Why are we mesmerized by a woman who lived 2,000 years ago? And especially a woman who, until recently, was generally vilified as a prostitute, only of note because Jesus cleansed her of seven devils? Even though Mary Magdalene is mentioned more than any other woman in the New Testament, she has been accorded little importance in mainstream Christian tradition.
Magdalene’s mysteries weave through the Jesus mythos and on through the Grail legends; her sea voyage to Glastonbury and to the South of France; and her possible connections with the Black Madonnas of Europe.
The groundswell of interest about the Magdalene, fueled by books and films such as The DaVinci Code, comes at a most opportune time. It taps into a deep hungering for knowledge about the feminine force that has been so long eclipsed in Western religion.
The Magdalene Path is a non-hierarchal, grassroots movement, inspired by a growing body of scholarship, literature, arts and spirituality that honors the Divine Feminine. It is self-defined, non-doctrinaire and grounded in the experience of gnosis, or inner knowing. It is a stream of spirituality in which Mary Magdalene is the principal figure, and all meditations, devotions and rituals focus on her in one or more of her myriad aspects and forms.
Men and women who traverse this path answer the call of the Magdalene in countless ways—as solitary or group practitioners, authors, artists, dancers, healers, parents, priestesses and priests, teachers and visionaries.
The Dark Goddess shows herself to people in various permutations; one’s relationship with any god or goddess is intensely personal and ultimately self-defined. Some devotees see her as an impersonal cosmic energy; some invoke her as an independent spiritual being in the form of a traditional goddess; and others call on her as an aspect of the self.
In considering the Magdalene phenomenon, the concept of kairos comes to mind. Kairos is a Greek word, signifying the eternally full and present moment, the opportune time. Kairos (as opposed to chronos or linear time) denotes a moment when forces constellate to break through time as we perceive it, and something new appears. This new era of Magdalene consciousness may revolutionize Christianity and Western culture in ways of which we cannot yet conceive.
Adapted from Invoking Mary Magdalene; Accessing the Wisdom of the Divine Feminine (Sounds True, 2006), an integrated book and CD learning set by Siobhán Houston designed to help bring forth the living wisdom of Mary Magdalene through a complete program of sacred ritual and reflection.
Siobhán Houston is a graduate of Harvard Divinity School and a doctoral candidate in religious studies at the University of Exeter. She teaches at Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado.