Avé Maria

The teachings of Jesus are as pure, direct and liberating today as they were before two thousand years of appropriation and institutionalisation by the church ~ and it's just as possible for us now to enter into direct relationship with God. As Hildegard of Bingen said,

The Word is living, being, spirit, all verdant greening, all creativity. This Word manifests itself in every creature.

Mary, in her many guises ~ including Our Lady of Guadalupe, the Magdalene and the Black Madonna, has long been an inspiration to me.
In Her I find the Christianity of my ancestors, stripped of dogma and judgement, with a deeply compassionate open heart.
In Her too, I find the earthy, welcoming intimacy of the lap of the Mother Goddess familiar to all our ancestors.