Mary Follows the Way of the Cross
Posted by Joan Norton at 4/5/2009 5:20 AM 
Categories: The Magdalene Rosary
Tags: Mary Magdalene 14 Steps To Awaken the Sacred Feminine Women in the Circle of Mary Magdalene
Categories: The Magdalene Rosary
Tags: Mary Magdalene 14 Steps To Awaken the Sacred Feminine Women in the Circle of Mary Magdalene
Margaret Starbird's Magdalene Rosary's "Bride and Beloved" 4th prayer says this, "Mary follows the Way of the Cross". On the heart's walk through a life this might be the hardest task, I'm not sure. We all have to judge for ourselves in our own experience. But this is surely a dark night of the soul sequence of our story. At Eastertime we have a pagent which shows us the entire story of "cyclic renewal", but it's parts and pieces take place inside of us in a million ways all throughout the year and all throughout a lifetime. It's the central organizing pattern of life....this we know. Cyclic Renewal. For women, the part of the cycle of renewal which is "walking the way of the cross" is very familiar and very, very important, for it speaks of the qualities of allowing and holding. Mary, called "the Magdalene" is called upon to allow her own Fate; to hold it, and support it. Others have run away, others are in panic, others have betrayed the truth. She is the one who carries love in her heart, who walks the Way of the Heart, who carries the Holy Grail, who is able to hold fast during something horrible. It's a cliche to say it's her love which carries her through, but it's true.
There are times when one accepts a burden, allows a burden, and simply walks with it and stays true to the experience. It's a dark night of the soul at such times because you can't see ahead to the recovery, the resurrection, the renewal, the Light. You might try to have faith that they're there, but the truth is that you don't really feel it. You feel the darkness and lack of direction , and maybe confusion, and maybe a lot of other uncomfortable feelings. Mary Magdalene walking the way of the cross shows us we can "hold" our discomfort , we can walk with it as a part of us, claiming it also as our own self and our own experience. We don't need to expect of ourselves to always be in the light or on top of things. Sometimes we are in holy contemplation and it doesn't feel like "the bride at her wedding".
Margaret Starbird's Magdalene Rosary "Bride and Beloved" prayer #5 of our story tells us "Mary stands with the Virgin Mother at the foot of the Cross". I can hardly think of a more sorrowful picture, can you? All is lost, or so it seems. Grief is at it's extreme. The most difficult darkness is present. Some stories say there was an earthquake when Jesus was crucified. Dreams picture it that way when the foundations of one's current beliefs are changed. But there is something different here to take note of psychologically, and it's expressed as "stands with the Virgin Mother" .
I hope I don't offend people when I talk about our dearly beloveds as archetypal, psychological components of the World Soul. It's how I was taught to make religion useful in people's daily lives and inner growth, our religious stories being our "group dream about ourselves".
The Magdalene Rosary Prayer # 5 is "Mary stands with the Virgin Mother at the foot of the Cross". She has met her Fate and held her story with the love in her heart, and now we're told she stands with "the Virgin" at a great moment of change. A virgin state of being is one of potential, one not yet impregnated with "the new". Mary Magdalene has lost her old point of view, her old story, her old self and "standing with the Virgin" indicates another beginning is being prepared. Our cycles of renewal have this stage. It's as though the extremities of despair and the darkness are beginning to wear out. A "virgin self" is there with you, which will become fertile ground for a new beginning, a new experience of growth.
We are told that the Virgin also is "Mother", she is Goddess, and she too is you. She is that part of us which is willing potential for renewal, resurrection. She stands with Mary Magdalene, at the moment of most dire need, providing the symbol of hope for birth to come and comfort in the grief that is present. They wait together , hold the experience together, without knowing what will come next. This a true picture of faith.
Here's an Allison Krause song which says it all. There's a Reason
click here to order a Magdalene Rosary
click here to order 14 Steps To Awaken the Sacred Feminine: Women in the Circle of Mary Magdalene
There are times when one accepts a burden, allows a burden, and simply walks with it and stays true to the experience. It's a dark night of the soul at such times because you can't see ahead to the recovery, the resurrection, the renewal, the Light. You might try to have faith that they're there, but the truth is that you don't really feel it. You feel the darkness and lack of direction , and maybe confusion, and maybe a lot of other uncomfortable feelings. Mary Magdalene walking the way of the cross shows us we can "hold" our discomfort , we can walk with it as a part of us, claiming it also as our own self and our own experience. We don't need to expect of ourselves to always be in the light or on top of things. Sometimes we are in holy contemplation and it doesn't feel like "the bride at her wedding". Margaret Starbird's Magdalene Rosary "Bride and Beloved" prayer #5 of our story tells us "Mary stands with the Virgin Mother at the foot of the Cross". I can hardly think of a more sorrowful picture, can you? All is lost, or so it seems. Grief is at it's extreme. The most difficult darkness is present. Some stories say there was an earthquake when Jesus was crucified. Dreams picture it that way when the foundations of one's current beliefs are changed. But there is something different here to take note of psychologically, and it's expressed as "stands with the Virgin Mother" . I hope I don't offend people when I talk about our dearly beloveds as archetypal, psychological components of the World Soul. It's how I was taught to make religion useful in people's daily lives and inner growth, our religious stories being our "group dream about ourselves".
The Magdalene Rosary Prayer # 5 is "Mary stands with the Virgin Mother at the foot of the Cross". She has met her Fate and held her story with the love in her heart, and now we're told she stands with "the Virgin" at a great moment of change. A virgin state of being is one of potential, one not yet impregnated with "the new". Mary Magdalene has lost her old point of view, her old story, her old self and "standing with the Virgin" indicates another beginning is being prepared. Our cycles of renewal have this stage. It's as though the extremities of despair and the darkness are beginning to wear out. A "virgin self" is there with you, which will become fertile ground for a new beginning, a new experience of growth.
We are told that the Virgin also is "Mother", she is Goddess, and she too is you. She is that part of us which is willing potential for renewal, resurrection. She stands with Mary Magdalene, at the moment of most dire need, providing the symbol of hope for birth to come and comfort in the grief that is present. They wait together , hold the experience together, without knowing what will come next. This a true picture of faith.
Here's an Allison Krause song which says it all. There's a Reason
click here to order a Magdalene Rosary
click here to order 14 Steps To Awaken the Sacred Feminine: Women in the Circle of Mary Magdalene
I am having my own dark night of soul. It is minimal compared to so many and hard for me to honoring just holding it and learning to embrace and honor it from within. There is a part of me that does not yet love all parts of myself and I want to internally criticize and condemn my own wounded ego and petty emotional difficulties.
This reading reminded me, as Mary Magdalene has so many times, that I must walk through my own dark nights and receive the gifts and lessons from this journey. When I allow the wisdom to come from the darkness and breath deeply into the challenges of my own soul path, I have deeper and fuller compassion and kindnesses to share with others. This is the greatest act of service.
With love in service of the Divine Mysteries,
Sally
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Dear Sally,
Thank you very, very much for writing and sharing your reactions. You've shown us exactly how our "lost stories" of Magdalene are meant to support and comfort us on our personal lifestory. Naturally we can always think of someone else who "has it worse", but that doesn't mean your dark night of the soul isn't just as painful and just as important. I like what you said about wisdom coming from the darkness. And then the compassion, and then the service. Thank you for being with this extended circle of Magdalene women.
xoJoan
P.S. My sister's name is also Sally so it always gives me a warm feeling to see your name.
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Dear Joan, I love the clarity and sacred experience I get from your writing. Today the knowing that religion is "our group dream about ourselves" and the promise that the "Virgin" energies are right there at the foot of the cross with Mary Magdalene in her darkest time are truly sacred teachings.
I know not to try to skip over the "dark night of the Soul," but I grateful for your words of light. They allow me to feel companioned, and they hold for me the certainty of (eventual!) re-orientaton.
Love,
Sandra
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Hi Sandra,
Thank you for always being with me, I count on your sensitivities. As I work with the Magdalene Rosary sequence I'm very surprised at what is there spiritually, psychologically. Why should I be surprised to find that so much of what I know about the psychology of the sacred feminine is right there in our own christian story when we "remember" Mary Magdalene's part? I'm happy to be surprised over and over again. xoJoan
P.S. Did you see the Magdalene Chaplet Sally made?
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Hi Joan,
I feel that her strength as a Priestess of the Goddess, carried her through on that day. And that she knew that the crucifixion would not be the end of their story. That doesn't negate the pain she felt, but it was a demonstration of the sheer will of her hope and faith, that he would return and indeed "rebuild the Temple in three days." She alone had that knowledge and that faith, that a new covenant of love, a new path of love was about to be forged and anchored into human consciousness. I think that she carried that vision even though she was in terrible grief and pain, that she carried it to its glorious fruition.
Love Jennifer
Jennifer Reif
"The Holy Book of Mary Magdalene"
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Hi Jen, You raise an interesting point...is it possible to both feel the feelings and also have an elevated spiritual perspective at the same time? Of course we all have both capabilites but usually deep feeling dominates when it's present. By definition, the expanded awareness of the priestess is on a spiritual plane where grief "doesn't live". The Mary Magdalene stories which have come down to us through time describe her "feeling journey", her heart's earthly story of being in love with Jesus just like any woman being in love, and then having to see him die. The feelings of their love story are what I'm usually talking about because they were left out, and they are common to all people's experience.
Thanks very much for being there...as always, I enjoy you! xoJoan
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Hi Joan,
You wrote, "By definition, the expanded awareness of the priestess is on a spiritual plane where grief "doesn't live"."
To me, part of expanded spiritual awareness is about a sense of understanding and compassion, rather than about emotional detachment. Jesus had expanded awareness and got pretty angry when he saw the money changers and buyers and sellers in the Temple. You know, the "You have made it a den of thieves," episode. So I do think that Mary was a Priestess of the Goddess, but that she also felt grief at what happened to her beloved on the Cross. That's what makes her so strong and courageous to me, because she moved through it and came out the other side with joy.
Love, Jennifer
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Hi Jennifer, Yes, I understand what you mean. I think what I was trying to express is that in our earthly self we have some types of feelings that are overwhelming in the moment, as she may have with grief and as Jesus may have had when he chased "the exploiters" out of the temple. At such times it may be that these feelings dominate over the "cooler" spiritual feelings. xoJoan
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Joan,
Not only did this post strike a cord with its timing, but so many of the comments I could relate to as well. In discussing the cruxifiction with a friend today, I shared how I cannot truly comprehend the strength of the two Marys in their desire to remain with Jesus in his last moments, to witness for him and support him through such horror. It would be super human strength to do so, I think.
And then she reminded me (in a very loving way) of when my grandmother died and I lacked the faith and willingness and trust to be with her, to witness the last days of her human life. I share this not to be maudlin, but because it's part of my story. And I'm grateful to Magdalene's love that propels me forward on this journey.
In the nearly 2 years since my grandmother's passing, I have moved within that "dark night of the soul" and while I cannot be sure I'm through it, I feel deep within me, the promise of dawn.
Because of you, Joan, and the incredible women you have put me in connection with, I am having a truly different Holy Week experience. It's pretty raw, as I look at where I was (spiritually), where I am, and where I want to go. But I'm so grateful to not trudge this path alone.
Thank you Joan and Sally and Sandra and Karen and Jennifer and Sally and Margaret and Ki and the many others who are with me on the spiritual plain. . .
I send you all my deep thanks,
Jen
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Dear Jen, Thank you for your loving feelings towards this wide Magdalene Circle of women. I feel the strength of this circle in the hearts of the women you named, with "our Magdalene" as heavenly and earthly guidance, in loving mutuality with the sacred masculine.
Margaret and I are going to the Northwest Catholic Women's Convocation on May 1-2 in Seattle to see if we can "witness" for Magdalene in some way. There are wonderful speakers there, including Riane Eisler and Jean Shinoda Bolen (heroines!) but Mary Magdalene is no where to be found.... She is ignored in her own church once again. But there is one church who is not ignoring her and has asked us to participate in a conference next November. It's www.HerChurch.org , a Lutheran church which follows the MotherGod. They have started to use the Magdalene Circle book lessons. So some good things are happening. It's the women in our everyday lives who will bring the world into balance again, raising the sacred feminine to real partnership. It's women like you, Jen, with your young children to teach , who are really making the world-saving changes. xoJoan
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"It's the women in our everyday lives who will bring the world into balance again, raising the sacred feminine to real partnership."
I'm in the midst of this experience.
I'm temporarily assisting a corporation which is in the midst of reorganizing due to the economy.
The company's partners recently held a weekend meeting ... all men & only one woman who is the business manager ... to hash out the company's way forward.
The partners assembled the company's personnel the Monday following & spoke of THEIR passion for THEIR company & how everyone (left after layoffs) was part of THEIR team ...
The only problem is, is that in a company that includes more women than men, only ONE woman was included in the process of deciding how the company would carry on!
I, as an empowered woman who has consciously integrated the masculine & feminine inside to the point where the Soul has embodied within, couldn't help but feel both disappointment & excitement at this example of corporate reorganization beginning to take place in the world. Excitement, because the company KNOWS it needs to change its business practices & disappointment because these men still don't seem to understand the necessity of incorporating the balancing effect of the Feminine into their business, and of including their female members' voice & vision of the change required to successfully carry on. From what I've witnessed I'm a little alarmed, in fact, that they may be attempting to reorganize & proceed at the expense of their mostly female employees by shuffling more workload onto them to make up for the people they've laid off.
There is also excitement, however, because the man I'm personally assisting has asked to meet with me to discuss how he can better utilize & incorporate his female assistant into his business practice ... something he's not been able to successfully do in all his many years in business.
He definitely is sensing something "different" about me & actually "blew up" in frustration one day because he couldn't "vampire" my energy in the usual "victim/persecutor" way most waged employees have learned to tolerate from their employers.
I say this not in judgment for I too was most definitely part of that co-dependent relationship up until recently.
So, yes, women in our everyday lives are bringing the world back into balance by healing our own feminine/masculine imbalances thus allowing the Soul to embody & Being the living, breathing embodiment of Balance in the World. Furthermore, such women will HAVE TO be taken on as full partners by men because we just will not tolerate anything less.
Case in point, I was offered & turned down an offer of full-time employment with this company. What empowered person wants to work for a wage assisting someone else fulfill their passion? Now, if they'd offered me a stake in the company, some ownership, some partnership, WELL ... that would've been an entirely different matter.
Change will continue though until its gotten right.
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What a wonderful post, Audrey, thankyou very much for sharing your story and your knowledge. If your company knew the wisdom they've got in you....well...the structure of corporate world might change. It's great that you see the glimmer of hopeful change...nothing like crisis to bring on that possibility. The UN passed a resolution a few years ago, maybe at the time of the Womens Conference, that countries would have women in attendance for all conflict resolution meetings . Your company needs to catch up with that idea, don't they? They sound so dinosaur...only men in the meetings. I hope your influence grows and grows. Thanks for telling us about it. xoJoan
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