How The Holy Spirit Is Mary’s Mikvah Mother-In-Law
JOHN LUKE GILBERT
The Holy Spirit’s role in immaculate conception isn’t what you think. Don’t think, “husband”, instead, picture a Jewish Mikvah mother-in-law.
Immaculate Conception is,
Well, I guess a little awkward. You can’t talk about it without talking about what happens between the sheets. Now I understand the incarnation isn’t a greek myth. Zeus didn’t disguise himself as an ant or Mary’s husband to seduce her, but sex is the metaphor we use to talk about it.
Sex as An Icon
First off, let’s clarify what this post is not saying. Mary did not have sex with God. I can’t emphasize this enough. The only member of the trinity with a sexuality is God the Son. So when we use sex as a metaphor for immaculate conception, we are using physical representations, Icons, to describe metaphysical patterns of reality. More specifically, the icon of sex explains the divine relationship between masculinity and femininity. These two patterns are seen throughout nature and the divine. This is why we use a masculine pronoun for God the Father even though he is sexless. In our last posts we explained how the divine feminine is represented in the 6 jungian archetypes of the Great Mother. I recommend reading this first. It lays the foundation for this divine pattern. This article will explain how this feminine pattern is repeated at the moment of immaculate conception.
Disclaimer:
There are many symbolic and theological implications to consider when ascribing an emblematic role for the Holy Spirit in immaculate conception. This is purely a speculative article. Exploring this mystery is healthy in the right context, but I recommend discussing this with your priest or religious leader before adopting anything as doctrine.
The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Luke 1:35 (NIV)
Since Mary is female, the Holy Spirit is often assumed as the husband in this analogy. At first glance, this appears to be the case, but there are two things wrong with this. First, the Holy Spirit isn’t called father. If the uncreated, eternal arc of the Trinity has that label, why would the Holy Spirit assume the role of a second father at immaculate conception?
Secondly, the verse could be interpreted as describing two events; one for the Holy Spirit and one for the Power of the Most High (God the Father). This makes more sense when you consider that Gabriel is describing how the incarnation is possible. The sequence of events is a divine how-to for immaculate conception. If this is the case, then the Holy Spirit’s role is a precursor to immaculate conception.
But the question is, what could this precursor symbolize? The metaphorical inconsistency is solved through a forgotten Jewish wedding tradition involving the mother-in-law and bride-to-be: Mikvah.
The Symbolism of Mikvah Waters
Ancient Hebrews were obsessed with being clean. The scriptures reserved for God’s holy words have precise instructions on how to properly handle excrement. What would typically be a public health announcement today was revered as God’s Word in ancient Israel.
These heavenly instructions to be clean weren’t just a social trick to keep a growing nation healthy, though. A pure country, camp, body, and soul are all connected. They are part of the same transforming power of God.
Mikvah is another example of spiritual cleansing. It is a Jewish bathing ritual used to purify the soul and body. It is used in various traditions. Six days before a brides wedding, she would join her mother and mother in law, along with other female relatives in a cleansing ceremony at the mikvah. The women would recite prayers as the bride entered the mkivah waters, and they would end the ceremony with a celebrative dinner and mikvah cake.
Transformation is uniquely a feminine pattern that moves us from entropy to growth and death to life. To see this feminine pattern in the mikvah, you first need to understand the Hebrew etymology of the word mother.
Mother: First Water Giver
The pictorial Hebrew definition of mother means the first or strong water-giver. This definition makes sense when you consider the role of water in childbirth. The water of the mother’s womb transforms an embryo into a baby by feeding her nutrients. Water, in this definition, is using that image to symbolize transformation. The words first and giver imply that the Hebrew definition means that mothers are a primary source of transformation. This intimate association between motherhood and water affirms the pattern of transformation as feminine.
The mikvah waters are feminine in that they represent a symbolic mother. It is a primary source of transformation. In the pre wedding ceremony, it’s a bride’s rite of passage into motherhood. The mother-in-law initiates this passage by symbolically inviting the bride to assume the role as the most important woman in her sons life.
The bride’s decision to get in the water is how the the bride accepts the mother-in-law’s invitation. It is an act of faith much like the ritual of baptism. The mikvah waters, combined with the bride’s faith, transform her into the next water giver; a mother that transforms non life into life.
The Mikvah Mother-In-Law That Made Mary Queen of Humanity
So how should we read “The Holy Spirit will come upon you” in relation to this Jewish tradition?
The phrase “come upon you” is used to describe the anointing power of the Holy Spirit. When Saul was anointed to be the first King of Israel, 1 Samuel 10:10 states the “Spirit of God came powerfully upon him, and he joined in their prophesying.”
Jesus uses the same phrase in the beginning of Acts 1:8 “You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Any anointing is essentially a transfer of power for a specific purpose. In Mary’s case, the Holy Spirit is anointing her to receive the Word of God and deliver salvation to the world.
In this metaphorical narrative, The Holy Spirit anoints Mary as the queen of humanity. She invites Mary into her transforming symbolic Mikvah waters like the mother-in-law the night before the wedding. Mary accepts a unique relational role with the divine masculine by entering the transforming presence of the Holy Spirit. The Power of the Most High (God the Father) gives Mary the Word (Christ) and she makes him flesh. Now Mary, with the power and anointing of the Holy Spirit, meets us in our doubt and whispers,
“Have faith, my child.”
She is the queen of our faith. Just as she entered into the Holy Spirit’s transforming waters, we take her invitation to believe and enter the same transforming presence. Our baptism marks us as a child of God and a sibling of Christ. And in Communion, we receive the Word of God like Mary received the Word at immaculate conception. It bears fruit in us like it bore the ultimate fruit in her. This is why she is our queen and our mom. She is the first and ultimate water-giver.
I explain how this integrates with Trinitarian doctrine in my next post. Learn how this title of mother in law doesn’t subvert God The Father’s position as the uncreated source of all being.
This article is part of a series on the divine feminine. I believe that it is critical for the church and broader culture to see feminine representation in the divine. It helps us transition out of broken patriarchal structures that suppress marginalized voices. Share this post to spark thoughtful conversation in your own community.
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