Did some of the ecstatic dance festivals, ingestion of the psychedelic plants or the snake nectar, drinking of the wine mixed with herbs, or the pouring out of blood, create the look of chaos? No doubt that is true. Can we imagine that, to the onlookers who did not believe and were unable to participate, there was a sense of witnessing that which was out of control? Yes, to the uninitiated, that may be true also. So, what was the solution? The solutions were control and punishment. Finally, men must be persuaded that they are superior to women, that their male god is superior to and more powerful than the Great Goddess, and that the women they seek to control will be not only subservient to them but also be owned by them. At first this does not work at all. Eventually, isolationism is the only answer. And that is exactly what happened.
The Birth of Christianity
Into this time of upheaval comes yet another new religion, emerging directly out of the Hebrew tradition in the persona of a young rabbi, born in Bethlehem from a Virgin, visited by sheperds and Magi, who will be called Jesus, the Christ, redeemer/savior. In his early thirties, after serving time in the desert, perhaps with the aesthetic Essenes, Jesus appears in the towns throughout the land of Canaan and begins to preach. He is joined by male apostles and a group of women. It is the group of women and their significance that becomes the focus here.
We travel together now into waters both murky and fraught with potential hazard because so very much has been written about this part of the story during the past two thousand years. Nearly everyone in the Western world probably has their own ideas about the truth of it. Some of these ideas are based in orthodoxy, some in folklore, and some in prejudice. To complicate matters further, there is apparently little real evidence that an historical Jesus existed: no archeological evidence … no grave, nothing in writing from him; though as a rabbi, he would have been literate. So, there may or may not have been an actual man, but there certainly is the myth of a man as redeemer/savior, and this mythical creation has many similarities to Mithra and may have been built upon myths of those who preceded him.
The intent here is to examine the role of the women and not the religion that evolved, the specific teaching, nor belief system that is the basis of the new religion. It is difficult to separate the role of the women from the story itself. But the interest is in the women themselves, and scant though it may be, it is relevant to understanding the changing status of women’s rights, the interface of cultures during these times, and the impact of the these women in the later years of the Inquisitional period.
There are four remaining Biblical gospels in the New Testament. Many more were originally written, which were subsequently discarded or destroyed, and some believed lost forever until the discovery of the Gnostic Gospels in the last century. They were written at various times, all purporting to tell of the life and times of Jesus, but none of the four now included as New Testament were written during the actual lifetime of Jesus, and two were written by men who had never met Jesus.
In their book The Jesus Mysteries author/scholars Timothy Freke and Peter Gandy say pointedly,
The evidence suggests that the New Testament is not a history of actual events, but a history of the evolution of Christian mythology. The earliest gospel is Mark, itself created from preexisting fragments. (They continue noting that the gospels of Matthew and Luke modify this life of Jesus to create their own version, much as any other mythology is altered over time. So saying, they could not have regarded the first gospel as literally the “word of god” and therefore never available for change. However, the words of Mark are) … not our earliest evidence of the Jesus story. This is found in the letters of Paul. Despite the fact that these letters were written before any of the gospels, and by as many as 100 years before the Acts of the Apostles, they are placed in the New Testament after these books. This gives the false impression that Paul follows on from the gospels and Acts, rather than the other way around. Hence it is easy not to notice that Paul’s Christ is not a historical, we have a collection of legends about the apostles, followed by a number of forged letters, which presuppose a literal Jesus and adopt the authority of the apostles to attack heretical Christians.15
According to Freke and Gandy, the actual chronology of the New Testament is as follows:
1)The letters of Paul, c. 50 CE, depict Jesus as a mystical dying and resurrecting godman. Paul never encountered an historical Jesus and preaches on his own authority.
2)The Gospel of Mark, c. 70–110 CE, gives the myth of Jesus a geographical and historical setting.
3)The Gospels of Matthew and Luke, c. 90–135 CE, give details of Jesus’ birth and resurrection added, and the story embellished. Matthew’s Gospel is written in Aramaic not Hebrew, though the author was a Jew. Luke was a doctor, originally a “pagan,” probably Greek, who converted through contact with Paul.
4)The Gospel of John, c. 120 CE, Christian theology developed. After Jesus’ death, he goes with Mary to live with her in Ephesus.
5)Acts of the Apostles, 150–177 CE, with the illusion of a historical Jesus created Acts accounts for the disciples.
6)Letters of the Apostles, 177–220 CE, are attributed to Paul and the apostles forged by the Literalist Christians (primarily but not exclusively in Rome) in their battles with Gnosticism, attacking many deceivers who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh.15
The original Gospel of Mark does not include the resurrection, but ends with the women finding the empty tomb and only the presumption of the promised risen Christ. The Gnostic Gospels start where Marks ends. They do not relate the events of the life of Jesus, but rather the secret teachings after the resurrection, implying that the quasi-historical Jesus story of Mark’s Gospel was the “Outer Mystery” designed to appeal to spiritual beginners.16
As in other, older religions, there was also the Inner Mystery, secret and open only to the initiated, revealing the deeper concepts of eternal life, and this is the part that the Gnostics chose to regard as the most important.
Mary
She is the mother of Jesus and James, from Galilea. Because names are powerful transmitters of information in a world where people learn from the spoken rather than the written word, the name of Mary carries symbolic meaning that would have been understood by the people of her time hearing the story and learning the lessons intended from it.
In The Great Goddess, the author Markale says, “As to Jesus mother’s name, it is obviously symbolic … in Latin and the Romance languages, this name acquires additional symbolic value lacking in Hebrew. ‘Maria’ is the plural of the word ‘mare’ which means ‘seas’ … the allusion to the mother-waters, thus to the universal Mother.”17
The “mother waters” can also be interpreted as the amniotic fluid in which all fetuses grow. Almost all ancient creation stories contain the legends of new life, the life of goddesses and the life of humans arising out of the seas.
This word Mary and her Hebrew counterpart Miriam are used almost interchangeably in the New Testament Gospels, and they might, therefore, be confusing to some. However, there were usually three women depicted together, all with nearly the same name. There was Mary, the mother, Mary/Miriam/Martha the friend/sister and Mary of Magdela or Mary Magdalene.
Jean Markale in The Great Goddess says, “It is difficult not to wonder if this “triad” of Mary’s conceals meaning of a more subtle kind. In classical antiquity, but especially among the Celts, divine female figures usually appear in threes, constituting true “trinities.” From the Neolithic onward, this triple aspect of the Goddess, by whatever name, would have been instantly recognizable by the people.” And, in keeping with the virgins of the Goddess tradition, Mary of Galilea is not said to have married her companion Joseph. Markale continues: “In no canonical text is there any mention of such a marriage, to the great displeasure of certain translators … in fact, the figure of Joseph appears perfectly useless in the original schema. The principle role belongs to Myraim/Mary whose maternity is an authentic pa
rthogenesis, even if it is explained by the intervention of the Holy Spirit.”18 This part of the story, too, would be familiar to the people from eons of similar legends of the virgin Goddess and her relationship with son/lover/consort.
There is every possibility that Mary was a Goddess-worshipping Jewish woman given the brief description of her. First, she must have been Jewish if Jesus were a Jew because such attribution flows only through the mother’s lineage, a vestigial remnant of the old matrilineal inheritance tradition of the Goddess peoples. These customs are buried too deeply in the human psyche to be eradicated easily or quickly. Second, Myriam/Mary is able to travel and able to travel alone, as when she goes to visit her cousin Elizabeth for several months. This is a freedom which for her contemporary Jewish sisters would be astonishment! For them, it would also be impossible. Those women were by now inextricably tied for life to a man: first to their father and then to their husband to whom they, quite literally, belonged and to whom they were required to be subservient at all times. Women were either sexually virgins in the house of their fathers or married women in the house of their husbands. However, the story tells that Jesus is from the royal House of David, and, therefore, Mary is nobility, accorded privileges uncommon to other women. Third, Mary lives with Joseph without being married to him. This is totally acceptable among the holy women of the Goddess and completely unthinkable among Hebrew peoples.
Mary travels, seems to be self-supporting, but without any mention as to how that highly unusual state materializes. However, if Mary is also a holy woman, she would have access to the financial support of the Goddess Temple, and that would explain her independent status in a way that would also be understandable to the contemporary listener of that time. In this case, it is the behavior that gives the clues, particularly in contrast with what would be acceptable for other women bound by the norms of the patriarchal systems of Hebrews and Greeks. Markale says, “All in all, she (Mary) gives the impression of being a free, available and completely self-aware woman. And these characteristics are exactly the ones that all ancient traditions attribute to the notion of virginity; the virgin is, in effect, a woman who does not depend upon a man.”19
Mary of Magdela
As to Mary of Magdela, the Magdalene, volumes have been written to tell the story of her life from myriad differing viewpoints. In the Women’s Encyclopedia “Magdalene means ‘she of the temple-tower,’ the Jerusalem temple which had a triple tower representing the triple deity, one tower bearing the name of the Queen, Mariamne, earthly representative of the Goddess Mari.”20
Mary Magdalene was born in a fishing village on the seacoast and lived her adult life in Magdela, a city on the inland Sea of Galilea, as a priestess of the Great Goddess who administered a large Temple which acquired wealth because it was not only a place of the ancient sacred union, for which men gave gifts to the Goddess, but also a place of trade in goods, grains and other foodstuffs, providing for the people. Much of the merchant wealth of the entire city centered on the thriving activities of the large Temple.
When this Mary of Magdela, high priestess of the Goddesses, along with holy women from her Temple chose to follow Jesus, they ministered to him and financially supported his travels. In fact, these women made it possible for him to preach in comfort and without having to beg for three years.
But the next logical question we ask is, Why? Why were these holy women and their high priestess joining up with the young Jewish rabbi preaching a new religion? What was his message that induced them to help him and to financially support his efforts?
The land was in the midst of civil turmoil and destruction. The Roman Empire was taking over the Palestinian territory and the lands of Canaan. The Jewish people were expecting a Messiah to rescue them from their external enemies. Internally, some people were looking for someone to save them from the increasingly harsh Hebrew law. Jesus preached Love: love of neighbor, love of women, and love of god. This is in direct and stark contrast to the wrath of the god in the Old Testament, raining down punishment and destruction on all who did not follow. Jesus preached inclusion of women, of people of other faiths, of the downtrodden, of the sick, in great contrast to the Hebrew prohibition of assimilation with any neighbors.
Now, with the inclusion of Mary of Magdela and her holy women, Jesus’ behavior models the possibility of a truce between the Hebrew and Goddess peoples, between male and female, between matriarchy and patriarchy. Then (as now), these are extremely radical and probably dangerous teachings!
Holy Blood, Holy Grail authors state, “According to Judaic custom at the time it was not only usual, but almost mandatory that a man be married. Except among the Essenes, celibacy was vigorously condemned. If Jesus was a rabbi in the strict sense of the word, a marriage would have been … virtually certain. The Jewish law is explicit: ‘an unmarried man may not be a teacher.’”21 There has been speculation that the marriage of Cana is indeed the wedding of Jesus, to which he is called, accompanied by his mother Mary, who behaves as though she is the hostess, ordering more wine. If so, then who was the bride? It is not stated.
However, it is Mary of Magdela who is the constant companion of Jesus with public signs of intimate affections exchanged between them. Contrary to later interpretations, Mary Magdalene is never referred to in the Gospels as a prostitute. She is referred to as a woman out of whom “seven devils” were cast. Holy Blood, Holy Grail authors say, “But the phrase may equally refer to some sort of conversion and/or ritual initiation. The cult of Ishtar or Astarte, the mother Goddess and ‘Queen of Heaven,’ involved for example a seven-stage initiation. Prior to her affiliation with Jesus, the Magdalene may well have been associated with such a cult.”22
The Women’s Encyclopedia says,
The seven ‘devils’ exorcised from Mary Magdalene seem to have been the seven Maskim or Anunuaki, Sumero-Akkadian spirits of the seven nether spheres, born of the Goddess Mari. Their multiple births represented in her sacred dramas, which may account for their alleged emergence from Mary Magdalene. An Akkadian tablet said of them: ‘They are seven! In the depths of the ocean, they are seven! In the brilliancy of the heavens, they are seven!’ They proceed from the ocean (Maria/Mary) depths, from the hidden retreat.23
This Mary was far more than a cult member; she was probably High Priestess and a woman of considerable means in her own right, able to maintain not only herself but also her holy women companions, as well as provide for the material needs of Jesus and his disciples. In her position of Priestess, she was also initiator and anointer. New Testament, John 12:3 “Then Mary took a pound of very costly oil of spikenard, anointed the feet of Jesus, wiped his feet with her hair.” Her hair must have been very long and flowing in order to accomplish this. Jewish women of the time were required to wear veils and cover their heads completely. Married women often had their heads shaved because hair had mystical and erotic meanings imbued with power.
New Testament, Matthew 26: 7–12 Matthew explains that Jesus himself said Mary Magdalene anointed him (Christ-ened) him for his burial, pouring precious unguent on his head in the time-honored manner of the sacred king’s crowning. Womens’ Encyclopedia notes that the christening-vase of holy oil was the ubiquitous symbol of Mary Magdalene in Christian art throughout the ages.24
Mary of Magdela is not a married woman, nor was she probably Jewish at all, because for such a woman to show her hair in public carried with it severe punishment. Rather, by her hair alone, it is clear that she was a woman of the Goddess and all the people of her time would know that fact. Secondly, by her anointing Jesus with holy oil she is performing ritual according to her role as priestess. John 12:7 – “she has kept (oil) for the day of my burial” says Jesus.
The story is told further that she, as Goddess representative here on earth, chooses Jesus as beloved, as king – because only a Goddess representative can bestow that right according to ancient and well-established custom, also known to the people through thousands of years practice. Finally, it is
Mary Magdalene, Mary Mother, and the holy women with Mary who attend the crucifixion and who prepare the body of Jesus, beloved king, for burial. Now, is it any wonder that it is to Mary Magdalene that the arisen Jesus appears and not to any male disciple?
Women’s Encyclopedia:
The Gospels say no men attended Jesus tomb, but only Mary Magdalene and her women. Only women announced Jesus resurrection. This is because men were barred from the central mysteries of the Goddess. Priestesses announced the successful conclusion of the rites and the saviors resurrection … the apostles were ignorant of the sacred tradition and didn’t even realize a resurrection was expected.25
John 20:9 – They knew not the scripture, that he must rise again from the dead.
Further, it is to Mary Magdalene that the information of the resurrection is left, the age-old reenactment of birth/death/regeneration mystery of the ancient Goddess and the dying god of redemption. So it is fitting that Mary carries the information and that he leaves it to her to carry out.
From Mary’s anointing of Jesus, he becomes a rightful Messiah – which means anointed one. “And the woman who consecrates him in that august role can hardly be unimportant.”26
In fact, Jesus’ behavior toward women is a radical departure from the Hebrew custom of the day. The gospels show clearly that Christ regarded his women followers as disciples in their own right, capable of receiving unique revelation and worthy of being valid witnesses of his death, burial, and resurrection. Yet at the same time, there are intimations in the gospel narratives (possibly later transcriptions) that a more conventional, conservative, non-inclusive view will eventually prevail.
Daughters of the Inquisition Page 21