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To write our play, My Magdalene, we had to answer this question: Who was this enigmatic woman ... and what is her influence today? We began by researching the Christian Gospels and the Gnostic texts. The latter were written at the same time as the gospels, but not chosen for inclusion in the Bible at the Council of Nicea in 325 CE (Current Era, same as AD). Many have only recently come to light. We traveled to Israel, and the South of France to follow her trail. We reviewed great art of the ages to see how others saw her. We read as many books as we could find. We asked each other many questions, exploring our own perceptions. And, we meditated and prayed for guidance and for insight. It continues to be a remarkable journey!
Our theatre piece artistically expands upon our discoveries about this most remarkable woman, summarized in this brief overview.(1)
The Christian Gospels mention Mary Magdalene a few times, with some confusion as to whether she and Mary of Bethany are the same person. Luke refers to a "sinner" who anoints Jesus, and it is from this reference that Magdalene and the "sinner" also became confused. There has been an ongoing mistaken identity issue with this character for two thousand years! There are some important consistencies amongst all four gospels: Mary Magdalene is the only woman mentioned by name in all four gospels besides Mother Mary. Her name, in all but one instance, is the first listed when there is mention of the women present at an event. (During those times, one's place in a list indicated relative level of importance.) Most essentially, she is considered the "Apostle of the Apostles" and called so even by St. Augustine, because she was the first to see the risen Christ.
We have four ways to explore a life story that goes as far back in time as this one. First, one can review the history, which we can do through the gospels and the Gnostic texts. The latter were unearthed in Egypt in 1945 and are dated to a similar time as the Gospels. These texts feature Magdalene prominently, and convey a very different picture than the gospels we're familiar with, including Magdalene as the intimate companion of Jesus. Also many archaeological discoveries have put a historical context around life in the Middle East during Jesus Christ's ministry.
Secondly, one can approach the story through the eyes and experiences of the great artists who focus on a scene and interpret it through their own sensitivities. After reviewing art from books and tramping through museums around the world, we're fascinated by several symbolic interpretations. Magdalene is often painted with red or gold hair. She is associated with a jar used for anointing. And many times she is painted in the presence of a skull. We have found each of these three elements to carry symbolic importance.
Thirdly, there is the archetypal or symbolic level of an exploration such as this. What does this woman's story represent to us today? What archetype, to use a Jungian phrase, does she embody? And what is the mystery left unsolved about her life? Some value to these inquiries can be found in the insights offered by intuitives or clairvoyants, as well as through personal introspection.
Lastly, we would suggest that there is a spiritual level to the exploration. What fuels our research in the big picture is that we perceive a profound and important spiritual truth embodied by Mary Magdalene. One which has been ignored and edited out through the last two millennia. In pursuing this path, we have found a deep and ineffable connection with her. We believe it is time that her story be told.
We will share a quick overview of our insights, beginning with the brief but important references from the Christian Gospels.
Jesus healed Mary Magdalene of seven demons (Mark 16:9, Luke 8:2); Mary Magdalene came to the dinner at Simeon's house with an alabaster jar from which she anointed the head and feet of Jesus Christ (Mark 14:3-9, John 11:2, 12:3-8); and Mary Magdalene was the first to see Jesus Christ resurrected from the tomb (John 20, Mark 16:9, Matthew 28).
These seem so paltry, so scant! Yet we will see that they give us enough to work with, if we can understand their condensed meaning. Each of these "facts" means something more than its face value. If you see someone wearing a Purple Heart, that means something to you. A naïve reporter could say, "This person had some kind of ornament with a small heart that looked purple." That would seem true to a reporter who didn't know what significance it had. If the reporter knew that this was a decoration given only to those who have been wounded while acting bravely in the heat of battle, that would mean something much more about that person's life experiences, the courage that they may have expressed. Likewise for a simple ornament with five interlocking circles - either it appears as something nice to wear or perhaps someone recognizes it as a gold Olympic medal, which tells a greater story. Each of the facts about Magdalene tells a greater story.
We hear in the Gospels about many healings, indeed, of crowds of the sick and needy gathering to receive Jesus' healing touch or glance.(2) Only with Mary Magdalene do we hear of seven demons ejected from one person. Usually people have concluded, "She sinned more deeply, so she had more demons to eject." We have a different point of view. The number seven gives the clue.
Since ancient times, spiritual science has understood that human beings have seven energy centers through the body. These "wheels of energy" are called "chakras" in Sanskrit. One can trace this understanding from the earliest teachings in India, into the cultures of Babylon and Assyria, then into the culture of Egypt. From thence, it came through the traditions of the Hebrews -- one can see many references to the seven-fold structure of spiritual worlds in Hebrew scriptures and thought, which they picked up from their captivities in Babylon and Egypt.(3) "Wisdom (Sophia) has built her house; she has hewn her seven pillars" (Proverbs 9) refers directly to the seven-fold foundations of our being. Today this awareness is the focus of the spiritual science of various healers who work with the seven chakras and seven levels.(4) You can see this notion of the seven levels in the Hebrew menorah, where the six arms of the candle-holders come up and around the central light of spirit.
The fact that Mary Magdalene was released of seven devils makes her unique in Christian lore. Yet, how was this fact dealt with? With suspicion, fear, and scorn. The stigmata of her past -- having had seven devils in her -- became more important than her cleansed state. And she seemed to gather up the sins of other women named in the Bible, i.e., Luke's 'sinner' and the woman accused of adultery. Around the year 600, Pope Gregory "the Great" declared that Mary Magdalene was the same as the unnamed prostitute in the Bible, therefore one ought to hold her as the penitent whore. In his Homily 33, similar to the Executive Orders used by Presidents to define policy, he stated:
She whom Luke calls the sinful woman, whom John calls Mary, we believe to be the Mary from whom seven devils were ejected according to Mark. And what did these seven devils signify, if not all the vices?... It is clear, brothers, that the woman previously used the unguent to perfume her flesh in forbidden acts.(5)
In this he designated Mary Magdalene the whore, which he amended to become the "penitent whore," the woman in tears seeking forgiveness for her sins. This designation has shrouded her in a cloak of shame, and kept her wisdom hidden from us. However, a strong case can be made about the value her "repentance" has had through the centuries in inspiring women (and men) to find hope when they were truly down and out.
Note that the Greek word interpreted as "sinner" in this Gospel was "harmartolos". It can be translated to mean one who has transgressed or placed herself outside the law-or quite simply, one who was not Jewish. And it was used in that manner elsewhere in the scriptures. The word itself does not imply a street walker or a prostitute. One of the first big realizations to occur when researching this story is that there is no direct reference anywhere in the Bible to Magdalene as a prostitute.
Only in 1969 did the Catholic Church officially repeal Gregory's labeling as "whore," admitting their error, though Mary Magdalene as the penitent whore has remained in public teachings of all Christian sects. Like a small error notice in the back pages of a newspaper, the Church's correction goes unnoticed, while the initial and incorrect article continues to influence the readers.
But let us remember that she was healed by Jesus Christ of the seven demons, the aspects that cloud our vision and energy at each of our seven centers. Presumably, she no longer had the seven deadly sins -- pride, lust, envy, anger, covetousness, gluttony, and sloth. In their place she had the corresponding virtues.(6) She had cleared the way for "the seven virgins of light."(7) This purification makes her the most thoroughly sanctified person mentioned in the New Testament. Imagine this for a moment: completely cleansed of prejudice and old grudges, fogs of illusion, hereditary obstacles to health, all desires.... If she had tears after these healings it was because she could now truly see the spiritual truth that worked in all things. She could see the barbarity of other human beings, as well as the transcendent beauty of Jesus Christ's healings and teachings. In modern terms, her "heart was open."
Mary's elevated state may explain why she took on such a strong role in the early century texts of the Nag Hammadi library, the Dead Sea Scrolls, and the Pistis Sophia. The latter text was found in Egypt, where the secret teachings of Mary Magdalene took refuge from the political decisions being made about the form of the Christian Church. According to that doctrine, in the forty-days teaching after the resurrection, Magdalene took the lead in the conversations with the risen Christ. Indeed, at one point, she alone follows Christ's questions, while the others have fallen into a stupor, overwhelmed by the power of the spiritual teachings being given. There exists a remarkable similarity between Ancient Egyptian theology and the text of the Pistis Sophia. Perhaps there is more to the mystery of her identity than meets the eye.
The alabaster jar and the anointing of Jesus' head and feet
"As he sat at table, a woman came with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, made of pure nard. She broke it open and poured the perfume on his head." (Mark 14:3)
Our naïve reporter would look at this scene and might wonder, "How is it that someone whose audience is sought by so many lets this woman into his presence? What is she doing? Oh well, he teaches about sinning, so let's go on to the next words of Jesus." Yet in this act, Mary Magdalene shows much about her identity.
The first key has to do with the substance alabaster. These vessels were carved from a soft form of calcium carbonate from old ocean deposits. Typically white and partly translucent, these jars were costly, as it takes time to carve the interior of a stone jar. They were used in the funerary rites of Egypt for hundreds of years to carry unguents as well as the organs of the high priests and royalty.
The Gospel of Thomas supplements that of Mark to help fill in some of the blanks. Jesus Christ makes it very clear that, in this act of anointing, Mary Magdalene "helps prepare me for my burial."(8) From this we begin to see a pattern emerge -- an integration with the funerary practices that had become highly developed in Egypt, especially in the mystery centers of Heliopolis and Alexandria, which were quite active at the time of Jesus Christ. [Recall he had spent his childhood in Egypt, and some say he studied in Heliopolis.(9)] There was then a science of anointing with special substances to assist the spirits of true kings to pass through the seven veils of death to the Father-Ground. Indeed, these included seven (and sometimes fourteen, or twice seven) ointments to assist in this transition. In the case of Mary Magdalene, we see in the surviving gospels only two of these, once at Simeon's house and also what she carries to the tomb on the morning of Resurrection.
How can it be that Christians have ignored the fact that the word "Christ" means "anointed one," and have pushed the female minister of this rite into a dark corner?
Interestingly, in Mark 14:9, Jesus remarks, "Verily I say unto you, wheresoever this gospel shall be preached throughout the whole world, what she has done here will be told in remembrance of her." How is it that all Christians do not hold and revere this memorial, so clearly marked by their Teacher? Why do most people know her as the reformed prostitute, rather than for her deep understanding of the thresholds of the spirit world? And the following question must also rise to the surface: By what authority did she have the right to anoint him?
Modern Christians will find it strange to consider that Mary Magdalene may have acted within the tradition of the priestesses of Isis, who for centuries had assisted in the passages from spirit into life through birth and back into spirit through death. Might the gold, frankincense, and myrrh brought to Jesus' birth have come from this tradition? Might the spikenard have been one of these substances meant to smooth the transition to death? The Isis tradition was alive and well at this time in Palestine, as was that of the Hebrew forms of the divine feminine, in the form of Asherah and Ishtar.(10)
Look also at the importance of healing oil in modern Christian practice, which picks up on the older traditions which have funneled through it. Jesus Christ taught how to make and use these oils, and this continues today in various denominations of Christianity.(11) Oils are well known to receive and carry the impress of special aromas, and, in the case of healing oils, the impress of healing thoughts.
Now what about wiping the feet with hair? Of the dozens of paintings that we have seen in the great museums that depict Mary Magdalene, the great majority give her red or blonde hair. Of course, the Semitic peoples of that time had dark hair and skin. What does this mean? Perhaps Mary Magdalene brought a different racial history into the mixture in Palestine. Some traditions suggest that she brought an ancient Celtic knowledge from the West, or was of Greek blood.
"Mary the one who was called his companion."(12)
It's important to include in this discussion of Magdalene's true identity the facts and stories that refer to her as the intimate companion of Jesus. As Lawrence Gardner points out in his book, Blood Line of the Holy Grail, it would be most unusual for a rabbi of Jesus' standing not to be married. In those times, were he unwed, the Sanhedrin would have certainly mentioned it as that would have been a major offense to the Jewish tradition.
Again, we refer to the Gnostic texts for some expansion on this relationship: "And the companion of the [...] Mary Magdalene [...] loved her more than all the disciples, and used to kiss her often on her mouth."(13) In another place, Jesus uses the word "koinonos" to refer to Mary -- a Greek word which means "consort".(14) We are once again faced with enough evidence from these ancient texts to at least consider the possibility that Jesus had intimacy in his life! The Church has been determined to eliminate such a possibility.
Other researchers take the story much further. The authors of Holy Blood, Holy Grail draw the conclusion that Jesus and Mary had children, and that this bloodline became the Merovingian line of Kings in Southern France. It's a compelling story, and a bit far-fetched. Personally we feel that the existence of children is not the major issue. The value and intensity of this story rests more on the implications of a sacred relationship which existed between Magdalene and Jesus, a world-shaking relationship whose echoes continue to reverberate in world situations, even if they may hide behind denials and obfuscations.
Assuming there is a continuity of revelation throughout the patterning of consciousness, then archetypal relationships build on one another. Preceding the Christian story, there existed the sacred marriages between Isis and Osiris, Inanna and Dumuzi, Ishtar and Tammuz, along with others. All ancient cultures understood the sacred partnership as the basis for a balanced societal expression. The omission from Christianity of the feminine and relationships with the feminine has caused great suffering worldwide.
On the third morning, Mary Magdalene feels a call to visit the tomb. She takes with her another container of unguent of some sort, perhaps another in the series of ancient oils used to assist the dead through the underworld and into the realms of spirit. She alone meets Jesus Christ at the tomb in his "resurrection body." It is easy to imagine that she receives an important teaching here, one that only a person whose seven demons have been lifted can comprehend.
One phrase has dogged Mary Magdalene from that briefly explained encounter. When she understands that the gardener is actually her teacher, she speaks the intimate word, "Rabboni," and reaches toward him. Jesus Christ says, in the King James version (John 20:17), "Do not touch me." In Latin it says just this, "Noli me tangere." These words have been used to confirm that Mary Magdalene still holds some of the tainted energy from her evil past. In other words, people perceive Jesus Christ as saying, "Stay away from me, you soiled woman." Many statues with the inscription, "Noli me tangere," show a transcendent Jesus Christ and a woman below him, groveling in the ultimate shame of rejection.
Were Mary Magdalene still soiled from her past, then we would have to conclude that Jesus Christ was not really so effective a healer -- he hadn't really done the job. In other healings, he spoke about forgiving the past and moving on.
If you look at the original Greek for this commandment, it comes out a little differently. "Me mou aptou" uses the imperative mood of the verb (h)aptein, "to fasten," root of words such as apt, aptitude, and adept. A better translation would be, "Don't hold onto me" or "Don't cling to me."
Now for the full line: "Do not cling to me, for I am not yet ascended to the Father." The last part of the sentence takes on the greater importance -- Jesus Christ explains how it works between earthly body and resurrection body, which we could think of as the eidolon, that is, the "pure and ideal image".(15)
When we let go of the emphasis on Mary Magdalene's rejection, and see this as a teaching about the other worlds, we then understand that she has a very special role. She is the one -- perhaps because of her purified state, the only one -- who can deliver Christ's message: "Go to my brethren (adelphi) and tell them, I ascend to my Father and your Father, and my God and your God." At this point, she becomes in the canonical gospels the "Apostle to the Apostles," which the other gospels (from Nag Hammadi, the Pistis Sophia, etc.) expand upon.(16) Jesus clearly asks her to represent a teaching to the other men--men who were not to be found around the cross at the crucifixion -- men who did not believe Jesus himself when he told them he would rise.
Do we know what she taught? Hints come in the books rejected by the Roman authorities,(17) namely the Pistis Sophia and the Nag Hammadi library. Among these is the strong suggestion that he taught her the seven-fold nature of the spiritual realms that all souls cross after death. The one who had been cleansed seven times then learned the harmonies of the seven great spheres, ruled over by the great beings of the planets and the spiritual hierarchies who work in those realms. The resurrected Jesus Christ taught her the Great Song of the Universe.(18)
Tradition hands us a picture of the final moments of Jesus Christ's life on the cross. Three figures stand at his feet, through whom his teachings will go into the world (John 19:25): Mother Mary, John, and Mary Magdalene.
Mother Mary will become the center of the disciples, and focus the downpouring of spiritual fire at Pentecost, whereupon the disciples, "filled with the spirit," will go out and preach the gospel, evangelize, convert, and baptize. The so-called "apostolic succession" means that official Christianity must come through the successive initiations of priest to priest, beginning with Peter. To them, it cannot be understood or approached in any other way. Mother Mary, as the silent focus at the center of this line of succession, becomes the dark and mysterious figure onto whom one projects all hidden needs. This tradition or spiritual "stream" concentrates on the outer work of the Church, on telling the Good News of the Bible stories, on proselytizing to convince and convert others to this understanding.
The second figure, John, will accompany Mother Mary to Ephesus for her final years, become the bishop of Ephesus, suffer exile to the island of Patmos, where he will receive a powerful revelation, which he will write down, along with his version of the gospel story. One can connect all the Johns, including John the Baptist, into John's mystical teachings, the way of mysticism.(19)
Now, can we identify what lives today in Mary Magdalene's stream? We see the apostles taking the work into the world in an outer way -- but Magdalene was not present at Pentecost. Perhaps the idea of proselytizing did not resonate with her direct experience of the Divine. Her kind of wisdom was not something one could preach about. Instead, Mary Magdalene takes her work into the inner worlds of initiation. Not through outer pomp and pageantry, but through gnosis or direct knowing, she seeks union with the divine. Hers is the path of the Sacred Marriage,(20) accomplished within. Her path emphasizes inner preparation, inner work, introspection, and inner transformation. It is our belief that she also represents the feeling world; she carries the sensitivity of sensuality, in the truest meaning of the word.
The repeated representation of Magdalene with a skull suggests that she is also familiar and comfortable with death. "Golgotha" (where Jesus was crucified) means "place of the skull". It is also the location where Adam and Eve were said to be buried. Perhaps visionary artists were implying that Magdalene understood the thresholds of death, and thus were honoring her role as priestess. Again, a leading question emerges: Whose skull would be with her at the foot of the cross?(21)
In Southern France, the tradition lives very strongly that Mary Magdalene came there after the chaos in Jerusalem and went into the caves, indeed that she developed a kind of clairvoyance ("clear seeing") that permitted her to become intimate with the caves without torches. These caves in limestone (the same foundation material as alabaster) extend for hundreds of miles, the most extensive system of caves in the world. There is a cave at Ste. Baume where she is said to have lived the last thirty years of her life. Whether historic or mythic, this indicates a connection to the underworld, the domain of the dark goddess.
A tradition from that place tells of Mary and heavenly sound: Each morning a group of angels would lift Mary up along the cliff face to the summit, there to experience the entire choir of angelic hosts, the divine sounds of original and continuing creation.
The mystery of the Magdalene extends throughout some very troubled times in history. Though the evidence of her biography after Jerusalem is difficult to come by, one accepts her presence in the South of France as a "fact" when one walks the sites associated with her and speaks with the present residents. Her relationship to the mysterious warrior/monks, the Knight's Templar, in the 12th to 14th centuries, is also palpable. The next phase of our research will take us further towards unraveling this mystery where the black virgin cults of the South of France so clearly intersect with Magdalene stories and Isis cults. To which "Lady" did the Troubadours sing? What was the heresy which brought the Cathars and the Templars to their cruel deaths at the hand of the Inquisition? And what is the relevance of these suppressed histories to us today?
The Hebrew, indeed Sumerian, word from which Magdalene comes is "migdal," tower or pillar. Let us mention a passage in the Hebrew Bible, from the prophet Micah, which refers to this unique name. Read this with the themes we have discussed above in mind.
As for you, O [Magdal-eder], watchtower of the flock,
O stronghold of the Daughter of Zion!
The former dominion will be restored to you;
kingship will come to the Daughter of Jerusalem.
Why do you now cry aloud --
have you no king?
Has your counselor perished,
that pain seizes you like that of a woman in labor?
Writhe in agony, O Daughter of Zion,
like a woman in labor,
for now you must leave the city
and camp in an open field.(22)
Where do we find Magdalene? Some researchers have traced her bloodline, saying that here are the offspring of Jesus. We actually don't care about this controversy, because we find Magdalene's gift in the tradition of gnosis, of "inner knowing," and the related teachings of beauty, nature, clear seeing, the divine feminine -- teachings that have been repeatedly suppressed and nearly extinguished. We can look to the emphasis in some places on the senses' own wisdom, heightened sensual delight in this beautiful creation around us, and not falling into either trap of hedonistic pleasures or fearful rejection of this world. We can look at the love of Nature, an intimacy with it, a sharing in its present travails. We can look to the figure of Mary Magdalene, and find her where she is strongest -- within ourselves, in the realms through which she travels so easily, then as well as now.(23)
The play, My Magdalene, premiers at the Nomad Theatre, Boulder, Colorado (1410 Quince Street, half a block east of Broadway in North Boulder), April 14, 2000, and runs Fridays and Saturdays (8 PM), and Sundays (4 PM), to May 14. More about the play and our background research can be found at http://www.TheStarHouse.org.
1) Selected bibliography: The book by Susan Haskins (Mary Magdalene: Myth and Metaphor, New York: Riverhead Books, 1993) gives the best overview of the material. Margaret Starbird has written a very accessible and briefer book, The Woman with the Alabaster Jar: Mary Magdalen and the Holy Grail (Santa Fe: Bear, 1993). Bloodline of the Holy Grail (Laurence Gardner, Rockport, Mass.: Element, 1996) picks up on earlier work in Holy Blood, Holy Grail (by Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh, and Henry Lincoln, New York: Little, Brown & Co., 1983). Ean Begg's The Cult of the Black Virgin (revised, New York: Penguin/Arkana, 1996) contains a wealth of new material. The Templar Revelation: Secret Guardians of the True Identity of Christ (Lynn Picknett & Clive Prince, New York: Touchstone, 1997) touches on every theme, linking them all. All of these books are extremely well researched. If you don't agree with their conclusions, you cannot ignore the meticulous research which they have accomplished.
Another set of works reveal the details of Jesus Christ's life in more complete detail. These include Robert Powell's Chronicle of the Living Christ: The Life and Ministry of Jesus Christ: Foundations for a Cosmic Christianity (Hudson, NY: Anthroposophic Press, 1996), which extends the wonderful work of Anne Catherine Emmerich, in the four-volume set, The Life of Jesus Christ and Biblical Revelations (Rockford, Illinois: Tan Books, 1914 and 1979). The recent book by Neil Douglas-Klotz, The Hidden Gospel of Jesus Christ (Wheaton, Illinois: Quest, 1999) brings the most modern of Biblical scholarship into a fresh understanding of the words of Jesus and their fuller meaning.
The gospels that existed in the first century that were not chosen for the New Testament, and found recently in various sites in Egypt and Israel can be found in The Nag Hammadi Library (James Robinson, Editor, San Francisco: Harper, 1978), the Pistis Sophia (trans. by G. R. S. Mead, Blauvelt, NY: Spiritual Science Library,1984), and any of the recent books on the Dead Sea Scrolls.
Many books have been written as fiction and novels, some based on the above research, and some fanciful. These include the many tour guides for sites in Israel and France.
2) Anne Catherine Emmerich's writings fill out the picture of the healings through the years of Jesus' ministry.
3) There are over three hundred uses of the word 'seven' in the Hebrew Bible and New Testament. Many of them speak about time or a number of offspring. Some speak in ways that can only be understood symbolically, such as the seven pillars of wisdom (Proverbs 9), the seven cleansings in the River Jordan (2 Kings 5), the seven circuits of the trumpets around the city of Jericho (Joshua 6), the seven eyes of God in the stone (an amazing picture of the chakras in the human body, in Zecharias 3 and 4), and the many references in Daniel. The tradition of Kabbala interprets all of these, including the references to time, as veiled references to deep secrets about human and divine energy.
4) Barbara Brennan, a highly trained scientist who worked for NASA, has systematized the chakra system in her practical method of healing: Hands of Light. (New York: Pleiades, 1987).
5) Quoted in Susan Haskins (op. cit.), p. 93.
6) The notion of possession by devils and their exorcism -- in a word, demonlogy -- finds little understanding in conventional science. However, the research is there, from the "spiritual science" of Rudolf Steiner or Alice Bailey to the amazing compendium of Michael Murphy's news reports in The Future of the Body (New York, 1994) and the scientific approach of Barbara Brennan (op. cit.) and other healers. A full investigation goes beyond the scope of the present summary. One point can be made here: What replaces the demons of the seven vices? The Rosicrucians imagined that pride found its elevation in humility, lust in brotherly/sisterly love, envy in love for knowledge, anger in self-controlled directed will, covetousness in poverty, gluttony in steadfastness and silence in the inner search, and sloth in love for all of life. Thus Magdalene had all the seven virtues plus the important virtue of having known the seven vices, an experience which leads to compassion for others.
7) Pistis Sophia (op. cit.), p. 271, a most beautiful image of cleansed and renewed energy centers.
8) Mark 14:9, John 12:7.
9) Touched upon with most authenticity in the work of Anne Catherine Emmerich (op. cit.). Recall also that Heliopolis was situated next to the Great Pyramids.
10) Raphael Patai, The Hebrew Goddess (third edition, Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1990).
11) Many of the two hundred references to oil in the Hebrew Bible and New Testament refer to the healing properties of oil. In the New Testament, this includes Mark 6:13, Hebrews 1:9, and James 5:14. Priests are taught to this day how to prepare "chrism," and one of the important uses of the body parts of dead saints was the healing oil which they exuded. Anne Catherine Emmerich related many incidents where oil was used, and how the disciples were taught its use. At the site where Mother Mary lived out her last days, as well as at many pilgrimage locations, special healing oils are sold imbued with the special qualities of the place.
12) Several places in the Gospel of Philip in Nag Hammadi Library (op. cit.), pp. 139f.
13) Ibid.
14) Haskins, p. 37.
15) The Resurrection Body as a "pure and ideal image" is explained best of all by Rudolf Steiner in The Fifth Gospel (New York: Anthroposophic Press, 1974).
16) For example, from the Pistis Sophia (op. cit., p. 193): "Where I shall be, there will be also my twelve ministers. But Mary Magdalene and John, the virgin, will tower over all my disciples and over all men who shall receive the mysteries in the Ineffable. And they will be on my right and on my left. And I am they, and they are I."
17) The Council of Nicea in 324 CE was charged by Emperor Constantine to choose the gospels that would support his rule, otherwise go back to persecution. See history in Neil Douglas-Klotz (op. cit.), p. 13-15, and his references.
18) Since ancient times, sages have accessed and taught about these celestial harmonies. See Huzur Maharaj Sawan Singh, Philosophy of the Masters (Beas, India: Radha Soami Satsang, 1973), Alain Daniélou, Music and the Power of Sound: The Influence of Tuning and Interval on Consciousness (New York: Knopf, 1983), Guy L. Beck, Sonic Theology: Hinduism and Sacred Sound (Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1993), and others. Theosophists have offered many solutions to the question of which tones emanate from which planetary spheres, hotly debated in The Journal of Esoteric Psychology (published four times a year by University of the Seven Rays, 128 Manhattan Ave., Jersey City Heights, NJ).
19) Rudolf Steiner and Robert Powell make these links most persuasively.
20) A favorite theme of Solomon's Song of Songs, or Canticle of Canticles, as well as a theme that is emerging today in many places.
21) Some authors above have suggested the beheaded John the Baptist, which, if seen symbolically, would connect Mary Magdalene with the line of prophecy coming through John the Baptist.
22) These passages from Margaret Starbird's translation of Micah (op. cit., p. 21 and 50).
23) For more about the dramatic production coming out of this research, see http://www.TheStarHouse.org/NTT.html.
Who is Mary Magdalene?, (c) 2000 David Tresemer and Laura-Lea Cannon, all rights reserved.
© 2004-8 All Seasons Chalice
ascpr@TheStarHouse.org