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Question about Mary Magdalene
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Messages: 1 - 4 (15 total)
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sophia7
4/19/2003 3:21 AM
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1 out of 15 |
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I find Mary Magdalene to be a fascinating biblical figure and was wondering what gnostics thought of her. I've read that she is very important in gnosticism and so was wondering how do gnostics perceive her and if they worship her and what do they believe concerning her?
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gerard_the_cathar
4/19/2003 10:46 AM
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2 out of 15 |
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Mary Magdalene is indeed an important figure in many Gnostic traditions. (It important to realize that Gnosticism is not, and never was, a monolithic movement.) The Gospel of Philip states that she was the consort of the Saviour, and that he often "kissed her on the mouth". The Gospel of Mary Magdalene (unsurprisingly) describes her as the keeper of the esoteric Gnostic teachings of the Lord, which some of the other disciples (especially Peter) reject. However, she was never actually worshipped. Some Gnostics regard her as a high saint, of the sort familiar from Catholic and Orthodox traditions. Others see her as an manifestation of Sophia - the Divine Feminine Principle. (Of course, these are not mutually exclusive.) Keep in mind, however, that Gnostics often tend to interpret scripture symbolically. The Three Marys of the Gospels could all be seen as different aspects of the same archetype (cf. the Triple Goddess of paganism.) Mary Magdalene, the redeemed sinner, does in fact parallel the myth of Sophia. Sophia, Holy Wisdom, was trapped by her offspring the Demiurge, and redeemed by Christ the Hero, her consort and/or brother and/or son. (Thus, when Philip refers to Mary as the "consort" of Jesus, I don't think a sexual relationship was necessarily intended, and even if it were, that's not really the point.)
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arielmessenger
4/27/2003 1:13 AM
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3 out of 15 |
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A former "Arielite Biomystical Christian" Gnostic, now something else forming from resent run-in with God, Native American prophesy and the Holy Land, has become settled in his mind about the historical Jesus, and consequently, the historical Mary Magdalene.
The anti-Christian Talmud has the closest information about the historical Jesus we will ever have--it was necessarily obscurized but have no doubt the rabbis through the centuries have used these texts to keep the anti-Gentilism vein within traditional Judaism strong (I speak this from being Jewish and knowing those verses). Jesus is Yeshu, Yeishu, ben Pantera and lived probably a hundred years earlier than the Jesus of the Gospels. He was the illegitimate son of Miriam the Hairdresser which is where the myth of Mary Magdalene started from "the fact that the strange name 'Magdalene' clearly resembles the Aramaic term "mgadla nshaya," meaning "womens' hairdresser." the fact that the strange name 'Magdalene" clearly resembles the Aramaic term "mgadla nshaya," meaning "womens' hairdresser.' As mentioned before, there was a belief that Yeishu's mother was 'Miriam the women's hairdresser.'"
This is my belief now about Mary Magdalene. She is part of the post-fall of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. Paul-Markian Greco-Roman re-invention of Yeishu ben Pantera adopted by early Christian Gnostics as well as early traditional Christians.
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johndavid23
11/1/2003 12:53 AM
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4 out of 15 |
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What would it mean to be the bride of the holy bridegroom? To know Love in all its' forms: to experience as much unity with the Divine as a human can experience. Love comes to show each of us Reality, what lies outside the conventional box we were trained to perceive within. This is the MM that lives within each of us.
What would that enlightened spirit do as a loving being loose in the world? This is your purpose and mystery.
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