X-Witch
Later this month, on July 22nd, the Catholic Church celebrates the Feast Day of Mary Magdalene. In honor of what I like to think of as her “birthday”, this month’s column is devoted to her.
What we know about MM comes primarily from three sources: the Bible, the Gnostic texts, and legends.
Let’s start with what the Bible says about her. Actually, let’s start with what the Bible DOESN’T say about her. No where, absolutely no where does the Bible state that MM was a prostitute. As a former Bible quotin’, Bible totin’, Bible knowin’ fundie, when I first heard this (courtesy of Margaret Starbird) I thought, “Somebody’s obviously not done her Bible homework.” It was true; someone hadn’t—me! I quick look at any Bible Concordance reveals a simple truth: there is no mention whatsoever of MM in connection with prostitution.
The prostitution view is an invention of early Christian leaders. Beginning in the 200s Tertullian associated the unnamed “repentant sinner” who anoints Jesus’ feet with her tears with Mary Magdalene. After this, St. Jerome and Pope Gregory the Great took this association a bit further, giving Ms. Maggie her status as prostitute extraordinnaire.
On to what the Bible does say. Without any interpretation, guesswork, theory, or radical conjecture the Bible credits MM as: the woman from whom Jesus cast out 7 devils, one of several devoted female disciples who attended Jesus during his crucifixion, and as the 1st person to whom the Christ appeared after his resurrection. Isn’t it odd that the Bible credits NONE of Jesus well publicized Twelve with standing by him during the crucifixion? And isn’t it especially odd that the first person Christ wants to see after coming home for a while is Mary Magdalene?
Students of mythology and all good pagans won’t find it odd. The myth of the dying, resurrected god predates Christ. In many cultures the myth is basically a play in five acts: god is born or conceived through some type of extraordinary means, god is selected by goddess and anointed by her, god grows in power, god is sacrificed, god returns—usually to his goddess, oftentimes in a garden.
Christianity has promoted 3 and 1A of those acts. The birth, power, and sacrifice are undisputed. The anointing has been completely overlooked and the return, well he returns all right, but no one ever puts the spotlight on to whom it is he returns—to Mary Magdalene. Why? Is it maybe because of the mythological connection, the connection that implies that MM was his lover, if not his wife, or Lord forbid, a goddess?
Let’s look now at the Gnostic texts. The Gnostics state quite clearly that it was to Mary Magdalene, not Peter, that Jesus gave the keys to the kingdom. It was she who was to be ‘Apostle to the Apostles’. The reason for this has an historical context. First off, remember that Jesus was extremely egalitarian. Women followed him (men were not his only disciples) he ate with them, gave them positions of status in his ministry. Second, remember that Jesus preached again and again about his “return” or the “kingdom” coming. Now we all know how anxiously today’s fundies are waiting for the mushroom cloud that I guess Jesus will ride in on and put things aright. But back in early Christianity the followers were, believe it or not, much more zealous than today’s fundies in their belief that Jesus was coming back “pretty much any day now”. So when deciding who was doing what in the early church, gender roles didn’t much matter. Nothing much mattered. How could it? For crying out loud, it wasn’t like they were setting up a religion that might last a couple thousand years! Jesus would be back tomorrow anyway and then he could set things up like he wanted! So, if, as the Gnostics say, Mary Magdalene was Jesus’ choice as ‘Apostle to the Apostles’ so be it. When Jesus got home, a man would be in charge anyway! Of course, as Jesus’ return became somewhat delayed and as the delay extended and the church grew, the patriarchy got busy putting Jesus’ house in order for him. The keys to the kingdom were taken from MM and handed over to Peter.
Lastly, there are the legends. My favorite is the one about MM changing a white egg to red which contributes to our current tradition of dying Easter— Ostara—eggs. Then there’s the legend of her landing at Ste. Maries-de-la-Mer with her handmaid or daughter, St. Sarah, and of course, the legend of her marriage to the Christ.
I like the idea of MM being married to Christ, but I like it in the mystical sense, the sense that we are all, female and male, potential Brides or Partners of Christ. I like it not in the celibate nun way, nor in the purely physical sexual way (not that there’s anything wrong with that!) but in the sense that we can all be what Christ was and do what Christ did. Christ himself said that we would all do what he did.. .and more!
The entire message of Christ was one of completion, of wholeness. What better way to exemplify that teaching than by breaking all patriarchal tradition and make a woman his equal?
Happy birthday Mary Magdalene!
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author bio:
R.A. Áine Laisrén, a novelist and psychic practitioner for over twenty years, is devoting her life (and the life of her pet chinchilla Fionnghuala) to restoring the Goddess and all Her gifts to Christianity. She will absolutely lose her mind if you refer to the Holy Spirit in the masculine gender, so please just don’t do it!
More information about Áine’s writing and practice may be found at www.sang-realta.com