{"id":1507,"date":"2021-11-09T06:23:00","date_gmt":"2021-11-09T14:23:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lapis-mercurii.org\/lvx\/?p=1507"},"modified":"2021-11-09T11:29:41","modified_gmt":"2021-11-09T19:29:41","slug":"the-gift-of-the-mother","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lapis-mercurii.org\/lvx\/the-gift-of-the-mother\/","title":{"rendered":"The Gift of the Mother"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This is the exhortation I delivered at the conclusion of a Baptism I performed in Seattle on 7 Nov 2021. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Welcome to Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As I said earlier, this rite symbolizes a second birth. Our first birth, our biological birth, was made possible by two humans: our father and our mother.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our symbolic second birth is into an awareness that we have two heavenly parents, not just one. They are Nuit and Hadit, Babalon and Chaos as in the Creed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

From our heavenly father, we acquire the power to act, to choose our course in life, to make decisions for ourselves, and to determine our way. Your choice to come here today and to make this commitment with us is made possible by virtue of the gift of the father, Hadit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From our heavenly mother, Nuit, we acquire our being. From her we acquire the gift, the opportunity to be. Before we ever choose to act, we are beneficiaries of the gift of being.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our biological parents gave us life. However short of perfection they fell, our caregivers gave us enough, otherwise we would not be standing here now. We were too vulnerable and frail to have made it alone. The gift of the heavenly mother is like this, yet it continues to sustain us all throughout our lives. It sustains us now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the Book of the Law <\/em>she says, \u201cI give unimaginable joys on earth \u2026 nor do I demand aught in sacrifice.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s great news. We have much to be thankful for\u2014really the entire bounty of nature. We partake of the bounty of the sun as well as the air and water and the food we eat. We enjoy the bounty of our companions and all the other living creatures on the planet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And we have the gift of our bodies. It’s easy to take our bodies for granted\u2014or to even think we’d be better off without them. But just try to imagine for a moment\u2014really imagine\u2014that you were a spirit without a body. Imagine the pain of trying to speak without a voice. Imagine trying to love someone without being able to put your arms around them. Imagine never being able to set anything right ever again. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Can we really afford to waste so much as a single moment of this life we have been given? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A second birth calls us to mindful recollection of this continuing gift, to be amazed by it. To be grateful. To experience a renewed sense of urgency. And to model our relations toward one another on the basis of the very same generosity of which we are the beneficiaries, a generosity which we call agape <\/em>or love. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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