The Quest for the World Mother and the New Age John Noyce Melbourne, August 2019 Copyright John Noyce 2019 In the later nineteenth and early twentieth centuries there were several mystics and writers, mostly women, who referred to God in the feminine. Some, such as the Russian exiles Zinaida Gippius and Dmitrii Merezhkovskii, used the Trinity-based three epochs (ages) of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit/Mother, first formulated by Joachim of Fiore in the twelfth century. (for other examples see Gould and Reeves 2001). Some feminists, such as Josephine Butler (1828-1906), referred to God using dual feminine and masculine terminology. (Noyce 2007 ch4) Christian Science and New Thought The American spiritualist Mary Baker Eddy (1821-1910) founded the Christian Science movement which survives to the present day in several English-speaking countries. Eddy refered to the ‘Father-Mother God’ in her teachings, and this was also used by her followers. An example here would be the Australian Christian Scientist, Mary Joliffe Benney of Ballarat (a town in the state of Victoria) who in 1909 wrote: Here, under the Southern Cross, I give thanks to our Father-Mother God for the glad comfort of Christian Science, which he has revealed to our beloved Leader Mrs Eddy, who has so abundantly fulfilled the command, “Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God” (quoted in Roe 1998:315). The autocratic nature of Eddy’s Christian Science movement led to the departure of many, including Emma Curtis Hopkins (1849-1925) who was denounced by Eddy in 1887. Hopkins became the primary founder of the New Thought movement. Hopkins and her students originally referred to themselves as Christian Scientists but then were forced to use a range of descriptors such as ‘Metaphysical’, ‘Truth’ and ‘Unity’ in the names of their organisations after Eddy obtained, and enforced, a trademark for Christian Science. Hopkins adopted Eddy’s use of radical terminology such as Father-Mother God believing that it is “proper to use the masculine, feminine or neuter pronoun when referring to Deity” (quoted in Michell 2002:10). According to Michell, Hopkins referred to a threefold principle of Father, Son and Mother or Holy Spirit, in three distinctive historical periods, the third of which was that of the Holy Spirit, the Mother-Principle or the divine Comforter. Michell seems to be unaware of the Joachimite antecedents of this three-age typology. Hopkins wrote that the women she ordained were special messengers of “the new era of the Holy Mother Spirit” (quoted in Michell 2002:12). (for biography see Harley 2005) An early student of Hopkins was Frances Lord of Chicago who published a monthly journal, Woman’s World, the success of which led to the publication of her book, Christian Science Healing, published in London in 1888 during Lord’s extended visit to England. This book includes references to God in the feminine: “when you take Truth into your mind, she makes herself at home; she turns out all the gaudy and untrue pictures, and in their stead, you find her own lovely form and face, at every turn” (p365, quoted in Michell 2002:14) Lady Caithness and the New Age In 1881, the wealthy spiritualist and later theosophist, Marie Sinclair, Duchess of Pomar, Countess of Caithness (1830-1895), hosted a séance in her palace in Nice, France, in which it was revealed to her that there would be a revolution in religion which would result in a “New Age of Our Lady of the Holy Spirit.” In her book, The Mystery of the Ages (1887), she comments: It was generally considered, at the turn of the next century, that the next Divine incarnation was about to come to earth and would be female, the advent of Divine Wisdom, or TheoSophia, and that the present age would be the age of making known all that which has been kept secret from the beginning. (quoted in Noyce 2007:115) The English spiritualist, feminist and theosophist, Anna Kingsford (1846-1888) had a prophetic vision (in 1880) which began: And now I show you a mystery and a new thing, which is part of the mystery of the fourth day of creation. The word which shall come to save the world, shall be uttered by a woman. (from Clothed with the Sun (1889)) Theosophy and the World Teacher The Theosophical Society began in New York in 1875 and was led by Helena P.Blavatsky (1831-1891) and Henry Steel Olcott (1832-1907) who channelled ascended spiritual masters from India and Tibet, and were influential in a series of progressive political causes from women’s suffrage to Indian independence. In 1879 they moved the world headquarters to India, first in Bombay and then Adyar, a suburb of Madras (now Chennai). The second generation of the theosophists, led by Annie Besant (1847-1933) decided that a young Indian, Jiddah Krishnamurti (1895-1986) was their messiah. A theosophical organisation, the Order of the Star in the East (OSE) was established in 1911 with Krishnamurti as its messianic central figure as World Teacher. Its members (some 30,000 at its peak in the 1920s) were anticipating a new age. All that came to an abrupt halt in 1929 when Krishnamurti dissolved the OSE, abdicated his position as the World Teacher, and walked away arguing that “Truth is a pathless land” and that an organisation “to lead or coerce people along any particular path” was unnecessary. (Sutcliffe 2007:52-53; Dixon 2001:7779,227; Roe 1986:353-356; Williams 2013:490-496) Katherine Tingley and the feminine new age Katherine Tingley (1847-1929) was an American theosophist who led the group of American theosophists that in 1900 moved to Point Loma, near San Diego in California, to establish a community where ancient souls could reincarnate and be raised to become leaders of the expected new age of human history. Madame Blavatsky had written of the Universal Divine Principle as being “neither Father nor Mother”, and that the end of the nineteenth century roughly coincided with the end of a cycle within the Dark Age (Kali yuga in the Indian tradition), and that this would be followed by the dawn of a new cycle. (Dixon 2001:154) This millennialist vision of an expected new age with a new race and a new messiah led to the foundation in 1908 of the Theosophical Order of Service with branches in both England and the USA. The rhetoric of the New Age can be found in the writings of some English theosophists during the years of the First (or Great) World war. E.A.Wodehouse, a leading figure in the OSE (and the brother of the comic novelist P.G.Wodehouse) wrote of the world being “at the dawn of a New Era.” Wodehouse and the educationalist Beatrice de Normann both saw the turmoil of the Great War leading to a New Age. (Dixon 2001:139-140,142) Clara Codd, an English suffragette-turned theosophist, linked women’s struggles for freedom with the emergence of the New Age, writing in 1918: The advance of the new era is showing in as equally marked a fashion in the outer world of men’s obligations and relationships as in the inner world of the religious consciousness. The one is indeed the outcome of the other, for to draw nearer to reality within is also to perceive it more clearly without. (quoted in Dixon 2001:177-178) Tingley believed that this new age would be feminine, and be led by women. She expounded on this belief in her writings, particularly in her book, Theosophy: the path of the mystic (1922): The world is starving for the psychological touch of something higher from women, and that something higher can spring only from an inner devotional attitude of mind. (ch.6) It is impossible to gauge the significance of the present time or to realise what is in store for humanity during the next hundred years, merely from our own experience and from recorded history. For this is no ordinary time. It is not simply the culminating point of the past hundred years, but of thousands of years; the night of centuries has passed, and with the new dawn comes the return of memories and powers and possibilities of an age long past. (ch.7) The theosophists continued to expect a new age. Allan J. Stover, writing in the Theosophical Forum for April 1948, commented: It seems obvious that a new cycle, one is tempted to say a new world, is at our very doors. Amid the world-shaking confusion, a new humanity and a new civilization are seeking birth. Rukmini Devi as the World Mother In the mid to late 1920s as the theosophists were wrestling with the increasing independence of Krishnamurti, the idea emerged of a World Mother to complement the World Teacher. The controversial and scandal-prone theosophical leader, C.W.Leadbeater published a booklet in 1928, The World-Mother as Symbol and Fact, in which he suggested that ‘a mighty Angel’ might console mankind or rather, womankind. (Roe 1986:356-7). Also in 1928 Annie Besant declared that Rukmini Arundale (1904-1986), the Indian-born wife of the English theosophist George Arundale, had been chosen to lead the World Mother movement. After Krishnamurti left theosophy in 1929, Rukmini continued her new role as Devi or World Mother, merging her love for dance and the arts with the ideals of the Theosophy Society led by her husband. In the 1930s Rukmini Devi-Arundale took inspiration from both theosophy and from the anti-colonial nationalism expounded by Mahatma Gandhi, establishing an international academy for the arts in 1936, renamed as Kalakshetra in 1938. (Meduri 2001; Kothari 2004) The World Mother movement never gained a real following, even amongst the most dedicated theosophists. Even Rukmini Devi seems not to have taken it seriously. In an interview in 1979, she denied ever representing the concept of the World Mother, and considered it simply meant her doing work in the arts and for humanity. Taken in that sense, Rukmini Devi had been able to be an influential Indian theosophist and representative of Indian women in the 1920s and 1930. After the passing of Besant and of her husband, George Arundale, Rukmini Devi was able to devote herself fully to the arts in India. (Dixon 2001 ch.8) Nicholas Roerich and his paintings of the World Mother Nicholas Roerich (1874-1947) was a Russian painter, theosophist and spiritual teacher who left Russia after the Revolution, living in New York in the 1920s. After travelling in Asia, he and his family settled in India in 1929 where he founded the Himalayan Research Institute. He co-founded the theosophical Agni Yoga Society with his wife Helena. Roerich’s concern for peace led to his establishment of the Pax Cultura. He gave his name to the Roerich Pact, an early international agreement on cultural property signed by members of the PanAmerican Union in 1935. Roerich painted several frescos and paintings of the World Mother in the 1920s and 1930, always with no face because, as Roerich observed on several occasions, the World Mother had not yet taken arrived. An early fresco, produced in Russia in 1910 before his departure, has a Dedication which begins: Far up lies the celestial path. The perilous river of life flows along. On its rocky banks perish inexperienced voyagers who are unable to discern the direction of good and of evil. The Allmerciful Queen of Heaven is solicitous about the inexperience voyagers. The All-benevolent One speeds her help to those on the hazardous paths She wants to envelope the whole human sorrow of sin with a virgin veil. And ends with A great prayer rises unto Thee. The virgin prayer of the Mother of the Lord. Let us bring thanks to the Protectress! Let us proclaim the Mother of the Lord: Every living thing rejoices in Thee, Blessed One. (from Roerich, Realm of Light) Alice Bailey and the new age Alice Bailey (1880-1949) departed from the Theosophical Society in 1920 after announcing in 1919 her channelling of an ascended master. She established the Lucis Trust in New York in 1922 which became the umbrella for a series of projects, such as the Arcane School, to bring in the new age. In 1932 Bailey wrote a letter to The Occult Review: Man is emerging into an era of peace and good-will, but a great effort is needed to force open the Door leading into the New Age. (quoted in Sutcliffe 2007:68) Bailey fused theosophical and Christian elements into her theory of the new age including references to the “advent of Christ” which might take the form of an “actual physical coming’ or a “tremendous inflow of the Christ principle” (Esoteric Psychology, 1936; quoted in Sutcliffe 2007:70). Indian gurus and the Divine Mother It was not only the western mystics who believed in a new age of the Divine Feminine. Their counterparts in the Indian spiritual tradition also had this belief, and several gurus associated themselves with women to whom they attributed spiritual powers. Ramakrishna (1836-1886) was a Bengali spiritual teacher and inspiration for the Ramakrishna Mission and the Ramakrishna Order. He believed that his wife Saradamani, later known as Sarada Devi (1853-1920), was a manifestation of the Mother Goddess. (Long 2011:246-7; Sen 2013:578-585; Long 2013:610-618) Aurobindo Ghose (1872-1950), better known as Sri Aurobindo, was a yogi-guru who settled in the French colony of Pondicherry in southern India, attracting many followers, including Westerners. One of those was the French woman, Mirra Richard, who Aurobindo and his followers referred to as ‘the Mother.’ He saw Richard as an incarnation of Sakti, the Mother Goddess. (Heehs 2013:400) Through the centuries there have been many female ascetics in India. In the twentieth century women gurus emerged who were regarded by their followers as a manifestation of the Divine Mother. Anandamayi Ma (1896-1982) was from Bengal. Mata Amritanandamayi (1953-), also known as Amma and ‘the hugging saint’, is from Kerala. Guru Mayi (1955-) is the current leader of the Siddha Yoga movement. (Long 2011:35, 33,134; Clementin-Ojha 2011:65-66) Shri Mataji and Sahaja Yoga Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi (1923-2011) began her spiritual teaching in 1970 in Bombay (now Mumbai) in Maharashtra. Moving to London in 1974, Shri Mataji travelled extensively throughout the Western world during the 1980s and 1990s giving mass Kundalini awakening and teaching the principles of Sahaja Yoga. Her followers, the Sahaja yogis, regard Shri Mataji as the full manifestation of the Mother Goddess. 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