The reality of a Divine Couple remains unsettling in the West.

If the Absolute is One, how can One be two? Moreover, a Supreme Energy beyond gender and personality offers the advantage that the so-called weaker sex is no longer at risk of being obscured by an ever dominant male figure reigning as a solitary heavenly Father.

But how then will we keep sight a personal Divine being who is "Someone," rather than "Something"?

Few of our contemporaries know that Yahweh, the one God of the Old Testament, was not always "alone." At his side in the Temple of Solomon (in Jerusalem between 930 and 587 BC), stood Asherah, his beloved Goddess. Biblical passages mention that Asherah was also known as Elat, the feminine equivalent of Yahweh, the God of Israel (2 Kings 23:6). Archaeological research has corroborated that she stood near Him in Solomon’s Temple.

Student in comparative religion cannot fail to connect this information to the Divine Couples venerated in Hinduism. Lakshmi-Vishnu, Parvati-Shiva, and the earthly incarnation of Radha-Krishna are the Védic archetypes of the Divine Couple. In the modern era, Radha-Krishna are more popular than ever before.

In Taoist China, the Yin-Yang couple represents the essence of the circle of perfection, with the masculine-feminine polarities within the circle as two droplets swirling towards one another. In his book, "Allah In The Feminine" (2020), French Islamic scholar Eric Geoffroy speaks of the eternal feminine as an essential reality in Islam, always hidden yet inherent in the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad. “The Feminine is the divine light, which is not a creature but a creator.” 

In Egypt, Isis is the quintessential Goddess. She embodies the universal nurturing mother in whom all women are united. Her story with Orisis was the first love story in Egypt. 

As for contemporary Christianity we may wonder what became of the Divine Couple of Solomon? While Asherah and Yahweh are no longer venerated in any church worldwide, a masculine over-representation of Divinity has clearly become the norm. Was it a case of sexist discrimination, to use a very modern expressionan for and age-old male tendancy? You decide. More surprising, perhaps, is the apathy of modern Christians -male and female alike- , in noticing the absence of a Companion alongside the Heavenly Father.

To some extent the advent of Jesus Christ may have changed the game as regards the solitary God. By empregnating an immaculate woman ("without sin") with His Holy Spirit, God the father exalted her as the Mother of God the son (second person of the Trinity). By raising woman's status to such a lofty status has never bee seen in the Christina world, all denominations comprised. Indeed no mortal man is equal to a mother of God, a role that the Virgin Mary continues to play in various apparition to this day.

Charles-Raphael Payeur, Bishop of the Catholic Church of Quebec, asserted at a recent seminar on the Marian conception in Lourdes that, "A woman can hardly do better than to be raised to the position of Mother of God,”.

In context to this article, however, let us make the following observation: the Virgin Mary has never been considered on an equal footing with God, as a Goddess would be. She was married to Joseph, a carpenter. Unlike Yahweh the modern Holy father has no consort. Certainly, a divine desire to elevate a woman "to the threshold of the Divine" is in itself unprecedented. No doubt the Roman Catholic Church has distinguished itself from other Christian institutions by exalting a mortal being to such a postition.

Yet, Catholics don't worship Mary. When asked why, a common answer is, "We pray to her, but not in the same way we pray to God—and not to worship her as a god." The Eastern Orthodox hold a similar postion, " We hold her in high esteem and give her the reverence she deserves as the bearer of God. Her position gives her incredible influence." Finally, Protestants, while honoring Mary with folded hands, have always been opposed to even praying to her, an act they only reserve to the Father and Son. 

As for the nature of the love that unites the heavenly Father and the earthly mother of Jesus, no Christian church has ever addressed it. Some theologians have preferred to sidestep the question by suggesting that God is beyond all gender considerations ; questions of gender are considered to be solely human. According to these theologians, while the concept of "God the Father" may seem eminently masculine, it is in fact merely a figure of speech intended to make the concept accessible to us. Just like the phrase "God made man in his own image," which many have chosen to interpret as a metaphor. In this case, there is no need to answer questions like "In whose image would woman be made?" 

In a more literal sense, the image "God the Father" poses a real problem. Where can we find a Mother Goddess who, before being Mother, is Eternal Counterpart? This may seem complicated, but is it really? Not if we insist that the God of Love is the first among all beings to experience a loving union with his feminine counterpart. Should they not share the conjugal love of which they are the origin? This is unacceptable to the defenders of the Divine Couple, in whose image the human couple is made. For them, it is time that "In His image" became "in THEIR image," because what man is in the image of God, woman is... in the image of the Goddess. It seems so plain and simple put in this way, doesn't it?

Yes it is!

Suffice it to turn to the Divine Couple of Vaishnavism. In the Vedic conception, quite simply, God and Goddess love each other tenderly, even passionately. Are you surprised? Think about it. if we humans are endowed with such a sweet privilege as erotic love, how could our Source not be? “On earth as it is in heaven!” Can this logic be dangerous. I can. Imagine an infant's carefree intrusion into its parents’ bedroom during their moment of passion. "Mummy and daddy are fighting! What will become of me?" To be sure, the parents' must avoid such intrusion at all cost. And so would the Divine Couple with us, Their unwitting human children. Apart from rare spiritual authors like Salomon, Teresa of Avila and Jayadeva, exceptionally rare authors have ventured in describing intimate moments between God and His Goddess. What matters here is that such revelations exist. Why?  Because as there is an inner instinct in the innocent child to feel the reciprocal love that unites its parents, the wise can relate to everyone's inner desire to enter a fraction of God's ultimate mystery. 

In the indian Vaishnava tradition, the intimacy of Radha and Krishna is described in poetry. Passionate embrace is descibed (up to a point). Being reserved for the initiate it is safely coded. The custom is for the faithful to rejoice in just 'knowing" that God and his Goddess love each other “madly.” It is also legitimate for those wishing to enter into such mysteries to make a connection between their experience of physical love in humanan life and the sublime exchanges within their Divine Source.