World Lion Day was yesterday, August 10. I feel lions are value our meditation and appreciation—as is any stunning and great creature. Such meditations are a non secular observe for individuals who stroll the trail of creation spirituality, in spite of everything.
Knowledge is synonymous with “magnificence and terror” as Nicolas of Cusa and the poet Rilke, amongst different mystics, remind us.
A lion is stately and noble—a royal particular person?—and delightful and, in case you are within the unsuitable place on the unsuitable time, terrifying. A lion’s roar is “second to none” and will be heard at a distance of 5 miles! Curiously, it’s the feminine lions—the lionesses—who do the foremost looking—90% of it the truth is.
I just lately had a private lion expertise once I was extending a blessing to Joanna Macy on her loss of life mattress. Her fast household was in attendance, and her good buddy (and former pupil of mine) people singer Jennifer Berezan blessed her together with her highly effective and iconic music,
I went by way of a sure litany of holy ones to welcome Joanna to the subsequent life, amongst them the Buddha, the lineage of Dalai Lamas, her buddy Thich Nhat Hanh, St. Francis, and Hildegard of Bingen—and once I got here to Hildegard Joanna visibly responded, rising from her mattress with a shout. Intuitively, I added, “Hildegard, a lion…” and Joanna responded once more. And I added that Joanna too was a lion.
I’m reflecting on the place that intuitive second got here from and its that means. A lion for me represents class and beauty—and fierceness. I didn’t know two weeks in the past that it’s the feminine lions who do the looking, however I did know that lionesses carry loads of masculine vitality. As did Hildegard who urged her sisters to be virtuous “and manly.” She wrote an opera (the oldest opera within the West by 300 years) on the virtues referred to as “Play of the Virtues” (Ordo Virtutum).
There was a way of lion vitality in Joanna—a deep energy and function that might not be deterred. As there was in Hildegard. In my ebook on the Sacred Masculine, I supply the “Hunter-Gatherer” as one of many wealthy archetypes by which to recuperate the wholesome masculine (together with Father Sky, Inexperienced Man, Blue Man, Religious Warrior, Fatherhood, and so forth.).
Lions are hunter-gatherers and they’re very communal, their group referred to as a “satisfaction.” They care concerning the widespread good. Child lions are raised by the satisfaction itself and particularly the females of the satisfaction. The lion is named the “king of beasts” for a motive.
I’ve had a number of vital pals in my life who had been Leos–lions by their astrological charts. Symbolically, the lion symbolizes “continuous wrestle, photo voltaic mild, morning, regal dignity and victory.” Joanna and Hildegard shared these options. “The lion victorious represents the exaltation of virility” writes Spanish artist and symbolist J. E. Cirlot. The wild lioness can be a logo of the Magna Mater, the Nice Mom.* Absolutely Joanna and Hildegard had been concerning the Magna Mater as properly.
The concept of Lion Day took place in 2013 underneath the management of Dereck and Beverly Joubert, who aligned with Nationwide Geographic to protect the wild cats. The lion inhabitants is at risk, it has depleted in Africa by 45% since 1990. The lion is the second largest cat, solely its cousin tiger being bigger.
There’s a lot to rejoice and be glad about and to work to defend on behalf of the lions and lionesses of this world. Could they—and the Magna Mater—thrive in us all and the cultures we give delivery to.
* See J.E. Cirlot, A Dictionary of Symbols, pp. 180-182.
See Matthew Fox, The Hidden Spirituality of Males: Ten Metaphors to Awaken the Sacred Masculine, pp. 77-104.
And Fox, “Religious Warriorhood,” in Fox, One River, Many Wells: Knowledge Springing from Religion Traditions, pp. 404-423.
And Fox, Hildegard of Bingen: A Saint For Our Occasions.
And Fox, Illuminations of Hildegard of Bingen.
And Fox, Christian Mystics: 365 Readings & Meditations.
And Fox, A Spirituality Named Compassion: Uniting Mystical Consciousness with Social Justice.
And Fox, Authentic Blessing: A Primer in Creation Spirituality.
And Fox, Sins of the Spirit, Blessings of the Flesh: Remodeling Evil in Soul & Society.
To learn the transcript of Matthew Fox’s video meditation, click on HERE.
Banner Picture: A lion roars in Maasai Mara Nationwide Park, Kenya. Photograph by Byrdyak. Wikimedia Commons.
Queries for Contemplation
Do you discover this meditation useful for growing your individual lion vitality, together with your regal dignity, wholesome virility, and heralding of the Magna Mater?
Really helpful Studying
The Hidden Spirituality of Males: Ten Metaphors to Awaken the Sacred Masculine
To awaken what Fox calls “the sacred masculine,” he reveals ten metaphors, or archetypes, starting from the Inexperienced Man, an historical pagan image of our basic relationship with nature, to the Religious Warrior….These timeless archetypes can encourage males to pursue their larger calling to connect with their deepest selves and to reinvent the world.
“Each man on this planet ought to learn this ebook — to not point out each girl who desires to grasp the struggles, usually unconscious, that form the lads they know.” — Rabbi Michael Lerner, writer of The Left Hand of God
One River, Many Wells: Knowledge Springing from World Faiths
Matthew Fox calls on all of the world traditions for his or her knowledge and their inspiration in a piece that’s way over a listing of theological place papers however a brand new option to pray—to meditate in a world non secular context on the knowledge all our traditions share. Fox chooses 18 themes which might be foundational to any spirituality and demonstrates how all of the world non secular traditions supply knowledge about every.“Studying One River, Many Wells is like getting into the wealthy silence of a masterfully directed retreat. As you learn this textual content, you replicate, you pray, you embrace Divinity. Really no phrases can absolutely categorical my respect and awe for this magnificent contribution to modern spirituality.” –Caroline Myss, writer of Anatomy of the Spirit
Matthew Fox writes in Hildegard of Bingen about this superb girl and what we will study from her.
In an period when girls had been marginalized, Hildegard was an outspoken, controversial determine. But so visionary was her perception that she was sought out by kings, popes, abbots, and bishops for recommendation.
“This ebook offers robust, sterling, and unvarnished proof that every part – every part – we ourselves change into will have an effect on what girls after us can also change into….It is a actually marvelous, helpful, profound, and inventive ebook.” ~~ Andrew Harvey, writer of The Hope: A Information to Sacred Activism.
Illuminations of Hildegard of Bingen
An introduction to the life and work of Hildegard of Bingen, Illuminations reveals the life and teachings of one of many biggest feminine artists and intellectuals of the Western Mystical Custom. On the age of 42, she started to have visions; these had been captured as 36 illuminations–24 of that are recorded on this ebook alongside together with her commentaries on them.
“If one particular person deserves credit score for the good Hildegard renaissance in our time, it’s Matthew Fox.” – Dr Mary Ford-Grabowsky, writer of Sacred Voices.
Christian Mystics: 365 Readings & Meditations
As Matthew Fox notes, when an ageing Albert Einstein was requested if he had any regrets, he replied, “I want I had learn extra of the mystics earlier in my life.” The 365 writings in Christian Mystics signify a wide-ranging sampling of those readings for modern-day seekers of all faiths — or no religion. The visionaries quoted vary from Julian of Norwich to Martin Luther King, Jr., from Thomas Merton to Dorothee Soelle and Thomas Berry.
“Our world is in disaster, and we want highway maps that may floor us in knowledge, encourage us to motion, and assist us collect our skills in service of compassion and justice. This revolutionary ebook does simply that. Matthew Fox takes among the most profound non secular teachings of the West and interprets them into sensible day by day mediations. Examine and observe these teachings. Take what’s on this ebook and train it to the youth as a result of the brand new technology can’t afford to endure the spirit and moral illiteracy of the previous.” — Adam Bucko, non secular activist and co-founder of the Reciprocity Basis for Homeless Youth.
A Spirituality Named Compassion: Uniting Mystical Consciousness with Social Justice
In A Spirituality Named Compassion, Matthew Fox delivers a profound exploration of the that means and observe of compassion. Establishing a spirituality for the long run that guarantees private, social, and world therapeutic, Fox marries mysticism with social justice, main the best way towards a gentler and extra ecological spirituality and an acceptance of our interdependence which is the substratum of all compassionate exercise.
“Properly value our deepest consideration…Places compassion into its correct focus after centuries of neglect.” –The Catholic Register
Authentic Blessing: A Primer in Creation Spirituality
Matthew Fox lays out a complete new course for Christianity—a course that’s the truth is very historical and really grounded in Jewish pondering (the truth that Jesus was a Jew is commonly uncared for by Christian theology): the 4 Paths of Creation Spirituality, the Vias Positiva, Negativa, Creativa and Transformativa in an prolonged and deeply developed method.
“Authentic Blessing makes out there to the Christian world and to the human group a radical remedy for all darkish and derogatory views of the pure world wherever these might have originated.” –Thomas Berry, writer, The Dream of the Earth; The Nice Work; co-author, The Universe Story
Sins of the Spirit, Blessings of the Flesh: Remodeling Evil in Soul and Society
Visionary theologian and best-selling writer Matthew Fox presents a brand new theology of evil that essentially modifications the standard notion of excellent and evil and factors the best way to a extra enlightened remedy of ourselves, each other, and all of nature. In evaluating the Jap custom of the 7 chakras to the Western custom of the 7 capital sins, Fox permits us to suppose creatively about our capability for private and institutional evil and what we will do about them.
“A scholarly masterpiece embodying a greater imaginative and prescient and depth of notion far past the grasp of anybody single science. A breath-taking evaluation.” — Diarmuid O’Murchu, writer of Quantum Theology: Religious Implications of the New Physics
