What Gives Me The Right?

Some of you are really, really not going to like this.

I'm going start up an "internet church" today. I'll make a nice website, start a Yahoo! group, call myself the Episcopus Emeritus or somesuch. I'll never meet a Parishioner, minister a Sacrament, visit a hospital, sit on a local panel of interfaith dialogue, or wash a dish at a function. We won't go in for any of that dogmatic stuff. Oh my site will be peppered with chunks of Gnostic Scripture, drizzled over almost-entirely-Protestant theology with a little bit of Vatican-bashing ("oppresses women, kept the true secrets of the Faith from the faithful in its Archonic appetite for power..." etc.) and maybe a nice Abraxas gif on the sidebar, right next to the "donate now" button. Ta da! I'm a Gnostic too!

And, being a discerning individual, you will visit my instant website cum church and state that my efforts are "not Gnostic". And probably not even a church. What gives you the right?

I mean, aside from reality, discernment, intelligence, and a genuine desire for the word "Gnostic" to mean something other than soggy Protestant-flavoured New Age-ism, anti-Catholic bigotry, papyrus backgrounds and badly pixelated jpg files?

I'm going to pick on Rev. Troy for a second. Hi Troy. Now, I look at what his Parish is doing, in stark contrast to the above. He's meeting real people in a real space, listening, teaching, learning, leading, paying chapel rent, publishing a calendar, buying candles, (no doubt) failing, forgetting, stumbling, but making something real and beautiful and present. Not to mention the fact that he spent several years of his life in Minor Orders, studying, serving at Mass, being challenged, questioned, examined, and proving not only his intellect and grasp of history and theology but also his praxis and caritas; his willingness to do the work, and his compassion.

I look at that and say "that's Gnostic". Shame on me! What gives me the right?

*Dismounts high horse*

Listen. There's a cave up there, and I'm pretty sure there's treasure in it. Let's go explore it together.

With what? Flashlights? Rope? Canaries? No, we're going to use other tools. Our intellect. Our education. Specific and meaningful language. Our imagination. Our wit and courage and compassion. Our discrimination: discrimination is what keeps us from being so open-minded that our brains fall out. This is how such caves are explored, how such treasures are always discovered.

So Gnosticism is admittedly not entirely binary, in the way, say, that Symbolist painting overlaps the Pre-Raphaelites, and yet is still distinct: the labels exist for a reason. Gnosticism is and must be defined by its soteriology: the idea that gnosis of one's relationship with the Divine is necessary for salvation from Ignorance. When we let it mean "whatever you want it to mean" the word becomes meaningless, and the language that has stood for millennia is no longer remotely useful to us as a tool with which to explore the cave and discover the treasure.

My Licentiate of Sacred Theology doesn't give me the right to this treasure. In fact just the opposite: it says that the ownership is explicitly not mine. The Tradition is there to remind me to hold the treasure in trust, to care for the rights of the next seekers into the cave. I didn't invent my Church, declare myself to be x, and start marking territory. My role is older than I am, and it will outlive me, those who inspire me, and those whom I teach and touch. It's humbling: that's what it's for.

Two Gods?

William Blake, The Red Dragon & The Woman Clothed With the Sun

Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
When a vast image out of Spritus Mundi
Troubles my sight: somewhere in the sands of the desert.

A shape with lion body and the head of a man,
A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it
Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds.
The darkness drops again; but now I know
That twenty centuries of stony sleep
were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?


– WB Yeats

Twice in the last two days I've seen an unusual idea presented: that Gnosticism espouses "two gods"; a deadlocked dueling dualism between the god of spirit and the god of matter. This is of course Manichaeanism, and while Manichaeanism contains many Gnostic elements, this idea is not Gnostic per se – in fact it is ultimately antithetical to positions taken in Thomas and Philip.

Definition time:

Monotheism: the idea of one – and only one – personal "third party entity" Deity.

Polytheism: the idea of many personal "third party entity" Deities

Pantheism: the equation of Deity with the universe (everything is God)

Panentheism: that Deity contains the universe, but the universe does not contain Divinity. "God is everything... and then some."

Chart time:



Perhaps a simpler way to explain is this;

Monotheism: God is one noun
Polytheism: Gods are many nouns
Panentheism: God is one verb with an infinite number of adverbs

The emanations model of Gnostic cosmologies points to an explicitly panentheist view;

Light and Darkness, life and death, right and left, are brothers of one another. They are inseparable. Because of this neither are the good good, nor evil evil, nor is life life, nor death death. For this reason each one will dissolve into its earliest origin. But those who are exalted above the world are indissoluble, eternal.


- The Gospel of Philip

I am the light that is over all things. I am all: from me all came forth, and to me all attained.
Split a piece of wood; I am there.
Lift up the stone, and you will find me there.


- Gospel of Thomas: 77

Gnostic Tradition teaches that the Pleroma "the Fullness") is the Ultimate Godhead; everything – everything – radiates out concentrically from the Godhead like ripples from a stone dropped in water: Christ, Sophia, the Demiurge, you, me, chartered accountants, loofas, squids, ginko trees. The Pleroma is also the stone, and the water, and the idea and act of "dropping". This is a good analogy, as a wave/ripple is a transitory expression of a phenomenon rather than an object unto itself.

Christianity is superficially monotheistic, although a closer reading of scriptural texts proves it to be in fact polytheist yet monolatric; recognizing numerous deities but worshipping only one. In Christianity this is a hangover from Augustine's stint as a Manichaean (think of the cartoon shoulder-angel vs. shoulder-devil). The OT does seem to give God-status to Ba'al (although Ba'al just means "Lord" – it's like hearing fundamentalists say that Muslims don't worship God because they pray to Allah). The Marian cults of the 20th century are clearly evidence of polytheism, although with a great deal of hoop-jumping and spin-doctoring Fatima and Međugorje can be euhemerized away (an act criminal yet predictable).

Given such a context, it is easy to see why Christian apologists would project their own polytheistic God-vs-Satan dualism on panentheistic Gnosticism. Which begs the question: Does the Demiurge exist?

There's an interesting hide-and-seek phenomenon in particle physics; every time somebody theorizes about a new particle x, it's immediately discovered. Never fails. It's as though these things simply hang around waiting to be noticed. I'm not suggesting that we're inventing subatomic particles, but I do want to draw attention to the close relationship between intellectual constructs and observable reality.

"The way of the world" – domestic violence in down-market neighbourhoods, African poverty, sharpied swastikas on synagogues, parochialism and xenophobia and planned obsolescence – this exists as a construct in the minds of six billion and change earthlings. It is a meme, an idea which while not alive acts as though it were a virus, protecting and replicating and insinuating itself. The Demiurge is not some big bad wolf waiting to huff and puff and blow our houses down; he is the acceptability of "the way of the world", a self-fulfilling prophesy of our apathetic inhumanity. Even though the Archons are not real, they act as though they were through provable, observable and (tragically) repeatable phenomena, all the while slouching towards Bethlehem.

And yes, this meme, this set of constructs, of assumptions, is the Demiurge; the half-creator of the world in which we live; what Rastafarians refer to as the Babylon System. The Matrix.

Rejection of such a system does not make us dualists, or polytheists. Recognizing that we, as daughters and sons of God, can and should do better is not "world-hating". We as Gnostics sound the clarion call to accept our responsibility for ignorance and deception, and to awaken to gnosis: not to do battle with some malevolent third-party entity and settle this once and for all in an Armageddon-style smackdown, but to champion the compassion that is the antidote to Archonic force. To make art and poetry and music, to take a lover, raise a child, extend caritas that is just as visible, just as real a ripple in the pool of God.

Gnostic priest addresses Da Vinci Code controversy

By Mark Browne
Victoria News
May 26 2006


Even followers of Gnosticism have something to say about The Da Vinci Code.

But the Capital Region's only ordained Gnostic priest doesn't have the same concerns as conservative Christians angered by Dan Brown's novel and the movie based on the book. While many have suggested that The Da Vinci Code is rooted in Gnosticism, Jordan Stratford says that isn't the case. Stratford's position is explained in his just-released book, The da Vinci Prayerbook.

Many Christians denounce The Da Vinci Code for its premise that Jesus married Mary Magdalene and that the couple had children. The novel and film takes the view, which is consistent with the fourth century Arians, that Jesus was a man and not a divine figure.

Gnostics, on the other hand, consider the image of Jesus to be a purely spiritual being, according to Stratford.

"Purely spiritual beings tend not to have children," he said.

However, Stratford stressed that the notion of Jesus as a spiritual being - and all of the other stories about Christ - should be viewed in a strictly metaphorical sense.

"Gnosticism does not rely on historical literalism in the same way that Christianity does," Stratford explained. "Let's ask the bigger question about what this stuff means."

The idea that Jesus married Mary Magdalene can be understood as myth that conveys the "marriage" between Christian tradition and the older religions of the divine feminine, he said. Moreover, that marriage can be interpreted as a balance between the masculine and the feminine.

"Gnosticism teaches that Mary Magdalene is an expression of the myth of Sophia, the goddess of wisdom and of the holy spirit."

The idea of the sacred feminine was quite prevalent until the fourth century when the Roman church opted for a more patriarchal approach to Christianity with a sole emphasis on Jesus and a de-emphasis on Mary Magdalene.

There's no way of knowing with any certainty whether Jesus married Mary Magdalene and that they had children, Stratford said. At the same time, it's irrelevant whether that hypothesis is true as he reiterates that it's all about the metaphorical meaning.

All that said, myths surrounding the history of Christianity have an important purpose.

"It invites the reader into a mythic space where they can sort these things out for themselves," Stratford said. "These things aren't valuable because they are literally true. They are valuable because they are beautiful."

Gnosticism has been around for the past 2,200 years.

It's a religion that greatly influenced early Christianity, Islam and medieval Judaism, he pointed out. The origins of Gnosticism occurred in a community of Greek-speaking and educated Jews living in Egypt. The religion is essentially a blend of Jewish mysticism, Greek philosophy and the mystery religions of the ancient world, Stratford said.

Gnosticism is similar to Buddhism in that it stresses personal responsibility, compassion and enlightenment, he said.

The 40-year old has been a practicing Gnostic for the past 18 years and now oversees a congregation of 12. Stratford is a priest with the Apostolic Johannite Church. That branch of Gnosticism was established in 1770 by Freemasons, he pointed out. While people of all religions can be members of the Freemasons, there is a strong historical connection to Gnosticism, according to Stratford, a Freemason himself.

People of different religious faiths can also be followers of Gnosticism, he said. Gnosticism is particularly suitable for creative people because of the poetic nature of the stories encompassed by the faith.

"Imagination is prized as a Gnostic value," Stratford said.

While Stratford has concerns about the common perception that The Da Vinci Code is inherently Gnostic, he's quick to point out that the release of the novel and subsequent film is a positive development despite opposition by many conservative Christians.

"It's a starting point for discussion. I don't think anybody should be threatened by debate and dialogue."

For more information on Stratford's book, see the website, www.thedavinciprayerbook.com.

mbrowne@vicnews.com

Well there's some local press. Arrived in my inbox via Google Alerts (which is where most of my Gn news comes from). Ta da!

In HOC Signo

It was of course the older, pagan, Sol Invictus cross, the equal armed cross, to which Constantine owes his victory at Milvian Bridge. It represents the harmonization of the four elements, centering the wearer at its nexus. I have always responded to this "swiss" cross, and my wedding ring has a motif of four of these around it equidistantly.

$5 from the sale of this tee shirt goes to the American Red Cross, which is as worthy a cause as I can think of.

Neither Cup Nor Princess

But the true mysteries of the Sacred Feminine are not about cryptic codes, secret messages, and hidden hoards of treasure. They are the most ordinary, everyday things of life, which we all experience: birth, growth, death, and regeneration. Not that a child survives from some hidden royal bloodline, but that the blood of life, waxing and waning like the moon, nurtures every child in the womb. Not that one man may have risen from the dead, but that every Spring, seeds buried in the earth’s dark tomb sprout and rise anew. The Holy Grail, from the Pagan perspective, is neither cup nor princess: It is the receptive consciousness, our awe and wonder and reverence for the real wellsprings of life. Only the worthy can find the Grail.


–Starhawk, Is 'The Da Vinci Code' Good for the Pagans?

Yeah, I called her "Mimi". O, how we laughed and laughed... it was the '80s.

Pagels on "The Truth at the Heart of the DVC"

So many Christians throughout the world knew and revered these books that it took more than 200 years for hardworking church leaders who denounced the texts to successfully suppress them. [...]

Irenaeus said there could be only four gospels because, according to the science of the time, there were four principal winds and four pillars that hold up the sky. Why these four gospels? He explained that only they were actually written by eyewitnesses of the events they describe -- Jesus' disciples Matthew and John, or by Luke and Mark, who were disciples of the disciples.

Few scholars today would agree with Irenaeus. We cannot verify who actually wrote any of these accounts, and many scholars agree that the disciples themselves are not likely to be their authors. [...]

What, then, do these texts say, and why did certain leaders find them so threatening?

First, they suggest that the way to God can be found by anyone who seeks. According to the Gospel of Thomas, Jesus suggests that when we come to know ourselves at the deepest level, we come to know God: "If you bring forth what is within you, what you bring forth will save you.'' This message -- to seek for oneself -- was not one that bishops like Irenaeus appreciated: Instead, he insisted, one must come to God through the church, "outside of which,'' he said,
"there is no salvation.''

Second, in texts that the bishops called "heresy,'' Jesus appears as human, yet one through whom the light of God now shines. So, according to the Gospel of Thomas, Jesus said, "I am the light that is before all things; I am all things; all things come forth from me; all things return to me. Split a piece of wood, and I am there; lift up a rock, and you will find me there.'' To Irenaeus, the thought of the divine energy manifested through all creation, even rocks and logs, sounded dangerously like pantheism. People might end up thinking that they could be like Jesus themselves and, in fact, the Gospel of Philip says, "Do not seek to become a Christian, but
a Christ.'' [...]

Worst of all, perhaps, was that many of these secret texts speak of God not only in masculine images, but also in feminine images. The Secret Book of John tells how the disciple John, grieving after Jesus was crucified, suddenly saw a vision of a brilliant light, from which he heard Jesus' voice speaking to him: "John, John, why do you weep? Don't you recognize who I am? I am the Father; I am the Mother; and I am the Son.'' After a moment of shock, John realizes that the divine Trinity includes not only Father and Son but also the divine Mother, which John sees as the Holy Spirit, the feminine manifestation of the divine.


– Elaine Pagels, Perspective

James Ingall Wedgewood, 1883-1951

Happy Birthday, Wedgie!

Bishop Hoeller has a wonderful must-read article on the Wandering Episcopate; the piece contains one of my favourite lines in modern Gnosticism:

The seeming promise residing in the wandering bishops is obscured and at times negated by the personal eccentricities and unsavory character of a large number of these bishops. Since consecration to the episcopate is often so easily obtained in the subculture of the wandering ones, venal, unstable, and woefully ill-educated persons abound in the ranks of the "independent" episcopate. Quite a large number of these bishops are simply people one would not wish to invite to dinner.

Bearing that in mind, I raise a glass to Ole Uncle Wedgie, truly an exception to that unfortunate rule. The liturgies of both the AJC and EG run rich with the legacy of the Liberal Catholic Church – +Wedgewood was one of the first to recognize that much of the mysticsm and transcendence the Victorian Theosophists sought in the East was abundant in the liturgical traditions of the West as well.

Gnostic Celebs: Tori Amos?

There was a garden
In the beginning
Before the fall
Before Genesis

There was a tree there
A tree of knowledge
Sophia would insist
You must eat of this

Original sin?
No, I don't think so
Original sinsuality
Original sin?
No, it should be
Original sinsuality
Original sin?
No, I don't think so
Original sinsuality

Yaldaboath
Saklas
I'm calling you
Samael
You are not alone
I say
You are not alone
In your darkness
You are not alone
Baby
You are not alone


– Tori Amos, The Beekeeper: Original Sinsuality

The Denver Post reports; "Tori Amos writes in her memoirs Tori Amos: Piece by Piece about the importance of Gnosticism to her personal growth."

Amos' pal Neil Gaiman (he moved into a house owned by Amos and her husband to write American Gods) has long been suspected of being a closet-Gnostic, and there may be a third degree due to the acquaintance (I read they were friends) of Gaiman with the Gnostic V for Vendetta and Promethea author Alan Moore.

Tori Amos' music has accompanied some very pivotal times of my life; one adopts such artists and their mediated sympathies as old friends. And she's not Tom Cruise, which is a definite plus.

Now on to the inevitable conversion of Scarlett Johansson, and my plan will be complete.

Gnostic Priest Authors "The da Vinci Prayerbook"

Victoria BC (PRWEB), May 19, 2006 – An ordained Gnostic Priest Jordan Stratford has just released a response to the The da Vinci Code phenomenon. Dan Brown's bestselling novel and upcoming film have drawn out countless critics deriding the work as "Gnostic", and now for the first time Gnostics are taking the opportunity to speak for themselves.

The irony is that the premise of Brown's novel isn't Gnostic at all, and the word never occurs in the book. Rather than reject the divinity of Jesus, Gnostics in the early Christian Church understood that the Logos, the incarnated Word of God, was always immortal.

Gnosticism is a 2200 year old religion that greatly influenced early Christianity, Islam, and medieval Judaism. Its origins lie in a community of Greek-speaking and -educated Jews living in Egypt around 200 B.C., and blended Jewish mysticism, Greek philosophy, and the Mystery religions of the ancient world. Similar to Buddhism, Gnosticism stresses personal responsibility, compassion, and enlightenment.

So do Gnostics believe that Jesus really married Mary Magdalene?

"Literally, no," says Stratford. "This myth can be understood as the "marriage" of both the Christian tradition and the older religions of the Divine Feminine.

"Gnostics have always used myth deliberately not to obscure but to explore with its symbolism, as part of a search for meaning – much the way artists have always done, and psychologists do today."

The da Vinci Prayerboook: Gnostic Reflections on the Divine Feminine is an exploration of the myths around the Magdalene, the Grail, the Templars, and Leonardo himself in this light. Rather than attempt to revise history or propose conspiracies, the book is a small collection of scriptural references from Gnostic, Christian, and Jewish literature, and one Gnostic's reflection on these sacred writings.

The da Vinci Prayerboook (Azrael Press, 100pp) is available at the book's website, thedavinciprayerbook.com

- 30 -
Sent this out to local media and PR Web today, and I post this not out of more book hype but to show that Gnostics are speaking for themselves.

Represent!

The da Vinci Prayerbook

Site is live, with a few important bits to come, but the book can be previewed and purchased by clicking here.

All Nuptialed

Many blessings and thanks especially to Erik and Michelle of the Aquarian Tabernacle Church – the ceromony was held in an historic cemetery, and was a combination of elements from the AJC, ATC, and EGM, with poetry from Robin Skelton, William Shakespeare, and Pablo Neruda.

Best. DVC Review. Evah.

The Da Vinci Code is a wildly contrived story about how the forbidden love between Jesus and Mary Magdalene, the Brad and Angelina of Judea, was revealed by Renaissance fresco-paparazzi, and later immortalized by Pierre Plantard, the L. Ron Hubbard of France, in the 1960s with his fabulous hoax called the "Priory of Sion," which author Dan Brown, the Tom Cruise of literature, took seriously.


– Betty Bowers,Landover Baptist

I've always loved Landover as a viciously acidic guilty pleasure, although I prefer the gentler satire of Lark News.

Yeah, okay, I'm going to go get married now.

Scholars & Goddesses

SUCH faith may explain why Wicca is thriving despite all the things about it that look like hokum: it gives its practitioners a sense of connection to the natural world and of access to the sacred and beautiful within their own bodies. I am hardly the first to notice that Wicca bears a striking resemblance to another religion – one that also tells of a dying and rising god, that venerates a figure who is both virgin and mother, that keeps, in its own way, the seasonal "feasts of the Wheel," that uses chalices and candles and sacred poetry in its rituals. Practicing Wicca is a way to have Christianity without, well, the burdens of Christianity. "It has the advantages of both Catholicism and Unitarianism," observes Allen Stairs, a philosophy professor at the University of Maryland who specializes in religion and magic. "Wicca allows one to wear one's beliefs lightly but also to have a rich and imaginative religious life."

Charlotte Allen, Scholars & Goddesses

Getting Married

...on Saturday, so posting will be non-existent for a week or so. Also, expect e-mail to be slow. Also also, don't take this the wrong way, but I'm not going to miss any of you. ;-)

Blessings and joy,

J+

סֵפֶר הַבָּהִיר: The Book of Brightness

"There is a striking affinity between the symbolism of Sefer ha-Bahir, on the one hand, and the speculations of the Gnostics, and the theory of the "aeons," on the other. The fundamental problem in the study of the book is: is this affinity based on an as yet unknown historical link between the Gnosticism of the mishnaic and talmudic era and the sources from which the material in Sefer ha-Bahir is derived? Or should it possibly be seen as a purely psychological phenomenon, i.e., as a spontaneous upsurge from the depths of the soul's imagination, without any historical continuity?

– "Bahir", Encyclopedia Judaica "

Excellent question. More on the Bahir, and a tip o' the yarmulke to the Soferet.

Pulled

There has been a rash of articles recently, posted mostly by Protestant Christian pundits, claiming that the falloff in mainline church attendance is due to the fact that yoga, tai chi, "spirituality" and the occult are easy, whereas Christianity is hard. Ofttimes Gnosticism is explicitly counted among the easy.

Easy?

Part of the reason I identify as a Gnostic is that firmly around my right wrist is the inexorable pull of the Roman Catholic Church; its solidity, ubiquity, liturgy and aesthetic. I could be so Catholic it's not funny: and not one of those tie-dyed chasuble guitar-Massing Vatican II theowobbly neo-Caths either, but a full-frontal SSPX Tridentine UberTraddie.

A similarly continual but contrary tug around my left wrist is Judaism; its wit, iconoclasm, spiritual literacy, and humanity.

My brain – well it thinks like a Buddhist. I trained it that way; to doubt, and to doubt my doubts, to suspend, detach, examine. and defer always to compassion.

But at the very center of these forces is my Witch's heart; my blood is salty with poetry and sex and lunar magics and imagination. The turning of autumn leaves brings out cravings for bonfires and woad and howling to the Great Mother.

Needless to say this agon, this ongoing negotiation of forces, is for the most part crazy-making, and it's little wonder that in any conversation I undertake I come across as a dilettante bibliophile, with either too much Kerouac or too little; either an overdose or tragic deficit of Aristotle. An ADD-addled molotov-hurling William Burroughs vs. my inner pipe-smoking tweedy Victorian Latin-spouting harrrrumph!er. Easy?

So how do I, personally, equilibriate these opposing forces? By identifying, fighting for, and championing common ground in Her name. Shekhina. The Holy Spirit. Sophia. By the understanding (Gnostics don't have beliefs, we have understandings), as in Theodoto, that what makes us free is the gnosis of who we are, of what rebirth truly is.

And what it is, is work.

Easy. Pffft.

Feast of St. Ratford

How will your family celebrate this special day? With the customary offerings of red wine and sushi? Secretly judging people by their shoes? Or by drinking too much coffee and arguing theology in chatrooms? Post your stories, and any craft ideas for the children...

The Blurbs are In

I've received, through the generosity and kindness of some very special people, some very kind words about the book. The tricky part is in "blurbing" them, which is to say, chopping the things into sentence fragments and making tight, punchy sentences for teeny tiny space allowed by book-cover real estate. I'm tremendously humbled and overwhelmed;

"Explores the Code phenomenon from a spiritual point of view without radically revising Western history...acknowledging that ideas need not be historical in order to be spiritually meaningful. Stratford has opened the way."

– Lesa Bellevie, Editor The Magdalene Review and Author, The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Mary Magdalene

"Fresh and accessible, a brilliant overall picture of the myth – The da Vinci Prayerbook is a bridge connecting artists, mystics, and writers of the past with readers of today. This is required reading for seeker and devotee alike... a perfect work of Sophianic inspiration and insightful scholarship."

– Bishop +Rosamonde Miller

“Fr. Jordan makes a thoughtful exploration of the Magdalene tradition, gently peeling back the veil to reveal a glimpse of the real mystery of the Bridal Chamber.”

– Jennifer Emick, About.com

Beltane: I join'd them fairly with a ring

Deprived of root, and branch, and rind,

Yet flowers I bear of every kind:

And such is my prolific power,

They bloom in less than half an hour;

Yet standers-by may plainly see

They get no nourishment from me.

My head with giddiness goes round,

And yet I firmly stand my ground;

All over naked I am seen,

And painted like an Indian queen.

No couple-beggar in the land

E'er join'd such numbers hand in hand.

I join'd them fairly with a ring;

Nor can our parson blame the thing.

And though no marriage words are spoke,

They part not till the ring is broke:

Yet hypocrite fanatics cry,

I'm but an idol raised on high;

And once a weaver in our town,

A damn'd Cromwellian, knock'd me down.

I lay a prisoner twenty years,

And then the jovial cavaliers

To their old post restored all three--

I mean the church, the king, and me