Jesus is Our Mother?

"And thus in our making God almighty is our kindly father, and god all wisdom is our kindly mother, with the love and the goodness of the Holy Ghost, which is all on God, one Lord. And in the knitting and in the oneing he is our very true spouse and we his loved wife and his fair maiden, with which wife he was never displeased. For he sayeth: "I love thee and thou lovest me, and our love shall never part in two." (NAEL page 378)

The two types of relationships Julian describes here are very interesting and I found it surprising that she wasn't condemned for saying that Jesus is a mother to all of us, who suffered for us in the same ways our mothers suffer for us. I also thought it was interesting how this Father and Mother relationship, with all of creation as their children, parallels what we think of as a familial relationship.

Frogs, ducks, and black cats, oh my!

"...when any novice is to be received among them and enters the sect of the damned for the first time, the shape of a certain frog appears to him, which some are accustomed to call a toad. Some kiss this creature on the hind-quarters and some on the mouth; they receive the tongue and saliva of the beast inside their mouths. Sometimes it appears unduly large, and sometimes equivalent to a goose or a duck, and sometimes it even assumes the size of an oven" (pg 115).

What interesting things await us once we have decided to go to the depths of Dante's Inferno! Not fiery gates or evil laughter, oh no! But frogs! Toads! A black cat will coil its tail in the corner! 

Depravity will happen with men amongst men, women amongst women! The assumptions presented in Chapter 4 and the exert "Pope Gregory IX: Vox in Rama" proved to be hilarious--what was assumed of what happens when you choose to leave your faith seems to be more realistically some crazy fantasy than real life.

Have Your or A Loved One (Usually a Woman) Dabbled in Witchcraft?

    "70. Have you believed that there is any woman who can do that which some, deceived by the devil, affirm that they must do f necessity or at his command, that is, with a throng of demons transformed into the likeness of women, (she whom common folly calls the witch Hulda), must ride on certain beasts in this infidelity, you should do penance for one year on the appointed fast days..." (Kors/Peters pg 64)

This quote, as well as the 20 or so others all sound like one of those financial compensation commercials. But, instead of getting money in return you get told to repent for believing your next door neighbor, Miriam, is riding beasts into the night but might also actually be Hulda in disguise. Or 3 demons in a trench coat riding a goat. You'll never really know but to cure you of this totally-not-delusion, you must repent on specific fasting days. From a modern mind this seems trippy but for that time, you couldn't trust anyone. Not even your goat.

Millennials Need To Learn From Sir Gawain .-.

"'... But I shall look at it often as a sign of my failing,/ And when I ride in triumph, recall with remorse/ The corruption and frailty of perverse flesh,/ How quick it is to pick up blotches of sin./ And so when pride in my knightly valour stirs me,/ A glance at this girdle will humble my heart.'" (IV 2433-2438).

This quote seems to bring the whole journey together. It is honorable that Sir Gawain is willing to literally wear his sin. He is able to take ownership of his failures and turn it into something that will help him and future knights stay true to all of their values. I respect Sir Gawain for owning up to his wrong-doings and taking the consequences as they come.

Magic or Religion?

“For it is my belt you are wearing, that same woven girdle, my own wife gave it to you, I know well in truth. I know all about your kisses, and your courteous manners, and my wife’s wooing of you: I arranged it myself. I sent her to test you.”(2358-2362)

The appearance of religion- Christianity is shown a lot throughout this story. For example- Christmas is celebrated, going to mass is important to Gawain, he has Mary on his shield, Gawain prays to the Lord, goes to confession, This particular quote I chose seems similar to the Bible story of the devil tempting Adam and Eve. Forgiveness and reconciling differences is a very important part of this story too, which is also seen in the Bible. In this story and in the Bible, a sinner is forced to be burdened with something. Gawain has the scare, Adam and Eve became ashamed to be naked once they sinned.

This is significant because this story is full of magic and religion- and distinguishing the difference between the two can be interpreted differently for everyone. Both religion and magic can be seen in this story and impact the actions of every character.

Throw Everything You Thought You Knew Out the Window

“First I threatened you playfully with a pretence, / And avoided giving you a gash, doing so rightly / Because of the agreement we made on the first night, / When you faithfully and truly kept your pledged word, / Gave me all your winnings as an honest man should” (Lines 2345-2349).

When the Green Knight, or Bertilak of Hautdesert as we later know him, says this to Gawain, it was the moment that I realized the Green Knight was Lord Bertilak from the castle that Gawain stayed in on his journey. This moment is important because it took everything I thought I understood about the poem and turned it upside down, therefore capturing my attention. It also left me wondering: how did he do that? Is this… magic?

As Custom Requires...

""Dry winds of autumn force the dust to fly / From the face of the earth high into the air; / Fierce winds of heaven wrestle with the sun...Then all ripens and rots that had sprung up at first, / And in so many yesterdays the year wears away, / And winter comes round again, as custom requires, / in truth"" (II. 523-531).

I feel like this passage encapsulates the poem's repetitive focus on nature, chronology, and images. Considering our previous readings, these lines not only hint at the inevitable prophecy of Gawain's duel, but also of the natural magic, or order, of the event by relating it so strongly to the change of the seasons. Despite the court's reaction to the green knight's beheading, the text itself is not overly concerned with magic and its existence. It's another 'required custom' for telling the story.

https://static01.nyt.com/images/2007/12/16/books/hirsch-600.jpg

Foreshadowing?

"'let us make an agreement: / Whatever I catch in the wood shall become yours, / And whatever mishap comes your way give me in exchange...'" (ll. 1105-1107)

To me this implies that the person who owns the castle Gawain is at will take his 'mishap' which in Gawain's case is him being decapitated by the Green Knight. Unless I'm misreading I believe that's what is happening.