Magdalene-Chalice of the Far Shore of The Sky-Veil
A reflection on transformation in Christ through The Sky-Veil.
The Sky-Veil
The Sky-Veil is a mythopoetic journey through a forgotten realm where the divine brushes the mortal. This is a journey of longing, wisdom, and the quiet majesty that crowns the soul.
Summary of The Sky-Veil Cosmology
The journey across the Sky-Veil is a journey of transformation in Christ through the Immaculate Heart of Mary—from enchantment to sanctification, from longing to love, from symbol to sacrament, from myth to the mystery of eternal life in the Blessed Trinity.
The Preparation of the Greek World
Philosophy and Mythology as the schoolmaster of the Greek mind
In the beginning, the world was given signs and figures—shadows cast before the fullness of time. To the Hebrews God gave the Law and the Prophets. To the pagan Greeks, he gave philosophy, and we might project, the mythology informing it.
"Perchance, too, philosophy was given to the Greeks directly and primarily, till the Lord should call the Greeks. For this was a schoolmaster to bring 'the Hellenic mind,' as the Law, the Hebrews, 'to Christ.' Philosophy, therefore, was a preparation, paving the way for him who is perfected in Christ." ~ St. Clement of Alexandria, Stromata (150-215 AD), Book VI, Chapter 8
Greek mythology was the ground from which their philosophy emerged. Pre-Socratic mythology was the “silent Being” shimmering around the Greek philosophical mind. Thus, mythology, as an unfolding precursor of the true faith in time, can be considered that which was given by God to prepare the pagans for the light of Christ.
"The very thing which is now called the Christian religion existed among the ancients also, nor was it wanting from the inception of the human race until the coming of Christ in the flesh, at which point the true religion which was already in existence began to be called Christian." ~ St. Augustine (354-430 AD), Retractions, Book I, Chapter 13
As Augustine insinuates, the true religion was already in existence in the ancient Greeks of the Iliad and the Odyssey. It germinated in the liminal spaces where gods and goddesses walked among men on the battlefields and over long journeys at sea. It emerged in alethic majesty to be called Christian when the Church collided with the Greco-Roman world after her birth by the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.
“Therefore I say to you, that the kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and shall be given to a nation yielding the fruits thereof.” ~ Matthew 21: 43
Athena, Hera, and Aphrodite, the three key mythological figures founding western civilization (from the judgement of Paris leading to the Trojan War), shimmered in a Greek world emerging as “Christian.” They disappeared as ‘entities’ to be worshipped and remained ‘qua themselves’ as clearings and harbingers of Being foreshadowing the light of Christ.
Athena, Hera, Aphrodite—the Harbingers of Being
Athena, in the pagan Greek unfolding, stood with spear and shield, the light of the mind in battle and in civic order. She guarded wisdom, summoned strategy, and forged civilization from chaos. But her light, though piercing as herald, could not yet see beyond the veil.
Hera, in the Greek unfolding, sat enthroned in might, bearing the power of majesty. Her presence ruled not by word, but by what must not be shaken. She was order behind order, the crown above crowns—but her throne remained untouched by tears of repentance, untouched by tombs of resurrection beyond the veil.
Aphrodite in this unfolding stirred the hearts of gods and mortals alike, the longing for love’s embrace, the ache of beauty calling us home. She was the shimmer at the threshold, but never the voice that answered,
“Sir, if thou hast taken him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away.” (John 20:15)
What the ancients could not see beyond the veil was that Athena was the “grey-eyed” ‘clearing’ of wisdom, intellect, strategy, and creativity. Hera was the “ox-eyed” ‘clearing’ of majesty and hierarchical order in the world. Aphrodite was the “laughter-loving” ‘clearing’ of divine love, beauty, harmony, and joy. The ‘goddesses’ are not in the imagination of subjective consciousness, nor are they entities. They are heralds of Being, lights in the liminal world leading to grace on the other side.
They are the ‘experience of the experience’ of wisdom, majesty, beauty, and love ‘in the world’—not subjective acts of consciousness. Dawn ‘spreads her rosy fingers’ in the world, not in our imagination.
Athena is wisdom in action. Hera is power in majesty. Aphrodite is love in longing.
The Hebrew World
Mary Magdalene
Emerging from the Hebrew world, we have—Magdalene. A woman not draped in myth, but veiled in sorrow, breathless with love. She stood where gods could not tread: at the foot of the cross and before mouth of the tomb, where love and death had met.
She did not carry weapons. She did not wear a crown. She did not command hearts. She simply searched.
And because she searched, she ‘saw’ with the inceptual mind of Aletheia. Magdalene ‘saw’ Christ for who he was by his side during his ministry, listening at his feet, weeping at the foot of his cross, and hearing him speak her name at his tomb. Where the harbingers only heralded, she crossed over. On our earthly sojourn as pilgrims hoping to cross over with Magdalene, we ‘experience the experience’ of the heralds, Athena, Hera, and Aphrodite.
Magdalene Fulfilled
If Athena is the light of the mind as the ‘experience of the experience’ in the world, Magdalene is the light of recognition.
If, in the same way, Hera is the presence of majesty, Magdalene is the presence of love enthroned.
Similarly, if Aphrodite is the longing for divine love and beauty, Magdalene is the encounter with love fulfilled.
Magdalene is the one who heard her name, “Mary!” and turned to cross where the harbingers heralded—toward the Word made flesh, the Voice who called her into Being.
Enjoy “The Second Wind” with Mary Magdalene. Lyrics ©Walter Emerson Adams. Music and vocals by Suno (©Walter Emerson Adams). Purchase the album, The House of New Bethany here.
Also, “The Dawn of the Three” with Athena, Hera, and Aphrodite. Lyrics ©Walter Emerson Adams. Music and vocals by Suno (©Walter Emerson Adams). Purchase the album, Mythic Revelations here.
