(An excerpt from my forthcoming book, "Lady of the Sea: The Goddess Who Births the New Age.")
The Woman Clothed in the Sun
One night several years ago I awoke from a dream wherein I saw an image of the Goddess, her cloak shining brilliantly as if lit from behind by the rising sun. I heard the words “A woman clothed with the Sun and the Moon under her feet,” ringing in my ears. I realized these words were from the Book of Revelation in the Bible and I knew immediately—in that way that happens with dreams—that they referred to the Goddess giving birth to the Aquarian Age. She was “clothed in the sun” partly because the astrological sign of Leo is opposite that of Aquarius (just as Virgo was opposite Pisces during the Piscean Age), and rules the sun. As we have mentioned, astrology often works in these polarities, and just as Virgo gave us a Virgin Mother goddess, Leo will most likely give us a Leonine one.
When I awoke again in the morning I looked up this passage in the Bible. I found that the complete text was:
"And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars: And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered." (1)
She is clothed with the sun, crowned with the stars, and has the moon under her feet. What more clear image could one ask of the Great Mother Goddess—crowned by twelve stars representing the twelve signs of her zodiac—giving birth to the new age? And the fact of the matter is that because she is “clothed in the sun,” she births every new astrological age. These lines from Revelation were written almost two thousand years ago, and therefore referred to the Piscean Age then dawning. But such an image is timeless—and as significant and valid for our times as it was two thousand years ago as an image of the goddess birthing a new age, though the interpretations will vary with each age.
Here, then, are my interpretations of the image as it appeared in my dream. This is what I “knew” in the dream, and what came forth strongly right after waking.
The woman is “clothed in the sun,” which means not only does she birth the sunrise into a new sign, but also that as the goddess of this new age she will exhibit solar qualities—brilliance, illumination, warmth, fierceness, love, and the possibilities of abundance those things can bring. Here is the goddess seen in a leonine aspect—since the sun rules the sign of Leo. No more the meek virgin, she will be the Lion Queen, full of fierceness, but also of leonine motherliness and protectiveness as well. Her brilliance and illumination give proper nourishment to her human children—affording them just what is needed for the growth, evolution and expansion of their consciousness and their relationships with one another and the rest of earth’s life forms.
The crescent moon is under her feet. The image of the crescent moon has long been linked with ships, boats, and arks. So here we have the moon-boat, the ark, the sacred vessel which carries us from age to age. The moon-boat is under her feet, so the Goddess stands and is carried on the boat, but in truth, she is, herself, the boat. She carries us all, including the sun, from day to day, from age to age, through the waters of time and space. In addition, there is a relationship here with the womb, the vessel that holds and nourishes the next generation as it grows into being.
The moon rules the sea—its magnetic tides and rhythms—and since all life on the planet was birthed from the sea, this means that she is related in a very physical way to the lifestream of this planet, and the new life she brings will be more than simply an evolution of consciousness; it will have physical aspects as well. And as there are positive and negative (from the human perspective at least) in all things on this plane of existence, one has to wonder if this bespeaks the effects of pollution and global warming on the planet’s oceans and life-streams during the coming age.
The imagery of the moon beneath her feet brings us full circle from very early understandings and imagery of the Goddess as Mother of Form and linked with Stars, Sea and Moon, to Mary—the Virgin Mother of Christ, who is traditionally pictured with the moon beneath her feet.
Another possible (or additional) explanation for the moon beneath her feet is based in astrology. In astrology, the moon refers to instinct (i.e. in particular the survival and generative instincts) and the subconscious mind, the “moon under her feet,” may also refer to these instinctual and unconscious parts of the self. Because the woman is clothed in the sun, the moon under her feet may refer to these instinctual and unconscious parts of ourselves coming into the awareness of our solar selves—our heart and mind in a more illumined and informed state of being. From the darkness of ignorance and instinct is born the light of mind and heart.
A good summation of all of the above may also be given in Kabbalistic terms: The “woman clothed with the sun and the moon beneath her feet and upon her head a crown of twelve stars” is the Goddess of Life, the Tree of Life—with her feet (roots) upon lunar and foundational Yesod, her body shining with the solar garment of Tiphareth’s beautiful harmonization/integration of creation’s opposing but complementary forces, and her head/consciousness crowned with the stars of the Divine Supernal Triangle of Kether-Crown, Binah-Understanding-Discernment, and Chokmah-Wisdom. (2)
With this new age, a new wave of life is being born; it is cresting on the shore. This woman clothed in the sun is rising from the sea, whether it be the sea of instinct and the subconscious, the sea of space, or the physical sea itself that births life-forms on the planet.
We are living in some pretty dark and challenging times; quite often it seems we are blind to the humanity of others and the worth of the rest of creation. The Aquarian Age to come offers the promise of humanity evolving from the domination of its dark, blind, instinctual side to a state of expanded consciousness and awareness of our full potential—physical, mental, emotional, energetic, and spiritual—as humans; instinct and intelligence working together. It offers the promise of humans finally recognizing their siblinghood with each other, as well as their kinship with all other life forms on the planet. We all came from the sea, we were all born from the same mother....
The woman clothed with the sun is laboring, crying out in pain, awaiting the imminent birth of her child. The child she is birthing is the new Age of Aquarius. Yet this goddess is our mother as well, and her pain and cries are also for us as we struggle to be born into the new age of expanded consciousness. She is concerned for us, and full of grief at the shortcomings which make this such a difficult process for us. As was stated in the previous chapters, she has expressed this sorrow and concern repeatedly in her apparitions over the last few hundred years. She is the mother of the Ages, but also, the Mother of Mercy and Compassion.
The next verses from Revelation tells how, after the man child is delivered, he is “caught up to heaven,” to the throne of God, while the mother takes up residence on earth in a protected place, specially prepared for her—reminiscent of the great Shekhinah/Sophia—Wisdom—who lovingly sacrifices her place in the heavenly realms to dwell with her earthly children while they evolve to a recognition of, and are able to embody, their own innate divine wisdom.
She is a new form of the Goddess, bearing many of the aspects of the ones mentioned, but in a new way. She is the Star Mother, come to earth again to enliven, refresh, and regenerate life for the new age.
The Goddess of the Aquarian Age
In the text above, we have begun a description of the Mother Goddess who births this age; she cannot be fully known to us from our perspective in this one particular lifetime. She will reveal herself more fully as the Age unfolds, just as her “child”—those Aquarian characteristics and energies—will manifest in us as we move into a state of being wherein our inner male and female energies are coming into balance.
Aquarius is about humanity, but it also has to do with space, mind, intellect, consciousness, and with the balance of male and female energies—an honoring of both polarities and a realization of the necessity of both. Aquarius the Water Bearer pours out the waters. As previously mentioned, these are variously said to be the waters of knowledge, poured out to quench the thirst for knowledge in the soul of humanity; the waters of spiritual life, poured out to nourish the soul; or simply the waters of life, such as the rain waters from heaven that physically sustain life. Aquarius’s ruling planet is Uranus—which is about sudden changes and things electrical; its co-ruler is Saturn. Saturn is about limits, structure, law, stability. In previous eras Saturn was also about agriculture, the land and its bounty—all necessary things for building up a suitable foundation for humanity to live and thrive.
Above all, Aquarius has a very sudden and radical type of energy and a very high vibrational frequency. This frequency is what I was feeling in my Big Dream; that “high” feeling, full of joy—all circuits open and receiving. The openness and receptiveness can lead to understanding the relationship between all beings, and valuing all beings.
This is what Aquarius promises, what it has to offer. It is what humanity desperately needs at this juncture in time. What we choose to do with this promise is up to us.
Notes:
1) Revelation; The Holy Bible; King James Version
2) On the Tree of Life, Yesod, the Foundation, is the world of images – templates for the “form” that will come into being in Malkuth, the plane of physical manifestation. Tiphareth is the Sphere of the beauty and integration that occur when opposing forces are harmonized, while the Supernal Triangle of Kether-Chokmah-Binah represent Source’s first manifestation of consciousness—awareness, awareness/consciousness of the divine pattern and its inherent harmony and wisdom
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