Dear Daughter, Here's What's in Store

Dear daughter,

In my previous letter I told you the Church is not for you. So what is? Where is your place on earth? Where can you turn for peace? Where can you unveil your power? As it turns out, the answers have been there all around you this entire time.

Before I dive into my suggestions, I should review the Gospel according to your mother. This is my version, take or reject as you please:

Women came to earth with premortal endowments; the temple endowment (on earth) is not their first, in fact if you listen closely you’ll hear it referred to as woman’s “further endowment” in the initiatory. After much study and prayer I am convinced we have been ordained to the patriarchal priesthood, which is a poor name for something that symbolizes our divine origins, our ancestry, our patria. We also derive power from the angelic hierarchy to which we have shown ourselves true and faithful with pure and honest hearts.

If and when you are sealed to a righteous man, your stations and priesthoods will stack on top of each other making a virtual ladder towards heaven. You will climb the rungs of the Aaronic Priesthood to the Melchizedek to the Patriarchal. Principalities and powers will bridge the gap between archangel (Adam) up to virtue (Eve); you will be able to obtain the tree of life when you pass the dominions and thrones together.

Considering all that, you will not wait on a man’s church to empower you. You will not consider the temple endowment to be your capstone ordinance, but rather a buttress to what you already have. You will not allow men to patronize you into feeling like your work within their lower offices is fulfilling the measure of your creation.

Instead…

Exponent

Strive to be an exponent, one who expounds and interprets the scriptures. This is a latter-day calling given to women (see Doctrine and Covenants 25) because as we seek to make ourselves holy we ourselves will become an urim and thummim to our families. When I was pregnant with you I read that Christ’s “bowels” would be filled with mercy and I was able to see this word as it was intended to mean womb, as Jesus did deliver us. I brought this to a Jewish scholar and he confirmed that the original word was Racham meaning uterus. This cemented for me why we sometimes call Jesus our father (see Book of Mormon), for in our limited language this is our best approximation to “male mother.” These kinds of interpretations are something we can do more of, it takes practice and preparation.

Seer

There is no greater power. Only one man on earth can be a seer for the Church, its president. Righteous women, however, can be seers for themselves, their families, and communities.

Have you ever tried explaining the color pink to someone who is colorblind? It’s futile and frustrating (for both parties). You can expect this same reaction if you were to try to explain seership to someone who does not have this gift, and especially if they feel threatened by women. How then does seership play out? Warn those to whom you have stewardship of events that will affect them. Spot those who need your help and act immediately. Serve with love.

Another part of seership has to do with noticing the spiritual gifts and birthrights in others. Rebekah did this for her son, Isaac, but you can do the same for anyone (blood relation or not) in whom you see a talent that needs cultivating. (The Brethren refer to this as “nurturing.”)

Daughter of Earth
How great is Mother Earth! Jesus and his servants used Her feminine power to give sight to men, whether it was clay applied to blind eyes, rocks giving light in a dark ship, or stones used to interpret the gold plates. All these things have been done in similitude of Her enlightening powers.

Protect the environment, fight for her. Also retreat into nature to gather strength. It is no coincidence that the First Vision occured in a forest. One chosen to be the prophet of the Restoration knelt in a grove, likewise the daughters of Eve should commune in an order of prayer in nature*. The day will come when men will join them in the truest form of communion, but until then this should be our practice.

(I haven’t tried this yet, but I suspect weather and quake forecasting is a skill we should also tap into.)

Necromancer
This too is terrible nomenclature, but I invite you to study the so-called Witch of Endor who could summon the dead. My grandmother was an altar-keeper for the deceased, as am I. As seers we can see and “hear**” the departed in a way most men can’t. I have used this to facilitate family history work.

Ratifier

Women can and must ratify tokens and signs if Adam is to progress, if he is to know the “why” behind his performing the rites of the Church. Read Moses Chap 5. I feel so certain that Eve counseled her husband in an angelic, transfigured state such that Adam’s eyes opened and he could finally see what his wife sees. Moreover, Eve was able to hear God the Father and have the words from her lips reach His ears. –This is an old Hebrew saying with major implications! Men seeing + women hearing Gods = proximity to Heaven. That solution is achieved only when woman interprets and man listens to understand. So choose your companion wisely!

In Closing

Remember that as part of the Fall Eve’s curse indicated that Adam would preside (i.e. hold the ecclesiastical keys), and nevertheless the daughters of Eve would desire that church. The curse also ensured that the power to see and understand symbols (i.e. conception) would eventually multiply to be inclusive of not only our daughters, but also our sons. These two facets of Woman’s curse are indeed bittersweet: The Church offers us ordinances of salvation and exaltation, as well as limitations that can lead to self-doubt; Inclusive power (unlike the exclusive male priesthood) can bless all generations, but may leave us feeling as though what we have is not special.

Please, daughter, do not listen to those who say this or that gift is not divine womanhood because they know a woman who lacks the talent and a man who has claim on it. That argument does not refute the power nor its feminine origins! There may come a time when my descendents are all male, and should that happen I want my gifts, my blessings, my power in the priesthood to be upon them so that these can go on for all eternity. (God grant them the health to keep my line going.)

When I think about possibilities like that I often wonder if in the premortal councils we took such things into account. Perhaps we knew the Fall would create an exclusive priesthood, where only a tiny drop of men in the bucket of humanity would have it, and we decided sisterhood would be greater than that. I supposed we figured that priesthood lines from father to son would eventually break, but inclusive feminine gifts would last forever either through our seed or from nurturing such things in others.

Yes, we were so clever and today we continue that tradition by thinking outside the Church box.

Love, your mom.

*Trees are so symbolic with their roots in the earth (the resting place of man) and their branches pointing towards Heaven. Study the scriptures so that you can draw parallels between the tree of life and our Mother in Heaven.

**Seeing and hearing are complicated topics we will surely discuss in more depth