Mary Magdalene

Breaking Up with the Jesus/Mary Magdalene “Love” Story

/ Lauri Ann Lumby / Leave a comment

Before my Magdalene sisters get their undies twisted….hear me out!

Since gnostic scripture revealed that Jesus may have kissed Mary Magdalene on the mouth, and Andrew Lloyd Webber had Mary singing love songs to Jesus, thousands, if not millions, (me included) have pined after the Jesus/Mary Magdalene story as an example and model of the ideal relationship, what in my own writings I have called Beloved Partnership. While it’s appropriate to desire and stand up for a healthy, loving, mutually respectful and supportive relationship, I’m not sure (our current understanding of) Jesus and Mary Magdalene provide the best example. Here’s why:

Lack of Historical Evidence

First, we must acknowledge that we know ABSOLUTELY nothing about what did and did not truly happen between Jesus and Mary Magdalene. All we have are fragments of third century (CE) papyrus with words like koinonos (companion), and nashak (to share in the same spirit – often translated as kiss), showing Mary Magdalene in a pre-eminent role, and participating in the knowledge and wisdom that Jesus shared. Beyond this, we have nothing to definitively prove a romantic relationship or marriage between them.  

The idea of Jesus and Mary Magdalene as intimate, loving, sexual, married partners (who may or may not have bore a child together) is strictly the creation of human imagination. Regardless of those who might argue otherwise, including the French legends, alleged oral and written traditions, so-called channeled histories, and my own writings, there is absolutely ZERO academic proof to support the theory of romantic love between Jesus and Mary Magdalene.  Lack of scholarly evidence does not mean they weren’t married; it just means we must be careful to what ideas we become attached. The idea of Jesus and Mary Magdalene as beloved partners is not a mountain I’m willing to die on.

Secondly, we need to take a good hard look at Jesus, himself.

Co-Dependency

Unavailable Man

Scriptural accounts of Jesus portray him in a way that screams UNAVAILABLE MAN!  First off, he’s off gadding about between Jerusalem, Bethany, the wilderness, Samaria, Capernaum, and everywhere in between. He’s not in one place long enough to call any place home. The only home that is mentioned is Nazareth, or alternatively Capernaum. Scripture clearly places Mary in Bethany, which is only a brief and occasional stop over for Jesus. Where, when, and how is this marriage supposed to have taken place and with all his traipsing around, what kind of partner could Jesus have been to poor Mary? Not only is he portrayed as unavailable to Mary, but Jesus is also unavailable to his so-called apostles. If Jesus had been truly present to them, they wouldn’t have had to argue about which one Jesus loved more or who would sit beside him in his “kingdom.”

Unrequited Love

Not only is Jesus depicted in scripture as unavailable, any love Mary or the disciples would have had for him went unrequited. They appeared to love him – but did he love them in return? The terms Rabbi and Rabbouni that the disciples (including Mary) used in addressing Jesus do not imply intimacy. Instead, these terms depict the healthy detachment that must exist between teacher and student/counselor and client. Jesus did not go off into the wilderness or up the mountains to pray in the company of his disciples.  He went alone. Further, as an embodiment and source of unconditional love, I’m not sure Jesus had time to love another in the romantic way that our 21st century minds would like to imagine. I am aware that there is the argument that if Jesus were indeed a Jewish Rabbi, he would have HAD to have been married. Perhaps so but would the marriage have been fulfilling for his wife based on what scripture tells us about his travels.  Oh yeah…..and then he went and died on everyone, leaving everyone to pine away for the loss of their teacher, friend, and supposed beloved partner. As I said – UNREQUITED!

Disparity of Power

Scripture places Jesus in the role of the teacher of his disciples.  He taught. They listened. He later sent them out to “proclaim the good news and heal the sick,” but he remained in the leadership position. It is implied that Jesus healed Mary Magdalene of “seven demons.” He raised Lazarus from the dead. He healed the sick. Every example places Jesus in the position of power, thereby creating a disparity of power between himself and his disciples, namely Mary Magdalene. Perhaps Mary achieved a power like Jesus’ that placed her on equal footing with him. Our 21st century imaginations would like to hope for that. The likelihood of a woman in first century Palestine achieving power equal to a man, however, is slim to none, as such, IF a romantic relationship did occur between Jesus and Mary, it would have been rooted in a disparity of power, ensuring co-dependency. Not exactly a model for Beloved Partnership.

Beloved Partnership

Beloved Partnership, as I define it, is not based on co-dependency rooted in either unavailable or unrequited love created within a dynamic of power disparity. Instead, Beloved Partnership is only possible between two individuals of equal power who have achieved self-actualization in their own right, and through their own means. Abraham Maslow (Motivation and Personality, 1970, pp. 181- 202) speaks of this in describing what he calls the self-actualized couple:

  • A partnership where there is a mutual giving and receiving of love, both parties are equally able and willing to engage in both giving and receiving.
  • A healthy sexuality rooted in and reflective of love – more creative, ecstatic, orgasmic and fulfilling, yet also less about attachment.  It is not a needy kind of intimacy, but instead is mutually fulfilling.
  • Pooling of needs – your needs, wants, desires, become mine and visa versa – such that there becomes one hierarchy of needs with two people seeking after their fulfillment. 
  • Fun, merriment, joy, spontaneity, elation, feelings of well-being.
  • Mutual honor and respect of the other’s individual gifts, talents, drive, passions, interests, temperament, etc.
  • Mutual, authentic admiration, wonder and awe.
  • Detachment and Individuality – able to be in relationship without compromising one’s own individuality.

Barbara Marx Hubbard sees the Beloved Partnership as what we are growing into as we evolve toward the next stage of human development as a co-creative society.  In keeping with this vision, she calls the Beloved Partners the Co-Creative Couple (Conscious Evolution, 2015, pp. 238 – 239):

…the co-creative couple begins when both partners achieve within themselves at least the beginning of a balance between the masculine and feminine, the animus and the anima.  It begins when the woman’s initiative and vocational need is received in love by the feminine receptivity of her partner.  When she is loved for her more masculine side, she falls in love with the man’s feminine aspect, for what she needs is the nurturance of her own strength and creativity.  She loves him for his receptivity. He no longer has to prove himself by control and domination.  He can bring forth his own creativity without aggression.  And she can express her strength without fear of losing him.  Whole being joins with whole being…

As we move forward in our cultural redefining of relationship and intimate partnership, Beloved Partnership is what I envision as the goal toward which we could be striving. The other is not meant to complete us for in Beloved Partnership we are already complete within ourselves, as is the other. No more are we chasing after unavailable women or men or pining after unrequited love. Neither are we after the seat of power, or willing to give our power away for the sake of a love that is less than we deserve. Instead, we come together as co-equal partners, content in who we are, complete in our gifts and ready and willing to share that wholeness with another who is equally whole.

Based on historical evidence, Jesus and Mary Magdalene did not live out this model of relationship. To continue to uphold Jesus and Mary Magdalene as examples of this ideal does us a great disservice while keeping us stranded in the codependent models of love we’ve been conditioned to pursue and from which we are trying to unravel.  It is for this reason that I am breaking up with the Jesus/Mary Magdalene “love” story. (There is nothing wrong with imagining Jesus and Mary as Beloved Partners, let’s just be sure what models of partnership we are using in constructing that dream.  Also, I say this to myself as much as I’m saying to anyone else!)

Lauri Ann Lumby, MATP

is the author of Happily Ever After – the Transformational Journey from “You Complete Me” to “Beloved Partnership.” Available on Amazon HERE.

She has also counseled individuals who are searching for Beloved Partnership and couples who are moving from the Dark Night of the Relationship toward Beloved Partnership.

Learn more about working with Lauri

Mary Magdalene Raising Jesus from the Dead

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We cannot look to Mary Magdalene as an example of Divine Feminine power without giving honor to Jesus – the man who supported her in becoming self-actualized and who then ordained her to share her gifts in the world.  Jesus became self-actualized and sought to teach others how to achieve self-actualization. Moving beyond doctrine, Jesus and his teachings provide a model of psychological and spiritual development through which we are empowered to become self-actualized and through which we are able to be freed of the obstacles which prevent us from reaching our full potential as human beings.

Two thousand years ago Jesus died and rose from the dead.  Just as quickly as he rose, the patriarchy killed him again.  The patriarchy killed Jesus when they:

Changed his message –

  • From love to fear.
  • From Oneness to separation.
  • From an unconditionally loving God to one who condemns.
  • From peace and harmony to conflict and war (in his name!)
  • From a community that treats all human beings as equal, governed by collaboration and cooperation to one rooted in white, male privilege; governed by fear, power and control.
  • From welcoming all to the table to only those who believe as we want them to believe and who are “in good standing.”
  • From a movement within Judaism to a new and separate religion.

2000 years ago, Jesus died and rose from the dead.  And 2000 years ago, the patriarchy killed him.  I now want to share my part in supporting the movement of reclaiming Jesus, and Mary Magdalene with him, as authentic models for self-actualization and teachers of the means of getting there by offering you this excerpt from my novel,  Song of the Beloved – the Gospel According to Mary Magdalene: 

On the morning after the Sabbath, I awoke before dawn in the same way that I had every day after Jesus healed me and raised me from the death in which I had existed.  Upon waking, I expected to feel nothing but the numbness of the days past.  I expected to desire nothing but to roll over and return to the world of sleep.  Instead, I felt the urge to resume my ordinary routine of morning meditation in the garden.  I arose and proceeded into the garden to the bench I had shared with Jesus every morning for the past three years.  I approached the bench and lovingly ran my hand over its marble seat recalling what Jesus and I had shared in this sacred space.  The grief of this loss suddenly overtook me and I collapsed on the ground as my tears splattered over our bench. 

As I knelt beside the bench weeping with head in hands, I felt a faint shift in the air around me.  I lifted my head slightly to see if perhaps Lazarus had come out to join me. As I looked up, my heart leaped into my throat and ceased beating.  My beloved Jesus stood there before me.  I rubbed my eyes to make sure it was not some trick of the rising sun, but there he was as real as he had been all those past times in prayer and even more so, he stood before me in flesh and blood. 

I stood and reached out to embrace him, to feel his skin on my cheek, and he opened his arms to return my embrace.  We had held each other for but a moment, when Jesus gently pulled away.  He took my face in his hands, lightly kissed me on the lips and said, “Mary, I am with you always, even until the end of time and it is time for you to come into your own power, to embrace your own Christhood.  In this, I must ascend. And, you must not cling to me so that you too may rise.  You must go to my brothers in Jerusalem to let them know I have risen and you must explain to them its meaning.”  With that he kissed me again on the mouth. “Mary, be empowered in the flame of the Shekinah, God’s Holy Spirit.”  He departed from my sight as quickly and as silently as he had arrived.

I stood there in silent wonder.  Even death had no power over my beloved.  As sure as he had been here just one week ago, he stood before me again.  I felt his touch, the brush of his lips on mine, the comfort of his embrace.  Just as suddenly, he was gone.  I inhaled deeply in the hopes of comprehending this experience and the cock crowed.  I remembered Simon’s denial of Jesus and was provoked by Jesus’ words, “Go to my brothers in Jerusalem.”  I ran into the house to be greeted by Martha, Salome and Lazarus’ sleepy faces.  “I have seen the Lord.  He is risen just as he said he would.”  I ran to each of them in turn, took their hands in mine, and looked into their eyes, “It is true.  He has conquered death. He came to me in the garden.  He is risen!”  As I relayed the message to their open minds and hearts, they were able to see the truth as I had witnessed it.  As a group we embraced in celebration.  “We must go to Jerusalem!  Jesus instructed me to tell his brothers there that he has been raised from the dead.”  We immediately departed for Jerusalem where we knew the Galilean disciples stayed in hiding.

Buy Song of the Beloved HERE

Magdalene Priestess Training

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Through the Order of the Magdalene Priesthood Training, we hope to restore women and men to their rightful place within Jesus’ vision for humanity as empowered individuals fully living out both their Divine and Human natures as love.  The Magdalene Priest and Priestess Training continues the work of Mary, called “Magdalene” as ordained by Christ by empowering you to live out the fullness of your unique giftedness – both for the sake of your own fulfillment and in service to the betterment of the world.

50 weeks of coursework

5 individual online courses at your own pace

Facilitated interactive discussion

Magdalene Activation

Magdalene Ordination

plus 5 one-on-one sessions with Lauri Ann Lumby.

The Order of Magdalene Priestess Training

has its roots in the original teachings of Jesus* which Mary, called Magdalene fully understood and which were then formalized into the meditation, contemplation and service practices of Western Monasticism, specifically those favored in Benedictine, Franciscan, and Ignatian spirituality.

Included Coursework (if you have taken any of these courses, contact Lauri to have your course fee applied):

Resurrecting the Magdalene– 6 weeks

The purpose of this course is to reveal and share in the deeper and hidden truths about the Magdalene and her time with Jesus; including her roles as student, initiate, co-equal partner, wife, facilitator and witness to the resurrection, and the one sent to continue Jesus’ mission of being love in the world.  Participants are empowered through the course to reclaim their own Divine Feminine and are activated to be a vessel of Divine Love in the world.

What is Your Magic?– 13 weeks

Discover your own unique gifts—the gifts you have been given to experience meaning and purpose in your life and through which you will find fulfillment for yourself and in service to the betterment of the world.

Authentic Freedom* – 10 weeks

Learn the seven core fears that prevent you from being your most magnificent and fulfilled self, along with proven tools for moving through and overcoming those fears.

Deepening Freedom**– 9 weeks

Learn and apply the Aramaic Prayer of Jesus as a powerful tool for moving through the fears and inner obstacles for living your truth and fulfilling your life purpose.

Living in Freedom– 12 weeks

Exploring the Enneagram as a tool for self-empowerment and as a resource for balancing your fear-based perceptions and behaviors, ultimately harnessing your Soul’s purpose as a reformer,   helper, achiever, muse, sage, strategist, enthusiast, champion or peacemaker.

*Required Text: Authentic Freedom – Claiming a Life of Contentment and Joy by Lauri Ann Lumby

**Required Texts: Prayers of the Cosmos and The Hidden Gospel by Neil Douglas-Klotz and CD Abwun – The Prayer of Jesus.

Learn more and enroll HERE

Featured Course: Mary Magdalene and the Path of Beloved Partnership

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Thirteen Sessions

online and at your own pace

Beloved Partnership is a term that has been alternatively associated with concepts such as soulmate or twin flame. Beloved Partnership is neither of these. Beloved Partnership has nothing to do with the human pursuit of external love.

Instead, the longing for Beloved Partnership and its resulting pursuit can only be satisfied from within.

The journey of Beloved Partnership has been portrayed throughout history in legend, myth, and fairytale. The story of Jesus and Mary Magdalene is one such tale – one that institutional religion would like to ignore, and which popular culture has turned into a romance. Whether Mary Magdalene and Jesus of Nazareth enjoyed a romantic partnership is immaterial to the Beloved Partnership that they both embodied within themselves.

This course explores Beloved Partnership as the process of human self-realization reflected in the embodiment of the Beloved within as it was achieved through both Mary, called Magdalene, and Jesus, called Christ.

Beloved Partnership is nothing short of the embodiment of that which some might call God.

Week One: Lovers Meet

Week Two: Courtship/Infatuation

Week Three: Consummation

Week Four: Marriage

Week Five: Dark Night of the Soul

Week Six: Abandonment

Week Seven: Solitude

Week Eight: The Void

Week Nine: The Final Trial

Week Ten: Breakthrough

Week Eleven: Living as the Beloved

Week Twelve: Alchemical Fulfillment

Week Thirteen: Holy Matrimony

Each session will include:

  • An opening meditation, song or prayer.
  • A scripture reading reflective of the week’s theme.
  • A live lesson given by Lauri Ann Lumby spiritual director of the Order of the Magdalene.
  • A spiritual practice that will be completed inside or outside of class.
  • Moderated discussion and sharing
Learn More and Enroll HERE

Mary Magdalene and the Kabbalah

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Beyond the trappings of pop-culture commercialization, the Kabbalah is an ancient and sacred system of mysticism firmly rooted in Judaism, whose origins may truly precede the culture which embraced and then formalized it.  Like the mystical beliefs and contemplative practices of Christianity, the Kabbalah has been guarded for centuries by those who could comprehend and responsibly employ her teachings and practices.  The Kabbalah is at once a theology (a study of and discussion about the Divine), a cosmology (an articulation of how the universe is ordered), and a developmental psychology (the study of human nature and how to support its development). The purpose of the Kabbalah is to support us in coming to know ourselves through our intimate understanding of and relationship with the Divine and to support us in becoming our most authentic selves. In this, the Kabbalah is at once a guide and a tool.

Unfortunately, human beings have twisted the meaning of the Kabbalah as something to use for their own personal gain – to get what they want by using the Kabbalah as a tool of magic.  This was and has never been the intention of the Kabbalah. While the Kabbalah can be thought of as a system of and for the purpose of magic, this is true only when we understand how magic is defined in the authentic Kabbalistic system.  The magic brought about through the proper study of and engagement with the Kabbalah is Union – Union with the Divine, Union with ourselves, Union with each other and Union with all of creation.  In this, our true Divine nature becomes fully embodied and fully engaged in our human form.  The earthly goal of the Kabbalah is Malkuth – what Jesus referred to as “the Kingdom of God.”

Kingdom of God, however, is an error in translation.  Being feminine in form, Malkuth can more accurately be described as the Queendom of God – or more accurately, The Bride.  The fulfillment of the Kabbalah is the revelation of the ineffable Source (Keter) through The Bride (Malkuth).  It is only in knowing and embodying The Bride that the Source can be known and fulfilled.  In the passion play lived out through Jesus and Mary Magdalene, Jesus was the Son (Tiferet) and Mary Magdalene was the Bride.

Mary Magdalene and her beloved Jesus provide the archetypal examples of the fulfillment of the Kabbalah.  Through diligent study of the Kabbalah and applying its principles in their lives, they ascended beyond the ignorance of the human condition to discover their true, Divine nature. They then brought that Divine nature into their human experience through the process of descent.  Through the process of descent, they faced their demons, unhealed wounds, past traumas, unacknowledged fears and societal conditioning so that they could fully embody LOVE, thereby fulfilling the mission and purpose of their Soul.  Mary Magdalene and Jesus both became fully Divine and fully Human which is the goal of the Kabbalistic process.

Learn more about the Kabbalah and its connection with the Magdalene through these courses. Click on the image to learn more and enroll.

Featured Course: Mary Magdalene and the Path of the Holy Bride

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Mary Magdalene and the Path of the Holy Bride

(it’s not what you think!)

Online course, at your own pace.

13 Lessons including “Putting on the Red” final ritual

Created and facilitated by Lauri Ann Lumby, OM, OPM, MATS

Mary Magdalene and the Path of the Holy Bride provides an opportunity to discover, learn and embody the path completed by Mary Magdalene in becoming the Holy Bride.** The Holy Bride is the fulfillment of the journey of merging with and embodying the Divine – both for our own sake and in service to the betterment of the world.

Explored through the lens of the Divine Feminine and gathering from traditional and gnostic scripture in partnership with the Jewish mystical tradition of the Kabbalah, you will learn the path that Mary Magdalene followed in becoming the Holy Bride. Like Mary, you will discover the deepest secrets hidden within these sacred texts of becoming The Holy Bride and you will be given the resources, tools and support to need to grow in that journey of becoming.

Course Outline:

Week One: Introduction to the Course

Week Two: Mother of the Living

Week Three: The Sophian Mysteries

Week Four: Immaculately Conceived

Week Five: Logos

Week Six: Full of Grace

Week Seven: The Fierce Mother

Week Eight: The Holy of Holies

Week Nine: The Bridal Chamber

Week Ten: The Dark Mother

Week Eleven: The Shekinah

Week Twelve: The Holy Bride

Week Thirteen: Putting on the Red

**Contrary to popular belief, the Holy Bride has nothing do with the human construct of marriage or sexual union.

Learn more and enroll here

Featured Course: The Holy Bride in Exile

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The Secret Teachings of The Holy Bride in Exile 

Permission and support for those called to a more interior way of sacred living.

Seven Lessons:

Mary Magdalene as the Bride in Exile

The Holy Bride in Exile in Mythology and Folklore

The Shekinah as The Bride in Exile

Personal Power Gained through Exile

The Promise of Provision in Exile

Creating and Being Your Own Temple

Click on image above to learn more and enroll

Genesis of this Course:

The Holy Bride in Exile course has come about in both a logical and an illogical way. The logical includes almost thirty years of intensive study of the Magdalene, my own education and experience in scripture study, theology, religious history, human development, psychology, Christian and Jewish mysticism, etc. etc. etc. Also logical are all the courses I’ve developed and facilitated including the Magdalene Priesthood training, the Order of Melchizedek Alchemist training, and my most recent courses on the Gospel of Mary Magdalene and Mary Magdalene and the Path of the Holy Bride. All of this work, and my own integration of these studies provided the framework out of which exploration of the Bride in Exile became possible.

The illogical is the lightening bolt that pierced through me while reading Raphael Patai’s The Hebrew Goddess. When I came upon Patai’s words, “The Holy Bride in Exile,” the whole world turned on its axis, everything stopped, and the downloads began. It literally felt as if the top of my head had been opened up and someone/something was pouring awareness and knowledge into me. If this wasn’t exciting (terrifying) enough, what was being shown to me validated and affirmed a calling that has likely been present within me my whole life, but now had become increasingly urgent:

The call to a more interior way of sacred living.

It is because I know I am not alone in this calling that I share this course with you. This, I believe, is so much more than a course, it is:

Permission and Support for a way of living that has been lost in our society – one that was once valued (more on that later), but with the advent of the patriarchy, and more recently of capitalism, interior living has been cast aside as ridiculous, or at the very least, counter-cultural.

“Only crazy or morbidly depressed people would want to spend most of their time in solitary contemplation and study, moving slowly and gently upon this earth.”

The Holy Bride in Exile says otherwise. Not only is the Holy Bride in Exile an ancient archetype, it is, I believe, a critical stage in the Soul development of those who are either called to exile as a way of living, or who find themselves in temporary states of exile as part of their Soul’s journey of unfolding. Society needs its hermits for reasons that we will uncover in this course.

My greatest heart desire in sharing this journey with you is that you feel validated and affirmed in your own unique calling and that you discover the empowerment that is inherent in our times of exile. Additionally, I hope that through this support you can harness the courage and strength to boldly live your interior life knowing that by doing so you are offering a powerful gift not only to yourself, but also to the world.

Thank you for embarking upon this journey with me!

Start Your Journey of Solitude HERE

Will the Real Magdalene Please Stand Up?

/ Lauri Ann Lumby / 1 Comment

In the forty years (or so) that I have been working with Mary Magdalene I have come across at least a million different theories about who she was/is, what her life looked like, where she lived, who she slept with and who her children might be. In the twenty years (or so) that I have been actively studying and researching the Magdalene, I have read at least a hundred books specifically dedicated to her which also bears their own theories of the Magdalene.  Some call her an Ascended Master, others an Essene High Priestess, others a prostitute, others an adulterous woman, others the Sang Grael and the mother of a dynasty of European kings and queens (Jesus’ own progeny), and some claim her as a goddess.  Most of these books are based entirely on theory, oral legend or claim to have been “directly channeled” from the Magdalene herself.

Scholars who study the Magdalene refrain from making such claims and instead stick to what they are able to glean from archeological evidence, scripture itself, and ancient re-discovered manuscripts.  My personal preference is to lean toward a more scholarly approach while avoiding the temptation to either define the Magdalene or condemn another’s theory.  It is for this reason that I call my book Song of the Beloved – the Gospel According to Mary Magdalene fiction.  At the end of the day, unless we were there, we know nothing certain about the Magdalene, and until we have passed from this plane, we will never know.

All that being said, I cannot discount the direct, personal experiences and revelations I have had of the Magdalene (and Jesus) through my meditation and prayer.  These revelations have guided and informed my work – my writing and publishing, but most importantly, these revelations guided and informed the human development courses that I have developed and which now make up the Magdalene Priest/ess Training.  This work is rooted in scripture (canonical as well as non-canonical) and embraces the rich tradition of Christian contemplative meditation and prayer practices as its foundation. This work is further supported by modern theories of human development as they have been expressed through Humanist and Transpersonal Psychology. 

Through the integration of scholarly research and personal revelation, what I have come to understand about the Magdalene and the view I present to the world is that:

  • She was not the adulterous woman of scripture.
  • The “healed of seven demons” said of her is likely referring to a formal process of initiation that supported her journey of self-actualization which she underwent with Jesus’ guidance, successfully completed, and then went on to teach others.
  • She is the only one is scripture said to have completed such a process.
  • She stood beside Jesus (unlike his other disciples who hid in the Upper Room) through his trial, crucifixion, death and burial.
  • She was the one to whom the Resurrected Christ was revealed and THE ONE commissioned to bring the news to the other disciples.
  • She continued to have direct, personal and private visitations by Christ through which he imparted upon her his secret teachings. When she tried to share these teachings with the other disciples they ridiculed and condemned her.

All of these “theories” of the Magdalene are taken directly from scripture and affirmed through scholarship (See resources below).

Beyond this, I personally like to believe that Jesus and Mary were husband and wife and that they were equal, co-ministers in sharing the law of love.  I also like to believe that Mary is the only one to have received the full understanding and knowledge of what Jesus came to teach and that she was chosen by Jesus to continue his work.  Legend tells us that she went forth from Palestine and ventured to Alexandria, Egypt, the South of France and perhaps even Glastonbury, England in her journey of sharing the message of love.  None of this can be verified, but it resonates as truth to me.

While these are the “truths” I embrace regarding the Magdalene, none of these am I attached to, because again, unless we were there, we will never know.  What I have come to understand about the Magdalene is that she reveals herself to us in the ways that are consistent with our temperament, our personalities, our unique lens into the world and in concert with our unique giftedness and calling in this life.  As such, the Magdalene has revealed herself to me through the lens of my Catholic-Christian upbringing and education and through the reasoned lens of scholarship where the scientific method might provide some assurance of truth.  For others, she reveals herself as an Essene High Priestess, a Priestess of Isis, a pseudo-pagan priestess and goddess, to others an Ascended Master and to others still, the Goddess herself. 

As St. Paul once said of himself, Mary Magdalene has become all things for all people for the sake of fulfilling her mission which is to complete the mission that Jesus began of turning our world from one in fear to one ruled by and for the purpose of love.

And you, O tower of the flock,
hill of daughter Zion,
to you it shall come,
the former dominion shall come,
the sovereignty of daughter Jerusalem.

Now why do you cry aloud?
Is there no king in you?
Has your counselor perished,

that pangs have seized you like a woman in labor?
Writhe and groan,O daughter Zion,
like a woman in labor;
for now you shall go forth from the city
and camp in the open country;
you shall go to Babylon.

There you shall be rescued,
there the Lord will redeem you
from the hands of your enemies.

Now many nations
are assembled against you,
saying, “Let her be profaned,
and let our eyes gaze upon Zion.”
But they do not know
the thoughts of the Lord;
they do not understand his plan,
that he has gathered them as sheaves to the threshing floor.
Arise and thresh,
O daughter Zion,
for I will make your horn iron
and your hoofs bronze;
you shall beat in pieces many peoples,
 and shalldevote their gain to the Lord,
 their wealth to the Lord of the whole earth.

Micah 4: 8-13

Select Resources

Bourgeault, Cynthia, The Meaning of Mary Magdalene – Discovering the Woman at the Heart of Christianity, Shambhala Publications, 2010.

Haskins, Susan, Mary Magdalene – Myth and Metaphor, Harcourt Brace & Company, 1993.

King, Karen, L., The Gospel of Mary of Magdala – Jesus and the First Woman Apostle, Polebridge Press, 2003.

Leloup, Jean-Yves, Judas and Jesus – Two Faces of a Single Revelation, Inner Traditions, 2006.

Leloup, Jean-Yves, The Gospel of Mary Magdalene, Inner Traditions, 2002.

Leloup, Jean-Yves, The Gospel of Philip, Inner Traditions, 2003.

Leloup, Jean-Yves, The Gospel of Thomas, Inner Traditions, 2005.

Leloup, Jean-Yves, The Sacred Embrace of Jesus and Mary – The Sexual Mystery at the Heart of the Christian Tradition, Inner Traditions, 2005.

MacDermot, Violet, The Fall of Sophia – A Gnostic Text on the Redemption of Universal Consciousness, Lindisfarne Books, 2001.

Malachi, Tau, The Gnostic Gospel of St. Thomas – Meditations on the Mystical Teachings, Llewellyn Worldwide, 2004.

Malachi, Tau, Gnosis of the Cosmic Christ – a Gnostic Christian Kabbalah, Llewellyn Worldwide, 2005.

Malachi, Tau, Living Gnosis – A Practical Guide to Gnostic Christianity, Llewellyn Worldwide, 2005.

Malachi, Tau, St. Mary Magdalene – The Gnostic Tradition of the Holy Bride, Llewellyn Worldwide, 2006.

Check out our full selection of Magdalene Courses:

Featured Course: The Gospel of Mary Magdalene

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This course is an in-depth study of the Gospel of Mary Magdalene, with translation and commentary by Jean-Yves LeLoup. Each session will have required reading, lecture, meditation or creativity exercises and discussion. Course concludes with your own self-facilitated dedication ceremony. This course is fully online and done at your own pace in your own time.

Facilitated by Lauri Ann Lumby, OM, OPM, MATS

Priestess of the Magdalene and High Priestess in the Order of Melchizedek

LEARN MORE AND ENROLL HERE

The Gospel of Mary (Magdalene) is a third century text that lay hidden in the desert of Egypt until the appointed time in the late nineteenth century when it was re-discovered and then brought to the light after coming into the hands of biblical scholars. The content of the text is thought to have been either penned by Mary herself, or by those who had been her followers in the years after Jesus’ resurrection.

The Gospel of Mary Magdalene portrays Mary in her original and authentic role as the bearer of Jesus’ secret teachings and as Apostle to the Apostles – the one sent by Jesus to continue his mission of teaching, healing, and service. Here, Mary is portrayed as teacher and as priest – the receiver, interpreter, and discriminator of Jesus’ post-resurrection teachings.

We also discover in the Gospel of Mary, the original conflict that separated the mystical teachings of Jesus from the patriarchal privilege that led to the formation of the institutional church and the rejection of women as priest.

The Gospel of Mary is a critically important text in the exploration of women’s roles in matters of spirituality and religion, but more importantly as recipients and communicators of the Divine.

Required text: The Gospel of Mary Magdalene by Jean-Yves LeLoup (Inner Traditions, 2002).

Course Outline

Session One: The Initial Separation

Session Two: Non-Duality and the Magdalene

Session Three: The Gnostic Path

Session Four: Guarding Against Attachments

Session Five: Mary the Encourager

Session Six: Mary the Intermediary

Session Seven: Kabbalah/Journey of the Soul

Session Eight: The Adversary

Session Nine: Authentic Freedom and the Gospel of Mary

Session Ten: The Bride

Session Eleven: Anthropos

After Completing the Course: Magdalene Dedication

Lauri Ann Lumby, OM, OPM, MATS is a Priestess of the Magdalene and the founder of both the Order of the Magdalene and the Temple of the Magdalene. Lauri has been a dedicated student of the Magdalene since first experiencing her portrayal in the rock opera, Jesus Christ Superstar in 1978. Lauri has since studied every scholarly work that has been made available on the Magdalene, and many works of fiction. Lauri has come to believe that Mary Magdalene was indeed Jesus’ closest disciple, possibly his wife, and that it was Mary who was ordained to continue Jesus’ mission of transforming the world from fear into love. Rejected by the patriarchy, the Magdalene influence has flourished in the mystical traditions of Christianity, though few would acknowledge this. The Magdalene has been a profound influence in Lauri’s own mission and has been the inspiration for Lauri’s writings, books, teachings and online courses all available through Authentic Freedom Academy.

Lauri Ann Lumby has her BBA in Marketing, a master’s degree in Transpersonal Psychology and has certificates in Pastoral Ministry and Spiritual Direction. She is a Reiki Master in both the Usui and Karuna traditions and is an ordained interfaith minister.

Learn more about Lauri at www.lauriannlumby.com.

Featured Course: Resurrecting the Magdalene

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Mary, called Magdalene achieved the goal of the human experience—to become both fully human and fully divine.  In doing so, Mary embodied the Divine Feminine and the Divine Masculine in  perfect harmony and it was through this integration that she was able to grasp Jesus’ original teachings of compassion and love and bring them forward into the world. 

2000 years ago, the world was not ready for her teachings, but today we are.  Join us as we explore the deeper and hidden truths about Mary Magdalene revealed during her time with Jesus:  her roles as student, initiate, co-equal partner, wife, facilitator and witness to the resurrection, and the one sent to continue Jesus’ mission of  being love in the world.

This Course includes the Magdalene Activation and concludes with the Magdalene ordination through which you are empowered, through your own unique gifts and passions to fulfill the mission of LOVE in the world. 

Created and facilitated by Lauri Ann Lumby. 

www.lauriannlumby.com

This course consists of 7 modules with several activities within each lesson.  With these activities, 2000 years of untruths will be exposed so that the truth can be revealed.  Activities will include meditation, reflection and writing exercises.  You will need yourself, a notebook or journal, writing utensil and access to an online music source.  Several music meditations are included in the course.  

Learn more and register by clicking the icon above.

Course Outline 

Lesson One:  Fully Awakened

Activity One: What we’ve been led to believe

Music and reflective reading meditations

Activity Two: Lesson – What the stories really say

Activity Three: Magdalene Activation

Your own direct encounter with the Magdalene

Lesson One Wrap up and Integration

Lesson Two:  Adoration

Activity One: Being vs. Doing

Reflective Reading meditation

Activity Two: Lesson – Being vs. Doing, Bhakti yoga

Activity Three: Practice of Adoration

Adoration meditation and/or Kirtan

Lesson Two Wrap up and Integration

Lesson Three: Priestess

Activity One: Immersing ourselves in Mary’s story

Immersion Meditation

Activity Two: Lesson – Mary Magdalene as Priestess

Activity Three: Make your own oil of anointing

Lesson Three Wrap up and Integration

Lesson Four: Devoted Witness/ Wife?

Activity One: Immersion Meditation

In the Garden of Gethsemane with Mary

Activity Two: Reflective Reading Meditation

Mary never left his side.

Activity Three: Lesson – Mary Magdalene as Devoted Witness

Activity Four: Immersion Meditation

Mary at Jesus’ trial, crucifixion, death and burial.

Lesson Four Wrap up and Integration

Lesson Five: Apostle to the Apostles          

Activity One: Critical reading and reflection

Activity Two: Lesson – Mary Magdalene as Apostle to the Apostles

Activity Three: Immersion Meditation

Being Mary at the Tomb

Lesson Five Wrap up and Integration

Session Six: Order of the Magdalene

Introduction and preparation for your Magdalene ordination

Activity One: Gathering the Legends of the Magdalene

Music meditation

Activity Two: The Gospel of Mary, Introduction

Activity Three: The Gospel of Mary text and meditation

Activity Four: Discerning and Accepting the Call of the Magdalene

Activity Five: Writing your Vows

Activity Six: Ordination Ceremony

Course Wrap up and Final Words

NOTE:  This course is the first and foundational course in the Magdalene Priestess Training.  Enjoy a free sample of this course, along with the other courses in the Magdalene Priestess training through the FREE Magdalene Priestess Training Preview course.  Click on image below to learn more and to register: