The true meaning of ‘Virgin’

20 Feb

Virgin, Jasmine, Blue Lotus and being complete unto oneself

The true meaning of Virgin

Hestia, the virgin goddess of the hearth, family, home and thestate in ancient Greek mythology and religion

Throughout history, from the honouring of the Mother Goddess in the neolithic to the dominion of the patriarchy, we can observe important transformations in the significance of symbols, myths and archetypes, which are expressed also linguistically. One such example is the historical development of the meaning of words of which sometimes, even the etymology is uncertain or unknown.

The word VIRGIN is a perfect example.

A modern dictionary will tell you that a Virgin is “ a person, esp a woman, who has never had sexual intercourse. An unmarried woman who has taken a religious vow of chastity in order to dedicate herself totally to God.”¹

Or simply “someone who has never had sex:”²

According to Wikipedia, the word virgin comes via Old French virgine from the root form of Latin virgo, genitive virginis, meaning literally "maiden" or "virgin"[11]—a sexually intact young woman or "sexually inexperienced woman".³

Virginity has historically been associated with purity and worth, qualities embodied by virtuous women, Mary the Virgin being the most sublime example.

If we dig deeper, however, we’ll discover a more interesting ancient meaning of “Virgine/Vergine”, implying to wholeness, complete and total feminine integrity.

Virginity is therefore referred to the concept of the integrity (and not only limited to the physical anatomy of a woman!) and vital energy qualities innate to the ancient goddesses who, we often see, where called virgins even if involved in love stories and capable of having their purity or virginity restored by meaning of water, eg. bathing in the river.⁴

Virginity’s primary principle was in ancient times intended as the vital feminine energy (and masculine too) or vigour (as applicable to plants) substantive nowadays only applied to men.

Beautifully put, in the words of Christine R. Page, M.D., virgin means “to be complete unto oneself without the need for another to make one whole”. Furthermore, Dr Page describes the Virgin as:

· "Our spiritual blueprint awaiting manifestation

· Our unrealized and unmanifested self

· Our imagination, containing all the seeds of possibility

· Energetic perfection

· Our holographic self in which everything is essentially present.”⁵

I would like to bring to your attention here how the original meaning of Virgin and the concepts illustrated by Dr Page have a strong symbolic correlation with an aspect of the Egyptian youth god Nefertum (or Nefertem), Nefer-Atum, central to the Heliopolitan Creation Myth. Appearing to the world as a Blue Lotus Blossom in the beginning of time, Nefertum rises from the primordial waters of creation, the spacious invisible potential from which all that exists emerges.

In the beginning, the creation god Atum brought creation to completion, NeferAtum is beauty coming into being, beauty that has come to its full completion.

Nefer meaning beauty/beautiful and Atum “to complete”, “to be complete”, “to be perfect and complete”, “everything in its entirety, and the negation of it all⁶, that concept or essence that encompasses all possibilities and unlimited potential. To borrow the words of Dr Page, the divine holographic essence “in which everything is essentially present” all that is “awaiting for manifestation”, “containing all the seeds of possibilities”, bringing into being our “unrealized and unmanifested self” in a constant cycle of death and rebirth, emptying and refilling again, unfulfilled and complete.

To use one of the above mentioned Virgin’s definitions, we can conclude that ‘she who dedicates herself totally to God’ can be interpreted as ‘she who discovers and embodies fully her divine nature and creative potential, and realises she is not separate from God but in perfect union with herself and All That Is, coming to completion, integral, whole unto her beauty, embodying the vital energy qualities innate to the ancient goddesses.’

The Le Monnier, Etymological dictionary Florence 1967, underlines that virgin originally focuses on the positive aspect (=flourishing) rather than the negative one (=intact) of youth and that the term is linked to the family of virere = greening

“The Latin word virgo likely arose by analogy with a suit of lexemes based on vireo, meaning "to be green, fresh or flourishing", mostly with botanic reference—in particular, virga meaning "strip of wood".⁷

Botany gifts us here with another analogy in the natural world which associates with the Virgin in this aspect of the ancient goddess and union with herself. Specifically, with another inebriating Egyptian flower that embodies the Virgin archetype: Jasmine, with its white blossoms, symbolic of purity.

The hights of its exhilarating scent is expressed in its full potential at the dawn’s rising sun, at the meeting of the night with the day, just like the Blue Lotus, representing equally the dark and the light, fully embracing the cycles of change and a continual renewal in the cycle of time.

Grown along the Nile, Jasmine is associated with the goddesses Isis and Hathor, an icon of divine femininity, pleasure and creative energy.

“In her qualities and mysteries as a Sacred Oil, Jasmine, carrying the wisdom of a High Priestess, assists the initiate through the conscious birthing of divine union between the human and the spiritual self. She liberates from unconscious conditioning that limits the potential for full expression of who you truly are and the Pure Essence of your Soul.

Now more than ever Jasmine is reaching out to re-awaken our body’s conscious intelligence and ability to fully incarnate in profound communion with our Soul. Our body’s divine awareness to communicate with our spirit through its somatic interpretations and expressions. Poetic Jasmine awakens your sensory perception, stimulating the senses for guidance: in the aliveness of the body we hear the voice of our Soul as we listen within where all our answers will be found, “without the need for another to make us whole”.

Special thanks go to Anna Paola Moretti and to Dr Christine Page whose research and knowledge have contributed to this article.

· Vergine e verginità: parole da ri-significare

di Anna Paola Moretti

http://www.donneconoscenzastorica.it/2008/06/23/testi-vergine-e-verginitarole-da-ri-significare/

· The Heart of the Great Mother, Spiritual Initiation, Creativity and rebirth, Dr. Christine R. Page, MD, 2020, Bear & Company

Bibliography

1. Dictionary.com

2. Cambridge dictionary.

3. Virginity, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginity#cite_note-13

4. Vergine e verginità: parole da ri-significare

di Anna Paola Moretti

http://www.donneconoscenzastorica.it/2008/06/23/testi-vergine-e-verginitarole-da-ri-significare/