Pagan Blog Project: Isis-Demeter

In 1999, scholars Timothy Freke and Peter Gandy wrote a book called, The Jesus Mysteries.  The book contended that Jesus was originally a deity of a Hellenistic Judaism group that was like other dying-rising Gods of the time, a syncretic deity labled as Osiris-Dionysus.  While the book was filled with errors about both Early Christianity and the Mysteries that even a bout of passive research would uncover (and errors parrroted by Zeitgeist), the idea of Osiris-Dionysus is an ancient one.  The Neoplatonists of Late Antiquity noticed this, and the Greeks syncretised Dionysus and Osiris for centuries prior to that.  Alexander Hislop, in his anti-Catholic conspiracy theory about how the Papacy is the Antichrist, labeled the Catholic Jesus as Osiris-Dionysus (and ultimately linking it back to a supposed idea started by "Nimrod and his mother Semiramis", note that Nimrod, if he existed, lived centuries before Semiramis).  He also stated that Mary was Isis, and also Ishtar and Inanna and Astarte.

While it is well known that a lot of Marian devotion comes from Isian devotion, and the image of the Theotokos with Jesus is based on statues of Isis nursing the baby Horus, is it possible that there is a feminine analogue to Osiris-Dionysus, an Isis-Demeter.  Was Hislop ri... oh screw that, Hislop was as correct as saying that Jesus was actually an alien, or an alien-hybrid.

In Book XI of The Golden Ass, the character of Lucius, still in the form of a donkey, bathes himself in the sea and prays for salvation and the restoration of his human form.  He then sleeps and wakes to find a Goddess in front of him.  The Goddess, Isis the Queen of Heaven, sates this:

...for the Phrygians call me Pessinuntica, the mother of the Gods: the Athenians call me Cecropian Artemis: the Cyprians, Paphian Aphrodite: the Candians, Dictyanna: the Sicilians , Stygian Proserpine: and the Eleusians call me Mother of the Corn. Some call me Juno, others Bellona of the Battles, and still others Hecate. Principally the Ethiopians which dwell in the Orient, and the Egyptians which are excellent in all kind of ancient doctrine, and by their proper ceremonies accustomed to worship me, do call me Queen Isis.

So Isis was considered a Goddess known by many names in many regions.  This was partially due to the major mytheme of the West, of the dying-rising God; and partially due to the popularity of the Goddess in the Ancient World.  People loved Isis, they also loved Demeter, and both were Goddesses that supported the poor and the downtrodden, and both promised a good afterlife.  Isis was also equated with deities that were associated with the stories of ressurection, like Hecate and Diana (Diana/Artemis, for those who do not know, was said to have sent the boar that killed Adonis, the dying-rising God associated with Venus/Aphrodite).

One thing that Hislop actually kind of got right was that this tradition continued on with the Virgin Mary.  Mary assumed a lot of the titles and ways of devotion that was given to this previous group of deities that I call Isis-Demeter.  Marry was associated with Goddess like Quan Yin in China (some even think Quan Yin was inspired by Mary, or even Isis, to form a feminine form of Avalokiteshvara), Tonantzin (which was more of a title than a deity), and the like.  Now, this doesn't mean in the least bit that Catholic and such are Goddess-Worshipers in the least bit, they worship Mary like a Buddhist worships the Buddha, meaning that they don't at all (instead, the term is veneration, especially in Christianity, where worship is saved for God alone).  However, many modern Pagans and Goddess-Worshipers (I do differentiate between the two, not all Goddess-Worshipers are Pagans) do worship Mary as a Goddess.

The Goddess of Wicca, and of many Wiccan-Influenced Neopagans, can be considered a modern form of Isis-Demeter.  In fact, I mentioned earlier in my posts for Pagan Blog Project that Babalon is a modern day Ishtar, whom can also be included in Isis-Demeter.  One of the central Wiccan stories is the Descent of the Goddess, in which after the death of the God, the Goddess descends into the underworld and encounters the Lord of Death, with whom she shares her mysteries, and discovers that he is the God, but in a new form.

Now what does this mean for modern Pagan Theology (or Thealogy, depending on if you view Theology and Thealogy as separate fields)?  Well, first ofall, let it be noted that I am writing this from my own standpoint in Traditional Neopaganism, neither Eclectic Pagan/New Age nor from a Pagan Reconstructionist stand-point.  With that out of the way, we can see that not only do we have the continuity of an archetype, that of the central mytheme of Western Civilization and the Mysteries, but also a return of the Goddess to that story.  In the myth of Christ, Mary only plays the role of mother and one of the first to discover the risen Christ.  While she plays the role of Mediatrix and Co-Redemtrix (depending on who you ask) in tradition, in the story, she has a very minor role.  Compare this to the Mysteries of the Ancient world, and the modern Pagan traditions influenced by Wicca, where her central role is restored.  Not only do we see this continuity of the archetype, but a sort of process change as well.  The Gods do not exist in a vacuum, they change with the times.  This is Process Theology in some regards.  Here the relationship between us, the world, and the Gods is focused on becoming rather than being, and that God does change.  Not only have the Gods changed, but in some ways, so has the mythos.  This works in relationship to the idea that, to the Pagan, we don't hold our myths to be fundamental truths, but mystical and philosophical guideposts on how to live our lives.

What is most important about Isis-Demeter is that, much like Osiris-Dionysus, the persistence of the Goddess/archetype through history proves that it is very dear to us, and that the changing of the seasons and our own selves is still as important as it was long ago.  The restoration of importance to Isis-Demeter and the role of the feminine in the Ressurection Myth has come at a time where we have felt ourselves throw nature out of whack, and lose our sense of morality in the universe.  By morality I do not mean the Divine Command Theory loved by those who bemoan the fact that people have lost their moral compass, I mean it like it is thought of by the Freemasons, where morality and ethics are "what make good men better."

We cannot have an Orisis-Dionysus without Isis-Demeter.  The Myth of Adonis is incomplete without Aphrodite/Venus, and there can be no Tammuz without Ishtar, much like how even the story of Jesus would be sorely lacking without Mary to suffer alongside him.  The Triple Goddess of many Neopagans including Wiccans would not be without her.  I end with part of a Mormon Hymn.  I know, Mormons aren't exactly known for their glowing view of women, with their Goddess being a hidden figure and excommunication awaiting those who try to worship her, but this famous quatrain from "O My Father" describes how both are necessary:

In the heavens are parents single?
No, the thought makes reason stare.
Truth is reason: truth eternal
Tells me I've a mother there.