The Children of Heaven

 Here is an article from the old magazine, The Coming Age (TCA), on Janyati that fit the season. We celebrate the Day of All Janyati on Dec 25 (along with Nativity!) and this is good reading in preparation for the Day when all the angels rejoice with us!

The Coming Age is scanned and uploaded to the internet HERE and HERE through the Filianic Studies websites. You can see the issue this article came from as well as many more on those pages; each issue is packed with articles and information on many, many aspects of our religion!

[A Note: Janyati is a plural word, meaning roughly "angels"; the singular is Janya. They are also called Geniae, the singular being Genia, as they are in this article. 'Sai' is an honorific; some simply use 'Lady' instead. The Day of All Janyati, also known as Geniad, is celebrated on 28 Astraea/25 Dec; the Day of Sai Athene is on 7 Astraea/4 Dec; the Day of Sai Herthe on 6 Herthe/31 Dec.]

The Children of Heaven
from Issue #5

“IN THE BEGINNING, God expressed Herself. And Her aspects were beyond number. And the expression of every aspect was a perfect soul.” (The Teachings of the Daughter)

                So starts the description of human existence given to us in the Scriptures by God the Daughter. We go on to learn how a great number of souls turned from this state of Absolute Existence and became imperfect; and among the many kinds and states of imperfect souls we find those which we call the human.

                But some souls did not fall. They are not alike, but are infinite in their variety, for every aspect of Deity is unique. In many ways we human souls seem very similar – that is because the world of physical matter into which are fallen severely limits the ways in which we are able to express ourselves. But the Geniae are beyond all limitation. Each Genia is absolutely and perfectly herself. And because she is perfectly herself, she is also a perfect expression of her Creator in a particular aspect.

                The selfness of a perfect soul is a thing so wonderful and so high that it resounds through the universe and filters down to our material realm in the form of some beautiful quality.

                For example, the selfhood of the Genia we call Athene is pure wisdom; and all intelligence, all understanding that we know on this earth, from the bright idea of a child while walking to school on a winter’s morning to great libraries of philosophy flow from the selfhood of Athene.

                Or to put it another way, Athene is the pure expression of the Divinely created quality of intelligence.

                Everything that is home; everything that makes the difference between the chunk of stone that is a house, a cave, or a convent, and the sacred word home in all its depth of meaning, all this flows from our lady Hestia.

                The list could go on – Alethea, Genia of Truth, Moira of choice and fate, Nike of courage…and we know the names of only a fraction of all the Geniae that exist.

                Why do we sometimes call the Geniae “our lady” almost as though they were God Herself? Because they are such pure expressions of the Divine that we cannot give devotion to a Genia without in that very act worshipping the Divine Light that flows through her. Sometimes it is almost impossible to tell at exactly what point we have stopped speaking of, say, our lady Alethea, and begun speaking of Our Lady.

                In one sense, we could say that the reason why the universe is imperfect is because the sublime qualities which are the essential selfhood of you and I and all other fallen souls are missing from it – because we are not Geniae as we once were and should always have been.

                For we were once Geniae, and the Geniae themselves, whose brightness we can scarcely look upon, are our sisters. Being perfect, their love for us is also perfect. That is why we can petition their help with confidence and ask them to pray for us.

                In the Ekklesia of Our Lady, we are united in one family with the Geniae, and they desire beyond all else to welcome us back into perfection. It is said that every maid (and man) has a Genia to watch over her, to encourage her whenever she begins to turn to our Mother and to offer prayers for her.

                Sometimes the personal Genia is confused with the true self. It is true that the more like our Genia we become, the closer we will be to our true self, for a personal Genia always has a selfhood that is akin to that of the soul in her care. And almost every human being is at present so far from her true self that for this life, to draw near to her Genia will be sufficient.

                It is as if I live in one village and my Genia in another close by it; but at present I am many hundreds of miles from home. In the end our destinations will be different, but for most of the journey our ways will be exactly the same, and I may follow her every step.

                Sometimes it is asked whether all Geniae are absolutely perfect, or whether some (e.g. the many personal Geniae) are on a lower plane than the great Genia such as Alethea or Hestia.

                We cannot know for certain the answer to this. It may be that certain perfect Geniae have deliberately stepped down from the joy of Absolute Existence in order to unite themselves with the fallen creatures who they so deeply desire to help and so are no longer absolutely perfect. But this is only conjecture.

                It is also said that even in the highest Geniae there is a certain lack of completeness, because until the whole universe is complete, not part of it can be in itself complete. Thus only when every soul has returned to perfection will any soul achieve the ultimate height of perfection.

                Devotion to the Geniae is an aspect of Madrian spiritual life which is sometimes neglected. I think that is a pity, because such devotion deepens and enriches our religious experience, provides a source of guidance and help, and strengthens the bonds between the children of our Lady’s Ekklesia in this world and in the higher spheres.

                At this time of year, with the Geniad and the days of Athene and Hestia prominent in our thoughts, it is a good time to renew our relationship with our radiant sisters, the Geniae.                          Sister Angelina.

 

[A Note: the reference to the Scriptures at the opening of the article is a fragment of a chapter of  Scripture that the Madrians (who ran the magazine) did not make public in full. This verse is not in any extant manuscripts that we are aware of, only making its appearance here in this article. Appendix A of the fourth edition Eastminster Critical Edition of the Clear Recital contains other such verses of chapters lost to us.]