Several years ago, before The Da Vinci Code, my husband, David, and I traveled deep into Israel and France to “track down Magdalene.” We wrote a play about what we found out, made a video (now DVD, available through the Store), and discovered Leloup’s commentaries on The Gospel of Mary Magdalene, which we had translated and published through Inner Traditions (and has sold 150,000 copies). Dan Brown used the same research as we did. For David and me, this initiative was stimulated by a dream, sleeping near the Sea of Galilee, where “She” clearly directed me: “Tell my story”.
Mary Magdalene has come to the forefront of people’s consciousness for a reason, not because of Dan Brown, but because her archetype is re-emerging. Mr. Brown had the ability to capture the attention of millions through good story telling, and to some extent, her voice came through. She accomplished the first part of her emergence mission…she had her story told. Or, more accurately, one version of her story.
Was she the lover and wife of Yeshua Ben Joseph (Jesus)? Truthfully, no one will ever know, even if another 1 st century text is discovered (one already found observes that the two of them used to kiss frequently on the mouth). And what are the chances that such a text would ever see the light of day? One can look to the references in Gnostic texts and find many hints that she and Yeshua had an intimate connection. Perhaps the wedding at Cana was their wedding, perhaps not; perhaps they had a daughter named Sarah, perhaps not. Perhaps Magdalene was an initiate of the Egyptian mysteries, and a priestess. We think this part is true. But…perhaps not. The real burning question remains:
Why do so many people (particularly women) need to ask these questions, and why now? Magdalene appears to have been both real and archetypal, and her archetype is an essential one which the modern day Feminine needs to reclaim, rediscover, and re-engage.
Consider this brief sketch and personal interpretation, based on the review of many references, meditation at related sacred sites, and, most important, “gnosis,” or direct experience:
A beautiful woman lives in the early first century at the time of a great Teacher, and she travels with him and his disciples. She appears to be a bold woman, who doesn’t easily accept the current roles assigned to women, and is not about to meekly accept her “place” as defined by the prevailing spiritual and cultural authority. It’s clear that she is intimate with the Teacher, and that he respects and encourages her intellect as well as her spiritual process. He calls her “koinonos” which means “companion or partner,” and he has been known to kiss her tenderly. “Partner” also suggests an honoring of her, and she clearly knows her priestess-craft. She asks insightful questions of the spiritual Teacher and she is familiar with the Egyptian mysteries enough to know when and how to anoint the “King” – seven times in all. She bears witness as her beloved Teacher and friend dies a brutal death, while most of the men disappear out of fear and terror. She is the first person to witness his successful Initiation Rite, the rising from the tomb. At that time, she receives a teaching from him in his “light body,” or his resurrected form. When she returns to report of this encounter she is scorned and belittled by some of the male disciples, who clearly have been jealous of her close relationship with the Teacher for several years. By tradition, she would be considered the First Apostle and the recipient of the ‘mantle’ of the spiritual Teacher; but, alas, she is also mocked and ostracized. Later, for no good reason, she is named a “prostitute”. She, who was deeply loved and seen by the Anointed One, suddenly has no place in the community he founded, now that he is dead. So, she leaves, and perhaps stimulates the culture of Southern France to come to its full flower in the 12 th century. But she leaves also a trail of mystery, some bread crumbs along the way, that perhaps at another time, later, when women are more independent and empowered, they might discover her trail. They might find that there is a root to Western Mysticism, which has the face of a beautiful and powerful woman. And they might find hope, strength and vision. They might begin to Remember themselves as women of spirit power, who have something fundamentally Essential to add to the Nature of Things. They might find a Woman who was seen by a most powerful and influential man, and treated as a partner and an equal.
So we ask: What if partnership was at the core of the most dominating religion of the last 2000 years — not celibacy, and sin? What if one of the most enlightened individuals of all recorded history loved and honored a woman? It would put an entirely different spin on 2000 years of women being the property of men, whom they were to obey as a god.
As I watch women rediscover Mary Magdalene, as an archetype in themselves, I see them wake up to an aspect of feisty spirit and boldness. I witness them standing up and facing the angry buttress of discrimination, not violently or reactively, but with grace and dignity. I also see that they are able to look back at the story, the myth, of Christianity, and claim something as their own. There is another archetype besides Virgin, Mother and Whore. There is the free thinking, beautiful, spirit-filled woman who is recognized as a spiritual initiate by the Initiate himself. (One need not go even beyond the Bible to find a hint of this: Mark 14:8-9: “She prepares me for my burial.” This statement is HUGE! At the moment of this statement, it was not certain that he was going to be crucified. And with what training and authority is she anointing him in the first place? Do Christians notice that the Teacher accepted and encouraged this??)
Where else do we find this archetype in Western tradition? A few Saints rise to the foreground – Hildegaard of Bingen, or Joan d’Arc. But there are striking differences between them, as neither of these women were partnered in any way, except to an invisible spirit.
I would propose that along with Magdalene having been a remarkable woman, what has captured the collective imagination is this aspect of partnership. Yeshua and Magdalene loved one another, regardless of the nature of that love. They were, in my opinion, intimate. Intimacy doesn’t even need to be sexual; it implies that two people are close, and honor deeply the gifts of the other.
I’m less concerned personally with whether a child was born to them or not. I’m more interested in what Divine Partnership looks like. Looking back to the Da Vinci depiction of The Last Supper, the query is: “is that figure on the left John the Beloved, or Mary Magdalene?” Or, “Is there a place at that table for a woman, for the feminine?” Do we consider that it really matters, or that it symbolically matters? It’s not a photograph, it’s Da Vinci’s idea about something he cared strongly about. Does there need to have been an occult brotherhood that Leonardo and others were part of that “knew the secret,” and we have to prove its existence for any of this to be true? OR, can we accept that symbolically it could be true, and we can thus make the adjustments which could cause a significant difference to us NOW, at a time when people need to know that powerful, capable women are essential to solving the world’s problems.
If I, as a modern 21 st century Western woman, accept that Magdalene was at the Last Supper, then I can write for myself a mythic story, which matters to me. I can accept that I, too, have a place at the table. I, too, can claim that the teacher himself, at the core, accepted a woman who burned a wilder fire than was ‘acceptable’, and he loved her. He saw her. He honored her.
I can allow myself to imagine what they might have spoken about, especially at that critical moment of meeting after the resurrection. These lines are part of our play, entitled “My Magdalene” which David and I wrote and produced in 1998. Magdalene is at the tomb, waiting. It’s the third day, and she is facing away from the tomb as Yeshua appears behind her. She senses his presence:
MARY--I waited for you.
YESHUA--You led me. You knew the deep realms and showed me the path.
MARY--I have learned the twisted passages through this dense world of time and shadows.
YESHUA--My dark, mysterious Magdalene.
MARY--My Beloved, guide from the stars. And what now?
YESHUA -- We are lost to each other for a time. I must soondepart. A great ignorance will fall upon the earth. They will condemn you, and those like you—and say they do it in my name. But somewhere in time, you will be remembered.
Clearly, this is her time to be remembered. And as this memory fires up the passion of women and men, may we find the way to heal ourselves and the deeply felt wounds afflicting the body of the Feminine.
The Path of the Ceremonial Arts is one way that Magdalene’s story is being told. Her archetype is alive and well in this community of women. We welcome you to discover more through the various offerings we make; and ultimately, through your own Gnosis, and remembering.
