Prophecy, Revelation,and Creativity are "the Magdalene"
Posted by Joan Norton at 7/17/2009 7:19 AM 
Categories: Mary Magdalene Feast Day
Tags: Mary Magdalene 14 Steps To Awaken the Sacred Feminine Women in the Circle of Mary Magdalene
Categories: Mary Magdalene Feast Day
Tags: Mary Magdalene 14 Steps To Awaken the Sacred Feminine Women in the Circle of Mary Magdalene
We know so thoroughly that the Feminine principle was driven underground, subjugated to the "lone god" concept. It didn't disappear, it went into hiding and is sometimes called "the secret tradition" of christianity. It includes women's creativity, women's prophecy, women's intuition, women's body wisdom, women's mysticism....... and did I already say creativity? Creativity by it's very nature is a kind of revelation or prophecy because it comes from within and gives birth to something entirely new. It's an individual's unique seeing of the world. Not that all creativity involves spirituality, but when it does, it's a kind of personal revelation. I think original christianity was intended to be a very personal (not corporate) path of enlightenment, a path of developing one's unique and individual relationship with the Greater Mystery.
For this, the week of celebration of Mary Magdalene as the Holy Grail symbol of the Sacred Feminine, I want to honor the creativity of some of the "Magdalene women" I know. In my Magdalene Circle we shared artwork and we shared the very unique, individual visions that came from the meditations. One of my favorite paintings was done by Ruth Thompson, who also wrote prayers for the Magdalene Circle book. Her painting is called "Revision" .
Sheila Greer is a friend from the wider Magdalene Circle who I've come to know through Facebook and this blog.You might know her as a frequent commenter. Sheila lives in rural Tennessee and she painted this picture of Mary Magdalene preaching in Gaul, after her "journey in the boat with no oars" to a new land. Sheila said this about her painting, "I first wanted to show 'accomplishment' and 'serenity' both in her face and the background..something to show she was truly proud of the work she had done in that area of France with the preaching work that Jesus commissioned her with..wanted to show her in the days or months before she went into seclusion into her cave for meditation and visions. The folks in the background are conducting Magdelene circles, and the busy seaport of Marseilles is in the upper background. The apostle Peter preached mainly to the jewish population, Paul to the Gentiles, and Mary Magdelene in this area, which by her work , the christian message had to travel quickly to Europe and beyond..How did we leave her out of so much history?"
Women's self confidence and spiritual self esteem have been so damaged by our exclusion from the dominant story of western civilization, christianity. We've been encouraged to doubt ourselves. In one of the beautiful prayer/poems that Susan Kehoe-Jergens wrote for the Magdalene Circle book , she gives voice to this agony in this stanza:
"Her flowing hair of red, her wealth and wisdom, were
used as excuses to cast her out. She was stripped of
her power and we were all taught to doubt."
When women I know have fallen in love with the "secret tradition" that Jesus loved Mary Magdalene as a woman, they often are so filled with feelings about it that they simply must write or create beautiful rosaries or paint a picture or write a song. Something must be done to express this wonderful awareness that earthly love is at the center of the story and that it represents love between all things in creation. Jennifer Reif was so overtaken by this that she not only wrote a whole book of ceremonies to celebrate Sacred Union, but she painted a picture of Mary Magdalene and her scrolls of wisdom teachings . It's the painting on the cover of her book.
I've long thought that it is through the energy of the wounded woman that the strength of Mary Magdalene and Sacred Union would return to "public life", and this often starts with the raging awareness of having been treated abusively. If a woman goes into her wounds, looking always for healing and wholeness and a way out of pain, she'll likely find the Sacred Feminine dimension of divinity as her saving grace. Sandra Pope's creative relationship with Mary Magdalene through writing led her out of the darkness and into the expanded energies of happiness and healing. The wisdom she recovered inside of herself has led her to tell others that recovery comes from self healing efforts every single day. The cover painting of her book is by Mary Miears Cutsinger and it's a picture of the clarity of the soul's vision that can come in dreamtime. Mary is no longer with us, sadly. She was a woman who fell in love with Mary Magdalene and Sacred Union and had to paint it. One picture she painted was of a reverse pieta, with Jesus holding a dead Mary Magdalene across his lap, a look of abject sorrow on his face. It's almost too painful to bear.
Here's another line from a prayer by Susan Kehoe-Jergens.
"I seek and find the inner holy place that elevates the
good vibration of humankind and connects me to
my guides for my soul's journey.
I have help, I am worthy, and I am loved."
Personally, for this Magdalene Feast Day of 2009, I rededicate myself to the "secret tradition" of the mysticism, revelation, and prophecy that is the natural outcome of an inner Sacred Union.
****
This wednesday July 22, 2009 Margaret Starbird and I will be having an on-air Magdalene Circle with Cynthia Jordan . Tune in to www.BlogTalkRadio.com/cynthiaradio at 12-2 Pacific Time or listen later to the podcast. Love to have you call in!
click here for Rosaries and Chaplets ...... one woman's way of loving Sacred Union.....
Read Margaret Starbird's wonderful new essay "Mary called Magdalene" click here
****
July 20 addition to the blog.....
I wish I hadn't forgotten this. Another friend from Facebook has shared her amazing creativity with me and I want to give mention of her and what she's done. Cintra Reeve is her name and she's created a line of dolls which honor the Goddess. Didn't you want dolls like this for your children? I did. And here they are, just in time for a new generation of girls to grow up feeling good about themselves.
Here's Cintra's note to me...
Hi Joan,
Just read your blog. The expression of my creativity, not a book, or a painting...this line of goddess dolls ...to represent the sacred mysteries of women, our authentic power, our womanly body wisdom, the celebration of earthly and divine love. She is the divine feminine within us all and holding us within her at the same time.
So - I just thought I would share this picture I took of Aphrodite, Loving us all - she is us, we are her, we are all love in form.
I will try to tune into your radio show on the 22nd.
Love
Cintra
July 20 addition to the blog.....
I wish I hadn't forgotten this. Another friend from Facebook has shared her amazing creativity with me and I want to give mention of her and what she's done. Cintra Reeve is her name and she's created a line of dolls which honor the Goddess. Didn't you want dolls like this for your children? I did. And here they are, just in time for a new generation of girls to grow up feeling good about themselves.
Here's Cintra's note to me...
Hi Joan,
Just read your blog. The expression of my creativity, not a book, or a painting...this line of goddess dolls ...to represent the sacred mysteries of women, our authentic power, our womanly body wisdom, the celebration of earthly and divine love. She is the divine feminine within us all and holding us within her at the same time.
So - I just thought I would share this picture I took of Aphrodite, Loving us all - she is us, we are her, we are all love in form.
I will try to tune into your radio show on the 22nd.
Love
Cintra
And here's Cintra's beautiful doll.... an amazing creation and achievment, Cintra. You can see more at www.TheGoddessDolls.com , including this Aphrodite doll in her "full regalia", and get in touch with Cintra there.
Hi Joan,
I think the word "overtaken" really fits. If, say five years ago, someone would have told me that I would be coming to love Mary Magdalene and Jesus, and was going to have a new take on Christianity, I would have told them that they were extremely mistaken! I don't know how She has entered our consciousness or why now, but She certainly has and with a resounding flowering of love and beauty.
I wanted to say also, that when I saw Ruth's painting, I really gasped, it touched me so deeply, the idea, the gentle rendering, the soft color, the whole thing. Really a transforming piece of art. Wow.
Thank you!
Love, Jen
Reply to this
Hi Jen, I've met quite a number of women who say something similar.... that they never expected Mary Magdalene to "come to me", but she did. I read a book once of stories of Jesus coming to people in various ways, through visions, dreams, profound insight, or sudden intuitional experiences. That's acceptable, of course. But now it's Mary Magdalene; Bride, Beloved, Visionary Guide, who comes to so many women.....always with her love for Jesus as Sacred Partner. It'd be neat to see a book of these stories... xoJoan
Reply to this
Dear Joan, I cam by your blog by accident - although perhaps it was no accident - I too over the past few months have been strongly drawn to The Magdalene through visions and dreams so powerful they have changed my life - for the good I hasten to add. I was wondering if you knew of a Magdalene Circle in Cape Town, South Africa as it would be wonderful to share with like minded women? Kaz
Reply to this
Dear Kaz,
What a lucky synchronicity that you found this blog and all the wonderful women who read it. I wish I knew someone in South Africa who aleady has a Magdalene Circle, but I don't. I would be happy to correspond with you by email and we can talk about you starting one, if you want to. Have you read Margaret Starbird's and my book, 14 Steps To Awaken the Sacred Feminine: Women in the Circle of Mary Magdalene ? It's a book of 14 lessons, or study chapters, about Mary Magdalene and Sacred Union. It's a kind of template for small groups or individuals to deepen their spiritual life through the stories of Mary Magdalene. If you have friends who are interested in her, you might like such a group. They're casual, friendly, supportive, warm, and they seem to foster a lot of creativity related to Magdalene. And dreams too, of course. It sounds like dreams and visions are your primary way of experiencing the spiritual world... how wonderful. Alot of women have felt they need to hide this part of themselves. As Mary Magdalene "comes out of the closet" I think many women will feel more free to express their visionary lives.
Let me know if you want to correspond by email.
Thanks very much for being here...tune in often! xoJoan
Reply to this