been a part of the Jewish community my understanding is that Judaism has been undergoing a similar process.

Of course within the alternative Non-Abrahamic religious communities and philosophies which have developed within the past half century such as Wicca, other forms of Neopaganism, and the New Age there is no interest in the Abrahamic scriptures and certainly not in its Psalms. And the fact is that since I am no longer a Christian I do not use the Davidic Psalms in my devotional life in spite of the fact that I am well aware of their great beauty and value. What I do use however in my devotional life is a group of psalms adopted for my own use from Medieval Marian Psalter which was composed by the Roman Catholic St. Bonaventure in 13th Century Medieval Europe. Of course these Psalms, to a significant degree inspired by the great Biblical Psalms of the Bible, were devotions addressed to the Virgin Mary, the mother of Jesus. I feel enabled to use these because I as do many other modern persons believe the Virgin Mary functioned as a de-facto Christian goddess during the Medieval period. Thus I believe that what has been dedicated to Mary can also be seen as dedicated to Dea, God the Mother.

In the next several posts within this blog, I intend to explore some of what I believe is of significance about these Psalms of Thea as I call my sellection. Many more will be added to my sellection as time passes. I intend to explore some of the significant themes found within them. I hope by doing this to attempt to communicate some of what I view as being their great value to others. I of course started this post with the presentation of some ideas regarding the Biblical Psalms not the Marian Psalms. I did this because to understand the possible roles and significance of the Marian Psalms it helps to understand their relationship with the Biblical Psalms. So to a certain degree a positive portrayal of the Marian Psalms is also a positive portrayal of the Biblical Psalms. I have not problem with this at all. It would behoove the Abrahamic religions of both Judaism and Christianity not to forget the important spiritual legacy of their own Book of Psalms.

Glenn

A Collection of 42

For those who are interested in the psalms I have been discussing for the past month , I have added a page to this blog called Psalms of Thea. Click the Psalms of Thea to access the collection of psalms. Note. The page is not all together satisfactory as far as structure goes so please excuse its clumsiness. I plan to correct its flaws and make it a bit more professional but I thought that it is more important to get it out than to wait to get it the way I want it before posting it. Included here is a link to the page.

Glenn

1600 years

In my last post I initiated an introduction to the psalms contained within the Psalter of the Blessed Virgin Mary. I explained some of the stylistic changes which I have made to those psalms which I recite in my daily worship. I also indicated some of the reasons why I believe that these psalms can be seen as being providentially dedicated to Thea / our Mother God. Within this post I want to discuss some of the other adaptations which I have made to some of the psalms which I use in worship and discuss further why I believe that it is legitimate for the Independent Filianic / Deanic community and for Theani to use this literature in their worship of Thea.

For my own devotional use many of the psalms of the Bonaventure Marian Psalter require almost no thealogical editing. Literally interpreted they lend themselves naturally to the worship and adoration of Thea of whom the Virgin Mary is a form. The literal language of these psalms would suggest that the Lady is divine and that she is the Savouress of the universe. The fact that the Saint himself within his conscious mind interpreted them within the lines of Roman Catholic Marian orthodoxy does not change this fact. However the reality is that some of the other psalms which I have utilized are clearly more in line with Christian norms and do not as easily lead themselves to Theanic devotional use. Thus Psalm 23 reads:

Psalm 23

The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof: but thou, O most holy
Mother, reignest with Him forever.

Thou art clothed with glory and beauty: every precious stone is thy
covering and thy clothing.

The brightness of the sun is upon thy head: the beauty of the moon is
beneath thy feet.

Shining orbs adorn thy throne: the morning stars glorify thee forever.

Be mindful of us, O Lady, in thy good pleasure: and make us worthy to
glorify thy name.

Glory be to the Father, etc.

My edited version reads:

PSALM 23 – The Fullness

The fullness of the earth is yours O Lady; You O Mother will reign forever.

You are clothed with glory and beauty:

every precious stone is your adornment & your clothing.

The brightness of the sun is upon your head: the beauty of the moon is beneath your feet.

Shining orbs adorn your throne: the morning stars glorify you.

Be mindful of us, O Lady, in thy good pleasure: and make us worthy to glorify your name.

What can obviously be seen by comparing the two versions is that I changed the theology of Psalm 23 of the Marian Psalter to reflect the fact that within the Theanic understanding the Lady is God / Thea. She is fully God and is in no way subordinated to a male God. Of course as I stated previously there are many psalms within the psalter which do not require this kind of thealogical editing. I could have used only these in developing my own version of the psalms. However I could not resist adding Psalm 23 and some others like it to my personal collection because of the sheer beauty of their images and the spirit of praise found within them.

I want to introduce another psalm from the Marian Psalter. This is Psalm 25

PSALM 25

Judge me, O Lady, for I have departed from my innocence: but because I have
hoped in thee I shall not become weak.

Enkindle my heart with the fire of thy love: and with the girdle of
chastity bind my reins.

For thy mercy and thy clemency are before my eyes: and I was delighted in
the voice of thy praise.

O Lady, I have loved the beauty of thy face: and I have revered thy sacred
majesty.

Praise ye her name, for she is holy: let her wonders be declared forever.

Glory be to the Father, etc.

This is my own version:

PSALM 25 – Judge Me

Judge me, O Lady, for I have departed from your ways:

But because I have hoped in you I shall not become weak.

Enkindle my heart with the fire of your love:

And with the girdle of righteousness bind my heart.

For your mercy and your justice are before my eyes:

And I am delighted with the voice of your praise.

O Lady, I have loved the beauty of your face:

And I have revered your holiness.

Oh praise her name, for she is holy: let her wonders be declared forever.

What I want to show here is that I have made additional changes within some of the psalms within my own collection when I have felt these were appropriate. Furthermore I believe that in many ways some of the changes which I have made have moved the final version of some of the psalms closer to Biblical norms than were the originals. For example within Psalm 25 one finds ideas which reflect medieval monastic norms such as the longing for chastity / virginity, the religious / monastic life, etc. One word which is never used within the Psalter (I do not know why) is the biblical concept of righteousness which of course goes hand to hand with the concept of justice / judgment in the King James version of the Bible. Righteousness and Justice are central Biblical concepts and they are central concepts to my own ideas of God / Thea. Within my free adoptation of the psalms I have felt free to make changes which place a stress on the concepts of righteousness, justice, and mercy as well and have moved some of the Psalms away from an absorbion in monastic values.

This pretty well summarizes the kinds of changes I have made within the Psalms which I have adopted to my own personal devotional practices. I have gone into such a detailed discussion about the changes that I have made because I do not want to give the false impression to anyone that the version of the Psalms which I use is a literal translation of the original. My developing collection instead is a free adaptation in which I have made as few substantial changes to the original work of the Saint as possible. However I have felt right about making the changes when needed to make the psalms work for me.

I want to end this post by attempting to explain why I have felt justified in adopting a collection of psalms from out of the Marian
Psalter to the worship of Thea in the first place . After all it can be argued that these are quite properly Roman Catholic property and what right do I have to adopt anything from that tradition for my own personal religious use. After all Saint Bonaventure himself would hardly approve of my project. First let me be clear about several things. First I have explained within my last post the relationship of the Virgin Mary has to the Goddess / Thea. I believe that the thealogical reality is that these psalms really are Thea’s and thus her servants have to right to use them within her worship. They are not the Catholic Church’s legally (They are a part of the literary commons) or by moral right.

However again why the need to borrow at all since they do come out of that tradition. Why not create out of ones own spiritual tradition. Believe me, I and other Independent Filianists / Deani have created some of our own literature. A truly beautiful book of original psalms called Rose Petals has been created by Deb Miskell who is of a mixed Filianic Pagan faith. Furthermore while I am not a gifted poet, I have written several prayers / psalms addressed to the angels of the Theani faith which I do use in worship. However the total amount of such literature is limited by the minute size of the Independent Filianic, Matronite, and Theanic communities. Furthermore when I first started to really pay attention to the psalms of the Marian Psalter I was simply amazed and filled with wonder with the providential way many of these psalms seemed designed to fill a need for devotional literature within the religion of Thea.

I must also raise another issue. In 391 EC the Emperor Theodosius of the Roman Empire banned the practise of all forms of Paganism within the Roman Empire. Even before this time many important factions of the Church itself had been banned because they were viewed as heretical by the dominant majority of the Church and the State. From that point of time on for almost 1600 years official forms of Christianity have had an effective religious monopoly over the West. Pagan religions such as that of Isis which might have continued to exist and evolve during the last 1600 years, if allowed to survive, were systematically snuffed out.

Let me be clear about this. I do believe that it is very likely that Christianity would have become the major religion of the West even if this repressive legislation had not been put into place first by the Roman government and then all future Christian states. The fact is that the Christian Church was already the most powerful religious community within the Roman Empire at the time of the suppression of Paganism. However if the repression had not occurred Christianity would have had much more religious opposition and competition through out the centuries. Pagan cults would have evolved and perhaps adopted in ways which would have made them more competitive to Christian orthodoxy.

Furthermore Christianity itself would have developed differently. Many heretical Christian sects such as those of the Montanists and Cathars may have become major churches. Perhaps some of the forms of Gnostic Christianity would have developed over time into major movements. The point is that the Western Civilization would have been different. It would have been freer and much more diverse. The purely patriarchal forms of Christianity which have dominated may well have been challenged by other faiths of a more matriarchal nature such those of the religion of Isis or of the Gnostic Barbeloites.

This is not simply an issue of historic speculation it is an existential issue. My own personal religious life and thus my life in general and that of many others may have been radically different, perhaps better, if the Christian religious monopoly had not been enforced for 1600 years. Perhaps major religious communities would exist today in which I could really feel a part without having to hide my own thoughts or feelings to get along within them. Perhaps communities would exist in which my concerns and those of others would not be trivialized and relegated to the status of unimportance. Perhaps I would not have been raised within the dreary Fundamentalist Protestantism of my youth. Thus what I believe I have done in claiming some of the psalms of the Marian Psalter for my own personal use has simply been to reclaim some of the heritage which has been denied me by the Christian monopolization of religion for the last 1600 years. I am simply restoring a little justice for myself at least, taking back some of what should have been ours all along.

Glenn