Interview with Anne Baring: The Divine Feminine and the Healing of our Planet

To celebrate the completion of my book, Holy Spirit Rising: The Vital Return of Our Divine Mother for the Healing of Our Planet, I thought I would resurrect a previous blog post written with Anne Baring. This post is on the misrepresentation of a significant female figure, Mary Magdalene and the general repression of the feminine in the Bible, likely through the many redactions. Enjoy! -- and more on my book, coming soon!

In today’s blog, I am honored to interview , Anne Baring, who is a Jungian analyst, and whose life work has centered around the exploration of the soul and bringing the Divine Feminine back into balance, in order to help with our healing and the healing of our planet. Anne Baring is the author of several consciousness raising books. Her latest book, a brilliant gift to humanity, The Dream of the Cosmos: a Quest for the Soul took 20 years to write, and is a must read for anyone wanting to understand where the suffering is coming from in the world and what we need to do to create a brighter future — and so, so much more. It is one of my favorite books.

Sylvia: Anne, after decades of research, when do you believe the repression of the Feminine began, and why?

Anne: The main cause of the repression of the Feminine was the development of the ego and the conscious mind which brought about a gradual separation between the older matrix of consciousness, mainly focused through the right hemisphere of the brain, and the newly developing focus on the left hemisphere and more linear, goal-seeking consciousness. This was reflected in the growing split between Spirit, associated with the masculine archetype, and Nature, associated with the feminine one and the replacement of the Great Mother by the Great Father. At the same time, the agricultural communities where the older consciousness still prevailed were overrun and conquered by aggressive peoples whose main aim was conquest. This led to the long-standing Age of Empires – about 4,000 years – up to the present day and the present catastrophe in the Middle East. The emphasis was on war, conquest, the fame of the warrior etc. Another factor was the Myth of the Fall of Man with its very negative portrayal of Eve and her role in bringing death, sin and suffering into the world. All women were henceforth associated with her. Woman was viewed as a secondary creation.

I suggest people read the talk I recently gave to the Brahma Kumaris group on June 10th, which is devoted to the reasons why the Feminine was lost. The title is ‘Awakening to the Soul and a New Story’. http://www.annebaring.com/anbar65_BrahmaKumaris2017.html

Sylvia: This is incredible information. The dismantling and dis-empowering of the feminine started thousands of years ago. It feels impossible to heal the damage, but perhaps by shining the light on what happened and making people aware, we can begin to. Everyone on this planet, male and female, is a victim of the manipulation of information that happened then.

One of the great feminine leaders whose voice was taken along the way is Mary Magdalene, which inspired me to create the film Who Framed Mary Magdalene?. I know this is someone you studied extensively. In my film I left it ambiguous whether or not Mary Magdalene and Jesus were married, because there appears to be nothing in the new testament that makes a clear statement either way. It feels like we will never know for sure. You feel they were married, why — and was there a cover-up?

Anne: In accordance with the religious customs of the time, no woman would have been allowed in the Sepulchre after the crucifixion of Jesus to anoint his body unless she were a very close relative — his mother, sister or wife. Hence the presence of Mary in the Sepulchre Garden and her moving encounter with the risen Jesus. There is enough evidence in the 4 Gospels as well as in some of the Gnostic Gospels to suggest that Mary Magdalene was much more than the ‘companion’ of Jesus. Her portrayal as a prostitute was a calumny fixed on her by Pope Gregory 1 in 591 AD. The Catholic Church was determined to eradicate any suggestion of her marriage to Jesus and the existence of their children.

Sylvia: That is a significant point to make. I had been aware that Pope Gregory, likely to keep women from feeling they had the rights to positions of leadership, largely instigated the misrepresentation of Mary Magdalene. Now with your insight about the fact that only a close relative would have been allowed in the Sepulchre to anoint Jesus’ body, it does point to there having been much more to cover up. That Mary Magdalene and Jesus were married seems like a possibility. I look forward to reading more about it.

Thank you for all you've shared with us Anne.

~.~.~

Friends, before you go, please do take a moment to read more of Anne's writings: http://www.annebaring.com/anbar65_BrahmaKumaris2017.html

Disclaimer

The views and opinions expressed by the interviewees do not necessarily state or reflect those of the Conscious Media Movement.