Magdalene Circles Change the Spiritual Story of Our Times
Posted by Joan Norton at 11/21/2009 8:29 AM 
Categories: Starting A Magdalene Circle
Tags: Mary Magdalene 14 Steps To Awaken the Sacred Feminine Women in the Circle of Mary Magdalene
Categories: Starting A Magdalene Circle
Tags: Mary Magdalene 14 Steps To Awaken the Sacred Feminine Women in the Circle of Mary Magdalene
Spiritual stories create culture and guide the psychology of an era.. In the long, long span of time spiritual stories evolve to encompass the changing ideas of who we think we are in relation to the sacred world. The spiritual stories of our time have generally become too rigid and codified, grown into rule systems that have lost life. You know what I mean. At first the stories were inspirational, moving people to improve themselves and their lives. Then the formality takes over. Maybe at that point people have learned all there is to learn from those particular spiritual ideas. Our brains are built to continually want to reach for the MORE of us, and that reaching will always come from deep within us in response to rigid religious systems. I'm sure Jesus was frustrating to alot of people with his parables and the way he directed people to "within". Not much for rigid systems. It's from the Mystery of "within" that new spiritual stories develop and that's what's happening now with the Sacred Feminine as Mary Magdalene. And that's what Magdalene Circles are for. Yes, we have some very basic misconceptions about "Mary, called Magdalene" to straighten out, and yes, we have some of her legends to bring back to life, but we are also divinely charged with "allowing" newness to come bubbling up from within. In a small group, or in our individual study and contemplation, we are allowing the Sacred Feminine to come alive again. And we know she's interested in Sacred Union because the feminine is a master of relationships.
Magdalene Circles that I'm aware of are engaging in the new curiosity and love of Mary Magdalene in all kinds of different ways, and that's a very good thing. In my own circle we always told a piece of Magdalene's story and talked about the sad loss of it to the history of Christianity, and maybe got mad about it too, but then we also spent plenty of time listening to each other's current revelations through dreams, artwork, high intuition, and synchronicities. It's not church. We need to LET HER IN and that happens from inside each of us, from the Mystery realms.
We are the ones revitalizing the spiritual story which will serve us into the coming age where the values of the feminine had better be in more prominence. There's plenty of Magdalene to go around, for all people to find their own unique relationship to her and to her sacred marriage.
Here's a heartening tale from the recent HerChurch conference. A friend of Margaret Starbird's, Bishop John Beverley Butcher of the Episcopal Church, has written a book about the sacred partnership of Jesus and Mary Magdalene and has begun creating rituals to introduce people to this idea. He is now convinced apparently that the "Mary of Magdala" is a false story and that Margaret's research on that subject is correct in stating that there was no "Magdala" in that location at that time. It was a town called Taricheae. Mary Magdalene is "Mary of Bethany" of course. Rev. Butcher had a wonderful icon commissioned for the cover of his book and has given me permission to share it with you here. It's copyrighted art and is available from Trinity Stores online , but I thought you'd like to see it.
We have an abundance of symbols which tell us that Mary Magdalene was thought of as Goddess/the Magnificent One/Sacred Bride/Holy Feminine but it seems that the "Mary of Magdala" story keeps sticking to her as though it's the gospel truth. Actually, as we know, the Gospel called her "Mary, called Magdalene". I think most women can relate very well to the idea of "mistaken identity" and to the experience of people not knowing who you really are. The job of restoring her rightful title and name and dispelling the "of Magdala" myth is Lesson 2 in 14 Steps To Awaken the Sacred Feminine: Women in the Circle of Mary Magdalene and we're going to be talking about it on the Magdalene Circle online this coming Tuesday November 24, 2009. Cynthia Jordan and Lerin Winter and doing such a wonderful job of creating a global Magdalene Circle reach, and they've made a new website for easy call-in access. You can listen live from their website in whichever time zone you're in. Call in and chat with us.....it's easy. Click here to access the online Magdalene Circle show
I do think we're healing the wasteland, don't you?
Magdalene Circles that I'm aware of are engaging in the new curiosity and love of Mary Magdalene in all kinds of different ways, and that's a very good thing. In my own circle we always told a piece of Magdalene's story and talked about the sad loss of it to the history of Christianity, and maybe got mad about it too, but then we also spent plenty of time listening to each other's current revelations through dreams, artwork, high intuition, and synchronicities. It's not church. We need to LET HER IN and that happens from inside each of us, from the Mystery realms.
We are the ones revitalizing the spiritual story which will serve us into the coming age where the values of the feminine had better be in more prominence. There's plenty of Magdalene to go around, for all people to find their own unique relationship to her and to her sacred marriage.
Here's a heartening tale from the recent HerChurch conference. A friend of Margaret Starbird's, Bishop John Beverley Butcher of the Episcopal Church, has written a book about the sacred partnership of Jesus and Mary Magdalene and has begun creating rituals to introduce people to this idea. He is now convinced apparently that the "Mary of Magdala" is a false story and that Margaret's research on that subject is correct in stating that there was no "Magdala" in that location at that time. It was a town called Taricheae. Mary Magdalene is "Mary of Bethany" of course. Rev. Butcher had a wonderful icon commissioned for the cover of his book and has given me permission to share it with you here. It's copyrighted art and is available from Trinity Stores online , but I thought you'd like to see it.
We have an abundance of symbols which tell us that Mary Magdalene was thought of as Goddess/the Magnificent One/Sacred Bride/Holy Feminine but it seems that the "Mary of Magdala" story keeps sticking to her as though it's the gospel truth. Actually, as we know, the Gospel called her "Mary, called Magdalene". I think most women can relate very well to the idea of "mistaken identity" and to the experience of people not knowing who you really are. The job of restoring her rightful title and name and dispelling the "of Magdala" myth is Lesson 2 in 14 Steps To Awaken the Sacred Feminine: Women in the Circle of Mary Magdalene and we're going to be talking about it on the Magdalene Circle online this coming Tuesday November 24, 2009. Cynthia Jordan and Lerin Winter and doing such a wonderful job of creating a global Magdalene Circle reach, and they've made a new website for easy call-in access. You can listen live from their website in whichever time zone you're in. Call in and chat with us.....it's easy. Click here to access the online Magdalene Circle show
I do think we're healing the wasteland, don't you?
Lovely icon that Bishop John Beverly Butcher commissioned expressing the true nature of the Grail as arising out of the union between sacred bride and bridegroom. It's time for more of their true legacy to be revealed.
Blessings,
Ariadne
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Hi Ariadne,
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*sigh.* Mistaken identity is how we went into collective self-esteem meltdown in the first place. Instead of being told who and what we are (beautiful manifestations of The Bride), we were forced to wear the labels of worthlessness.
There's a women's music catalog, Ladyslipper, that indexes the artists under their first names instead of last--because so many of us bear patrilineal last names.
P.S.--Swan and Iris is coming along well-just need to make one more connection for an interview and some graphics and it will be ready to go. Joan, thanks again for letting me serve the Magdalene by interviewing you!
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Hi Fran, Thanks for your comment, so very well expressed. Maybe the *sigh* says it all. That's interesting about the Ladyslipper catalog indexing by first names. Maybe the soul does it the same way. A wonderful spiritual teacher of mine years ago, a Presbyterian minister's daughter named Grace Wittenberger, introduced me to channeling and she always asked for the first name only about someone we were talking about from the soul perspective. Last names were not necessary to identify the person from the soul's perspective. I guess we're all on a first name basis with each other "over there".
Love to you, Joan
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