FEMININE MYSTERIES OF THE BIBLE

The author began her quest for knowledge of the feminine mysteries in the Bible in 1969, and her research has taken her on spiritual journeys from Guatemala to Crete. Here she unveils sacred mysteries and the alchemical relationship of the male and female forces at the heart of the Judeo-Christian traditions. She explores four archetypal women in the Bible - Tamar, the sacred prostitute who disguises herself as a harlot to entrap Judah when he fails to make good on his promise to marry her to his son.; Rahab who uses her identity as a prostitute to save representatives of the people of Israel, and thus becomes a foremother, the Meretrix; Ruth, who redeems the soul; and Bathsheba, the daughter of the Goddess, King David's concubine, who transmits the collective Jungian soul teachings. These women, sacred prostitutes one and all, represent the indestructible feminine life force, the wisdom of the Goddess, and the transformative power of the soul, and they symbolise the four stages of the development of soul consciousness. Mary, mother of Jesus, is the quintessence of these four women, but Rusca shows us the dogma of the Immaculate Conception had repressed the significance of Mary and subverted the divine feminine in Christianity due to the church's fear of women and their life-giving energies. Chapters cover the historical periods of the four women including the Patriarchs, Judges, Prophets and Kings, and the Feminine Divine and the Reclaiming of Wholeness. 144 page softback.