Think of the mysteries like the sharply pointed end of one of those old circle-drawing compasses. We position that point on a page and then can draw whatever circles we need to around it. We can stay close to that story or venture very very far away from it. But that center allows to return and land where we began. Each of the mysteries is like this.
The Fifteen Mysteries
The Joyful Mysteries
1. The Annunciation
The Angel Gabriel appears to Mary and announces that, if she is willing, she may bring forth a child without a husband. In medieval art, Mary is often depicted illuminated by a shaft of sunlight, wearing over her red dress a robe of the deepest blue—the color of the ocean.
2. The Visitation
Now with child, Mary visits the home of her cousin Elizabeth who, despite her advanced age, is also miraculously with child. The young woman and the old woman celebrate together the rising life force within them and its power to transform the world.
3. The Nativity
Mary gives birth in a cave used as a stable. In the darkness of the night, surrounded only by the animals, she brings her child into the world and lays him in a manger.
4. The Presentation
Mary presents her child to the greater community. On her way into the Temple, she encounters two ancient seers who recognize her as the Mother of God, but predict that a sword shall pierce her heart.
5. The Finding at the Temple
Mary loses her twelve-year-old son in Jerusalem. For three days she searches for him and eventually finds him discussing scripture with the elders in the Temple. Rather than leave him with these men, she brings him home to be with her.
The Sorrowful Mysteries
1. The Agony in the Garden
Jesus remains awake in the garden at night. The disciples have fallen asleep, unaware of the coming danger. Alone, he experiences the full weight of all the many sorrows to come.
2. The Scourging at the Pillar
Just as the land is furrowed by ploughs and the beasts are beaten into submission, the body of Mary’s child is scourged. In the name of Empire, Jesus is flogged by soldiers who are following the orders of their commanders.
3. The Crowning with Thorns
In the central mystery of the rosary, Jesus is mocked by those still fearful of the power he represents. He is given a red robe and a reed for a scepter—each an ancient symbol of the goddess. On his head is placed not a wreath of roses but a crown of thorns.
4. The Carrying of the Cross
A crowd gathers as Jesus is marched to his execution. No one intervenes. After Jesus stumbles and falls, a random onlooker who has come for the spectacle is forced by the soldiers to assume responsibility for carrying the cross.
5. The Crucifixion
The tree that once stood at the center of devotion to the Mother has been stripped of life and made an instrument of execution instead. When Jesus is dead, he is lowered into Mary’s arms.
The Glorious Mysteries
1. The Resurrection
Following an ancient pattern whereby a slain god is resurrected by a mother or a lover, Mary Magdalene observes a sacred vigil at Jesus’s tomb. On the third day, he appears to her at last. When she tells the other disciples, they refuse to believe her.
2. The Ascension
After his resurrection Jesus appears unexpectedly to various other disciples. On the fortieth day he disappears into a cloud, surrendering to the ceaseless cycle of birth, death, and rebirth that includes all life on Earth.
3. The Descent of the Holy Spirit
The disciples pray together with Mary for nine days after the Ascension. Finally, a mighty wind fills the room and the Holy Spirit descends upon them. The Hebrew word for spirit is ruach, which is feminine. In art, the Holy Spirit is often depicted as a dove—another sign of the Goddess.
4. The Assumption
Legend has it that Mary never dies but simply falls asleep and is “assumed” into heaven, her body and her spirit undivided. The body of the Great Mother is the body of the Earth and the body of the Heavens, the body of all that is.
5. The Coronation
In the final mystery of the rosary, Our Lady is crowned Queen of Heaven and Earth. Medieval statues of the Coronation showed Mary in the fullness of her power and glory, and yet mysteriously reborn and young again, holding the infant Christ. Life is a journey that circles back to where it started. This is where the rosary ends, and where it begins again.