The Meaning of NativityThe Meaning of NativityThe Feast of the Nativity is the great Midwinter Festival in Aristasia, It is celebrated particularly in the West, in much of Arcadia and in some parts of the East.
Nativity is the Birth of the Daughter. To understand what this means, one has to look at the Filianic understanding of the Daughter. This is best expressed in the words of the Filianic Creed:
I believe that Dea is One
and there are none beside Her,
And I believe that She is also Three.I believe in the Mother,
Who is pure Light.
the Creatrix of the earth and of the heavens
and of all the illimitable cosmos.And I believe in Her virgin Daughter,
born of the virgin Mother,
the ruler of all the energies of creation,
Whose nature is perfect Love.And I believe in She that stands beyond these Two,
Whose Name has not been spoken on this earth;
For She is the Beginning and the End,
the First Principle and the Final Cause.
the unoriginated Origin of being.
This Divine Triplicity has been compared with the Christian Trinity and, perhaps more accurately, with the Hindu Trimurti. In this second comparison, the Mother, Daughter and Dark Mother are seen as Creatrix, Preserver and Destroyer of the Universe. The “Destroyer” being in fact the Point of Origin from which the manifest cosmos flows and into which it returns at its dissolution.
Another important way to understand this is to see that the Dark Mother is Nirguna Brahman — God beyond Form (in this sense alone does She appear “dark” to us, for we can only see that which has form); and the Bright Mother is Saguna Brahman — God with form. However, the Mother's form is so perfect and so overwhelming that we imperfect creatures cannot perceive Her directly. As the Filianic texts say, “Her brightness is too great for us to look upon”. She is the Supernal Sun that cannot be gazed upon by the human eye.
Of Her compassion, then, She gave Birth to Her Daughter, who is the Supernal Moon, reflecting the beautiful and terrible light of the Mother in a gentle form, that we may see and by which we may be illumined.
This concept is expressed elsewhere without the explicit doctrine of the Daughter being involved. In the ancient indian Scripture, the Devi Gita, Dea in Her Transcendent form appears before the devas (Angels or demigods) and even they are dazzled and unable to see Her.
1.26. Suddenly, on the ninth lunar day in the month of Caitra, on a Friday,
That lustrous power revealed in Scripture appeared before the devas.1.27. Praised on all sides by the four Vedas incarnate, She blazed like ten million suns, yet soothed like ten million moons.
1.28. Flashing like ten million streaks of lightning tinged with red, that supreme lustrous power
Shone forth unencompassed above, across, and in the middle.1.29. Without beginning or end, She had no body, no hands, no other limbs.
This is the supreme Solar Mother, brighter than our material sun (She is described as blazing like ten million suns). Her lunar nature is already present (for the Daughter is inherent in the Mother) but in Her plenary form, even that, with its soothing quality, is overwhelmingly great.
1.30. The dazzling brilliance blinded the eyes of the gods, O Mountain.
In some texts, this point is emphasised with descriptions of the trembling terror struck into the devas by the awesome appearance of Dea in the fullness of Her glory. In Her compassion, therefore, She takes on Her gentle form: that which can be seen and loved by created beings:
When again their vision returned, the devas beheld
1.31. That light appearing now in the form of a woman, charming and delightful.
She was exceedingly beautiful of limb, a maiden in the freshness of youth.1.32. Her full, upraised breasts put to shame the swelling buds of the lotus.
Her girdle and anklets jingled with clusters of tinkling bells.1.33. She was adorned with a necklace, armlets, and bracelets of gold,
Her throat resplendent with a chain of priceless gems.
We quote this because it is important to understand the the Daughter-Principle is universal. Whether we see the Daughter as a separate Person, or simply as the Mother veiling Her terrible glory that we may look upon Her and love Her, is really only a matter of perspective. In fact, both are equally true.
Many Deanists, in line with the Devi Gita, tend to regard this veiled, compassionate Mother in the light of Her Motherhood rather than Her Daughterhood:
1.40. Richly adorned in garments all suited for love, she was worshiped by all the devas.
Satisfying all desires, she is the Mother of all ...1.41. The Mother’s kindly face, so gracious, displayed a tender smile on the lotus mouth.
This embodiment of unfeigned compassion the devas beheld in their presence.
for the Filianists, this encounter of created beings with the unbearable majesty of Supernal Dea is expressed thus:
1 And She walked across the seas and deep into the forests of the earth until She came upon the deep cave that was at the centre. 2 And She entered the cave. And a star rose above the sacred grove that lay about the cave, brighter and more resplendent than all the stars of the heavens. 3 And the star was seen all over the earth; and the children of the earth were filled with wonder, and they came to the place where the star stood in the sky. 4 And those that were princesses among them brought their crowns to the sacred grove as gifts, and shepherdesses brought the new-dropped lambs, and all the daughters of the earth brought forth the fruits thereof to lay before the cave.
5 But before the cave stood a Janya of Dea, robed in a garment so white that the eyes of earth's children were dazzled, and with a countenance of such great beauty that it was a fearful thing to look upon it. 6 And the daughters of the earth covered their eyes and threw themselves to the ground.
7 And the voice of the Janya was like to the rushing of a thousand waters. 8 And she spoke, saying: Be not afraid, for a new Light is dawning over the world. Be not afraid, but approach no further, for if you cannot look on me, how should you look upon my Lady, whose handmaiden I am?
That “new Light” is the Daughter. And it is by bearing the Daughter that the Mother makes Herself visible and approachable to Her created children. That this Daughter is the Mother Herself is beyond doubt, for in the previous Chapter we read:
6 And when the waters became calm again, the Mistress of All Things rose to Her feet. 7 for She had conceived a Daughter that was not separate from Her, but one with Her, and the Child of Her Light.
It is the birth of this Daughter that is celebrated at Nativity, and that, indeed takes place at Nativity, since these Divine events do not take place in time but are eternal and are bound up with the sacred cycles of the year.
Now whether we regard the daughter in the Filianic light, or whether we tend to see her as simply the Mother in Her veiled or “lunar” aspect, is, as we have seen, a matter of perspective. And as we have discussed elsewhere, different perspectives in Aristasia do not constitute different “religions” in the Western Tellurian sense. We do not regard one as “right” and another “wrong”. For this reason, in the West, where Nativity is generally celebrated, it is celebrated by Aristasians of all perspectives and devotions.
In the West, Nativity is often considered the greatest Festival of the year, perhaps because in directional symbolism, the Winter season corresponds to the northern direction, and thus the Winter festival has a special significance in Northerly climes. Much of the symbolism of nativity is connected with the Solstitial symbolism of winter — including such folk-traditions as the Star-Fairy coming down the chimney, which is based on the idea that the house is a microcosm of the world in which the chimney represents the Northern Gate through which the soul may attain liberation, and also through which the Divine may enter the world.
For all of us, Nativity is the great celebration of the love of Dea for the world and for Her children. And all of us feel the magic of singing together:
Hail to the light of the glorious morning,
Hail to the first gentle rays of the dawn,
Hail to the star that has guided us onward,Hail to the Princess,
Hail to the Princess,
Hail to the Princess of Light that is born.
See Who is the Daughter to understand the basis of Nativity
The Meaning of Nativity at the Chapel of Our Mother God
