This stained glass window is unique in multiple ways. Firstly, Jesus is portrayed as black to mirror the white Jesus on the Rood above the high altar. Secondly, Jesus can be seen with a massive sun shining behind him. Thirdly, the two people standing at the foot of the cross in the Rood sculpture, Mother Mary and Mary Magdalene, are symbolized as bright stars next to the sun in the Great West Window. 

The Egyptian Goddess Hathor, the prototype of the Goddess Isis, is represented wearing a headdress of a sun disk between two horns. Hathōr is most closely associated with the cow for its nurturing qualities as mother. 

There was also a different aspect to Hathōr called Sekhmet, the lioness Goddess, the Eye of Ra. She acted as mother, sibling, consort and daughter of the sun god. She was his partner in the creative cycle in which he was renewed and reborn at dawn, after dying at dusk to travel through the Duat. 

Sekhmet was a fierce protector and seen as an independent goddess, the feminine counterpart to Ra, the sun god. She could be dangerous and a violent force to combat the enemies of Ra. She was often paired with the Uraeus, Cobra, a symbol of protection and royal authority. 

Sekhmets fury and rampages as the Eye was a popular motif in the legends of ancient Egypt. The efforts of the gods to appease her are mirrored in the stories of Kali and Shiva found in India. 

The festival of Drunkenness celebrated the return of the Eye of Sekhmet/Hathōr, and was an affirmation of life, through eating, drinking, music, dancing and a joyful expression. The Rampages or disappearance of the Eye of Ra was often associated with death, sorrow and hunger. 

Hathōr was called the ‘mistress of love’, her procreative power linked to female sexuality beauty, and ecstasy. She was worshipped for helping to produce the world itself as divine co-creatrix. She was both the consort of many male gods and the mother of various deities. She was often portrayed as nursing the Pharaoh, her milk being a sign of divine blessing on the ruler. The Goddess Isis took over most of the qualities attributed to Hathōr. 

If we now return our attention to the West Window, then the Son/Sun, is flanked by the planet Venus as morning and evening stars, the dual nature of the Goddess as both nurturing and fiercely protective. Christianity chose to discard one of these aspects in favour of the other. Only the nurturing, gentle and pure Mother Mary was accepted, and the wild, untameable aspect of Mary Magdalene rejected. She was turned into a prostitute and many positive aspects of femininity judged as bad and ungodly. 

It is this split in the feminine psyche that haunts society to this day. Women are slowly reclaiming all aspects of themselves, a process that is disrupting the control and authority of patriarchal institutions, hence the pushback regarding reproductive rights and other hard earned freedoms. 

Magdalene is Rising whether they like it or not. Men have an important role to play in supporting this societal transformation as something that is long overdue. Jesus himself was in favour of such a rising, a revolution of equality.