12/12/12, mis estimados!
It is a particularly powerful date this year that marks the Apparation of the Virgin of Guadalupe. 12-12-12. I’m as Protestant as it gets (okay, with skoches of witchy magickal Eastern European peasant paganism thrown in) but I love the images of this lady.
I stood on line for hours a few years ago to visit her Basilica in Mexico City. I always stop by her shrines wherever I am to light a candle.
I’m extraordinarily fond of Juan Diego. Just the idea of him, opening that cloak and revealing that miraculous imprint. And all the roses.
I understand that some people reject this story as a colonialist manipulation to con “the peasants” into converting to Catholicism via trickery and so on, but I just appreciate the beauty of her.
My soul is grateful for the rich, gorgeous, vibrant, tragic, sexy, intricate aesthetic culture of Latin America. Gracias al Mexico por su cultura, por su alma, por esto cuento. Benditos.
Sarah A. Miller/Tyler Morning Telegraph/AP Photo
I love her, too. We saw her in a church in Santa Fe, which had an interesting sign underneath the very old, old image. As it concluded the story of her appearance, the authors added in all capital letters: “SHE IS NOT A GODDESS”. So don’t be getting any crazy, pluralistic, we’re all holding hands in our groovy collective unconscious ideas, because we’re not buying.
“SHE IS NOT A GODDESS”, eh?….just because She looks like one, and appears to people like one, and gave birth to the most successful avatar of the Dying and Resurrecting God we’ve seen lately…. nah, She *can’t* be…….;-D
I love her too/two/three. I am a Marian Christian. I love her as the authentic indigenous Guadeloupe, with dark skin. I hate the colonial enwhitenment images of her.
My daughter’s birthday is December 12 (she will be 10 on Weds – how is that even possible?). Anyway, my father told me that when he left the Birth Center on the day she was born, he put his hand in his coat pocket and found a prayer card of Our Lady of Guadalupe. To this day he has no idea where it came from.
[Love it! Feliz cumplea̱os a su hija! РPB]
I love this lady too. I have many images of her in my house, including a framed one that lights up with random, battery-powered lights that I bought on a street corner in San Francisco. I love that she is loved by so many. I am in the process of lining an old velveteen jacket from the Gap with a print of her lovely image. I’m trying to figure out exactly what slice of that I will use to line the turn up on the cuffs.
I am a longtime reader and commenter, a lifelong UU, and now I’m a candidate for ministry with the UUA. In the past three weeks, I’ve had two extraordinarily powerful experiences of Mary, and reading this post is the icing on the cake. In the middle of my class on spiritual practices, I was centering down in prayer, and had a vision/sending of Mary as the Virgen, blue shawl, stars, and everything. I felt a message of Hope and Love. I continued to experience little moments of connection to Mary, again and again (not entirely rare at seminary, but suddenly more noticeable). And then last week I was at work and had a powerful moment of connection with the Spirit through Mary that literally brought me to my knees.
If I thought I was a little Christian-leaning before, I’m definitely following this Mariology wherever it leads me… [You go ‘HEAD, girl. The UUA needs her! – PB]
I’m also a lover of Guadalupe. I have a story about how her image was central in a trip to Mexico. Dan here says people find her image compelling because the whole image is a vagina….She is the spirit of woman. I suspect he’s right.