The Rise and Rise of the Queen of Heaven
“there is a direct line, unbroken and clearly discernible, from the goddess-cults of the ancients to the reverence paid and eventually the cult accorded to the Virgin Mary.”
Stephen Benko specializes in early Christianity in its pagan environment…Benko avoids anti-Catholic polemics and is sympathetic to the place of the “queen of heaven” in Christianity. That said, he unerringly traces Mary’s roots to the pagan, pre-Christian heavenly queens of Greece, Rome and the wider Mediterranean—those mutable goddesses whose ranks include Artemis, Astarte, Celeste, Ceres, Cybele, Demeter, Diana, Ishtar, Isis and Selene.
“Christianity,” he notes, “did not add a new element to religion when it introduced into its theology such concepts as ‘virgin’ and ‘mother’; rather, it sharpened and refined images that already existed in numerous forms in pagan mythology.”
The combining of beliefs from different traditions, called syncretism [and abomination in the Bible] was not new but a recurring theme in religions of the Mediterranean area. As with the transmission of pagan-to-pagan images and ideas, so pagan-to-Christian shifts began to occur in what Benko calls “functional equivalency.” The first centuries of the current era, during which the early Christian religion was embraced and modified by the cultures of the Hellenistic world, constituted a period of particularly rapid syncretism…
But the cult with the greatest influence on early Christianity, according to Benko, was that of the Great Mother (Magna Mater). Known in western Asia Minor as Cybele, she was to become the model for Mariology…Stoic and neo-Platonic concepts of mythological earth-mother goddesses were projected onto Mary with little adaptation: Cybele’s devotees saw her primarily as a chaste, beautiful and kind goddess; her worship centered on salvation, and her cult advocated baptism, not in water but in the blood of a freshly sacrificed bull. The cult also enlisted celibate (sometimes self-castrated) priests, as well as virgin priestesses. Similar views relating to celibacy and the evils of sex soon entered the orthodox church and subsequently congealed as official teaching.
“Physical ‘purity’ was not required of any priest before 1139 and marriage was then the norm. Once celibacy became a requirement it was frequently and openly argued.”
Benko describes the process whereby Mary became “the female face of God,” or the spiritualized image of the church. He writes: “Mary was eventually declared to be ‘Mother of God,’ which is a wholly pagan term filled with new Christian meaning. Did Mary become a goddess when this declaration was made? The answer of Christians was, and still is, an indignant No!—but in fact Mary assumed the functions of pagan female divinities and for many pious Christian folk she did, and does, everything the ancient goddesses used to do.”
By the mid-third century, Hellenized forms of Christianity had been granted a level of recognition in the Roman Empire. Sixty years later the emperor Constantine reaffirmed that freedom, and soon the forced conversion of pagans began. Their temples were demolished or “Christianized,” along with the congregations. By the end of the fourth century, pagan cults seemed to have been all but eradicated. But this should not be confused with the end of their influence…
the Christian apologists had to differentiate their belief in the virgin birth from similar ideas found in Hellenistic mythology. Justin Martyr argued correctly that Mary’s conception of Jesus was different, in that God did not woo nor overcome her…the idea that Mary remained a virgin throughout life gained momentum…Having used philosophical and metaphysical ideas to define the nature of God at the fourth-century councils of Nicea and Laodicea, the church fathers used the same methods to define the nature of Christ at the councils of Ephesus and Chalcedon in the fifth century. They concluded that the Son of God could not have been carried by a woman stained with original sin…which is why Mary had to be elevated to the role of Theotokos, the Mother of God…“the one who gave birth to the one who is God.”
From the perspective of pagans, this makes Mary equivalent to Gaia, in existence before Cronus, Father of the Gods.
In the early fourth century, Augustine introduced his theology of Original Sin, wherein he deemed sex to be integral to the fall of Adam and Eve. Like the other early church fathers, Augustine’s background was in Greek philosophy…Sex was tainted and best avoided, he said…
rather than accept a simple reading of the New Testament in its context, the early fathers preferred to believe the notion that Mary was a virgin not only prior to Christ’s birth but remained virgo intacta post partum; i.e., a perpetual virgin after childbirth. This was one of the earliest Marian beliefs to become official Catholic teaching (451); Pope Martin I went on to declare it dogma in 649.
Warner notes that…“It is almost impossible to overestimate the effect that the characteristic Christian association of sex and sin and death has had on the attitudes of our civilization.”
In turning our civilization against the Bible’s much more realistic presentation of sin, salvation from eternal death, and engaging in fulfilling sexual relations.
But Mary’s virginity was not the only issue that the church fathers raised. If Mary was without sin, then she should not have seen death (death being the penalty for sin according to the Scriptures). As the sixth century drew to a close, Emperor Maurice proclaimed August 15 as the Feast…to commemorate the day on which Mary, rather than dying, simply went into an eternal sleep…
Long venerated…culminating in 1854 when Pope Pius IX declared the mother of Christ to have been “immaculately conceived…”The Catholic Encyclopedia…explains that “sanctifying grace was given to her before sin could have taken effect in her soul.” Many people, even some practicing Catholics, do not realize that the Immaculate Conception refers to Mary’s conception, not to Christ’s (which is known simply as the Virgin Birth)…
Effectively making her immortal, i.e. a goddess.
an example of the questions that must follow from this teaching: If Mary avoided the consequences [of mortality], doesn’t this mean that the full humanity of Christ can be called into question?..
on what basis could the church establish a teaching as official and true? The answer came in the form of another edict from Pius IX, this one in 1870. With important implications for the acceptance of…all…teachings based more on philosophy and tradition than on Scripture, this edict declared the infallibility of the pope when speaking ex cathedra (from his chair) on such matters as faith and morals. The notion that Mary had miraculously escaped human nature and the temptation even to think wrong thoughts, much less to do wrong, had like other dogmas stretched the credulity of many across the centuries, especially as the Enlightenment dawned and the Age of Reason set in. Now the pope, in a single act, removed any possibility of further debate within the church by declaring it a matter of faith instead of reason—faith, that is, in the church’s infallibility.
In 1950 Pope Pius XII proclaimed Mary’s “assumption”—her reception, body and soul, into heaven.
Four years later, in 1954, the same pope officially confirmed the title Mary had been accorded over many centuries: “Queen of Heaven.”
And now there is a strong movement toward a fifth Marian dogma…seeking the papal definition of the Blessed Virgin Mary as Coredemptrix…“such a definition will bring to light the whole truth about Mary, Daughter of the Father, Mother of the Son, Spouse of the Spirit and Mother of the Church.”
The preamble to the petition seeks to qualify “coredemptrix” as meaning a redeemer “with” rather than “equal to” Christ. But based on history, many would likely overlook such a fine distinction once the title is given.
Mary’s other titles should not go unnoticed. With respect to her presumed role as “Spouse of the Spirit,” Catholic scholar Leonardo Boff, whose theology would make Mary a part of the Trinity, is quite forthright…”she is to be regarded as hypostatically [absolutely and really] united to the Third Person of the Blessed Trinity…” By this argument, because Mary is said to be united with and identical to the Holy Spirit, Boff avoids the theological minefield of a Trinity of four persons…
“And I saw the woman...sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns….
If we accept the historical precedents that
- the woman is the latest iteration of Semiramis, not Mary the mother of YHVH’s Savior,
- sitting indicates ruling from the throne,
- in this religious context the throne is cathedra. According to Roman Catholic doctrine, a Pope speaking ex cathedra “from the chair” on issues of faith or morals is infallible,
- a beast is a hybrid being not authorized by YHVH, i.e. Christianity syncretized with paganism,
then the woman is the latest iteration of Semiramis, a human woman who controls the power of the Roman Catholic pope.
Like Semiramis, she has been around.
Women of the Vatican: Female Power in a Male World looks at a variety of female personalities who exerted influence over the centuries…Telford’s account has enough history and sleaze in it to make for a gripping Netflix series…digging controversially into the lives of several women…
The life and times of Marozia, believed to be the mistress of Pope Sergius III in the early 900s, highlights the warring aristocratic factions within central Italy — known as the Papal States at the time — that sought to use the military resources of the papacy. It details a very violent path to power that highlights the tensions that governed the church at the time…
Similarly, Vannozza dei Catanei, a mistress of Cardinal Rodrigo de Borgia, was a key figure in helping him became Pope Alexander VI starting in 1492 just as Christopher Columbus was about to embark on his voyages to the Americas and the church able to extend its power. They ultimately had four children together, although Alexander VI publicly pretended they were his nieces and nephews…he eventually took on another mistress named Giulia Farnese…
Farnese used her influence behind the scenes to promote her brother Alessandro Farnese, who would eventually become…Pope Paul III…the powerful Catherine de Medici, a ruthless 16th century noblewoman and the niece of Pope Clement VII…would go on to be queen of France. In those years, the papacy was largely an extension of European royalty…
turning Florence into the cradle of the Renaissance…The Medici dynasty would go on to produce four popes — Leo X, Clement VII, Pius IV and Leo XI — forever cementing their legacy as one of the most powerful families in history…
a 19th century nun named Mother Pascalina who served as a close confidant Pope Pius XII…until his death as pope in 1958…Telford could have dedicated a whole book to Pascalina as the papacy fell under siege during World War II. The chapter on her is one of the most-fascinating reads in all the book.
With the resources, worldwide manpower, moral authority and heritage of placing one’s faith in the Pope’s infallibility, the Holy See is the only organization poised to be the First Responder on the scene in the next world war.
As a religious organization, the Holy See is the only world-wide institution that can instantly accredit a hyper dimensional being as The Return of the King of the world, syncretize the world religions especially Christianity, Islam and Judaism, demand submission to his law, and cause the death of the heretics to this faith by withholding financial aid in refugee camps.
“And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which…receive power as kings one hour with the beast.”
These are not kings, they are granted temporary power to function as kings, which is, to make laws under these drastically changed circumstances. In legalese, this is a a legislative commission
decemviri, (Latin: “ten men”), in ancient Rome, any official commission of 10…most often used in reference to decemviri legibus scribundis, a temporary legislative commission that supplanted the regular magistracy from 451 to 449 BC [i.e. 2 years, a short time.] It was directed to construct a code of laws that would resolve the power struggle between the patricians and the plebeians. The first board of decemvirs ruled with moderation and prepared 10 tables of law in 451 BC…In 449 BC… they became tyrannical, the decemvirs were forced to abdicate.
Since a biblical day is an era, an hour can be considered a significantly smaller unit of time, but still running into months or years.
Every detail matches. What was shall be again. And what else could we expect? In our humanistic society any renaissance of culture will be based on Rome’s, and the old gods easily reframed as aliens from our “scientific” worldview.
And…these shall hate the whore”
Of course an exclusive men’s club will hate the woman who single-handedly manipulates their boss, the pope, who they are not so fond of either since they’ve come to realize they are just the fall guys to take the heat when objections arise from the constituents of the representatives of all the major world religions that joined up including Evangelicals, Protestants, Moslems, Jews, etc.
“and shall make her desolate and naked,
Game of Thrones did a fabulous job of depicting the religious downfall of Cerce Lannister who was made desolate, stripped of all her dignity forced to walk naked through the city in a gantlet of stones and excrement, curses and mocking.
“and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire.”
They also did a fabulous job of depicting the cold-as-ice indifference to suffering while burning people, even children, alive in the name of religion.
But what is that bit about “eat her flesh”?
This must be alerting us to the fact that these men have become hybrid creatures of the beast from the sea. Zombies. They must re-energize themselves with fresh blood carrying the red blood cells and other essential blood products they can no longer produce in their dead bodies.
And that also explains why they burn the woman with fire. She too was, or became, a zombie with the coming of the beast from the sea. Burning is the only way to deactivate her. Portent of the lake of fire.
“And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.” (Revelation 17)
Just as the Pope is the embodiment of a “juridical actor”, i.e. “one who acts for another in legal matters; one who represents a party and manages his cause,” known as the Holy See, so the woman who rides him (snicker) is the embodiment of an “actor” who represents a party, in this case, “the great city which reigneth over the kings of the earth.”
At that time in history.
“And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air; and there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, It is done.
And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory. [In a UFO? I’m being serious.)
And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.
- For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication – literally forbidden sex,
- and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her – scrambling to be part of the new regime,
- and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies – sold to the warmongers while the masses starve.
- And the great city (Rome) was divided into three parts,
- and the cities of the nations fell:
- and great Babylon came in remembrance before God” (Revelation 16:19)
Rome has the popular vote as the Babylon of the last times, but I can’t help but believe that all the birds go home to roost.
Without a doubt, if the Pope is going to cajole the Sultan into joining forces, he is going to have to make concessions. And what better than to locate the capitol of the New World Religion at its historical birthplace?
And without a doubt that will kindle a fire in the bellies of the Catholic old guard with their school ties and club memberships.
“And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities.
This can absolutely include Catholics who revolt against the desecration of Christian morals by pagans who have taken over Church leadership. The photo below shows 150 pro-life organizations participating in a pro-life protest in Argentina, including Catholic and evangelical Christian leaders.
- [You] Reward her even as she rewarded you,
- and [you] double unto her double according to her works:
- in the cup which she hath filled [you] fill to her double.
- How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow [you] give her: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow [sidelined at the death of the king], and shall see no sorrow.
It sure sounds like a conspiracy of Christians against Pagans, and this time the Christians win.
Kingdom Come 