WHAT IS THE COSMIC MASS?

by Matthew Fox

© 2000

The Cosmic Mass (TCM) is a conscious effort to reinvigorate Western ritual by deconstructing the forms of worship we have inherited from the modern era (such as sitting in benches and being read to, preached at or reading from books including song books).  We reconstruct these forms of worship by going back to the pre-modern practice of dance.

Dance gets us into our first chakra again; dance takes us out of our heads and down again and connecting to the earth again.  Joy results.  Dance demands breathing, and so it fulfills ancient teachings that connect breath with spirit.  This connection is found not only in the Biblical story of the Creator breathing the divine breath into the clay to make it a living human but also in the ancient languages of Africa where the word for “dance” is the same as the word for “breath” which is also the word for “spirit.”  (“Breath” and “Spirit” are the same word (ruah) in Hebrew as well).

At our Cosmic Masses people dance to DJ music as well as live music;  DJs provide the musical ambience and VJs or Video Jockeys provide images through slides and live video feed that tell the story of the theme celebrated.   The theme might be “Gaia Our Mother” or “The Return of the Sacred Masculine” or “Kinship with Animals” or any number of themes that unite us spiritually today.  In the “Return of the Divine Feminine” Mass we collected 500 slides of the Goddess from all of the world’s traditions (including the Black Madonna and Mary from the West).  And we danced in the presence of these images, bringing in the spirit of the Divine Feminine.

At each Cosmic Mass we have a “via negativa” or grief experience where we grieve and lament together the loss of pain we are feeling in our hearts from abuse about the theme of the occasion.  Grieving is such an essential aspect to getting over anger and into our creativity.  We also have Communion or sharing of the sacred bread and wine that unites all beings in the sacred act of eating and drinking divine food and drink.  Early in the Mass is a “via positiva” dance of Joy and Delight and Celebration.  At the close of the service is a “via transformativa” dance or warrior dance which prepares us to go into the world and back to our communities as healers and strong defenders of compassion.  A variety of ages is always represented as well as many kinds of artists and people from diverse religious backgrounds ranging from Christian to Jewish, Hindu, Buddhist, Muslim and Pagan.  The worship is so pre-modern in many respects that many find home there.  Beauty is everywhere present.  And one might say, magic.