The Apocalypse takes an astonishing turn in chapter 12. A new revelation is presented. One might even conjecture that as the first series of visions was centered on the divine male, so this second series is centered on the divine female. As if to show the continuity of the visions, this one follows immediately upon the theophany in the heavenly temple. Now in the heavens appears a woman wrapped in sunlight, standing upon the lighted moon, and a tiara of 12 shining stars on her head. This is certainly the woman of light. John is usiing ancient myth of astrology and symbols of the zodiac to disclose to his audience that this woman encompasses the cosmos, gathering to herself the light of the cosmos as if to protect her from the darkness which shortly will attack her. John is presenting a conflict between the divine and the demonic. We have seen this in earlier visions. Now it is the Cosmic Mother who is pursued. She is in anguished labor, perhaps implying that the Cosmic Mother shares in the tribulation of the earthly church. She is confronted by the Red Dragon with seven heads and ten horns, the symbol of Romam power and authority, but here representing the demonic power. The demonic, the ruler of the Abyss, awaits the child, who is to rule all nations with power, wanting to retain it in the abyss, the darkness, to prevent it from the power of the light. However, the divine immediately takes the child up to the heavenly throne room. The woman flees into the wilderness for a brief time, where the divine will provide for her. Now it becomes clear that the Cosmic Mother and the earthly church are one and the same. As the vision demonstrates, Mary gives birth to Jesus. The emperor wants to destroy the child, but the child is taken up to heaven, that is, given the protection of the divine. Mary, cosmic mother, the church, remains on earth also under divine protection. The wilderness into which the woman fled is the earth itself that gives her shelter. In the same way, God gives shelter to the church in times of tribulation. This is John’s message to his churches.