The Bride's Arrival Once Again
Posted by Joan Norton at 1/18/2009 9:26 AM 
Categories: Goddess and the Sacred Masculine, Seasonal festivals
Tags: Mary Magdalene 14 Steps To Awaken the Sacred Feminine Women in the Circle of Mary Magdalene
Categories: Goddess and the Sacred Masculine, Seasonal festivals
Tags: Mary Magdalene 14 Steps To Awaken the Sacred Feminine Women in the Circle of Mary Magdalene
Another holy day is coming soon, Brigid's Day on February 1, and it is surely one of the celebrations of Mary Magdalene, Bride and Beloved. "This is the day of Bride, the Queen will come from the mound" goes the Celtic song and the lore about Life's energy returning again after winter.
Here comes the bride means also "here comes the goddess" ...means also "here comes the Magdalene"....means also "here comes Spring again" ...means also "here comes life's energy in me again for a new beginning"....means also "here comes inspiration"....means again "Here comes the Bride".
Girls, get out your Bride doll, your Goddess doll, your Mary Magdalene doll and dress her all in white, for she wears the clothes today to signify a fresh new beginning of nature's year and the promises of life to come. The other girls will come with their dolls and we'll carry them together in a procession through town. A bridal procession in honor of life renewed again and again in the earth and in us all.
You might dream of a bride any time during the year and it will also talk about the potential for a new creative process of growth and change at it's beginning stage, for this is alchemy we're talking about. Beginnings. The stage of beginnings, before life's experience can turn into the gold of wisdom, is pictured as the bride aspect of "the Magdalene".
Apparently they knew such things in the early times of Albion, the Scotland of today. Some people call the British Isles the new Holy Land, the place where the Light of the Sacred Union is taking hold and becoming a beacon for the New Creation, the time of peace and harmony for earth. This we will have to see and decide for ourselves, but we can know for sure that in those isles of the early days, Mary Magdalene was not dismissed as an apostle.
Barry Dunford, in Vision of Albion, The Key to the Holy Grail reflects on the fact that there are many, many religious sites in Scotland dedicated to St. Bride , while there are none specifically dedicated to St. Mary Magdalene. "This is rather unusual," he says, " when other leading personalities around Jesus, as well as Christ Himself, are venerated in numerous chapels and churches throughout this region of Scotland. There was certainly no antagonism towards Mary Magdalene in the early celtic christain church. Could the simple explanation for this omission be due to the fact that the gaelic people of the Hebrides and the west highlands of Scotland knew of Mary Magdalene as the Holy (Saint) Bride of Christ?"
This is a beautiful stained glass window in the parish of Mearns, Scotland, which is called "St. Brigid". Brigid, as we all know, is the Goddess of these celtic lands. Her stories carry the stories to explain all of nature and Her workings, and us within Her. In this beautiful window, she seems to reflect "the Magdalene" , the "Bride", with the typical symbols of Magdalene which we easily recognize . Her long beautiful hair, her book of wisdom and contemplation, her towers which represent her role as protector of the land, people , and city, Remembering that these are the attributes assigned to Mary Magdalene, we can see that St. Brigid /St.Bride was thought of as Sacred Complement to Jesus, Bride and Beloved of Christ. Margaret Starbird describes how the Song of Songs in other lands was the most popular poetry of love and lovers, and that when Jesus was seen as filling the messiah role of God, people looked around for his Goddess, because the Song of Songs told them there would be a goddess, a lover. In the northern lands where the religious stories flowed from the celtic druid clergy into the Jesus teachings, they too expected a Bride, a Goddess, to be a part of Him in sacred union. He must have a relationship to Brigid, to Goddess....how else could he be accepted? Mary "called the Magdalene" most likely became St. Bride, the Holy Bride of Christ. The Goddess in Sacred Union.
There is memory living in the naming of places, memory of important people who visited there. Apparently this is true all over Scotland where placenames repeat the legends of Jesus and Mary Magdalene and the Holy Family traveling there. And of course, that's where the most famous stained glass window of all is located, on the Isle of Mull, showing our Magdalene as Bride and telling us she "hath chosen that good part which shall not be taken away from her."
She is "that good part" within yourself, within your recognition of the feelings of the beginnings of spring and the new life of the year. The word "bright" comes from the gaelic pronounciation of the goddess Brigid, so we associate "light" returning with this holy day of Brigid/Magdalene as well. And in the association of Light with Mary the Magdalene, we have the beginning of our Magdalene Mysteries prayer. "Mary meets Jesus..." also may be said "Mary meets the Light..." and on February 1st we honor the beginning of Mary's story of beginnings.
Here is a song about new beginnings and the light returning....
"Here Comes The Sun" click to hear and see
Click Here To See Magadalene Rosaries and Chaplets
click here to order 14 Steps To Awaken the Sacred Feminine: Women in the Circle of Mary Magdalene
Here comes the bride means also "here comes the goddess" ...means also "here comes the Magdalene"....means also "here comes Spring again" ...means also "here comes life's energy in me again for a new beginning"....means also "here comes inspiration"....means again "Here comes the Bride".
Girls, get out your Bride doll, your Goddess doll, your Mary Magdalene doll and dress her all in white, for she wears the clothes today to signify a fresh new beginning of nature's year and the promises of life to come. The other girls will come with their dolls and we'll carry them together in a procession through town. A bridal procession in honor of life renewed again and again in the earth and in us all.
You might dream of a bride any time during the year and it will also talk about the potential for a new creative process of growth and change at it's beginning stage, for this is alchemy we're talking about. Beginnings. The stage of beginnings, before life's experience can turn into the gold of wisdom, is pictured as the bride aspect of "the Magdalene". Apparently they knew such things in the early times of Albion, the Scotland of today. Some people call the British Isles the new Holy Land, the place where the Light of the Sacred Union is taking hold and becoming a beacon for the New Creation, the time of peace and harmony for earth. This we will have to see and decide for ourselves, but we can know for sure that in those isles of the early days, Mary Magdalene was not dismissed as an apostle.
Barry Dunford, in Vision of Albion, The Key to the Holy Grail reflects on the fact that there are many, many religious sites in Scotland dedicated to St. Bride , while there are none specifically dedicated to St. Mary Magdalene. "This is rather unusual," he says, " when other leading personalities around Jesus, as well as Christ Himself, are venerated in numerous chapels and churches throughout this region of Scotland. There was certainly no antagonism towards Mary Magdalene in the early celtic christain church. Could the simple explanation for this omission be due to the fact that the gaelic people of the Hebrides and the west highlands of Scotland knew of Mary Magdalene as the Holy (Saint) Bride of Christ?"
This is a beautiful stained glass window in the parish of Mearns, Scotland, which is called "St. Brigid". Brigid, as we all know, is the Goddess of these celtic lands. Her stories carry the stories to explain all of nature and Her workings, and us within Her. In this beautiful window, she seems to reflect "the Magdalene" , the "Bride", with the typical symbols of Magdalene which we easily recognize . Her long beautiful hair, her book of wisdom and contemplation, her towers which represent her role as protector of the land, people , and city, Remembering that these are the attributes assigned to Mary Magdalene, we can see that St. Brigid /St.Bride was thought of as Sacred Complement to Jesus, Bride and Beloved of Christ. Margaret Starbird describes how the Song of Songs in other lands was the most popular poetry of love and lovers, and that when Jesus was seen as filling the messiah role of God, people looked around for his Goddess, because the Song of Songs told them there would be a goddess, a lover. In the northern lands where the religious stories flowed from the celtic druid clergy into the Jesus teachings, they too expected a Bride, a Goddess, to be a part of Him in sacred union. He must have a relationship to Brigid, to Goddess....how else could he be accepted? Mary "called the Magdalene" most likely became St. Bride, the Holy Bride of Christ. The Goddess in Sacred Union.
There is memory living in the naming of places, memory of important people who visited there. Apparently this is true all over Scotland where placenames repeat the legends of Jesus and Mary Magdalene and the Holy Family traveling there. And of course, that's where the most famous stained glass window of all is located, on the Isle of Mull, showing our Magdalene as Bride and telling us she "hath chosen that good part which shall not be taken away from her."
She is "that good part" within yourself, within your recognition of the feelings of the beginnings of spring and the new life of the year. The word "bright" comes from the gaelic pronounciation of the goddess Brigid, so we associate "light" returning with this holy day of Brigid/Magdalene as well. And in the association of Light with Mary the Magdalene, we have the beginning of our Magdalene Mysteries prayer. "Mary meets Jesus..." also may be said "Mary meets the Light..." and on February 1st we honor the beginning of Mary's story of beginnings.Here is a song about new beginnings and the light returning...."Here Comes The Sun" click to hear and see
Click Here To See Magadalene Rosaries and Chaplets
click here to order 14 Steps To Awaken the Sacred Feminine: Women in the Circle of Mary Magdalene
thank you for your info on "Bridid".. never knew this was where the work 'bright' came from and will enjoy doing research on Bridid's Day and reading "Visions of Albion, the key to the holy grail". Sometimes omission and silence speaks volumnes.***Recently,in relation to this subject, the history channel had a presentation of a pagan community over 5000 years old in northern Wales. The entire village was built with sea rock from the shore with chambers connecting to one another by tunnels. the residents did not have to go outside unless they had to. To worship, they would to into a large chamber, then to a smaller one, and then to the largest to offer their sacrifices..It almost reminded one of the "holy of holies".****As far as "Here Come the Sun", nobody nails it like Ritchie Havens!!!
thanks for your blog space
Bless the sacred union
sheila
Reply to this
Hi Shiela, You're so right about Richie Havens! I forgot about that version. Here it is from You Tube .
Thanks for telling us about the early Welsh community ...very interesting. The process itself of going from a large chamber where there's more light, and then into a smaller,darker one, and then coming into a bigger one with more light again, feels like an echo of the inner spiritual process of "darkness into light". When our third eye opens it's like a burst of bright light, even though our eyes are closed.
Thanks for being in this Magdalene Circle, Shiela. xoJoan
Reply to this
I am so excited, in so many ways!!! After I finished college, I moved to Ireland for awhile. I had no reason, only to honor my heritage. So for the brief months I was there, waiting tables and pulling pints, I took in a smidge of the culture and brought home a St. Brigid's Cross. I knew know history of her, only that she must have been quite important because these crosses were everywhere! I loved the symetry of them. And if memory serves me, does Margaret address crosses of symetry in "Woman with the Alabaster Jar?" I'm going to hit the books and see if I can find it.
Beautiful post! Thank you so much for your willingness to share and continue this tradition. I feel a strange electricity, not only regarding my journey, but the fact my children are growing up with this. Such a difference, does a generation make
Blessings to you, Joan! xo
Reply to this
Hi Jen,
Thanks for sharing your story. I've felt excited myself about the discovery of the importance of Mary Magdalene in early celtic christianity, because of my own Irish genetics. I like to do genealogy...so easy on the internet...and sometimes my work with Mary Magdalene has felt like genealogy. If you do research on Brigid's Cross, I hope you'll share it with us. I do know that she was/is related to the energy of fire and that the cross is said to protect you from fire. For me, that means inspiration and creativity. Like the red associated with Mary Magdalene, it's the passionate energy for life. Maybe it's the electric feeling you mentioned! Thanks for your enthusiasm.....xoJoan
P.S. Possibly the square within the wheel of life which Brigid's cross is, is a symbol of the union of masculine and feminine...a symbol of Wholeness and God
Reply to this
Hi, Joan! Thank you for this Celtic cycle reminder and the information on the celebration of Brigid/Bride/Mary Magdalene. Lately, I find that I need "containers," "patterns," or "cycles" to help me find my way, and this one comes on the eve of a winter storm here in the South and in myself as I freeze a bit before the daunting taste of getting my new book out into the world.
So, I say hooray to a celebration of the coming again of the energy and the mystery of the Great Mother to balance us and guide us to grow and express her great mysteries through us in the world.
This, too -- I have been reading some of Tau Malachi's book on Mary Magdalene legends, ST. MARY MAGDALENE, THE GNOSTIC TRADITION OF THE HOLY BRIDE. The cross in that Sophian Gnostic tradition is the symbol of the masculine and feminine Christos energy that separated to incarnate on the earth and now are rejoined on the Earth plane -- not in suffering -- but in magnification of human possibility and joy that flows out from their sacred union and harmonizes all life around them.
So, perhaps, Brigid's cross symbolizes that wholeness as it fills us with all we need in order to do the work we are called to do -- the way Light is undivided when it floods a plain or field or a mountain at sunrise.
Love!
Reply to this
Hi Sandra,
I think that what you are recognizing in the desire to have natural , earthly spiritual "containers", "patterns", and "cycles" is exactly what is obliterated by abuse. I know you know this because your book , Growing Up Without the Goddess, is all about recovery from domination into spiritual freedom. Domination by another person's will and desire obliterates our body's free will to express nature's spiritual patterns of life, and without them we are like robots. We need more festivals which recognize the detailed process of the sacred marriage, the mystical marriage that Mary Magdalene and Jesus represent. Brigid/Bride/Magdalene's special day of February first is just one....but I'm so happy to be able to put my mind to honoring Her on this day. Another older ritual was to pour some milk on the ground and give thanks to Her for the abundance of her nurturing of us. Her breasts are ever full for us. But still, the one that captures my imagination the most is a parade of girls with their bride dolls.....with the recognition that "the bride" is their own inner quality of receptivity to life.
That's a beautiful image of undivided Light, thank you for giving it to us. Brigid/Bride/Magdalene's bride's dress feels like that to me.
Thanks for being there, Joan
Reply to this
I am absolutely a flutter! As I have been glued to my radio when driving and tv while knitting, I am following today's inauguration. While listening to the poet following Obama's acceptance speech, near the close of her poem, she spoke of love ... and I was reminded of the line from the Magdalene Prayer "show us the way of the heart." And then when I was watching CNN, there was talk from Indiana Sen. Pence that there was a "wedding" feel to the congressional luncheon preceeding the parade as Obama worked the room. Then, when another senator presented the President with the official picture of him becoming the President, he commented on the reality of a wedding not setting in until the pictures are done.
Is it just me, or is there some crazy syncronicity going on here? This post and this amazingly marvaleous day and all the "wedding" notions hit upon today. Hmmmm. I can't wrap my head around it, but could there be something there? Just my thoughts . . .
Reply to this
Hi Jen, Yes, I heard and saw those things too and I think you're right...there is something going on that's bigger than we imagine. The prophecy people have been saying this for quite a while, assuring us that we have collectively made an inner decision to make the world better, with more harmony, more peace, more "sacred union" between all things. I think we saw a very big amazing display of it yesterday. I heard the wedding reference when a commentator spoke about Obama's ancestral village in Kenya and how the people there were celebrating like it was a "royal wedding" where "everyone wants to touch the bride for good luck". And then when Obama , at one of the ball celebrations, said that famous line about his wife, "she does everything I do but backwards and in high heels". We are all longing for this recognition of our amazing abilities to dance in the harmony of life, because it's an ability that's innate in women. Dare we hope it will be more recognized in "the New Creation"? I think so!
Thanks for being there....Joan
Reply to this
Here is another glimpse of the bride with her bridegroom.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YL2K3gcRaLs
Bless you,
Ariadne
Reply to this
Dear Ariadne,
Thank you , what a beautiful little film. All the words resonated with me ....can you tell us more about your book? I hadn't heard it said quite that way before that Mary Magdalene was an Aquarius, that certainly fits for her role in the Age of Aquarius and "the new creation". Here's her pretty "wisdom pearl" rosary to help show us "the way of the heart". Thanks for commenting and thanks for being there . xoJoan
Reply to this