Gnostic Media - Jan Irvin

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Podcast #028 - The Cult of Divine Birth - An Interview with Dr. Marguerite Rigoglioso

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April 26, 2009 06:45 PM PDT

Today we'll be discussing parthenogenesis - divine birth, virgin birth. Is Christianity the only religion to have believed in the virgin birth of its religious leader? Or is this a theme that runs through nearly all ancient religions? What were the ancient practices of the divine birth cults? Where did these ancient beliefs come from? How do these ancient practices tie in to entheogens and astrotheology? Is parthenogenesis really possible?

My guest is Dr. Marguerite Rigoglioso, PhD, author of The Cult of Divine Birth in Ancient Greece - whose book is out today, April 27, 2009. I've had the fortune to have already read her book, and I highly recommend it for anyone interested in these areas of study.

Marguerite Rigoglioso [pronounced REGAL-yo-zo], Ph.D., is a member of the faculties of Dominican University of California, the California Institute of Integral Studies, and the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology, where she teaches courses on women and religion. Her pioneering research on female deities and women’s religious leadership in the ancient Mediterranean world and beyond has appeared in various anthologies and journals, including Feminist Theology, The Encyclopedia of Religion and Nature, Societies of Peace, She Is Everywhere, Trivia, and the Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion, where her paper on the cult of Demeter and Persephone in Sicily received an honorable mention for the New Scholar Award. She is also the editor of Where to Publish Articles on Women’s Studies, Feminist Religious Studies, and Feminist/Womanist Topics.

http://cultofdivinebirth.com

Order The Cult of Divine Birth: http://astore.amazon.com/gnosmedi-20/detail/0230614779

Podcast Summary

Gnostic Media Research & Publishing's podcast with host Jan Irvin.

A show that takes you far beyond the commonly understood concepts of religious practice, history, philosophy, the ancient mysteries, and politics, into the heart of cognizance itself.

My focus is to bring together the leading independent and academic scholars from their respective fields of study to discuss shamanism, entheogens / psychedelics, religion, fertility cults, archaeoastronomy, direct religious experience, politics, and much more.

My hope is that by providing a forum where both academic and independent scholars can present their ideas and research in a complete format, I will help to facilitate further understanding in these related fields - not only for the listening audience, but also for the researchers and everyone involved.

Here the word 'gnostic' pertains to knowledge, and not necessarily dogmatic "Gnostic" teachings. The word gnostic has it's origins in the word 'knowledge' or to know [Greek gnosis, knowledge, from gignoskein, to know].

This is a one of a kind show, so sit back and relax as I take you on journey through time to deepest recesses of your mind.

Jan Irvin of GnosticMedia.com is an independent researcher, author and lecturer in ancient and modern religious practices.

He's the author of The Holy Mushroom: Evidence of Mushrooms in Judeo-Christianity; A critical re-evaluation of the schism between John M. Allegro and R. Gordon Wasson over the theory on the entheogenic origins of Christianity presented in The Sacred Mushroom and the Cross, © 2008. For more information, please see TheHolyMushroom.com

Jan is the co-author of Astrotheology & Shamanism: Christianity's Pagan Roots, © 2006/2009, and co-producer of The Pharmacratic Inquisition DVD, 2007, with Andrew Rutajit. See www.gnosticmedia.com and Pharmacratic-Inquisition.com

He is the publisher of the upcoming 40th anniversary edition of John Marco Allegro's The Sacred Mushroom and the Cross and is also the curator of the official John Allegro website and has contributed much to the re-examination of many of Allegro’s theories. See JohnAllegro.org

Coming Soon from Gnostic Media!