Mr Nash

Who is the Catholic Mary? In 401 AD one of the seven wonders was destroyed, The Temple of Artemis at Ephesus (aka Diana at Ephesus). In 431 AD Mary was elevated to Theotokos there. Artemis’ cult statue was among the most sacred objects in the ancient world. On her major festival days her statue would be carried in grand procession from the Temple of Artemis through the city streets, accompanied by priests, musicians, and crowds of worshippers. The parallel to Catholic Marian processions where statues of Mary are paraded through the streets is quite striking, and it's not coincidental. The intense Marian devotion that crystallized at Ephesus was shaped by the city’s tradition of venerating a powerful divine mother through idolatry. And Artemis of Ephesus is actually mentioned in the Bible. She is the same pagan goddess that Paul fought against in Ephesus (Acts 19). Historians have pointed out how the city’s tradition with the street processions resumed right after the Council of Ephesus with Mary in her place. Historian Carla Ionescu, now considered a leading expert on Artemis, wrote the following in a dissertation on the subject of Mary and Artemis: “The fundamental position of this work is that a fusion took place between the ancient worship of Artemis in Ephesus, and the elevation of Mary to Theotokos, and that this fusion is not a result of the church-initiated action to convert the Ephesians, but rather the Ephesians forcing the early church to accommodate their traditions of Artemis by reshaping and reinterpreting the authority and responsibilities of the Virgin Mary.” In her paper she notes that, “Artemis reigned not only as Queen of Heaven, but also as Mother, Healer and Saviour.” [….] “Artemis is especially unique because of the seemingly contradictory fact that she is a virgin, yet is also worshipped as “all Mother.” There is a webpage at Columbia University with the title, ‘Isis and the virgin mary: a pagan conversion.’ It’s from anthropologists Meg Baker and Sev Fowles. They show how Isis statues holding a baby were physically remolded and reconceptualized into Mary and Jesus in the 4th century. Isis was known as everyone’s mother, just like Catholic Mary, and mother of a divine child, Horus. She was known for her purity, just like the Catholic Mary. And statues of her with Horus predate Jesus. The Catholic Mary is not the Mary from the Bible. She is Mary syncretized with pagan goddesses, particularly Artemis of Ephesus and Isis.

The snowpack in the Western U.S. is all but gone. It is supposed to be at it's annual peak this week.

we have these like really good talks where he’s like “unicrom! when was satan bound?” & i always forget to pray that the Holy Spirit comes to talk thru me

You can now enable Claude to use your computer to complete tasks. It opens your apps, navigates your browser, fills in spreadsheets—anything you'd do sitting at your desk. Research preview in Claude Cowork and Claude Code, macOS only.