Posts Tagged ‘mary magdalene’

Mary Magdalene is the Goddess in our Christian story and it’s time we learn to use her spiritual stories for  help along our soul journeys through life. Did you know that she has seven legendary Mysteries in addition to her seven well known Gospel stories?  Yes, and each of these spiritual stories take place within the expanded spiritual story of Sacred Union, which is one of  the hallmarks of the Aquarian Age. By that I mean we are entering into an age where we know ourselves to be literally connected with everything on the planet. The divine principle of Sacred Union told through the love story of Jesus and Mary Magdalene  is the model  for union between all things. Union of God with us, each of us a grail chalice, a sacred vessel, for the Divine. Heaven and Earth, Body and Soul, Masculine and Feminine…these concepts are all there in the Sacred Marriage of Christ and Magdalene.

Margaret Starbird and I have written a book called 14 Steps To Awaken the Sacred Feminine: Women in the Circle of Mary Magdalene , which builds on all Margaret’s Biblical scholarship  about the  marriage of Jesus and Mary Magdalene , but expresses it in short lessons meant to be used in groups or individually to deepen your spiritual response to life.  I’m a Jungian psychotherapist, accustomed to using mythology and spiritual stories as a way to  help strengthen the connection between our personal life story and it’s  archetypal themes.   When I began learning that Mary Magdalene is our Goddess in the western world, I wanted to see if I could use her stories instead of the Greek and Eastern religious stories I knew about. So I started a Magdalene Circle and began telling Magdalene stories, such as “Journey in a Boat with No Oars” and “Descent To the Tomb”, and we’d talk about how these themes ran through our lives.

“The Journey in a Boat with No Oars” is part of Magdalene’s story of escape to France after a period of time in Egypt when her child Sarah was born, under the protection of Joseph of Arimathea.  Legend says the boat had no oars, which means to be under the guidance of God, with faith as your only companion.  We’ve all had that experience in our  life’s journey, where we can’t go back and we don’t know exactly where we’re going. Faith that we’ll be shown the way has to be strong at such a time, as well as a good ability to “watch the signs”. Honoring intuition and feeling are  strong themes in the feminine mysteries of Sacred Union, and it’s through those functions that Magdalene is returning inside women everywhere.  She is the heart, the heart’s feeling and the heart’s wisdom gained through experience.

I always have on pretty music in my Magdalene Circle and we always share food.  Remember the recent study about women’s response to stress? We “tend and befriend” rather than “fight or flight”, and having a welcoming environment is part of women’s nurturance for each other. We say a centering prayer and tell a bit of Magdalene story, then we talk and share about the story’s meaning for us. Women’s circles have been called a “revolutionary-evolutionary movement hidden in plain sight “ by Jean Shinoda Bolen in her wonderful book The Millionth Circle. Jean says that women have always circled together to change their worlds, from getting women the vote to solving parenting problems in groups. We know how to help each other and be focused on goals. The goal of Magdalene Circles is to raise the Divine Feminine through the stories of Mary Magdalene and her Sacred Union.  The goal is also to foster the inner life of each woman through guided imagery meditations which help connect us with “the Mary Magdalene within”.  We’ve been told that “the Kingdom of God is within” and that also means “the Queendom of God is within”. We each have a unique connection to divinity and the inner way always allows for great uniqueness.  Some women have visions while meditating in the Magdalene Circle, some just enjoy the quiet time and the soothing words.  The old way is the way of indoctrination and dogma; the new way is the way of personal relationship to the inner sacred world.

My first book is called The Mary Magdalene Within and it’s a channeled piece of writing that happened to me and through me in 1996.  I was published monthly in “The Sedona Journal of Emergence” at that time and I’d just sat down to channel my usual commentary from “Energies of Grace”, a cosmic wisdom source.  Much to my surprise I heard these words instead, “ We want to express the gratefulness that Mary Magdalene felt in experiencing the regard with which Jesus held her. And to this end, we ask Mary to speak now…” And then the story began, with me being a faithful secretary to the love story she told me.  It was so beautiful. She was so respected and truly a Beloved, it was my honor and privilege to hear her words.   I think many people are touching the “archetypal hem of Her garment” these days, bringing pieces of Mary Magdalene’s  hidden story back into consciousness.  As with all channeling, people just have to judge for themselves whether the story helps or hinders their concepts of Christianity. To me, their love story is at the very center of the meaning of Christianity because it’s through love that we are all connected to each other and their Sacred Marriage showed the Way.

Another story and lesson we highlight in  14 Steps To Awaken the Sacred Feminine: Women in the Circle  of Mary Magdalene is  called  “Other Ways We Know She is the Bride”.   We all know by now that Mary Magdalene wasn’t a prostitute, but you may not know that her name is actually her title. “Mary, called the Magdalene”  is what she’s called in the Gospel and if you use the calculation of a canon of sacred numbers called “gematria” , which is what was used in writing the Gospel, you quickly find out her name  is the symbolic equivalent of “Source of Life” and “Sacred Cauldron” and “yoni” and “vesica piscis”. These are   all references to Goddess that we are now familiar with.  Everyone has their “ah-ha” moment about Mary “called the Magdalene” being  the Bride of Jesus, and  mine came in reading Margaret Starbird’s  Magdalene’s Lost Legacy and  discovering the secret codes  hidden in the Greek words the scriptures were written in.  Those ancient writers carefully crafted words to underscore religious meanings and to elevate the spiritual associations of the word. They did this for Jesus and they did it for Mary Magdalene.

Women know what it is to be ignored and written out of the story, even to give up one’s name.  Perhaps in those times 2,000 years ago it was not possible to support in consciousness a Sacred Marriage at the center of Christianity, but women are strong now and men also understand the need for strong loving partnership.  Mary Magdalene is out of hiding now, revealed as Goddess in her own time.

I’m particularly fond of the lesson called “Symbols from a Dark Time”    because I love the stories of the brave papermakers who put hidden symbols of the Church of Love into their craft. They fashioned small wire figures of unicorns (Christ), fleur-de-lis (the bloodline dynasty), grail chalices, towers (Magdalene), and many more symbols of their faith  into the papers which were then used to print Bibles and special documents.  You had to hold the paper up to the light to see the heretical symbols, which apparently the authorities never did . And it’s a good thing too because they could have been tortured by the Inquisition.  In their way, these artisans kept the love story of Jesus and Mary Magdalene alive to this day. The symbols are still potent ones and sometimes appear in visualizations and dreams.  Symbols and images are  God’s primary language and understanding them is one way we “stay  on the path” and  perceive our guidance.

Women and men can also use 14 Steps To Awaken the Sacred Feminine: Women in the Circle of Mary Magdalene as a personal study guide  to become familiar with the ways Mary Magdalene  fell into the shadows of our story.  We have guided meditations that can be read alone and pondered on, and also questions for journaling.  In a group of friends or alone, engaging with the “inner Mary Magdalene” will bring you closer to sacred union with the divine.

If you find yourself intrigued and wanting more closeness with this fascinating woman, Goddess, and Bride of Jesus, you can also listen to my podcasts of the guided meditations at http://podomatic.com/MaryMagdaleneWithin .   I also write a weekly blog  about “all things Magdalene” and I love to hear from people there. It’s at http://blog.MaryMagdaleneWithin.com

I feel privileged to be an emissary of the Sacred Union and I feel hopeful for it’s strength in the new era we are all building together.

Joan Norton will be a guest on The Explore Your Spirit with Kala Show in early 2010 . Check back for the official show date coming soon.

Joan Norton is a licensed psychotherapist with 25 years of experience helping women and founder of the Los Angeles Mary Magdalene Circle. The author of The Mary Magdalene Within and a contributor to Secrets of Mary Magdalene, she has now co-authored a book with Margaret Starbird entitled: 14 Steps to Awaken the Sacred Feminine

In May during the film release of Angels and Demons, a continuation from the Da Vinci Code movie, I spoke with Margaret Starbird about her book, 14 Steps to Awaken the Sacred Feminine. The 14 steps workbook and guide invites you to form small groups or “circles” to explore your own spiritual journey using Mary Magdalene’s “story” as a template for your own experience and spiritual “journey.” You can listen to the interview with Margaret and I here on The Explore Your Spirit with Kala Show. The co-author of the book is Joan Norton, a Jungian therapist, and author of the book Mary Magdalene Within. Based on this experience of women sharing in a small group, Joan and Margaret Starbird have collaborated to create this workbook to encourage formation of women’s circles.

Margaret and Joan are now hosting an event at Kripalu with details as follows:

Who was Mary Magdalene? Why was her story suppressed and why must we now reclaim it? Lodged deep in the heart of Christian mythology and the communal psyche of the Western world is the Lost Bride, the Beloved of Christ, whose voice was silenced by those who labeled her a prostitute and sent her, defiled and defamed, into exile. Join Margaret Starbird, whose book launched Dan Brown’s quest and resulted in The DaVinci Code, and Jungian therapist Joan Norton for a discovery of the archetypal journey of the Goddess in the Gospels. Using Mary Magdalene’s life as a template, we will examine our own spiritual growth and development as “chosen” and “beloved.” The weekend will include slides from medieval art that support the view that the “sacred union” of Jesus and Mary Magdalene was brutally suppressed by the Inquisition. Music, artwork, guided meditations, journaling, and in-depth sharing will encourage the awakening of the “Sleeping Beauty” in our hearts and our lives.

More information on the event…. Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health is a nonprofit educational organization dedicated to promoting the art and science of yoga to produce thriving and health in individuals and society. For more than 30 years, Kripalu has been teaching skills for optimal living through experiential education for the whole person: body, mind, and spirit. Programs at Kripalu are led by many of the world’s most accomplished teachers in yoga, self-discovery, and holistic health and are designed to provide people with tools they can apply in their daily lives. Program topics include wellness, Ayurveda, nutrition, fitness, personal growth, relationships, meditation, spiritual practice, professional training, and much more.  More info at www.Kripalu.org

Listen to the interview with Kala and Margaret Starbird as they discuss her new book, 14 Steps to Awaken the Sacred Feminine, The DaVinci Code, the Divine Feminine, and Angels and Demons on The Explore Your Spirit with Kala Show here: http://exploreyourspirit.com/Media/shows1.shtml#STARBIRD

Margaret is a Guest Blogger on Kala’s Bohemian Blog, you can read here article entitled  “Mary Magdalene – The Greatest Story Never Told”: http://exploreyourspirit.com/blog/2009/05/14/mary-magdalene-the-greatest-story-never-told/

In the wake of Dan Brown’s bestseller, some people insisted that it was pure fiction, while others asked, “What remains when the fiction is stripped away from The Da Vinci Code.” What remains, I believe, is the belief of the earliest Christians that Jesus embodied the Sacred Bridegroom from the ancient mythologies and that Mary Magdalene was his spouse. This belief appears at the core of the Gospels and was later embellished by authors of the Gnostic texts discovered in Egypt, texts that unabashedly proclaim Mary Magdalene as beloved disciple and intimate companion, even “consort,” of Jesus.

My personal conviction that Jesus was married and that he and his wife modeled the hieros gamos (literally, “sacred marriage”) as the “archetypal divine couple” rests on the Passion narrative in the canonical Gospels, beginning with the anointing of Jesus by a woman, an event followed by his torture, death, and resurrection. This powerful sequence closely paralleled in numerous ancient mythologies and liturgies of pagan “bridegroom gods” similarly sacrificed and resurrected at the vernal equinox.

As Jesus was reclining at the banquet table in the town of Bethany, a woman carrying an alabaster jar of precious ointment approached him. She broke the jar open and anointed Jesus with its contents, precious unguent of nard. Then, as her tears fell on his feet, she dried them with her hair. This passionate story was so poignant that it survived for a generation in oral tradition and is one of only four stories included in all four canonical Gospels.

What was it about the story of this anointing by a woman that was so powerful, so unforgettable? Jesus himself proclaimed that wherever this story was told, it would be told “in memory of her.” And yet, most people do not even remember her name!

Over the years, the unnamed woman became identified with Mary Magdalene and was branded a prostitute, a slander derived from the association of the anointing with pagan rites of the sacred King. Later legends tell of the journey of the “Bride in Exile,” another familiar archetype from ancient mythologies and Micah 4: 8-10. Mary Magdalene brings the Holy Grail to the shores of Gaul, arriving in about 42 A.D. with her friends and family in a boat with no oars, fleeing persecution in Judea. With them is a pre-adolescent child, between the ages of nine and twelve whose name Sarah means “Princess” in Hebrew, yet legend declares that she is a servant. Was she, like Cinderella, really a princess from a faraway land? This legend lies at the core of the bloodline heresy that cannot be proven with facts, but echoes poignantly throughout medieval European folklore and art—the myth that a royal child descended from Jesus and Mary Magdalene survived. The “lost princess” belongs in the realm of mythology, a story too dangerous to be told as fact, but one that contrives to confirm the marriage of the “Christ-couple” at the heart of the Christian mythology.

The “sacred union,” tragically lost in the cradle of Christianity, was to have been our birthright in the Western world.  In reclaiming this union of the “Archetypal Bride and Bridegroom,” we bring waters of Spirit and Truth to heal the wasteland.  Margaret Starbird Copyright 2005  All rights reserved

Listen to the interview with Kala and Margaret Starbird as they discuss her new book, 14 Steps to Awaken the Sacred Feminine, The DaVinci Code, the Divine Feminine, and Angels and Demons on The Explore Your Spirit with Kala Show here: http://exploreyourspirit.com/Media/shows1.shtml#STARBIRD

More about Margaret Starbird….

Margaret Starbird holds BA and MA degrees from the University of Maryland and did graduate study Christian Albrechts Universität in Kiel, Germany, and at Vanderbilt Divinity School in Nashville, TN. A “cradle” Roman Catholic, Starbird taught Scripture classes for adults and CCD for many years and currently presents lectures and retreats centered on the Sacred Feminine in Christianity. She has been interviewed for numerous TV documentaries both in the USA and in Britain and is the author of several widely acclaimed books about the  Sacred Feminine in Christian tradition: The Woman with the Alabaster Jar (1993), and The Goddess in the Gospels: Reclaiming the Sacred Feminine (1998), both cited by Dan Brown as significant sources in his best-selling thriller The Da Vinci Code.  Her newest book, Mary Magdalene, Bride in Exile, was published in 2005. Her other titles include Magdalene’s Lost Legacy and The Feminine Face of Christianity, both published in 2003, and a forthcoming book co-authored with a Jungian therapist, Joan Norton:  14 Steps to Awaken the Sacred Feminine. Starbird and her husband of forty years have five grown children and reside in Washington State.  More info at: www.margaretstarbird.net