In June 1928, seventy-two years ago, an English lady, Dr. Annie Besant, wrote that the Divine Compassion in its female aspect, embracing the Divine Motherhood, would take its true place in the coming civilization. "Not as the rival of man, but as his comrade, his friend." She said that the responsibility of womanhood as the representative of the feminine stands in its highest function, at the human level, as that of Motherhood.

The Mother aspect as a principle or ideal is recognized and revered in all the great religions. The World Mother is not a personage, but a devi, an angel or a Shining Divine Being representing the Eternal Feminine aspect or Kosmic Mother Spirit. Though for convenience we speak of her as a person, yet she is not. We should remember that the office or position of the World Mother is head of the Hierarchy of High Priestesses, which is charged with the very special interests of the feminine aspect of humanity. It may be held for a time by one great Being and then for a time by another, a succession of angelic beings, as representative of the Eternal Feminine Spirit.

The main purpose of woman, in traditional Christianity, is to raise marriage to the dignity of a sacrament, raising woman from varying degrees of degradation to moral equality with man. Woman’s vocation, as a member of society in union with man, is to represent and develop humanity in all its potential aspects. Every woman has goddess-given gifts to learn about and accept gracefully. One great physical fact in the background that people in the present day seem to forget is that women are the only people who can provide suitable vehicles for highly developed egos waiting to incarnate. That is the one stupendous function, the greatest possible privilege of woman.

When a woman sees her potential divine function a holy task to fulfill in the world by her, through Motherhood, she need not worry about attaining priesthood or joining the ranks of the great Hierarchy of High Priestesses, she is That. Glorious enough is her saintly task as nurturer and molder of the character of the next generation of humanity.

Women have wanted to be priests in the Liberal Catholic Church ever since it was founded. Bishop Wedgwood asked Bishop Leadbeater one day, "Is this a time when we can begin to ordain women?" "Well, no not yet" was the answer, "but when the Lord comes it is one of the things that can be propounded to Him, and His orders will be followed whatever they are. In the meantime, women are entering the Great Brotherhood and can pour out force in that way if that is the work they wish to do."

Another response of Bishop Leadbeater (On the Liberal Catholic Church, Extracts from letters of C W Leadbeater to Annie Besant, 1916-1923, compiled by C Jinarajadasa, 1952, Adyar, page 39) about the possibility of ordaining women in the Liberal Catholic Church, "These forces as now being used could not be sent through a feminine body safely at all; an entirely different arrangement could be made, but it would be a different arrangement. All priestesses in olden days were priestesses of goddesses. The side of devotion represented by the Blessed Virgin is for women; she has taken the place of Astarte and Isis."

Although Dr. Annie Besant proclaimed and planted the seed seventy-two years ago, that seed is now ripe and ready to give again to the world, the call of Womanhood and Motherhood. Will our minds respond to the call? The world is in a time of growth and change. Has it never been? It is now moving toward a more conscious ceremonial rite as the role of women expands in every area of society.

Humanity is ready to give due attention to its feminine aspect, for it recognizes the power of woman, and the corrective that is needed that woman is not man’s rival, but the other side of himself. The great union of the two is the Divine Nature by which humanity is created and evolves. As we lead ourselves out of unequal societies, gods and goddesses may become one and the same.

Until now, great stress seems to have been laid on the necessity for the Holy Eucharist’s forces to be transmitted only through a masculine celebrant. However, Bishop Leadbeater, in 1925 in Sydney, Australia, was less adamant than previously, and he admitted the possibility in the future of women as clergy in the LCC. A question was put from his group of accepted pupils, "Do you think in the future, there will be some development in the direction of women becoming priests?" Bishop Leadbeater responded, "You see there are several possibilities, and I do not know myself in what way it will be settled. The Lord Maitreya will probably settle it when He comes; because He knows that, as well as we do, those conditions have very much changed. The force, which is sent through His priests at present, is not calculated to work through a feminine organism. Therefore, no attempt has ever been made to consecrate women as bishops or ordain them as priests. Nevertheless, He who has made that in one way can easily modify it. He could modify the flow of force so that it could flow through a feminine organism."

Now, we have come to a new period where Protestant churches are ordaining women as clergy. Women are exerting pressure and attempting to influence the Liberal Catholic Church in this respect.

This Eternal Feminine principle, present in every woman, intends to bring Her representative, the World Mother, into yet closer contact with humanity. So that each woman may realize to the fullest, her great opportunity for helping in the upliftment of every race, and for the fulfillment of her divine destiny as woman. When the days of child-rearing are over, a new avenue of fulfillment opens in careers of artistic endeavor, of service organizations, teaching, or any number of positions utilizing the same special skills acquired in child-rearing such as that loving compassion for all creatures. The world needs a Refuge as it were, wherein the weary traveler on life’s pathway shall find rest before proceeding onwards. Where all life may feel the existence of the Refuge, so that those in need may somehow feel such Refuge, within reach, with no condition attached, with no demands made, without any pathway to tread. Women could be the Refuge of all, sorrow, and grief. Where all kingdoms can take shelter, where they can be renewed, where they can rest, where they can wait in safety.

The approach of women to this great Hierarchy of the High Priestesses, was exemplified when Dr Mary Rocke, a medical doctor from London, who at this time acted as Bishop Leadbeater's physician, wrote a ritual. for special services conducted by women, around 1920, in Sydney, Australia, titled Temple of the Motherhood of God. The ceremony was dedicated to the great seven ray groups of Angels or Devis who in the past and present have presided over religions devoted to the feminine aspect. It was the beginning of a wider vision of a complementary dispensation of the Divine Hierarchy of the Brothers; The Hierarchy of High Priestesses is charged with the very special interests of the feminine aspect of humanity. Bishop Leadbeater was kind enough to help Dr Rocke in the occult research.

Here we recognize the great natural fact that man and woman are not identical, but they are two halves of a perfect whole. They are complementary to each other. You can see it in their physical bodies. A woman’s body is built for Motherhood; a man’s body is built for active work. Any doctor will tell you that the glandular system is stronger in the woman than in the man. It is no use fighting against the facts of nature. You may tum a woman into a second-rate man, or a man into a second-rate woman; but it is only when the two are joined, that we have the perfect humanity. The Ego has no gender. Gender is a matter of temporary arrangement for the evolution of the world.

The ritual was never made public, due to the fact that the World Mother had a conversation on this subject with Bishop Leadbeater, and she replied, "l approve the ritual, but nothing must be done that would in any way interfere with My Son’s Church or seem to come into rivalry with it, nor could I for a moment endorse any movement in which women arrogated to themselves any of the powers which He had chosen to confer upon His priests. I do not wish to emphasize the separation between the sexes, but rather to draw them more closely together." The T S President, Dr Annie Besant at the time, also did not seem to favor the ritual because for example, she was trying to get the sexes to work together as in Co-Masonry. The ritual is not intended to be parallel to the Eucharist, for there is no apostolic succession required for its celebration.

Again in 1928, Bishop Leadbeater availed himself to ask whether the Blessed Lady thought this the time for the revival of the ritual. She said, "It might perhaps be better to wait for a while. The ritual might possibly come in as a part of a very much wider scheme which I’m anxious to promote." She wanted the right woman to take charge of a world movement to be managed by women and for women. She would stand behind this movement and pour into it the strength of the Angelic Hierarchies.

If any such ritual came about, Bishop Leadbeater made it quite clear, "It must not be especially identified with Theosophy; it must not even originate from the Liberal Catholic Church, though when it is once set on foot the Church can take it up, preach sermons about it, and so on. It must be unsectarian." As stated, it cannot be an adjunct to the Christian church, but must reflect the feminine principle from the most ancient times and races to the present.

While the women of the Church may concede it to be a hopeless problem right now, maybe, like the world situation, it will mend in due time and be the healthier. Let us bow in utmost reverence before Her. Holding Her in our hearts as the Members of the Hierarchy hold Her in Theirs as the Exquisite Jewel of Their splendid Company, a Jewel upon which only those who know how to reverence may he allowed to gaze.