Someone asked me recently why the feminine mysteries were so buried in the Bible. My answer:
The Bible, both Old Testament and New Testament, was written primarily by men, and (especially for parts of the New Testament – the Epistles) arguably by men who had little understanding of the importance of the feminine. Hence, what is found there concerning the feminine tends to be “between the lines” as it were. Important allegorical supplementary material is available in the form of the Classic Jewish Folktales. Micha Josef Bin Gorion collected these in central Europe in the mid to late 19th Century much in the same manner as the brothers Grimm. There is much true in these tales, and they expand upon the creation stories, Cain and Abel, etc. Steiner referred to them occasionally. I would look there for an understanding of the feminine in the Old Testament. A translated version of these tales is available from amazon.com.
In the Old Testament the feminine stream is represented by Abel – not Abel as an individual person, but Abel as a pictorial representation of a certain type of human being. All of Genesis is to be read as an allegory, and not as literal fact. Names are indicative of tendencies that many individuals manifested at one point or another (even and especially Adam and Eve). After the Flood the Old Testament moves into the historical. Solomon – an actual individual, and thus simultaneously both archetypal and factual – is also representative of the feminine stream.
Recent Comments