Editing Faust, Part Two (section)

===Ancient parallels===
The final words are spoken by a "Chorus Mysticus", i.e. a chorus related to the mysteries, which alludes to an "indescribable" process in which "the eternal feminine leads us on". This resembles ancient mystery religions, and particularly the [[mysteries of Isis]], more than it does orthodox Christian mysticism. In ancient rites of initiation into the mysteries of the goddess Isis, the initiate was guided by a nonverbal process called the "[[wiktionary:epopteia|epopteia]]".<ref>George Cebadal: ''Goethe, Schiller und die verschleierte Wahrheit. Ein kleiner Beitrag zur Mysterienkultur in Goethes "Faust"-Dichtung und der Weimarer Klassik''. Norderstedt 2019.</ref> The last words of Goethe's ''Faust Part II'' call to mind the "epopteia", which is a nonverbal and indescribable process, associated with the sense of sight. 

Similarly, a few lines earlier, Faust petitions the angels for a vision of the ''Queen of heaven'':
<poem style="margin-left:1em; float:left;">Mightiest empress of the world,
Let me, in the blue
Pavilion of the sky unfurl'd,
Thy mystery view!</poem>
<poem lang="de" style="margin-left:1em; float:left;">Höchste Herrscherin der Welt!
Lasse mich, im blauen,
Ausgespannten Himmelszelt
Dein Geheimniß schauen. (11997–12000)</poem>{{clear|left}} Likewise in his final words, Faust prays to the Mater Gloriosa using the titles "Virgin, Mother, Queen" (11995) and also "Goddess" (12100). This goes beyond orthodox Christian teaching, for although "Queen of heaven" is a Christian title of the Virgin Mary, Christian churches balk at calling her "Goddess", which would imply polytheism. 

However, in the mysteries of Isis, a goddess was indeed invoked by the title "Queen of heaven" -- as witnessed by [[Apuleius]]'s ''[[The Golden Ass]]'', an important source for the modern understanding of ancient mystery religions.<ref>Jan Assmann, Florian Ebeling: ''Ägyptische Mysterien. Reisen in die Unterwelt in Aufklärung und Romantik''. p. 29.</ref> The protagonist of the ''Golden Ass'' begins his prayer to the "Goddess" by calling her "Queen of Heaven".<ref>Apuleius, [https://www.poetryintranslation.com/PITBR/Latin/TheGoldenAssXI.php ''The Golden Ass, Book XI:1–4''].</ref> 

Apuleius also calls Isis "mother of all Nature ... whose sole divinity is worshipped in differing forms, with varying rites, under many names, by all the world."<ref>Apuleius: ''The Golden Ass, Book XI:5–6.'' See also: https://www.poetryintranslation.com/PITBR/Latin/TheGoldenAssXI.php.</ref> Goethe echoes this motif of the archetypal "mother of Nature", for instance at the beginning of ''Faust Part I'', Doctor Faust refers to Nature as a "veiled goddess", in explicit reference to the ancient [[Veil of Isis|veiled Isis]], who was also identified as goddess and mother of nature:
<poem style="margin-left:1em; float:left;">Mysterious, even in broad daylight,
Nature won't let her veil be raised:
What your spirit can't bring to sight,
Won't by screws and levers be displayed.</poem>
<poem lang="de" style="margin-left:1em; float:left;">Geheimnißvoll am lichten Tag
Läßt sich Natur des Schleyers nicht berauben,
Und was sie deinem Geist nicht offenbaren mag,
Das zwingst du ihr nicht ab mit Hebeln und mit Schrauben. (672–675)</poem>{{clear|left}}