Every Sacred Mountain is THE Sacred Mountain.
This is an important principle in any form of Traditionalist philosophy. This can be a difficult concept to grasp, but how could it be otherwise? The Sacred Mountain is the place where Heaven and Earth meet. Whether one climbs Mount Sinai or Mount Fuji, one has climbed The Sacred Mountain. There is no need to climb a different Sacred Mountain, and if one did, it would be climbing The Sacred Mountain again, only in a different location. How could it be possible to climb the wrong Sacred Mountain? The idea seems almost absurd from this perspective.
One of the difficulties with the Abrahamic Traditions is the notion of a “Jealous God.” The “Jealous God” is a religious aberration and is not really found anywhere else. Of course, for the serious devotee of any religion, it is important to see her religion as The Only Truth, which on one level is absolutely correct. In Abrahamic Traditions, however, this belief has become exclusionary, denying the Truth of other religions. Just because one’s religion is The Only Truth does not mean that other religions are not also True; and indeed The Only Truth as well.
Every Sacred Mountain is THE Sacred Mountain.
While I am not here to tell anyone how to conduct their religious affairs, the pervading belief in a Jealous God creates a difficulty and barrier to discussions of a spiritual or religious nature, and is especially problematic when it comes to the exploration of Feminine Tradition or the Feminine Divine. One of the criticisms of Deanism and Filianism is that this form of spirituality sees the Divine as Feminine and does not include Masculine imagery in its devotional practices. Its Fundamental Mythos is also entirely Feminine. I find it interesting because one rarely hears that type of criticism with respect to the all Masculine imagery for the Divine of the Abrahamic religions, with the possible exception of Mary. Although, even in Roman Catholicism, Mary is not officially given Divine status.
Unlike the Abrahamic Traditions, Deaism/Filianism does not believe that Dea is a Jealous God, nor does Deaism/Filianism see its Creation Mythos in terms of literal, historical facts. Indeed, if our Mythos were based on literal, historical facts, then by definition, they could not represent Universal Truth. From an un-Enlightened state, we, as humans, are not truly capable of understanding the Divine, and as beings bound in time and space, we can not understand matters beyond time and space. “The Tao that can be spoken is not the true Tao.”
To bridge the gap between Heaven and Earth and between the Divine and mere mortals, we are given devotional imagery and Mythos told to us as if they were stories set in time and space. Of course, the images are not the Divine themselves, nor are the stories about literal, historical events that happened in space and time. They are given to us for understanding, nothing more.
In a certain respect, God or Dea is so far above us that imagery for the Divine in human form with biological gender is a poor reflection of the reality. There are religions that forbid imagery for God for this very reason. Deanistic practice does include imagery, because we feel it helps us form a closer connection with Dea and to feel Her presence in our lives.
We do not feel that worship of a Masculine God is wrong, and there are no shortage of faiths in the world that do. We do not feel that worship of God/Dea as both Masculine and Feminine is wrong either, and there are faiths in the world that do that as well. We, however, as Deanists, worship Dea in an exclusively Feminine form. Do we think that ours is the only way? Of course not. To us, all orthodox religions can be seen as a form of the Sacred Mountain. Dea is not a Jealous God.
See also:
God as Mother: Some basic questions about Feminine Monotheism
The Wisdom of Our Grandmothers 