#lux madriana

[tellurian-in-aristasia]

Good news, everypette! Filianic Studies appears to be back online for the time being! This doesn't appear to be just a reupload of the archived Wayback Machine either, because I see pages that never got archived are available again. This is an incredible resource to have available again, and I encourage everyone to save copies of whatever they're interested in for themselves, as well as manually save these pages to the Wayback Machine, just incase.

[sunbeam--daughter]

A question, from a conversation i had on discord with a sister. So ive read that in the Chelouranyan sexes, Blonde is Sushuric and Brunette is Thamic. That begs the question, what is the difference between Thamic and Vikhelic? One would think that the Brunette sex would be Vikhelic. Arent they the warriors of the Motherland etc? Thanks <3

@elfi-nimwelana i thought you might have some good insight!

[moonlit-magdalene]

my (filianic) reading challenge for 2023

1 Read The Clear Recital!

2 Read an academic book about female-centric religiosity (Sjoo, Estés, Bolen, etc.)

3 Read a classic fairytale (as witten down by Grimm, or Andersen, or other folklorist of your home country) centered around some feminine archetype (Baba Yaga, Cinderella, Snowhite,..) and study relevant literature about your chosen story

4 Read a biography of a woman you look up to

5 Read a biography of a woman you despise

6 Choose a Marian apparition and study it using multiple sources

7 Read a text written by one of our Madrian foremothers (as compiled in Opera Omnia I. & II.)

8 Read a book about folk traditions of your home country

9 Choose a topic regarding some natural phenomena and study an encyclopedia about it (flowers, crops, weather, sea, trees, animals, astronomy, rocks, crystals, fish...)

10 Choose a goddess or heroine from any pantheon and read stories about her (multiple sources, multiple translations,..)

11 Read any contemporary fiction book by a female author

12 Enough with the reading - now try to write something, anything - a poem, short story, essay, maybe even a whole novel, or if it all sounds overwhelming, at least try to compile notes and gather your thoughts about previously read texts.

[magnamarya]

so i really like mary

[maid-of-dea]

"The light of our Lady should shine not only in our devotion, but in every aspect of our life—indeed, if we forget Her throughout the day, how shall we come to Her in our devotion?"

- The Madrian Way of Life (Opera Omnia pt. 1)

[maidenofsophia]

"What advice would you give to someone who wanted to deepen and develop her spirituality?"

"The greatest obstacle to such development is an impersonal idea of God. The essence of spiritual development is an ongoing personal relationship with Her. Of course there are lots of ways of developing that relationship. Through meditation techniques, ritual, the Rosary, and so forth, but the first essential is simply to open contact—to let Her through, as it were. The important thing to remember is that She is always with you, and always trying to contact you, you only have to allow Her in, to give Her permission, because She will not take you by force. Set aside a time of quietness regularly each day. Don’t make prayer a formality, talk freely to Her; if you have difficulty in accepting Her, talk to Her about this. Ask Her to take control, to pray through you. Read the scriptures she has given to us in this age, particularly the Mythos of the Divine Maid and the Crystal Tablet. These will help you to have a closer understanding of Her, and will provide a basis for meditation."

- Interview with Sister Angelina of Lux Madriana

[underhermantle]

Hello! Does anyone have a link where I can get Myths & Rites of the Madrians? I lost my copy and would very much like another. Thank you.

[deanic-collective]

The Filianic Catechism

It is often asked, even within the Déanic community, what constitutes Filianism? What separates it from other Déanic religions? This has become even more of a hot topic recently as it’s become clear that Filianism, while its own religion, is not a single belief anymore than Christianity or Wicca is. Below is the Catechism of Our Mother, taken from the Chapel of Our Mother God, website. This outlines the core beliefs of Filianism, with the preceding description:

“In some versions this Catechism has been added to with material that is not universally agreed upon, but this is the basic and original Catechism of the Children of Dea, upon which every Filyana can agree.”

This is referring to other traditions linked to Filianism, such as the Order of Kore Di-Jana (Janite), whose version of the Catechism can be found here.

The statements of the Catechism are all linked with the mythos and teachings written down in the Filianic scriptures known as The Clear Recital. Whether the Recital is seen as a description of true events outside of our reality or divinely inspired poetry, or something between the two, is up to the Filyana themselves - either way, they are the primary influence of our faith.

A Short Catechism of the Children of Dea

I. THE ORIGIN OF THE SOUL

1. From whence do you come and where is your first origin? I was created from before the beginning of time by Dea out of the overflowing of Her divine love.

2. What manner of creature are you? I am the reflection of a fragment of Her eternal Spirit.

3. What have been your actions since the beginning of time? I have passed through many states of existence and many forms of life (although I can remember but a little).

4. How came you upon this wheel of countless existences? In the beginning, my soul turned from the love of Dea and so fell into exile from her natural state.

5. What is the natural state of your soul? The natural state of my soul is Perfect Union with Dea, which is the state of pure delight.

6. What is the first cause of existence? Dea is the first cause of existence, for She created the manifest universe.

7. What is Dea? Dea (”Day-ah”) is the one Spirit of the universe, complete in Herself, uncreated, and infinite in potency, perception and perfection.

II. DEITY

10. What are the three Forms of Dea? Our Celestial Mother, Her Divine Daughter and the Dark Mother who is Absolute Deity.

11. Who is our Celestial Mother? The Mother is the Creator of the world, and Ground of all being.

12. What is Her Nature? She is pure Life, pure Light and pure energy.

13. What are Her Acts? All life, all action and all thought flow from Her.

14. Who is Her Daughter? Her Daughter is Princess of the World, Priestess of the World and Queen of Heaven.

15. What is Her Nature? She is pure love.

16. What are Her Acts? As Princess of the World, She governs all the cycles of life and nature; as Priestess of the World, She gives us Communion with Her Mother; as Queen of Heaven, She shall bring us at last to the Celestial Throne.

17. Who is the Dark Mother? She is Absolute Deity, Who existed before the beginning of existence and is beyond being and unbeing.

18. What is Her Nature? She is outside space and time; She is all that is and all that is not.

19. What are Her Acts? The exhalation of Her breath or Spirit is our Mother, the Creator of the world. Of Her other Acts, our minds cannot conceive.

III. THE NATURE OF DEITY

21. Had Dea any beginning? Dea had no beginning and will have no end.

22. When did Dea create the world? She creates it now and in every moment; if She ceased to create it, it would cease to exist.

23. Where is Dea? She is in every place at all times.

24. What is the name of Dea? She has been given many names by many different peoples.

25. Yet are there many Gods? No, there is only one God. 26. Are there any other Deities? There are no other Deities.

27. Who are those others that some worship as Deities? Some are forms under which Dea may appear, or under which certain creatures may perceive Her, others are Janyati and creatures of the higher spheres.

28. Could Dea have a special relationship with one or more of these higher creatures? She could have no special relationship.

29. What is the reason of this? Firstly, She alone is uncreated; all other beings are of Her creation, therefore none can exist on Her own level. Secondly, the highest relationship between creature and Deity is that of Perfect Union; this is the final aim of every soul, and no special relationship can be higher than this.

30. What are the powers of Dea? The powers of Dea are infinite; no thing is impossible to Her.

31. What is the knowledge of Dea? The knowledge of Dea is infinite; She knows all that is, all that has been and all that is to come.

For a commentary on each of these points, I recommend reading the full page here.

According to some, the term Filianism used to be used as a term for those Déanists who focused their beliefs purely on the Holy Daughter (Déa Filia), while ‘pure Déanists’ focused on the Mother and Trinitarii Déanists focused on all three aspects of the Trinity. While this may have been the case, many different religions that are completely separate from the movement of Lux Madriana and the authors of the Clear Recital, also fall under the umbrella of Déanism. Many of these have their own Déanic Trinity that is viewed completely different from the theology of Filianism. Not only that but, having spoken to many who identify as Filianist, they consider themselves devoted to all three aspects of the Trinity. Even the Chapel website backs this up.

As I mentioned before, Filianism is not a single belief, though it is a religion in its own right. When one refers to Orthodox Filianism (or Chapel Filianism) they are referring to the path that follows the beliefs, calendar and cosmology written on the Chapel of Our Mother God. An Independent Filianist, or Eclectic Filianist, may agree with most of the basics of what is outlined in the Catechism and follow the Clear Recital, while not necessarily following the same calendar or views on the Chapel. They may lean more towards the beliefs of the Janite tradition or the Lucienne tradition, to give just two examples. They may synchronise their own previous beliefs with Filianism, as I myself have done with Sophian Filianism; an adaptation of my previous Gnostic beliefs into Filianism. This can be achieved with any belief so long as the Mother God has no male superior or equal (Father God) and likewise the Daughter has no brother-bridegroom figure as Her opposite, and the other beliefs fall in line with the basics of the Catechism. 

Whether you call on Her as Inanna, Kore, Zoe or any other name,

May Déa Filia be with you.

~ Sorella Roselyn

[blessedishername]

Filianism and Déanism

Dear Sisters (and brothers, whose inmost souls are sisters) in Dea, As our conversations have continued over the last several months, and my study of the writings of our foremothers has deepened, I have noticed some significant shifts in alignment, as well as important nuances about the terms that reflect them. These, I think, require a measure of discussion about our shared terminology moving forward. Over much of the past couple of years, the use of "Déanism" to name our religion seemed to have become widespread, owing to the existence of some prominent movements that used the Scriptures and drew inspiration from the Madrians, but who were uncomfortable, for various reasons, describing themselves as "Filianic". Under those circumstances, the use of "Déanism" as an umbrella term, reserving "Filianism" for the specifically Aristasian/Chelouranyan form, was sensible and useful. It was not unproblematic, however. As the Chapel's article "What is Déanism?" indicates, the term was never intended to denote a religion, but rather a "minimal thealogical position" of adherence to the One Thing Needful, in contrast to the more elaborate thealogical and liturgical structures of full-blown Orthodox Filianism, with which it formed a continuum. Thus, largely disrelated religions, such as Shakta Hinduism, Magoism, or the unknown religions of matriarchal Old Europe, could all be classed (alongside Filianism) as "Déanic", much as Filianism and all the Abrahamic religions can be classed as "monotheistic", without implying that they are sects or divisions of some larger structure. The de facto use of Déanism as a more specific umbrella for Madrian-descended religions (as in the ECE), thus occasionally conflicted with (legitimate) efforts to describe Shakta Hinduism and other paths as "Déanic". This usage creates a secondary difficulty also in the discussion of prehistory. In my review of Madrian texts hosted at the Archive, I have come to suspect that significant confusion was caused by a similar overuse of "Madrian", which in some texts seems to refer specifically to the tradition of Lux Madriana and other orders beginning in the 1970s, but in other texts seems to carry a meaning more like the original sense of "Déanism"—i.e. a religion characterized by devotion to a feminine, monotheistic deity. In that sense, it was perfectly legitimate to speak of the religion(s) of Old Europe, as described by Gimbutas and others, as "Madrian". Much as the overly literalistic in the Muslim community have for many centuries tried to interpret the theologically nuanced assertion that all the prophets back to Abraham were Muslims as implying that they prayed five times a day toward Mecca and ate halal meats, however, the assertion that these peoples of distant history were "Madrians" in that broader sense was easily confused for a claim that they were Madrians in the narrower sense. A similar confusion is a long-term possibility if the word "Déanism" continues to be forced into both the roles it has recently played. All these concerns being out on the table, I also note that most major participants in the community who formerly had reservations about self-describing as Filianists have now dropped them, as those same groups and individuals have come into closer (though not total, which is fine) accord with the teachings of the DoSH. It therefore seems to me, in the interests of avoiding confusion, enabling precise thealogical discussion, and facilitating consistency in marking information about ourselves online, that we should perhaps, as a community, agree to relegate the term "Déanism" back to its original sense as a descriptor of a feature of some religions, rather than a name for a specific religion, and to consistently label our religion, based on the Scriptures and the inheritance of Madrian/Aristasian/Chelouranyan teaching (with which it is, again, not necessary to be in 100% agreement, as the Chapel itself often emphasizes) as "Filianism". This would only avail us, however, if we were to do it collectively; otherwise we would still have the same confusions that exist at present. What are all your thoughts, sisters? Would all of you be willing to/comfortably able to identify as "Filianists"? Are there other suggestions? (I myself have more than once considered whether, drawing on Sarah Morrigan's term, we couldn't use "Oxonian Revivalist" as an umbrella.) The sooner we can come together on this point, the easier a time we will have, I think, representing ourselves as a consistent and credible community meriting consideration and representation (just look at the ways in which one can now gain a seat in interfaith fora, or access to chaplaincy services, etc. thanks to the widespread recognizability of the term "Pagan" in ways that would be much more difficult for someone trying to constantly explain to government agencies or NGOs why they should care about their being, say, a "Kemetic Reconstructionist"). May She be with you all, Race

[mydevotionstodea-blog]

I first discovered Ekklasia Madriana - the Mother Faith now known as Deanism aged 18 through a booklet in a bookshop. It had started in Oxford, England in the mid 1970′s. There were 2 orders. 1 quietly gathered devotees through Madria Olga Lotar, from which the Janite Tradition comes. The other, Lux Madriana became Aristasia. I became a Madrian and later in life discovered the Janite Tradition which includes all genders, some choose to practice a Blended Path such as Deanic Christians, Deanic Jews and Deanic Pagans. Some also honour the Divine Masculine.

[tellurian-in-aristasia]

A quick guide to who's who in The Coming Age / early Madrian writing.

Sister Angelina, Lady Alethea FiaMoura - Priscilla Langridge, later known as the Mushroom Princess or Cure Dolly. Sister Chrysothemis - Maureen Evans, one of the earliest Madrians, who lived in the same flat as Priscilla when the early volumes of The Coming Age were published, under the same address. The BBC Podcast about St. Bride's believes that she was the programmer of the mid 1980s video games. Sister Julia - Uncertain, but presumably she would be either Miss Langridge or Miss Evans. But this is based entirely on my own personal feelings and could be entirely wrong. She is the Maidrian being interviewed in the Filianism Origins blog post. Madria Moura, Phoebe - The only annointed Madrian priestess at the time, Priscilla would have been her understudy, given the last name "FiaMoura". Mary Scarlett - Later used the much more well-known name "Miss Martindale". Sources for identifying these individuals is the Madrian Deanic Resources blog and associated Facebook page, which was penned by a woman who lived with the Madrians in the mid to late 1980s and appears to be personally familiar with the people she was speaking of, as well as the Filianism Origins interview. Other associated names can be found in this blog post, however, not all of them were used for The Coming Age.

[tellurian-in-aristasia]

This is quite out of season, but a rite for blessing a Nativity tree is listed in the 13th volume of The Coming Age

[tellurian-in-aristasia]

A 1983 volume of Womanspirit contains a run down of what Lux Madriana was all about at the time. Womanspirit had mentioned Lux Madriana a handful of times, including several letters in 1980, one of which was from Alethea Fiamoura.

[tellurian-in-aristasia]

I’ve been digging deeply into the history of Lux Madriana lately, and have found some particularly interesting things that I hope I’m allowed to report on very soon.

Previously, I had found the idea that they were able to start an electricityless occult community based on a fictionalized history of the world, and were able to maintain that a fairly large and wide-spread community throughout the 1970s, quite far fetched. I mean, I knew they did it, I didn’t believe that that part of it was fictitious. But it still seemed like an impossible task.

But, the more I learned about Lux Madriana, the more I learned about the spiritual landscape of the UK in the 1970s, and I learned that Lux Madriana was just one of many such groups. They weren’t even the only matriarchal spiritual group at the time! To me, this made things make a lot more sense.

In the next few days I hope to be able to share some findings, in their entirety, although they are only a few pieces of paper. If I’m unable to do so (as I need to get permission from a library to share the source), I’ll be sharing as much as I am able to about Lux Madriana’s history and their relationship to the larger UK pagan community.

[tellurian-in-aristasia]

Source A rare sight in my search through the archives! A letter from Madria Olga Lotar in a Summer 1983 women's magazine. My understanding of the religious aspects of Aristasian history is far from perfect, but my understanding is that Madria Olga Lotar was one of the 3 practicing Madrian faiths (of which Lux Madriana is/was the most well known) who tended to disagree with how Lux Madriana went about things, particularly the usage of sacred and secret names in publications, as well as excluding men from their community. You can read more about the 1983 Schism here. This letter is interesting because it specifically mentions that men are included in the scripture, and it also refers to these verses as coming from the "Veil of Ulster", which appears to be from the "Veil of Matter" in later editions of the scriptures. As well as it being an incredibly rare sight to stumble across something written by Madria Olga Lotar, that wasn't from one of her archived correspondences. A note to my Aristasian history followers: Madria Olga Lotar had no involvement in Aristasia or even Proto-Aristasian beliefs/controversies, beyond belonging to the same religious group in the 1970s and 1980s.

[tellurian-in-aristasia]

Isian News, #3, Winter 1976 mentions the soon-to-be-printed Coming Age magazines.