A cup of milk was offered to me, and I drank it in the sweetness of the delight of the Lord.
The Son is the cup, and he who was milked is the Father, and the Holy Spirit is She Who milked him.
Because his breasts were full, and it was not desirable that his milk should be spilt to no purpose.
And the Holy Spirit opened her bosom, and mingled the milk of the two breasts of the Father.
And She gave the mixture to the world without their knowing, and those who take it are in the fulness of the right hand.
The womb of the Virgin took it, and She received conception and brought forth.
And the Virgin became a mother with great mercies.
And She labored and bore the Son but without pain, for it did not happen without purpose.
And She had not required a midwife, because he caused her to give life.
And She brought forth as a man by her own will, and She bore according to the manifestation, and acquired with great power.
And She loved with redemption, and guarded with kindness, and declared with grandeur. Alleluia.
A cup of milk was offered to me, and I drank it in the sweetness of the delight of the Lord.
It was the practice of the early Christian Church to give the newly-baptized a cup of milk mixed with honey to drink as a symbol of the new and continuing life given them in baptism and the sweetness that would be theirs as they advanced in it, “from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord” (II Corinthians 3:18).
At every moment we live in God and draw upon his infinite Life, making it our individual, finite life. The more consciously we do this, the greater our happiness will be.
The Son is the cup, and he who was milked is the Father, and the Holy Spirit is She Who milked him.
In his essential being God is transcendent; so to communicate himself to us he has expanded or emanated himself as both the creation and the guiding intelligence within it. These are the Holy Spirit and the Son. Having entered into this creation for the purpose of spiritual evolution we are living on and in the Life of the Father through our connection with the Son, who therefore is called “the Cup.” To partake of this life we have taken on many layers or “bodies” of relative existence formed of the vibrating Light that is the Holy Spirit. Our consciousness lives in the Son and our bodies live in the Holy Spirit, are actually formed of her Divine Light. Since the Life of the Father is conveyed to us through the Holy Spirit, the author of this ode says she “milks” him.
Because his breasts were full, and it was not desirable that his milk should be spilt to no purpose. And the Holy Spirit opened her bosom, and mingled the milk of the two breasts of the Father.
The Son and the Holy Spirit are “the two breasts of the Father,” full of his Life in a mode that can be communicated to all evolving, sentient beings. But it is the Holy Spirit who causes us to drink of that Life by means of our evolving bodies.
And She gave the mixture to the world without their knowing, and those who take it are in the fulness of the right hand.
All sentient beings live on and in the Life of God, most of them being unaware of that. But those evolved enough to “take” in that Life consciously and intentionally are gods within God, “in the fulness of the right hand” of God, the evolutionary stream that is flowing upward back to the transcendent “bosom of the Father” (John 1:18) which is the state of perfect reunion with the Father. For, all of us being “sons” of the Father, we have come forth from him. But “Deep calleth unto deep” (Psalms 42:7). The Infinite perpetually calls out to the finite: “Return, ye children of men” (Psalms 90:3). This is the impulse of universal evolution, the “right hand” of God.
Now we are going to have to consider two very different manifestations of the divine Life. It is very obvious that the Odes of Solomon are not just the earliest hymns of Christianity, they are definitely in the Gnostic, the mystical and esoteric, tradition of Christianity. In Gnostic Christian writings there are references to the Virgin of Light, the living, conscious creation that is a manifestation of the Holy Spirit and is the Holy Spirit. However, the Virgin is an aspect of the Holy Spirit, not the infinite totality of the Holy Spirit. So we need to avoid confusion in this matter. Also the rest of the verses of this Ode certainly apply to the Virgin Mary, the perfect image of the Holy Spirit Mother, just as Jesus was the perfect image of the Son of the Father, Ishwara. So we will be considering the ode’s application to both the Life of the Universe and the virgin mother of Jesus.
The womb of the Virgin took it, and She received conception and brought forth.
The will of the Father is reflected in the cosmos which “takes” it and in response shapes itself according to the plan of evolution. The story of the cosmos is the story of unfolding evolution.
Various spiritual traditions tell us that originally human beings were “mind-born,” they were conceived through the spiritual power and will-intention of both father and mother. It was the same with the Virgin Mary at the time of Jesus’ conception, except it was a co-operation of humanity and divinity. This was necessary because Jesus himself was going to be both divine and human, manifesting divinity and humanity in his incarnation to a unique degree because of the purpose of his advent among humanity, which was to be both savior of humanity and savior of the world.
It is important for us to keep in mind that Jesus was not born mechanically through the Virgin, nor was she just one of many who could have been the mother of the Messiah. She possessed unique development, intelligence and will to fulfill her purpose. She herself had been conceived super-normally, although her father was human, each of her parents being sages honored among the Essenes. (See Robe of Light.) Jesus and Mary were both one-of-a-kind in the entire realm of relative existence.
And the Virgin became a mother with great mercies.
The universe is the embodiment of divine mercies extended to all sentient beings, for without the universe there would be no field of energies within which their vehicles and consciousnesses could evolve.
The Virgin Mary is called Mother of Mercies because of the tremendous blessing and potential brought into the world through Jesus. Furthermore, she continues to actively impart those mercies in union with Jesus, so in the Western Church she has been recognized as co-redemptress of the world. This is extremely significant.
And She labored and bore the Son but without pain, for it did not happen without purpose.
This is a very interesting statement, for it implies that pain is a result of disharmony with the divine/cosmic purpose, that wherever there is suffering it is an indication of some violation or opposition of divine law. The common adage “No Pain, No Gain” is true only within an all-embracing condition of being out of sync with God and divine order. The cessation of suffering can be accomplished through complete conformity with the inner and outer spiritual principles and laws. That which fulfills the eternal purpose of all things will always be free of conflict and pain. Since the Virgin Mary was fulfilling the divine intention, her giving birth was totally painless.
And She had not required a midwife, because he caused her to give life.
Neither the universe nor the Virgin needed any assistance or direction from another to accomplish the divine will, because the will of God is the power of God and was manifesting through them both.
And She brought forth as a man by her own will, and She bore according to the manifestation, and acquired with great power.
The creation is not inert, but essentially intelligent, being a manifestation of the Holy Spirit, the Holy Breath of God. So the evolution of the universe and the birth of Jesus were accomplished by intelligent will. Because the will of the Father was manifesting through the evolving universe and the Virgin, their actions were not their own, but God’s. “And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word” (Luke 1:38).
And She loved with redemption, and guarded with kindness, and declared with grandeur.
Nature itself embodies the loving, maternal care of God, redeems through evolving those within her “womb,” watches over them constantly, and reveals to them her secrets that are theirs as well. Spiritually, the Virgin Mary does the same for the disciples of Jesus. They can both say the words of Ecclesiasticus 24:18: “I am the mother of fair love, and reverence, and knowledge, and holy hope: I therefore, being eternal, am given to all my children which are named of him.”
Read the next article in The Odes of Solomon for Awakening: The Odes of Solomon: 20