Candlemas Ritual, World Festivals
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The Candlemas feast is associated with the ritual purification of Mary, mother of Jesus, following the birth of her child in the Jewish tradition of the time. White vestments by priestly celebrants as symbols of purity, and there may be candlelight processions.
Candlemas is not the only celebration of light. Judy Haynes presents information about Festivals of Light around the world.
Diwali Honors Hindu Goddess of Light
Diwali, earlier in the calendar year than Candlemas, is a Hindu celebration for Lakshmi (also spelled Laxmi), goddess of prosperity and light, among other attributes. Here, too, the woman archetype blazes.Mother Light warms the earth in February, and new life grows hidden from view. The archetypal associations of Mother Light are warmth – enlightenment – home – family – nurturance and support.
It is easy to see how the Candlemas ritual follows ancient and eternal patterns for the woman archetype.
Demeter Lights the Changing Seasons
The Greek goddess, Demeter, is credited with changing seasons in Western mythology. She mourns the absence of her beautiful daughter, Persephone.Winter is the season Persephone spends with her husband, Hades, lord of the Underworld. Her mother mourns, and the Earth lays barren.
For a unique version of this myth of the woman archetype, updated for cyber-times, see the second book of Kelly McCullough’s Web Mage series, Cybermancy (Ravirn, Book 2)
Hestia Lives in Hearth Fires Burning
A less well-known Greek goddess is Hestia, goddess of hearth and home. She is the only goddess who is not embodied, according to Jean Bolen (Goddesses in Older Women: Archetypes in Women Over Fifty
). Instead, the fire in the hearth signifies Hestia as the woman archetype. Again, the connection between the feminine and light is clear.
When a Greek lass wed in ancient times, her mother carried the flame from her kitchen hearth to her daughter’s new home, ensuring continuity of Mother Light. Perhaps the Candlemas ritual of candlight processions is rooted in this mythic practice.
My Aunt Mimi will always be my personal Hestia, bustling around her cheerful, warm kitchen, cooking for everyone and telling stories about what’s going on in the neighborhood and family.
Women telling stories while preparing food in the hearth ensures another cultural continuity. Enlightenment also may flow from collectivizing of human experience -- a deep wisdom or people, their needs and actions.
Thus Mother Light has literal and virtual connotations.
Enlightenment May Grace Elder Years
A woman in the winter of her life may experience Mother Light as the en-light-enment that comes as we integrate a lifetime of experience into our understanding. Jung reportedly said that the first 40 years of life are for having experiences and the second 40 are for making sense of them.
The second half of life may be a time of creativity.
Many elders of both sexes feeling free constraints that bound them and ready to plunge into new adventures. Exploritas, previously known as Elderhostel, provides travel and learning opportunities for people of a certain age.
Another organization for elders is the National Center for Creative Aging. It focuses on creative exploration.
For a list of some of my favorite elder organizations and sites, please see Links and Resources.
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A candlelit setting is perfect for life review, meditation on letting go of the ego ,and rebirthing the individuated self.
By candlelight, we connect in a deep way with eternal cycles of birth and death. Such a Candlemas ritual may be deeply personal and satisfying.
Jung's Seven Tasks of Aging
Carl G. Jung outlined the seven tasks of aging as follows. Perhaps they will provide food for reflection at your private Candlemas ritual this February 2. - Facing the reality of aging and dying
- Life review
- Defining life realistically
- Letting go of the ego
- Finding new rooting in the Self
- Determining the meaning of one’s life
- Rebirth – dying with life
References to a Mother of Light are emergent in mass media.
For example, the 1999 film, Mother Light and Her Daughters, written by Ryan Davis explores a period of fasting devoted to the Virgin Mary by Egyptian Coptic women. It uses this event to explore such themes as the role of religion in their lives, especially regarding education and emancipation.
Mary is recognized as the Mother of Light by Maronite Roman Catholics.
Cultural References to Mother Light
The band Epica has recorded a tune entitled Mother of Light. Videos are available on youtube.Mother Light – Mary, the Mother of Light – Candlemas ritual celebrating purity with processions of candlelight – Dawali in India for the Lakshmi (also spelled Laxmi), goddess of prosperity – sunlight warming the earth and creating new life – Persephone emerging from the darkness of the underworld – Demeter gracing humankind with light – all these and more tap into ancient memories that prefigure the woman archetype.
Return from Mother Light archetype and candlemas ritual to Jungian Archetypes
Jungian Archetypes – A Guide to the Archetype of the MonthFashion After 50 celebrates the creative, spiritual, and inner life of older women. Archetype of the Month explores the symbolic patterns of life as they relate to aging and women. Feature uses photographs, poems, references to myth, literature, and popular culture [Read more]
The Truth-Seeker – August 2010
The great quest of the truth seeker in late life is to find meaning. This often requires discovery of the uncompleted parts of the self.
Many myths and legends illustrate the hero’s journey, which always starts with the truth seeker character-archetype answering a call to do something. [Read more]
The Storyteller – July 2010
The value-of-storytelling is embodied in the archetype of the Griot or Storyteller. This character archetype transcends months and seasons.
Mythic stories embody hero archetypes that convey cultural values. Understanding your character archetypes can help heal the spirit and bring wholeness that unleashes creativity. [Read more]
Feminine Makeovers & Alchemical Transformation -- June 2010
The popularity of feminine makeovers has its roots in the ancient, perhaps even prehistoric, search for alchemical transmutation.
Feminine makeovers can make us feel good. A new hairstyle, a new outfit, even a flattering new shade of lipstick, can bring a spring to our step and a smile to our lips.
Clothing effects alchemical transmutations of their essential self-presentation. Read More
Learn how you can explore 12 archetypes in an interactive archetypes workshop.
More Archetypes of the Month
Mother Dance and Symbols of Spring – May 2010Signified by the maypole dance of the merry month of May, Mother Dance unites in her archetype the sacred and profane, the erotic and unearthly, the visceral and the transcendental. [Read more]
Mother Rain -- April 2010
The April feminine symbol is Mother Rain. Her persona embodies the two faces of Nature – the all nurturing, birth-giving potential and the unrelenting strength of annihilation of world drought.
This archetypal antinomy is embodied in the lyrics of a song that celebrates getting caught in the rain. Bored by each other (an emotional dought), a couple each secretly sets up a meeting using personal ads [Read more]
Hope Symbols – March 2010
Hope symbols and hope quotations are embodied in ancient myths as the goddesses Elpis and Spes. All religions and cultural are buoyed by this uniquely feminine archetype. It is often older women who offer words of hope to those who falter [Read more]
The Winter Mother – January 2010
The faces of the Winter Mother are the Snow Queen and Mary swaddling the infant Jesus. The Snow Queen seduces boy-children . . . The masks of Carnivale translate ice crystals and snowflakes into bejeweled and feathered art on faces as frozen in perfection [Read more]
