Magdalene, Past and Present

Today’s drawing of Mary Magdalene

THe Bible and apocryphal texts portray Mary Magdalene as a spiritual woman, a disciple, a person of importance in Jesus’ life and ministry. Other stories, inspired stories or word of mouth stories, often say she was a priestess, someone educated in Egyptian spiritual mysteries, that she created a movement in France, that she is still present if we search for her. These ideas don’t necessarily contradict each other, they just add to the mystery of Mary Magdalene.

All these stories feed into our imagination and concept of Mary Magdalene, making her grow in our minds, and enriching her image and mythology.

If we don’t take them literally, they all point to a truth. A truth that seems to say that we create saints and gods with the characteristics we need to represent what we desire or can’t understand of our lives. And as time passes, we continue to build on an idea made up of all the wisdom we can gather.

The presence and the knowledge of the Magdalene has grown since Margaret Starbird published her book in the 90s and so many others were inspired to join the search.

I don’t know why the Magdalene touched me or my friend Raquel, but we continue to celebrate her, and people continue to discover her. The beautiful time of discovery is now far, and now is a time of embodying her teachings for us the best we can.

We, all of us, have only one choice: seek within and keep building in a way that’s true to us.