This extract from Revelations of Divine Love is from chapters 54 and 63 from the fourteenth revelation. Here Julian discusses the implications of the fact that there’s no real separation between us and God. She shows that it’s through Christ as our Mother that we are restored to our innate goodness through grace. From chapter… Continue reading Julian of Norwich: the Motherhood of Christ
This extract from Revelations of Divine Love is chapter 53 from the fourteenth revelation. Here Julian discusses how God created mankind and the difference in the creation of the body and the soul. She explains how the soul was created out of God himself – in the image of God – which is why there’s… Continue reading Julian of Norwich: Nothing between God and the soul
This extract from Revelations of Divine Love is chapter 49 from the fourteenth revelation. Here Julian discusses the impossibility of God ever being angry and how the soul can be united with God by finding peace within itself. “It was astonishing to me and I considered it carefully in later years that during these revelations… Continue reading Julian of Norwich: God is never angry
This extract from Revelations of Divine Love is chapters 41 and 42 from the fourteenth revelation. Here Julian discusses the difficulties and importance of prayer. She shows that prayer comes from our divine nature in union with God and that God is the essence of everything. From chapter 41: God is the foundation of our… Continue reading Julian of Norwich: On the importance of prayer
This extract from Revelations of Divine Love is chapter 32 from the thirteenth revelation. Here Julian discusses the problem of evil and carefully skirts around the teachings of the church. She explains the importance of faith and offers a reminder that we can’t know how God achieves his plan. What seems impossible to us, isn’t… Continue reading Julian of Norwich: The problem of evil
This extract from Revelations of Divine Love is chapter 11 from the third revelation. Here Julian discusses how God acts within the creation and that nothing happens by accident because it’s all his doing. God does everything so it’s all good. She sidesteps the question of sin at this point, but comes back to it… Continue reading Julian of Norwich: How can anything be amiss?
This extract from Revelations of Divine Love is chapter 5 from the first revelation. Here Julian discusses the nature of the creation and marvels at how small it is when seen within the eternity of God’s existence. She goes on to express the impossibility of finding peace within something so small and limited. “At the… Continue reading Julian of Norwich: Creation as tiny as a hazelnut
Julian of Norwich was a mystic and anchoress of the 14th century and wrote Revelations of Divine Love, the first book to be written in English by a woman. Not much is known about her life, but she was born in about 1342 and may have been from a wealthy family that lived in Norwich.… Continue reading Julian of Norwich: Revelations of Divine Love
A perfect example of the Cancer archetype on film is mother! – a mind-bending Gnostic creation myth stuffed with Biblical metaphors and Kabbalistic symbolism. It’s a home invasion story told from the perspective of Mother Earth and was inspired by the children’s book The Giving Tree. The film was marketed as a horror movie but… Continue reading mother! – God, Creativity, and Pesky Humans
A perfect example of Taurus on film can be found in Chocolat, a light-hearted fable that makes your mouth water just watching it. Like all good films, it’s about many things: religious belief v atheism, feminism, inclusion, temptation, and what it means to live a good life. It’s a tale of freedom and longing, forgiveness… Continue reading Chocolat: Healing the Past and Making Life Sweeter
Part of my occasional series on mystical and gnostic themes in Film & TV. The film adaptation of the Ubisoft game Assassin’s Creed had some intriguing possibilities in its mythology so I checked it out. There’s a lot of hoo-ha around the problem of video games making bad movies and many people were optimistic about this… Continue reading Assassin’s Creed: a film confused by its Gnostic roots
Extracts from the last chapters of the classic mystical text The Cloud of Unknowing. Here our anonymous author explains who the book is for and offers some final words of encouragement to those called to the contemplative life: from Chapter 74: The author takes his leave “Now if you think that this kind of prayer… Continue reading Cloud of Unknowing: Final Words
