Bartholomew nodded and told his father, “I have spent six years seeking a way to deserve your forgiveness. I have worked as a fisherman and a common laborer and earned my own way honestly. I have searched for Myra until I found her, safe and happy. I have begged her pardon for the great wrong I did her and we have made our peace. I bring her back to you now as a free woman.”
Meshulum looked startled. “You bought Myra’s freedom?”
“No, Father. Fishermen and laborers make barely enough to feed themselves. This is Amos the Apothecary of Jerusalem and his wife Sarah, who are now my master and mistress. I have pledged myself to them for six years in exchange for Myra’s freedom.”
The elderly couple ducked their heads in humble greeting.
“You…you are a slave? My son, I will buy your freedom.”
“I thank you for offering, Father, but this is my just penance for the wrong I did Myra. I have become fond of Amos and Sarah, and they need help as they age. At the end of the six years, if they need me still, I will stay. Coming to you to beg your forgiveness remained my one desire before beginning service to them, but it needed to be Myra’s choice. I would not return her to you against her will and I could not return without her. So now, if you truly love her, you must win her love and marry her with honor. You can no longer compel her to do your bidding.”
Meshulum heard the warning in that loud and clear. He smiled and drew his son into a heartfelt embrace. Then he looked at Myra with tears in his eyes and said, “This is our son, in whom I am well pleased.”
* * *
In the coastal port town of Ashkelon, a pair of fishermen approached the dockside carrying a net between them, slung over their shoulders like a hammock. Within this cradle slumped a limp figure completely cloaked from head to toe. Close behind followed a woman with a babe in one arm and a toddler clinging to her other hand. They approached a fishing boat, where the crew worked to unload the morning’s catch. One of the crewmen glanced up and noticed the odd-looking group approaching. He straightened and stepped up onto the dock.
“Peter! Andrew! It’s been a long time, cousins! What brings you here?”
The pair lowered their burden gently to the decking and the cloaked figure uttered a soft groan. The three fishermen exchanged a quick kinsmen’s embrace.
“We need your help, Eli. Our friend is sick and injured and if the Romans find him, they will kill him. Can you get him and his family safely away to Gaul? We can pay for the trip.”
Eli looked at the small pouch of coins Peter pressed into his hand, then at the woman waiting anxiously with her children, looking pale and grim. “For you, cousins, we will do this. May I ask who he is?”
“It’s safer if you don’t know. The woman is Magdalene, his wife. She will care for him. Hopefully he will recover enough by the time you reach Gaul to disembark under his own power. If not, we would very much appreciate you helping him. He is a dear friend.”
Eli nodded, then turned to his crew and called out to the two youngest, “Ephraim, Judah, take our catch to the market and sell it for us. Share the proceeds amongst our families and tell our wives we must sail on an urgent mission and will not return for several weeks.”
While they finished unloading the fish and cleaning the decks, Peter turned to Magdalene and placed his hands on her shoulders.
“All will be well,” he assured her. “My cousin is a trustworthy man. He will see you safe.”
Her smile looked tremulous, her eyes anxious, but the determination in them hinted at a core of steel. “Thank you, Peter, Andrew. Thank you for all you have done.”
They both nodded and Andrew said, “I only wish we could have spared him the torture. Despite the pain he was in, he refused the death draught three times before I managed to get him to drink. And then the Roman guard jabbed him with a spear to make certain he was dead. But at least we got the antidote into him in time to bring him back to life.” Andrew pressed a vial of medicine into her hand, then murmured, “Give this to your beloved, three drops in a cup of water, three times a day. It will help counteract the lingering effects of the death draught. We will miss you both, but it comforts us to know you and he will survive in a safer place. May God bless you and your family with peace, happiness and long life.”
CONCLUSION
As time flows on, the story becomes unclear as to who won the battle for men’s souls. While many chose to follow the teachings of Jesus, attempting to emulate his loving example, the priests managed to retain much of their power over the people and still to this day continue using guilt and fear to control the masses. For thousands of generations, they continued to devalue and repress the powers of womanhood, leading to the Spanish Inquisition and the destruction of hunter-gatherer cultures all over the world. They continued to tax the people heavily, until the Christian church became oppressively rich and powerful. And the original sin became an inherited way of life that only grew more and more exploitative.
The corruption of the fruit can sometimes overwhelm the seed.
The earth is not our slave, to be raped, exploited and sold; the earth is the Mother of our species. Until the children of men accept the feminine half of the divine, to protect and cherish it in our hearts, to honor and defend its principles, there can be no happy reunion, nor can there exist any true marriage between Heaven and Earth. Until God’s love inseminates the Earth through our hearts, there can come no true communion, no fertilization and no future germination. Until the church and the Sons of Man recognize the sanctity of all Creation and realize that communion comes only through a joining of both male and female, Heaven and Earth, within the God Seed, the promise of the betrothal cannot lead to a consummated wedding and a new beginning, a new Eden, a Heaven on Earth.
NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR
I never intended The Betrothal story as a factual representation of Jesus’s life or a reiteration of his teachings. Rather, I meant it to represent the final ritual in the initiation ceremony and the beginning of a reunification between Heaven and Earth after the rift caused by the ‘original sin’, committed not by Pan-Dora, who acted out of love, but by Shusha, who acted out of fear to suppress and control the power and divinity of the feminine.
Jesus, as an earthly man, represents the feminine principle of the Mother Earth, a Bride for God the Bridegroom, the one who keeps God’s woman-hood safe in his heart. Although, in the patriarchal society of his time, he presented as a man, he exemplified the feminine principles of love, inclusiveness, universal kinship and leading by example. However, Jesus’s sacrifice provided only a Betrothal promise and humankind has a long way to go before we grow mature enough for the Wedding. In the words of the shaman, Buludumas, “…until such time as the will and sanctity of the Mother are once again recognize and honored, your children’s children shall torment the earth and labor in the dust for their livelihood, and only through a divine reunion of Mother and Father can their ancestral soul become reborn.”
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Goodall, Jane. Through a Window. Mariner Books, 1990
Goodall, Jane. In the Shadow of Man. Mariner Books, 2010
Morgan, Elaine. The Aquatic Ape. Stein and Day, 1982
Lawlor, Robert. Voices of the First Day. Inner Traditions International Inc., 1991
Frazer, James George. The Golden Bough; a Study in Magic and Religion. McMillan and Co., 1976
Velikovsky, Immanuel. Worlds in Collision. Doubleday and Company Inc., 1950
Thiering, Barbara. Jesus the Man. Corgi Books, 1993
Holy Bible. King James version, Thomas Nelson Inc. 1970
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
A long time ago in a town far, far away, Shelley Penner came into the world, and neither she nor it have ever been the same since. Shelley has always been a creator in many disciplines — drawing, painting and photography as well as writing. She says, “I have always had a head full of stories. As a child I would put myself to sleep by living scenes in my imagination until I dozed
off. I didn’t just make up stories, I became a part of them, I felt all the emotional nuances of the characters. Eventually, my head became so full of those imaginary people, demanding their chance to be made real in words, that I just had to start writing.”
Early literary influences include the queen of sci-fi, Andre Norton, and Marion Zimmer Bradley, both of whose novels still maintain a permanent place in Shelley’s personal library. You can find more about Shelley Penner at her website shelleypenner.com.
OTHER RCN MEDIA TITLES
HAVEN HOLD SERIES
By Shelley Penner
Haven Hold
Brothers of the Heart
Dreamweaver
STAND ALONE BOOKS
Both Sides Now
by Derek Hanebury, Libbie Morin & Vicki Drybrough
Just Being Human
By Colton Nelson
Coda
By Huei Lin
Something Else Altogether
by Derek Hanebury
Alberni Aquarium Cookbook
by The Alberni Valley
Secrets of a Town Cursed
By Joan Jedy
Banished to the Fifth Planet
By Joan Jedy
Alone In the Castle
By Laura Sturgeon
RCN SHORTS
Rough Diamond
by Derek Hanebury
A Kind of Seeing
by Shelley Penner
Pulse
By Huei Lin
The Courier
By Huei Lin
King of Dhamma
by Huei Lin
Responsive
by Colton Nelson
Double Cross
by Joan Jedy
Made For Each Other
by Joan Jedy
Ms. Holliman's Employer
by Laura Sturgeon
Afraid of Heights
by Joan Jedy
A Nickel a Bucket
by Laura Sturgeon
RCN MEDIA KIDS BOOKS
THE ADVENTURES OF BOB AND AVERY SERIES:
By Kay J Douglas & Eric Gardiner
Bob and Avery Help Helga the Witch
Bob and Avery Go to Space
Bob and Avery Meet Dinosaurs
BY GAIL MORTON
Two Weeks with Charlie
The Giving Raven
Rockfish
Friends of the Hollywood House
with Shelley Penner
RCN SPECIAL EDITIONS
Both Sides Now: Special Illustrated Edition
by Derek Hanebury, Libbie Morin & Vicki Drybrough with Kaitlyn Powell
Nature’s Wisdom: An Art Collection
By Shelley Penner
Repartee Press
Old Bones & Battered Book Ends
Much Adieu Aabout Nothing
Animusings
Flora, Fauna & H. Sapiens
MORE COMING SOON
To see a complete list, go to:
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SHELLEY PENNER’S HAVEN HOLD SERIES
Haven Hold
Daniel's mutant eyes mark him in a future world where mutants are considered 'devil's spawn', less than human, fit only for slavery. With enhanced vision and hearing, Daniel has survived despite a lifetime of rejection and betrayals.
Hunted and driven into the northern wilderness, he finds a secure home in a hidden valley, but he remains solitary. Then he risks his life to save two normal holders and wins the chance to find true friendship at last, if he can only bring himself to trust once again.
Brothers of the Heart
When Zach McKenna arrives at Haven Hold, his self esteem is dismally low. Having lost his entire family to vicious raiders, he feels an intense distrust of mutants. Despite hearing of the holders’ friendship with the mutant, Daniel, the first time he sees Daniel, Zach shoots him and rouses the anger of the entire hold. Will they still allow him to stay, or will they exile him to make his way through the dangerous wilderness alone?
As a mutant born amongst normals, Daniel has suffered rejection, isolation and betrayal. When the people of Haven Hold offer him a permanent place in their community, it seems a dream come true. But can he teach Zach, his new partner, to trust a mutant?
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From the Shores of Eden Page 29