~ Magdalena ~
(Information provided by Jenny)
(Information provided by Jenny)
The canonical Gospels of the New Testament suggest and the Nag Hammadi "Gospel of Philip" affirms that Mary Magdalene was the companion, even the consort, of Jesus. Legends abound about this "other Mary" who is mentioned so often in the Gospels: she was healed of seven demons by Jesus, stood at the foot of his cross, then accompanied other mourners to his tomb and was first to return to find him resurrected on Easter. She was the most prominent woman in the Gospels, mentioned first in seven of the eight lists of women who walked with Jesus. She tried to embrace her "Rabboni" in the garden on Easter, and ran to tell the others that he had risen from the grave. She was the first bearer of the Good News, the first "Apostle." And yet, with no scriptural justification whatever, later traditions called her "prostitute".
Many pagan temples of the day had priestesses and the Hebrew Temple did have a "Women's Court." Ancient pagan temples of both Old and New Testament times were populated with sacred "prostitutes." But these women were NOT what we consider prostitutes today. They were highly respected representatives of whichever goddess whose temple they served in. The words used to indicate them are not "whore" or prostitute, but Hierodules or Hetera (singular) heterae (plural), meaning sacred dedicant, sacred temple-worker. When Mary Magdalene was called a hetera or prostitute back in the early centuries of Christianity, the people of the time knew perfectly well what that meant, she was a Temple Priestess, serving the Goddess. Perhaps she was such a priestess, the ubiquitous name of "Mary" has been attributed to the fact that it might not be a woman's specific name at all, but might mean a priestess of the goddess religion. Another idea is that the name "Mary," simply means "Healer." According to the Dead Sea Scrolls, if you had this title, you were a healer. The Bible mentions Mary Magdalene. What is not clear is that she was a woman of wealth and a close companion of Jesus. In Provence, France, is a cave. History has it that Mary Magdalene, and other women with the title of "Mary" taught here for over 30 years.
One of the rituals often practiced in ancient fertility cults was the hieros gamos, or "sacred marriage." In this ceremony, a woman who represented the local goddess, often a priestess, and the land was wedded to a sacrificial king, who represented the community. The king was anointed by the woman, thus receiving a kind of "divine" kingship. After they were united in marriage and celebrated their union in the bridal chamber, the king would be symbolically slain. After a span of time, his wife would seek him and find him resurrected. Often the wife was integral to his ability to resurrect.
The evidence that Mary Magdalene and Jesus together provided the model for the "hieros gamos" (Sacred Marriage) in Christianity is found in the Gospels themselves. The numbers coded by gematria in her name indicate that Mary Magdalene was the "Goddess" among early Christians. They understood the "numbers theology" of the Hellenistic world, numbers coded in the New Testament that were based on the ancient canon of sacred geometry derived by the Pythagoreans centuries before.
The Greek epithet "h Magdalhnh" bears the number 153, a profoundly important value used among mathematicians to designate the Vesica Piscis--the ()-shape identified with the "sacred Feminine' in the ancient world. This symbol, the "vulva," has obvious attributes of feminine regeneration and the "doorway" or "portal" of life--the "sacred cauldron of creativity." It was a very ancient, even archetypal symbol for the Goddess. It was called the "holy of holies" and the "inner sanctum." Almonds were sacred to Venus. The symbol abounds in cave art of ancient peoples discovered in shrines where the fertility of the earth and the female was honored. It was no accident that the epithet of Mary Magdalene bore the number that to the educated of the time identified her as the "Goddess in the Gospels."
One of the most potent places in Glastonbury is the ruined Mary Chapel or St Joseph's Chapel as it is sometimes known, in the Abbey. The proportions of the existing Mary Chapel are based on the gematria or sacred proportions of the Vesica Piscis, in which two interlocking circles overlap to form the Yoni or Vulva of the Goddess. It is from Her Vulva that we are born into the world and it is through union with Her, spiritually, emotionally and sexually that we shall return to Her. The Vesica Piscis also decorates the cover of the Chalice Well.
Mary Magdalene is a woman who definitely did not play a minor or casual role either during or after the life of Jesus. Although the historical documentation that refers to Magdalene following the crucifixion is interwoven with legend and myth, many scholars say that its quite possible that she had been married to Jesus. According to her devout heretical followers the Cathars of southern France, they were unmarried lovers.
It appears that Magdalene continued the ministry that embraced the original purpose of Christianity in the years following the crucifixion. There are records of her having preached her message on the steps of the Temple at Marseilles dedicated to the Goddess Diana, and that she had a strong following in southern France. Legends of her escape from Palestine to Egypt, France and a further journey to Great Britain include her bearing the children of Jesus, being the fiqure-head of the Magdalene-Isisian Mystery Schools, and her retreating into the deep caverns of France and the areas around Rennes le Chateau, Rennes les Bains, and even into Glastonbury, England, the coast of Wales, Edinburgh, Scotland, and the Isles of Mull and Iona.
There is a statue of Mary Magdalene in the church dedicated to La Madaleine at Rennes le Chateau in southern France. She has with her the symbols of the Death Goddess - the skull at her feet and the cup filled with oil to anoint the One Chosen to die. Click here to see a photo of the statue. There is also a painting of Mary Magdalene on the front of the altar in the church showing her kneeling in prayer, inside a cave. She is staring at a cross that seems to be made out of freshly cut branches of a tree; at its base is a human skull (a symbol of the Death Goddess) and an open book. In paintings and sculptures the Magdalena often appears with a skull at her feet. For many she is the main incarnation of the Black Goddess, the Sophia or wisdom of the Gnostics.
In Glastonbury, at Bride's Mound at Beckery or 'Little Ireland', excavations on the Mound have revealed the remains of an early chapel dedicated to Mary Magdalene, the unrecognised Dark aspect of the Triple Mary Goddess. Mary Magdalena in her role as the Death Goddess represents the Crone, full of the wisdom of age and the nearness of death. It is she who anoints the Chosen One with oil, signifying the sacrifice to be made.
She is considered by the Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and Anglican churches to be a saint, with a feast day of July 22.