I saw a pregnant woman holding the universe in her belly. And it was beautiful.

Not an accurate representation of the vision.

I’m a journalist who, on a cold night in January 2020, experienced a profound shift in the perception of reality, an event that ultimately led me to publish a book.

During this experience, I was shown a vision that was both deeply intimate and staggeringly vast: the faint, silver silhouette of a giant pregnant woman holding the entire, pulsating universe inside her womb.

When it happened, I had no background in theology, religious studies, or classical symbolism (except for one class during masters’). As the son of an evangelical mother, I grew up going to church and believing in God, but we never talked about Mary, just that she was a very brave and honorable woman. So to me, the vision was just a raw, striking image from a night I couldn't explain.

Recently, I began investigating this specific vision more deeply. In this research, I discovered a connection: the image of a maternal womb containing the cosmos is not just a personal psychological phenomenon. It is a profound, ancient archetype known in mystical traditions as the Typology of the Ark.

Before exploring the theological parallels, here is the exact passage from my book, I See the Light, describing that moment:

The Eternal Mother

My gaze, drawn by an invisible force, returned to the family, just in time to feel the pull; unstoppable, overwhelming, a cosmic suction.

The single, ultimate light above them expanded rapidly, drawing me in. Before I could react, before my mind could even process what was happening, I was sucked into its blinding core. From there, I saw what I could only describe as countless spheres, suspended in the void, each one glowing. So many of them, each filled with countless spots of light, like miniature stars and galaxies contained within.

Everything was happening so fast, a dizzying cascade of universes. I felt nauseous, disoriented, stretching the limits of my consciousness.

“Stop!” I screamed, the sound of my own voice lost in the cosmic rush. “I don’t want to see anything else. Please, make this stop!”

“You can do this,” I would hear back from the voice, calm and unwavering, a steady presence amidst the chaos. “You are here because you chose a path that would bring you exactly to this moment. You wanted to understand so badly, with every fiber of your being, and now we’re showing you.”

“I still don’t understand,” I muttered, my voice weak, my mind reeling, while endless layers of reality would pass by me in a blur. I saw ordinary people doing ordinary things: eating, sleeping, laughing, living mundane lives.

I also would see cataclysmic bombs go off, innocent people falling sick with unseen ailments, people hurting each other with brutal cruelty.

Yet, in stark contrast, I saw people loving each other with boundless compassion, holding hands, offering comfort, celebrating joy.

Not everything seemed dark and bad.

A lot of the visions were of pure love and companionship.

However, most of what I saw, especially the abstract visions, I could not explain, even if I wanted to, even if I tried for a lifetime. Everything seemed so beyond human language and logic. Between one ordinary, relatable view and a completely unexplainable, abstract one, I saw sudden flashes of blinding light coming from every direction, marking the transition between layers, between universes.

Until I got out of one of the spheres, expelled from its swirling depths, and could now see this particular sphere was attached to other spheres, and all these spheres, millions upon millions, formed something I would never be able to describe properly, something intrinsically connected like one single, pulsating organism, a living universe of universes.

I continued to float uncontrollably through this cosmic architecture until this entire organism was contained inside the belly of a woman. I saw, in the pervasive darkness that was no longer frightening but sacred, the faint silhouette of a pregnant woman, an immense, universal mother, and inside her belly, this entire glittering organism, this boundless universe, shining with an internal light.

“We are ALL here,” said the voice, its words resonating with a new meaning, encompassing all of existence.

“We?” I asked, my voice filled with dawning awe. “Who are we? And where is the ultimate origin of life, the true beginning?”

“I’ll show you now.”

***

Parallels

Realizing that this vision aligns with concepts scholars and mystics have meditated on for millennia has been an eye-opening experience.

Here is what the research revealed:

1. The Architectural Sanctuary (Tabernaculum)

In early Latin theology, writers like St. Ambrose frequently utilized architectural metaphors such as templum Dei (temple of God) and tabernaculum (tabernacle) to articulate how the infinite Divine took physical, bounded form inside a woman's body. The "sacred darkness" described in the vision strongly evokes this ancient concept of a protective, holy sanctuary.

• For further reading on this, see José María Salvador-González's (2021) study on Latin theological interpretations of templum Dei.

2. The New Ark of the Covenant

In the Hebrew Scriptures, the Ark of the Covenant is "overshadowed" by the divine presence to show that God dwells within. In the New Testament, the Gospel of Luke deliberately uses the exact same Greek terminology (episkiazein) to describe the Spirit overshadowing Mary. The theological implication is that she became a living, breathing vessel carrying the uncontainable source of all life.

• You can read a detailed analysis of this biblical typology in Sr. Jolly Joseph's (2012) thesis on Mary as the Model of Christian Discipleship.

3. The Capacity of the Divine Feminine

Modern systematic theology continues to investigate this archetype, exploring how the maternal form represents creation's unique capacity to hold, nurture, and ultimately bring forth the boundless, uncreated reality of existence.

• This concept of personhood and the maternal vessel is explored deeply in Mary McCaughey's (2014) doctoral dissertation, Mary as Ecclesial Person.

Final thoughts

As a journalist, I am trained to look for patterns, but finding this one was different. It is quietening and humbling to realize that these archetypes are not just historical artifacts, but living realities that we can still access today.

I would love to hear your thoughts. How does the imagery of a universe contained within a sacred, maternal womb resonate with your own spiritual journey or your understanding of the Divine Mother?

***

Read the first chapter of Emerson’s experience here.

The full experience is described in his latest book, I See the Light, on Amazon.