The "Little Mermaid" and the Archetype of the Lost "Bride."

Ariel, the "little mermaid" in the Disney® film, is much more than a fairy tale for little girls. Rather, she is a powerful metaphor for the plight of the "Sacred Feminine" over the last several thousand years of western civilization. Since Mary Magdalene, the "Lost Bride" in the Christian story, is a "carrier" of the Sacred Feminine, (in fact, a composite of Aphrodite, Athene, and Demeter, not to mention similarities with Isis, Inanna and Astarte--and the Holy Sophia!), this discussion is relevant especially to her. She was to have been the Lady of the Age of Pisces as Christ was its Lord, forming together the sacred mandala of "hieros gamos" for the Age of the Fishes.

taken from "The "Little Mermaid" and the Archetype of the Lost "Bride." by Margaret Starbird

I just finished reading Piece by Piece - Tori Amos' recent book with Ann Powers released in tandem with her new album. I'm not nearly as interested in Tori Amos' music as I used to be, but I find her work culturally to be incredibly important. She is out there, re-awakening the goddess, and has no qualms about doing so - in fact I believe she is seeing this as her life's work.

After reading this book, I spent some more time re-evaluating my irritability with christianity, and I'm more or less aware that my problems lie with it's fundamentalist repression, the loss of sophia, the subversion of the magdalene, etc. Basically the same laundry list of complaints of the gnostics.

But the thing that really got me out of my seat while reading Piece By Piece was Tori's reference to the gospel of mary magdalene and the idea that the most beloved disciple might have been mary, thus making her the author of the book of john.

Interesting stuff when you've decided to find the cracks in the dominant paradigm.. If you're into gnosticism (which seems to be experiencing a resurgence) then check out Piece By Piece by T. Amos & Ann Powers. It's a close look at Tori's career on one level, but her mysticism brings this book up to an entirely different level, one where the goddess as co-creator is discussed in depth. & if our society reclaims christianity as a religion involving both Christ and his lover Mary Magdalene.. well church might get a lot more interesting (and a lot less repressed.)

In my mind the real division in this country regarding sexual issues comes not from some morally upright vs. sexually perverse, but rather from those who view sex as for procreation alone (fundamntalist repressed) vs those who see sex as recreation... that may be too simplistic. Actually the dividing lines may be more like this: procreational vs recreational &/or sacred/mystical. While the procreational crowd will never figure out how to allow sacred/mystical sexuality into their life, because they can't see beyond the mechanics of the sexual act - they have some idea of what recreational sex is about, and they're committed to standing against it because
they're afraid of its power.

On the other hand, if it can't be wrapped in plastic & stickered and sold, corporate
america is against it, because it's bad business. That why sacred/mystical sexuality isn't mainstream, but recreational is highly profitable. This in turn exacerbates the division between fundamentalist repressed and corporate entertainment brokers. All the while, stuck in the middle, sacred sexuality becomes more and more isolated and unknown to society at large.

At least, that's the view from where I sit in the wichita vortex.