The Magdalene Mystique

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If this is true, one of the most enlightened individuals of all history loved and honored a woman. If this is true, their partnership was at the core of a dominant religion for the past 2000 years. Maybe celibacy and sin are not as important as we think. Maybe partnership is the central tenet of Christianity. This aspect of partnership is what has captured the collective imagination. Yeshua and Magdalene loved one another, regardless of the nature of that love. They were, in my opinion, intimate. Intimacy doesn't need to be sexual; it implies that two people are close, and honor deeply the gifts of the other.

Looking back to Leonardo da Vinci's depiction of the Last Supper, scholars and historians have asked, 'Is that figure on the left John the Beloved, or Mary Magdalene?' The bigger question might be: 'Is there a place at that table for a woman, for the feminine?' Accepting that Magdalene was part of Jesus' inner circle could make 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. As I watch women rediscover Mary Magdalene as an archetype, I see them wake up to feisty spirit and boldness. I witness them standing up and facing 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: another archetype besides Virgin, Mother, and Whore.

If women can believe this, they change their roles: They can accept that women have a place at the table. They can claim the teacher who, at the core, accepted a woman who burned a wilder fire than was acceptable, and loved her. He saw her. He honored her.

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 respect the feminine and let its power lead the way to healthy living for all.

To find Lila and David Tresemer's DVD Re-Discovering Mary Magdalene: The Making of a Mythic Drama (Cancom, 2001), go to www.pathoftheceremonialarts.org.

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