Madrianism, the Virgin Mary, and Pseudohistory

 The Madrians set about bringing back worship of the Goddess and from everything I have learned about the first group, worked within a Catholic frame and started with the apparition of Lourdes; their interpretation was it was not Mary, but the Goddess reaching out to once again connect and 'bring back the truth' per the Madrians. This is seen in their first dating system in their publication 'The Coming Age' where they date the year as Apres Lourdes. They utilized images of Mary for devotional purposes, and the statue outside of their house in Ireland was of the Mary of Lourdes. They later brought forward, as they worked more within a Traditionalist mindset, the importance of the concept of 'living stream' imagery and thus felt it most appropriate to use Marian iconography in worship, being the one remaining image (in their interpretation) of the Goddess down through the years in Western civilization. This was in turn, incorporated into their attempts at a 'long standing tradition' kept in secret amongst small British groups, that they were now bringing to the forefront to enable others to worship the Goddess once again. 

They were among the growing groups of the goddess movement of the 1970s, and while they were vastly different than other groups, they were not unlike many neopagan movements there was an undercurrent to 'prove' lineage by means of invention, to be frank. Over the years the problems with this came to be more or less acknowledged, and groups have worked to look towards actual folk traditions of their background and research what archaeologists and ethnographers can actually state with better understanding. The Madrians, building on their notion of secret, unbroken goddess worship, which they called the Rhennes, had also their own language/dialect called Rhennish. We do not have full knowledge of this language unfortunately, but from one fragment comparing a piece of Scripture in modern English, it seems to be a derivation of Old and Middle English. One of the original Madrians has been said to have been a medieval scholar in college, so there was knowledge of older forms of English to develop Rhennish.

In this author's estimation, it was regrettable to invent this history, though there is something to be said to focus on language; language informs worldview of both an individual and collective consciousness and therefore spirituality, but this topic is lengthy to discuss so I shall leave that for another discussion.

There is, however, much study done on the Virgin Mary in connection with Goddess worship. Within the scriptures of Catholicism, Mary is hardly mentioned and generally without deference. So how did she come to the fore of Catholic adherents so fervently? Having grown up in the Catholic church I am quite familiar with Marian devotion, and have studied early Christianity over the years to better understand it (as, in my opinion, Christianity is so pervasive that the whole of the Western world is subtly to overtly present in our day to day dealings). Christianity began in a world where there was vast syncretism between cultures, and this new religion was very much a part of this process. For example, the cult of Isis was very present in the Mediterranean area and we can see the obvious similarity of Isis and Mary statues, both holding and/or nursing an infant. When the Romans began to travel to Northern Europe, they assimilated the various gods of the area and also applied the names of their gods onto them; one example in Britain would be a local well goddess, Sulis, having Minerva put upon her and thus we see dedications from locals addressed to Sulis Minerva in her shrine. Christianity was no different, syncretizing various traditions and beliefs into their developing religion as they spread across the world. 

Mary was a portion of this syncretism, and absorbed various aspects of various goddesses as the religion progressed. While I have yet to obtain a copy of the book The Virgin Goddess: Studies in the Pagan and Christian Roots of Mariology by Stephen Benko, one quote I have seen mentioned is:

"Christianity, 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 cult of Cybele, the Great Mother in the Roman religion (who was herself a syncretized goddess from Anatolia), was subsumed, as were such goddesses from the Gallic and other groups known as the 'Three Mothers'. Within the Christian bible there are even recurring 'Three Marys', seen at the foot of the cross after the crucifixion of Jesus and again at his tomb (more on this later on). The various epithets of Mary are quite diverse, from Queen of Heaven, Mystical Rose, even Empress of Hell,  and they weave a complex picture and can get quite specific to the areas where she has a devoted following. One can certainly see evidence of many goddesses that were once worshipped in the areas that Mary now holds sway over, as even the locations of the churches are sometimes placed where a goddess was revered.

Once Christianity spread to the Celtic areas of the north, syncretization kept on, with saints also subsuming/incorporating local deities. St. Brigid is the most well known example of this, but she was also curiously noted to be called the foster-mother to Christ, a seeming connection to Mary. A great article discussing Mary and Brigid can be found here. Other Christian myths in England developed in the Middle Ages, such as Joseph of Arimathea being said to have delivered the Grail to Glastonbury in Arthurian legends! Though it was not only England attempting this; France had a legend of the Three Marys, Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer, where the three Marys at the crucifixion traveled to France (Marie-Madeleine, Marie-Salome, and Marie-de-Cleophas). 

Focusing on the Three Marys, in the Celtic areas there was certainly prior triplicity conceptions of goddesses, as in the Morrigan, but also within Brigid (as the healer, of inspiration, and smithworking), and most certainly the Matronae, the three mothers seen seated together in reliefs. The triplicity conception remains entrenched today in neopaganism with the very popular maiden/mother/crone. Though within Madrianism, while there is a triplicity in Goddess, it is as creator/sustainer/destroyer, with Dea, the Daughter, and the Absolute. 

I have laid all of this out to say that, while the Madrian pseudohistory erred, there is an argument to be had here for a continuation of Goddess into Christianity and Mary. This has been a subject of research for years now, and one can more confidently say that Goddess worship has continued over the years, albeit in a subsumed and contorted form (as the Catholic church insists that it is Veneration of Mary that occurs, not worship). The feminine divine has been latent to forefront of religion, even in Christianity, and while I feel that Madrianism faulted in their formation of their background, I can more confidently move within my faith to state that the divine feminine remained to this day. It will require more education on my part to uncover how the divine feminine moved throughout the centuries, but still I am able to worship as a Madrian in this age. The early Madrians gave a gift of a structured religion that has benefited me greatly, and I see no demerit in removing the fabrications that do not truthfully represent the historic past as we know and understand it, but rather can strengthen our relationship to the faith and work with better clarity as our religion develops our rites and thealogy. 

From the explosion of Marian devotion in the Middle Ages, giving us the rosary and beautiful Marian prayers, to today's Madrian faith and other Goddess movements, we can know that the divine feminine presence has been with us and will continue to be.