God as Food - Corpus Christi - June 7 episode artwork

EPISODE · Jun 4, 2026 · 49 MIN

God as Food - Corpus Christi - June 7

from The Laughing Mystics: An unorthodox journey through the liturgical year · host Laura Lewis-Barr, Jungian Artist - Marci Madary DMin, Educator, Spiritual Director

(70) What has feed me? Where has manna come from when i didn't expect it?The historical ritual or concept of "eating God"—known anthropologically and psychologically as theophagy—isa widespread cross-cultural archetype.Torah as Bread: In rabbinic literature, the Torah is explicitly called the true bread of life. The physical act of eating bread is mirrored by the spiritual act of consuming, digesting, and studying scripture. https://www.wisdomlib.org/concept/bread-of-lifeWisdom Library The Showbread (Lechem HaPanim): In the ancient Tabernacle, twelve loaves of bread (literally & Bread of the Presence) sat constantly before God. This bread symbolized continuous spiritual fellowship between the divine and humanity, representing a spiritual food that never spoiledThe historical ritual or concept of eating god—known anthropologically and psychologically as theophagy—is a widespread cross-cultural archetype. The Aztec Sacrament of TeocualoOne of the most striking, highly documented non-Christian historical examples of theophagy comes fromthe Aztecs, who practiced a ritual literally called Teocualo, meaning god-eating.The Tzoalli Statues: Prior to major festivals honoring deities like Huitzilopochtli (the sun and war god) or Ometochtli (the pulque god), priests molded human-sized statues of the god using ground amaranth seeds, toasted maize, and honey or human sacrificial blood.The Ritual Execution: The statue was treated as a living entity. At the climax of the ceremony, priests performed a symbolic sacrifice, killing the dough statue by driving a wooden stake or flint knife through its heart.Distribution to the Public: The statue was then broken into small pieces and distributed to the entire community, starting with the rulers and warriors down to commoners. The Aztecs believed that eating these fragments filled them with the physical strength, cosmic power, and divine protection of the deity.Marie-Louise von Franz - WikipediaSunday ReadingsThank you for listening! You're invited to join our FB community at ⁠ https://www.facebook.com/laughingmystics/⁠Need more poetry in your life? ⁠Visit Marci's blog ⁠and/or ⁠subscribe to Laura's new substack ⁠and receive one of her fresh poems delivered to you periodically. Questions? Comments? Bring your voice to the conversation. We'd like to SHARE THE MIC with you! Send an audio from your phone with a question or comment to ⁠ [email protected]⁠We now have an easier way for you to leave a review or rating, using this link! ⁠RateThisPodcast.com/thelaughingmystics⁠Please follow us to be alerted for new episodes. We hope you'll share this passion project with others, write a review, or rate/like our podcast on your favorite platform!⁠pod.link/1799776273⁠New episodes now released on Thursday mornings!For more on Marci Madary visit ⁠https://www.insideoutspirituality.com/⁠For more on Laura Lewis-Barr visit ⁠https://psychescinema.com/⁠Want to support The Laughing Mystics? We now have MERCH! Visit ⁠⁠https://www.zazzle.com/store/laughing_mystics/products⁠(0ur show notes are always filled with many links. If your platform doesn't show them, visit the "episode webpage" or our Spotify page.)Music licensed from Artlist#jungianpsychology #depthpsychology #richardrohr #progressivechristianity #jungianwisdom #mysticalchristianity #religioustext #transpersonalpsychology

(70) What has feed me? Where has manna come from when i didn't expect it?The historical ritual or concept of "eating God"—known anthropologically and psychologically as theophagy—isa widespread cross-cultural archetype.Torah as Bread: In rabbinic literature, the Torah is explicitly called the true bread of life. The physical act of eating bread is mirrored by the spiritual act of consuming, digesting, and studying scripture. https://www.wisdomlib.org/concept/bread-of-lifeWisdom Library The Showbread (Lechem HaPanim): In the ancient Tabernacle, twelve loaves of bread (literally & Bread of the Presence) sat constantly before God. This bread symbolized continuous spiritual fellowship between the divine and humanity, representing a spiritual food that never spoiledThe historical ritual or concept of eating god—known anthropologically and psychologically as theophagy—is a widespread cross-cultural archetype. The Aztec Sacrament of TeocualoOne of the most striking, highly documented non-Christian historical examples of theophagy comes fromthe Aztecs, who practiced a ritual literally called Teocualo, meaning god-eating.The Tzoalli Statues: Prior to major festivals honoring deities like Huitzilopochtli (the sun and war god) or Ometochtli (the pulque god), priests molded human-sized statues of the god using ground amaranth seeds, toasted maize, and honey or human sacrificial blood.The Ritual Execution: The statue was treated as a living entity. At the climax of the ceremony, priests performed a symbolic sacrifice, killing the dough statue by driving a wooden stake or flint knife through its heart.Distribution to the Public: The statue was then broken into small pieces and distributed to the entire community, starting with the rulers and warriors down to commoners. The Aztecs believed that eating these fragments filled them with the physical strength, cosmic power, and divine protection of the deity.Marie-Louise von Franz - WikipediaSunday ReadingsThank you for listening! You're invited to join our FB community at ⁠ https://www.facebook.com/laughingmystics/⁠Need more poetry in your life? ⁠Visit Marci's blog ⁠and/or ⁠subscribe to Laura's new substack ⁠and receive one of her fresh poems delivered to you periodically. Questions? Comments? Bring your voice to the conversation. We'd like to SHARE THE MIC with you! Send an audio from your phone with a question or comment to ⁠ [email protected]⁠We now have an easier way for you to leave a review or rating, using this link! ⁠RateThisPodcast.com/thelaughingmystics⁠Please follow us to be alerted for new episodes. We hope you'll share this passion project with others, write a review, or rate/like our podcast on your favorite platform!⁠pod.link/1799776273⁠New episodes now released on Thursday mornings!For more on Marci Madary visit ⁠https://www.insideoutspirituality.com/⁠For more on Laura Lewis-Barr visit ⁠https://psychescinema.com/⁠Want to support The Laughing Mystics? We now have MERCH! Visit ⁠⁠https://www.zazzle.com/store/laughing_mystics/products⁠(0ur show notes are always filled with many links. If your platform doesn't show them, visit the "episode webpage" or our Spotify page.)Music licensed from Artlist#jungianpsychology #depthpsychology #richardrohr #progressivechristianity #jungianwisdom #mysticalchristianity #religioustext #transpersonalpsychology

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God as Food - Corpus Christi - June 7

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This episode was published on June 4, 2026.

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(70) What has feed me? Where has manna come from when i didn't expect it?The historical ritual or concept of "eating God"—known anthropologically and psychologically as theophagy—isa widespread cross-cultural archetype.Torah as Bread: In rabbinic...

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