Long-maligned Mary Magdalene now seen as stalwart disciple

By Alon Bernstein and Isaac Scharf, Associated Press
MAGDALA, Israel — Mar 30, 2018, 9:17 AM ET

https://www.dailyherald.com/storyimage/DA/20180330/news/303309935/AR/0/AR-303309935.jpg&updated=201803301028&MaxW=800&maxH=800&noborder
In this Tuesday, March 27, 2018 photo, a sculpture of Mary Magdalene and Jesus on display at the Magdala center, on the Sea of Galilee in Migdal. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

If there's a feminist figure from the Bible for the #MeToo era, it could very well be Mary Magdalene.

The major character in the life of Jesus was long maligned in the West and portrayed as a reformed former prostitute. But scholars have adopted a different approach more recently, viewing her as a strong, independent woman who supported Jesus financially and spiritually. [Read more...]

14 Steps to Awaken the Sacred Feminine


This book offers 14 lessons to help understand the wisdom offered by Mary Magdalene’s story and mythos. Among the lessons are prophecies of the bride, why we need the bride, Magdalene’s archetypal pattern of descent, and how modern women carry the Grail. Well-suited for the individual reader as well as a group, each lesson includes an introduction, guided meditation, questions for journaling, and an essay by Margaret Starbird as well as suggestions for group sharing.

Placing Mary Magdalene within the pattern of “cyclic renewal” of earth-based religions, this book offers the chance to incorporate the sacred feminine wisdom of Mary Magdalene into everyday life for Christians and spiritual feminists alike.

The image on the cover is an illustration of a woman and unicorn by Robinet Testard from the Book of Simple Medicines, ca. 1470 (National Library, St. Petersburg).

Margaret Starbird and Gematria

Margaret Starbird writes to the MM-list on July 14, 2004:
[Here] is how the original Greek texts of the New Testament actually spelled Mary Magdalene's name/epithet.

In the Gospels, almost always when we find "Mary Magdalene" mentioned, she is called "Maria h Magdalhnh"--her first name and "title" together: (Matt 27:56; 27:61; 28:1; Mark 15:40; 15:47; 16:1; (16:9 say 'th' Magdalhnh because of the case change). Luke 8:1 says "Maria h ....(who is called)...Magdalhnh" and Luke 24:10 says "h Magd
alhnh Maria." John 19:25; 20:1 and 20:18 all say "Maria h Magdalhnh." From these Gospel texts, it is clear that this woman was called "Mary the Magdalene"-- by everyone. It is her name/title. It is clear that this whole epithet "h Magdalhnh" was used intentionally in connection with Magdalene, giving her title the sum of "153."

Since the practice of gematria relies on the actual spelling of the phrase (which results in a specific sum), and since this practice is in place throughout the New Testament (as discussed in my book, Magdalene's Lost Legacy [Required reading in our Order of Mary Magdala's Second Degree] and in John Michell's Dimensions of Paradise and numerous other sources) it is a rational assumption that the title "h Magdalhnh" was NOT a "happy accident" but was intentional. They could have called her anything they wanted to, given her any "spin" they wanted, and they CHOSE (IMO) to identify her with the "153" identified with the Vesica Piscis, their symbol for the "creative matrix," the "womb" and the "Bridal Chamber."

The number "153" is repeated in John's Gospel, chapter 21 when the disciples counted the fish they caught. It is a metaphor for the "Church" --"the Bride" (people!!) of the Way. The earliest Christians saw Mary Magdalene as the "prototype" of the faithful community, the "Bride" in her devotion and faithfulness to Christ, so her "153" is a metaphor for the "church of the fishes."
SOURCE: http://www.northernway.org/school/starbird.html

Ancient synagogue found in Israel

Kevin Flower has this story at CNN.com:
. . . The synagogue was discovered in area called Migdal, historically an important settlement along the Sea of Galilee, which researchers say was mentioned in ancient Jewish texts as playing a prominent role during what is known as the Great Revolt, when Jews attempted to rebel against Roman rule. Migdal also figures in early Christian writings as the place where Mary Magdalene accompanied Jesus and the Apostles.

Legend of Mary Magdalene


Screen capture. Hugh Montgomery, The God-Kings of Europe. Image courtesy of Google Books.

Hugh Montgomery cites this story in his God-Kings of Europe (2006:124) and also God-Kings of Outremer (2008:Appendix C).
"Now it came to pass in those days that a Priestess of the Goddess from the village of Bethany of the Tribe of Benjamin and a keeper of the Sacred Doves was affianced to a man called Jeshua for she had served her six years. Now Jeshua was of the House of David the King and they were married.

And Jeshua rebelled against the oppressors against Rome and was defeated, but many Romans were devotees of the Mother and were unwilling to kill her priestess who was with child. So Miriam took ship and was secretly smuggled into Gaul where she was delivered and there she abode many years. Now she bore a daughter who was exceedingly fair and the King of that place looked upon her and demanded that she be his wife but she was promised to the Goddess. But the King would not have it so and took her and made her his wife and she bore him a son and a daughter.

But the Goddess was exceeding wrath for his rape of her daughter and cursed him saying, 'Thy seed shall be estranged from me and thine inheritance taken from thee. Thy seed shall end by the piercing of an eye and so shall thine inheritance cease.

Yet for the sake of my priestess whom thou ravished shall I forgive thee and thy seed if they fulfil those labours which I shall give to them.

They must fight and capture that which was lost to the oppressors of thy wife though they shall not hold it for they shall suffer betrayal (as thou betrayed me). Unless one of thy seed shall end the House of their betrayers by piercing the eye of its Liege. To this family shall I award greatness if they return to me and from this time to that shall be four and one hundred generations.'"

Magdalene Murals in the Chapel at St. Baume


Mary Magdalene preaching (late 1940s). Montenard. Chapel, St. Baume. Image courtesy of Magdalineage.com.


Mary Magdalene with open arms (late 1940s). Montenard. Chapel, St. Baume. Image courtesy of Magdalineage.com.


Mary Magdalene at the Grotto (late 1940s). Montenard. Chapel, St. Baume. Image courtesy of Magdalineage.com.


Mary Magdalene raised by angels (late 1940s). Montenard. Chapel, St. Baume. Image courtesy of Magdalineage.com.

Detail from Martha Rebuking Mary for her Vanity by Cagnacci


Detail from Martha Rebuking Mary for her Vanity (c. 1663). Guido Cagnacci. Simon Norton Museum of Art, Pasadena, CA. Image courtesy of Simon Norton Museum of Art.

Various Magdalens by Guido Cagnacci


Mary Magdalene (date unk.) Guido Cagnacci. Private Collection. Image courtesy of Wikimedia.


Penitent Mary Magdalene (c. 1659). Guido Cagnacci. Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna. Image courtesy of Wikimedia.


Martha Rebuking Mary for her Vanity (c. 1661). Guido Cagnacci. Norton Simon Museum of Art, Pasadena, CA. Image courtesy of Best Price Art.

Description from the Norton Simon Museum website:
At center, a penitent Magdalene is rebuked by Martha. The confusion of clothes and jewels cast aside suggests her desertion of vanity. Behind them an angel (Virtue) chases out a devil (Vice). The handmaids at the door reiterate these contrasts. The crying woman represents "contrition"; the other, gesturing in annoyance, represents "vanity." This brilliant tableau combines lofty allegory with sensuous representation to create an inventive, but effective visual metaphor.


Maddalena svenuta (1663). Guido Cagnacci. Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica, Rome. Image courtesy of Wikimedia.


Maddalena sollevata da un angelo (date unk.) Guido Cagnacci. Galleria Palatina. Palazzo Pitti. Florence. Image courtesy of Wikimedia.

Litany of St. Mary Magdalene

Margaret Starbird posted a link today on the Da Vinci Code Forum to this litany that is on the Catholic Culture website:
According to the tradition of the Western Church Mary Magdalene, who is mentioned in all four Gospels, is also identical with "the woman who was a sinner" and with the sister of Lazarus, though this identification is challenged by the Fathers of the East. She was of Magdala in Galilee, whence her name of Magdalen. Liturgical devotion, to this glorious penitent has been immemorial. This litany is mellow with age; from an old German version this was translated many years ago. Two prayers have been added from liturgical sources, the Secret and finally the Collect from the Mass of her Feast, July 22, which is duplex in Latin Church and has been since end of ninth century, commemorating the Translation of her Relics from Ephesus to Constantinople on July 22, 886.

Lord, have mercy on us. Christ, have mercy on us. Lord, have mercy on us. Christ, hear us. Christ, graciously hear us. Holy Mary, Mother of God, Saint Mary Magdalene, Pray for us. Sister of Martha and Lazarus, Pray for us. Who didst enter the Pharisee's house to anoint the feet of Jesus, Pray for us. Who didst wash His feet with thy tears, Pray for us. Who didst dry them with thy hair, Pray for us. Who didst cover them with kisses, Pray for us. Who wast vindicated by Jesus before the proud Pharisee, Pray for us. Who from Jesus received the pardon of thy sins, Pray for us. Who before darkness wast restored to light, Pray for us. Mirror of penance, R Disciple of Our Lord, Pray for us. Wounded with the love of Christ, Pray for us. Most dear to the Heart of Jesus, Pray for us. Constant woman, Pray for us. Last at the Cross of Jesus, first at His tomb, Pray for us. Thou who wast the first to see Jesus risen, Pray for us. Whose forehead was sanctified by the touch of thy risen Master, Pray for us. Apostle of apostles, Pray for us. Who didst choose the "better part," Pray for us. Who lived for many years in solitude being miraculously fed, Pray for us. Who wast visited by angels seven times a day, Pray for us. Sweet advocate of sinners, Pray for us. Spouse of the King of Glory, [Emphasis added.] Pray for us.

V. Saint Mary Magdalene, earnestly intercede for us with thy Divine Master R. That we may share thy happiness in heaven.

Let us pray. May the glorious merits of blessed Mary Magdalene, we beseech Thee, O Lord, make our offerings acceptable to Thee: for Thine only-begotten Son vouchsafed graciously to accept the humble service she rendered. Who livest and reignest with Thee and the Holy Ghost, God for ever and ever. R. Amen.

May the prayers of blessed Mary Magdalene help us, O Lord : for it was in answer to them that Thou didst call her brother Lazarus, four days after death, back from the grave to life. Who livest and reignest with the Father and the Holy Ghost, Unity in Trinity, world without end. R. Amen.

Prayer Source: Kyrie Eleison — Two Hundred Litanies by Benjamin Francis Musser O.F.M., The Magnificat Press, 1944.

See also:

Penitent Mary Magdalene by Gentileschi


Penitent Mary Magdalene (c. 1622). Orazio Lomi Gentileschi. Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna. Image courtesy of Art Knowledge News.

The world’s oldest Bible goes online

From a press release at their website:
Over 25% of Codex Sinaiticus, the earliest existing Christian Bible, becomes freely accessible on 24 July 2008 at http://www.codexsinaiticus.org/.

All pages at Leipzig University Library together with the complete Book of Psalms and Gospel of Mark held at the British Library are part of the launch.

Pages made available by the British Library and the University of Leipzig as part of a larger international collaboration.

The launch of the website is the landmark first phase of an extensive online initiative to reunite the different parts of the Bible now held in four separate institutions. In a ground-breaking collaboration between the British Library, the Monastery of St Catherine (Mount Sinai, Egypt), the University Library at Leipzig (Germany) and the National Library of Russia (St Petersburg), the full text of the manuscript will be accessible in one place for everyone to research and enjoy by the end of the project in July 2009.
SOURCE: "The world’s oldest Bible goes online," Codex Sinaiticus (Retrieved 7 July 2009).

S. Maria Magdalena by Lavers and Westlake


S. Maria Magdalena
(1902). Lavers and Westlake. Stained Glass. St. Matthews, Carver Street, Sheffield. Image courtesy of Flickr.


Recently came across this beautiful stained glass image by Lavers and Westlake so thought I would share.

Edgar Cayce on Mary Magdalene

In my post on Leonardo and the Real Mary Magdalene I have a link to an article which references Edgar Cayce's reading on Mary Magdalene. Since it makes for interesting reading, particularly Cayce's claim that there was no sexual relationship, I am including it in more detail below:

"Q: Please describe the personal appearance of the body [of Mary Magdalene] at that time.

"A: This is well drawn by Da Vinci, as well as in that by Blum [Blaum?] - The Magdalene. A body five feet four inches (5'4") in height, weight a hundred and twenty-one (121) pounds - in the general. Hair almost red. The eyes were blue. The features were those impelled both from the Grecian and Jewish ancestry." (295-8)

According to Cayce's readings, the soul that was Mary Magdalene (#295 in the Cayce files) began her incarnations in this world as the princess Amliea in Atlantis, with a talent for maintaining the life force in physical bodies through magnetic treatments, presumably using the famed Atlantean crystal. In one case, she actually purified a friend's body of possession-like influences. As a result of being highborn and talented, she experienced the pomp and ceremony that came with such. But according to the Sleeping Prophet's reading, she did not handle the recognition well, becoming discontented with the people to the point that she began acting against them and their ways, taking names and holding grudges. She had the magic within her to channel the higher forces into the Earth realms yet a personality that tended toward contention and strife against any who opposed her.

In her second major incarnation, men were now ruling, unlike Atlantean times when women ruled. She was the temple musician Islta in Egypt during the time of the high priest Ra Ta (an incarnation of Edgar Cayce's soul). When the high priest was banished for his misdeeds, she counseled Pharaoh to reinstate the priest for the sake of the higher good for all. Once Ra Ta was restored, she continued her temple musician duties, which again allowed her to channel the Creative Forces to improve the vibrations in human bodies and minds. The sleeping Cayce said that many of her compositions will be recovered when the "yet uncovered" pyramids are found.

In the Egyptian incarnation, she developed a distrust of men. Also, her sense of discontent with this world and most people increased.

The next significant incarnation was as Mary Magdalene. Cayce's reading of the Akashic Record says that she did indeed become a courtesan in the Roman courts and a harlot among the men of her people. Cayce's readings also identify her as the Mary who was the sister of Martha and Lazarus and the woman who, caught in adultery and condemned to be stoned, was let go by Jesus' statement: "Let him who is without sin cast the first stone."

Cayce says that she was 22 when Jesus raised her brother from the tomb, causing many changes within her. Cayce goes on to explain that she and others found it strange to share life with her recently deceased brother, who once again lived among them. When she was 23, the readings state that "Christ cleansed her from seven devils: avarice, hate, self-indulgence, and those of the kindred selfishnesses; hopelessness and blasphemy."

She joined with Mary, the mother of Jesus, in the disciple John's household, which also included Elois (sister of the Mary that was the mother of John and James). There were also many visits from several of the disciples. Sadly, Martha, Lazarus, and James "the Lesser" (John's brother) had all been killed in the first wave of Roman crackdowns on followers of Jesus Christ. Cayce's readings say that the officials felt that Lazarus had to be killed because he was a walking reminder of Christ's miracles.

Cayce says that, like her brother, Mary Magdalene became a kind of "monument, as a memorial, to the activity of the Christ life upon the life of a soul" in this world because she had been a "sinner" and was purified and energized to a new way of thinking and acting. Her presence was a blessing to many, including Romans who had known her before and after the cleansing.

This little household lived in John's summer home on Lake Gennesaret, but the increasing crackdowns forced them to move north to Ephesus, and there they remained until their deaths.

When asked if Mary Magdalene had been Jesus' lover, Cayce clearly replied that she had not. Jesus wanted to be, and was, "her savior," not her lover. But this lover idea is sure selling a lot of books and resulted in a major motion picture.

The idea of that the progeny of Mary Magdalene and Jesus are living today fits nicely within our growing interest in the genetic code and its impact on future generations. Blood lines have always been a fascination for humans. But, as exciting as it may be to think that Jesus's heirs may be living quietly in Europe, it is not true according to Cayce's reading of the Akashic records.

After her life as Mary Magdalene, her next major incarnation picked up on her royal birth in Atlantis. This time she was the daughter of the last of the Louises, Louis XVI of France. Again she was facing mounting contention from the people ruled by her family. When Louis resigned and the rebellion began, she escaped the fate of the rest of her family by fleeing with great stealth to Austria and changing her name to Marie Augusta.

In her soul's next incarnation, she joined with Edgar Cayce's little band of visionaries to help build the Association for Research and Enlightenment. Her name was Mildred Davis. Her special healing talents were once again apparent, as the "sleeping" Cayce selected her to be among the seven initial members of the Glad Helpers Prayer Group. Edgar Cayce once had a dream about her in which she announced to everyone in the group that she was going to foretell what the next Cayce reading would say!

In this incarnation, the readings said that she needed to overcome her mistrust of men and her contentious spirit against people with different opinions. He also encouraged her to hold on to her deep understanding of the importance of not condemning self, which Jesus planted in her when he said, "Neither do I condemn thee."