The fullness of the earth is yours O Lady
Thus You are clothed with glory and beauty:
Every precious stone is your adornment & your clothing.
The brightness of the sun is upon your head:
The beauty of the moon is beneath your feet.
Shining orbs adorn your throne: the morning stars adore you.
Be mindful of us, O Lady, in thy good pleasure:
And make us worthy to glorify your name.
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Psalms of Aset Maryam
I have recently started a new website / blog. This is its first blog posting
I have had some problems knowing what to chose as my first subject for this blog. Obviously the subject should be about Isis, named as I was first introduced to her in the language of Greece, but as Aset as she was originally known within Ancient Egypt. The question is what should I first say about Isis. For most persons who have some sort of relationship with Isis whether through introduction to her as one of the numerous Kemetic goddesses, or through the more esoteric mode of New Age, magic centered spirituality movements Isis is viewed though the lens of a Pagan polytheistic identity, and thus she is more often seen as one goddess among many, to which one goes perhaps for healing of spirit or body.
Or perhaps one connects to her as a symbol or archetype of the soul or as a personification of esoteric knowledge…
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In my most recent post, I gave a brief summary of one aspect of Devotional Isianism. I now want to discuss the Theanic aspect of my own form of Isianism. The words “Theanic” and “Theanism” comes from the Greek word “Thea” which simply means “Goddess” / Female Deity. In my personal spiritual pathway the word “Thea” is personally related to the word “Dea” which is the Latin word for Goddess or Female Deity. Theanism is a coined word. Why have I coined it? Clearly because it says something about my worldview.
During the late 2000’s I became aware of a religion having a very small but dedicated following called De’anism, though its followers often also referred to themselves as Filianists meaning literally Daughterists. Note. I am the only person I know of who has referred to them by that term. De’anism means the religion of Dea. Within De’anism, Dea is our Mother God, God the Mother. She is the Creator, Sustainer and ultimate Cause and Purpose of the universe. Deanism believes in a God who is one but simultaneously three. She is God the Mother and the Creator, God the Daughter, sustainer and ultimately savioress of the universe, and she is the Dark Mother, the ultimately transcendent, formless Mother who can not be known. Deanism has a scriptures made up of both a myth of creation, fall, and salvation and a group of short wisdom chapters which lay out a way of life which De’anists find to be satisfying. These scriptures were composed / revealed to a group of young women in Oxford, England in the 1970’s. The scriptures were to be the basis of a matriarchal and communal counter-society in opposition to the contemporary, liberal, consumer society which existed then and now. Clearly the founders of the religion failed to achieve the latter goal but the religion still exists and has some presence on the internet.
Now to get back to myself. I joined the Deanic faith in 2012, thinking that I had finally found a religion to which I could give my whole commitment. Unfortunately besides aspects of the faith which I loved there were aspects in both doctrine and practice to which I did not relate. I need not go into these issues now. Suffice it to say I finally separated from the community after several years of deep involvement. However in spite of this separation I still find much to admire within De’anism of both the past and the present. The most important aspect of which is that De’anism for a variety of reasons focuses almost solely on the Feminine nature of God. De’anists do not tend to see Deity as balanced between a male persona and a female persona. Thus their worship is focused on God the Mother, Queen, Mistress, etc and they do not attempt to divide their love and worship between that God and a male equivalent of King, Lord, etc. That works for me! If the Christians, Moslems, Jews and others see no problem with an entirely Masculine vision of God I do not see any problem with having a strictly feminine vision of God. I was called to it.
My final point. The reason I refer to my own form of Isianism as being Theanic based as opposed to Deanic is simply because I want to cause no confusion regarding my relationship with De’anism. My theological is strongly influenced by it but I make no claims to being De’anic. I am The’anic.
After my last post, I planned to discuss how Marian traditions can relate to Isian ones. I will at some point do that. However I want to take a pause here and move in a more immediately necessary direction. In recent posts I have often used the word “Isian” to describe my own spiritual religious path. Unfortunately the word “Isian” or an alternative “Isiac” can not be found in dictionaries and the fact is that there is no organized religion called Isianism nor any organized Isian faith. What is true is that over recent decades individual persons such as myself have periodically referred to themselves and their religious beliefs as “Isian” because in some manner Isis has become central to that person’s religious or spiritual worldview. It must not be assumed, however, that most of these people relate to Isis in any similar way. There are diverse ways in which Isis can be central to one’s life.
It is commonly understood that the Christian Marian devotionalism was influenced by the Goddess devotionalism of the ancient world. And while Mary has never been officially envisioned as divine within official Christian theology, she was clearly envisioned within traditional Christianity as having many of the same powers that only the most powerful of goddesses of the Ancient World would have processed. Isis was certainly one of the preeminent of these goddesses.
All mortals who live on the boundless earth
Thacians, Greeks and Barbarians,
Express Your fair Name, a Name greatly honoured among all, (but)
Each (speaks) in his own language, in his own land.
The Syrians call You, Astarte, Artemis, Nanaia,
The Lycian tribes call You: Leto, the Lady,
The Thracians also name You as Mother of the gods,
And the Greeks (call You) Hera of the great throne, Aphrodite,
Hestia the goodly, Rhea and Demeter.
But the Egyptians call You Thiouis’ (because they know) that You, being
One, are all
I have recently changed the name of this blog to better reflect its purpose. Its prior name “In the Way of Maat / Aset Maat, ” which does accurately reflect themes of significant meaning to me, unfortunately probably did not communicate much to others. I think that the new title “Isis as Thea as God” will be much more explanatory of its purpose. So what do I mean by saying that Isis is God? I mean that Isis means to me much of what the title of God means within the monotheistic religions of the Abrahamic traditions and within the more inclusive monotheisms of India particularly those of Shiva, Krisna, and the Great Goddess ( Mahadevi) traditions.
Thus Isis is the Center and Creatress of both the spiritual and material realities of the universe(s). She is the eternal source of life as Apuleius said during the Greco-Roman period “You whirl the sphere of heaven and give light to the sun, you are the governess of the universe and trample down Tartarus” Furthermore ‘the gods above adore her as do the gods below.’ And as her fourth hymn at her Temple at Philae stated nearly 400 years earlier “Indeed , She is the Lady of Heaven, Earth, and the Neitherworld, Having brought them into existence through what her heart conceived and her hands created.” In believing that Isis is God thus I am attempting to carry on much of the tradition of those persons who during both the Hellenistic and Roman periods did see Isis as being the center of their religious universe.
Now I want to deal with the last part of the title now. Isis is Thea. Thea is the ancient Greek word for Female Divine Being in other words Goddess. It is the equivalent to the Latin term for Goddess, which is Dea. Simply stated the word Thea is my general word for God who I feel called to envision in feminine terms as opposed to in masculine terms as is the Abrahamic norm. Since creation comes “from out of the being” of a God of Love then feminine terms for God seem to me to be more appropriate than male terms. Thus when I think of God I normally think of She.
Now the fact is that I do sometimes address Lady Isis as Goddess in my personal devotions. However in general communication I tend to avoid using the word “goddess” because of the various ways it is used negatively in a popular culture. Instead I use the word Thea or God in normal discourse often interchangeably or together. When using the word Thea I wish to communicate that for me God is more properly viewed as being a female / feminine being as opposed to being a masculine or impersonal “it” being.
I have been in the process of refocusing my writing. And one of the results of this is that I will be using this blog in some of the ways in which it was originally intended when it was created over a decade ago. Within that purpose discussion of the subjects of Isis and the Virgin Mary were central. Over the years that changed when it became increasingly obvious that my desire to help initiate a dialogue regarding the status of the Virgin Mary between Christians and Pagans had failed. It also became obvious that my own dreams that a bhakti religion in devotion to Isis might develop clearly were not going to be realized.
At that point I then went on and expanded the subject matter of the blog in other directions particularly into the areas of Filianic / Deanic theology when I became committed to that religion for a period of years.
Now for several years this blog has been inactive and I have been out of the Deanic religion, though there are still commonalities between that faith and my own. Now in what will probably be the last active writing period of my life
before my inevitable decline, I am returning the centrality of Isis to this blog again. Aligned with this, I have also become much more familiar with the general subject of inclusive monotheistic tendencies within the religions of ancient nations such as Egypt and Greece. I have been particularly interested
in the Amunite solar religion during Egypt’s New Kingdom, Ramesside period. During that time period the
worship of Amun took many theological aspects which pushed it into a strong Panentheistic and inclusively monotheistic direction.
Thus a discussion of certain aspects of Ancient Egyptian religion will be discussed periodically within the blog as well. And of course in general I will change directions in my writings as I see fit.
I have two blogs of which this is one in which I have posted little during the last two years. During the past year most of my online writings, to the degree that I have had the time to write, has been focused on posts to the Reddit online community. That is still the place in which I think that I will apply myself most vigorously in the foreseeable future. However I have decided also to begin posting within the two blogs which have been committed to religious issues of importance to me.
Some of the future posts here will in fact not be new at all. They in stead be reblogs of articles I have written previously , which I feel are still of value. Other articles will be new. I obviously will to a significant degree be moving in newer directions in my writings and I hope obviously some may find the new posts of interest.
Within most religious traditions there is a concept of divine order. truth, justice, or law which is viewed as central to those religions. Thus within Judaism the Torah is central and plays a equivalent role to that which Jesus plays within Christianity. Within Islam the concept of Islamic law, the Sharia, is second only to the Koran in importance. Within both Hinduism and Buddhism the concept of Dharma is central. Within the Zoroastrian religion a central theological tradition is that of the Seven Bountiful Immortals / Angels. Of these the most important conception is that of Asha / Asa which is divine truth / righteousness / law, etc. Within the Pagan society of ancient Egypt a central role was played by Ma’at. Maat for the ancient Egyptians was both moral ideal and endeavor but also the Goddess who manifested those qualities. These are just some examples of the centrality of…
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Glenn King
Isis as Thea and God 