The Creation Spirituality Lineage Calling All Social and Environmental Activists, Mystic Explorers, Justice Makers, Cosmic Thinkers, Earth Keepers

Daily Meditations with Matthew Fox 

12/13/2024

As the results of the election ripple out, learn the deeper stakes involved. Get your copy of Trump & the MAGA Movement as Anti-Christ: A Handbook for the 2024 Election today! Choose your format in the book block below. 

Her red gown signifies “the Immaculate heart coursing with life.” The gown includes living roses outlined in gold. Roses “lift the human spirit” to ideals of “Love and Love and more Love,” Clarissa tells us. The dark belt around her waist “is the color of black fertile earth.” 

And of course soil is the victim today of humanity’s rapaciousness and global warming–just two nights ago in my Shift class* with cosmologist Brian Swimme, he told us that we have lost 40% of the world’s arable land in the past 40 years! This even as our human population continues to multiply.  

“Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe.” Stained-glass mosaic by Josephine Alexander of Grandmother Moon Mosaics. Published with permission.

A crescent moon represents the beginning of a new cycle of Light to the world and the flowers the Lady stands in depict a “spiritual light that is said by the mystics to emanate from the wounds we endure—lighting a new pathway.”

The fire that surrounds her body is the fire of the Holy Spirit, who inspires souls. In the Aztec/Nahua times, one who flames and inspires was called “Firemaker.” It also represents a fireside or hearth that warms the soul and body and brings hope under duress.

Clarissa shares what she calls “the most beautiful words” attributed to Our Lady of Guadalupe:

“Totus Tuus Sum Maria.” painting of Our Lady of Guadalupe holding St Juan Diego, in the Church of the Sacred Heart in Puebla. Photo by Fr. Lawrence Lew, OP on Flickr.

  Have you forgotten?
         I am your mother.
          You are not alone.
You are under my protection.
          Anything you need,
                   ask me.
Do not worry about anything.
                   Am I not here—
          I who am your mother?
          Have you forgotten?
          I love you, and
you are under my protection. 

This Lady first appeared to a “frightened little Aztec Indian on the Hill of Tepyac in Mexico in 1531.” The “dark-skinned, brown-eyed, shiny black-haired Indian is 

now called ‘Saint Juan Deigo’” (canonized recently about 500 years after the visitations to him. Juan Diego’s original name is Cuauhtlatoatzin, which can be translated as “one who sees and speaks like the eagle.”

The Lady is a symbol of resistance and healing and renewal of love among devastated peoples. Clarissa comments on how Dr. Elaine Pagels, in her book Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas, details “one of the many ancient appellations of Creator as Mother” and how a movement of consciousness occurs from one of “a slave relationship” to the Creator based on fear, to understanding one’s soul and life as a cherished one, one held with the tenderness of a Mother who is far more than mundane.

Clarissa also invokes the teaching of Father Gustavo Gutierrez, known as the father of liberation theology, praising him for not “romanticizing the poor." He says, “poverty is not a condition, but an injustice.”  

She praises him for holding up the Holy Mother who models the reaction most warranted for growth: trust in the sacred…not the paltry-sweet, but the fiercely intelligent, wholly miraculous reality.  And for insisting that we can walk “in the ancient practice amongst old believers ‘as a contemplative in action.’”**

“La Virgen Indígena”In this banner by Zapatista artist Petul, the Virgin of Guadalupe and her angels wear the rebel bandana of the southern Mexican indigenous resistance. Photo by Lorena on Flickr.

In Clarissa’s judgment,

 Holy Mother is Compassion personified.
        She is joy-centric and sorrow-mending…
    She appears to all.  All.  Like the sun shines on all…..
She is the fierce Revolutionary who carries infinitely tender love.
          Thereby, she is ours, and we are hers.

*Registration is still open HERE for Matthew’s class with Brian Swimme on the Shift Network: “The 4 Paths of Creation Spirituality: Embracing Awe, Chaos, Creativity and Transformation With the Universe as Your Guide.”

**Clarissa Pinkola Estes, PhD, Untie the Strong Woman, pp. 296-299, 315, 305.

See Matthew Fox, “The Feminine Face of Divinity” and “Wisdom: Another Feminine Face of the Divine,” in Fox, One River, Many Wells: Wisdom Springing from Global Faiths, pp. 117-156.

And Fox, “Sacred Marriages of Masculine and Feminine,” in Fox, The Hidden Spirituality of Men: Ten Metaphors to Awaken the Sacred Masculine, pp. 221-248.

And Fox, Christian Mystics: 365 Readings and Meditations

And Fox, Naming the Unnameable: 89 Wonderful and Useful Names for God…Including the Unnameable God, pp. 59-70.

Banner Image: “Ex-Voto” Inscription beneath the drawing reads: “With a serious disease affecting animals all around, I asked the Holy Virgin of Guadalupe to take good care of my animals, and I wholeheartedly entrusted my little goats, pigs and chickens to her, and our crops so we wouldn’t lose them. And since not a single one of my animals died, I gratefully present her with this retable. ~~ Mrs. Cipriana Garcia, El Progreso, San Luis Potosi. November, 1954.” Photo by Angélica Portales on Flickr.

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Queries for Contemplation

How do you relate to Our Lady of Guadalupe after interacting with the teachings of Clarissa Pinkola Estes?  Does she speak to you apropos of the spiritual demands of our time in this advent season?

Recommended Reading

One River, Many Wells: Wisdom Springing from Global Faiths

Matthew Fox calls on all the world traditions for their wisdom and their inspiration in a work that is far more than a list of theological position papers but a new way to pray—to meditate in a global spiritual context on the wisdom all our traditions share. Fox chooses 18 themes that are foundational to any spirituality and demonstrates how all the world spiritual traditions offer wisdom about each.“Reading One River, Many Wells is like entering the rich silence of a masterfully directed retreat. As you read this text, you reflect, you pray, you embrace Divinity. Truly no words can fully express my respect and awe for this magnificent contribution to contemporary spirituality.” –Caroline Myss, author of Anatomy of the Spirit

The Hidden Spirituality of Men: Ten Metaphors to Awaken the Sacred Masculine

To awaken what Fox calls “the sacred masculine,” he unearths ten metaphors, or archetypes, ranging from the Green Man, an ancient pagan symbol of our fundamental relationship with nature,  to the Spiritual Warrior….These timeless archetypes can inspire men to pursue their higher calling to connect to their deepest selves and to reinvent the world.
“Every man on this planet should read this book — not to mention every woman who wants to understand the struggles, often unconscious, that shape the men they know.” — Rabbi Michael Lerner, author of The Left Hand of God

Christian Mystics: 365 Readings & Meditations

As Matthew Fox notes, when an aging Albert Einstein was asked if he had any regrets, he replied, “I wish I had read more of the mystics earlier in my life.” The 365 writings in Christian Mystics represent a wide-ranging sampling of these readings for modern-day seekers of all faiths — or no faith. The visionaries quoted range from Julian of Norwich to Martin Luther King, Jr., from Thomas Merton to Dorothee Soelle and Thomas Berry.
“Our world is in crisis, and we need road maps that can ground us in wisdom, inspire us to action, and help us gather our talents in service of compassion and justice. This revolutionary book does just that. Matthew Fox takes some of the most profound spiritual teachings of the West and translates them into practical daily mediations. Study and practice these teachings. Take what’s in this book and teach it to the youth because the new generation cannot afford to suffer the spirit and ethical illiteracy of the past.” — Adam Bucko, spiritual activist and co-founder of the Reciprocity Foundation for Homeless Youth.

Naming the Unnameable: 89 Wonderful and Useful Names for God …Including the Unnameable God

Too often, notions of God have been used as a means to control and to promote a narrow worldview. In Naming the Unnameable, renowned theologian and author Matthew Fox ignites our imaginations by offering a colorful range of Divine Names gathered from scientists and poets and mystics past and present, inviting us to always begin where true spirituality begins: from experience.
“This book is timely, important and admirably brief; it is also open ended—there are always more names to come, and none can exhaust God’s nature.” -Rupert Sheldrake, PhD, author of Science Set Free and The Presence of the Past

Trump & The MAGA Movement as Anti-Christ: A Handbook for the 2024 Election

Matthew Fox tells us that he had always shied away from using the term “Anti-Christ” because it was so often used to spread control and fear. However, given today’s rise of authoritarianism and forces of democracide, ecocide, and christofascism, he turns the tables in this book employing the archetype for the cause of justice, democracy, and a renewed Earth and humanity.

For immediate access to Trump & The MAGA Movement as Anti-Christ: A Handbook for the 2024 Election, order the e-book with 10 full-color prints from Amazon HERE. 

To get a print-on-demand paperback copy with black & white images, order from Amazon HERE or IUniverse HERE. 

To receive a limited-edition, full-color paperback copy, order from MatthewFox.org HERE.

Order the audiobook HERE for immediate download.

The Return of Father Sky: A Cosmic Mystery for Kids of All Ages

The second book in the Father Fox’s Fantastical Fables series, The Return of Father Sky helps boys and girls to celebrate a new relationship with the masculine by way of Father Sky, whose return excites joy and wonder and possibility that enlarge the soul to welcome others and all creation. Written in a rhyming Dr. Seuss-like style, this full-color, beautifully illustrated book, written by world- renowned theologian Matthew Fox weaves together modern science and classic spirituality in a whimsical, entertaining format to illustrate important truths to readers aged 4 and up. With artwork curated from illustrators around the world, this book expresses the joy and wonder of all peoples and cultures, planting seeds of respect, cooperation and hope to work together for the healing of our planet.

UPCOMING EVENTS

See Matthew Fox's full calendar HERE

MONTHLY: Join Matthew Fox, Mariko Middleton, and Skylar Wilson of the Order of the Sacred Earth in a free virtual meeting for connection and networking with other mystic warriors. Last Tuesday of every month, 4:00-5:00pm PT. 
Join Zoom Meeting: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88665302478  
Meeting ID: 886 6530 2478

Learn more at www.orderofthesacredearth.org

Join Matthew Fox for an on-site and online Advent Retreat titled “A Great Coming: Creation Spirituality and the Renewal of Religion, Humanity and Holy Mother Earth,” hosted by Immaculate Heart Community, Los Angeles. Saturday, 12/14, 9 AM -5 PM; Sunday, 12/15, 9-11 AM. 
Register HERE.

Creation Spirituality Conversations

Hear  a conversation between Matthew and Ana Otero of The Desert Rose Mystery School in "Mystical Pathways. A Sacred Talk with Matthew Fox, founder of the Creation Spirituality Movement."

View this post, video, and more on our website

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