It's December, and in some Christian churches that means that Mary gets three holy days this month. Yep, three of 'em: the Immaculate Conception, the feast day of Our Lady of Guadalupe, and Christmas—which, like all good mothers, she shares with her child. December is also a good time to talk about things that might not be what they seem to be, even though they make a good story. Like virgin mothers and holy icons.
For instance, the Immaculate Conception feast day, December 8, is not about Jesus being born of a virgin. It's not even about Mary being born of a virgin. It's about Mary receiving divine grace so that she was born pure enough—that is, without Original Sin—to birth a divine son even though she herself was the result of standard human sex. Really. It's actually a Catholic theological device adopted officially in 1854 after centuries of development and debate. This tenet of dogma is confusing even to serious Catholics, so don't expect me to be able to explain it. Suffice it to say that she was born with a free pass (from Original Sin) that the rest of us did not get.
Another Mary story is that of the appearance of Our Lady of Guadalupe (pictured below right), celebrated on December 12. She appeared to an indigenous peasant named Juan Diego near present-day Mexico City. After years of investigation and a century or more of deliberation, she became the only Catholic Church-recognized appearance of Mary, Queen of Heaven herself, in the Americas. So far.
In the sex-positive community, she is seen not so much as the compassionate, virgin Mother of God, but as the embodiment of female physical love and motherhood. Her beautiful image resembles a vulva, clitoris and all—the one instance of such an icon in Christianity that I know of (though there are still those unexplained Sheila-na-gigs plastered on the outside walls of churches in Europe). If you know of others, do tell!
Mary is not allowed the title of Goddess nor is she officially allowed “worshipers.” She was not divine, after all. But the son of God needed a purer vessel than your typical human female through which to incarnate. Theologians work out logic discrepancies such as these in ways that might confuse most of us, but the common folk often carry on with their beliefs even if their religion comes up with doctrines to the contrary. So we find times and places in which Mary is worshiped as a divine being in her own right, whether the Church approves or not, and sometimes even without a general belief in her virginity.
Eventually, the churches usually catch up with the people's beliefs and practices. Many of the feasts for Mary were adopted after decades or centuries of “grassroots pressure” from Mary's admirers. They were consistent in their devotion to the female figure regardless of her official status, and finally, papal decrees and theology agreed. Now Mary has more official feast days than any other Christian entity—at least 15 per year—some of which commemorate her appearances to peasants who, intentionally or not, started the grassroots movements.
But are they “true” or are they just good stories that fit the Church's desire to control the poor as some claim? Is it possible that there are other options than just true or false?
Let's go back to the virgin Mother of God story. Throughout history, including during the time of Jesus and Mary, virgin births were not rare. Many famous people were reported to have had a virgin mother (all of them men for some reason). Lots of gods in lots of religions were virgin-born: Zoroaster, Zeus, Horus, Perseus, Asclepius, and more. There were plenty of proclaimed virgin-born humans, too: Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar. Why, it even turns out that Plato's parents were platonic!
Then there were all the children born of Temple Whores. The Sacred Prostitutes were considered virgins until they experienced secular sex. When one of the women got pregnant as a result of embodying the Goddess in ritual, the offspring was considered a “virgin birth.” In some cultures, “virgin” simply meant unmarried. Since getting married required an officiant who was not always available, a couple could be well on their way to a happy family by the time there had been a ceremony. This could have been the case in the time and place that Mary birthed Jesus.
So instead of true or false, there's “true” and “another true.” Deities and religions morph over time. Stories and truth trade places. True and another true is what has allowed believers to share the stories that resonated for them and convinced religious leaders to amend spiritual doctrines. Maybe one day, Our Lady of the Glorious Vulva will become an official, true story of Christianity.
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