Jesus and the Lost Goddess (2001)

On Thursday, Ian, from our Faith and Science group, sent us all a link to a Goodreads post about this book. I recognized the title instantly, since it has been sitting in my library, unread, for a couple of years. I started reading it yesterday. Oh, boy…

Over the years, I’ve shared with you on these pages that I am a Gnostic Christian. That puts me in a very precarious position. Either Jesus is a real person, or he’s not. So, the question is, can I have it both ways?

Blurb from the Back Cover:

Why were the teachings of the original Christians brutally suppressed by the Roman Church?

* Because they portray Jesus and Mary Magdelene as mythic figures based on the Pagan Godman and Goddess

* Because they show that the gospel story is a spiritual allegory encapsulating a profound philosophy that leads to mythical enlightenment

* Because they have the power to turn the world inside out and transform life into an exploration of consciousness

Drawing on modern scholarship, the authors of the international bestseller The Jesus Mysteries decode the secret teachings of the original Christians for the first time in almost two millennia and theorize about who the original Christians really were and what they actually taught. In addition, the book explores the many myths about Jesus and the Goddess and unlocks the lost secret teachings of Christian mysticism, which promise happiness and immortality to those who attain the state of Gnosis, or enlightenment. This daring and controversial book recovers the ancient wisdom of the original Christians and demonstrates its relevance to us today.

Jesus and the Lost Goddess

One Small Illustration

I’ve written about the initiations before in the context of “The Star of Bethlehem”. Perhaps, I knew more at the time of my book manuscript’s writing in 1996 than I was consciously aware of. Such is the work of the Holy Spirit.

Moses (and Joshua) in Exodus are being ‘echoed’ in the New Testament Gospels as Jeshua (Jesus).

In Hebrew the name Joshua/Jesus is written with the letters Yod Heh Shin Vah Heh. The letters Yod Heh Vah Heh, known as the Tetragrammaton, were extremely significant to Jewish Gnostics, as they were used to signify the unpronounceable name of God, usually rendered today with added vowels as either Jehovah or Yahweh. As Philo explains, when the middle letter Shin, known as the Holy Letter, is added, the name means ‘Saviour of the Lord’.

Ibid (page 14)

The basic structure of the Exodus allegory, representing the fundamental stages of Gnostic initiation, is the framework upon which the Jesus myth was constructed. The first stage of initiation is one of purification and struggle. In the Exodus myth this is the crossing of the Red Sea, which inaugurates 40 years of wandering in the wilderness. In the Jesus story, this stage is represented by Jesus’ baptism, followed by his 40 days in the wilderness. The nest stage in the process of initiation is the ‘death’ of the old self which precipitates Gnosis. This is represented in the Exodus myth by the death of Moses and in the Jesus myth by the death of Jesus on the cross. The experience of Gnosis is represented in Exodus by Jesus [Joshua] crossing to the Promised Land and in the New Testament by Jesus’ resurrection from the dead and ascension to Heaven.

Ibid (page 15)