In
the last few months the world was reminded once again how the
arrogance of humankind is destroying families, communities and
Mother Earth. We now know Hurricane Katrina was not the reason
for the demise of New Orleans. It was the failure of humans
to preserve or restore the wetlands that act as a natural buffer
for the cities that lie beyond. It was the greed of over-development
in areas never intended to sustain housing. It was the incompetence
of the Corps of Engineers who built substandard levees to protect
people and the city. And it was and is the short-sightedness
and ineptitude of callous and corrupt government and elected
officials who have forgotten they serve the people. Post Katrina,
it is business as usual on these same fronts, only the light
has been shed on where to place some of the blame. And two years
later, the carpet baggers are once again set loose upon the
city whose spirit could once be summed up in the phrase, joie
de vivre, or the joy of life.
This comedy of errors, arrogance and neglect only punctuates
the effects of a government and society absent a set of ideals
Goddess Advocates would call principles of the Sacred Feminine:
* Reverence and respect for Mother Nature
* Recognizing the Divine in all things
* Compassion for human suffering
* Responsibility, wisdom and accountability
* Creation of partnerships and a more level playing field so
no one is lost at the bottom of any heap.
Yet in spite of everything, the Vieux Carre, itself that jewel
that so aptly personifies New Orleans, literally stands on high
ground and has managed to survive the devastation that surrounds
it. Not unlike the Sacred Feminine herself, surviving in a world
gone mad, a world destroying itself for the sake of greed, with
leaders intent on wielding power and control over others, the
Vieux Carre maintains a presence. This oldest section of the
city endures, like a beacon, for the people and a city hoping
for a future that reflects these ideals of the Sacred Feminine.
The Vieux Carre, recognized as a sacred site of Goddess because
of the many faces of the Divine Feminine represented in this
melting pot of diverse peoples and traditions, and for the city’s
spirit that exudes the nature of Goddess, stands at a precipice
like the Divine Feminine herself. Do we believe enough in what
she stands for to make the necessary investment for real change
toward a direction of sustainability for all? Or will it continue
to be business as usual, with society continuing to suffer at
the hands of those who value power, control and wealth above
all else?
While growing up in New Orleans, I did not have the awareness
to see her sacredness. It took moving away and glimpsing her
from a distance to recognize her beauty, grace and that joie
de vie that makes her a sacred site of Goddess. Today she is
a city in mourning. She grieves for her children scattered and
cast upon the winds. For those trapped in toxic FEMA trailers,
victims of social injustice who are suffering all the more.
She weeps for her empty streets and for the times past that
gave New Orleans it’s mantra, Le bonne temps roule, or
let the good times roll. Needless to say I miss her. And I wonder
if her tattered dignity will ever be properly restored.
That being said, I would like to introduce you to the Vieux
Carre of New Orleans and invite you to see this great city through
the lens of the Sacred Feminine.The Vieux Carre of New Orleans,
Louisiana
A Sacred Site of the Divine Feminine
Excerpted from Sacred Places of Goddess: 108 Destinations
The essence of the Goddess, as a celebration of life, holds
sway in New Orleans within the core of the people. Life here
moves at a slower pace and New Orleanians see no reason to catch
up. It is a city proud of its diverse cultural and ethnic heritage,
where people look for just about any excuse to indulge in the
pleasures of life. There is a sense of life being a bit more
in-sync with natural rhythms and life’s simple pleasures.
Despite the influence of the Catholic Church, the lifestyle
in New Orleans is hardly dogmatic or puritanical. In the Big
Easy, as the city is often called, the spirit of the Feminine
is also reflected in the Old World charm of the architecture
of the Vieux Carre, in celebrations such as Mardi Gras with
its pagan roots dating back to the rituals of the Lupercalia,
Cybele and Attis, and in the worship of the Virgin Mary, Our
Lady of Guadalupe, and various goddesses in the Yoruban pantheon.
Goddess lives in the steamy heat of the city whose motto is
“let the good times roll,” and where Stella’s
raw sexuality in A Streetcar Named Desire exploded onto the
screen. Goddess is alive in the women who gather at Our Lady
of Guadalupe Church on the fringe of the Vieux Carre (or French
Quarter) to say their rosary and pray the novena for their families.
Her spirit lives in the flora and fauna of the dense bayous,
the groves of oak trees with their Spanish moss, and in the
luscious and heady scent of the exquisite flowers of the magnolia
tree. It might even be said she lives in the strength and determination
at the center of the Southern Woman who might sit ladylike in
her finery on the verandah sipping a Mint Julep one day or found
wearing her old blue jeans to pull up crab traps the next.
Goddess lives in the rituals of the Catholic Church which assimilated
what it could not stamp out. She is an embodiment of life’s
earthy pleasures, and nowhere in the United States does she
manifest her robust essence with such fun and flair as in her
many faces that peak from behind her carnival masque in the
Vieux Carre of New Orleans. Author Samuel Kinser cites carnival
origins starting in an urban and country reaction to strict
Lenten rules and a groundswell of interest in a variety of social
and agricultural practices in pre-Christian Celtic, Germanic,
Slavic, and Roman sun, wind, and water worship.
On the other hand, Henri Schindler, a local author in New Orleans
and an expert on Mardi Gras, believes the carnival season in
New Orleans has its origins in Spring rites of the Greek and
Latin world, namely the two celebrations of the Lupercalia and
those of the Goddess Cybele and her consort, Attis. The ecstatic
festival of the Lupercalia, held on February 15th, was associated
with Romulus and Remus, said to be the founders of Rome, who
had been suckled by a She Wolf (a metaphor for Mother Nature)
when they were infants. During the Roman festival dogs and goats
were sacrificed in a cave at the foot of Palatine Hill and the
meat consumed. Some of the animal’s skin was turned into
whips, and its blood used to ritually paint the priests and
two youths who were then wiped with wool dipped in milk, the
nourishing fluid from the Mother. During the celebration priests
chased naked men and women around the Palatine Hill of Rome
and through the streets of other towns where the celebration
was held, lashing out with their whips, with the intention,
according to Schindler, of forgiving them of their sins. We
are reminded of self-flagellation as a penance for sin.
Other sources say women sought out the priests, thinking a touch
from their bloody thong would cure them of barrenness, in a
form of fertility magic. Schindler states the sacramental strips
of the whip were called Februa, so it might be a good time to
mention Mardi Gras, like Lupercalia, is usually held in February!
When there were not enough priests to perform the rituals, laypersons
took over the duties and flayed themselves until they felt purified.
It is no coincidence Mardi Gras, or Fat Tuesday, is the culmination
of the carnival season, followed the next day by Ash Wednesday
and the beginning of 40 days of Lent, when Catholics fast and
pray and ask forgiveness of their sins. Lent then ends with
the celebration of Easter, which marks the resurrection of Jesus,
who Christians believe died and arose for the sins of humankind.
It was at Lupercalia, that Antony, the consul at Lupercus, offered
a royal diadem to Caesar in 44 BCE. The festival of Lupercalia
survived until at least 494 CE when the Bishop of Rome banned
the rite and absorbed it into the Feast of Purification for
the Virgin.
As one might imagine, the Church was not happy with these celebrations,
but they could not quash the traditions. In the 5th century
some control was managed when they adapted the celebration and
veiled it in Christian significance, renaming it Carnelevamen,
a “consolation of the flesh,” which came to be called
carnival. In 600 CE, Pope Gregory officially set the often fluctuating
date for Easter (which celebrates the resurrection of Christ)
at the first Sunday following the Vernal Equinox. Thus the Christian
celebration of Easter would for all time overlay the spring
rites of Cybele and Attis, Ishtar and Tammuz, and the Druids.
Also it must be remembered that this time was set aside for
the more ancient Goddess Aostara rituals. Eventually the ancient
rituals to appease the gods and goddesses and ask their forgiveness
on a seasonal basis gave way to daily services on altars often
without personal interaction by the masses. As Shindler puts
it, mirth became taboo.
Long story short, carnival came to New Orleans with the French.
New Orleans was founded in 1718 and the first Mardi Gras parade
was held in 1837. The parade and masqued ball was a theatre-like
performance meant for entertaining the members of the carnival
club and was usually based on a particular theme drawn from
mythology or history. The very first theme in North America
portrayed Demon Actors from Milton’s Paradise Lost with
Persephone, the Fates, Furies, Gorgons, and Isis all making
their acting debut in the New World. Subsequent parade themes
such as Egyptian Theology have produced floats representing
ideas of temples, tombs, palaces, pleasure, sacred animals,
and resurrection. Since then, masked groups, called “krewes,”
wearing very androgynous looking costumes, have looked to the
Feminine for inspiration as their organizations have taken the
names of Pandora, Aphrodite, Diana, Isis, Rhea, Diana, Ishtar,
Juno, Hestia, Nemesis, Hebe, Hera, Helena, Oshun, and Cleopatra.
Obviously one of the carnival krewes of Mardi Gras did their
homework because the Krewe of Babylon has as its Captain, King
Sargon, the namesake of Ishtar’s royal father.
Oddly enough, New Orleans may even have some Egyptian connections
– and we certainly know Egypt influenced Greece and Rome!
According to scholar, R. E. Witt, “the carnival of medieval
and modern times is the obvious successor of the Navigium Isidis,”
an ancient festival that began in Egypt, but in time with the
spread of Isis’ worship, began to be practiced throughout
the Greco Roman world. In this festival, which included cross
dressing, processions, and all manner of hilarity, music, and
revelry, a ship laden with gifts being offered to the Goddess
Isis was launched upon the waters in exchange for her blessings
for anyone dependent on the waters and sailing season. It should
be noted in the fishing villages south of New Orleans an annual
Blessing of the Fleets is performed by Christian clergy for
safety and abundance of the fisherman and their ships. This
is an obvious remnant of the Isidis Navigium festival of ancient
times.
Witt also cites the Christian Feast of Lights or Epiphany with
roots in the rituals of the priests of Isis. Interestingly,
the Feast of the Epiphany, on January 6th is also known as Kings
Day in New Orleans and it is the kick-off of the carnival season
in “the city that care forgot.” Beginning on Kings
Day, New Orleanians begin a series of King Cake parties. Within
the cake is a plastic doll. The person getting the piece of
cake with the doll hidden inside is obligated to host the next
party, thus the party season continues up until Mardi Gras.
Neo-pagans have taken to the idea of reclaiming the tradition
of the King Cake and associating it with the ancient custom
of cakes, bread, or the preparation thereof, as being sacred
to the Goddess or the Queen of Heaven. And in one last association
between Goddess and January 6th, a date with so much special
meaning in New Orleans, Witt cites that within Gnosticism, this
is the date Aeon/Horus was born to the Goddess Isis.
Like her sister cities of New York and Miami, the Goddess is
also within the New Orleans View Carre in the guise of the worship
of the Yoruban goddesses of Voodoo spirituality. Religion scholars
who track such things cite the Yoruban deities being worshipped
more in the New World than in the Old whence they came. While
some believe shops selling voodoo dolls are just for the tourists
(some are!) there is a thriving community here that seriously
worships the Goddesses Yemaya, Oshun, and Oya. The Voodoo Temple
run by Priestess Miriam on North Rampart Street, along the fringe
of the Vieux Carre, is one such example of the authentic practice
of this spirituality.
With New Orleans and the Vieux Carre located along the crescent
of the Mississippi River, the aforementioned river goddesses
are right at home and their serious practitioners make an attempt
to dispel misconceptions and teach those interested in their
faith. There is an annual Voodoo Fest in New Orleans where visitors
can get up close and personal with the reality of Voodoo in
New ‘Awlins where practitioners are involved in a hybrid
version of syncretised Christian and Yoruban traditions. (Side
Note: In New Orleans, the name of this religion is still spelled
Voodoo.)
The aforementioned Neo-Pagan community is actively involved
in Goddess Spirituality here in New Orleans, while others venerate
the Feminine Divine in the guise of the Virgin and Our Lady
of Guadalupe, the latter having a church honoring her on the
outskirts of the Vieux Carre.
When coming to New Orleans during Mardi Gras, the most expensive
time to visit for airfare and hotels, remember the parades begin
about seven days prior to Fat Tuesday, culminating with Rex
and Comos, the oldest clubs, hitting the streets on Mardi Gras
day and night. The larger, more elaborate parades are the weekend
prior to Fat Tuesday. Scoring an invitation to a masqued ball
is quite difficult unless you have some local connections. And
remember, when that dubloon comes your way from the masqued
rider on that float, let it drop to the ground, step on it,
and when the crush of the crowd eases off, then bend over and
pick it up! Don’t forget to yell to those masked revelers
on the passing floats, “Throw Me Somethin’ Mister”
because Mardi Gras is not about waving to the pretty girls sitting
on the back of convertibles. It is about how much loot you can
grab, then going to Bourbon Street, having a drink and eating
a good meal. Aahh - sacred pleasures! Just don’t forget
your mask!
Karen Tate, a prolific writer and Goddess Advocate, author
of Sacred Places of Goddess: 108 Destinations,
will have her next book, Walking An Ancient Path on bookshelves
in June of 2008. In the meantime, visit her website at www.karentate.comfor
information about sacred tours, rituals and events.
