In Neville Goddard’s teaching, the Bible is not a historical record, but a psychological drama—one that unfolds entirely within the individual. Every character is a state of consciousness, every story a symbolic description of the inner workings of mind.
When Scripture gives us two women, it reveals two self-concepts: one born of inherited limitation, effort, or fear, and the other born of assumption, imagination, and acceptance of the fulfilled state. Like Cain and Abel, Esau and Jacob, or Ishmael and Isaac, these pairings present a pattern: the first is of the world—the outer man; the second is of spirit—the inner man born from I AM.
These feminine figures are not external people, but inner postures, moods, and attitudes—each one shaping the outcome of your world. They find meaning their meaning in the two trees of the Garden of Eden.
1. Sarah and Hagar: Imagination vs. Effort
Hagar symbolises the state that attempts to fulfil desire through outer action and reasoning. She represents the tendency to work for what should be received through faith. She is slave to the belief that manifestation must be earned.
Sarah, though barren in appearance, represents the self-concept beginning to awaken to the power of imagination. She is the first reflective aspect of mind that dares to consider the unseen as real—that imagination is the true cause. Though she laughs at the promise, it is within her that the seed of assumption begins to take root. She embodies the mystery of faith: the ability to persist in the end despite all physical contradiction. Isaac is not born until striving ends and rest in the promise begins.
Hagar is the mental posture of “how can I make this happen?”
Sarah is the state of “I AM that I AM.”
2. Rachel and Leah: The Desired Self vs. The Accepted Self
Rachel is the bride, the longed-for state—the beautiful, conscious desire we chase and admire. Yet she remains barren until belief replaces longing.
Leah, though less loved, is fruitful. She symbolises what we already accept as true, even if it’s unwanted. The subconscious mind, represented by Leah, gives form not to what we consciously wish, but to what we inwardly believe.
Rachel and Leah show that desire must be united with belief. What we dwell in produces offspring—not what we merely desire from a distance.
3. Mary and Martha: Fulfilled Being vs. Anxious Doing
Martha is the self-concept of busyness and distraction—convinced that outer preparation or work is necessary for fulfilment. She is the mindset that believes creation comes through effort.
Mary represents the self stilled into knowing. She is the one who has assumed the end and rests at the feet of fulfilment. She listens; she receives. She symbolises the receptive attitude necessary for the Word to be planted in the subconscious.
Martha is agitation; Mary is assumption.
4. Esther and Vashti: Willingness to Assume vs. Refusal to Change
Vashti is the fixed identity that refuses to present itself anew. She is the self-image that says “no” to change, clinging to pride, familiarity, and resistance. She will not come when called—and so she is removed.
Esther is the willingness to robe oneself in a new concept of self. She undergoes inner preparation, assumes her royal identity, and steps before the king. She is the individual who dares to embody the ideal, even when it seems risky or presumptuous.
Vashti is the old self-image.
Esther is the assumption of a higher state.
5. Mary and Elizabeth: Fulfilment vs. Preparation
Elizabeth symbolises the inner work before outer evidence appears. Her barrenness represents the unseen cultivation of faith. When she conceives John, the forerunner, it marks the inner rearrangement of consciousness.
Mary is the embodiment of the final assumption—the acceptance of the ideal as already real. When Mary visits Elizabeth, the unborn child leaps within. The desire has found its place in readiness.
Elizabeth is preparation.
Mary is the conception of the fulfilled desire.
6. The Bride and the Harlot: Union vs. Fragmentation
The Harlot represents the self divided—scattered among many beliefs, seduced by the senses, and ruled by fear. She symbolises the imagination misused—attached to appearances, reacting to the world, seeking power externally.
The Bride is consciousness unified. She has “made herself ready” by assuming the state of the wish fulfilled. She represents the soul in union with the ideal, clothed in white: not moral perfection, but inner purity of belief.
The Harlot is imagination in exile.
The Bride is imagination redeemed.
Conclusion: The Feminine as the Creative Self-Concept
Every woman in Scripture is a mirror of self—of how you conceive yourself to be.
Some are born of effort and fear. Others are born of inner vision and faith. Just as Cain kills Abel, the old self-image resists the new. But the second—the one born of imagination—is always the inheritor.
Neville taught that assumption creates reality. These feminine figures are the conditions of consciousness that bring forth your world. When you dwell in Leah, you birth what you already believe. When you sit with Mary, you receive the Word. When you robe yourself like Esther, the king extends the sceptre.
The womb of your world is your self-concept. Who you believe you are is what you shall bring forth.
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