#not explicitly Filianism-related

[ladybrythwensinclair]

(Anon who asked initially about black female leaders) Thank you for your incredibly thoughtful and insightful answer to my query. I do absolutely agree that Madrianism as a tradition had indulged in questionable research and speculation and some of those unfortunate tendencies may have been carried over in the Feminine Essentialism of writers like Alice Lucy Trent. I understand fully why orthodox deanists would be reticent to accept (and potentially revere) figures such as Jackson or Sojourner Truth in a similar capacity to figures like Olga Lotar given their lack of direct relation to the Madrians; but if we truly want to believe that the deanic path is a universal one, then we mustn’t excessively cling to the historically contingent (and often unpleasant) history of this current deanic movement.

I think the thing that shocked me the most was the lack of engagement with Alice Coltrane in particular, given how recently she flourished (compared to Truth and Jackson especially) and her status as one of the giants of 20th century mysticism. Given that, the fact that she had explicitly deanic leanings and was even revealed as an avatar of the divine mother by her followers just seemed profoundly odd.

Likewise, many contemporary female Indian gurus who are revered as avatars (such as Amritanandamayi Devi) seem to have little in the way of relevance in deanism at all. It just seems to me like there’s a tendency to take female divine figures from other cultures but not to acknowledge the great women that stood for them. Sorry if this is too long lol

Hello again, Friend!

I think that it is simple lack of knowledge about these people that is the reason why the FIlianic community is why they are not revered. That said, I think that your helpful information provides a spectacular place for the community to begin learning about others who have taught about Déa. After all, Déa is continually revealing herself to her children. She didn't stop with Dame Julian of Norwich or Hildegard Von Bingen. Thank you for reminding us all of this fact. ♥

#filianism #déanism #deanism #independent filianist